Compendium of Heretical Fables 5.28–5.29

The divine Scripture not only forbids lawless deeds but also heals those who have received their wounds. It [rejects] the savagery of Novatus and accuses the shepherds who have not taken this care of the sheep. God himself says: “O shepherds, you have not strengthened the weak, nor healed the sick, nor bound up the injured, nor brought back the straying, nor sought the lost.” He who accuses those who have not taken this care clearly wishes the weak sheep to be thought worthy of healing. That is why he said to the same prophet: “I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them from me. When I say to the sinner, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you do not warn the sinner … [to turn] from his evil way so that he may live, that lawless man shall die in his lawlessness, but his blood I will require at your hand.” And a little later: “As I live, says the Lord Adonai, I do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he turn from his evil way and live.” Then by way of exhortation: “Turn, turn from your evil way; why will you die, house of Israel?” Then he orders the prophet to carry this word to them too: “And you, son of man, say to the sons of your people: The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him on the day he goes astray, and the lawlessness of the lawless will not kill him on the day he turns from his lawlessness and does judgment and righteousness, gives back the pledge and repays what he has robbed. If the lawless man walks in the commandments of life so as to do no wrong, he shall surely live and shall not die; none of the sins he has committed shall be remembered against him, for he has done judgment and righteousness; he shall live by them.” And the blessed Daniel offered Nebuchadnezzar the medicines of repentance: “And now, O king,” he says, “let my counsel please you; wash away your lawless deeds with almsgiving and your injustices with compassion on the poor.” The prophecy of the divine Jeremiah is full of this teaching. Now he says: “Return, you apostate sons, and I will turn to you, says the Lord God”; now: “Wash your heart of wickedness, Israel, that you may be saved, lest the thoughts of your toils be found in you.” And again: “Does not the one who falls rise again, or the one who turns away not return?” Very many other such admonitions can be found in him. And the all-wise Isaiah cries: “When you turn and groan, then you will be saved, and you will know where you were when you trusted in vain things.” In his opening too, having gone through very many lawless deeds of the people and shown the incurability of the disease (“There is no plaster to apply,” he said, “nor oil, nor bandages”), a little later he applied to them the healing of repentance, to which he said: “Wash, become clean; remove your wickedness from your souls before my eyes; cease from your wickedness, learn to do good, seek judgment, rescue the one wronged from the hand of the one who wrongs him.” Then he promises to make them like white wool and snow, even if they have the color of scarlet and crimson. This is possible for God alone; for dyers change white into other colors, but cannot make any other color white; but to the Maker all things are easy. But we would lengthen the account beyond measure if [we were to set out] all the exhortations of the prophets, the melody [of David] and the oracles of the other prophets. But those who have taken over the conceit of Novatus say that one should not apply healing to those who sin after baptism. They should have seen that the men of old too had the sprinklings and the divine liturgies as a type of the sacred mysteries. To refute their folly with ample margin, let us bring Aaron forward. He was anointed … [and] having received the grace of the divine Spirit, yielded to the [people's demands], made the image of the calf and offered sacrifices with the other Levites; yet, though he had the grace of the divine Spirit dwelling in him, he committed two grievous transgressions, but healed the wounds through repentance, and was not stripped of the grace of the Spirit, but even after the …. And what would they say of the man at Corinth who committed sexual immorality, who had been thought worthy not only of the divine mysteries but also of teaching … and educated? When those under him were puffed up, the divine Apostle accused them, saying: “And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that the one who did this deed might be removed from among you.” Yet, though he was a teacher, and … [handed over] to Satan, he snatched him again from his hands: “Whom you forgive anything, I also forgive; for what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake.” And lest anyone …, he added: “In the presence of Christ,” that is, as the Master of all sees …. Then he adds the reason: “So that we may not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” “So that you should rather forgive and comfort him, lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow.” Such was the compassion of the teachers of the church; for they were physicians …. Seeking this, he also put these words in the letter to them: “Lest when I come again my God humble me before you, and I mourn over many of those who sinned before and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality and licentiousness that they practiced.” So too he brings back to salvation the Galatians, who had turned from the faith and, after the call of grace and the enjoyment of the divine mysteries, had received circumcision and embraced the observance of the legal rules; he applies to them the medicines of repentance and utters the voice of a loving mother: “My little children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.” Christ the Master too offered us this teaching through his own parables. For the lost sheep and the fallen drachma teach us to care for those who have sinned; and the prodigal son plainly shows a transgression committed after baptism. For he took the share of his father's property that fell to him, squandered it prodigally and came back; yet he was thought worthy of the first robe, received the divine image through the ring, enjoyed the fatted calf, and gave his father occasion for a very great feast. And the whole teaching and conduct of the Lord teach the healing of sinners: the tax collectors who were called, the harlot who approached, the robber who believed; [and the Lord himself said: “I have not come to call] the righteous, but sinners to repentance. For those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” If they say these things happened before baptism, let them learn that the first foundation of the church was shaken and was made firm by divine grace. For the great Peter, after denying three times, remained first, healed by his own tears. The Master ordered him to offer this healing to his brothers as well: “And you,” he says, “when you have turned, strengthen your brothers.” And giving the disciples a pattern of prayer, he ordered them to say: “[Forgive] us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” We teach this prayer not to the uninitiated but to those being initiated into the mysteries. For none of the uninitiated dares to say “Our Father in heaven,” not yet having received the gift of adoption; but whoever has obtained the gift of baptism calls God Father, as one who has entered the ranks of the sons of grace. These, then, were ordered to say, “Forgive us our debts.” Wounds incurred after baptism, then, are curable; curable, however, not as of old, when forgiveness was given through faith alone, but through many tears, through wailing and weeping, fasting and prayer, and toil measured to the size of the sin committed. For we have been taught neither to despair of those so disposed, nor to give them a share of the divine things hastily. “For do not give what is holy to the dogs,” he says, “nor throw your pearls before swine.” These are the laws the church has about repentance.

Abstinence from wine and from eating meat, and other continence, the church does not embrace as the heretics do. For they legislate abstinence from these as abominable; but the church has laid down no law about them, for it does not forbid partaking of them. For this reason some enjoy without fear the things considered pleasant, while others abstain. No right-thinking person condemns the one who eats; for both abstinence and partaking fall under the authority of the will, and the solitary life too is not compulsory but freely chosen. This too [we have learned] from the [apostles]: “[Let the one who eats],” he says, “not despise the one who does not eat, and let the one who does not eat not judge the one who eats.” And again: “All things are clean, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense.” Accusing those unholy men themselves, he wrote this in the Letter to Timothy: “The Spirit says expressly that in the last times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits of error and teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars …, forbidding marriage and [commanding] to abstain from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth; for every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” And he commanded the Corinthians [to eat] everything [sold in the market, asking no question] for conscience' sake; and he ordered one invited by an unbeliever to a meal to partake without fear of what was set before him, unless someone should declare that some of the dishes were offered to idols. So far was that divine man from forbidding the eating of meat. And the Lord himself said of himself: “The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” And when he celebrated the Passover, he ate the lamb, clearly with the disciples; and invited to the wedding, he not only did not forbid drinking, but even created wine wonderfully for the guests. So the divine doctrines brilliantly refute the error of the Encratites; and the church of God sets itself against the myths of the heretics and follows the divine doctrines. I urge those who will read this treatise, then, to set the divine doctrines beside each of those wicked doctrines, and by the comparison [to learn] the distance between the [devil's teaching] and the divine. “For what fellowship has light with darkness? What agreement has Christ with Belial?” For in truth those are the inventions of the devil's [craft], but these are the doctrines of the divine Spirit, which one must follow continually, keeping their rule unswerving and directing one's own soul by it, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father, together with the all-holy Spirit, belong glory, honor and majesty, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.