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Eusebius Pamphilii of Caesarea
On the Theophania
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  • THE FOURTH BOOK OF (EUSEBIUS) OF CAESAREA.
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30. "Beware of lying Prophets who come to you in lambs' clothing, but inwardly (are) rapacious wolves. By their fruits ye shall know them. For men do not gather grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles. So every good tree produceth good fruit, but an evil tree giveth forth evil fruit." He (here) counselled (them) by His foreknowledge, to beware of those ungodly persons, who, availing themselves of the 109 opinions of others, and of the words of the Scriptures of His Divinity, should in after times formally assume the name of Christianity. He also shews the marks and vouchers of the evil concealed within them, and which should deceive the many, when saying, "By their fruits ye shall know them." Now the fruits of such are these ; the ungodly words uttered by them; their unrighteous and perverse manner of life. These things then, when uttered and foretold by our Saviour, afforded at that time no visible testimony whatever to those who heard them, (as to their truth) ; but, in after times, the facts (so) declared became openly visible to all: the followers accordingly of

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Marcion110, Valentinus111, Basilides112, and those other corrupters of souls, sprang up, (viz.) Bardesanes113, and that madman in opinion of yesterday, and of our own times, whose name became the titular badge of the Manichean114

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heresy; who all became the sources of lying and ungodly doctrine. Nor did they otherwise come to light, but as outwardly clothed with the skins of our Saviour's lambs. And He plainly styled His Disciples "sheep;" saying, "My sheep hear my voice115:" and again, "Behold, I send you as sheep among wolves116." Of these then they outwardly assumed the manner, while in themselves they were "rapacious wolves." (And), How many thousands of the sheep of our Saviour, did these Deceivers snatch away ? Who, presenting their persons in form as to Christ, attached themselves to His instruction, and to the terms of the doctrines relating to His Godhead, and exhibited themselves as (His) lambs ! But, that ungodly bitterness117 which lay (as) in ambush within them, adhered secretly to those who had been ensnared by them. These, therefore, who were now thought to be "sheep," because of their (thus) drawing near (to Him), openly appeared afterwards to be "rapacious wolves."

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And hence, our Saviour taught us previously to beware of them, when He said by way of instruction, "By their fruits ye shall know them."

How even He and His Disciples should be thought to have taken men, by means of Magicians, and of intercourse with Demons.



109. 6 I. e. Heterodoxy.



110. 1 Syr. [Syriac]. Marcion himself was a native of Pontus, and lived in the times of Anicetus the eleventh Bishop of Rome. He enlarged upon the errors of Cerdon his immediate predecessor, who had espoused and laboured to propagate the opinions of Simon Magus. Marcion was an open blasphemer of God, and corrupter of the Scriptures. He was one of those who forbade marriage, and urged the abstaining from certain meats, and in this, he seems to have agreed with the Manicheans and Saturninians: in many things with the Simonians, Basilidians, Bogomilians, Audeans, &c. This heresy had, in the times of Epiphanius, extended itself to Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Arabia, Syria, Cyprus, and Persia. See Grabe's Irenaeus, p. 104, with the notes and references.



111. 2 Syr. [Syriac]. So called after their leader Valentinus, who came to Rome in the times of Hyginus, and lived during those of Pius, and to those of Anicetus. His doctrines had originated in Simon Magus, which he very gradually and cautiously endeavoured to introduce into the Church. For which he was eventually deprived of communion. See Euseb. Hist. Eccl. Index. It. Grabe.



112. 3 Syr. [Syriac]. So called after Basilides their leader. He waa a native of Alexandria, and flourished in the times of Hadrian. He received his doctrines, which were those of Simon Magus, from Menander, in which marriage was forbidden, and the abstaining from certain meats was urged. See Grabe's Irenaeus, p. 96, with the notes and I ndex.



113. 4 He was a native of Mesopotamia, and flourished in the times of M. Aurelius and L. Verus. He first attached himself to Valentinus; but afterwards wrote against him and his doctrines. He is said to have been a very elegant and acute writer: but he never purged himself, as it should seem, from the Gnostic heresy. See Euseb. Eccl. Hist. Lib. iv. cap. xxx. Asseman. Bible. Orient. Tom. i. p. 47, &c. as marked in the Index: particularly p. 389, note.



114. 6 Manes, (or, as the modern Persians name him, [Persian], Mani, the Syrians [Syriac] Manni,) was a Persian by birth, and, according to the Chronicon of Edessa (Asseman. Bibl. Orient. Tom. i. p. 393, note) was born A. D. 240. He entered Mesopotamia in A. D. 261, when he came to Archelaus Bishop of the Caschari, for the purpose of disputing on the subject of religion: but, being overcome, he secretly withdrew himself to Persia. He was there taken by the king, flayed alive, and exposed to dogs. He was strenuous in advancing the old oriental doctrine of the two Principles, good, and bad, among Christians; of which marked traces remain to this day among the Mohammedans of Persia, as may be seen in the celebrated work of Kuleini, under the figures of Intellect and Folly, (see my Persian Controversies, p. 175, and note,) as also in the Dabistan, ascribed to Mohsin Fani. He held with the Gnostics, that Christ was a mere Phantom; he put it forth that himself was the Christ, and the Comforter (Paraclete): and his twelve Disciples accordingly proscribed marriage as being of the Devil, &c. See Theodoret, Haeret. Fab. i. xxvi. Tom. iv. with the Index. Epiphan. de Mens. et Pond. as cited by Asseman. A Syriac translation of the work of Titus, Bishop of Bozra, against this heresy, is to be found in the volume from which I take this work of Eusebius. All these, according to Hegesippus, as preserved by Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. Lib. iv. cap. xxii.) originated from Thebuthis, who, being mortified because not made a Bishop, set about secretly to corrupt the Church. He was of one of the seven sects then spread abroad among the Jews. Out of which also arose Simon, whence the Simonians: also Cleobius, Dositheus, Gortheus, Masbotheus; whence also Menander, Marcion, Carpocrates, Valentinus, Basilides, &c. &c. Hence also the false Christs, false Apostles, false Prophets, &c. See the notes of Valesius, Ed. 1695, p. 69. seq.



115. 6 John x. 27.



116. 7 Matt. x. 16: comp. Luke x. 3. Cited also by Theodoret, Gr. affect. curat. Ed. Gaisford, p. 446.



117. 8 Syr. [Syriac], which, I think, should be read [Syriac]: the intention of our author evidently being, to give an equivalent to the "amarum et maligni principis apostasies serpentis venenum" of Irenaeus, Edit. Grabe. p. 105.





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