In the next place, that he may have the appearance of knowing still more than he has yet mentioned, he says, agreeably to his usual custom, that “there are others who have wickedly invented some being as their teacher and demon, and who wallow about in a great darkness, more unholy and accursed than that of the companions of the Egyptian Antinous.”  And he seems to me, indeed, in touching on these matters, to say with a certain degree of truth, that there are certain others who have wickedly invented another demon, and who have found him to be their lord, as they wallow about in the great darkness of their ignorance.  With respect, however, to Antinous, who is compared with our Jesus, we shall not repeat what we have already said in the preceding pages.  “Moreover,” he continues, “these persons utter against one another dreadful blasphemies, saying all manner of things shameful to be spoken; nor will they yield in the slightest point for the sake of harmony, hating each other with a perfect hatred.”  Now, in answer to this, we have already said that in philosophy and medicine sects are to be found warring against sects.  We, however, who are followers of the word of Jesus, and have exercised ourselves in thinking, and saying, and doing what is in harmony with His words, “when reviled, bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat;”⁴²⁶⁹

4269 1 Cor. iv. 12, 13.

4270 Tit. iii. 10, 11.

4271 Κίρκας καὶ κύκηθρα αἱμύλα.

E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH