Chapter 5

Chapter V.—Excellence of the Knowledge of the True Prophet.

And Peter, being greatly pleased with this, answered:  “Already hath the rectifying process taken its end, as regards you, knowing as you do the greatness of the infallible prophecy, without which it is impossible for any one to receive that which is supremely profitable.  For of many and diverse blessings which are in the things which are or which may be, the most blessed of all—whether it be eternal life, or perpetual health, or a perfect understanding, or light, or joy, or immortality, or whatever else there is or that can be supremely good in the nature of things—cannot be possessed without first knowing things as they are; and this knowledge cannot be otherwise obtained than by first becoming acquainted with the Prophet of the truth.

Chapter V.—Use of Errors.

Then I Clement, hearing this, said:  “How say you, my lord, that even the falsehoods of the Scriptures are set forth happily for the proof of men?”  And he answered:  “The falsehoods of the Scriptures have been permitted to be written for a certain righteous reason, at the demand of evil.  And when I say happily, I mean this:  In the account of God, the wicked one, not loving God less than the good one, is exceeded by the good in this one thing only, that he, not pardoning those who are impious on account of ignorance, through love towards that which is profound, desires the destruction of the impious; but the good one desires to present them with a remedy.  For the good one desires all to be healed by repentance, but saves those only who know God.  But those who know Him not He does not heal:  not that He does not wish to do so, but because it is not lawful to afford to those who, through want of judgment, are like to irrational animals, the good things which have been prepared for the children of the kingdom.

Chapter V.—Discretion the Better Part of Valour.

“Wherefore I do not think that any one will be able to quench such a fire as has been kindled.  For no one doubts his promises; but every one affirms that this is so.  Wherefore, lest you should expose yourselves to danger, I advise you not to attempt anything against him until Peter come, who alone shall be able to resist such a power, being the most esteemed disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For so much do I fear this man, that if he had not elsewhere been vanquished in disputing with my lord Peter, I should counsel you to persuade even Peter himself not to attempt to oppose Simon.”

Chapter V.—Theory of Magic.

“Then Appion said:  ‘Admit that I know more of these things than you do.  However, that you may not think that there is nothing in what you have heard from me in reference to what you have said, I will tell you how the demons are under necessity to obey the magicians in the matters about which they are commanded.  For as it is impossible for a soldier to contradict his general, and impossible for the generals themselves to disobey the king—for if any one oppose those set over him, he is altogether deserving of punishment—so it is impossible for the demons not to serve the angels who are their generals; and when they are adjured by them, they yield trembling, well knowing that if they disobey they shall be fully punished.  But the angels also themselves, being adjured by the magicians in the name of their ruler, obey, lest, being found guilty of disobedience, they be destroyed.  For unless all things that are living and rational foresaw vengeance from the ruler, confusion would ensue, all revolting against one another.’

Chapter V.—Kronos and Rhea Explained.

“Now you must think of Kronos as time (chronos), and Rhea as the flowing (rheon) of the watery substance.  For the whole body of matter was borne about for some Time, before it brought forth, like an egg, the sphere-like, all-embracing heaven (ouranos), which at first was full of productive marrow, so that it was able to produce out of itself elements and colours of all sorts, while from the one substance and the one colour it produced all kinds of forms.  For as a peacock’s egg seems to have only one colour, while potentially it has in it all the colours of the animal that is to be, so this living egg, conceived out of infinite matter, when set in motion by the underlying and ever-flowing matter, produces many different forms.  For within the circumference a certain living creature, which is both male and female, is formed by the skill of the indwelling divine spirit.  This Orpheus calls Phanes, because when it appeared (phaneis) the universe shone forth from it, with the lustre of that most glorious of the elements, fire, perfected in moisture.  Nor is this incredible, since in glowworms nature gives us to see a moist light.

Chapter V.—Peter Departs for Sidon.

After Peter had spent a few days in teaching them in this way, and in healing them, they were baptized.  And after that, all sat down together in the market-places in sackcloth and ashes, grieving because of his other wondrous works, and repenting their former sins.  And when they of Sidon heard it, they did likewise, and sent to beseech Peter, since they could not come themselves for their diseases.  And Peter did not spend many days in Tyre; but when he had instructed all its inhabitants, and freed them from all manners of diseases and had founded a church, and set over it as bishop one of the elders who were with him, he departed for Sidon.  But when Simon heard that Peter was coming, he straightway fled to Beyrout with Appion and his friends.

Chapter V.—Faith the Gift of God.

“For even the Hebrews who believe Moses, and do not observe the things spoken by him, are not saved, unless they observe the things that were spoken to them.  For their believing Moses was not of their own will, but of God, who said to Moses, ‘Behold, I come to thee in a pillar of cloud, that the people may hear me speaking to thee, and may believe thee for ever.’  Since, therefore, both to the Hebrews and to those who are called from the Gentiles, believing in the teachers of truth is of God, while excellent actions are left to every one to do by his own judgment, the reward is righteously bestowed upon those who do well.  For there would have been no need of Moses, or of the coming of Jesus, if of themselves they would have understood what is reasonable.  Neither is there salvation in believing in teachers and calling them lords.

Chapter V.—Hero-Worship.

“Therefore the magician Nebrod, being destroyed by this lightning falling on earth from heaven, for this circumstance had his name changed to Zoroaster, on account of the living (ζῶσαν) stream of the star (ἀστέρος) being poured upon him.  But the unintelligent amongst the men who then were, thinking that through the love of God his soul had been sent for by lightning, buried the remains of his body, and honoured his burial-place with a temple among the Persians, where the descent of the fire occurred, and worshipped him as a god.  By this example also, others there bury those who die by lightning as beloved of God, and honour them with temples, and erect statues of the dead in their own forms.  Thence, in like manner, the rulers in different places were emulous of like honour, and very many of them honoured the tombs of those who were beloved of them, though not dying by lightning, with temples and statues, and lighted up altars, and ordered them to be adored as gods.  And long after, by the lapse of time, they were thought by posterity to be really gods.

Chapter V.—The Fear of God.

“Therefore you shall be able to persuade yourselves with respect to the things that are profitable, if, like charmers, you say to the horrible serpent which lurks in your heart, ‘The Lord God thou shalt fear, and Him alone thou shalt serve.’  On every account it is advantageous to fear Him alone, not as an unjust, but as a righteous God.  For one fears an unjust being, lest he be wrongfully destroyed, but a righteous one, lest he be caught in sin and punished.  You can therefore, by fear towards Him, be freed from many hurtful fears.  For if you do not fear the one Lord and Maker of all, you shall be the slaves of all evils to your own hurt, I mean of demons and diseases, and of everything that can in any way hurt you.

Chapter V.—Forasmuch as Ye Did It Unto One of These.

“Can it therefore be said that, for the sake of piety towards God, ye worship every form, while in all things ye injure man who is really the image of God, committing murder, adultery, stealing, and dishonouring him in many other respects?  But you ought not to do even one evil thing on account of which man is grieved.  But now you do all things on account of which man is disheartened, for wrong is also distress.  Wherefore you murder and spoil his goods, and whatever else you know which you would not receive from another.  But you, being seduced by some malignant reptile to malice, by the suggestion of polytheistic doctrine, are impious towards the real image, which is man, and think that ye are pious towards senseless things.

Chapter V.—Clement’s Office of Service.

Then I answered, “Do not think, my lord, that I should endure that grief foolishly, but with some good reason.  For since I hold you, my lord, in place of all, father, mother, brothers, relatives, you who are the means through God of my having the saving truth, holding you in place of all, I have the greatest consolation.  And in addition to this, being afraid of my natural youthful lust, I was concerned lest, being left by you (being but a young man, and having now such a resolution that it would be impossible to desert you without incurring the anger of God,) I should be overcome by lust.  But since it is much better and safer for me to remain with you, when my mind is with good reason set upon venerating, therefore I pray that I may always remain with you.  Moreover, I remember you saying in Cæsarea, ‘If any one wishes to journey with me, let him piously journey.’  And by piously you meant, that those who are devoted to the worship of God should grieve no one in respect of God, such as by leaving parents, an attached wife, or any others.  Whence I am in all respects a fitting fellow-traveller for you, to whom, if you would confer the greatest favour, you would allow to perform the functions of a servant.”

Chapter V.—Mattidia Wishes to Be Baptized.

When she heard this, she said:  “What, then, prevents me from being baptized this day? for before I saw you I turned away from the so-called gods, induced by the thought that, though I sacrificed much to them almost every day, they did not aid me in my necessities.  And with regard to adultery, what need I say? for not even when I was rich was I betrayed into this sin by luxury, and the poverty which succeeded has been unable to force me into it, since I cling to my chastity as constituting the greatest beauty, on account of which I fell into so great distress.  But I do not at all imagine that you, my lord Peter, are ignorant that the greatest temptation arises when everything looks bright.  And therefore, if I was chaste in my prosperity, I do not in my despondency give myself up to pleasures.  Yea, indeed, you are not to suppose that my soul has now been freed from distress, although it has received some measure of consolation by the recognition of Clement.  For the gloom which I feel in consequence of the loss of my two children rushes in upon me, and throws its shadow to some extent over my joy; for I am grieved, not so much because they perished in the sea, but because they were destroyed, both soul and body, without possessing true piety towards God.  Moreover, my husband, their father, as I have learned from Clement, went away in search of me and his sons, and for so many years has not been heard of; and, without doubt, he must have died.  For the miserable man, loving me as he did in chastity, was fond of his children; and therefore the old man, deprived of all of us who were dear to him above everything else, died utterly broken-hearted.”

Chapter V.—Practical Refutation of Genesis.

“While we were thus talking, a great multitude gathered round us.  And then I looked to the multitude, and said:  ‘I and my tribe have had handed down to us from our ancestors the worship of God, and we have a commandment to give no heed to Genesis, I mean to the science of astrology; and therefore I gave no attention to it.  For this reason I have no skill in astrology, but I shall state that in which I have skill.  Since I am unable to refute Genesis by an appeal to the science which relates to Genesis, I wish to prove in another way that the affairs of this world are managed by a providence, and that each one will receive reward or punishment according to his actions.  Whether he shall do so now or hereafter, is a matter of no consequence to me; all I affirm is, that each one without doubt will reap the fruit of his deeds.  The proof that there is no Genesis is this.  If any one of you present has been deprived of eyes, or has his hand maimed, or his foot lame, or some other part of the body wrong, and if it is utterly incurable, and entirely beyond the range of the medical profession,—a case, indeed, which not even the astrologers profess to cure, for no such cure has taken place within the lapse of a vast period,—yet I praying to God will cure it, although it could never have been set right by Genesis.  Since this is so, do not they sin who blaspheme the God that fashioned all things?’  And the old man answered:  ‘Is it then blasphemy to say that all things are subject to Genesis?’  And I replied:  ‘Most certainly it is.  For if all the sins of men, and all their acts of impiety and licentiousness, owe their origin to the stars, and if the stars have been appointed by God to do this work, so as to be the efficient causes of all evils, then the sins of all are traced up to Him who placed Genesis in the stars.’

Chapter V.—Difference Between the True Religion and Philosophy.

And our father began to say:  “Do not suppose, my dearest Peter, that I am not thinking of the doctrines preached by you.  I was thinking of them.  But during the past night, when Clement urged me earnestly to give in my adhesion to the truth preached by you, I at last answered, ‘Why should I? for what new commandment can any one give more than what the ancients urged us to obey?’  And he, with a gentle smile, said, ‘There is a great difference, father, between the doctrines of the true religion and those of philosophy; for the true religion receives its proof from prophecy, while philosophy, furnishing us with beautiful sentences, seems to present its proofs from conjecture.’  On saying this, he took an instance, and set before us the doctrine of philanthropy, which you had explained to him, which rather appeared to me to be very unjust, and I shall tell you how.  He alleged that it was right to present to him who strikes you on the one cheek the other also, and to give to him who takes away your cloak your tunic also, and to go two miles with him who compels you to go one, and such like.”

Chapter V.—Peter Commences the Discussion.

Peter then said:  “I am ready to do as the umpire of our discussion has said; and straight-way without any delay I shall set forth my opinion in regard to God.  I then assert that there is one God who made the heavens and the earth, and all things that are in them.  And it is not right to say or to think that there is any other.”  And Simon said:  “But I maintain that the Scriptures believed in amongst the Jews say that there are many gods, and that God is not angry at this, because He has Himself spoken of many gods in His Scriptures.

Chapter V.—Jesus Inconsistent in His Teaching.

“‘In saying this, Jesus is consistent not even with himself.  For sometimes by other utterances, taken from the Scriptures, he presents God as being terrible and just, saying, “Fear not him who killeth the body, but can do nothing to the soul; but fear Him who is able to cast both body and soul into the Gehenna of fire.  Yea, I say unto you, fear Him.”  But that he asserted that He is really to be feared as being a just God, to whom he says those who receive injustice cry, is shown in a parable of which he gives the interpretation, saying:  “If, then, the unjust judge did so, because he was continually entreated, how much more will the Father avenge those who cry to Him day and night?  Or do you think that, because He bears long with them, He will not do it?  Yea, I say to you, He will do it, and that speedily.”  Now he who speaks of God as an avenging and rewarding God, presents Him as naturally just, and not as good.  Moreover he gives thanks to the Lord of heaven and earth.  But if He is Lord of heaven and earth, He is acknowledged to be the framer of the world, and if framer, then He is just.  When, therefore, he sometimes calls Him good and sometimes just, he is not consistent with himself in this point.  But his wise disciple maintained yesterday a third point, that real sight is more satisfactory than vision, not knowing that real sight can be human, but that vision confessedly proceeds from divinity.

Chapter V.—Peter Doubts Simon’s Honesty.

When Simon had made these statements, Peter said to him:  “Can you call to witness that these are your beliefs that being Himself,—I do not mean Him whom you speak of now as being unrevealed, but Him in whom you believe, though you do not confess Him?  For you are talking nonsense when you define one thing in stead of another.  Wherefore, if you call Him to witness that you believe what you say, I shall answer you.  But if you continue discussing with me what you do not believe, you compel me to strike the empty air.”  And Simon said:  “It is from some of your own disciples that I have heard that this is the truth.”  And Peter said:  “Do not bear false witness?”  And Simon said:  “Do not rebuke me, most insolent man.”  And Peter said:  “So long as you do not tell who it was who said so, I affirm that you are a liar.”  And Simon said:  “Suppose that I myself have got up these doctrines, or that I heard them from some other, give me your answer to them.  For if they cannot be overturned, then I have learned that this is the truth.”  And Peter said:  “If it is a human invention, I will not reply to it; but if you are held fast by the supposition that it is the truth, acknowledge to me that this is the case, and I can then myself say something in regard to the matter.”  And Simon said:  “Once for all, then, these doctrines seem to me to be true.  Give me your reply, if you have aught to say against them.”