The Apocriticus (Answers to the Pagan Critic) 3.42–4.9

[The Christian (Macarius) answers the objection on food sacrificed to idols (3.35).] Having exercised you at some length in this question of the heading, we will next speak, if you like, of how Paul forbade eating food sacrificed to idols but does not forbid taking what is sold in the meat market, though those who kept the meat stalls at that time were known to be for the most part Greeks. See from this the wise man's exactness: how he makes the daily life safe, forbidding the godly to touch what was sacrificed to demons, yet allowing his followers to eat what was sold in the meat market without inquiry. For at that time the slaughter of four-footed beasts was great and varied everywhere on earth: one kind was made to the spirits of the air, another to those on earth, and other victims were sacrificed to those under the earth. For error, taking the serpent as its deceitful servant, piped a long song, charming and subduing earth, sea, air, and the regions under the earth with destructive spells. The invisible spirits that fly in the air, which Isaiah spoke of as flying serpents, demanded white and transparent sacrifices, since the air is bright and filled with light down to the surface of things below. Certain other demons of the earth sought herds of black and dusky four-footed beasts for their sacrifices, since the earth is by nature black and gloomy, and they ordered their sacrifices to be slaughtered on high altars. Others, under the earth, likewise bade black victims be sacrificed to them in pits, and the remains of what was slaughtered be buried with them on the spot. Other deceitful phantoms of the sea demanded sacrifices of black winged creatures, and ordered them to be released into the sea, since the sea is black and constantly moving. So, since wickedness was thus butchering irrational nature through rational beings, and the multitude of four-footed beasts and birds was being consumed so pitiably, the apostle rightly forbade the faithful to touch such things. You may confirm these things from the Philosophy from Oracles and learn the account of the sacrifices exactly, by reading the oracle of Apollo concerning sacrifice, which Porphyry, as though puffed up with pride, handed down in secret to his own followers, binding them with a dreadful oath, as he thought, not to tell these things freely to many. For the tragedy of this novel calamity will be plain to you: how the plots of destroying spirits, like an attack of wild wolves from the desert, tore the race of men in various ways without mercy, like a flock without a shepherd. One could not breathe or rest; everything from one end to the other was driven together as if by a thunderbolt or lightning stroke. If a man crossed the sea, he offered a sacrifice; if he travelled by land, he sacrificed four-footed beasts; if he dug a cave or broke up dry ground, he threw down offerings to those under the earth; and many, as though buying off their own death, buried alive men of their own race. So Amestris, the wife of King Xerxes, sent twice seven children alive to Hades on her own behalf each year, covering them with earth, to propitiate the demons under the earth. Stakes, goads, and snares had filled the world everywhere; no air, no land, no island, no sea was free of their plots; a belt of deceit had bound the world, a gloomy veil of ignorance was spread over it, and a man could not live easily in safety. Life was suspect, conditions were festering, the very business of meeting with others was troubled. Since, then, the whole region of the world was full of disorder, and most of life was dedicated to demons, he commands those who wish for a purer life to loathe the table of demons, lest by fellowship with them they should little by little corrupt the character of their soul. But again, seeing that it is impossible for anyone bound up with flesh to turn away from bodily food, he gives permission by way of dispensation and solemnly advises them to make use of the common market of the meat stalls and take their provisions from it. For the matter causes no trouble and carries no blame for meddling, since those who had taken up the business of the meat market were servants of the common and public food supply. But there were certain temple servants, set apart and chosen, who poured libations and sacrificed to the images in some mystery with a kind of mystical sorcery; from these he bids them abstain and not touch them at all. He also destroys the uneducated definition of Greek belief, cuts the doctrine to pieces, and annuls its verdict, saying, “An idol is nothing in the world.” For the Greeks invented the name of idols, as the serpent invented the name of gods; but the judgment of truth lays down no such verdict at all. So it is impossible for the notion or definition of an idol to be kept in the world. For what is made as carved images is rightly called carved images, not idols; the shapes moulded of gold, silver, bronze, and iron are silver and gold, but not idols; the dead bodies of living creatures are dead bodies, not idols; souls released from bodies are rightly souls, not idols; even the likenesses of those called heroes are images, not idols; what is painted in colours on panels in the usual way is a painting of bodies, but not idols at all; and what are called the appearances of visions are phantoms and shadows of sleep, but not idols — so that the great apostle speaks the truth in saying, “An idol is nothing in the world.” Unless indeed someone in madness should wish to call the elements idols; but he is refuted at once, for fire and water, air and earth are not idols, but properly fire, air, earth, and water. To what, then, do those who honour idols sacrifice? To demons, not to idols; and he does not wish those who are partners of Christ to be partners of demons. But those who sell food in the meat market cook not for demons but for the common life, setting as their goal not sorcery but profit, which neither harms nor corrupts the one who eats. Let this, then, be learned carefully as the answer to this proposition too.

[The Christian (Macarius) answers the objection on Paul's words about virginity (3.36).] Now hear the next point more carefully, where Paul, after saying much about virginity, at last mocks those who abstain from marriage, calling them seared and harmful and men who do not keep the rule of conscience, plagues appearing at the end of the days and bringing endless corruption on the world. I will give you the solution of the heading from its beginning. The force of words often involves a great reversal, and the meaning becomes unclear from apparent opposites, when something in the apostolic utterances is read that is said by way of turn. For sometimes the blessed Paul, making use of other people's characters, makes his speech dark and unclear, as when he says, “So then he has mercy on whom he wills, and hardens whom he wills.” The apostle did not say this because he held that some receive mercy from God and others do not receive mercy but are hardened; he held about God that all receive his mercy and are saved, saying, “who wills all men to be saved.” So here too, in saying, “Concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who has received mercy,” he does not seem to speak quite plainly. For how could one who had Christ speaking within him heed a wicked teacher who lies? Or, if he spoke the truth, Christ spoke in him about virginity too; and yet he seems for some reason to say, “Concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion” — a command I do not have. Since the teaching of virginity is hard to achieve in life and hard to attain, assailed by the natural passions of the body; since, quickly plotted against by the senses, it soon incurs the reproach of being taken captive, and is soon wrapped in a cloud of blame, being more easily worn down in the war of pleasure; since, then, to keep virginity and guard its boast belongs to the highest virtue and discipline and to the utmost hardship and labours of self-control — he says, “I have no command of the Lord.” For Christ, who commands everything through Paul, does not command this, so that he may not seem to impose a kind of necessity on those who wish to live as virgins, lest anyone who falls while a virgin should blame Christ as having urged or even forced him to embrace virginity. Hence, apart from this, Paul, having Christ speaking in him, commands everything. For instance, if someone steals, he commands him not to steal; for it is easy to achieve and costs no toil to be content with one's own and keep from the possessions of others. Likewise he commands not to commit adultery; for it is not laborious for one who has the use of the body with his own wife to be chaste and not to defile his neighbour's marriage. Again he commands not to get drunk at all; for it is possible to take enough wine for one's thirst and not to drink insatiably, nor revel unseemly, nor be carried off like a load, weighed down — one who before the drunkenness ran nimbly. Again he commands the one who has to supply the one who has not, without hesitation; for this too is not burdensome, nor squalid and harsh, to give a little of what one has to one who has not; for the one appears generous, great, and virtuous in good works, and the other, enduring in poverty, is crowned for his labours. These things he commands, and things like them: he forbids whispering; he commands not to sing unseemly and licentious songs; he commands that our way of life — eating, drinking, travelling — be done to the glory of Christ; he commands us to pry out the passions of wickedness and to found virtue by discipline on a sober footing; he commands us never to imitate the practice of uncultured words nor welcome a spectacle of ignorance; he commands us to busy ourselves about the abode above. All the noble achievements apart from virginity he commands the faithful to do, to practise, and to study, and he casts out of the heavenly enclosures the one who does not obey, as one who would not undertake to do what is possible. But about virginity he says that he has not received a command from the Lord, for the reasons and occasions we have stated. For the Lord, sparing men, does not command anyone to do what is extremely laborious; yet if anyone wishes to achieve the highest way of life, he does not hinder and overturn him, but advises him and honours his choice, saying, “Concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who has received mercy.” Do you see the wise man's great eloquence? Do you see his education? Do you see his liberal understanding? Do you see the exact champion of godliness, who says: “Christ wishes no one to be a virgin from necessity or by command, but willingly, not by legislation; for the achievement of such a thing is truly lofty and the first, and its solemn praise is beyond the armour of courage. So it is not by command, so that it may not be slavish, but by choice, so that it may appear glorious, bright, and notable”? Do not suppose, then, that what Paul does not command, for the sake of honour, leaving the authority to free choice, is bad and unsound — as if he said, “If anyone lives as a virgin without being commanded, he practises a deed neither pure nor holy.” Rather it is beyond man, when one has adorned the first ornament of virtue and shines with a glory beyond what is due. For what is done in life by command has praise, but not conspicuous praise, when someone does good by command (for from the command the zeal of the one who commands is evident); but what does not wait for the master's decision, and is done willingly without urging, receives incomparable praise and glory. Therefore Paul, seeing that the achievement of virginity is above the clouds and very high, did not dare to put this matter within a command, but left it free, ranking it without a master, in the choice of the one who achieves it alone; and he lisps out an opinion more humbly, saying, “I do not command, for I was not commanded; but I give my opinion as one who has received mercy.” Do you see how he humbled himself, seeing the worth of virginity? He does not say, “as Paul, called to be an apostle,” but “as one who has received mercy.” He is humble, struck by the greatness of the virtue; he is silent about his apostleship and proclaims the compassion through which he received mercy and is with Christ, saying: “I know what I was, and what I am, and what virginity is. This is the advantage of the angels and the archangels; and I have no command to teach angels. So I speak even to the angels as one who has received mercy, not as an apostle. For virgins have become angels in my judgment; so I do not teach, nor do I command, but I lisp a faint opinion to them, being poor and a beggar, yet one who has received mercy.” Since, then, certain men were going to pass off the profession of so great a thing as a doctrine of the seared heresies, and to pride themselves before the world on virginity — the men of the heresies having learned, or perhaps misheard, that virginity solemnly ministered to and went before the blessed burden of the saving birth and brought forth the common helper of the world — in order that by forbidding to marry or to be given in marriage they might easily snatch many of the credulous into their own loathsomeness, as introducers of a supreme and great way of life, they invented for this purpose also abstinence from foods, through which, showing off, they produced their error, corrupting the good in an evil doctrine. For as those who dare to counterfeit the beauty of gold secretly engrave the king's image, so that what is stamped by theft may be called coin because of the image; and as counterfeit denarii, so to speak, dipped in gold, have a bright and shining surface but a base and harmful substance beneath — so the seared leaders of the heresies, transferring the solemn and celebrated glory of virginity to the glory of their own wickedness, have in a way counterfeited the first beauty of the godly way of life. Mangling it by the law of their false doctrine, joining a pearl to a stinking neck, and cutting up into small change the pure substance of chastity, they debase it, prettifying their own irrationality with dyes. The blessed Paul, learning long before of this wretchedness of most base ways, said, “Some will arise, seared in their own conscience.” He says that they “arise” because they sit in a great ambush of the snare, keeping quiet at first, and at the last looking terrible and fiery; “seared,” because they bear the form of a pious brand for deception; burnt — men whom the dew of the Holy Spirit has not enriched, whom the grace of baptism has not released from their charges, whom the blaze of the Chaldean furnace has consumed, whom the flaming sword that turns has burned up. They declaim idly and sophisticate in vain, insulting creation and slandering the creatures of God, which were made for enjoyment and nourishment — not for insolence and surfeit and disorderly living, but to be partaken of with thanksgiving by the faithful. Such are the children of the Manichaeans who have gone out; such heresies are held by the country of the Pisidians and the Isaurians, by Cilicia and Lycaonia and all Galatia, whose very names it is tedious to report: they are called Encratites and Apotactites and Eremites — not Christians, nor refugees of heavenly grace, but apostates and emigrants from the gospel faith, who say that they raise the citadel of godliness by abstaining from foods. Indeed Dositheus, their leader, a Cilician by race, confirms the doctrine in eight whole books and magnifies the matter with brilliance of language, decrying marriage as a lawless and very unlawful act, saying, “Through intercourse the world had its beginning; through self-control it wishes to receive its end.” He says that tasting wine and partaking of meat is loathsome and altogether hateful, truly raising a bitter brand without mercy over those who delight in them. For by such reasoning, according to him, all creation is accursed, and all life suspect and harmful to all. So such men have offended against the Divine, insulting the beauty of the things created, and have benefited the community in nothing anywhere, even if they teach virginity and the highest chastity in life. Knowing this long beforehand, the apostle made the Church's doctrine secure, so that it would not admit the attempts of heretical brands. Here, if you please, let us close the discussion of so many questions; and if anything perplexing occurs to you again, we will meet and discuss it once more, at a convenient time of leisure, with the ready help of the Better.

[Macarius to Theosthenes: preface to the fourth debate.] When very many arguments had been raised against us by Greek opinion, and we had made plain the obscurity in them with much sweat, toil, and labour, our lover of learning, so to speak, brought upon us vehemently this fourth contest, Theosthenes, for which we barely found courage even with your help. What its argument was must now be told. When there had gathered again not a few, but very many and very distinguished people, he, as though he had set himself on purpose to put us out of countenance before the eyes of so many persons, began, with much laughter, to tear apart the apostolic doctrine.

[The Greek (the philosopher):] How does Paul say that the form of the world is passing away? And how is it possible for those who have to be as though they had not, and those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, and for the rest of these old wives' tales to be credible? For how is it possible for the one who has to become as one who has not? How is it credible that the one who rejoices should be as one who does not rejoice? Or how is it possible for the form of this world to pass away? Who is it that makes it pass away, and why? If the Creator should make it pass away, he will be charged with moving and changing what stands securely. And if he changes the form for the better, he is accused in this too, as one who did not perceive in creating it the form fitting and suitable for the world, but created it lacking the better plan, as though incomplete. How, then, is one to know that the nature of the world, changed late in time, will turn out for good? And what advantage is there in changing the order of visible things? For if the things we see are gloomy and causes of grief, then here too the Creator is sung against and drowned out by reasonable charges, that he fashioned the parts of the world grievous and troubling to rational nature, and then, repenting, decided to change the whole. Perhaps, then, Paul by this saying teaches the one who has to think like one who has not, since the Creator, who has the world, makes its form pass away as though he did not have it; and he says that the one who rejoices is not to rejoice, since the Creator, seeing his fair and bright creation, takes no delight in it, but, as though greatly grieved over it, planned to transfer and change it. Let us pass over this little phrase with a moderate laugh.

[The philosopher's objection.] Let us look at another sophism of his, thunderstruck and astray, where he says: “We who are alive, who are left, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep, at the coming of the Lord; for the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive will be caught up together with them in a cloud to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.” This is truly a thing as high as heaven and too lofty, a swollen lie, and a higher one; sung to the irrational animals, it would make them bleat and croak back their echoing din, when they learned that men in the flesh, like birds, are flying in the air, carried on a cloud. For great is this boast of pretension, that living creatures weighed down by the burden of bodily bulk should take up the nature of winged birds and cross the vast air like a sea, using a cloud as their vehicle. Even if it were possible, it is monstrous and alien to fitness. For nature, the creator, from the beginning allotted places fitting the things that came into being, and laid down that each should have its suitable lodging: the sea for creatures of the water, the land for creatures of the dry ground, the air for winged ones, the aether for the luminaries. If any of these is moved from its own abode, it will be destroyed, passing into a strange way of life and dwelling. For instance, if you take a water creature and force it to live on dry land, it quickly perishes and dies; if you throw a land animal, a creature of the dry ground, into the water, it will be drowned; if you separate a winged creature from the air, it will not endure it; if you remove a starry body from the aether, it will not survive. Nor has the divine and active Word of God done this, nor will he ever do it, although he is able to change the lots of the things that come into being. For he does not do and will anything according to what he is able, but according to fitness he preserves things, guarding the law of good order. So, even if he is able, he does not make the earth to be sailed, nor again does he make … to be ploughed and farmed … virtue; nor will he prepare a man to become winged, nor put the stars below and the earth above. So it is reasonably full of nonsense to say that men will ever be caught up into the air. And Paul's lie is plain in his saying, “We who are alive”: for it is three hundred years since he said it, and nowhere has anyone been caught up — not even Paul himself — along with other bodies. So let this tottering saying of Paul's keep silent.

[The philosopher's objection.] We must recall again what Matthew said, like a slave bent over at the mill: “And the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world, and then the end will come.” For look, every quarter of the inhabited world has experience of the Gospel, and all the bounds and ends of the world hold the whole Gospel; yet nowhere is there an end, nor will one ever come. Let this saying be spoken only in a corner.

[The philosopher's objection.] Let us look at what was said to Paul: “The Lord said to Paul at night in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but speak, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you.’” And yet, no sooner had he been arrested in Rome than this fine fellow, who said, “We shall judge angels,” had his head cut off. And Peter too, who received authority to feed the lambs, was nailed to the cross and impaled. And countless others of the same opinion as these were burned, or perished by suffering punishment or maltreatment. This is not worthy of the mind of God, nor even of a godly man: that a multitude of men should be inhumanly punished for the sake of his grace and faith, while the expected resurrection and coming is uncertain.

[The philosopher's objection.] One may also openly take another ambiguous little saying, where Christ says, “See that no one leads you astray; for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.” And look, three hundred years and more have ridden by, and no such person has appeared anywhere — unless you will cite Apollonius of Tyana, a man adorned with all philosophy; but you would not find another. Yet he speaks not of one but of many: “they will arise.”

[The philosopher's objection.] For good measure, let what is said in the Apocalypse of Peter also be mentioned. He brings in the heaven to be judged together with the earth, thus: “The earth,” he says, “will present all men to God on the day of judgment, being itself also about to be judged, together with the heaven that surrounds it.” But no one is so uneducated or so senseless as not to know that the things about the earth are disturbed and by nature do not keep their order but are uneven, whereas the things in heaven have the same order perpetually, proceed always in the same way, and never change, nor will they ever change; for heaven stands as God's most exact work. So it is impossible for things that have been granted a better lot to be dissolved, fixed as they are by a divine and inviolable ordinance. And why will heaven be judged? Will it ever be shown to have sinned, when it keeps the order approved by God from the beginning and remains always the same? Unless someone, slandering it, declaims to the Creator that heaven deserves judgment, as though the judge would put up with someone telling such marvellous, such great tales against it.

[The philosopher's objection.] And again it says this, which is full of impiety, in the saying: “And every power of heaven will melt, and the heaven will be rolled up like a scroll, and all the stars will fall like leaves from a vine and as leaves fall from a fig tree.” And from monstrous falsehood and extraordinary pretension comes this boast too: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” For how could anyone say that the words of Jesus would stand, if heaven and earth no longer existed? Besides, if Christ were to do this and bring heaven down, he will be imitating the most impious of men, those who destroy their own children. For that God is the Father of heaven and earth is confessed by the Son, who says, “Father, Lord of heaven and earth”; and John the Baptist magnifies heaven and says that divine gifts are sent from it, saying, “No one can do anything unless it is given him from heaven”; and the prophets say that heaven is God's holy dwelling, in the words, “Look down from your holy habitation, and bless your people Israel.” If heaven, so great and so highly attested, passes away, what will be the seat of the one who rules thereafter? And if the element of earth perishes, what will be the footstool of the one who sits there, since he says, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet”? So much on the passing away of heaven and earth.

[The philosopher's objection.] Let us feel our way, as if at night, through another doctrine more mythical than this, in “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed,” and again, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven,” and again, “It is like a merchant seeking fine pearls.” These are the little tales not of men, nor even of women who dream. For when someone tells of great and divine things, he ought to use common and human things for the sake of clarity, but not things so vulgar and unintelligible. These sayings, besides being lowly and unfitting for such great matters, have in themselves no intelligent meaning or clarity; and yet they ought very much to have been clear, since they were written not for the wise or intelligent but for infants.

[The philosopher's objection.] If we must also chew over that question, how Jesus says, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants,” and it is written in Deuteronomy, “The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, and the things revealed to us” — then what is written for infants and the unintelligent ought to be clearer and not riddling. For if the mysteries have been hidden from the wise and poured out without reason on infants and sucklings, it is better to strive for unreason and ignorance; and this is the great achievement of the wisdom of the one who came to dwell among us: to hide the ray of knowledge from the wise and reveal it to fools and babes.