(1) For they will forget all My commandments, (even) all that I command them, and they will walk after the Gentiles, and after their uncleanness, and after their shame, and will serve their gods, and these will prove unto them an offence and a tribulation and an affliction and a snare.

(4) And again, those also are likewise unclean that part the hoof, but do not ruminate. For these point out the heretics, who indeed go upon the name of the Father and the Son, but are in capable of triturating and grinding down the clear declaration of the oracles, and who, besides, perform the works of righteousness coarsely and not with precision, if they perform them at all. To such the Lord says, "Why will ye call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"

(2) Wherefore do thou command the children of Israel to observe this day that they may keep it holy and not do thereon any work, and not to defile it, as it is holier than all other days.

(1) And many will perish and they will be taken captive, and will fall into the hands of the enemy, because they have forsaken My ordinances and My com- mandments, and the festivals of My covenant, and My sabbaths, and My holy place which I have hal- lowed for Myself in their midst, and My tabernacle, and My sanctuary, which I have hallowed for Myself in the midst of the land, that I should set My name upon it, and that it should dwell (there). II. And they * will make to themselves high places and groves and graven images, and they will worship, each his own (graven image), so as to go astray, and they will sacrifice their children to demons, and to all the works of the error of their hearts.

(1) And they will forget all My law and all My commandments and all My judgments, and will go astray as to new moons, and sabbaths, and festivals, and jubilees, and ordinances.

(98) And all the words of your unrighteousness shall be read out before the Great Holy One, And your faces shall be covered with shame, And He will reject every work which is grounded on unrighteousness.

(12) And if I tell them the truth, they will slay me ; for their soul cleaveth to them to worship them and honour them. Keep silent, my son, lest they slay thee."

(95) Therefore let this be told you, ye Jews, Turks, and other Nations; you need not look for any other, there is no other Time at hand, but the Time of the Lily; and the Sign of that [Time] is the i Sign of Elias. Therefore take Heed in what Spirit you live, that the Fire of Anger do not devour you, and keat you up. It is high Time to cast Jezabel with her Whoredoms out of the House, lest you receive the Wages of the Whore, and as you revile one another, so you devour one another. Truly, if the contentious Disputations be not suddenly stayed, the Fire will burn out aloft over Babel; and then there will be no Remedy, till the Anger eats up and consumes all whatsoever is in it.

(12) And he said, "Whathelp and profit have we from those idols which thou dost worship, And before which thou dost bow thyself ? *

(30) And there will be no respect of persons [and no consideration of persons],' and no receiving at his hands of fruits and offerings and burnt-offerings and fat, nor the fragrance of sweet savour, so as to accept it: and so fare every man or woman in Israel who defileth the sanctuary.

(12) And if those also who follow heresies venture to avail themselves of the prophetic Scriptures; in the first place they will not make use of all the Scriptures, and then they will not quote them entire, nor as the body and texture of prophecy prescribe. But, selecting ambiguous expressions, they wrest them to their own opinions, gathering a few expressions here and there; not looking to the sense, but making use of the mere words. For in almost all the quotations they make, you will find that they attend to the names alone, while they alter the meanings; neither knowing, as they affirm, nor using the quotations they adduce, according to their true nature.

(21) And do thou, my son, observe His commandments and His ordinances and His judgments, and walk not after the abominations and after the graven images and after the molten images.

(24) Let them say, let them pay reverence, let them bow in humility before him!

(20) I implore you, my sons, love the God of heaven, And cleave ye to all His commandments. And walk not after their idols, and after their uncleannesses,

(63) Hitherto the Honour of Invocation [or Worship] has been paid and afforded to the Virgin Mary, and other Saints, [or holy People,] that have been here [in this Life;] whereas yet (in the Ground of the Light of Nature) this Command or Law was not known at all, and it is most highly necessary to be known, that the Ground thereof has been taken in the confused Babel, when Men were weary of the poor Christ, who in this World had not whereon to lay his Head. Then they did as Israel with Moses, who made themselves a Calf to be their God, and said; Behold, Israel, these are thy Gods, which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt; and they made a calvish Worship of God, for their voluptuous Life, and looked no more after Moses, but said; We know not what is become of this Man Moses; and they said to Aaron. Make thou us Gods which may go before us, and he made them the Calf; but when Moses came and saw it, then he was wroth, and took the Tables of God, and broke them, and threw them away, and said; Hearken, you that belong unto the Lord, gird every Man his Sword to his Side, and slay his Brother, the Worshippers of the Calf.

(1) At length I send a word to thee, O Love of my heart, and recall to thy memory the many anxieties and solicitudes, which I have formerly undergone on thy account." For thou rememberest with what a mild and benevolent disposition I have been accustomed to rebuke thy obstinacy in error, although with scant reason, in order that I might uproot those vain opinions with which thou wast deceived. But now, adoring the supreme toleration of the Divine long-suffering towards thee, I offer thee my congratulations, O part of my soul, now that you are turning your eyes to your soul's health. For, even the very things which formerly you delighted to spurn, you now delight to affirm; and the things that you used to reject with scorn, you now delight to enforce. For, often have I set before you, and that with great precision, what even Moses committed to writing, that man was first made by God, from mud, and the sins of the world were punished by the flood, and in process of time, that the same Moses, united in friendship with God, - performed many wonders, both in Egypt and the exodus from Egypt, by the power and action of the same God. Nor Moses only, but other divine prophets subsequently, published similar things, not infrequently, who long before foretold that God should take the nature of man from a Virgin. To which statement of mine, not once, but often, you replied, that you did not know whether these things were true, and that you were entirely ignorant, even who that Moses was, and whether he was white or black. Further, that you rejected with scorn the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Who is God of all Majesty--which you used to call mine. Further, that Paul, the globe trotter, and a scatterer of words, who was calling people from things terrestrial to things celestial, you were unwilling to receive. Lastly, you reproach me, as a turncoat, who had left the customs of my country's religion, and was leading people to iniquitous sacrilege, and urged me to unlearn the things in which I was placing my trust; or, at least, that I should put away other people's things, and deem it sufficient to keep what was my own, lest I should be found to detract from the honour due to divine deities, and the institutions of my fathers. But, after the supernal light of the paternal glory of His own will sent the rays of His own splendour upon the darkness of your mind, at once He put into my inmost heart, that I should recall to your mind the whole counsel of God. How, for instance, when we were staying in Heliopolis (I was then about twenty-five, and your age was nearly the same as mine), on a certain sixth day, and about the sixth hour, the sun, to our great surprise, became obscured, through the moon passing over it, not because it is a god, but because a creature of God, when its very true light was setting, could not bear to shine. Then I earnestly asked thee, what thou, O man most wise, thought of it. Thou, then, gave such an answer as remained fixed in my mind, and that no oblivion, not even that of the image of death, ever allowed to escape. For, when the whole orb had been throughout darkened, by a black mist of darkness, and the sun's disk had begun again to be purged and to shine anew, then taking the table of Philip Aridaeus, and contemplating the orbs of heaven, we learned, what was otherwise well known, that an eclipse of the sun could not, at that time, occur. Next, we observed that the moon approached the sun from the east, and intercepted its rays, until it covered the whole; whereas, at other times, it used to approach from the west. Further also, we noted that when it had reached the extreme edge of the sun, and had covered the whole orb, that it then went back towards the east, although that was a time which called neither for the presence of the moon, nor for the conjunction of the sun. I therefore, O treasury of manifold learning, since I was incapable of understanding so great a mystery, thus addressed thee--"What thinkest thou of this thing, O Apollophanes, mirror of learning?" "Of what mysteries do these unaccustomed portents appear to you to be indications?" Thou then, with inspired lips, rather than with speech of human voice, "These are, O excellent Dionysius," thou saidst, "changes of things divine." At last, when I had taken note of the day and year, and had perceived that, that time, by its testifying signs, agreed with that which Paul announced to me, once when I was hanging upon his lips, then I gave my hand to the truth, and extricated my feet from the meshes of error. Which truth, henceforth, I, with admiration, both preach and urge upon thee--which is life and way, and true light,--which lighteth every man coming into this world,--to which even thou at last, as truly wise, hast yielded. For thou yieldedst to life when thou renounced death. And surely thou hast, at length, acted in the best possible manner, if thou shalt adhere henceforth to the same truth, so as to associate with us more closely. For those lips will henceforth be on our side, by the splendour of whose words, as blunting the edge of my mind, thou hast been accustomed by pretexts brought from various quarters, and by a gorgeous glow of eloquence, to vex the innermost recesses of our breast;--yea, even sometimes to probe us sharply by occasional stings of malice. Wherefore as formerly, as thou thyself used to say, the knowledge of Christian doctrine, although savoury, was not savoury to thee, but when you had brought yourself to it, merely to taste, it shrank from your mental palate, and as it were, disdained to find a resting-place in your stomach; so now, after you have acquired a heart, intelligent and provident, elevate thyself to things supernal, and do not surrender, for things that are not, things which really are. Therefore in future, be so much more obstinate against those who have urged you to the false, as you showed yourself perverse towards us, when we invited you, with all our force, to the truth. For thus, I, in the Lord Jesus, Whose Presence is my being and my life, will henceforth die joyful, since thou also livest in Him. End of Dionysius the Areopagite. May his prayer be with us! Next: Preface Sacred Texts | Christianity « Previous: The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite: Letters: Letter X.... Index Next: The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite: Liturgy: Preface » Sacred Texts | Christianity

(1) And the Lord said unto Moses : " I know their contrariness and their thoughts and their stiffneckedness, and they will not be obedient till they confess their own sjn and the sin of their fathers.

(46) And they persecute the houses of His congregations, And the faithful who hang upon the name of the Lord of Spirits.

(23) But seeing thou knowest it, and dost it not, and the others know it not, but yet do it, they, with their doing, judge thy knowledge; and thou art found to be a hypocrite, a dissembler, and an unprofitable servant, who wert put into the vineyard of the Lord, and wilt not work therein.

(87) And do not rely upon the Hypocrisy of the Antichrist, he is a Liar, and Covetous, and a Dissembler; he minds only his Idol the Belly, and is a Thief in the Sight of God; he devours the Bread that belongs to the Needy; he is the Devil's Hell-hound; learn to know him.