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| Against the Heresy of Artemon.
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II.—Against the Heresy of Artemon.4961
| 4961 Two
fragments of an anonymous work ascribed by some to Caius. Artemon
and his followers maintained that Christ was mere (ψιλόν) man. |
I.
(In Eusebius’ Eccl. Hist., v.
28.)
For they say that all those of the first age, and
the apostles themselves, both received and taught those things which
these men now maintain; and that the truth of Gospel preaching
was preserved until the times of Victor, who was the thirteenth bishop
in Rome from Peter, and that from his successor Zephyrinus the truth
was falsified. And perhaps what they allege might be credible,
did not the Holy Scriptures, in the first place, contradict them.
And then, besides, there are writings of certain brethren older than
the times of Victor, which they wrote against the heathen in defence of
the truth, and against the heresies of their time: I mean Justin
and Miltiades, and Tatian and Clement, and many others, in all which
divinity is ascribed to Christ. For who is ignorant of the books
of Irenæus and Melito, and the rest, which declare Christ to be
God and man? All the psalms, too, and hymns4962
of brethren, which have been written
from the beginning by the faithful, celebrate Christ the Word of God,
ascribing divinity to Him. Since the doctrine of the Church,
then, has been proclaimed so many years ago, how is it possible that
men have preached, up to the time of Victor, in the manner asserted by
these? And how are they not ashamed to utter these calumnies
against Victor, knowing well that Victor excommunicated Theodotus the
tanner,4963
| 4963
[See cap. xxiii. p. 114, supra, and Euseb., iii. cap.
28.] | the leader
and father of this God-denying apostasy, who first affirmed that Christ
was a mere man? For if, as they allege, Victor entertained the
very opinions which their blasphemy teaches, how should he have cast
off Theodotus, the author of this heresy?
II.
(In Eusebius, as above.)
I shall, at any rate, remind many of the brethren
of an affair that took place in our own time,—an affair which,
had it taken place in Sodom, might, I think, have been a warning even
to them. There was a certain confessor, Natalius,4964
| 4964
This may, perhaps, be the Cæcilius Natalis who
appears in the Octavius of Minucius Felix, as maintaining the
cause of paganism against Octavius Januarius, and becoming a convert to
the truth through the discussion. Name, time, and profession at
least suit. [A painful conjecture, and quite gratuitous.
See the Octavius, cap. xvi. note 6, p. 181, vol. iv., this
series.] |
who lived not in distant
times, but in our own day. He was deluded once by Asclepiodotus,
and another Theodotus, a banker. And these were both disciples of
Theodotus the tanner, the first who was cut off from communion on
account of this sentiment, or rather senselessness, by Victor, as I
said, the bishop of the time.4965
| 4965
[τοῦ
τότε
ἐπισκόπου,
“the then bishop.” Text of Routh.] | Now Natalius was persuaded by
them to let himself be chosen4966
| 4966
There is another reading—named (κληθῆναι)
instead of chosen or elected (κληρωθῆναι). | bishop of this heresy, on the
understanding that he should receive from them a salary of a hundred
and fifty denarii a month. Connecting himself, therefore,
with them, he was on many occasions admonished by the Lord in
visions. For our merciful God and Lord Jesus Christ was not
willing that a witness of His own sufferings should perish, being
without the Church. But as he gave little heed to the visions,
being ensnared by the dignity of presiding among them, and by that
sordid lust of gain which ruins very many, he was at last scourged by
holy angels, and severely beaten through a whole night, so that he rose
early in the morning, and threw himself, clothed with sackcloth and
covered with ashes, before Zephyrinus the bishop, with great haste and
many tears, rolling beneath the feet not only of the clergy, but even
of the laity, and moving the pity of the compassionate Church of the
merciful Christ by his weeping. And after trying many a prayer,
and showing the weals left by the blows which he had received, he was
at length with difficulty admitted to communion.
III.
(In Eusebius, as above)
The sacred Scriptures they have boldly falsified,
and the canons of the ancient faith4967
| 4967
[Thus early, primitive canons are recognised as in force.] | they have rejected, and Christ they
have ignored, not inquiring what the sacred Scriptures say, but
laboriously seeking to discover what form of syllogism might be
contrived to establish their impiety.4968
| 4968
[Here we have an early foreshadowing of the schoolmen, whose rise
was predicted by St. Bernard in his protest against Abelard. See
Bernard, Opp., tom. i. p. 410, et alibi.] | And should any one lay before
them a word of divine Scripture, they examine whether it will make a
connected or disjoined form of syllogism;4969
| 4969
The connected form here is the hypothetical, as e.g.,
“If it is day, it is light.” The disjoined is
the disjunctive, as e.g., “It is either day or
night.” The words admit another rendering, viz.,
“Whether it, when connected or disjoined, will make the form of a
syllogism.” | and leaving the Holy Scriptures of
God, they study geometry, as men who are of the earth, and speak of the
earth, and are ignorant of Him who cometh from above. Euclid,
indeed, is laboriously measured4970
| 4970
There is a play in the original on the word
geometry. | by some of them, and Aristotle and
Theophrastus are admired; and Galen,4971
| 4971
Galen composed treaties on the figures of syllogisms, and on
philosophy in general. This is also a notable testimony, as
proceeding from a very ancient author, almost contemporary with Galen
himself. And from a great number of other writers, as well as
this one, it is evident that Galen was ranked as the equal of
Aristotle, Theophrastus, and even Plato. [Galen died circa
a.d. 200.] | forsooth, is perhaps even worshipped by
some of them. But as to those men who abuse the arts of the
unbelievers to establish their own heretical doctrine, and by the craft
of the impious adulterate the simple faith of the divine Scriptures,
what need is there to say that these are not near the faith? For
this reason is it they have boldly laid their hands upon the divine
Scriptures, alleging that they have corrected them. And that I do
not state this against them falsely, any one who pleases may
ascertain. For if any one should choose to collect and compare
all their copies together, he would find many discrepancies among
them. The copies of Asclepiades,4972
| 4972
In Nicephorus it is Asclepiodotus, which is also the
reading of Rufinus. | at any rate, will be found at variance
with those of Theodotus. And many such copies are to be had,
because their disciples were very zealous in inserting the corrections,
as they call them, i.e., the corruptions made by each of them.
And again, the copies of Hermophilus do not agree with these; and as
for those of Apollonius,4973
| 4973
It appears from Theodoret (Hæret. Fab., book ii. ch.
v.), as well as from Nicephorus and Rufinus, that we should read
Apollonides for Apollonius. | they are not consistent even with
themselves. For one may compare those which were formerly
prepared by them4974
| 4974
There is another reading—by him. | with
those which have been afterwards corrupted with a special object, and
many discrepancies will be found. And as to the great audacity
implied in this offence, it is not likely that even they themselves can
be ignorant of that. For either they do not believe that the
divine Scriptures were dictated by the Holy Spirit, and are thus
infidels; or they think themselves wiser than the Holy Spirit, and what
are they then but demoniacs? Nor can they deny that the crime is
theirs, when the copies have been written with their own hand;
nor4975
| 4975
This paragraph, down to the word “transcribed,” is wanting
in the Codex Regius. | did they
receive such copies of the Scriptures from those by whom they were
first instructed in the faith, and they cannot produce copies from
which these were transcribed. And some of them did not even think
it worth while to corrupt them; but simply denying the law and the
prophets for the sake of their lawless and impious doctrine, under
pretexts of grace, they sunk down to the lowest abyss of
perdition.4976
| 4976
[Note the care and jealousy with which the integrity of the
codices was guarded. Comp. Uncan. and Apoc.
Scriptures, by Churton, London, 1884.] | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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