Acts of Archelaus (Latin version) 55–64

Manes said: "Someone like you, when he had once said to him, 'Mary your mother and your brothers are standing outside,' he did not gladly receive the one who had said it, but rebuked him, saying: 'Who is my mother, or who are my brothers?' And he showed that those who did his will were both mothers and brothers to him. But if you want to call Mary his mother, it is not without danger for you; for without doubt he will be shown to have had brothers from her as well. And tell me whether they were begotten by Joseph or by the same Holy Spirit. Then we have had many Christs, if you say they were begotten by the same Holy Spirit. And if not by the same Spirit, but you still say that he had brothers, then without doubt it must be understood that after the Spirit, after Gabriel, the most chaste and spotless virgin married Joseph. And if it is wholly absurd that she lay with Joseph in any way, tell me whether he had brothers. Do you even charge her with the crime of adultery, most prudent Marcellus? But if none of these things befits the undefiled virgin, from where do you build up that she had brothers? And if you cannot show that she had brothers, how will Mary be his mother, as he says who dared to write: 'Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside'? And even if that man dared to say it, no one can be mightier or greater than him who shows us his mother and brothers; and he does not deign to hear even of David and Jesse.

"The apostle Peter, the most eminent of all the disciples, was able to recognize him at the time when each was putting forward the opinions they had of him; he said: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God'; and at once he blesses him, saying: 'Because my heavenly Father has revealed it to you.' See how great is the difference between the things said by Jesus. To the one who had said, 'Look, your mother is standing outside,' he answered: 'Who is my mother, or my brothers?' But to the one who said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,' he gave back blessedness and benediction. If, then, you want him to have been born of Mary, he himself lies, together with Peter; but if Peter speaks the truth, then without doubt the former was deceived. And if the former was deceived, the blame must be thrown back on the writer. So we know one Christ, according to the apostle Paul, whose words we believe, so far as they agree with his coming."

When they heard this, the crowds were moved, as if it held the reason of truth and Archelaus had nothing he could set against it; for the uproar that had arisen among them showed this. But when the multitude had quieted down, Archelaus answered in this way: "No one could be mightier than the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ; for if no name is found equal to him, because God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, neither can anyone be equal to him in testimony. And so I will bring you testimonies of his voice, first resolving what you have said, so that you may not say that they do not agree even with themselves, as is your custom to say. For you say that Jesus rebuked the one who had told him about his mother and brothers, as if he were lying, in the same way as the writer deceived. But neither was the one who told him about his mother and brothers rebuked, nor was Peter alone blessed above him; but each received from him a fitting answer to his own question, as the discussion will show in what follows.

"When someone is a little child, he thinks like a child, he understands like a child; but when he has become a mature man, he does away with the things of a child; that is, while one stretches forward to what lies ahead, let him forget what lies behind. So when our Lord Jesus Christ was teaching and healing the human race, so that all things should not perish together, and the mind of all the hearers was intent on such pursuits, this messenger came in at an inopportune time and brought up his mother and brothers. What then? Ought he, even by your own judgment, to have left those whom he was healing and teaching and talked with his mother and brothers? Would you not at once disparage him for this very thing? For when he chose for discipleship twelve in number, burdened with the weight of sin, whom he also named apostles, he said to them: 'Leave mother and father, so that you may become worthy of me,' so that the memory of father or mother could no longer bend their strong hearts. And again, when someone else wanted to say to him, 'I will go and bury my father,' he said: 'Let the dead bury their own dead.' See, then, how my Lord Jesus builds up his disciples for what is necessary, and entrusts holy words to each according to his deserts. So too at the time when someone had inopportunely told him about his mother, he did not choose to pass over the Father's command for the sake of his mother's presence."

"But to show you that these things are so: Peter once, when he had already obtained the blessing from him, said to Jesus, 'Be merciful to yourself, Lord; this shall not happen to you,' when Jesus had told him that the Son of Man must go up to Jerusalem and be killed and rise on the third day; and he answered Peter: 'Get behind me, Satan, for you do not think the things of God but the things of men.' Since, then, you think that the one who told him about his mother and brothers was rebuked by Jesus, while the one who had said to him shortly before, 'You are the Son of the living God,' obtained blessedness, see that Jesus rather preferred the former, to whom he deigned to give an answer more gently and with pardon; while to Peter, after that blessing, he grants no title of pardon any longer, because he did not carefully notice the nature of what was said to him. For the error of that messenger is corrected by the reasoning of the answer; but the slowness of this one's understanding is condemned by a sharper rebuke. From this you can notice that the Lord Jesus, keeping the fitting occasion of the questions put to him, gives each a worthy and fitting answer. But if, as you say, Peter is blessed because he had spoken the truth, and that messenger is blamed because he lied, tell me why, when the demons confessed him, saying, 'We know who you are, the Holy One of God,' he rebuked them and ordered them to be silent? Why did he not (if indeed he delights in the testimonies of those who confess him) reward these too with blessings, like Peter speaking the truth? But if this is absurd, it remains that we should understand what was said according to the place, the time, the persons, the matters, and the welfare of those concerned, lest by pronouncing rashly we be struck with a fitting punishment.

"And to teach you more and more that the one who brought news about his mother was much more honoured (for you, forgetting the matter put before us, have turned to something else), hear, then, briefly; for if you are willing to look more carefully at what was said, we will find that the Lord Jesus showed great mercy in that first case, and I will teach you this by suitable examples. A certain king, when he had gone out armed against an enemy and was thinking and planning how he could subdue a hostile and barbarous force, and was placed in great care and anxiety, set in the midst of his adversaries and already beginning to hold them captive, when that anxiety was pressing how he might provide for those who had laboured with him and borne the weight of the war, a certain messenger, meeting him inopportunely, began to suggest some things about his domestic affairs. He was astonished at the man's audacity and his inopportune suggestion, and thought of handing such a man over to death; and had he not been a messenger about his dearest kin, reporting that they were safe and doing everything rightly and prosperously, he could at once have received a fitting punishment. For what other care did the king have, at least in time of war, but the safety of the provincials and the ordering of military affairs? So too when my Lord Jesus Christ was fighting against the passions that had besieged the depths of the inward parts, and healing those who for a long time had been bound by various infirmities, and was bent with all his effort on the salvation of the whole, that messenger, coming inopportunely, brought news about his mother and brothers. And he could have received a sentence like Peter's, or even heavier; but the name of mother and brothers, put in between, called forth the Lord's mercy."

"But I want to show all still more, so that everyone may recognize how much impiety your assertion holds. For if, as you say, he was not born, then without doubt he did not suffer either; for it is impossible for one who was not born to suffer. And if he did not suffer, the name of the cross is taken away. And if the cross was not undergone, neither did Jesus rise from the dead. And if Jesus did not rise from the dead, neither will anyone else rise. And if no one will rise, there will be no judgment either. For it is certain that if I do not rise, I shall not be judged either. And if there will be no judgment, the keeping of God's commandments will be in vain; there is no place for self-restraint; let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. All these things you link together by denying that he was born of Mary. For if you confess that he was born of Mary, his passion must follow, and resurrection must follow his passion, and judgment his resurrection, and then the precepts of the Scriptures will be kept safe for us. So there is not just one question now, but very many in this word. For as the whole law and the prophets depend on two sayings, so too our whole hope hangs on the childbearing of blessed Mary.

"And so answer me on each thing I will ask you. Where shall we throw away so many and such great sayings of the apostle, which say: 'But when it was God's will among us, he sent his Son, made of a woman'? And again: 'Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.' And that: 'God both raised the Lord and will raise us with him by his power.' And many other things like these have been said, such as this: 'How do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ risen. And if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is empty. We are even found false witnesses of God, because we bore witness against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise. If indeed the dead do not rise, neither has Christ risen. And if Christ has not risen, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins; then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now Christ has risen from the dead, the first-fruits of those who sleep,' and the rest. Who, I ask, is found so rash and shameless as not to give credence (to these) so sacred sayings, in which there is no distinction and no doubt? Who, I ask, has bewitched you too, foolish Galatian, as he did them, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? So I think these testimonies are enough to show the judgment, the resurrection, and the passion, by which in consequence the birth from Mary is shown as well. What then? Suppose you are unwilling to agree; yet the Scripture proclaims it most clearly.

"Yet I will ask you, and you answer me. When Jesus bore witness to John and said that among those born of women none has arisen greater than John the Baptist, but the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he, tell me in what way he is greater than him in the kingdom of heaven? Was Jesus less than John in the kingdom of heaven? I say, far from it. Tell me, then, in what, so that you may at least surpass yourself. Without doubt Jesus was less than John among those born of women, but in the kingdom of heaven he was greater than he. Tell me this too, Manichaeus: if you say that Jesus was not born of Mary, but appeared as a man though he was not a man, the power that is in him bringing this about and doing it, tell me, upon whom did the Holy Spirit descend like a dove? Who is it, too, who is baptized by John? If he was perfect, if he was the Son, if he was the power, the Spirit could not enter, just as a kingdom cannot enter within a kingdom. And whose was the testimony that the voice sent from heaven brought, saying: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'? Come, tell me, do not delay: who is it that accomplishes all these things, who does all? Answer: do you thus shamelessly allege blasphemy in place of reason and try to bring it in?"

Manes said: "No one who has been able to answer what you have said incurs the charge of blasphemy; rather, he is most worthy of all praise. For a skilled man ought, by carefully fitting his answer to the matters proposed, to make plain to all the things that are being asked or doubted, especially to the unlearned. And since the reasoning of our teaching does not please you, solve this question too for me reasonably, like a good craftsman. For it seems to me pious to say that the Son of God needed nothing in arranging his coming to earth, and had no need of a dove, or of baptism, or of a mother, or of brothers, perhaps not even of a father, who according to you was Joseph; but he himself, coming down whole, transformed himself into a man in whatever way he wished, in the manner in which Paul says that he was found in appearance as a man. Show me, then, what thing he needed who transformed himself into all things. For when he wished, he transformed this man again into the form and face of the sun. And if you resist again, unwilling to give credence to me when I speak rightly, hear your own definition, in which you stand. For if you say that he was only a man from Mary and received the Spirit at baptism, then he will seem to be Son by advancement and not by nature. And if I grant you to say that he is Son by advancement, as a man made, do you think he is truly a man, that is, one who is flesh and blood? Then the Spirit too, which appeared like a dove, must be nothing other than a natural dove; for it was said 'like a man' and 'like a dove,' and whatever can be thought of the saying 'like a man,' hold the same opinion of the saying 'like a dove.' These things must be received alike; for so they are found in the Scriptures that are written about him."

Archelaus said: "As you cannot do it yourself, like a good craftsman, neither would I carefully fit and plainly solve so plain a question for you, were it not for those who stand by and hear us; and so, as is fitting, I will set out the reasoning of this question too. It does not seem pious to you to say that Jesus had Mary as his mother, and the rest you have now gone through, all of which I shudder to repeat. Sometimes a skilled man is compelled, because of the inexperience of his opponent, to say and do things that the occasion refuses; and so, since necessity has been put on me because of the crowd present, let me answer briefly the things you have not said rightly. Tell me, then: if we understand Jesus to have been made a man by nature from Mary, having flesh and blood, must we understand that the Holy Spirit too was a real dove and not a spirit? And how could a real dove enter a real man and remain in him? For flesh cannot enter flesh. But rather, if we confess Jesus to be a true man, and the one who is said to be 'like a dove' to be the Holy Spirit, the reasoning is safe for us in both. For by right reason a spirit dwells in a man, descends and remains; and fittingly this both happened and happens always, as you yourself before this time professed to be the Paraclete of God, so that I may say: You madman, not a man, who often forget what you say. For you said that the Spirit had come upon you, whom Jesus had promised to send; and from where, except that he descends from heaven? And if the Spirit descended upon a man worthy of himself, must we think that real doves descended upon you? So that we should rather take you for a thief of doves, contriving snares and traps for them; for you deserve to be mocked with ridiculous words; yet I spare you, lest I seem to offend my hearers by saying these things, and especially because it is beside my purpose to heap on you what you deserve to hear."

"But let me return to the matter. For I remember his transformation, by which you say that God transformed himself into a man or into the sun, wanting to show from this that our Jesus was made a man in appearance and look only, which far be it from any of the faithful to say. Otherwise, according to you, all these things come back to us as a dream and figures; and not only that, but even the name of his coming will be blotted out; for he could have done what he wanted while remaining in heaven, if you say that he is a spirit and not a man. But it is not so, since he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. I speak of him who was made man from Mary. For what? Could we not too have told these things much more easily and elegantly? But far be it from us to turn aside from the truth by one iota or one stroke. For he who was born of Mary is the Son, who willed to bear this whole great contest, Jesus. This is the Christ of God, who descended upon him who is from Mary. And if you do not believe even the voice that came from heaven, you yourself pronounce something rash, and if you say it, no one will believe it. For at once Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil; and since the devil did not know him, he said to him: 'If you are the Son of God.' But he did not know why she had borne the Son of God, who preached the kingdom of heaven, who was a great dwelling-place and could not have been borne by anyone else; and so, fastened to the cross, when he had risen from the underworld, he was taken up there where Christ the Son of God reigned, so that, when he begins to hold the judgment, those who did not know him may see him whom they pierced.

"And so that you may believe: since his disciples remained with him a whole year, why did none of them fall on his face, as you said a little before, except in that one hour when his face shone like the sun? Was it not because of that dwelling-place which had been made from Mary? For as no one else could bear the weight of the Paraclete except only the disciples and blessed Paul, so too no one else could bear the Spirit who had come down from heaven, through whom the Father's voice testifies, saying, 'This is my beloved Son,' except Jesus, who was born of Mary, above all the saints. But answer this too that I put to you. If you say that he was a man in appearance and look, how could he be seized by the Pharisees, who were born of man and woman, and be dragged to judgment, since a spiritual body cannot be grasped by grosser bodies? If you have anything with which to answer to the word and the proposition, you who have never answered the propositions, go on, I beg you, and bring me a handful of the sun, or a measure full of it. But the sun itself, because it is of a finer body, can cover and surround you, while you do it no harm even if you trample on it. But my Lord Jesus, if he was held, was held as a man by men. If he is not a man, neither was he held. If he was not held, neither did he suffer, nor was he baptized. If he was not baptized, neither has any of us been baptized. And if there is no baptism, there will be no forgiveness of sins either, but each one will die in his sins."

Manes said: "So baptism is given for the forgiveness of sins?"

Archelaus said: "Yes."

Manes said: "Then Christ sinned, since he was baptized?"

Archelaus said: "Far from it; rather he was made sin for us, taking our sins on himself, (for this reason) because he was born of a woman, and for this reason he came to baptism, to receive purification for this part, so that the body he had taken on could bear the Spirit who had come down in the form of a dove."

When Archelaus had said this, the crowds wondered at the truth of his teaching and gave him immense praise with shouts, so that they tried with all eagerness not to let him go back home any more. And then they departed; but afterwards, when they had gathered, Archelaus urged them to agree with him and to hear the word; for not only those who were with Diodorus heard him, but also all who were present from his province and from neighbouring places. And when silence had been made, he began to speak about Manes in this way:

"How our teaching stands you have heard, and you have made trial of our faith; for as far as I could understand the Scriptures, I have set them out before you all. But now, as I wish to say a very little, I beg you to listen in silence, so that you may know who and from where and of what kind this man is who has come, as a certain Sisinnius, one of his companions, told me; whom I am ready, if you please, to call as a witness of what I will say. Nor will he refuse to say the same things that we say, in the presence of Manes; for the aforesaid man has believed our teaching, as has another with me, named Turbo. Whatever, then, they have testified to me, and also what we ourselves have found out about this man, I will not keep hidden from your knowledge."

Then the crowds, roused all the more, gathered to hear Archelaus; for the things he said gave them very great delight. For this reason they eagerly urged him to say whatever he wished, whatever he thought; they promised that they were ready to listen and to stay until evening, even with the lamps lit. Roused by their eagerness, Archelaus began to speak with all confidence: "Brothers, you have heard the earlier facts about my Lord Jesus, I mean those that are shown from the law and the prophets; and you are not ignorant of the later facts about my Lord Christ Jesus our Saviour. But why say more? We are called Christians from our desire for the Saviour, as the whole world bears witness and the apostles teach; and Paul too, the best architect, laid our foundation, that is, the church's, and handed down its law, ordaining ministers and presbyters and bishops in it, describing in each place how and in what way the ministers of God ought to be made, of what kind and how presbyters, and of what kind those ought to be who desire the office of bishop; all of which, well and rightly ordered for us, keep their state to this day, and the discipline of this rule remains among us."

"But this man, Manes by name, who has now bubbled up to us from the province of the Persians, against whom the disputation has now been stirred up for me a second time, I will tell you his origin and his doings; and I will also show most clearly where his teaching comes from. He is not the first author of a teaching of this kind, nor the only one; but a certain man named Scythianus, in the time of the apostles, was the author and leader of this sect, as there were also many other apostates, who, wanting to claim the first place for themselves, wrote false things in place of true, perverting all the simpler people to their own pleasure; their names and treacheries time does not now allow me to tell. This Scythianus, then, brought in this duality opposed to itself, which he took from Pythagoras, like all the other followers of this doctrine, who all defend duality, turning aside from the straight way of Scripture; but they will not progress further. Yet none prevailed so shamelessly as this Scythianus. For he brought in enmities between two unbegotten ones, and all the things that follow from an assertion of this kind. This Scythianus himself was of the race of the Saracens, and he took as wife a captive woman from the Upper Thebaid, who persuaded him to live in Egypt rather than in the deserts. And would that that province had never received him, in which, while he lived, he learned the wisdom of the Egyptians; for he was, to tell the truth, very rich in talent and in wealth, as those who knew him have testified to us also by tradition. He had a disciple who wrote four books for him, of which he called one the book of Mysteries, another the book of Chapters, the third the Gospel, and the last of all he called the Treasure; and he had these four books and one disciple, named Terebinthus. When the two of them had spent some time together, Scythianus alone decided to go to Judea, to meet with all who seemed to be teachers there; and it happened that he at once died and could accomplish nothing."

"That disciple, packing up everything there was, took to flight and made for Babylonia, which is now a province inhabited by the Persians and lies now about six days' and nights' journey from our parts. When he had come there, Terebinthus himself spread such a report about himself, saying that he was filled with all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was now called not Terebinthus but Buddas, and that this name had been given to him; and he pretended that he had been born of a certain virgin and brought up by an angel in the mountains. But a certain prophet, Parcus, and Labdacus, son of Mithras, accused him of lying, and there was a fairly spirited contest between them every day over this matter. But why say more? Though often …"

"Then everything he had brought with him from Egypt remained with her, and she rejoiced greatly at his death for two reasons: first, because she did not look kindly on his arts; second, because of what she had gained from the inheritance; for she was very foresighted. Being alone, she wanted to have someone to serve her, and she bought herself a little boy about seven years old, named Corbicius, whom she at once set free and taught letters. When he was twelve years old, the old woman died and handed over to him all her goods, and with the rest of what was left also those four little books that Scythianus had written, each of not many lines. Then Corbicius, having buried his mistress, began to use all the goods left to him, and moved to the middle of the city where the king of the Persians lived; and changing his name, he called himself Manen instead of Corbicius, or rather not Manen but Manes; for the Persian language uses such an inflection. So that boy, when he had become about sixty years old, was learned in the teaching current in those places, almost, I might say, above every man; yet he studied more carefully what was contained in those four little books. He also acquired three disciples, whose names are these: Thomas, Addas, and Hermas. Then he took those little books and translated them, so as to insert into them many other things of his own, which are like old wives' tales. He had, then, these three disciples as accomplices in his evils; and he wrote his own name on the books, deleting the name of the former owner, as if he alone had written them himself.

"Then he decided to send his disciples with what he had written in the books to the upper regions of that province and through various cities and villages, so as to have some followers; and Thomas wished to take the regions of Egypt, Addas those of Scythia, while Hermas alone chose to stay with him. When they had set out, the king's son was seized by some illness; and the king, wishing to cure him, put up an edict inviting anyone who could cure him to come forward, with a great reward offered. Then this man, like those who play at cubus (which is the name of a game of dice), presented himself before the king, saying that he would cure the boy. When the king heard this, he received him with deference and was glad to have him. But not to weary my hearers by telling many of the things he did: the boy died in his hands, or rather was done to death. Then the king ordered Manes to be thrust into prison and loaded with a talent's weight of iron. And those two disciples of his who had been sent to teach through the various cities were sought for punishment; and they, though fleeing, never …"