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ℹ️ The Chinese and English alongside are this site's own translation, made directly from the original text on this page (not the CUV or the WEB, which follow the Masoretic Text and a different textual tradition).
He babbles a great many other things besides, teaching the same formulas to be recited also for consumptives, prescribing baptism in cold water forty times over seven days, and likewise for those possessed by demons. O inimitable wisdom, and powers of incantation so richly stocked! Who would not be astonished at such a mighty display of words? But since we have said that these people also employ astrological error, we shall show it from their own writings; for he speaks thus:
"There are evil stars of impiety. This is now told to you, O pious ones and disciples: guard yourselves against the power of the starting-days of their rule, and do not begin any undertaking on their days; and do not baptize a man or a woman on the days of their dominion, whenever the moon, passing through its course, is in conjunction with them."
"Guard yourselves on that very day, until it passes away from them, and then baptize and begin every undertaking of your works. But honor the day of the Sabbath, since it is one of these days; and also guard against beginning anything on the third day of the week."
"For again, when three years of Caesar Trajan's reign are completed, reckoning from when he subjected the Parthians to his rule, when those three years are completed, war rages between the angels of the impiety of the North (the Bears); on account of this, all the kingdoms of impiety are thrown into confusion."
Considering it unreasonable that these great and secret mysteries should be trampled underfoot or handed over to the many, he counsels his followers to guard them as costly pearls, speaking thus: "Do not read this word to all men, and guard these commandments carefully, for not all men are faithful, nor are all women upright."
"Not even the wise men of the Egyptians in their inner sanctuaries attained to these things, nor did the wise man of the Greeks, Pythagoras, attain to them. For if Elchasai had lived at that time, what need would there have been for Pythagoras, or Thales, or Solon, or the wise Plato, or the rest of the wise men of the Greeks, to be disciples of the Egyptian priests, when they might have had such and so great a wisdom from Alcibiades" — the most admirable interpreter, forsooth, of the wretched Elchasai.
It seems, then, that what has been said suffices for the recognition of their madness, to those who possess a sound mind; therefore it did not seem good to us to use more of their sayings, there being very many of them, and ridiculous ones at that. But since we have not omitted even these things that have arisen in our own time, nor have we been silent about those before our time, it seems fitting, in order that we may have gone through everything and leave nothing unrelated, to say what the customs of the Jews are, and what the differences among them are;
for I think these things still remain to be told. And not passing over these in silence either, I shall then proceed to the demonstration of the argument concerning the truth, so that, after the long contest of the discourse against all the heresies, arriving at the crown of the kingdom, believing the truth in piety, we may not be troubled.
Among the Jews, from the beginning, there was one custom; for one was the teacher given to them by God, Moses, and one was the law through him, one the desert region, and one the mountain, Sinai; for one was the God who legislated for them. But afterward, having crossed the river Jordan and inherited the spear-won land, they tore apart the law of God in various ways — one man devising the meaning of what was said in one way, another in another way — and thus, having raised up teachers for themselves, and having discovered various opinions constituting sects, they proceeded to division; whose difference I shall now set forth.
But even though they became divided into very many parts over the long course of time, I shall nonetheless set forth the more essential points concerning them, through which those fond of learning may also easily come to know the rest. For among them there is a division into three kinds: of one, the members are called Pharisees; of another, Sadducees; and the others are Essenes.
These practice a more austere manner of life, being devoted to one another and self-controlled; and they turn away from indulging any desire, being averse even to hearing of such things. They forbid marriage, but take up the children of others and raise them, bringing them up according to their own customs and advancing them in their teachings — not forbidding marriage as such, but themselves abstaining from it. As for women, even if they should wish to hold to the same principles, they do not admit them, trusting women in no way at all.
They despise wealth, and do not turn away from sharing with those in need; yet neither is there anyone among them who is richer than another. For it is a law among them that whoever joins the sect, upon selling his possessions, must bring them to the common fund — which, once received,
the leader distributes to all according to what is needed. Thus no one among them is in want. They do not use oil, considering the act of anointing a defilement. Those who administer the common goods are chosen by vote, and they all wear white garments at all times.
They have no single city of their own, but in each city many of them dwell as sojourners. And if any of the sect should come from a foreign place, they consider all things common to him, and those whom they had not known before they receive as intimate and familiar friends. They go about their ancestral land, journeying continually, carrying nothing except a weapon.
They have also in each city a man set over them, who expends what is collected for this purpose, providing clothing and food for them. Their dress and appearance are modest; they do not acquire two tunics or double sandals; but when what they have becomes worn, then they take up others. They neither buy nor sell anything at all; rather, whatever one has, he gives to the one who lacks it, and receives in turn what he himself lacks.
They remain orderly and persist in prayer at dawn, speaking nothing beforehand until they have sung a hymn to God; and then, having gone forth, each one does what he wishes, and having labored until the fifth hour, they return.
Then, having come together again into one place, girding themselves about with linen aprons to cover their nakedness, they wash themselves in this manner in cold water; and after purifying themselves thus, they go together into one dwelling — no one associates in that house with someone of a different persuasion — and they proceed to prepare a meal.
When they have sat down in order in silence, bread is served, then some one dish, from which each receives a sufficient portion. No one of them tastes anything until the priest has prayed a blessing over it. After the meal, he prays again; and beginning and ending, they hymn God.
Then, laying aside as sacred the garments in which they had dined together within — for these are linen — and taking up their other garments again, they go forth to their own proper labors until evening; and they dine again in the same manner as described above, having done everything the same.
No one at all ever cries out, nor is any other tumultuous sound ever heard, but each speaks quietly, decorously yielding the conversation to another, so that to those outside, the silence of those within appears as some kind of mystery. They are always sober, doing everything in moderation, both in eating and in drinking.
All, then, defer to the one set over them, and whatever he commands, they obey as though it were law. They are zealous in showing mercy and helping those who are oppressed. Above all, they abstain from anger and wrath and all such things, judging these to be schemes against man. No one among them swears; whatever anyone says, this is judged to be stronger than an oath. But if someone should swear, he is condemned, as one not to be trusted apart from an oath to God.
They are zealous for the readings of the Law and the Prophets, and also for any writing of the faithful that may exist. They are exceedingly curious about herbs and stones, being more curious than others about their properties, saying that these things did not come into being in vain.
To those wishing to become disciples of the sect, they do not immediately impart their traditions, but first put them to the test; and for a year they set before the candidate the same kind of food, he remaining outside their own assembly in another dwelling, giving him a small hatchet, a linen apron, and a white garment. When in this period he has given proof of self-control,
he draws nearer to their way of life, and is washed more purely than before; yet he does not yet share in food with them. For after demonstrating whether he is able to exercise self-control, he is tested for two more years — such being their custom — and having shown himself worthy, he is thus judged fit to be admitted among them.
But before he shares a meal with them, he is bound by dreadful oaths: first, that he will worship the Divine; then, that he will observe justice toward men, and in no way wrong anyone; that he will hate no one, neither one who wrongs him nor an enemy, but will pray for them; that he will strive together with the just; that he will show good faith to all, and especially to those in authority — for it is not apart from God that anyone comes to rule;
and if he himself should come to rule, he will never behave arrogantly in his authority, nor exceed custom in dress or in any other adornment; that he will be a lover of truth and will refute the one who lies; that he will not steal, nor defile his conscience through unlawful gain; that he will hide nothing from his fellow members, nor reveal anything to outsiders, even should someone try to compel him under pain of death. Beyond these things, he swears not to impart the doctrines to anyone otherwise than as he himself received them.
With such oaths, then, they bind those who come to them. But if anyone is caught in some transgression, he is expelled from the order, and the one expelled sometimes perishes by a dreadful fate. For being bound by such oaths and customs, he is not able even to partake of food among outsiders. Thus they sometimes waste away the body through hunger; whence, in extreme cases, they sometimes take pity on many who are already dying, considering their punishment up to the point of death sufficient.
In matters of judgment they are most exact and just; they render judgment, having assembled no fewer than a hundred, and what has been decided by them is unalterable. Next after God, they honor the lawgiver, and if anyone should blaspheme against him, he is punished. They are taught to obey their rulers and elders. And if ten sit together, one will not speak unless it is agreeable to the [other] nine.
They also guard against spitting into the midst of the group or to the right side. And they take care to abstain from work on the Sabbath more than all other Jews. For not only do they prepare their food a day beforehand so as not to kindle a fire, but they will not even move a vessel, nor relieve themselves, and some do not even leave their bed.
On other days, when they wish to relieve themselves, they dig a hole a foot deep with the small hatchet — for such is the little hatchet which they first give to those who come to be disciples — and, having wrapped their garment around themselves, they sit down, saying that one must not offend the rays of the sun; then they throw back the dug-up earth into the hole, and they do this choosing the more secluded places. And when they have done this, they immediately wash themselves, as though the excretion defiled them.
They are divided according to duration of membership, and do not observe their asceticism in the same way, being separated into four grades. For some of them practice more than what is required, to the point that they will not even carry money, saying that one must neither carry nor look at nor make an image. Therefore not even one of them enters into a city, so as not to pass through a gate on which there are statues, considering it unlawful to pass beneath images.
Others, whenever they hear someone discoursing about God and his laws, if he is uncircumcised, watch such a one until he is alone in some place, and threaten to kill him unless he is circumcised; and if he is unwilling to be persuaded, he is not spared, but is even slaughtered. Whence, from this practice, they received their name, being called Zealots by some, and by others Sicarii. Still others of them call no one lord except God, even should someone torture or even kill them.
But those who came afterward became so inferior in their asceticism that those who remain faithful to the ancient customs will not so much as touch them; and if they should be touched by them, they immediately wash themselves, as though touched by someone of a foreign race. Most of them are also long-lived, so that many even live beyond a hundred years; they say the cause of this is their extreme piety, and it must be recognized that it comes from their conducting themselves without excess, being self-controlled and free from anger. They despise death, rejoicing whenever they die with a good conscience; and if anyone should torture such persons in order to make them either speak evil of the Law or eat something sacrificed to idols, he will not succeed, for they endure to die and to bear torments, so that their conscience may not be violated.
Among them the doctrine of the resurrection is also firmly held; for they confess both that the flesh will rise again and will be immortal, in the same manner as the soul is already immortal; and that the soul, when separated [from the body], now rests in a single place, well-aired and full of light, until the judgment — which place, when the Greeks heard of it, they named the Isles of the Blessed.
But many of the Greeks, appropriating other doctrines belonging to these [Essenes], have constructed opinions of their own. For the discipline of these men concerning the divine is more ancient than that of all nations, so that it can be shown that all who have dared to speak concerning God, or concerning the creation of existing things, have derived their first principles from nowhere else than from the Jewish legislation.
Of these, especially Pythagoras and the [philosophers] of the Stoa, having been instructed among these Egyptians, received [them]. And they [the Essenes] say that there will be both a judgment and a conflagration of the universe, and that the unjust will be punished forever. Among them the practice of prophesying and foretelling future things is also cultivated.
There is, then, also another order of Essenes, who follow the same customs and manner of life, but differ from the others in this one point — marriage — saying that those who reject marriage do something terrible; for this amounts to the destruction of life, and they assert that one ought not to cut off the succession of children, since, if all men were so minded, the whole race of mankind would easily be cut off.
They test their intended wives, however, for a period of three years; and when they have been purified three times, as proof of their ability to bear children, they then take them [in marriage]. They do not have intercourse with women who are pregnant, thereby demonstrating that they marry not for the sake of pleasure but for the need of children. Likewise the women also bathe, themselves wearing a linen over-garment, just as the men wear linen loincloths. These, then, are the customs concerning the Essenes.
There are others also, themselves likewise ascetics among the Jews, both by descent and by observance of the law, called Pharisees. The greatest part of these is found in every place, all of them called Jews, but on account of the opinions peculiarly held by them, they are also called by particular names of their own.
These men, then, holding fast to the ancient tradition, continue to examine with care matters of clean and unclean according to the law; and they interpret the things of the law, advancing teachers for this purpose.
These say that there is fate, and that some things lie within [human] power, while others are according to fate — so that some things are up to us, while others belong to fate; and that God is the cause of all things, and that nothing is administered or occurs apart from his will. These also confess the resurrection of the flesh, and the immortality of the soul, and a judgment that is to come, and a conflagration, and that the righteous will become incorruptible, while the unjust will be punished forever in unquenchable fire.
These, then, are the doctrines of the Pharisees also. But the Sadducees do away with fate, and confess that God does nothing evil, nor oversees evil, but that it lies within human power to choose the good or the evil. They deny the resurrection, not of the flesh only; they also hold that the soul does not survive [death].
[They say that] life exists only in this [present life], and that this is the very purpose for which man came into being; and that in this the doctrine of the resurrection is fulfilled — namely, in leaving children behind on earth and then dying. After death one is to expect to suffer neither evil nor good; for there will be a dissolution of both soul and body, and man passes into non-existence, just as the rest of the animals do.
Whatever evil a man does in life and escapes notice for, he has gained, having eluded punishment at the hands of men; and whatever he acquires, and, becoming rich, is honored for, this too he has gained; and no one at all cares for the affairs of another. And the Pharisees are affectionate toward one another, while the Sadducees are self-loving.
This sect gained strength especially around Samaria. And they too adhere to the customs of the law, saying that one ought to live in such a way as to live well and to leave children behind on earth. But they pay no heed to the prophets, nor indeed to any other wise men, except to the law given through Moses alone, interpreting nothing [beyond it]. These, then, are the doctrines which the Sadducees also choose to hold.
Since, then, we have also set forth the differences among the Jews, it seems reasonable not to pass over in silence the practice of their piety as well. The discipline concerning piety observed by all the Jews is fourfold: theological, natural, ethical, and priestly.
And they say that God is one, both the creator of the universe and the maker of all things, which previously did not exist, nor [made] out of some pre-existing, confused substance, but having willed and created [them]; and that there are angels, these having come into being for the service of creation; and also a governing spirit which continually attends [God] for [his] glory and praise; and that all things within creation possess sensation, and that nothing is without soul.
They also lay claim to a dignified character and a life of self-control, as can be recognized from their laws. These things were carefully observed among them from ancient times, from the very beginning, since they did not receive the law only recently — so that one who encounters [these laws] is struck with amazement at such great self-control and at the careful attention given to the moral conduct legislated concerning man.
The priestly ministry was practiced among them to the utmost degree, offered decorously toward the divine, as anyone who wishes may easily learn by consulting the book that expounds these matters — how, solemnly and piously offering to God the firstfruits of the things granted by him for the use and enjoyment of mankind, they, being so commanded, ministered in an orderly and steadfast manner. But some of these things the Sadducees forbid; for they do not wish angels or spirits to exist.
All of them alike await the Christ, since the law and the prophets proclaimed beforehand that he would come; but the Jews, not having recognized the time of his coming, so that the suspicion persists among them that the matters concerning his coming have not been fulfilled, still expect the Christ to come, because they have not recognized the one who has [already] come; and, seeing the signs of the times [proving] that he has already come, they are troubled, and are ashamed to confess that he has come, since they became his own murderers; and they are indignant at being convicted by him, because they did not obey the laws.
And they say that this one [Jesus], thus sent by God, is not the Christ; but that another will come, one who does not yet exist, to whom they attribute, in part, the signs which the law and the prophets foretold, while in certain other respects they hold mistaken opinions, being led astray.
For they say that his birth will be from the line of David, but not from a virgin and the Holy Spirit, but from a woman and a man, according to the rule by which all are born from seed; asserting that this one will become their king, a warlike and mighty man, who, having gathered together the whole nation of the Jews and made war on all the [other] nations, will raise up for them Jerusalem as a royal city, into which he will gather the whole nation, and will again restore [it] to its ancient state, reigning and serving as priests and dwelling in confidence for a considerable length of time.
Then afterward, war will rise up against them once they have been gathered together; in that war the Christ will fall by the sword; then, not long after, the consummation and conflagration of the universe will come upon [it], and thus the things believed concerning the resurrection will be accomplished, and rewards will be rendered to each according to his deeds.
It seems to us that we have sufficiently set forth the doctrines of all the Greeks and barbarians, and have left nothing unproven, whether of the things philosophized or of the things asserted by the heretics; for from the very statements set forth, the refutation of these men has become manifest — either that they stole their arguments, or that, having gathered certain things [from various sources], they set forth, as divine, the very things labored over by the Greeks.
Having, then, run through all things and, with much labor, set forth all the doctrines in the nine books, and having left behind for all men no small provision for [their] life, and having afforded to those present a love of learning attended with no little joy and gladness of heart, we consider it reasonable, as it were, to bring forward, as the crown of the whole [work], the doctrine of truth, and to enclose it within a single book, the tenth, so that the one who encounters it, upon recognizing the overthrow of those who have dared to establish heresies, may not only come to despise their vanities, but also, upon recognizing the power of truth, may believe worthily in God and thereby be able to attain salvation.