Eleven Tractates

Contents

Reading pages: 1.1–1.25 · 1.26–1.40 · 2.41–2.55 · 3.56–4.81 · 5.82–6.111 · 7.112–10.141 · 11.142–11.145

1. 1.1Priscillian and his companions, though they have often condemned all heresies in writing, agree to state their faith again before the bishops.
2. 1.2Having left their former life for the faith, they were baptized and received the catholic creed, which they hold.
3. 1.3They condemn heretics who divide the one divine substance, citing texts on the oneness of God and confessing the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Word.
4. 1.4Christ ascended and opened the way to heaven; three bear witness in heaven and on earth; they will answer point by point, and they anathematize the Patripassian heresy.
5. 1.5Against the Patripassians they cite the Father–Son texts; against the Novatians, who rebaptize, they confess one baptism.
6. 1.6They confess Christ come in the flesh and anathematize the Nicolaitans and those who make a religious mystery of animal figures.
7. 1.7Those who make a sacrament of such figures are lost; Christians, who know idols are nothing, keep the figure of beasts out of themselves.
8. 1.8The beasts of Revelation and Daniel are written so that, once understood, they may be shunned.
9. 1.9Those who misread the beasts fall into idolatry; Christians, interpreting prophecy through Christ, reject all such covenants with beasts.
10. 1.10Solomon knew all of nature from God; Wisdom and the Psalms show that beasts in Scripture signify sins and enemies, not objects of worship.
11. 1.11Lions, bulls, and dogs in Scripture stand for the devil and for sinners.
12. 1.12God's speeches to Job about the dragon and the beast are expounded as parables about overcoming pride and the ungodly.
13. 1.13The beasts of Scripture are parables written for us, so that we may reject the vices they signify; Revelation and Paul identify them with spiritual powers of evil.
14. 1.14They hold to the creed and renunciation of the devil made at baptism, and read Scripture's beasts as figures of the devil.
15. 1.15They had already rejected the pagan planetary gods before their conversion, and they anathematize anyone who calls the sun, moon, and planets gods.
16. 1.16Freed by Christ, believers trample the powers that idols represent; Scripture names idols and demons so that we may reject them.
17. 1.17Christians, redeemed by Christ's blood, reject the planetary gods: Saturn's golden age, the Sun, and the Moon are idols of those who love the world.
18. 1.18Those who worship Mars, Jupiter, and Mercury are slaves of lust and money; Christians have Christ, who cancelled their debt on the cross.
19. 1.19Christians seek heavenly treasure and, born of the church, grow toward the fullness of Christ instead of serving Venus.
20. 1.20They anathematize the veneration of Saclas and other demons named in Gnostic and Manichaean writings; whatever the name, it is the devil.
21. 1.21Those who ascribe man's making to demons belong to the earthly, not the spiritual, man.
22. 1.22Those who follow the myth that Eve took the demon Saclas as husband belong to a mother Scripture calls adulterous; believers have learned Christ differently.
23. 1.23Taught by Christ, believers put off the old man and put on the new; God, not demons, made man in his image, and Eve is saved through childbearing and returns to her husband.
24. 1.24Like the unfaithful wife of Hosea returning to her husband, believers turn from the works of the flesh, where demons such as Saclas belong.
25. 1.25The fruit of the Spirit makes believers Christ's temple; they anathematize anyone who denies Christ's coming in the flesh and his crucifixion.
26. 1.26Christ truly suffered; heretics have mixed lies into the Scriptures; Priscillian anathematizes Mani and his followers, whose worship of sun and moon and whose crimes have been exposed even in civil courts.
27. 1.27They condemn the Ophites and all heresies by name, whether drawn from canonical or apocryphal writings.
28. 1.28They condemn as worthy of death the magical consecration of first fruits and ointments that Ithacius read out against them; for Christians, the Scriptures' unicorn, rock, and cornerstone are Christ.
29. 1.29The god of such heretics is the beast and Leviathan of Job.
30. 1.30Unlike the beast, the Christians' God is Christ as seen in Revelation, whose name is written on the white stone.
31. 1.31The name of God written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin is Christ; Scripture's lion, stag, and stars are figures of him, and baptism frees from the 'wheel of birth.'
32. 1.32Even Balaam, an idolater, prophesied Christ, and Scripture keeps his words; testimony to Christ is accepted from whatever source.
33. 1.33The name of power is Jesus; the schismatic accuser is called to repent.
34. 1.34Jesus' name means salvation; against those who call God male-female, the Spirit of God is in men and women alike, who are all one in Christ.
35. 1.35Heretics turn Scripture into lust and deny the resurrection; the names of Gnostic powers—Armaziel, Barbilon and the rest—are not God; only Christ saves.
36. 1.36Christ is head over all; whatever writing, under any name, preaches Christ as God in agreement with Moses, the prophets, and the gospels is accepted, and whatever denies him is rejected.
37. 1.37A message is judged by whether it confesses Christ, as Joshua tested the angel and as the angel refused John's worship.
38. 1.38They reject any 'fifth gospel' and hold the four gospels and the creed of the church.
39. 1.39Prophecy was not closed at a fixed limit; Scripture itself (Luke, Tobit, Jude citing Enoch) shows prophets beyond the canonical books.
40. 1.40Paul allows all believers to prophesy; Priscillian asks the bishops to clear him of slander.
41. 2.41Priscillian addresses the bishop of Rome, explaining that Bishop Hydatius's attacks force him to state his faith before him.
42. 2.42Priscillian and his companions had devoted themselves to God; at the Council of Saragossa none of them was accused or condemned.
43. 2.43Saragossa's memorandum censured none of them; they teach that those who renounce all for God should not be hindered, while those who achieve less still have hope.
44. 2.44Priscillian sets out the creed article by article, each with a Scripture proof.
45. 2.45The creed continues with forgiveness and the resurrection of the flesh; baptism in the one name of Father, Son, and Spirit shows the one God in threefold power.
46. 2.46They condemn the Arians, Photinus, and the Patripassians, citing Scripture against each.
47. 2.47They condemn the Ophites, the Novatians, and above all the Manichaeans, whom they know only by report.
48. 2.48After Saragossa, Hydatius was accused by his own presbyter and deserted by many of his clergy; Priscillian's party consulted the bishops Hyginus and Symposius.
49. 2.49When they went to Emerita to make peace with Hydatius, they were refused entry and beaten.
50. 2.50Hydatius obtained an imperial rescript against 'pseudo-bishops and Manichaeans' by misrepresenting the case, and lied to Ambrose.
51. 2.51Hydatius slandered even Bishop Hyginus; Priscillian's party brought letters of communion from their churches and came to Rome to seek a hearing before bishops.
52. 2.52On the disputed writings, they hold that whatever preaches Christ in agreement with the canon cannot be condemned, and whatever contradicts it must be.
53. 2.53Hydatius himself said at Saragossa only that superfluous writings should not be read; Priscillian asks Damasus for a hearing.
54. 2.54Priscillian asks Damasus either to summon Hydatius or to write to the Spanish bishops for a council at which the accused are heard.
55. 2.55They ask that churches not be deprived of their bishops under a rescript meant for the guilty.
56. 3.56The apostles read books outside the canon: Jude quotes the prophecy of Enoch.
57. 3.57Enoch is attested as a prophet by Hebrews; condemning a prophet whom the apostles accept for the sake of quarrels is not peace but rashness.
58. 3.58Tobit calls Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob prophets, though no prophetic books of theirs stand in the canon.
59. 3.59The patriarchs are honoured in Scripture; in non-canonical books, heretical insertions should be removed like tares, not the whole book rejected.
60. 3.60Jesus' words about the blood of all the prophets, and Elijah's complaint, presuppose histories of martyred prophets that the canon does not record.
61. 3.61Matthew's 'out of Egypt I called my son' is cited from a prophet that Priscillian does not find in the canon.
62. 3.62A book whose testimony fulfils the canon cannot be condemned; heresy arises from disputing the creed instead of believing it.
63. 3.63Christ is one, not divided; Paul and Daniel both quote words of God not found elsewhere in the canon.
64. 3.64Canonical writers cite prophecies not found in the canon, such as Ezekiel's reference to earlier prophets about Gog.
65. 3.65Chronicles cites the books of many prophets—Nathan, Ahijah, Iddo, Jehu—that are not in the canon.
66. 3.66Faced with opponents who demand that unread books be condemned, Priscillian follows Christ's command to search the Scriptures, keeping the better and rejecting the worse.
67. 3.67Heretics have falsified some non-canonical books, so they must be tested by the confession of Christ; Ezra, preserved by God, rewrote the burned Scriptures.
68. 3.68The book telling of Ezra's rewriting of the Scriptures is not canonical, yet must be trusted, since the canon could not otherwise have been restored.
69. 3.69Following the Bereans who checked the Scriptures, Priscillian reads prophecies cited by Scripture, delighting that Christ was foretold by all.
70. 3.70As the stones would cry out, so the saints cannot be silenced from testifying to Christ; even pagans trust their omens.
71. 3.71Pagans trust their augurs; Christians must not quench prophecy, for Christ was foretold by all the patriarchs from Adam on.
72. 3.72The apostle himself told the Colossians to read the letter from Laodicea, which is not in the canon.
73. 3.73Such books should not be given to the unskilled, since heretics have falsified many, but they are no more to be condemned than Scripture itself, which heretics also misuse.
74. 3.74It is the heretical interpretation, not the writing, that should be condemned.
75. 4.75A homily for the start of Lent: because people neglect daily devotion, God appointed the yearly Pasch to recall them.
76. 4.76Lent is a time when the faithful should strive for better things and the careless be recalled at least by keeping the solemn days.
77. 4.77At Easter the faithful, penitents, and catechumens all have hope; the Lenten fast must be accompanied by justice and love, not quarrels and greed.
78. 4.78Fasting means works of mercy; Christ, our Passover, took on the full shame of human birth.
79. 4.79Christ endured every human indignity and the cross; the baptized and catechumens alike should keep the Lord's forty-day fast before Easter.
80. 4.80The forty days recall Moses' fast before receiving the law, Joshua's crossing of the Jordan, and Christ's fast and temptation after his baptism.
81. 4.81Christ's answers to the tempter show what Christians must reject during Lent.
82. 5.82A homily on Genesis 1: Moses, raised by his enemies and made God's friend, began the canon.
83. 5.83Moses foresaw heretics who would deny that the world was made, or blame the devil for their own sins and ascribe their bodies to him.
84. 5.84Others make gods of the sun and moon; all such teachers are the false teachers described by Jude and Peter.
85. 5.85The creation was ordered to serve man; Christians should reject worldly philosophy and believe that God made all things, as Genesis 1:1 says.
86. 5.86God's Word ordered light, sky, seasons, and earth; the elements have no power of their own but serve the divine word.
87. 5.87God made man in his image to be his rest (sabbath) and a temple; through all Scripture God wishes to be called by every name.
88. 5.88Christ is the cornerstone, door, way, fountain, bread, and vine; all names belong to the one God, Christ.
89. 5.89Every knee bows to Jesus, the one God of the prophets; believers should put on the new man and apply the Genesis reading spiritually to themselves.
90. 5.90The days of creation are applied to the soul: light of knowledge, the firmament of the commandments, fruitfulness, and the perfect week of the church.
91. 5.91Believers are living stones and, as the Lord's sabbath, rest in Christ.
92. 6.92A homily on the Passover of Exodus 12: Scripture must be interpreted, and it has a threefold sense, the first of which disciplines the flesh.
93. 6.93Scripture's second sense forms the soul, the third shows God in man; the law's offerings of days, animals, and fruits signify the purification of body and spirit.
94. 6.94The Passover lamb foreshadows Christ, though the earthly animal and the God of glory are utterly different.
95. 6.95The two testaments have one author and agree: the old purifies the body, the new instructs the soul.
96. 6.96In the old testament the Passover required animals and dates; in the new, Christ himself is offered on the cross.
97. 6.97The body, made by God but bound to the world, must be purified by the law and die to sin like the spotless lamb on Christ's cross.
98. 6.98The baptized, dead with Christ to sin, become the Lord's Passover; Christ took both the form of God and the form of man.
99. 6.99In Christ, the Word made flesh, the human and the divine appear side by side: fear and confidence, death and resurrection, a virgin mother before, in, and after the birth.
100. 6.100The one God is found under every name—Son, Father, Wisdom, angel, man—so that he is believed to be one.
101. 6.101God's asking for earthly offerings teaches man to discern in himself what must be crucified, what offered, and what kept impassible.
102. 6.102God needs no offerings; the law's regulations answer the confusion idolatry had brought, when men gave God's name to days, animals, and stones.
103. 6.103Against idolatry God first gave the law through Moses; the sacrifices he asked for meant the killing of vices, not of animals.
104. 6.104Christ, born of the virgin, offered his own blood; the 'first month' of the Passover signifies Christ the firstfruits.
105. 6.105The true 'first month' is the day of rebirth in baptism; the moon's phases show that the heavenly bodies have no power of their own.
106. 6.106The tenth day of the month and the tithe signify the ten commandments overcoming the world; the heavenly bodies are not lords of human fate.
107. 6.107The spotless lamb from the flock signifies body and spirit joined in the new man; the house to be purified is the believer.
108. 6.108The blood on the doorposts signifies the senses of the body signed with the cross, so that the body becomes God's house.
109. 6.109The girded loins mean a sober mind; as the Passover was eaten before morning, believers should complete their offering with the help of the indwelling Spirit.
110. 6.110The blood on the doors means Christ's blood sealing believers for the judgment; the seven days of unleavened bread mean a life without vice.
111. 6.111At the judgment believers will be a book of heavenly teaching, sealed among the twelve thousand, and like the angels, who neither marry nor beget.
112. 7.112A homily on Psalm 1: the first psalm, without a title, teaches the blessed life fully achieved by God alone but required of us.
113. 7.113Since Christ dwells in believers as his temple, they must keep it pure, knowing he is both witness and judge.
114. 7.114Believers renounced the devil at baptism and must remain the image of God, avoiding the 'counsel of the ungodly,' which is the cunning of corrupt flesh.
115. 7.115Through the flesh the devil attacks; Paul and the prophets describe this conflict and the transience of the flesh.
116. 7.116Like Rebecca's twins, flesh and spirit struggle; believers should walk in the law of the Lord like the tree of Psalm 1.
117. 7.117Watered by Scripture, believers bear lasting fruit and attain the rest of the righteous.
118. 8.118A homily on Psalm 3: the story of David fleeing Absalom must be read spiritually, as a figure of ourselves.
119. 8.119The inner man must be renewed by meditating on Scripture; the order of the psalms is itself meaningful.
120. 8.120Psalms 1–3 trace human life: innocence, envy, then rebellion like Absalom's against his father; David prays for forgiveness of the sins of youth.
121. 8.121Absalom, David's third son, figures the sins born from us; sin proceeds from desire, to consent, to the deed.
122. 9.122A fragment of a homily on Psalm 59: God's ways are right; the narrow door means that love of the world shuts out the promise of the life to come.
123. 9.123The gospel favours the poor, but the rich are not without hope if they are rich in good works and climb step by step toward God.
124. 10.124A homily on Psalm 60: the psalm's wars are written to teach us to keep a pure conscience amid the wars of the vices.
125. 10.125Armed by faith, the believer returns wholly to God; all Scripture describes the whole man, and we are gathered after death with those whose example we follow.
126. 10.126The convert reads David's wars as the inner wars of sin against which he must struggle.
127. 10.127Scripture speaks through visible things so that every believer may recognize that it was written about himself, and that friendship with the world is enmity with God.
128. 10.128Both fear and prosperity can draw converts back to what they renounced; prosperity is the greater danger.
129. 10.129The title of Psalm 60, 'for instruction,' after the defeat of the two Syrias, signifies victory over the two sources of sin, in soul and in body.
130. 10.130Paul teaches that the flesh and the spirit are at war in us, and that behind the flesh are spiritual powers of evil.
131. 10.131Revelation, David, and James all show the war within; the believer must abstain from lusts of the thoughts as well as of the flesh.
132. 10.132Psalm 60:1, 'you rejected us and had mercy,' shows that God's rebuke is love; the saved can mock death's sting.
133. 10.133God's rebuke reforms the converted; Scripture uses examples and parables to show the conflict within us.
134. 10.134Rebecca's twins figure the two peoples within us, flesh and spirit, as Paul describes.
135. 10.135The two testaments correspond to discipline and grace; our life lies between two kingdoms, the world's and God's.
136. 10.136Between the two kingdoms stand the virtues of the Spirit and the vices of the world; we are safe while we hold to the Lord's words.
137. 10.137The 'wine of compunction' and the bow of Psalm 60 signify repentance and the devil's attacks; the psalm leads converts gently from knowledge of sin upward.
138. 10.138After rebuke and repentance the psalm says 'God has spoken in his holy one': God speaks in the sanctified believer.
139. 10.139The places of Psalm 60:6–8—Shechem, Ephraim, Manasseh, Gilead, Judah, Moab—are explained by stories of Scripture.
140. 10.140Edom, the Philistines, and Dagon's fall are applied to the believer's victory over lust and the world, with Christ from Judah as leader.
141. 10.141The psalm's victories become a pattern for the believer, who overcomes the vices by the gospel of peace.
142. 11.142A blessing (benediction) addressed to God the Father: there is one entrance to God, through Christ, by the working of the Spirit.
143. 11.143The prayer confesses one God, invisible in the Father, visible in the Son, the Spirit united in the work of both, present in and through all things.
144. 11.144The prayer praises God as maker of angels, elements, and living things out of nothing.
145. 11.145All creation praises God; humans, God's workmanship, can give him nothing worthy except praise. The text breaks off.