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Irenaeus of Lyons

Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130–202) stands as one of the earliest and most courageous defenders of the Christian faith—a bridge between the Apostles and the later Church Fathers. Born in Asia Minor and likely a disciple of Polycarp, who had known the Apostle John, Irenaeus carried the living tradition of the early Church to Gaul (modern-day France), where he became bishop of Lyons. Amid waves of persecution and confusion, he championed unity, truth, and love over speculation and division.

His landmark work, Against Heresies, refuted Gnosticism and boldly proclaimed that the God who created the world is the same loving God who redeems it through Christ. He insisted that salvation unfolds in the real, physical world and that the Incarnation reveals humanity’s true destiny: to be fully alive in God. For Irenaeus, “the glory of God is man fully alive,” a radiant summary of his hope-filled theology. Canonized as a saint and later declared a Doctor of the Church, Irenaeus remains a beacon of reasoned faith—calling believers to hold fast to truth, live in charity, and find life’s fullness in Christ.

Introduction

Proof of the Apostolic Preaching is a hidden gem from the early Church—brief, luminous, and overflowing with conviction. Written by Irenaeus of Lyons, the same great defender of the faith who penned Against Heresies, this work distills his theology into a clear, pastoral summary of what Christians believe and why. Here, Irenaeus does not argue with opponents; he instructs the faithful, showing how the whole story of Scripture—from creation to redemption—is one harmonious revelation of the God who loves and saves.

He traces the unfolding plan of salvation with simplicity and beauty: Adam and Eve’s fall, the patriarchs’ faith, the prophets’ hope, and the fulfillment of all things in Christ, the true Son of God and new Adam. In these pages, the faith is not an idea to debate but a living tradition, handed down from the apostles and anchored in Scripture.

Read this as both catechism and celebration—a window into what the earliest Christians taught, prayed, and lived. By the end, you’ll see how the gospel’s coherence and power still shine through centuries: one faith, one story, one Lord, forever proclaimed and alive.

GOD AND CREATURES. THE FALL.

THE WAY OF LIFE.

1. Knowing, my dear Marcianus, your inclination to walk the path of God's service (which alone brings man to eternal life), I both congratulate you, and pray that you may keep the faith in its purity and so be well-pleasing to God your Maker.1 Would it were possible for us to be always together, to help each other, and to relieve the preoccupations of earthly life by daily conference on profitable themes. As it is, since we are at the present time distant in body from each other, we have not delayed, so far as may be, to commune with you a little in writing, and to set forth in brief the preaching of the truth, to confirm your faith.2 What we are sending you is in the form of notes on the main points, so that you may find much matter in short space, com prehending in a few details all the members of the body of truth, and receiving in brief the proof of the things of God.3 In this way, not only will it bear fruit in your own salvation, but also you may confound all those who hold false views, and to all who wish to hear, you may with all confidence expound what we have to say in its integrity and purity.4 For the road of all those who see is a single upward path, lit by heavenly light; but the ways of those who see not are many and dark and divergent. The former road leads to the kingdom of heaven by uniting man with God, but the others bring down to death by severing man from God.5 Therefore must both you, and all those who look after the salvation of souls,6 make your way by faith, without deviation, with courage and determination, lest through lack of tenacity or perseverance you remain at a standstill in material passions, or even be led astray and turn aside from the straight path.7

FAITH AND GOOD WORKS.

2. And since man is an animal made up of soul and body, that must come about through the instrumentality of both of these; 8 and since occasions of stumbling follow from both of them, there is both bodily holiness, the safeguard of abstinence from all shameful things and all wicked deeds, and holiness of soul, the preservation in its integrity of faith in God, adding nothing and subtracting nothing from it. For piety is clouded and loses its lustre by contamination, by impurity of body, and is broken and stained and loses its integrity when falsehood enters the soul; but it will be pre served in beauty and measure by the constant abiding of truth in the mind and of holiness in the body.° For what is the use of knowing the truth in word, while defiling the body and accomplishing the works of evil? Or what real good at all can bodily holiness do, if truth be not in the soul? 1° For these two rejoice in each other's company, and agree together and fight side by side to set man in the presence of God.11 Therefore the Holy Spirit says through David: Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly,12 that is, the counsel of the peoples that know not God; for those are " ungodly " who do not worship Him who IS, essentially, God.18 Therefore the Word says to Moses: I am He-who-IS; 14 so those who do not worship the God who really IS are the" ungodly." Nor stood in the way of sinners; and" sinners" are they who have knowledge of God, and do not keep His commandments; that is, scornful, disdainful folk.15 Nor sat in the chair of the pestilential; and " pestilential " are they who with wicked and perverse doctrine corrupt not only themselves but also others; for "the chair" is a symbol of the school; and such are all heretics. In the chair of the pestilential sit and are brought to corruption those who take the poison of their doctrine.16

THE RULE OF FAITH.

3. So, lest the like befall us, we must keep strictly, with out deviation, the rule of faith, and carry out the commands of God, believing in God, and fearing Him, because He is Lord, and loving Him, because He is Father.11 Action, then, is preserved by faith, because unless you believe, says Isaias, you shall not *continue; and faith is given by truth, since faith rests upon reality: for we shall believe what really is, as it is, and, believing what really is, as it is for ever, keep a firm hold on our assent to it.18 Since, then, it is faith that maintains our salvation, one must take great care of this sustenance, to have a true perception of reality.19 Now, this is what faith does for us, as the elders, the disciples of the apostles, have handed down to us.2° First of all, it admonishes us to remember that we have received baptism for remission of sins in the name of God the Father, and in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became incarnate and died and was raised, and in the Holy Spirit of God; 21 and that this baptism is the seal of eternal life and is rebirth unto God, that we be no more children of mortal men, but of the eternal and everlasting God; 22 and that the eternal and ever lasting One is God, and is above all creatures, and that all things whatsoever are subject to Him; 23 and that what is subject to Him was all made by Him,24 so that God is not ruler and Lord of what is another's, but of His own,25 and all things are God's; that God, therefore, is the Almighty,26 and all things whatsoever are from God.

ORIGIN OF CREATURES.

4. For creatures must have the origin of their being from some great cause; and the Origin of all is God, since It Itself was not made by anyone, but by It were made all things whatsoever.27 Therefore, first, one must believe that there is one God, the Father, who made and fashioned everything, and brought being out of nothing, and, while holding all things, is alone beyond grasp.28 But in " all things " is included this world of ours, with man in it; so this world too was created by God.29

THE TRINITY AND CREATURES.

5. In this way, then, there is declared one God, the Father, uncreated, invisible, maker of all things, above whom is no other God whatever, and after whom there is no other God.30 And God is rational, and therefore produced creatures by His Word, and God is a spirit, and so fashioned everything by His Spirit, as the prophet also says: hy the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all the power of them by His Spirit.3i Hence, since the Word" establishes," that is, works bodily and consolidates being,82 while the Spirit dis poses and shapes the various " powers," so the Word is fitly and properly called the Son, but the Spirit the Wisdom of God.33 Hence too His apostle Paul well says: one God, the Father, who is above all and with all and in us all; 34 for "above all" is the Father, but "with all" is the Word, since it is through Him that everything was made by tl1e Father, and " in us all " is the Spirit, who cries: Abba, Father,B5 and has formed man to the likeness of God.36 So the Spirit mani fests the Word, and therefore the prophets announced the Son of God, but the Word articulates the Spirit, and there fore it is Himself who gives their message to the prophets, and takes up man and brings him to the Father.37

THE THREE ARTICLES OF THE FAITH.

6. And this is the drawing-up of our faith, the foundation of the building, and the consolidation of a way of life.as God, the Father, uncreated, beyond grasp, invisible, one God the maker of all; this is the first and foremost article of our faith.39 But the second article is the Word of God, the Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, who was shown forth by the prophets according to the design of their prophecy and according to the manner in which the Father disposed; and through Him were made all things whatsoever.40 He also, in the end of times,41 for the recapitulation of all things, is become a man among men, visible and tangible, in order to abolish death and bring to light life, and bring about the communion of God and man.42 And the third article is the Holy Spirit, through whom the prophets prophesied and the patriarchs were taught about God and the just were led in the path of justice, and who in the end of times has been poured forth in a new manner upon humanity over all the earth renewing man to God.43

THE TRINITY AND OUR REBIRTH.

7. Therefore the baptism of our rebirth comes through these three articles, granting us rebirth unto God the Father, through His Son, by the Holy Spirit.4* For those who are bearers of the Spirit of God are led to the Word, that is, to the Son; but the Son takes them and presents them to the Father; and the Father confers incorruptibility.*5 So without the Spirit there is no seeing the Word of God, and without the Son there is no approaching the Father; for the Son is knowledge of the .Father, and knowledge of the Son is through the Holy Spirit.46 But the Son, according to the Father's good-pleasure, administers the Spirit charismatically 47 as the Father will, to those to whom He will.48

GOD THE FATHER AND MANKIND.

8.And the Father is called by the Spirit Most High, and Almighty, and Lord of Hosts,49 that we may learn that God is indeed such, that is, creator of heaven and earth and the whole world, and maker of angels and men, and Lord of all, who upholds all things, and by whom everything is sustained; merciful, compassionate and most tender, good, just, God of all, both of Jews and of Gentiles and of the faitbful."0 But to the faithful He is as a Father, for in the end of times He has opened the testament of adoption of sons.51 But to the Jews He was as Lord and Lawgiver, for when in the mean time mankind had forgotten and fallen away and rebelled against God, He brought them into subjection through the Law,62 that they might learn that they had a Lord who was author and maker, who grants the breath of life; and to Him we must return homage by day and by night. But to the Gentiles He is as Maker and Creator and Almighty. But for all alike He is sustainer and nourisher and king and judge - for none shall escape immune from His judgement, neither Jew nor Gentile nor sinner among the faithful, nor angel. But those who are now skeptical of His kindness will know His power in the judgement, as the blessed apostle says: knowing not, that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance, but according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasures up for thyself wrath, in the day of wrath, and revelation of the just judgement of God, who will render forth to every man according to his works.54 This is He, who is called in the Law the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of the living.55 Yet is the sublimity and greatness of this same God beyond the power of expression. 56

SEVEN HEAVENS.

9. But the earth is encompassed by seven heavens, in which dwell Powers and Angels and Archangels, giving homage to the Almighty God who created all things, not as to one having need of anything, but lest they too be idle and useless and accursed.57 Therefore the Spirit of God in His indwelling is manifold, and is enumerated by Isaias the prophet in the seven charismata 58 resting on the Son of God, that is, the Word, in His coming as man. For he says: the spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, <the spirit of knowledge> and of godliness; the spirit of the fear of God shall fill him.59 Hence the first heaven from the top, which encloses the others, is wisdom; and the one after it, that of understanding; but the third is that of counsel, and the fourth, counting from the top downwards, that of fortitude, and the fifth that of knowledge, and the sixth that of godliness; and the seventh, this firmament of ours, full of the fear of this Spirit, who lights up the heavens.8° For after this pattern Moses received the seven-branched candlestick always burning in the sanctuary; since it was on the pattern of the heavens that he received the liturgy, as the Word says

to him: Thou shalt do according to all the pattern of what thou hast seen on the mount.01

GOD SUPREME RULER.

10. This God, then, is glorified by His Word, who is His Son for ever, and by the Holy Spirit, who is the Wisdom of the Father of all. And their Powers (those of the Word and of Wisdom), which are called Cherubim and Seraphim, with unfailing voice glorify God, and the entire establishment of heaven gives glory to God, the Father of all.02 He has established with the Word the whole world, and angels too are included in the world; and to the whole world He has given laws, that each one keep to his place and overstep not the bound laid down by God, each accomplishing the work marked out for him.63

CREATION OF MAN.

11. But man He fashioned with His own hands, taking of the purest and finest of earth, in measured wise mingling with the earth His own power; 64 for He gave his frame the outline of His own form, that the visible appearance too should be godlike - for it was as an image of God that man was fashioned and set on earth - and that he might come to life, He breathed into his face the breath of life, so that the man became like God in inspiration as well as in frame.05 So he was free, and his own master, having been made by God in order to be master of everything on earth.66 And this world of creation, prepared by God before He fashioned man, was given to the man as his domain, with all things whatsoever in it.67 In the domain were also, with their tasks, the servants of that God who fashioned all, and this domain was in the keeping of the administrator-in-chief, who was set over his fellow-servants; and the servants were angels, but administrator-in-chief the arcl1angel.68

PARADISE.

12. So, having made the man lord of the earth and every thing in it, He made him in secret lord also of the servants in it.09 They, however, were in their full development, while the lord, that is, the man, was a little one; for he was a child and had need to grow so as to come to his full perfection.70 And so that he might have nourishment and grow up in luxury, a place was prepared for him better than this world, well-favoured in climate, beauty, light, things good to eat, plants, fruit, water, and all other things needful to life; and .its name is the Garden.11 And so fair and goodly was the Garden, the Word of God was constantly walking in it; He would walk round and talk with the man, prefiguring what was to come to pass in the future, how He would become man's fellow, and talk with him, and come among mankind, teaching them justice.72 But the man was a little one, and his discretion still undeveloped, wherefore also he was easily misled by the deceiver.

EVE.

13. God, then, in Paradise, while the man was walking around, brought before him all living things and bade him give names to them all; and whatever Adam called each living being, *this was its name.78 And He decided also to make a help for the man; for God said: it is not good for the man to he alone; let us make him a help like unto himself.74 For among all other living things there was not to be found a helper equal and the peer and the like of Adam.75 But God Himself brought a trance upon Adam, and put him to sleep,76 and, that one work be accomplished out of another, as sleep had not been brought into being in the Garden, it was brought upon Adam by the will of God.77 And God took one of Adam's ribs, and bled up flesh for it, and built up the rib which He took into a woman, and brought in this wise to Adam.78 But he, on seeing this, said: This now is bone of my hone and flesh of my esh; she shall he called woman, because she was taken out of her man.79

PRIMAL INNOCENCE.

14. And Adam and Eve (for this is the name of the woman) were naked and were not ashamed,8° for their thoughts were innocent and childlike, and they had no conception or imagination of the sort that is engendered in the soul by evil, through concupiscence, and by lust.81 For they were then in their integrity, preserving their natural state, for what had been breathed into their frame was the spirit of life; 82 now, so long as the spirit still remains in proper

order and vigour, it is without imagination or conception of what is shameful.83 For this reason they were not ashamed, as they kissed each other and embraced with the innocence of childhood.84

TREE OF KNOWLEDGE. IMMORTALITY.

15. But so that the man should not have thoughts of grandeur, and become lifted up, as if he had no lord, because of the dominion that had been given to him, and the freedom, fall into sin against God his creator, overstepping his bounds, and take up an attitude of self-conceited arrogance towards God, a law was given him by God, that he might know that he had for lord the Lord of all.85 And He laid down for him certain conditions: so that, if he kept the command of God, then he would always remain as he was, that is, immortal; but if he did not, he would become mortal, melting into earth, whence his frame had been taken.86 And the commandment was this: Of every tree within the Garden eating thou shalt eat; but only of the tree whence is knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat; for in what day you eat, you shall die the death.87

THE FALL.

16. This commandment the man did not keep, but dis obeyed God, being misled by the angel, who, becoming jealous of the man and looking on him with envy because of God's many favours which He had bestowed on the man, both ruined himself and made the man a sinner, persuading him to disobey God's command.88 So the angel, having become by falsehood the head and fount of sin, both was himself stricken, having offended against God, and caused the man to be cast forth out of Paradise.89 And because, at the prompting of his nature, he had rebelled and fallen away from God, he was called in Hebrew Satan, that is, rebel; but the same one is also called the slanderer.90 So God rebuked the serpent, who had been the bearer of the slanderer, and this curse fell upon both the animal itself, and the angel, Satan, lurking hidden within it; and the man He put away from His face, and sent away to dwell by the road into the Garden, since the Garden does not admit a sinner.91

HISTORY OF REDEMPTION.

CAIN AND ABEL.

17. Expelled from the Garden, Adam and his wife Eve fell into many miseries of mind and body, walking in this world with sadness and toil and sighs.92 For under the rays of our sun the man tilled the earth, and the earth brought forth thorns and thistles, the punishment of sin.93 Then came to pass also what is written: Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and brought forth Cain, and after him she bore Abel.94 But the rebel angel, the same who had brought the man into disobedience, and made him a sinner, and been the cause of his being cast out of the Garden, not content with this first evil, brought about in the brothers a second one; for, filling Cain with his own spirit, he made him a slayer of his brother.95 And thus Abel died, slain by his brother, a sign for the future, that some would be persecuted and straitened and slain, but the unjust would slay and persecute the just. Whereupon God became exceedingly angry and cursed Cain; and it came to pass, that every generation in the line of succession from him became like its forefather.00 And God raised up another son to Adam in place of Abel who was slain.97

THE GIANTS.

18. And wickedness very long-continued and widespread pervaded all the race of men, until very little seed of justice was in them. For *unlawful unions 98 came about on earth, as angels linked themselves with offspring of the daughters of men, who bore to them sons, who on account of their exceeding great size were called Giants.00 The angels, then, brought to their wives as gifts teachings of evil, for they taught them the virtues of roots and herbs, and dyeing and cosmetics and discoveries of precious materials, love-philtres, hatreds, amours, passions, constraints of love, the bonds of witchcraft, every sorcery and idolatry, hateful to God; and when this was come into the world, the affairs of wickedness were propagated to overflowing, and those of justice dwindled to very little.100

THE FLOOD.

19. At last, when a judgement came upon the world from God, by means of a flood, in the tenth generation from the first man, Noe alone was found just, and because of his justice both he himself was saved, and his wife and his three sons and the three wives of his sons, shut up in the ark with all animals which God ordered Noe to bring into the ark.101 And when all who were on earth, both mankind and other living things too, were brought to destruction, what was pre served in the ark was saved. And the three sons of Noe were Sem, Cham, and Japheth; and his stock was multiplied again; for these were the beginning of mankind since the Bood.102

THE CURSE OF CHAM.

20. But of these, one fell under a curse, and two inherited a blessing, for their deeds; for the youngest of them, who is called Cham, mocked their father, and, reprobated for the sin of impiety because of the affront and offence against his father, received a curse, and brought a share of the curse upon all his offspring, whence it came about that every generation after him was accursed, increased and multiplied in sin. But Sem and Japheth, his brothers, won a blessing for their dutifulness towards their father.103 Now the curse of Cham, with which his father Noe cursed him, is this: Cursed be the child Cham; a slave shall he he of his brethren; 104 and when this came upon his stock, he had much offspring upon earth, growing as it were into a forest in fourteen generations, and then his race was delivered unto judgement and mown down by God.105 For the Chanaanites and the Hittites and the Pherezites and the Hevites and the Amorrhites and the Jebusites and the Gergesites and the Sodomites, the Arabs and the dwellers in Phoenicia, all the Egyptians and the Lydians are of the stock of Cham, who fell under the curse, and for long was the curse extended over the ungodly.106

THE BLESSINGS OF SEM AND JAPHETH

21. And in the same way as the curse, so too the blessing came down to the posterity of him who was blessed, each in his turn; and the first of them to be blessed was Sem, in these words: Blessed he the Lord, God of Sem; be Cham his servant.101 The force of the blessing is this: that God, the Lord of all, was to be for Sem a peculiar possession of worship; and this blessing burgeoned when it reached Abraham, descended from the stock of Sem, assigned by the genealogy to the tenth generation.108 And therefore the Father and God of all was pleased to be called the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob; 100 for Sem's blessing was carried over to Abraham.110 But the blessing of Japheth was as follows: May God enlarge Japheth, and let him *dwell in the house of Sem, and Cham be his servant; 111 and *this blossomed forth in the end of this age, *in the manifestation of the Lord to the Gentiles of the calling, when God ex tended to them His call,112 and their sound went forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.113 So " enlarge " refers to the calling from the Gentiles, that is to say, the Church, and he " dwells in the house of Sem," that is to say, in the heritage of the patriarchs, in Christ Jesus receiving the birthright.114 So, according to the order in which each was blessed, in the same degree does he receive in his posterity the fruit of the blessing.

THE COVENANT WITH NOE.

22. But after the Hood God established a covenant for the whole world, and for all living beasts, and for men, that He would no more destroy with a Hood all the new life of the earth; and He appointed them a sign: When the sky is covered with clouds, a bow shall appear in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, and no more destroy with water every living thing that moves on the earth.115 And He made a change in the food of mankind, bidding them eat flesh; for from the first man, Adam, until the flood, men had been nourished only on the seeds and fruits of trees, but flesh food was not allowed them. And because the sons of Noe were a beginning of the race of men, God blessed them for multi plication and growth, saying: Increase and multiply, and foll the earth, and be its lord; and let the fear and dread of you be upon all living beasts and upon all the birds of heaven; and they shall be food for you, even as green herbs; save only you shall not eat the flesh of the blood of life; for I will require your blood at the hand of every beast, and at the hand of man; whoever shall shed man's blood, it shall be shed in return for his blood; for as the image of God hath He made man; 116 and the " image " is the Son of God, in whose image man was made.111 And therefore, He was manifested in the last times,118 to show the image like unto Himself. After this covenant the race of men was multiplied, arising from the off spring of the three; and there was one lip on earth,119 that is, one tongue.

BABEL.

23. So they arose and made their way from the land of the East; and in their passage over the earth they came into the vast land of Senaar, where they undertook the building of a tower, and were planning by this means to mount to the heavens, being able to leave their work as a memorial to man kind after them. And the building was being made of baked brick and bitumen, and the boldness of their temerity was making great strides, they being of one mind and heart, and through the medium of a single language carrying out their tasks in conformity with what was in their intention.120 So, lest their work advance further, God divided their tongues, so that they might no longer be able to understand one another.121 Thus they were split up and dispersed, and occupied countries and dwelt distributed in groups according to their respective languages; hence all the various peoples and different languages on earth. So three races of men occupied the earth, and one of them was under a curse, two under a blessing; and the blessing came first to Sem, whose progeny dwelt in the East and held the land of the Chaldees.122

ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB.

24.And with the passage of time, that is, in the tenth generation after the Hood, we have Abraham seeking the God who was his rightful due by the blessing of his pro genitor.12a And since, following the bent and prompting of his heart, he was going all about the earth, seeking where was God, and was growing faint and beginning to desist from the discovery, God, having pity on him who alone quietly sought Him, appeared to Abraham, manifesting Himself through the Word as through a ray of light.124 For He spoke to him from the heavens, and said to him: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father's house, and go over into a land which I will show thee,125 and dwell there; and he trusted the voice from heaven, and, *while he was seventy years old, and had a wife, *and while she herself was of a ripe age, he rose up with her and went forth from Mesopotamia, taking with him Lot, the son of his dead brother.126 And when he came into the land which is now called Judaea, which at that time was inhabited by seven nations, descended from Cham, God appeared to him in a vision and said: to thee will I give this land, and to thy seed after thee, as a possession for ever; 121 and that his seed would be a stranger in a land not their own, and there be molested, ill-treated and enslaved for four hundred years; and in the fourth generation return to the place promised to Abraham, and God would judge the people that had enslaved his seed.128 And that Abraham might know not only the great number but also the splendour of his seed, God led him forth by night and said to him: Look up to heaven, and see if thou canst number the stars in heaven; so shall be thy seed.129 And when God saw the faith and resolution of his spirit, He testified to him, saying through the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures: and Abraham believed God; and it was reputed to him unto justice.130 And he was not circumcised, when he received that testimonial; and that the excellence of his faith might be marked by a sign, He gave him circumcision, a seal of the * justice of his faith in uncircumcision.131 And after this there was born to him a son, Isaac, of Sara, the barren, according to God's promise; and he circumcised him, in accordance with God's covenant with him; and of Isaac was born Jacoh.132 And in this way the original blessing given in the beginning to Sem came to Abraham, and from Abraham to Isaac, and from Isaac to Jacob, the Spirit assigning to them the inheritance, for He was called the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.183 And there were born to Jacob twelve sons, after whom the twelve tribes of Israel are named.

EGYPT. THE PASSOVER.

25. And when all the earth was in the grip of a famine, it happened that in Egypt alone there was food; so Jacob migrated along with all his progeny into Egypt.135 And the number of all those who migrated was seventy-five souls; and in four hundred years, as the oracle had said in the beginning, they became six hundred and sixty thousand.136 And since they were greatly afflicted and oppressed by cruel servitude, and turned with sighs and tears to God, the God of the patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, led them forth from Egypt at the hand of Moses and Aaron, striking the Egyptians with ten plagues, in the tenth of which He sent a killer angel, destroying their firstborn, from man to brute.137 From this He saved the children of Israel, showing forth in a mystery the Passion of Christ, by the immolation of a spot less lamb, and by its blood, given as a guarantee of immunity to be smeared on the houses of the Hebrews; and the name of this mystery is the Passover,138 source of freedom. And He divided the Red Sea and brought the children of Israel with all care into the desert; and the pursuing Egyp tians, who came after them into the sea, all perished; this was God's judgement on those who had unjustly afflicted Abraham's seed.139

THE LAW.

26. And in the desert Moses received from God laws, ten sentences on tablets of stone, written with the finger of God; and" finger of God" is that which is put forth by the Father in the Holy Spirit, and the commandments and laws which He committed to the children of Israel to be kept.140 He also constructed at God's command the tabernacle of the testimony, a visible construction on earth of what is spiritual and invisible in heaven, and a figure of the form of the Church, and a prophecy of things to be; and in it both vessels and altars and an ark, in which he put the tablets.141 And he also appointed as priests Aaron and his sons, giving the priesthood to them and to all their stock; and they were of the tribe of Levi; but he also summoned at God's word the whole of that tribe, to work in the service of the temple of God, and also gave them the levitical law, for the character and behaviour of those whose occupation it was to carry on constantly the work of the service of God's temple.142

THE SPIES. THE WANDERING IN THE DESERT.

27. And when they were near to the land which God had promised to Abraham and his seed, Moses chose one man out of each tribe and sent them to spy the land and the cities in it and the inhabitants of the cities.143 At that time God revealed to him the name which alone has power to save him who believes in it, and Moses changed the name of Osee, son of Nun, one of the envoys, and named him Jesus, and so sent him with the power of the Name, confident that he would receive them safe back, under the conduct of the Name; and so it came to pass.144 They did return, after their journey and spying and reconnaissance, bearing a cluster of grapes; but some of the twelve envoys cast the whole people into a timidity of apprehension, saying that the cities were huge, and fortified, and the inhabitants giants, sons of the Titans, so that they could hold the land; and upon this all the people fell to weeping, losing trust in God who was lending them strength and bringing all into subjection.145 And they also spoke disparagingly of the land, as if it were not a good one, and as if it were not worth taking risks for the sake of such a land.146 But two of the twelve, Jesus, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephone, rent their garments at the misdeed, and begged the people not to let their spirits be discouraged or their hearts cast down, for God had given everything into their hands, and the land was very good indeed.147 And since the people did not believe, but still remained in the same state of mistrust, God diverted and changed their course, to lead them astray, punishing 148 and afflicting them in the desert. And, counting a year for each day of all the days spent on the journey there and back of those who had spied out and reconnoitered the land - and that was forty days - He kept them for forty years in the desert; not one of those who were fully grown and had full use of reason did He judge worthy to enter the land, because of their unbelief, but only the two who had spoken in favour of the inheritance, Jesus son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephone, and such as were babes not knowing their right hand from their left.149 So all the unbelieving people gradually came to an end and died out in the desert, suffering as their unbelief merited; but the children who grew up during the forty years filled and made up the number of the dead.

DEUTERONOMY.

28. When the forty years were completed, the people came near to the Jordan, and were assembled and drawn up over against Jericho.100 Here Moses assembled the people and again summed everything up, recounting the great works of God even to that day, preparing and disposing those who had grown up in the desert to fear God and obey His commandments, and imposing on them as it were a new code of laws, in addition to the one made before. And this was called Deuteronomy, and in it also many prophecies are written about our Lord Jesus Christ and about the people and about the calling of the Gentiles and about the kingdom.151

THE PROMISED LAND.

29. And Moses, having finished his course, is told by God: Moimt on high onto the mountain, and die,152 for thou shalt not bring my people into the land. And he died, according to the word of the Lord, and was succeeded by Jesus, son of Nun.153 This man, dividing the Jordan, brought the people across into the land; and overthrowing and destroying the seven nations that dwelt in it, distributed it among the people; here is Jerusalem, where was King David, and his son Solomon, who built the temple to the name of God, after the likeness of the tabernacle which Moses had made on the pattern of heavenly and spiritual things.154

THE PROPHETS.

30. Hither were sent by God the prophets, through the Holy Spirit; they admonished the people and brought it back to the God of the patriarchs, the Almighty, and were the heralds of the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, announcing that His flesh would blossom forth from the seed of David, that He would be according to the flesh a son of David, who was the son of Abraham through a long line of succession; but according to the Spirit, Son of God, pre-existent with the Father, born before all the building of the world, and appearing to the whole world in the end of this age as man, the Word of God, resuming anew in Him self all things in heaven and on earth.155

INCORRUPTIBILITY.

31. So He united man with God and brought about a communion of God and man, we being unable in any other wise to have part in incorruptibility, had it not been for His corning to us.156 For incorruptibility, while invisible and imperceptible, would not help us; so He became visible, that we might be taken into full communication with incorruptibility.151 And because, being all implicated in the first *formation of Adam, we were bound to death through disobedience, the bonds of death had necessarily to be loosed through the obedience of Him who was made man for us; 158 because death ruled in the body, it was necessarily through the body that it should be done away with and let man go free from its oppression.159 So the Word was madeesh,160 in order that sin, destroyed by means of that same flesh through which it had gained the mastery and taken hold and lorded it, should no longer be in us; and therefore our Lord took up the same first *formation for an Incarnation, that so He might join battle on behalf of His forefathers, and overcome through Adam what had stricken us through Adarn.161

ADAM AND CHRIST.

32. Whence, then, comes the substance of the first man? From God's Will and Wisdom, and from virgin earth. For God had not rained, says the Scripture, before man was made, and there was no man to till the earth.162 From this earth, then, while it was still virgin, God took dust and fashioned the man, the beginning of humanity. So the Lord, summing up afresh this man, reproduced the scheme of his incarnation, being born of a virgin by the Will and Wisdom of God, that He too might copy the incarnation of Adam, and man might be made, as was written in the beginning, according to the image and likeness of God.163

EVE AND THE MOTHER OF GOD.

33.And just as it was through a virgin who disobeyed that man was stricken and fell and died, so too it was through the Virgin, who obeyed the word of God, that man resuscitated by life received life.164 For the Lord came to seek back the lost sheep, and it was man who was lost; 105 and therefore He did not become some other formation, but He likewise, of her that was descended from Adam, preserved the likeness of formation; 166 for Adam had necessarily to be restored in Christ, that mortality be absorbed in immortality, and Eve in Mary, that a virgin, become the advocate of a virgin, should undo and destroy virginal disobedience by virginal obedience.

THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE Al D THE CROSS.

34- And the sin that was wrought through the tree was undone by the obedience of the tree, obedience to God whereby the Son of man was nailed to the tree, destroying the knowledge of evil, and bringing in and conferring the knowledge of good; and evil is disobedience to God, as obedience to God is good.168 And therefore the Word says through Isaias the prophet, foretelling what was to come to pass in the future - for it was because they told the future that they were " prophets " - the Word says through him as follows: I refuse not, and do not gainsay, my back have I delivered to blows and my cheeks to buffets, and I have not turned away my face from the contumely of them that spat.169 So by the obedience, whereby He obeyed unto death, hanging on the tree, He undid the old disobedience wrought in the tree.170 And because He is Himself the Word of God Almighty, who in His invisible form pervades us universally in the whole world, and encompasses both its length and breadth and height and depth - for by God's Word every thing is disposed and administered - the Son of God was also crucified in these, imprinted in the form of a cross on the universe; 111 for He had necessarily, in becoming visible, to bring to light the universality of His cross, in order to show openly through His visible form that activity of His: 172 that it is He who makes bright the height, that is, what is in heaven, and holds the deep, which is in the bowels of the earth, and stretches forth and extends the length from East to West, navigating also the Northern parts and the breadth of the South, and calling in all the dispersed from all sides to the knowledge of the Father.173

PROMISE TO ABRAHAM FULFILLED. JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.

35. So He fulfilled the promise made to Abraham by God, that He would make his seed like the stars of heaven; for Christ did this by being born of the Virgin who came of Abraham's seed, and setting up as lights in the world those who believe in Him, justifying the Gentiles through the same faith with Abraham.174 For Abraham believed God, and it was repiited to him unto justice; 175 in like manner we too are justified by believing God, for a just man shall live by faith.116 So not through the law was the promise to Abraham, but through faith.117 For Abraham was justified by faith, and the law is not made for the just man.118 So too are we justified not through the law, but through the faith of Him to whom witness was borne by the law and the prophets whom the Word of God brought to us.179

PROMISE TO DAVID FULFILLED: VIRGIN BIRTH.

36. And He fulfilled the promise made to David, for God had promised him to raise up from the :/-fruit of his bowels an everlasting king, of whose reign there would be no end.180 And this king is Christ the Son of God, made Son of man, that is to say, made fruitfulness from the Virgin, who came of the seed of David; and therefore the promise was in the form "from the :(.fruit of the bowels," which is birth taken separately and specially of conception by a woman, and not "from the fruit of the loins," or " from the fruit of the reins," which is birth taken separately and specially :(.of a man; 181 in order to declare as unique and separate and special this fruitfulness of the virginal womb sprung from David, who was everlasting King over the house of David, and of whose reign there shall be no end.182

THE TRIUMPH OF THE REDEMPTION.

37. In such wise, then, was His triumph of our redemption,183 and His fulfilment of the promise to the patriarchs, and His doing away with the primal disobedience: the Son of God became a son of David and a son of Abraham; for in the accomplishment of these things, and in their summing up in Himself, in order to give us His own life, the Word of God was made flesh through the instrumentality of the Vir gin, to undo death and work life in man; for we were in the bonds of sin, and were to be born through sinfulness and to live with death.184

GENUINE BIRTH, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION.

38. Great, then, was the mercy of God the Father: He sent the creative Word, who, when He came to save us, put Himself in our position, and in the same situation in which we lost life; 185 and He loosed the prison-bonds, and His light appeared and dispelled the darkness in the prison, and He sanctified our birth and abolished death, loosing those same bonds by which we were held. And He showed forth the resurrection, becoming Himself the -first-born from the dead,186 and raised in Himself prostrate man, being lifted up to the heights of heaven, at the right hand of the glory of the Father, as God had promised through the prophet, saying: I will raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen,181 that is, the body sprung from David; and this was in truth accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ, in the triumph of our redemption, that He raise us in truth, setting us free to the Father.188 And if anyone accept not His virgin birth, how shall he accept His resurrection from the dead? For it is nothing marvelous, nothing astonishing, nothing unheard-of, if one who was not born rose from the dead- but we can not even speak of the "resurrection" of one who came into being without birth, for he who is not born is also immortal; and he who was not subject to birth will not be subject to death either; for how can one who did not take on man's beginning receive his end? 189

39. So, if He was not born, neither did He die; and if He did not die, neither was He raised from the dead; and if He was not raised from the dead, He has not conquered death, nor is its reign abolished; and if death is not conquered, how are we to mount on high into life, being subject from the beginning to death? 190

THE PRIMACY OF CHRIST.

So those who exclude redemption from man, and do not believe God will raise them from the dead, despise also our Lord's birth, which the Word of God underwent for our sake, to be made flesh, that He might manifest the resurrection of the flesh, and take the lead of all in heaven: 191 as the first-born, first-begotten of the thought of the Father, the Word, Himself in the world making all things perfect by His guidance and legislation; as the first-born of the Virgin, a just and holy man, a servant of God, good, pleasing to God, perfect in all things, freeing those who follow Him from Hell; as the firstborn of the dead, head and source also of the life unto God.192

40. Thus, then, does the Word of God in all things hold the primacy,193 for He is true man and Wonderful Counsellor and God the Mighty,194 calling man back again into communion with God, that by communion with Him we may have part in incorruptibility.195

REVIEW: MOSES TO THE APOSTLES.

So, He who was preached by the law through Moses and the prophets of the Most High and Almighty God, Son of the Father of all, Source of all things, He who spoke with Moses - He came into Judaea, begotten by God through the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary, of her who was of the seed of David and of Abraham: Jesus, God's anointed, showing Himself to be the one who had been preached in advance through the prophets.196

41. And as precursor there went before Him John the Baptist, preparing in advance and disposing the people to receive the Word of life, declaring that He was the Christ, on whom rested the Spirit of God, united with His body.197 Taught by Him, and witnesses of all His good works and of His teaching and of His passion and death and resurrection and ascent into heaven after the bodily resurrection, were the apostles, who after <the descent of> the power of the Holy Spirit were sent by Him into the whole world and carried out the calling of the Gentiles, showing mankind the way of life, turning them back from idols and from fornication and from selfish pride, purifying their souls and their bodies through the baptism of water and of the Holy Spirit; dispensing and administering to the faithful the Holy Spirit they had received from the Lord.198

APOSTOLIC PREACHING.

And by these dispositions they established the churches.199 By faith and charity and hope they realised that calling of the Gentiles, according to the mercy extended to them by God, which was heralded by the prophets, making it known through the work of their ministry, and receiving them into the promise made to the patriarchs, that so, to those who believed and loved the Lord, and in return for holiness and justice and patience, the God of all would bring, through resurrection from the dead, the life everlasting which He had promised, through Him who died and was raised, Jesus Christ; to whom He has committed the kingship of all that is, and the principality of the living and the dead, and the judgement. And they gave counsel, with the word of truth, to keep the body unstained unto resurrection, and the soul incorruptible.

42. For so (they said) do the faithful keep when there abides constantly in them the Holy Spirit, who is given by Him in baptism, and is kept by him who has received Him by the practice of truth and holiness and justice and patience; 200 for it is resurrection of this spirit that comes to the faithful, when the body receives once more the soul, and along with it is raised by the power of the Holy Spirit and brought into the kingdom of God.201 This is the fruit of the blessing of Japheth, in the calling of the Gentiles, revealed through the Church, in constant obedience to receive the "dwelling in the house of Sem" according to God's promise._ 202

C. CHRIST IN THE OLD LAW. THE PROPHECIES.

That all these things would come to pass was foretold by the Spirit of God through the prophets, that those who served God in truth might believe firmly in them; for what was quite impossible to our nature, and therefore like to be little believed in by men, God caused to be announced in advance by the prophets, that from the prediction made long beforehand, when at last the event took place just as had been foretold, we might know that it was God, who had revealed to us in advance our redemption.203

THE SON IN THE BEGINNING.

43. But we must necessarily believe God in all things, for God is in all things truthful.204 And that there was born a Son of God, that is, not only before His appearance in the world, but also before the world was made, Moses, who was the first to prophesy, says in Hebrew: BARESITh BARA ELOVIM BASAN BENUAM SAMENThARES, of which the translation [ ] is: A Son in the beginning God established then heaven and earth.205 Witness to this is borne also by Jeremias the prophet, saying as follows: Before the day star I begot Thee, Thy name is before the sun,206 that is, before the world was made, for at the same time as the world the stars also were made. And again he says: blessed is He who existed before He was made man; 201 for the Son was as a beginning for God before the world was made, but for us, at the time of His appearance, but before that He did not exist for us, in that we knew Him not.208 To this purpose also His disciple John, telling us who God's Son is, who was with the Father before the world was made, says also, that it was through Him that all creatures were made, as follows: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was -with God, and the Word was God; the same was in the beginning with God; all things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing; 200 most plainly declaring, that all things were made by the vVord who was in the beginning with the Father, and that is His Son.210

THE SON AND ABRAHAM. SODOM AND GOMORRHA.

44. And again Moses says that the Son of God drew near to exchange speech with Abraham: and God appeared to him at the oak of Mambre at midday, and lifting up his eyes, he saw, and behold, three men were standing over him; and he prostrated himself to the ground and said: Lord, if I have truly found favour before thee; 211 and all the rest of his speech is with the Lord, and the Lord speaks to him. Two, then, of the three, were angels, but one the Son of God; and with Him Abraham also spoke pleading for the men of Sodom, that they might not perish, if at least ten just men were found there.212 And while they were speaking, the two angels go down to Sodom, and Lot receives them; and then the Scripture says: and the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; 213 that is, the Son, the same who spoke with Abraham, being "the Lord," received power to punish the men of Sodom "from the Lord out of heaven," from the Father, who is Lord over all.214 So Abraham was a prophet, and saw what was to come to pass in the future, the Son of God in human form, that He was to speak with men, and eat food with them, and then to bring down judgement from the Father, having received from Him, who is Lord over all, power to punish the men of Sodom.215

THE SON AND JACOB: THEOPHANIES ARE OF THE SON.

45. Jacob also, while journeying into Mesopotamia, sees Him, in a dream, standing at the ladder, that is, the tree, set up from * earth even to heaven; 216 for by it those who believe in Him mount to heaven, for His passion is our raising on high. And all visions of this kind signify the Son of God, in His speaking with men and being with them; for it is not the Father of all, who is not seen by the world, the Creator of all, who said: Heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool; what manner of house will you build for me, or what is the place of my rest? 217 and who holds the land in His fist and the heavens in His span 218 - it is not He who would stand circumscribed in space and speak with Abraham, but the Word of God, who was always with mankind, and foretold what was to come to pass in the future, and acquainted man with God.219

THE SON AND MOSES IN THE DESERT.

46. He it was, who spoke with Moses in the bush, and said: I have indeed seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I am come down to deliver them.220 He it was, who was mounting and descending for the deliverance of the afflicted, taking us out of the domination of the Egyptians, that is, out of every idolatry and impiety, and freeing us from the Red Sea, that is, liberating us from the deadly turbulence of the Gentiles and from the bitter current of their blasphemy; 221 for in these things our affairs were being rehearsed, the Word of God at that time prefiguring what was to be; but now, bringing us in reality out of the bitter servitude of the Gentiles, He has both caused to gush forth in abundance in the desert a stream of water from a rock- and the rock is Himself - and given twelve springs - that is, the teaching of the twelve apostles - and let the recalcitrant and unbelieving die out and be consumed in the desert, but brought those who believed in Him and those who were children in malice into the heritage of the patriarchs, which not Moses but Jesus inherited and distributed by lot; and He too frees us from Amalee by the stretching forth of His hands, and takes us and bears us into the kingdom of the Father.222

THE TRINITY AND CREATURES.

47. Therefore the Father is Lord, and the Son is Lord, and the Father is God and the Son is God; for He who is born of God is God.223 And thus God is shown to be one according to the essence of His being and power; but at the same time, as the administrator of the economy of our redemption, He is both Father and Son: since the Father of all is invisible and inaccessible to creatures, it is through the Son that those who are to approach God must have access to the Father.224 Moreover David speaks clearly and most manifestly of the Father and the Son, as follows: Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever; Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity, therefore God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thyfellows.225 For this means that the Son, being God, receives from the Father, that is, from God, the throne of the everlasting kingdom, and the oil of anointing above His fellows. And "oil of anointing" is the Spirit, through whom He is the Anointed, and " His fellows " are the prophets and the just and the apostles, and all who receive fellowship of His kingdom, that is, His disciples.226

THE LORD SAITH TO MY LORD ... (Ps. 109).

48. And again David says: The Lord saith to my Lord: sit at my right hand, until I make Thy enemies Thy foot stool; the Lord will sent forth a sceptre of power out of Sion; and Thou, rule amidst Thy enemies. With Thee in the be ginning in the day of Thy strength, in the brightness of ·the saints, from the womb before the daystar I begot Thee. The Lord hath sworn, and He will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech, and the Lord at Thy right hand. He hath broken kings in the day of wrath; He shall judge among nations, He shall fill ruins and shall crush the heads of many upon earth. He shall drink of the torrent in the way; therefore shall He lift up the head.227 By this, then, He declared that He came into being long before, and that He rules over nations, and judges all men, and the kings, who now hate Him and persecute His name, for these are His enemies; and when God called Him a priest forever, He declared His immortality.228 And this is why He said: He shall drink of the torrent in the way; therefore shall He lift up the head: He is referring to the exaltation with glory, after His human nature, and after humiliation and ingloriousness.229

THE SON ANOINTED KING. GOD SPEAKS IN THE PROPHETS.

49. And again Isaias the prophet says: Th-us saith the Lord to my anointed Lord: whose right hand I have taken hold of: that the nations hearken before Him; 230 and as for how the Son of God is called both the *"anointed" and king of nations, that is, of all men, David also says that He both is called and is Son of God and king of all, as follows: The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee; ask of 1ne and I will give Thee the nations for Thy inheritance, and the whole earth for Thy possession.231 These things were not said to David, for he did not have dominion over " the nations," nor over " the whole earth," but only over the Jews.232 So it is clear, the promise to the *" anointed," that he should be king over the whole earth, is made to the Son of God, whom David himself acknowledges his lord, saying: The Lord saith to my Lord: sit at 1ny right hand, and so on, as we said before.233 For he means that the Father is speaking with the Son as we showed a little earlier, of Isaias, for he said: Thus saith the Lord to my anointed Lord: that the nations hearken before Him; because the promise is the same through both the prophets, that He would be king, so consequently God is addressing one and the same person, that is, I say, Christ the Son of God.234 Since David says: The Lord hath said to me, one must say that it is not David who is speaking; nor does any other at all of the prophets speak in his own name, for it is not a man who utters the prophecy; but the Spirit of God, taking form and shape in the likeness of the person concerned, spoke in the prophets; sometimes He spoke on the part of Christ, sometimes on that of the Father.235

THE SON PRE-EXISTENT. SAVIOUR OF ALL.

50. So most properly does Christ report in the first person, through David, the Father's speech with Him; and most properly also does He say the other things too through the prophets in the first person, as *for example through Isaias as follows: 236 And now thus saith the Lord, who formed me as His servant from the womb, to assemble Jacob, and to assemble Israel to Him; and I shall be magnified before the Lord, and my God shall be a strength to me. And He said: it shall he a great thing for Thee to he called my servant, to raise up and sustain the tribes of Jacob and turn hack the dispersed of Israel; and I have set Thee as a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest he for salvation unto the farthest part of the earth.231

51. For here, in the first place, we have that the Son of God was pre-existent, from the fact that the Father spoke with Him, and caused Him to be revealed to men before His birth; and next, that He had to become a man, born of man kind, and that the very God Himself forms Him from the womb, that is, that He would be born of the Spirit of God; and that He is Lord of all men, and Saviour of those who believe in Him, Jews and others; for "Israel" is the name of the Jewish people in the Hebrew language, from the patriarch Jacob, who was also the first to be called" Israel"; and " Gentile " he calls all men; and that the Son calls Him self the Father's servant, because of His obedience to the Father, every son being a servant of his father among men too.238

THE MESSAGE OF SCRIPTURE.

52. That Christ, then, being Son of God before all the world, is with the Father, both being with the Father and being with men in a dose and intimate communion, and king of all, for the Father has made all subject to Him, and Saviour of those who believe in Him - such is the message of similar passages of Scripture. Since it is beyond our scope and power to draw up an ordered list of all the Scriptures, you will comprehend from these passages the others also, that speak in like manner, believing Christ and seeking from God wisdom and understanding to understand what was said by the prophets.

"THE VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE." "CHRIST JESUS."

53. And that this Christ, who was with the Father, being the Word of the Father, was to take flesh and become man and undergo the coming into being through birth and be born of a virgin and walk with men, the Father of all effecting also His incarnation, Isaias so says: Therefore the Lord Himself shall give thee a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and you shall call Him Emmanuel. He shall eat butter and honey; before He know or even distinguish evil, He chooses the good. For before the child know good or evil, He shall refuse evil things, to choose the good.289 He both announced that He was to be born of a virgin, and points out beforehand that He is truly man, by the fact of His eating, and by calling Him a child, but also by setting Him a name. For this is an error even of the one that is born.240 And He has a double name in the He brew tongue, Messias -Christ <(Anointed)> - and [ ] Jesus - Saviour- and both names are names of certain deeds performed. For He is named Christ <(Anointed)>, because through Him the Father anointed and arrayed all things, and according to His coming as man, because He was the Anointed by the Spirit of God His Father, as He also says speaking of Himself through Isaias: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, wherefore He hath anointed me to bring good tidings to the poor; 242 and Saviour from the fact that He became the cause of salvation to those who were at that time freed by Him from all manner of ills and from death, and to those to be, who believed after them, and the conferrer of eternal salvation.243

"EMMANUEL." VIRGIN BIRTH.

54. So therefore "Saviour"; "Emmanuel," however, is translated "God with ""us," or, as an expression of desire uttered by the prophet, the equivalent of" God be with us";,and thus it is the explanation and manifestation of the " good tidings." 244 For "behold," he says, "the Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and the latter, being God, is to be with us"; and while as it were marveling at these things, he at the same time tells the future, that God will be with us.240 Also, concerning His birth, the same prophet says in another place: Before she who was in labour brought forth, and before the pains of labour came, there came forth delivered a man child; 246 he proclaimed His unlooked-for and extra ordinary birth of the Virgin.

"WONDERFUL COUNSELLOR."

And again the same prophet says: A son is born to us and a child is given to us, and His name has been called, Wonderful Counsellor, God the Mighty.241

55. And he calls Him" Wonderful Counsellor," even of the Father; whereby it is pointed out that it is with Him that the Father works all things whatsoever, as we have in the first of the Mosaic books, which is entitled " Genesis ": And God said: let us make man according to our image and likeness.2'8 For He is here seen clearly, the Father addressing the Son, as Wonderful Counsellor of the Father.240 Now He is also our Counsellor, giving counsel - not constraining, as God, and nonetheless being " God the Mighty," he says - and giving counsel to leave off our ignorance and receive knowledge, and to go forth from error and come to truth, and to cast forth corruptibility and receive incorruptibility.250

"THEY SHALL WISH THAT THEY HAD BEEN BURNT WITH FIRE."

56. And again Isaias says: And they shall wish that they had been burnt with fire; for a child is horn to us, and a son is given to us, whose government is set upon His shoulders; and His name is called Messenger of Great Counsel. For I will bring peace upon the princes, again peace and health to Him. Great is His empire, and of His peace there is no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to guide and to uphold with justice and right, from henceforth and for ever.251 For thereby it is proclaimed that the Son of God both is to be born and is to be everlasting king. But the words they shall wish that they had been burnt with fire refer to those who do not believe Him, and who have done to Him all they have done; for they will say in the judgement: " Oh that we had rather been burnt with fire before the Son of God was born, than not to have believed Him when born!" For those who died before the appearance of Christ have hope of attaining salvation in the judgement of the risen Christ; 252 whoever feared God and died in justice and had the Spirit of God within them, such as the patriarchs and the prophets and the just. But for those who after the manifestation of Christ have not believed Him, there is in the judgement inexorable vengeance. But the words whose government is set upon His shoulders mean allegorically the Cross, on which He held His back when He was crucified; for what was and is an ignominy for Him, and because of Him, for us, the Cross, that, he says, is His government, that is, a sign of His empire.253 And he says Messenger of Great Counsel: messenger of the Father, whom he announced to us.

"A RULER FROM JUDA." "BLOOD OF THE GRAPE."

57.And from what has been said it is clear, how it was made known beforehand through the prophets, that the Son of God was to become subject to birth, and to what manner of birth, and that He would be manifested as Christ.254 And after that, it was foretold also in what land and among what men He was to appear through birth. Thus Moses in Genesis speaks as follows: There shall not lack a ruler from Juda, nor a leader from his loins, till He come, for whom it lies in store; and He shall he the expectation of the nations; washing His robe in wine, and His garment in the blood of the grape.255 But Juda, a son of Jacob, was ancestor of the Jews, who also take their name from him; and a ruler did not lack among them, or a leader, until the corning of Christ; 256 but from the time of His coming, the forces of the quiver were taken,251 the land of the Jews was given over into the dominion of the Romans, and they had no more their ruler or leader on their own. For He had come to His destination 258 for whom lies in store a kingship in heaven, and who washed His robe in wine, and His garment in the blood of the grape. And " His robe," as also "His garment," are those who believe in Him, and whom He has cleansed, redeeming us with His blood. And His blood was called " the blood of the grape " because, just as no man makes the blood of the grape, but God makes it and gladdens those who drink it, so too His nature of flesh and His blood were not the work of man, but made by God; 259 the Lord Himself gave the sign of the Virgin, that is, Emmanuel, who came of the Virgin, and who also gladdens those who drink Him, that is, who receive His Spirit, an everlasting gladness_ 260 Therefore is He also the expectation of the nations, of those who hope in Him,261 because we expect Him to re-establish the kingdom.

STAR OF JACOB.

58. And again Moses says: A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a leader shall spring up from Israel,262 clearly announcing that the dispensation of His coming into being according to the flesh would be among the Jews; and from Jacob and the Jewish race He who was born, coming down from heaven, took up the dispensation so laid down.263 For a star appears in heaven; and "leader" means king, for He is king of all the saved. But the star appeared at His birth to those men, the magi, who dwelt in the East, and through it they learned that Christ was born; and led by the star they came to Judaea, till the star reached Bethlehem, where Christ was born, and having entered the house where the boy lay wrapped in swaddling clothes, stood above His head, showing the magi the Son of God, Christ.264

ROD AND FLOWER FROM THE ROOTS OF JESSE.

59. Then again, the same Isaias also says: And there shall come forth a rod from the roots of Jesse, and a flower shall go forth from the root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. The spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill Him. He shall not judge according to appearances, nor reprove according to report, but He shall give just judgement to the lowly, and shall have pity on the lowly of the earth. And He shall strike the earth with the speech of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips he shall slay the 'Ungodly. And His loins shall be girded with justice, and His flanks clad in truth. And the wolf shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard with the kid, and the calf and the lion shall pasture together. And a little child shall thrust His hand into the vipers' hole, and into the den of the brood of vipers, and they shall not hurt Him. And it shall be in that day: the root of Jesse, and He who riseth to rule over the nations, in Him shall the nations hope; and His rising shall be honour; 265 thereby he says that it is of her, who is descended from David and from Abraham that He is born. For Jesse was a descendant of Abraham, and father of David; the descendant who conceived Christ, the Virgin, is thus become the " rod "; 266 and therefore Moses too worked his miracles before Pharaoh with a rod, and among others too of mankind, the rod is a sign of empire. 267 And the "flower" refers to His body, for it was made to bud forth by the Spirit, as we have already said.

"JUST JUDGEMENT TO THE LOWLY."

60. But the words He shall not judge according to appearances, nor reprove according to report, but He shall give just judgement to the lowly and have pity on the lowly of the earth 268 show His divinity more strongly. For to judge without acceptance of persons or partiality, not favouring the noble, but rendering to the lowly what is right and equitable and fair, corresponds to the exaltation and sublimity of God's justice, for God is not subject to influence, and favours none but the just man; and to have pity is especially proper to God, to Him, who can also save out of pity. And also he shall strike the earth with a word and slay the ungodly by a word alone; this is proper to God, who works all things whatsoever by His Word. But in saying His loins shall be girded with justice, and His flanks clad in truth, he announces His outward human form, and His inward supreme justice.269

"THE WOLF SHALL FEED WITH THE LAMB."

61. But as regards the union and concord and tranquility of the animals of different kinds, and by nature mutually hostile and inimical, the elders say, that it will really be even so at the coming of Christ, when He is to be king of all.210 For he now tells in parable the gathering together in peaceful concord, through the name of Christ, of men of different nations and like character; for the assembly of the just, who are likened to calves and lambs and kids and children, will not be hurt at all by those, both men and women, who at an earlier time had become brutal and beast like because of selfish pride, till some of them took on the likeness of wolves and lions, ravaging the weaker, and waged war on their like, and the women (took on the likeness> of leopards and of vipers, as like as not to bring down even friends with their deadly venom, or out of cupidity ... , these gathered together in *one name will be possessed by the grace of God in justice of conduct, changing their wild and untamed nature.271 And this has already come to pass, for those who were before most perverse, to the extent of omit ting no work of ungodliness, coming to know Christ, and believing Him, no sooner believed than they were changed to the extent of omitting no superabundance, even, of justice; so great is the change wrought by faith in Christ, the Son of God, in those who believe in Him. And he says who riseth to rule over the nations,212 because having died He is to rise, and to be acknowledged and believed as Son of God and king; therefore he says and His rising shall be honour,273 that is, glory, for it was when He was raised that He was glorified as God.

"I WILL RAISE UP THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID."

62. Therefore again the prophet says: In that day I will raise -up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen; 274 clearly he is declaring the body of Christ - born, as we said before, of David - as raised after death from the dead; for the body is called a" tabernacle." 275 For in these passages, both that ,He who according to the Resh was of the seed of David, the "'anointed,276 would be Son of God, and that after His death He would rise again, and that He would be in figure man, but in power God, and that He would be judge of the whole world, and sole worker of justice and redeemer - all has been declared by the Scripture.

BETHLEHEM OF JUDAEA.

63.And again the prophet Micheas also tells that the place where Christ was to be born was Bethlehem of Judaea, saying as follows: And thou, Bethlehem of Judaea, art not the least among the leaders of Juda; for out of thee shall come forth a leader, who shall shepherd my people Israel.211 But Bethlehem is also David's country, so that He is of the seed of David not only through the Virgin, who bore Him, but also by the fact that He was born in David's country, Bethlehem.278

THE SON OF DAVID FOR EVERMORE.

64.And again David says that Christ is to be born of his seed, as follows: For Thy servant David's sake, turn not away the face of Thy * anointed. The Lord hath sworn truth to David, and will not lie to him: of the *fruit of thy bowels I will set upon thy throne, if thy children keep my covenant, and my testimonies, which I have covenanted with them; and their son for evermore.279 But none of David's sons reigned " for evermore " - and even their kingdom was not " for evermore," for it is destroyed - but that king who was born of David, that is, Christ. All these testimonies concerning His descent according to the flesh tell explicitly and clearly both His race, and the place where He was going to be born, so that men should not seek Him who was born Son of God among the Gentiles, or anywhere else, but in Bethlehem of Judaea, from Abraham and from the seed of David.

ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM.

65. And His manner of entry into Jerusalem, which was the metropolis of Judaea, and where were His palace and the temple of God, is told by the prophet Isaias: Say to the daughter of Sion: behold, a king cometh to thee, meek, and seated upon an ass, a colt, the foal of an ass.28° For He entered Jerusalem so seated on an ass's colt, the multitudes spreading their garments for Him to ride upon; 281 and "daughter of Sion" is what he calls Jerusalem.

CHRIST IN THE PROPHETS.

66. Thus, then, did the prophets announce that the Son of God was to be born, and by what manner of birth, and where He was to be born, and that He is Christ, the sole eternal king. And now, how they foretold that when He came He would heal men (and He did heal them), and raise the dead (and He did raise them), and be hated and despised and undergo sufferings and be slain by crucifixion - as He was hated and despised and slain.282

CHRIST'S MIRACLES.

67. Let us now speak of His healings. Isaias says as follows: He hath taken our infirmities and carried our ills; 283 that is, " will take" and " will carry," for sometimes the Spirit of God relates through the prophets as a past event what is to come to pass in the future; for with God, what is approved and determined and decreed to be done is already accounted as done, and the Spirit uses expressions having in view the time in which the outcome of the prophecy is realised.284 And as for the kinds of cure, he .lf-recorded them in these words: In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the hook, and in darkness and obscurity the eyes of the blind shall see.285 And again, the same prophet says: Be strengthened, feeble hands, and palsied knees; he consoled, ye dispirited in mind; be strengthened, fear not; behold our God will render judgement, He will come Himself and save us. Then shall the eyes of the blind he opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear, then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the stammerer shall be free.286 And concerning the raising of the dead he says: So shall the dead rise again, and those shall rise again who are in the tombs; and by doing these things He will be believed to be Son of God.287

THE PASSION.

68. And that He would be despised and tormented and finally slain, Isaias says as follows: Behold, my son shall. lf-understand, and be exalted and extolled greatly; as many shall be astonished at Thee, so shall Thy visage be inglorious among men. And many peoples shall be astonished, and kings shall shut their mouths; for they to whom it was not told of Him shall see, and they who heard not shall take notice. Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? We have told our tale before His face, like a child, as a root in thirsty ground; and He had no comeliness, and no glory. And we have seen Him, and He had no comeliness, and no beauty. Rut His look was inglorious, made less than other men, a man in bruises and acquainted with the bearing of torments; because His face was turned away, He was despised and not esteemed. He heareth our sins, and for our sake suffereth pains, and we esteemed Him to be in pains and in bruises and in torments. But He was wounded because of our iniquities, and was tormented because of our sins. The chastisement of our peace is upon Him, by His wounds we are healed.288 And thereby it is also declared that He was tormented, as David says too: and I was tormented.280 But David was never tormented, but Christ, when order was given that He be crucified.290 And again :r-the Word says through Isaias: I have given my hack to blows, and my cheeks to buffets, and I have not turned away my face from the contumely of spitting.291 And the prophet Jeremias says the same thing, as follows: He shall give His cheek to him that striketh, He shall be filled with reproaches.292 All these things Christ underwent.

69. Isaias, then, goes on as follows: By His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, man hath gone astray in his way; and the Lord hath delivered Him-unto our sins; 293 so it is clear that it came about by the will of the Father that these things happened to Him, for the sake of our salvation. Then he says: And through His suffering He opened not the mouth; He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, mute as a lamb before the shearer.294 See how he declares His voluntary coming to death.295

THE TAKING OF JUDGEMENT.

But when the prophet says that in humility His judgement was taken away,296 he is speaking of the appearance of His humility: the taking of the judgement was according to the form of abasement.297 And the taking of the judgement is for some unto salvation, and for others unto torments of perdition; for there is taking to a person, and taking from a person.298 So too the judgement has been taken on some, and they have it in the torments of their perdition; but off others, and they are thereby saved. But those men took judgement on themselves, who crucified Him, and, having thus treated Him, did not believe Him, so that they be brought to perdition with torments through the judgement which was taken by them.299 And judgement has been taken off those who believe in Him, and they are no more subject to it; and the judgement, which is to come by fire, will be the perdition of those who did not believe, towards the end of this world.

"WHO SHALL DECLARE HIS GENERATION? "

70. Then he says: Who shall declare His generation? 300 Lest we despise Him as a man insignificant and of little account, because of His foes and because of the pains of His sufferings, this was said to put us right; for He who underwent all these things has a generation that cannot be declared, for " generation " means His lineage, and that is, His Father is beyond declaration and expression.301 Recognise, therefore, even this as the lineage of Him who under went all these sufferings, and despise Him not for the sufferings which He deliberately underwent for thy sake; but fear Him for His lineage.

"UNDER THY SHADOW SHALL WE LIVE."

71. And in another place Jeremias says: The spirit of our face is the Lord Christ; and how He was taken in their toils, of whom we said: under Thy shadow shall we live among the Gentiles.802 Scripture both tells that Christ, being Spirit of God, was to become a man subject to suffering, and as it were is struck with astonishment and wonder over His Passion, that He was thus to undergo sufferings, "under whose shadow we sa1·d we would 11·ve "; 303 and " shadow " means His body, for as a shadow is made by a body, so too Christ's body is made by His Spirit. But by "shadow" he also alludes to the lowliness and abjection of His body, for as the shadow even of bodies which are standing erect is on the ground and is trodden underfoot, so too the body of Christ was cast to the ground and trodden underfoot by His Passion, as it were.304 He also named the body of Christ a " shadow " as having become a shade of the glory of the Spirit, covering Him.305 But also, many a time, when the Lord was passing by, they laid beside the way those in the grip of divers sicknesses, and those whom His shadow touched were delivered.306

THE DEATH OF THE JUST MAN.

72. And again the same prophet speaks as follows concerning the sufferings of Christ: Lo, how the just perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and just men are taken away, and no man understandeth; for the just man is taken away from before the face of iniquity. His burial shall he peace, He hath been taken away from the midst.307 And who else is "the just man" to perfection, but the Son of God, who perfects by justifying those who believe in Him, who, like Him, are persecuted and slain? 308 But in saying: His burial shall be peace, he tells how He died for the sake of our salvation - for " in peace " means, in that of salvation 309 - and that by His death, those who were before mutually hostile and opposed, believing with one accord in Him, will have peace with one another, made well-disposed and friendly because of common faith in Him; as also happens. But the words: He hath been taken away from the midst refer to His resurrection from the dead - for He was no more seen as one dead, after His burial.310 That by dying and rising again He was to be permanently immortal, the prophet says thus: He sought life of Thee and thou hast given Him even length of days for ever and ever.311 What, then, is the point of "he sought life," since He was to die? He is therefore proclaiming His resurrection from the dead, and that having risen from the dead, He is immortal; for He received " life " that He might rise again, and "length of days for ever and ever," that He might be incorruptible.

THE RESURRECTION.

73. And again David speaks as follows concerning the death and resurrection of Christ: I have slumbered and slept; and I have awakened, because the Lord hath taken me.312 David was not saying this of himself, for he did not rise when he died, but the Spirit of Christ, who also spoke in the other prophets about Him, now also through David says: I have slumbered and slept; and I have awakened, because the Lord hath taken me. He calls death " sleep " because He rose.

HEROD AND PILATE.

74. And again David speaks as follows about the Passion of Christ: Why have the Gentiles raged, and the peoples devised vain things? Kings on earth stood by and princes met together, about the Lord and about His anointed one.313 For Herod, king of the Jews, and Pontius Pilate, procurator of Claudius Caesar,314 came together and condemned Him to be crucified; for Herod was frightened lest he be ousted by Him from the kingship, as if He were going to be some earthly king, while Pilate was constrained by Herod and by the Jews around him to deliver Him, unwillingly, to death, on the grounds that not to do so would be to go against Caesar by liberating a man who was given the title of king.815

THE PASSION (BY THE WILL OF THE FATHER).

75. And concerning the passion of Christ, moreover, the same prophet says: Thou hast rejected and despised us, Thou hast cast forth Thy anointed, Thou hast made void the covenant of my servant, Thou hast cast down His sanctuary. Thou hast broken down all His hedge, Thou hast cast His stronghold into trembling. Those who passed by the way have robbed Him, He is become a reproach to His neighbours. Thou hast exalted the right hand of His oppressors, Thou hast made His enemies to rejoice over Him. Thou hast turned away the help of His sword, and hast not assisted Him in battle; Thou hast cut Him off from purification, Thou hast cast His throne down to the ground. Thou hast shortened the days of His time; Thou hast covered Him with confusion.315 He plainly declared both that He would under go these things, and that it would be by the will of the Father; for it was by the will of the Father that He was to undergo the Passion.

THE ARREST OF CHRIST.

76. And Zachary says as follows: Awake, 0 sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that cleaveth to me; strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall he scattered.317 And this took place when He was arrested by the Jews; for all His disciples left Him, fearing lest perchance they die with Him. For even still not even they believed firmly in Him, till they saw Him risen from the dead.

CHRIST BEFORE HEROD.

77. Again, He says in the twelve prophets: and they brought Him hound as a present to the king.818 For Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judaea, and was at that time on bad terms with Herod, king of the Jews. Now therefore Pilate sent Christ, who was brought to him, bound, to Herod, bidding him ascertain by questioning whatever he wished concerning Him; 819 having found in Christ an apt occasion for reconciliation with the king.

DESCENT INTO HELL.

78.And in Jeremias He thus announces His death and descent into hell, in the words: And the Lord the Holy One of Israel bethought Him of His dead, who in the past had slept in the dust of the earth, and went down unto them, to bring the good news of salvation, to deliver them.320 Here He also gives the reason for His death; for His descent into hell was salvation for the departed.

CRUCIFIXION.

79. And again, concerning His Cross, Isaias says as follows: I have stretched forth my hands all the day to a stub born and contrary people; 321 for this is a figure of the Cross. And also, more plainly, David says: Hounds have encompassed me on all sides, the council of the malignant hath surrounded me; they have dug my hands and feet.322 And again he says: My heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels; and they have scattered my bones my body from the nailing; for the council of the malignant is risen up over me.324 In this He clearly and plainly signifies His own crucifixion. But Moses too says the same thing to the people, as follows: And thy life shall be hanging before thy eyes, and thou, shalt fear night and day, neither shalt thou trust thy life. 325

THE PARTING OF THE GARMENTS.

80. Again David says: They ha1Je looked upon me, they parted my garments among them; and upon my coat they cast lots.328 For when they crucified Him the soldiers divided His garments, according to their custom, and tore the garments to share them out. But as for the coat, because it was woven throughout without a seam, they cast lots, that he who won should take it.827

THE THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER.

81. And again Jeremias the prophet says: And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him whom they bought of the children of Israel, and they gave them unto the potter's field, as the Lord appointed unto me.828 For Judas, who was one of the disciples of Christ, having come to terms with the Jews and contracted with them - since he saw that they wished to kill Him - because he had been reproved by Him, taking the thirty staters *of the Law,329 delivered Christ to them, and then, repenting of what he had done, gave up the silver back again to the leaders of the Jews, and hanged himself.330 But they, judging it not proper to cast it into their treasury, because it was the price of blood, bought with it the field of a certain potter, for the burial of strangers.331

GALL AND VINEGAR.

82. And when they raised Him on the Cross, as He asked for drink, they gave Him to drink vinegar mixed with gall.332 And this very thing was told by David: They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.333

THE ASCENSION.

83. And that when raised from the dead He was to be taken up into heaven, David says as follows: The chariot of God is myriad old, thousands of charioteers; the Lord among them in Sina, in the holy place, hath ascended on high, He hath led captivity caritive. He hath taken, hath given gifts to men.334 And " captivity " refers to the destruction of the dominion of the rebel angels. And he announced also the place whence He was to mount to heaven from earth; for the Lord, he says, in Sion hath ascended on high.335 For it was on the mountain which is called that of Olives, over against Jerusalem, after His resurrection from the dead, that, having assembled His disciples and having instructed them concerning the kingdom of heaven, He was lifted up in their sight, and they saw how the heavens opened and received Him.336

THE ENTRY INTO HEAVEN.

84. Again David says this very thing: Take up your gates, 0 ye princes, and he lifted up, 0 eternal gates; and the king of glory shall enter in; 331 for the " eternal gates" are the heavens. But because the Word came down invisible to creatures, He was not known to them in His descent; since the Word had become incarnate, He was also visible, in His ascension; and when the principalities saw Him, the angels underneath called to those who were on the firmament: Take up your gates, and be lifted up, 0 ye eternal gates, that the king of glory enter in. 338 And when these wondered and said: Who is this? 359 those who have already seen Him testify a second time: the Lord strong and mighty, He is the king of glory.340

AWAITING THE JUDGEMENT.

85. And as He is risen and ascended, He awaits ever at the Father's right hand the time appointed by the Father for the judgement, when all His enemies are made subject to Him; and His enemies are all those who are found in rebel lion, angels and archangels and principalities and thrones, who spumed the truth.341 Indeed, the same prophet, David, says as follows: The Lord said to my Lord: sit at my right hand, until I set Thy enemies beneath Thy feet.342 And David says that He ascended to the place whence He had descended: His going out is from the end of heaven, and His resting-place even to the end of heaven.343 Then he refers to His judgement, saying: And there is none that shall hide himself from His heat.344

D. CHRIST IN THE NEW LAW

THE PROPHETS AND THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING.

86. So, if the prophets have prophesied that the Son of God was to appear on earth, and have prophesied also in what place on earth, and how, and as what manner of man He should appear,345 and the Lord took on Himself all these prophecies, our belief in Him was well-grounded, and true the tradition of the preaching, that is, the witness of the apostles, who, sent by the Lord, preached to the whole world that the Son of God was come unto sufferings, under gone for the destruction of death and the giving of life to the flesh; that by casting out hostilities to God, that is, iniquities, we should receive peace with Him, doing what is acceptable to Him. And this was announced by the prophets in the words: How beautiful are the feet of them that bring good tidings of peace, and that bring good tidings of good things.345 And that these were to come from Judaea and from Jerusalem to announce to us the word of God, which is also for us the law, Isaias says thus: For the law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jernsalem.347 And David says that it was to be preached to all the earth: Their sound is gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the earth.348

CHARITY SUPERSEDES THE LAW.

87. And that men were to be saved not according to the wordiness of the law, but according to the brevity of faith and charity, Isaias says thus: a word shortened and cut short in justice; because a short word shall God make upon all the earth.349 And therefore the apostle Paul says: Love is the fulfilment of the law,350 for he who loves the Lord has fulfilled the law. But the Lord too, when He was asked, what was the first commandment, said: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole strength; and the second, like to it: thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments, He says, dependeth the whole law and the prophets.351 So He has increased, through our faith in Him, our love towards God and our neighbour, rendering us godly and just and good. And there fore He has made a short word upon the earth.

CHRIST IN GLORY. HE HIMSELF REDEEMED US.

88. And that after the ascension He was to be exalted above all, and that there would be none to be compared or likened to Him, Isaias says thus: Who is there that is judged? Let him stand opposite. And who is there that is justified? Let him draw near to the Son of the Lord. Woe to you, who will all grow old like a garment, and the moth shall eat you up. And all flesh shall be brought low to the ground and the Lord alone shall be exalted among the exalted.352 And Isaias says that those who served God are in the end to be saved through His name: And those who served me shall be called by another name, which shall he blessed 'Upon earth, and they shall bless the true God.353 And that He was Himself to bring about these blessings in person, Isaias declared in the words: Not an intercessor, nor an angel, but the Lord Himself hath given them life, because He loves them and has pity on them; He Himself redeemed them.354

THE SPIRIT SUPERSEDES THE LAW.

89.That He does not wish those who are to be redeemed to be brought again under the Mosaic legislation - for the law has been fulfilled by Christ - but to go free in newness by the Word, through faith and love towards the Son of God,355 is said by Isaias: Remember not former things and attend not to what is from the beginning; behold I do a new thing, and now it shall spring forth, and you shall know it. I will make a way *in the desert, and rivers in dry land, to give drink to my chosen race and to my people, whom I have made my own, to tell my prowesses.356 And " desert " and "dry land" is what the calling of the Gentiles was previously, for the Word neither passed among them, nor *gave them to drink the Holy Spirit,357 who prepared the new way of godliness and justice. And He has poured forth rivers in abundance, to disseminate the Holy Spirit upon earth, as He had promised through the prophets to pour forth the Spirit on the face of the earth in the end of days.358

NEWNESS OF SPIRIT. THE NEW COVENANT.

90. So our calling is in newness of spirit and not in the oldness *of the letter,358 as Jeremias prophesied: Behold, days come, saith the Lord, and I will perfect for the house of Israel and for the house of Juda <a new covenant, not according to> the covenant,360 which I covenanted with their fathers, in the day that I took their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not remain firm in the covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant, which I * will covenant with the house of Israel after these days, saith the Lord: giving my law in their minds I will write it also in their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall he my people. And they shall no more teach every man his fellow citizen and every man his brother, saying: Know the Lord; for all shall know me, from the least of them even to the greatest; for I will he propitious to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.361.

THE GENTILES HEIRS TO THE PROMISES.

91. And that these promises were to be inherited by the calling from the Gentiles, in whom also the new testament was opened,262 Isaias thus says: In that day man shall have hope in his maker, and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel, and they shall not have hope in altars, nor in the works of their hands, which their fingers wrought.363 For most plainly this was said with regard to those who leave idols and believe God our Maker through the Holy One of Israel; and the Holy One of Israel is Christ; and He having been manifested to men - and we have looked well upon Him - we have not hope in altars, nor in the works of our hands.

92. And that He was to be manifested among us, that the Son of God became Son of man, and to be found by us who before were in ignorance, the Word Himself thus says in Isaias: I have been manifested to those that ask not for me I have been found by those that sought me not. I said: Lo, here I am, to a nation that did not call upon my name.364

THE GENTILES TO BE A HOLY PEOPLE.

93. And that this nation was to become a holy people was thus announced through Osee in the twelve prophets: And I will call that which was not my people, my people; and her that was not beloved, beloved. It shall be, in the place where it shall be called not my people, there they shall be called sons of the living God; "55 that is, what was said also by John the Baptist, that God is able of stones to raise up children to Abraham.366 For our hearts, taken away from stony services through faith see God and become sons of Abraham who was justified by faith.367 And therefore God says through the prophet Ezechiel: And I will give them another heart, and put a new spirit into them. And I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them another heart of flesh, so that they shall walk in my commandments and keep my judgements, and do them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.368

CHURCH MORE FRUITFUL THAN SYNAGOGUE.

94. So through the new calling a change of heart comes about in the Gentiles, through the Word of God, when He became incarnate and tabernacled with men, as also His disciple John says: and His Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.569 For this reason, too, the Church bears fruit in so great a number of saved, for it is no more by an intercessor, Moses, or by Elias's angel;'° that we are saved, but by the Lord Himself, who grants more children to the Church than to the Synagogue of the past,371 as Isaias announced in the words: Rejoice, 0 thou barren, that didst not hear (and "barren" is the Church, which in previous times did not at all bring forth children to God); shout and call out, thou that was not in travail; for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband (and the former Synagogue had a husband, the Law).372

THE GENTILES SUPPLANT ISRAEL.

95. But Moses also says in Deuteronomy that the Gen tiles are to become the head, and an unbelieving people the tail,373 and again says: Ye have made me jealous with what were no gods, and have angered me with your idols; and I will make you jealous with that which is no people, and will anger you with a foolish nation. Because they had left the real God and were giving service to unreal gods, and they had slain the prophets of God and were prophesying for Baal, to whom the Chanaanites had an idol; despising also the real Son of God, they rejected Him, but were choosing Barabbas, a robber taken in murder, and they denied the eternal king and were acknowledging the temporal Caesar as their king - God was pleased to grant His inheritance to the foolish Gentiles, and to those who were not God's citizens, and know not who God is.375 Since, then, life has been given us through this calling, and God has restored again in us Abraham's faith in Him, we should no more tum back, I mean, to the former legislation. For we have received the Lord of the Law, the Son of God; and through faith in Him we learn to love God with our whole heart, and our neigh bour as ourselves; but the love of God is without all sin, and love of one's neighbour works no evil to the neighbour.376

WE HAVE NO NEED OF THE LAW.

96. Therefore also we have no need of the law as pedagogue.377 Behold, we speak with the Father and stand face to face with Him, become infants in malice, and made strong in all justice and propriety.378 For no more shall the law say: Thou shalt not commit adulteryt9 to him who has not }f-even conceived the desire of another's wife; 880 or thou shalt not kill,381 to him who has put away from himself all anger and enmity; 382 thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's field, or his ox, or his ass,383 to those who make no account whatever of earthly things, but heap up profit in heaven.384 Nor an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,885 to him who counts no man his enemy, but all his neighbours, and therefore cannot even put forth his hand to revenge. Nor will it demand tithes of him who has vowed to God all his possessions, and who leaves father and mother and all his kindred, and follows th Word of God.386 Nor will he be commanded to leave idle one day of rest, who is constantly keeping sabbath, that is, giving homage to God in the temple of God, which is man's body, and at all times doing the works of justice.387 For I desire mercy, He says, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than holocaiists.388 But the unjust man that killeth a calf in sacrifice, as if he should immolate a dogi and he that off ereth fine fiour, like swine's blood.389 But every one that shall call upon the name of the Lord shall he saved; 890 and no other name of the Lord has been given under heaven, whereby men are saved,891 but that of God who is Jesus Christ the Son of God, whom even the devils obey, and the evil spirits, and all rebel powers.392

NEARNESS OF ALMIGHTY AID.

97. Through the invocation of the name of Jesus Christ, crucified under Pontius Pilate, :+Satan is cast out from men,393 and wherever anyone shall call upon Him, invoking Him, of those who believe in Him and do His will,394 He comes and stands close by, accomplishing the petitions of those who invoke Him with a pure heart. Having thereby received salvation, we are constant in rendering thanks to God, our Saviour through His great inscrutable and unsearchable wisdom, and the Preacher of redemption from heaven - the visible coming of our Lord, that is, His human career - which of ourselves we were not able to receive; for the things that are impossible with men are possible with God.395 There fore also Jeremias says concerning this: Who hath gone up into heaven and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds? Who hath passed over the sea, found her, and will bring her, of choice gold? There is none, that hath found her way, nor that understandeth her paths. But He that knoweth all things knoweth her with His wisdom, He that prepareth the earth for ever more, and filleth it with fat cattle, He that sendeth forth light, and it goeth, and hath called it, and it obeyed Him with fear; and the stars will shine in their watches and are glad. He called them, and they said: Here we are; with cheerfulness they have shined forth to Him that made them. This is our God, and no other shall he taken into account with Him. He found out all the way by understanding, and gave it to Jacob His servant, and to Israel His beloved. Afterwards He was seen on earth and conversed with men. This is the book of the commandments of God, and of the law, which is for ever. All they that keep it, unto life; but they that have forsaken it shall die.396 But " Jacob " and " Israel" he calls the Son of God, who received from the Father dominion over our life, and having received it, brought it down to us, to those who are far from Him, when He ·was seen on earth and conversed with men, joining and uniting the Spirit of God the Father with what God had fashioned, so that man became according to the image and likeness of God.397

CONCLUSION.

98. This, beloved, is the preaching of the truth,398 and this is the manner of our salvation, and this is the way of life, announced by the prophets and ratified by Christ and handed over by the apostles and handed down by the Church in the whole world to her children. This must be kept in all security, with good will,, and by being well-pleasing to God through good works and sound moral character.399

ERROR AGAINST THE PERSONS OF THE TRINITY.

99. And now let none think that there is any other God the Father than our Maker, as the heretics think; they despise the real God and make an idol of some unreal one, and create for themselves a father superior to our Creator, and think they have found on their m.vn account something

greater than the truth.40° For they are all wicked men and blasphemers against their Creator and Father, as we have shown in the " Exposure and overthrowal of knowledge falsely so called." 401 And others again despise the coming of the Son of God and the dispensation of His incarnation, which the apostles have transmitted to us, and which the prophets foretold would be the summing-up of humanity, as we have shown you in brief.402 And such people too should be counted among the unbelievers. And others do not admit the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and reject from themselves the charism of prophecy, being watered whereby, man bears fruit of life to God.403 And those are the ones spoken of by Isaias; for they shall he, he says, as a leafless terebinth, and as a garden without 1vater.404 And such men are of no use to God, in that they can bear no fruit.

BEWARE OF HERETICS!

100. So error with respect to the three articles of our seal has brought about much wandering away from the truth.405 For either they despise the Father, or they do not accept the Son, they speak against the dispensation of His incarnation, or they do not accept the Spirit, that is, they reject prophecy. And we must beware of all such men, and flee their ways, if we really desire to be well-pleasing to God and receive from Him salvation.

IRENAEUS'S "PROOF OF THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING"

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Glory to the all-holy Trinity, one God, Father and Son and all-provident Holy Spirit, for ever, amen.

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Remember in the Lord the godlike and thrice-blessed Lord Archbishop John,406 the owner of this book, brother of the holy king; and the humble scribe.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright © 2025 by BSB Publishing LLC

Author Biography

Introduction

GOD AND CREATURES. THE FALL.

THE WAY OF LIFE.

FAITH AND GOOD WORKS.

THE RULE OF FAITH.

ORIGIN OF CREATURES.

THE TRINITY AND CREATURES.

THE THREE ARTICLES OF THE FAITH.

THE TRINITY AND OUR REBIRTH.

GOD THE FATHER AND MANKIND.

SEVEN HEAVENS.

GOD SUPREME RULER.

CREATION OF MAN.

PARADISE.

EVE.

PRIMAL INNOCENCE.

TREE OF KNOWLEDGE. IMMORTALITY.

THE FALL.

HISTORY OF REDEMPTION.

CAIN AND ABEL.

THE GIANTS.

THE FLOOD.

THE CURSE OF CHAM.

THE BLESSINGS OF SEM AND JAPHETH

THE COVENANT WITH NOE.

BABEL.

ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB.

EGYPT. THE PASSOVER.

THE LAW.

THE SPIES. THE WANDERING IN THE DESERT.

DEUTERONOMY.

THE PROMISED LAND.

THE PROPHETS.

INCORRUPTIBILITY.

ADAM AND CHRIST.

EVE AND THE MOTHER OF GOD.

PROMISE TO ABRAHAM FULFILLED. JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.

PROMISE TO DAVID FULFILLED: VIRGIN BIRTH.

THE TRIUMPH OF THE REDEMPTION.

GENUINE BIRTH, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION.

THE PRIMACY OF CHRIST.

REVIEW: MOSES TO THE APOSTLES.

APOSTOLIC PREACHING.

C. CHRIST IN THE OLD LAW. THE PROPHECIES.

THE SON IN THE BEGINNING.

THE SON AND ABRAHAM. SODOM AND GOMORRHA.

THE SON AND JACOB: THEOPHANIES ARE OF THE SON.

THE SON AND MOSES IN THE DESERT.

THE TRINITY AND CREATURES.

THE SON ANOINTED KING. GOD SPEAKS IN THE PROPHETS.

THE SON PRE-EXISTENT. SAVIOUR OF ALL.

THE MESSAGE OF SCRIPTURE.

"THE VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE." "CHRIST JESUS."

"EMMANUEL." VIRGIN BIRTH.

"WONDERFUL COUNSELLOR."

"THEY SHALL WISH THAT THEY HAD BEEN BURNT WITH FIRE."

"A RULER FROM JUDA." "BLOOD OF THE GRAPE."

STAR OF JACOB.

ROD AND FLOWER FROM THE ROOTS OF JESSE.

"JUST JUDGEMENT TO THE LOWLY."

"THE WOLF SHALL FEED WITH THE LAMB."

"I WILL RAISE UP THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID."

BETHLEHEM OF JUDAEA.

THE SON OF DAVID FOR EVERMORE.

ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM.

CHRIST IN THE PROPHETS.

CHRIST'S MIRACLES.

THE PASSION.

THE TAKING OF JUDGEMENT.

"WHO SHALL DECLARE HIS GENERATION? "

"UNDER THY SHADOW SHALL WE LIVE."

THE DEATH OF THE JUST MAN.

THE RESURRECTION.

HEROD AND PILATE.

THE PASSION (BY THE WILL OF THE FATHER).

THE ARREST OF CHRIST.

CHRIST BEFORE HEROD.

DESCENT INTO HELL.

CRUCIFIXION.

THE PARTING OF THE GARMENTS.

THE THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER.

GALL AND VINEGAR.

THE ASCENSION.

THE ENTRY INTO HEAVEN.

AWAITING THE JUDGEMENT.

D. CHRIST IN THE NEW LAW

THE PROPHETS AND THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING.

CHARITY SUPERSEDES THE LAW.

CHRIST IN GLORY. HE HIMSELF REDEEMED US.

THE SPIRIT SUPERSEDES THE LAW.

NEWNESS OF SPIRIT. THE NEW COVENANT.

THE GENTILES HEIRS TO THE PROMISES.

THE GENTILES TO BE A HOLY PEOPLE.

CHURCH MORE FRUITFUL THAN SYNAGOGUE.

THE GENTILES SUPPLANT ISRAEL.

WE HAVE NO NEED OF THE LAW.

NEARNESS OF ALMIGHTY AID.

CONCLUSION.

ERROR AGAINST THE PERSONS OF THE TRINITY.

BEWARE OF HERETICS!

IRENAEUS'S "PROOF OF THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING"