To begin with in this 'War on Terror' it is an extension of ALL previous

wars; whether they be called holocaust (not a word until the 1960's or there

after); or world war II, or the wars of Alexander the Great, or any other

war. It is a war against anyone who does good or really believes in Torah, or

who studies, or brings real benefit to the world. Because only illness,

disease, hatred, crime, fraud, and dumb-minded agents, heresy, slander,

pseudo-religions, cults, obesity, radiation weapons, microwave weapons,lies,

makes money from Rome--totally opposite of Torah; and everyone but those

making the money after the deaths in all areas, end up being accused.

Therefore, Jews are a higher target. This is why there is so many lies

against Jews, milions are being tortured, kept in prisons by the use of mind

controls and microwave weapons, induced with deaths, supposed car accidents

and plane accidents by the hundreds just within the last few years.

The time of Noah, and the time of Abraham, and Joshua tell us that

Babylon/Rome was worldwide, and so was crime, and the "Jews" or the

"Israelites" were intermarried, as Noah is from Northern Africa (as we see

today certain individuals manipulating what they believe is the only African

'Jews.' Abraham was from Iraq as well. Noah's line went through Iraq or Ur.

And the Jews and intermarried throughout the world. The Jewish religion of

the One God, is destroyed by Rome. This is from the as like today, they

torture Torah believers and kill them, or force them into prisons, or

poverty, and other deaths, while using 'Satanists' in Rome and in killings

for the wars. After intermarrying, Rome forces the majority into

'Christianity' or satanism, or the occults, or other heresy, and then has

using Christians who hate Jews by being given slander as seen in this

document. In this way, Rome has billions of Jews who have been intermarried

to be used for their continuous wars. See below where it states that the Jews

will never recieve the land of Israel because of Rome. We see this now,

whereas all in Israel were attacked for years, while the money goes to Rome

and counterparts working for Rome, and then they begin new construction on

synagogues they blew up, and enter the Temple with 'new' people after deaths

and indictments in Israel of all Jewish groups. In other words, they use

mostly secular, satanic, and cults, not even Jewish, to kill off Jews and

those who were intermarried at least a century before in each country and who

were converted to "Christianity" or other cults. And, they use Jews that were

broughtin as immigrants (who are also killed like Senator Wellstone and

Chabad members in airplane crashes) to help go along with the deaths of Jews

who are former decendants of Jews from before the last wars. "Christians" are

still taught such hatred of "Jews" when it is Rome behind all heresy, deaths,

money schemes, taking of the Temple, idols, which Christianity and all other

religions of Babylon are. (See forced conversions, homeless Jews and shelters

forcing them into 'Christ,' deaths and torture of Rabbis). There were "Jews"

in every country before Queen Elizabeth II. Those who are from older Jewish

marriages are run over in the next fifty years with Romes new minions in

secular and occultism along with every 'nice' (this is what was stated by the

satanists in every obituar of millions of Jews sicne 1990) Jewish person who

studies Torah and is a scholar. In fact, most of those who are from Jews who

practiced Torah who can be swayed into other cults, heresy, and religions, by

Rome, are also killed at higher rates than non-Jews; or those who never

believed in Torah or higher study of the Eternal God.

Below is the article from the Ancient Source Book. You will notice that

Babylon always has some of the Israelites and those in forced conversions by

forcing them into poverty or some other near-death situation. They also have

no claims of the 'Jews' who are worldwide at the time of Jesus but that they

have 'circumcision' and 'Laws' The attack on the 'laws' as we see in

corruption today is done by Rome and Babylonian gods they force on society.

The Laws come not before god, as the 'Church' states but after many years of

study. It is also Babylonian Rome that continues using the 'gods' to kill

everyone off, and forces people to not be able to follo any laws by reason of

the fact that they create a criminal society with millions in cults against

everyone else. And then, their only other claim against. The 'Jews' are

everyone by the 1960's because of the worldwide wars and intermarriage twenty

times over since even before 'Christ.' So, the Jews are anyone who follows

law and the Eternal God, as the Israelites continued trying to do while

Babylon had every other cult at that time in Israel and in Egypt, and from

Persia attack the "Jews," the Israelites who worshipped the One God. So, Rome

has one more accusation, though most is simply slander (as we see today even

more of). This is that 'they killed Christ.' No one has killed Israelites

since that time and now but Romes Babylonian religions and groups they can

get to keep doing it the same way. Just as the earliest 'Jews' in India at

the time of the Hebrews leaving Egypt (who were in exile everywhere) would

not be recognized as such or would be targets for war in later society (as

theya re today when only some 'Jews' in India are recognized as such); so it

is with many so-called 'whites' who are really Jewish descent from the

Caucasus, Russia, Scottland, Ireland, England, Europe at the time of the

first Babylonian killings in Israel and King Herod's acquaintence with some

'Jews.' The last 100 years attests to this truth, but even those of modern

Jewry have been killed just for money purposes and to destroy real scholarly

work other than that controlled for the wars, weapons, and profits;

controlling even the schools of thought.

So, today, we see the same exact manipulation and groups (though with

different names) to be used for wars (the wars also given many names) while

they kill off Jewry. But, no matter where you look, you only see people who

either speak of the past as some remote and distant thing not having anything

to do with the present, or those who are going to operate for the war in some

way (under 'new' names for the tactics); Most speak of things they believe

are 'new' like the weapons of radiation, or a "New World Order" when it is

the same world order of Rome tactics (Over 7 million websites calling this a

'War on Terror' and 'End Times' and 'New World Order'

And this, below, from Daniel was actually speaking of King Herod along with

those King Herod Used (other Kings) to kill the Jews at the time of Jesus,

which they turn around in their favor. None of those in the Bible were just

speaking of the 'last days' but each time Rome kills Jews and takes over the

Temple, they are told it is the 'End times' as people now are.

"And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached

their fullness, a king shall arise, having fierce features, who understands

sinister schemes. His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; he

shall destroy fearfully, and shall prosper and thrive; he shall destroy the

mighty, and also the holy people.” (Daniel 8:23, 24)"

(See Rabbis tortured in israel)

"Mock human sacrifices are done every year in the Bohemian Grove in

California by our political and corporate elite. A forty foot tall idol of

Moloch is used to sacrifice an effigy of a human while dozens of men wear

black robes and hold torches performing a ceremony. In Leviticus 18:21 God

denounces such behavior."

Bohemia grove is actually mocking Rabbis who are killed and tortured. But,

Rome will always pretend to be the Jews 'savior' while killing them, the

court, while denying any law, the judge, the accuser of crime while

committing the crimes on the Jews (see Jewish deaths, repression, poverty,

killing of Rabbi scholars, every single day from before 1948, Rome denying

their deaths through the media), and even throughout the whole wars, they

really only save the satanists they created, and the Christians; after each

group used and 'scandal probe' the Jews get blamed or simply killed.

“So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they

worshiped the beast, saying “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war

with him? He was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies”

(Revelation 13:4, 5)

--The 'blasphemies' and 'Dragon' mentioned here, was supposed to be, and can

be seen in the document below of the 'Church' speaking blasphemies against

'Gods people' and when anyone even mentions Jewish deaths they get attacked

with blasphemies by Christians and those brainwashed by Rome today.

All of these cults are and were created by Rome before the killing of 'Jesus'

(see torture of Rabbis today on Youtube.com; that is those they haven't

killed already) at which time they also had many others brainwashed to help

kill Jews, an dspit in the face of anyone who would save them (also like

today) who believe in the One Eternal God-- only 'Jesus' is mentioned because

Rome had to quickly get conrol of these pseudo-religions again by the

distortion of 'who' was killed and 'why' by creating such hellacious

blasphemies and lies against the Jews. And you will see in the Ancient texts

below that it states the Jews will never get their Temple.

"Members of the Skull & Bones secret society at Yale are 'born again’ into

the Order by lying in a coffin, then kneeling before a figure dressed as

Satan after (hopefully pretending) to slit a nude woman’s throat. George W.

Bush and John Kerry are lifetime members.

The documents on pseudo-sciences, pseudo-psychiatry (John Dewey being one who

wrote about how to destroy families and true religion, the Jews by drugs,

lies, heresy, and the very microwave mind controls, pedophilia and sex

crimes, using those who hate Jews, also to get them involved, and religions

the same as in the days of 'Jesus.'), pseudo-evolution, pseudo-science in DNA

(or the way it is or isn't really used), mass medical fraud by and ancient

(really Roman) control, are all done by Romes earliest 'builders' and

Babylonians for the "church." The Freemason documents show the calculated

hate just as the Church does, against Jews. Documents shown before 1940's. By

the present moment (also at the time of 'Jesus' and Rabbi killings) they

would get more "Jews" into 'satanism,' but most are not; not to mention the

other groups they use to kill Jews who are Jewish, believing, in a blind

manner, that they are 'using force to get Jews to do something' (such as in

Israel while being attacked). Then, they lock the Jews up for being

'terrorists' or kill them so that no information can leak out as to the real

events around the situation.

"Freemasonry is a religion, it is a secret society, and high level members

knowingly deceive lower level members and non-members. At the highest levels

Freemasonry is satanism.

Mormonism is a cult and the founder, Joseph Smith, was a Freemason. Mormons

believe Jesus and Lucifer are brothers, and believe that they can become

Gods, just like Satan said in the Garden of Eden.

10 Satanic Commandments in 8 languages stand as an enormous granite monument

in Elberton Georgia. Created anonymously in 1980.

There is a Satanic pentagram clearly designed in the street layout of

Washington D.C."

Results
search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0geu84lqoFGSE0Az55XNyoA

%22&fr=yfp-t-501

'whether it be for 'disinformation,' heresy, socialism, revolution groups,

communism, partisans, Labor, and the list goes on; however, none of the

groups are set up until the thousands of other Jews are killed so as to keep

the war on the Jews going until each group themselves become targets; with

Rome keeping their newly converted areas protected. Each Jewish person,

whether in law, or politics, or as immigrant, gets killed, accused,

destroyed.

All of those in the groups used (every single one has become victim) from the

CIA's years of radiation crimes, microwave 'mind conrol' crimes, the creation

of 'terrorists' by CIA's (worldwide) crimes and mind control, to the Israeli

Mossad, to the KGB, to the NSA's worldwide, to the FBI's worldwide (one set

up in Israel while millions of Jews continued being killed); all have

separated brains (also done by the KGB under Romes orders) so that they see

very little as to the whole manipulation of all other groups, and how this is

exactly like it was under Egypt, Babylon, and in Israel the first times. They

all believe they are doing some 'modern covert crime' (even under Stalin and

Hitler, they fired so many pros and began hiring prisoners and criminals off

the street for these agencies which has taken place under Bush, with the

exception of their 'satanists'). The Satanists and Christians are taught, as

I stated above, that it is the "Jews" who do everything wrong, and many Jews

are with Rome to make sure the deaths occur; although they too may be totally

blind or put into a Rome position long after many deaths. No one could have

missed the millions of deaths of Jews from Israel, to Russia, to the United

States and millions forced into poverty, near death now.

Below is the excerpt for educational purposes only and in conformance with

copuright laws.

Here is the address of the ancient texts web
www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/chrysostom-jews6.html

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Medieval Sourcebook:
Saint John Chrysostom (c.347-407) :
Eight Homilies Against the Jews

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Notes on reaction to the posting of this text
Homily 1
Homily 2
Homily 3
Homily 4
Homily 5
Homily 6
Homily 7 [e-text added May 2002]
Homily 8 [e-text added May 2002]

Introduction

John Chrysostom is considered a "doctor of the Church", and among the

greatest of the Greek Fathers. He was bishop of Antioch at the time of these

sermons, although he became archbishop of Constantinople in 398. He was

admired for his eloquence and gifts in preaching. As an introduction to these

sermon, here is the discussion by James Parkes.

Bibliographical Hints

To find out more about this subject see:

John Chrysostom, Discourses against Judaizing Christians, translated by Paul

W. Harkins. The Fathers of the Church ; v. 68 (Washington : Catholic

University of America Press, 1979)
This is apparently the most up to date translation, and should be used by

anyone wanting to comment on these texts in written work.

Grissom, Fred Allen, Chrysostom and the Jews : studies in
Jewish-Christian relations in fourth-century Antioch, Thesis (Ph.

D.)--Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1979.

Meeks, Wayne A. and Robert L. Wilken, Jews and Christians in Antioch in the

first four centuries of the common era, Scholars Press for the Society of

Biblical Literature, c1978.

Wilken, Robert Louis, John Chrysostom and the Jews : rhetoric and reality in

the late fourth century (Berkeley : University of California Press, 1983)



CHRYSOSTOM AND THE JEWS OF ANTIOCH, pp. 163-166

from James Parkes: The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue: A Study in

the Origins of Antisemitism, (New York: JPS, 1934)

While in their writings Hilary and Eusebius introduced the pagan world to

this strange version of Jewish history, Chrysostom expressed similar theories

with much greater violence from his pulpit at Antioch. In eight sermons which

he delivered in 387 he speaks with a bitterness and lack of restraint unusual

even in that place and century {PG Vol 97). If it were not for the exegetical

background which has already been shown, it would be impossible to explain,

let alone excuse, his tone. Christianity was no longer in any danger. He

himself had not, like Athanasius, ever known any persecution from the Jews,

and the period of trial under Julian had been very short. Even had they been

a menace in old times, the rich and powerful Jewish community of Antioch was

now hemmed in, like every other, by numerous imperial edicts issued under

Christian inspiration. Moreover, Chrysostom was a man whose character excited

the admiration of his contemporaries. If he was hated by politicians for his

unswerving firmness, he was loved by the multitudes, and his commentaries on

the gospels are still read and studied in the Orthodox Church because of

their deep spiritual beauty.

Such was the man who in eight sermons covering more than a hundred pages of

closely printed text, has left us the most complete monument of the public

expression of the Christian attitude to the Jews in the century of the

victory of the Church. In these discourses there is no sneer too mean, no

gibe too bitter for him to fling at the Jewish people. No text is too remote

to be able to be twisted to their confusion, no argument is too casuistical,

no blasphemy too startling for him to employ; and, most astonishing of all,

at the end he turns to the Christians, and in words full of sympathy and

toleration he urges them not to be too hard on those who have erred in

following Jewish practices or in visiting Jewish synagogues. Dealing with the

Christians, no text which urges forgiveness is forgotten: dealing with the

Jews only one verse of the New Testament is omitted: Father, forgive them,

for they know not what they do'.

The only explanation of his bitterness contained in the sermons themselves is

the too close fellowship between Jews and Christians in Antioch. There is no

single suggestion that the Jews were immoral or vicious; no suggestion that

Christians were actually corrupted by the contact, either in their morals or

their orthodoxy. Only one contemporary event is referred to at all, apart

from general denunciations of the visiting of the synagogue at times of

Jewish feast or fast. This was the case of a Christian woman who was taken

into a Jewish house to take an oath in a business affair, because the

Christian with whom she had to deal believed that an oath taken in the Jewish

manner was more binding than any other. What the actual affair was we are not

told. To Chrysostom's eyes the crime was that a Christian woman had been

taken into a Jewish house, not that she had been seduced or taught heretical

doctrine or anything else. It was enough that she had been made to enter the

house [Sermon I:3].

There is no material in these sermons for a study of contemporary Jewish

life. Events and beliefs of centuries earlier are quoted as though still

accepted. On the strength of Psalm xcvi, 37, he states that they ' sacrificed

their sons and daughters to devils: they outraged nature; and overthrew from

their foundations the laws of relationship. They are become worse than the

wild beasts, and for no reason at all, with their own hands they murder their

own offspring, to worship the avenging devils who are the foes of our life"

[Sermon I:6]. It seems almost as if his hearers in Antioch objected to so

monstrous a statement, for in his sixth sermon he returns to the charge, and

says that even if they no longer murder their own children, they have

murdered the Christ, which is worse [Sermon VI:2, 3]. The synagogues of the

Jews are the homes of idolatry and devils, even though they have no images in

them [Sermon I:3; based on Jer. vii:11]. They are worse even than heathen

circuses [Sermon I:3. The very idea of going from a church to a synagogue is

blasphemous [Sermon II:3]; and to attend the Jewish Passover is to insult

Christ. To be with the Jews on the very day they murdered Jesus is to ensure

that on the Day of Judgment He will say ' Depart from Me: for you have had

intercourse with my murderers' [Sermon III:5 and VI:8] . Some say that the

synagogue is hallowed by the fact that the Holy Books of the Law are to be

found in it. One might just as well say that the temple of Dagon was hallowed

by the Ark being in it, even though the Ark destroyed the idol to prove the

opposite [Sermon I:5, ref to I Sam V]. It is truer to say that the fact that

these Books are to be found in the synagogues makes them more detestable, for

the Jews have simply introduced these Books, ' not to honour them, but to

insult them, and to dishonour them' [Sermon I:5 and VI:6]. The Jews do not

worship God but devils [Sermon I:3, based on John 8:19], so that all their

feasts are unclean [Sermon I:6]. God hates them, and indeed has always

hated them. But since their murder of Jesus He allows them no time for

repentance [Sermon VI:1]. It was of set purpose that He concentrated all

their worship in Jerusalem that He might more easily destroy it [Sermon

IV:6]. The Jewish pretence that their misfortunes are due to Rome are not

worthy of attention. ' It was not by their own power that the Caesars did

what they did to you: it was done by the wrath of God, and His absolute

rejection of you' [Sermon VI:3]. It is childish in the face of this

absolute rejection to imagine that God will ever allow the Jews to rebuild

their Temple or to return to Jerusalem. Their experience under Julian should

convince them of that [SermonV, passim. The whole sermon is an insulting

sneer at their misfortunes and exile, and a gloating over the certainty of

their damnation. Cf. the sermon ' That Christ is God: addressed to Jews and

Pagans ' in the same volume]. When it is clear that God hates them, it is the

duty of Christians to hate them too; and he begins his sixth sermon with a

revolting analogy of a beast in the arena, who has tasted blood, and longs

for it again. So he, Chrysostom, having once begun to denounce the Jews,

cannot leave off [Sermon VI:1] for he who has no limits in his love of Christ

must have no limits in his battle with those who hate Him [Sermon VII:1]. ' I

hate the Jews ' he exclaims roundly, for they have the Law and they insult

it'.

But when in the last sermon he comes to address those miserable sinners who

had been frequenting Jewish celebrations his tone is unrecognizable. He

insists that they must be dealt with gently, for the true attitude to a

sinner is 'whenever we hear any good of him, to tell it to all; but when we

hear any evil or wicked thing, to keep it to ourselves, and do all in our

power to change It [Sermon VIII:3]. It is evident that Chrysostom's Jew was a

theological necessity rather than a living person. If he looked different

from the actual Jews living in Antioch it was part of the malice of the Jew,

one of the snares of the devil, set to catch the unwary Christian. The

comment of a Catholic theologian on these sermons is worth quoting

[Murawski]: ' Das Gebot der Nächstensliebe wird man in diesen Reden nicht

wiederfinden, und ebensowenig werden solche Reden fähig gewesen sein die

Juden mit Sympathie für das Christentum zu erfüllen '. [ English: "One will

not find the requirement to love one's neighbour in these speeches, nor will

such speeches have been able to fill the Jews with any sympathy for

Christianity".]


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John Chrysostom: Adversus Judaeos

HOMILY I

TODAY I HAD INTENDED to complete my discussion on the topic on which I spoke

to you a few days ago; I wished to present you with even clearer proof that

God's nature is more than our minds can grasp. Last Sunday I spoke on this at

great length and I brought forward as my witnesses Isaiah, David, and Paul.

For it was Isaiah who exclaimed: "Who shall declare his generation?" David

knew God was beyond his comprehension and so he gave thanks to him and said:

"I will praise you for you are fearfully magnified: wonderful are your

works". And again it was David who said: "The knowledge of you is to

wonderful for me, a height to which my mind cannot attain". Paul did not

search and pry into God's very essence, but only into his providence; I

should say rather that he looked only on the small portion of divine

providence which God had made manifest when he called the gentiles. And Paul

saw this small part as a vast and incomprehensible sea when he exclaimed: "O

the depth of the riches and of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How

incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways!"

(2) These three witnesses gave us proof enough, but I was not satisfied with

prophets nor did I settle for apostles. I mounted to the heavens and gave you

as proof the chorus of angels as they sang: "Glory to God in the highest, and

on earth peace, good will among men". Again, you heard the Seraphim as they

shuddered and cried out in astonishment:

"Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is filled with his

glory". And I gave you also the cherubim who exclaimed: "Blessed be his glory

in his dwelling".

(3) So there were three witnesses on earth and three in Heaven who made it

clear that God's glory cannot be approached. For the rest, the proof was

beyond dispute; there was great applause, the audience warmed with

enthusiasm, you assembly came aflame. I did rejoice at this, yet my joy was

not because praise was coming to me but because glory was coming to my

Master. For that applause and praise showed the love you have for God in your

souls. If a servant loves his master and hears someone speak in praise of

that master, his heart comes aflame with a love for him who speaks. This is

because the servant loves his master. You acted just that way when I spoke:

by the abundance of your applause you showed clearly your abundant love for

the Master.

(4) And so I wanted again today to engage in that contest. For if the enemies

of the truth never have enough of blaspheming our Benefactor, we must be all

the more tireless in praising the God of all. But what am I to do? Another

very serious illness calls for any cure my words can bring, an illness which

has become implanted in the body of the Church. We must first root this

ailment out and then take thought for matters outside; we must first cure our

own and then be concerned for others who are strangers.

(5) What is this disease? The festivals of the pitiful and miserable Jews are

soon to march upon us one after the other and in quick succession: the feast

of Trumpets, the feast of Tabernacles, the fasts. There are many in our ranks

who say they think as we do. Yet some of these are going to watch the

festivals and others will join the Jews in keeping their feasts and observing

their fasts. I wish to drive this perverse custom from the Church right now.

My homilies against the Anomians can be put off to another time, and the

postponement would cause no harm. But now that the Jewish festivals are close

by and at the very door, if I should fail to cure those who are sick with the

Judaizing disease. I am afraid that, because of their ill-suited association

and deep ignorance, some Christians may partake in the Jews' transgressions;

once they have done so, I fear my homilies on these transgressions will be in

vain. For if they hear no word from me today, they will then join the Jews in

their fasts; once they have committed this sin it will be useless for me to

apply the remedy.

(6) And so it is that I hasten to anticipate this danger and prevent it. This

is what physicians do. They first check the diseases which are most urgent

and acute. But the danger from this sickness is very closely related to the

danger from the other; since the Anomians impiety is akin to that of the

Jews, my present conflict is akin to my former one. And there is a kingship

because the Jews and the Anomians make the same accusation. And what charges

do the Jews make? That He called God His own Father and so made Himself equal

to God. The Anomians also make this charge-I should not say they make this a

charge; they even blot out the phrase "equal to God" and what it connotes, by

their resolve to reject it even if they do not physically erase it.

II

But do not be surprised that I called the Jews pitiable. They really are

pitiable and miserable. When so many blessings from heaven came into their

hands, they thrust them aside and were at great pains to reject them. The

morning Sun of Justice arose for them, but they thrust aside its rays and

still sit in darkness. We, who were nurtured by darkness, drew the light to

ourselves and were freed from the gloom of their error. They were the

branches of that holy root, but those branches were broken. We had no share

in the root, but we did reap the fruit of godliness. From their childhood

they read the prophets, but they crucified him whom the prophets had

foretold. We did not hear the divine prophecies but we did worship him of

whom they prophesied. And so they are pitiful because they rejected the

blessings which were sent to them, while others seized hold of these blessing

and drew them to themselves. Although those Jews had been called to the

adoption of sons, they fell to kinship with dogs; we who were dogs received

the strength, through God's grace, to put aside the irrational nature which

was ours and to rise to the honor of sons. How do I prove this? Christ said:

"It is no fair to take the children's bread and to cast it to the dogs".

Christ was speaking to the Canaanite woman when He called the Jews children

and the Gentiles dogs.

(2) But see how thereafter the order was changed about: they became dogs, and

we became the children. Paul said of the Jews: "Beware of the dogs, beware of

the evil workers, beware of the mutilation. For we are the circumcision". Do

you see how those who at first were children became dogs? Do you wish to find

out how we, who at first were dogs, became children? "But to as many as

received him, he gave the power of becoming sons of God".

(3) Nothing is more miserable than those people who never failed to attack

their own salvation. When there was need to observe the Law, they trampled it

under foot. Now that the Law has ceased to bind, they obstinately strive to

observe it. What could be more pitiable that those who provoke God not only

by transgressing the Law but also by keeping it? On this account Stephen

said: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart, you always resist the

Holy Spirit", not only by transgressing the Law but also by wishing to

observe it at the wrong time.

(4) Stephen was right in calling them stiff-necked. For they failed to take

up the yoke of Christ, although it was sweet and had nothing about it which

was either burdensome or oppressive. For he said: "Learn from me for I am

meek and humble of heart", and "Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is sweet

and my burden light". Nonetheless they failed to take up the yoke because of

the stiffness of their necks. Not only did they fail to take it up but they

broke it and destroyed it. For Jeremiah said: "Long ago you broke your yoke

and burst your bonds". It was not Paul who said this but the voice of the

prophet speaking loud and clear. When he spoke of the yoke and the bonds, he

meant the symbols of rule, because the Jews rejected the rule of Christ when

they said: "We have no king but Caesar". You Jews broke the yoke, you burst

the bonds, you cast yourselves out of the kingdom of heaven, and you made

yourselves subject to the rule of men. Please consider with me how accurately

the prophet hinted that their hearts were uncontrolled. He did not say: "You

set aside the yoke", but "You broke the yoke" and this is the crime of

untamed beasts, who are uncontrolled and reject rule.

(5) But what is the source of this hardness? It come from gluttony and

drunkenness. Who say so? Moses himself. "Israel ate and was filled and the

darling grew fat and frisky". When brute animals feed from a full manger,

they grow plump and become more obstinate and hard to hold in check; they

endure neither the yoke, the reins, nor the hand of the charioteer. Just so

the Jewish people were driven by their drunkenness and plumpness to the

ultimate evil; they kicked about, they failed to accept the yoke of Christ,

nor did they pull the plow of his teaching. Another prophet hinted at this

when he said: "Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn heifer". And still

another called the Jews "an untamed calf".

(6) Although such beasts are unfit for work, they are fit for killing. And

this is what happened to the Jews: while they were making themselves unfit

for work, they grew fit for slaughter. This is why Christ said: "But as for

these my enemies, who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here

and slay them". You Jews should have fasted then, when drunkenness was doing

those terrible things to you, when your gluttony was giving birth to your

ungodliness-not now. Now your fasting is untimely and an abomination. Who

said so? Isaiah himself when he called out in a loud voice: "I did not choose

this fast, say the Lord". Why? "You quarrel and squabble when you fast and

strike those subject to you with your fists". But if you fasting was an

abomination when you were striking your fellow slaves, does it become

acceptable now that you have slain your Master? How could that be right?

(7) The man who fast should be properly restrained, contrite, humbled-not

drunk with anger. But do you strike your fellow slaves? In Isaiah's day they

quarreled and squabbled when they fasted; now when fast, they go in for

excesses and the ultimate licentiousness, dancing with bare feet in the

marketplace. The pretext is that they are fasting, but they act like men who

are drunk. Hear how the prophet bit them to fast. "Sanctify a fast", he said.

He did not say: "Make a parade of your fasting", but "call an assembly;

gather together the ancients". But these Jews are gathering choruses of

effeminates and a great rubbish heap of harlots; they drag into the synagogue

the whole theater, actors and all. For there is no difference between the

theater and the synagogue. I know that some suspect me of rashness because I

said there is no difference between the theater and the synagogue; but I

suspect them of rashness if they do not think that this is so. If my

declaration that the two are the same rests on my own authority, then charge

me with rashness. But if the words I speak are the words of the prophet, then

accept his decision.

III

Many, I know, respect the Jews and think that their present way of life is a

venerable one. This is why I hasten to uproot and tear out this deadly

opinion. I said that the synagogue is no better than a theater and I bring

forward a prophet as my witness. Surely the Jews are not more deserving of

belief than their prophets. "You had a harlot's brow; you became shameless

before all". Where a harlot has set herself up, that place is a brothel. But

the synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater; it also is a den of

robbers and a lodging for wild beasts. Jeremiah said: "Your house has become

for me the den of a hyena". He does not simply say "of wild beast", but "of a

filthy wild beast", and again: "I have abandoned my house, I have cast off my

inheritance". But when God forsakes a people, what hope of salvation is left?

When God forsakes a place, that place becomes the dwelling of demons.

(2) But at any rate the Jews say that they, too, adore God. God forbid that I

say that. No Jew adores God! Who say so? The Son of God say so. For he said:

"If you were to know my Father, you would also know me. But you neither know

me nor do you know my Father". Could I produce a witness more trustworthy

than the Son of God?

(3) If, then, the Jews fail to know the Father, if they crucified the Son, if

they thrust off the help of the Spirit, who should not make bold to declare

plainly that the synagogue is a dwelling of demons? God is not worshipped

there. Heaven forbid! From now on it remains a place of idolatry. But still

some people pay it honor as a holy place.

(4) Let me tell you this, not from guesswork but from my own experience.

Three days ago-believe me, I am not lying-I saw a free woman of good bearing,

modest, and a believer. A brutal, unfeeling man, reputed to be a Christian

(for I would not call a person who would dare to do such a thing a sincere

Christian) was forcing her to enter the shrine of the Hebrews and to swear

there an oath about some matters under dispute with him. She came up to me

and asked for help; she begged me to prevent this lawless violence-for it was

forbidden to her, who had shared in the divine mysteries, to enter that

place. I was fired with indignation, I became angry, I rose up, I refused to

let her be dragged into that transgression, I snatched her from the hands of

her abductor. I asked him if were a Christian, and he said he was. Then I set

upon him vigorously, charging him with lack of feeling and the worst

stupidity; I told him he was no better off than a mule if he, who professed

to worship Christ, would drag someone off to the dens of the Jews who had

crucified him. I talked to him a long time, drawing my lesson from the Holy

Gospels; I told him first that it was altogether forbidden to swear and that

it was wrong to impose the necessity of swearing on anyone. I then told him

that he most not subject a baptize believer to this necessity. In fact, he

must not force even an unbaptized person to swear an oath.

(5) After I talked with him at great length and had driven the folly of his

error from his soul, I asked him why he rejected the Church and dragged the

woman to the place where the Hebrews assembled. He answered that many people

had told him that oaths sworn there were more to be feared. His words made me

groan, then I grew angry, and finally I began to smile. When I saw the

devil's wickedness, I groaned because he had the power to seduce men; I grew

angry when I considered how careless were those who were deceived; when I saw

the extent and depth of the folly of those who were deceived, I smiled.

(6) I told you this story because you are savage and ruthless in your

attitude toward those who do such things and undergo these experiences. If

you see one of your brothers falling into such transgressions, you consider

that it is someone else's misfortune, not your own; you think you have

defended yourselves against your accusers when you say: "What concern of mine

is it? What do I have in common with that man"? When you say that, your words

manifest the utmost hatred for mankind and a cruelty which benefits the

devil. What are you saying? You are a man and share the same nature. Why

speak of a common nature when you have but a single head, Christ? Do you dare

to say you have nothing in common with your own members? In what sense do you

admit that Christ is the head of the Church? For certainly it is the function

of the head to join all the limbs together, to order them carefully to each

other, and to bind them into one nature. But if you have nothing in common

with your members, then you have nothing in common with your brother, nor do

you have Christ as your head.

(7) The Jews frighten you as if you were little children, and you do not see

it. Many wicked slaves show frightening and ridiculous masks to

youngsters-the masks are not frightening by their nature, but they seem so to

the children's simple minds-and in this way they stir up many a laugh. This

is the way the Jews frighten the simpler-minded Christians with the bugbears

and hobgoblins of their shrines. Yet how could their ridiculous and

disgraceful synagogues frighten you? Are they not the shrines of men who have

been rejected, dishonored, and condemned?

IV

Our churches are not like that; they are truly frightening and filled with

fear. God's presence makes a place frightening because he has power over life

and death. In our churches we hear countless homilies on eternal punishments,

on rivers of fire, on the venomous worm, on bonds that cannot be burst, or

exterior darkness. But the Jews neither know nor dream of these things. They

live for their bellies, they gape for the things of this world, their

condition is not better than that of pigs or goats because of their wanton

ways and excessive gluttony. They know but one thing: to fill their bellies

and be drunk, to get all cut and bruised, to be hurt and wounded while

fighting for their favorite charioteers.

(2) Tell me, then, are their shrines awful and frightening? Who would say so?

what reasons do we have for thinking that they are frightening unless someone

should tell us that dishonored slaves, who have no right to speak and who

have been driven from their Master's home, should frighten us, who have been

given honor and the freedom to speak? Certainly this is not the case. Inns

are not more august then royal palaces. Indeed the synagogue is less

deserving of honor than any inn. It is not merely a lodging place for robbers

and cheats but also for demons. This is true not only of the synagogues but

also of the souls of the Jews, as I shall try to prove at the end of my

homily.

(3) I urge you to keep my words in your minds in a special way. For I am not

now speaking for show or applause but to cure your souls. And what else is

left for me to say when some of you are still sick although there are so many

physicians to effect a cure?

(4) There were twelve apostles and they drew the whole world to themselves.

The greater portion of the city is Christian, yet some are still sick with

the Judaizing disease. And what could we, who are healthy, say in our own

defense? Surely those who are sick deserve to be accused. But we are not free

from blame, because we have neglected them in their hour of illness; if we

had shown great concern for them and they had the benefit of this care, they

could not possibly still be sick.

(5) Let me get the start on you by saying this now, so that each of you may

win over his brother. Even if you must impose restraint, even if you must use

force, even if you must treat him ill and obstinately, do everything to save

him from the devil's snare and to free him from fellowship with those who

slew Christ.

(6) Tell me this. Suppose you were to see a man who had been justly condemned

being led to execution through the marketplace. Suppose it were in your power

to save him from the hands of the public executioner. Would you not do all

you could to keep him from being dragged off? But now you see your own

brother being dragged off unjustly to the depth of destruction. And it is not

the executioner who drags him of, but the devil. Would you be so bold as not

to do your part toward rescuing him from his transgression? If you don't help

him, what excuse would you find? But your brother is stronger and more

powerful than you. Show him to me. If he will stand fast in his obstinate

resolve, I shall choose to risk my life rather than let him enter the doors

of the synagogue.

(7) I shall say to him: What fellowship do you have with the free Jerusalem,

with the Jerusalem above? You chose the one below; be a slave with that

earthly Jerusalem which, according to the word of the Apostle, is a slave

together with her children. Do you fast with the Jews? Then take off your

shoes with the Jews, and walk barefoot in the marketplace, and share with

them in their indecency and laughter. But you would not chose to do this

because you are ashamed and apt to blush. Are you ashamed to share with them

in outward appearance but unashamed to share in their impiety? What excuse

will you have, you who are only half a Christian?

(8) Believe me, I shall risk my life before I would neglect any one who is

sick with this disease-if I see him. If I fail to see him, surely God will

grant me pardon. And let each one of you consider this matter; let him not

think it is something of secondary importance. Do you take no notice of what

the deacon continuously calls out in the mysteries? "Recognize one another",

he says. Do you not see how he entrusts to you the careful examination of

your brothers? Do this in the case of Judaizers, too. When you observe

someone Judaizing, take hold of him, show him what he is doing, so that you

may not yourself be an accessory to the risk he runs.

(9) If any Roman soldier serving overseas is caught favoring the barbarians

and the Persians, not only is he in danger but so also is everyone who was

aware of how this felt and failed to make this fact known to the general.

Since you are the army of Christ, be overly careful in searching to see if

anyone favoring an alien faith has mingled among you, and make his presence

know-not so that we may put him to death as those generals did, nor that we

may punish him or take our vengeance upon him, but that we may free him from

his error and ungodliness and make him entirely our own.

(10) If you are unwilling to do this, if you know of such a person but

conceal him, be sure that both you and he will be subject to the same

penalty. For Paul subjects to chastisement and punishment not only those who

commit acts of wickedness but also those who approve what they have done. The

prophet, too, brings to the same judgment not only thieves but also who run

with the thieves. And this is quite reasonable. For if a man is aware of a

criminal's actions but covers them up and conceals them, he is providing a

stronger basis for the criminal to be careless of the law and making him less

afraid in his career of crime.

V

But I must get back again to those who are sick. Consider, then, with whom

they are sharing their fasts. It is with those who shouted: "Crucify him,

Crucify him", with those who said: "His blood be upon us and upon our

children". If some men had been caught in rebellion against their ruler and

were condemned, would you have dared to go up to them and to speak with them?

I think not. Is it not foolish, then, to show such readiness to flee from

those who have sinned against a man, but to enter into fellowship with those

who have committed outrages against God himself? Is it not strange that those

who worship the Crucified keep common festival with those who crucified him?

Is it not a sign of folly and the worst madness?

(2) Since there are some who think of the synagogue as a holy place, I must

say a few words to them. Why do you reverence that place? Must you not

despise it, hold it in abomination, run away from it? They answer that the

Law and the books of the prophets are kept there. What is this? Will any

place where these books are be a holy place? By no means! This is the reason

above all others why I hate the synagogue and abhor it. They have the

prophets but not believe them; they read the sacred writings but reject their

witness-and this is a mark of men guilty of the greatest outrage.

(3) Tell me this. If you were to see a venerable man, illustrious and

renowned, dragged off into a tavern or den of robbers; if you were to see him

outraged, beaten, and subjected there to the worst violence, would you have

held that tavern or den in high esteem because that great and esteemed man

had been inside it while undergoing that violent treatment? I think not.

Rather, for this very reason you would have hated and abhorred the place.

(4) Let that be your judgment about the synagogue, too. For they brought the

books of Moses and the prophets along with them into the synagogue, not to

honor them but to outrage them with dishonor. When they say that Moses and

the prophets knew not Christ and said nothing about his coming, what greater

outrage could they do to those holy men than to accuse them of failing to

recognize their Master, than to say that those saintly prophets are partners

of their impiety? And so it is that we must hate both them and their

synagogue all the more because of their offensive treatment of those holy

men.

(5) Why do I speak about the books and the synagogues? In time of

persecution, the public executioners lay hold of the bodies of the martyrs,

they scourge them, and tear them to pieces. Does it make the executioners'

hands holy because they lay hold of the body of holy men? Heaven forbid! The

hands which grasped and held the bodies of the holy ones still stay unholy.

Why? Because those executioners did a wicked thing when they laid their hands

upon the holy. And will those who handle and outrage the writings of the holy

ones be any more venerable for this than those who executed the martyrs?

Would that not be the ultimate foolishness? If the maltreated bodies of the

martyrs do not sanctify those who maltreated them but even add to their

blood-guilt, much less could the Scriptures, if read without belief, ever

help those who read without believing. The very act of deliberately choosing

to maltreat the Scriptures convicts them of greater godlessness.

(6) If they did not have the prophets, they would not deserve such

punishment; if they had not read the sacred books, they would not be so

unclean and so unholy. But, as it is, they have been stripped of all excuse.

They do have the heralds of the truth but, with hostile heart, they set

themselves against the prophets and the truth they speak. So it is for this

reason that they would be all the more profane and blood-guilty: they have

the prophets, but they treat them with hostile hearts.

(7) So it is that I exhort you to flee and shun their gatherings. The harm

they bring to our weaker brothers is not slight; they offer no slight excuse

to sustain to the folly of the Jews. For when they see that you, who worship

the Christ whom they crucified, are reverently following their rituals, how

can they fail to think that the rites they have performed are the best and

that our ceremonies are worthless? For after you worship and adore at our

mysteries, you run to the very men who destroy our rites. Paul said: "If a

man sees you that have knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not

his conscience, being weak, be emboldened to eat those things which are

sacrificed to idols"? And let me say: If a man sees you that have knowledge

come into the synagogue and participate in the festival of the Trumpets,

shall not his conscience, being weak, be emboldened to admire what the Jews

do? He who falls not only pays the penalty for his own fall, but he is also

punished because he trips others as well. But the man who has stood firm is

rewarded not only because of his own virtue but people admire him for leading

others to desire the same things.

(8) Therefore, flee the gatherings and holy places of the Jews. Let no man

venerate the synagogue because of the holy books; let him hate and avoid it

because the Jews outrage and maltreat the holy ones, because they refuse to

believe their words, because they accuse them of the ultimate impiety.

VI

That you may know that the sacred books do not make a place holy but that the

purpose of those who frequent a place does make it profane, I shall tell an

old story. Ptolemy Philadelphus had collected books from all over the world.

When he learned that the Jews had writings which treated of God and the ideal

state, he sent for men from Judea and had them translate those books, which

he then had deposited in the temple of Serapis, for he was a pagan. Up to the

present day the translated books remain there in the temple. But will the

temple of Serapis be holy because of the holy books? Heaven forbid! Although

the books have their own holiness, they do not give a share of it to the

place because those who frequent the place are defiled.

(2) You must apply the same argument to the synagogue. Even if there is no

idol there, still demons do inhabit the place. And I say this not only about

the synagogue here in town but about the one in Daphne as well; for at Daphne

you have a more wicked place of perdition which they call Matrona's. I have

heard that many of the faithful go up there and sleep beside the place.

(3) But heaven forbid that I call these people faithful. For to me the shrine

of Matrona and the temple of Apollo are equally profane. If anyone charges me

with boldness, I will in turn charge him with the utmost madness. For, tell

me, is not the dwelling place of demons a place of impiety even if no god's

statue stands there? Here the slayers of Christ gather together, here the

cross is driven out, here God is blasphemed, here the Father is ignored, here

the Son is outraged, here the grace of the Spirit is rejected. Does not

greater harm come from this place since the Jews themselves are demons? In

the pagan temple the impiety is naked and obvious; it would not be ease to

deceive a man of sound and prudent mind or entice him to go there. But in the

synagogue there are men who say they worship God and abhor idols, men who say

they have prophets and pay them honor. But by their words they make ready an

abundance of bait to catch in their nets the simpler souls who are so foolish

as to be caught of guard.

(4) So the godlessness of the Jews and the pagans is on a par. But the Jews

practice a deceit which is more dangerous. In their synagogue stands an

invisible altar of deceit on which they sacrifice not sheep and calves but

the souls of men.

(5) Finally, if the ceremonies of the Jews move you to admiration, what do

you have in common with us? If the Jewish ceremonies are venerable and great,

our are lies. But if ours are true, as they are true, theirs are filled with

deceit. I am not speaking of the Scriptures. Heaven forbid! It was the

Scriptures which took me by the hand and led me to Christ. But I am talking

about the ungodliness and present madness of the Jews.

(6) Certainly it is the time for me to show that demons dwell in the

synagogue, not only in the place itself but also in the souls of the Jews. As

Christ said: "When an unclean spirit is gone out, he walks through dry places

seeking rest. If he does not find it he says: I shall return to my house. And

coming he finds it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goes and takes with

him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter into him and

the last state of that man is made worse than the first. So shall it be also

to this generations".

(7) Do you see that demons dwell in their souls and that these demons are

more dangerous than the ones of old? And this is very reasonable. In the old

days the Jews acted impiously toward the prophets; now they outrage the

Master of the prophets. Tell me this. Do you not shudder to come into the

same place with men possessed, who have so many unclean spirits, who have

been reared amid slaughter and bloodshed? Must you share a greeting with them

and exchange a bare word? Must you not turn away from them since they are the

common disgrace and infection of the whole world? Have they not come to every

form of wickedness? Have not all the prophets spent themselves making many

and long speeches of accusation against them? What tragedy, what manner of

lawlessness have they not eclipsed by their blood-guiltiness? They sacrificed

their own sons and daughters to demons. They refused to recognize nature,

they forgot the pangs, of birth, they trod underfoot the rearing of their

children, they overturned from their foundations the laws of kingship, they

became more savage than any wild beast.

(8) Wild beasts oftentimes lay down their lives and scorn their own safety to

protect their young. No necessity forced the Jews when they slew their own

children with their own hands to pay honor to the avenging demons, the foes

of our life. What deed of theirs should strike us with greater astonishment?

Their ungodliness or their cruelty or their inhumanity? That they sacrificed

their children or that they sacrificed them to demons? Because of their

licentiousness, did they not show a lust beyond that of irrational animals?

Hear what the prophet says of their excesses. "They are become as amorous

stallions. Every one neighed after his neighbor's wife". He did not say:

"Everyone lusted after his neighbor's wife", but he expressed the madness

which came from their licentiousness with the greatest clarity by speaking of

it as the neighing of brute beasts.

VII

What else do you wish me to tell you? Shall I tell you of their plundering,

their covetousness, their abandonment of the poor, their thefts, their

cheating in trade? the whole day long will not be enough to give you an

account of these things. But do their festivals have something solemn and

great about them? They have shown that these, too, are impure. Listen to the

prophets; rather, listen to God and with how strong a statement he turns his

back on them: "I have found your festivals hateful, I have thrust them away

from myself".

(2) Does God hate their festivals and do you share in them? He did not say

this or that festival, but all of them together. Do you wish to see that God

hates the worship paid with kettledrums, with lyres, with harps, and other

instruments? God said: "Take away from me the sound of your songs and I will

not hear the canticle of you harps". If God said: "Take them away from me",

do you run to listen to the trumpets? Are these sacrifices and offerings not

an abomination? "If you bring me the finest wheaten flour, it is in vain:

incense is an abomination to me". The incense is an abomination. Is not the

place also an abomination? Before they committed the crime of crimes, before

they killed their Master, before the cross, before the slaying of Christ, it

was an abomination. Is it not now all the more an abomination? And yet what

is more fragrant than incense? But God looks not to the nature of the gifts

but to the intention of those who bring them; it is this intention that he

judges their offerings.

(3) He paid heed to Abel and then to his gifts. He looked at Cain and then

turned away from his offering. For Scripture says: "For Cain and his

offerings he had no regard". Noah offered to God sacrifices of sheep and

calves and birds. The Scripture say: "And the Lord smelled a sweet odor",

that is, he accepted the offerings. For God has no nostrils but is a bodiless

spirit. Yet what is carried up from the altar is the odor and smoke from

burning bodies, and nothing is more malodorous than such a savor. But that

you may learn that God attends to the intention of the one offering the

sacrifice and then accepts or rejects it, Scripture calls the odor and the

smoke a sweet savor; but it calls the incense an abomination because the

intention of those offering it reeked with a great stench.

(4) Do you wish to learn that, together with the sacrifices and the musical

instruments and the festivals and the incense, God also rejects the temple

because of those who enter it? He showed this mostly by his deeds, when he

gave it over to barbarian hands, and later when he utterly destroyed it. But

even before its destruction, through his prophet he shouted aloud and said:

"Put not your trust in deceitful words for it will not help you when you say:

"This is the temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord"! What the prophet

says is that the temple does not make holy those who gather there, but those

who gather there make the temple holy. If the temple did not help at a time

when the Cherubim and the Ark were there, much less will it help now that all

those things are gone, now that God's rejection is complete, now that there

is greater ground for enmity. How great an act of madness and derangement

would it be to take as your partners in the festivals those who have been

dishonored, those whom God has forsaken, those who angered the Master?

(5) Tell me this. If a man were to have slain your son, would you endure to

look upon him, or accept his greeting? Would you not shun him as a wicked

demon, as the devil himself? They slew the Son of your Lord; do you have the

boldness to enter with them under the same roof? After he was slain he heaped

such honor upon you that he made you his brother and coheir. But you dishonor

him so much that you pay honor to those who slew him on the cross, that you

observe with them the fellowship of the festivals, that you go to their

profane places, enter their unclean doors, and share in the tables of demons.

For I am persuaded to call the fasting of the Jews a table of demons because

they slew God. If the Jews are acting against God, must they not be serving

the demons? Are you looking for demons to cure you? When Christ allowed the

demons to enter into the swine, straightway they plunged into the sea. Will

these demons spare the bodies of men? I wish they would not kill men's

bodies, that they would not plot against them. But they will. The demons cast

men from Paradise and deprived them the honor from above. Will they cure

their bodies? That is ridiculous, mere stories. The demons know how to plot

and do harm, not to cure. They do not spare souls. Tell me, then, will they

spare bodies? They try to drive men from the Kingdom. Will they choose to

free them from disease?

(6) Did you not hear what the prophet said? Rather, did you hear what God

said through the prophet? He said that the demons can do neither good nor

evil. Even if they could cure and wanted to do so-which is impossible-you

must not take an indestructible and unending punishment in exchange for a

slight benefit which can soon be destroyed. Will you cure your body and

destroy your soul? You are making a poor exchange. Are you angering God who

made your body, and are you calling to your aid the demon who plots against

you?

(7) If any demon-fearing pagan has medical knowledge, will he also find it

easy to win you over to worship the pagan gods? Those pagans, too, have their

skill. They, too, have often cured many diseases and brought the sick back to

health. Are we going to share in their godlessness on this account? Heaven

forbid! Hear what Moses said to the Jews. "If there arise in the midst of you

a prophet or one that says he has dreamed a dream and he foretell a sign and

a wonder, and that sign or wonder which he spoke come to pass, and he say to

you: "Let us go and serve strange gods whom our fathers did not know, you

shall not hear the words of that prophet or dreamer".

(8) What Moses means is this. If some prophet rises up, he says, and performs

a sign, by either raising a dead man or cleansing a leper, or curing a maimed

man, and after working the wonder calls you to impiety, do not heed him just

because his sign comes to pass. Why? "The Lord your God is trying you to see

whether you love him with all your heart and all your soul". From this it is

clear that demons do not cure. If ever God should permit demons to cure, as

he might permit a man to do, his permission is given to test you-not because

God does not know what you are, but that he may teach you to reject even the

demons who do cure.

(9) And why do I speak of bodily cures? If any man threatens you with Gehenna

unless you deny Christ, do not heed his words. If someone should promise you

a kingdom to revolt from the only-begotten Son of God, turn away from him and

hate him. Be a disciple of Paul and emulate those words which his blessed and

noble soul exclaimed when he said: "I am sure that neither death nor life,

nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to

come, no height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate

us from the love of God, which is in Christ our Lord".

(10) No angels, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any

other creature separated Paul from the love of Christ. Do you revolt to cur