(59) And you see clearly, that the wicked Pharisees and Scribes put these Things upon him; for these Things did not happen to him for nothing, or without Cause; for it was of Necessity to be so; for the Pharisees, Scribes, and Rulers, had put that in his Dish for him, which he must eat. Or shall we be silent? We must tell it, though it should cost us our Life.

(152) Neither are the prophets' writings like other writings; Nor their temples, nor their works, nor their families; Nor their manners, nor their wrath, nor their chastisements; Nor their dreams, nor their reason, nor their words. Each one of them is endued with a different glory, Each soul's bird winged with different feathers. Ho! pious ones, build the lively temple of the heart, That the Divine Solomon may be seen, and peace be upon you! And if your demons and fairies be recalcitrant, If your demons go astray through guile and fraud,

(14) And there then the Judgment is set, and all Men (both the Living and the Dead) must stand there, every one in his own Body. And the angelical Choir of the holy Men (who have been killed for the Witness of Jesus) is set; there stand the holy Patriarchs of the Tribes of Israel, and the holy Prophets, with their Doctrine; and all that they have taught is made manifest and revealed, and stands before the Eyes of the Wicked; they must give an Account of all their Murderings of the Saints; for they that have been murdered for the Truth's Sake stand before the Eyes of their Murderers, whose Lives the Murderers must give an Account for, and yet have no Excuse to make, but stand Speechless; all a Man's slandering Reproaches which he has cast upon the Righteous stand there before him in Substance, and is a Substance, about which the Law is there read to him.

(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?"

(1) But, say they, it is written, "All who were before the Lord's advent are thieves and robbers." All, then, who are in the Word (for it is these that were previous to the incarnation of the Word) are understood generally. But the prophets, being sent and inspired by the Lord, were not thieves, but servants.

(56) And they shall go up and tread under foot the land of His elect ones, [And the land of His elect ones shall be before them a threshing-floor and a highway:] 7 But the city of my righteous shall be a hindrance to their horses. And they shall begin to fight among themselves, And their right hand shall be strong against themselves, And a man shall not know his brother, Nor a son his father or his mother, Till there be no number of the corpses through their slaughter, And their punishment be not in vain.

(95) And your righteous ones in those days shall be A reproach to the sinners and the godless.

(1) Oh thou who choppest off heads and cuttest throats, but restorest memory in the mouth of the dead through the Words of Power which they possess: thou seest me not with thine eyes, thou perceivest not with thy feet; thou turnest back thy face, thou seest not the executioners of Shu, who are coming behind thee to chop off thine own head and to cut thy throat. Let not my mouth be closed, through the Words of Power which I possess; even as thou hast done to the dead, through the Words of Power which they possess

(15) And though ye were holy, spiritual, living the eternal life, you have defiled yourselves with the blood of women, and have begotten (children) with the blood of flesh, and, as the children of men, have lusted after flesh and blood as those ⌈also⌉ do who die and perish.

(39) Jesus said, "The Pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of Knowledge and hidden them. They themselves have not entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to. You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves."

(1) I will speak to those who know to hear not with the ears of the body but with the ears of the mind. For many have sought after the truth and have not been able to find it; because there has taken hold of them the old leaven of the Pharisees and the scribes of the Law. And the leaven is the errant desire of the angels and the demons and the stars. As for the Pharisees and the scribes, it is they who belong to the archons who have authority over them.

(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.

(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."

(4) Now, if the profane should see or hear that these things are done by us, they will, I suppose, split with laughter, and commiserate us on our, folly. But there is no need to wonder at this. For, as the Oracles say, "If they will not believe, neither shall they understand." And as for us, who have contemplated the spiritual meaning of the things done, whilst Jesus leads us to the light, let us say, that, not without reason, does the Hierarch conduct to, and place the man fallen asleep, in the place of the same rank; for it shews reverently, that, in the regeneration, all will be in those chosen inheritances, for which they have chosen their own life here. For example, if any one led a Godlike and most holy life here, so far as the imitation of God is attainable by man, he will be, in the age to come, in divine and blessed inheritances; but if he led a life inferior to the divine likeness in the highest degree, but, nevertheless, a holy life, even this man will receive the holy and similar retributions. The Hierarch, having given thanks for this Divine righteousness, offers a sacred prayer, and extols the worshipful Godhead, as subjugating the unjust and tyrannical power against us all, and conducting us back to our own most just possessions (or judgments).

(6) And do thou command the children of Israel to eat no blood, so that their names and their seed may be before the Lord our God continually.

(2) Ye shall perform My judgments, and keep My precepts, and walk in them: I am the Lord your God. And ye shall keep all My commandments, and do them. He that doeth them shall live in them. I am the Lord your God." Whether, then, Egypt and the land of Canaan be the symbol of the world and of deceit, or of sufferings and afflictions; the oracle shows us what must be abstained from, and what, being divine and not worldly, must be observed. And when it is said, "The man that doeth them shall live in them," it declares both the correction of the Hebrews themselves, and the training and advancement of us who are nigh: it declares at once their life and ours. For "those who were dead in sins are quickened together with Christ," by our covenant. For Scripture, by the frequent reiteration of the expression, "I am the Lord your God," shames in such a way as most powerfully to dissuade, by teaching us to follow God who gave the commandments, and gently admonishes us to seek God and endeavour to know Him as far as possible; which is the highest speculation, that which scans the greatest mysteries, the real knowledge, that which becomes irrefragable by reason. This alone is the knowledge of wisdom, from which rectitude of conduct is never disjoined.

(6) For this reason I command and testify to thee that thou mayest testify to them ; for af^r thy death thy children will disturb (them), so that they will not make the year three hundred and sixty-four days only, and for this reason they will go wrong as to the new moons * and seasons and sabbaths and festivals, and they will eat all kinds of blood with all kinds of flesh.

(21) And let no blood appear upon you nor upon your clothes ; be qn thy guard, my son, against blood, be on thy guard exceedingly; cover it with dust.

(7) There shall be no blood seen upon you of all }• the blood there shall be all the days in which ye have killed any beasts or cattle or whatever flieth upon the earth, and work ye a good work to your souls by covering that which hath been shed on the face of the earth, jj. And ye shall not be like him who eateth with blood, but guard yourselves that none may eat blood befpre you : * cover the blood, for thus have I been commanded to testify to you and your children, together with all flesh.

(6) All of their coverings uplifted were, And from them issued forth such dire laments, Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented. And I: "My Master, what are all those people Who, having sepulture within those tombs, Make themselves audible by doleful sighs?" And he to me: "Here are the Heresiarchs, With their disciples of all sects, and much More than thou thinkest laden are the tombs. Here like together with its like is buried; And more and less the monuments are heated." And when he to the right had turned, we passed Between the torments and high parapets.