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Life And Works Of Rufinus With Jeromes Apology Against Rufinus

Life And Works Of Rufinus With Jeromes Apology Against Rufinus

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Title Page
Life and Works of Rufinus with Jerome's Apology Against Rufinus.
Prolegomena
Works of Rufinus. I. Original Works which still Survive.
II. Translations from Greek Writers.
Writings of Rufinus. Preface to the Commentary on the Benedictions of the Twelve Patriarchs.
Preface to Book II.
Translation of Pamphilus' Defence of Origen.
Rufinus's Epilogue to Pamphilus the Martyr's Apology for Origen
Preface to the Translations of Origen's Books Peri 'Archon
Preface to Book III. of the Peri 'Archon
Rufinus' Apology in Defence of Himself.
The Letter of Anastasius,
The Apology of Rufinus.
Book I.
I have read the document sent from the East by our friend and good brother to a distinguished member of the Senate
2. Nevertheless, a necessity, as it were, is laid upon me to reply, as a simple matter of justice: I mean, because many, as I hear, are likely to be upset by what he has written unless the true state of the case is laid before them. I am compelled, agains
5. Moreover, to give a fuller demonstration of this point
7. Since then, in reference to our hope of the resurrection, Christ is set forth all through as the archetype, since he is the first born of those who rise, and since he is the head of every creature, as it is written, |Who is the head of all, the first b
8. But suffer it to be so, I beg you, as you are lovers of Christ, that the body is to be in incorruption and without these conditions when it rises from the dead: then let such things henceforward cease to be mentioned. Let us believe that in the resurre
11. Some time ago, Macarius, a man of distinction from his faith, his learning, his noble birth and his personal life, had in hand a work against fatalism or, as it is called, Mathesis, and was spending much necessary and fruitful toil on its composition;
13. In the Preface to the Apology of Pamphilus, after a few other remarks, I said:
14. I wrote these words beforehand as a statement of my faith, when as yet none of these calumniators had arisen, so that it should be in no man's power to say that it was merely because of their admonition or their compulsion that I said things which I h
15. But let me add what comes after. My Preface continued as follows:
16. I should have thought that this statement, I mean the words, I have expressed nothing in my own words; I have only restored to Origen what was really Origen's, though found in other part of his works,' would of itself have been sufficient for my defen
17. But I have said that these men would have been unable to find grounds for accusation on the points I have mentioned, however they may take them, unless they had first falsified them. It appears to me therefore desirable that the chief matter on which
18. This is the chief passage which those who were sent from the East to lay snares for me tried to brand as heretical, not only by perversely misunderstanding it, but by falsifying the words. But I could see nothing to suspect in it, as also in several s
20. I remember indeed that one of these people, when he was convicted of having falsified this passage, answered me that it was so in the Greek, but that I had, of purpose, changed it in the Latin. I do not indeed, treat this as a serious accusation becau
23. But let us come to these two Commentaries which he alone excepts from the general condemnation and renunciation which he pronounces upon all the rest of his works; we shall see with what modesty and self-restraint he conducts himself in these: Remembe
24. How, I ask, can you, seeing that your Commentaries contain such doctrines, put them forward to prove your soundness in the faith, and to confute those ideas which you reprove? How do your words tend to reprove those women whom we have spoken of? Besid
26. So far he has set forth a single exposition of the passage; but on whose authority he wishes us to receive this interpretation he has not made clear. What he has done is to make void this first interpretation by what comes after: for he goes on: |But
27. Such are the doctrines which are to be found in these works of yours which you single out from all that you have written, and which you desire men to read over again to the prejudice of all the rest. It is in these very Commentaries that these doctrin
29. What can be more distinct than this statement? What could possibly be thought or said whether by Origen or by any of those whom you say that you condemn, which would be clearer than this, that the inequality of conditions which exists among those who
31. But let this pass, for what follows is of more importance. I thank God that he has relieved me from a very serious burden of suspicion. Perhaps I seemed to some people to be acting contentiously and calumniously when I insinuated that, according to a
32. In this passage all room for doubt is removed. In the former passage you said that those who before hoped in Christ are those who, before they were born in bodies in this visible world, dwelt in heaven and had hope in Christ. But, to prevent this bein
35. But I beg you to listen patiently as I follow him in his continual recurrence to these same doctrines--not indeed in all that he says of them, for it is so much that I should have to write many volumes if I tried to exhaust it--but as much as will sat
36. I will address the Master in one of his own phrases. Why, after nearly four hundred years, do you give such teachings as these to the Latin people with their peaceable and simple minds! Why do you inflict on unaccustomed ears new-sounding words, which
38. Now, as to the expression which he uses, |Some persons say,| I think it has been made clear by what I have previously said, that, when he says |some persons say| or |Another says,| and does not controvert the opinions which are thus introduced, it is
39. You observe how much difference he makes between the souls of men and the angels. Merely the difference between the one sheep and the others, between one drachma and the rest. But he adds something more, a little way further; he says:
40. There are one or two more things on which he wishes condemnation to be passed. One is this: that these men say that the body is a prison, and like a chain round the soul; and that they assert that the soul does not depart, but returns to the place whe
41. You see how he represents these opinions as things which are held as a kind of esoteric mystery by certain persons, of whom, however, he is one, as we have shewn over and over again: only, he uses this figure of speech so that he may escape the imputa
42. I have given you one instance in which he has expressed his own opinion without any ambiguity on the universal resurrection. I will give one more, and with this bring to an end the first book of my Apology. His statements, indeed, on this point are in
43. These things which you have said are read by all who know Latin, and you yourself request them to read them: such sayings, I mean as these: that all rational creatures, as can be imagined by taking a single rational animal as an example, are to be for
In the first book of my Apology I have dealt with the accusations of dogmatic error which he endeavours unjustly to fix upon others
2. Let us see what my adversary himself says on this point in those Commentaries which he has selected. In the second book, in commenting on the words |Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth to his neighbour, for we are members one of anothe
3. He has endeavoured, indeed, to brand us with the stain of this false teaching by speaking to some of our brethren, and he repeats this by various letters, according to his recognized plan of action. It is nothing to me what he may write or assert, but,
5. When he was living at Rome he wrote a treatise on the preservation of virginity, which all the pagans and enemies of God, all apostates and persecutors, and whoever else hate the Christian name, vied with one another in copying out, because of the infa
6. For I will now return, after a sort of digression, to the point I had proposed, and for the sake of which it was necessary to mention this treatise. I will shew that perjury is looked upon by him as lawful, to such a point that he does not care for its
7. You observe how new and terrible a form of oath this is which he describes. The Lord Jesus Christ sits on the tribunal as judge, the angels are assessors, and plead for him; and there, in the intervals of scourgings and tortures, he swears that he will
9. When he wrote his treatises against Jovinian, and some one had raised objections to them, he was informed of these objections by Domnio, that old man whose memory we all revere; and in his answer to him he said that it was impossible that a man like hi
10. You chose a bad introducer. If you will take my counsel, both you and I will by preference turn to him who introduces us to the Father and who said No man cometh unto the Father but by me.' I lament for you, my brother, if you believe this; and if you
We will pass on to clear up another of the charges
11. If, then, you really intend to do an act of repentance for those evil speeches of yours, if you are not merely mocking us by saying this, and if you are not in your heart such a lover of strife and contention that you are willing even to defame yourse
13. But why should I prolong this discussion? I shall take no notice of his reproaches and railings; I shall make no answer to his violent attacks, that daily task of his, for which Porphyry sharpened his pen. For I have chosen Jesus, not Barabbas, for my
14. Take, again, the Preface to the Song of Songs:
15. Also in the Preface of his Commentary on Micah, which was written to Paula and Eustochium, he says, after some few remarks:
16. Again, in the Preface to his book on the meaning of Hebrew names, he says, some way down:
17. Once more, in his letter to Marcella he says:
18. Lastly, take the following from another letter to Marcella:
19. But perhaps you will say to me: |Why do you fill your paper with this superfluous matter? Does even my friend say that it is a crime to name Origen, or to give him praise for his talents? If Origen is proclaimed as such and so great a man,' this makes
21. Now suppose that while you were writing this, as you tell us you did, quickly not cautiously, by the poor glimmering light of a lantern, some Prophet had stood by you and had cried out: |O writer, suppress those words, restrain your pen; for the time
23. You see by this what his opinions are about Origen and also about Ambrose. If he should deny that his strictures apply to Ambrose, which every one knows, he will be convicted in the first place by the fact that there is a Commentary of his on Luke whi
25. You observe how he treats Ambrose. First, he calls him a crow and says that he is black all over; then he calls him a jackdaw who decks himself in other birds' showy feathers; and then he rends him with his foul abuse, and declares that there is nothi
26. There is also an astonishing action of his in relation to Melania, which I must not pass by in silence because of the shame which those who hear it may feel. She was the granddaughter of the Consul Marcellinus; and in these very Chronicles he had narr
27. But there is danger of expanding my treatise too far and becoming burdensome to the reader; it is sufficient that in the passages I have cited he speaks of Origen as almost an Apostle and a teacher of the churches, and says that it is not because of h
28. I repeat that there are no writings of mine in which there is any error to be corrected. There are many of yours which, as I have shewn, according to your present opinion, ought to be wholly condemned. You made an exception in favour of the Commentari
36. But Origen also, you will tell us, in composing his work called the Hexapla, adopted the asterisks, taking them from the translation of Theodotion. How is this? You produce Origen sometimes for condemnation, sometimes for imitation, at your own capric
37. This action is yours, my brother, yours alone. It is clear that no one in the church has been your companion or confederate in it, but only that Barabbas whom you mention so frequently. What other spirit than that of the Jews would dare to tamper with
45. After this Apology had been written, one of the brethren who came to us from you at Rome and helped me in revising it, observed that one point in my defence had been passed over which he had heard adversely dwelt upon by my detractors there. The point
Book I.
I have learned not only from your letter but from those of many others that cavils are raised against me in the school of Tyrannus
2. What good does it do me that he declares on his oath that it was through simplicity that he went wrong? His praises are, as you know, cast in my teeth, and the laudation of this most simple friend (which however has not much either of simplicity or of
6. His followers object to me, (and
7. One who was not his friend would probably say to him: Either change everything which is bad, or else make known everything which you think thoroughly good. If for the sake of simple Christians you cut out everything which is pernicious, and do not choo
10. The champion of Origen, you see, the encomiast of Pamphilus, declares that Pamphilus wrote nothing whatever, that he composed no single treatise of his own. And you cannot take refuge in the hypothesis that Pamphilus wrote this book after Eusebius's p
11. Eusebius the Bishop of Cæsarea, of whom I have made mention above, in the sixth book of his Apology for Origen makes the same complaint against Methodius the bishop and martyr, which you make against me in your praises of me. He says: How could
12. Otherwise, if everything which goes against Origen and his followers is supposed to be said by me against you, we must suppose that the letters of the popes Theophilus and Epiphanius and the rest of the bishops which at their desire I lately translate
13. I am told, further, that you touch with some critical sharpness upon some points of my letter, and, with the well-known wrinkles rising on your forehead and your eyebrows knitted, make sport of me with a wit worthy of Plautus, for having said that I h
14. It is said that on a recent occasion where the letters of Theophilus exposing the errors of Origen were read, our friend stopped his ears, and along with all present pronounced a distinct condemnation upon the author of so much evil; and that he said
18. Our friends take it amiss that I have spoken of the Origenists as confederated together by orgies of false oaths. I named the book in which I had found it written, that is, the sixth book of Origen's Miscellanies, in which he tries to adapt our Christ
19. I am told that he also carps at me for the translation I have given of a phrase in the Second Psalm. In the Latin it stands: |Learn discipline,| in the Hebrew it is written Nescu Bar; and I have given it in my commentary, Adore the Son; and then, when
20. Your Origen allows himself to treat of the transmigration of souls, to introduce the belief in an infinite number of worlds, to clothe rational creatures in one body after another, to say that Christ has often suffered, and will often suffer again, it
23. I will deal shortly with the second passage which my brother tells me has been marked for blame, because the complaint is exceedingly frivolous, and bears on its face its calumnious character. The passage is that in which Paul declares that God |made
24. A third passage with which he finds fault is that in which I gave a threefold interpretation of the Apostle's words: |That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.| The first was my ow
25. The fourth ground of his censure is in the beginning of my Second Book, in which I expounded the statement which St. Paul makes |For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.| The passage in itself is perfectly plain; and I giv
26. The fifth passage selected by him for blame is the most important, that in which I explain the statement of the Apostle. |From whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through every juncture of ministration, according to the working in due mea
27. I wonder that you with your consummate wisdom have not understood my method of exposition. When I say, But not in such a way that, as held by another heresy, all should be placed in one rank, that is, all by a reforming process become angels,' I clear
28. The sixth and last point which I am told that he brings against me (that is if my brother has not left anything unreported) is that, in the interpretation of the Apostle's words, |He that loveth his wife loveth himself, for no one ever hated his own f
29. The simple explanation of my own opinion in reference to the passage I stated before in these words:
30. But now, since my pleading has steered its course out of these rough and broken places, and I have refuted the charge of heresy which had been urged against me by looking my accuser freely in the face, I will pass on to the other articles of charge wi
31. I might well reply as I have done even if it were a question of a promise made with full consciousness. But this is a new and shameless thing; he throws in my teeth a mere dream. How am I to answer? I have no time for thinking of anything outside my o
32. I am told, to take another point, that one of his followers, Chrysogonus, finds fault with me for having said that in baptism all sins are put away, and, in the case of the man who was twice married, that he had died and risen up a new man in Christ;
Book II. Summary of the Chapters.
1. Thus far I have made answer about my crimes, and indeed in defence of my crimes, which my crafty encomiast formerly urged against me, and which his disciples still constantly press. I have done so not as well as I ought but as I was able, putting a che
3. I will touch upon the other points, and set down the actual words of his letter:
4. He goes on:
5. None of these answers will you give us. You turn to other things, and by your tricks and shew of words prevent us from paying close attention to the question. What! you will say, was not the question about the resurrection of the flesh and the punishme
7. To proceed:
8. But what follows about the condition of souls can by no means be excused. He says:
9. Before I enter upon the subject matter of this passage, I must stand in admiration of words worthy of Theophrastus:
10. Unhappy souls! stricken through with all these barbarisms as with so many lances! I doubt whether they had so much trouble when, according to the erroneous theory of Origen, they tell from heaven to earth, and were clothed in these gross bodies, as th
11. After the exposition of his faith, or rather his lack of knowledge, he passes on to another matter; and tries to make excuses for having turned the books Peri 'Archon into Latin. I will put down his words literally:
12. We must consider the fact, which comes first, and so in order reach the inference, which comes after. Now I find among many bad things written by Origen the following most distinctly heretical: that the Son of God is a creature, that the Holy Spirit i
15. You say that you are not the defender or the champion of Origen; but I will at once confront you with your own book of which you spoke in that notorious preface to your renowned work in these terms:
16. These are his own words, he cannot deny them. Now I do not want to be put off with such expressions as |since he said above| but I want to have the name of the book in which he first spoke rightly and then wrongly: in which he first says that the Holy
17. But let us consider what are the arguments by which he tries to prove that Origen's writings have been corrupted by the heretics.
18. After this preface as to the falsification by heretics of the apostles, of both the Clements, and of Dionysius, he at last comes to Origen; and these are his words:
19. Now compare the words of Origen, which I have translated word for word above, with these which by him have been turned into Latin, or rather overturned; and you will see clearly how great a discrepancy between them there is, not only of word but of me
20. What nonsense is this out of which they fabricate a charge against me! It seems hardly worth while to notice it. It is a story of my own about the council held by Damasus Bishop of Rome, and I, under the name of a certain friend of his, am attacked fo
22. Who are these men who are wont to dispute at such great length in the churches, and to write books, and whose discourses and writings are taken wholly from Origen; these men who are afraid of their literary thefts becoming known, and shew ingratitude
23. After all this you dare to say in your Apology, that you are not the defender nor the champion of Origen, though you think that Eusebius and Pamphilus said all too little in his defence. I shall try to write a reply to those works in another treatise
24. My brother Eusebius writes to me that, when he was at a meeting of African bishops which had been called for certain ecclesiastical affairs, he found there a letter purporting to be written by me, in which I professed penitence and confessed that it w
25. All my prefaces to the books of the Old Testament, some specimens of which I subjoin, are witnesses for me on this point; and it is needless to state the matter otherwise than it is stated in them. I will begin therefore with Genesis. The Prologue is
33. In reference to Daniel my answer will be that I did not say that he was not a prophet; on the contrary, I confessed in the very beginning of the Preface that he was a prophet. But I wished to show what was the opinion upheld by the Jews; and what were
I have read the letter which you in your wisdom have written me. You inveigh against me
2. But, before I make my answer to your letter, I must expostulate with you; you who are first in age among the monks, good presbyter, follower of Christ; is it possible for you to wish to kill your brother, when even to hate him is to be a homicide? Have
3. The dilemma in which I am placed is of your making: it is brought out, not from the resources of dialectics, of which you are ignorant, but from among the tools of the murderer and with an intention like his. If I keep silence, I am held guilty: if I s
4. Your letter goes on:
5. Let us understand what was the wrong
6. I will follow the order of your letter, and subjoin your very words as you spoke them. |I admit, that, as you say, I praised your eloquence in my Preface; and I would praise it again now were it not that contrary to the advice of your Tully, you make i
7. If it is true that you write a letter to me so as to admonish me, and, because you wish that I should be reformed, and that you do not wish that men should have a stumbling block put in their way, and that some may be driven mad and others be put to si
17. Now, as to the question which you raise, when it was that I began to admit the authority of the pope Theophilus, and was associated with him in community of belief. You make answer to yourself: |Then, I suppose, when you were the supporter of Paul who
19. You allude to Vigilantius. What dream this is that you have dreamed about him I do not know. Where have I said that he was defiled by communion with heretics at Alexandria? Tell me the book, produce the letter: but you will find absolutely no such sta
22. If any one wishes to hear the arrangements for my journey from Rome, they were these. In the month of August, when the etesian winds were blowing, accompanied by the reverend presbyter Vincentius and my young brother, and other monks who are now livin
23. As regards our reverend friend Epiphanius, this is strange shuffling of yours, when you say that it was impossible for him to have written against you after his giving you the kiss and joining with you in prayer. It is as if you were to contend that h
24. It is somewhat the same argument which you use against the pope Anastasius, namely, that, since you hold the letters of the bishop Siricius, it was impossible that he should write against you. I am afraid you suspect that some injury has been done you
29. You press me to give my opinions about the nature of things. If there were room, I could repeat to you the views of Lucretius who follows Epicurus, or those of Aristotle as taught by the Peripatetics, or of Plato and Zeno by the Academics and the Stoi
30. Your Apology says that there are three opinions as to the origin of souls: one held by Origen, a second by Tertullian and Lactantius (as to Lactantius what you say is manifestly false), a third by us simple and foolish men, who do not see that, if our
31. Another part of my smoke' which you frequently laugh at is my pretence, as you say, to know what I do not know, and the parade I make of great teachers to deceive the common and ignorant people. You, of course, are a man not of smoke but of flame, or
32. As to your charge of perjury, since you refer me to your book; and since I have made my reply to you and Calpurnius in the previous books, it will be sufficient here to observe that you exact from me in my sleep what you have never yourself fulfilled
34. |But why,| you ask, |did you accept my manuscripts which had been falsified? and why, when I had translated the Peri 'Archon did you dare to put your pen to the same work? If I had erred, as any man may, ought you not to summon me to reply by a privat
40. Pythagoras taught, accordingly, that he had himself been originally Euphorbus, and then Callides, thirdly Hermotimus, fourthly Pyrrhus, and lastly Pythagoras; and that those things which had existed, after certain revolutions of time, came into being
43. If you wish me to keep silence, cease from accusing me. Lay down your sword, and I will throw away my shield. To one thing only I cannot consent; that is, to spare the heretics, and not to vindicate my orthodoxy. If that is the cause of discord betwee
44. In the end of your letter you say: |I hope that you love peace.| To this I will answer in a few words: If you desire peace, lay down your arms. I can be at peace with one who shews kindness; I do not fear one who threatens me. Let us be at one in fait
My mind has as little inclination for writing as sufficiency
2. Our forefathers have handed down to us the tradition, that, after the Lord's ascension, when, through the coming of the Holy Ghost, tongues of flame had settled upon each of the Apostles, that they might speak diverse languages, so that no race however
3. I Believe in God the Father Almighty.
4. |I Believe in God the Father Almighty.|
5. Now whereas we said that the Eastern Churches, in their delivery of the Creed, say, |In one God the Father Almighty,| and |in one Lord,| the |one| is not to be understood numerically but absolutely. For example, if one should say, |one man| or |one hor
6. Next there follows, |And in Christ Jesus, His Only Son, Our Lord.| |Jesus| is a Hebrew word meaning |Saviour.| |Christ| is so called from |Chrism,| i.e. unction. For we read in the Books of Moses, that Auses, the son of Nave, when he was chosen to lead
7. When you hear the word |Son,| you must not think of a nativity after the flesh; but remember that it is spoken of an incorporeal substance, and a simple and uncompounded nature. For if, as we said above, whether when the understanding generates a word,
8. Then further it is to be observed that no creature can be such as its Creator. And therefore, as the divine substance or essence admits of no comparison, so neither does the Divinity. Moreover, every creature is of nothing. If therefore a spark which i
10. Starting from this point you may understand the majesty of the Holy Ghost also. For the Gospel witnesses of Him that when the angel said to the Virgin, |Thou shalt bring forth a Son and shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from thei
11. These things, since they are asserted upon the warrant of the Prophetical Scriptures, may possibly silence the Jews, infidel and incredulous though they be. But the Pagans are wont to ridicule us when they hear us speak of a Virgin-birth. We must, the
15. Moreover,--to touch briefly some of the more recondite topics,--when God made the world in the beginning, He set over it and appointed certain powers of celestial virtues by whom the race of mortal men might be governed and directed. That this was so
16. But perhaps some one is alarmed at hearing us discourse of the death of Him of Whom, a short while since, we said that He is everlasting with God the Father, and that He was begotten of the Father's substance, and is one with God the Father, in domini
17. It is with no loss or disparagement therefore of His Divine nature that Christ suffers in the flesh, but His Divine nature through the flesh descended into death, that by the infirmity of the flesh He might effect salvation; not that He might be detai
20. But, if it does not weary you, let the point out as briefly as possible, specific references to prophecy in the Gospels, that those who are being instructed in the first elements of the faith may have these testimonies written on their hearts, lest an
21. But, says some one, |Are these things to be understood of the Lord? Could the Lord be held prisoner by men and dragged to judgment?| Of this also the same Prophet shall convince you. For he says, |The Lord Himself shall come into judgment with the eld
22. It is related that when Pilate would fain have released Him all the people cried out, |Crucify Him, Crucify Him!| This also the Prophet Jeremiah foretells, saying, in the person of the Lord Himself, |My inheritance is become to Me as a lion in the for
23. It is written that when the side of Jesus was pierced |He shed thereout blood and water.| This has a mystical meaning. For Himself had said, |Out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water.| But He shed forth blood also, of which the Jews sought t
24. It is written that in our Lord's passion there was darkness over the earth from the sixth hour until the ninth. To this also you will find the Prophet witnessing, |Thy Sun shall go down at mid-day.| And again, the Prophet Zechariah, |In that day there
25. The Gospel further relates that the soldiers parted the garments of Jesus among themselves, and cast lots upon His vesture. The Holy Spirit provided that this also should be witnessed beforehand by the Prophets, for David says, |They parted my garment
26. It is related also that vinegar was given Him to drink, or wine mingled with myrrh which is bitterer than gall. Hear what the Prophet has foretold of this: |They gave Me gall to eat, and when I was thirsty they gave Me vinegar to drink.| Agreeably wit
27. Next it is written that |He gave up the ghost.| This also had been foretold, by the Prophet, who says, addressing the Father in the Person of the Son, |Into Thy hands I commend My Spirit.| He is related also to have been buried, and a great stone laid
28. That He descended into hell is also evidently foretold in the Psalms, where it is said, |Thou hast brought Me also into the dust of the death.| And again, |What profit is there in my blood, when I shall have descended into corruption?| And again, |I d
29. The Third Day He Rose Again from the Dead. The glory of Christ's resurrection threw a lustre upon everything which before had the appearance of weakness and frailty. If a while since it seemed to you impossible that an immortal Being could die, you se
30. It is said then in the Psalms, |I laid me down and slept, and rose up again, because the Lord sustained me.| Again, in another place, |Because of the wretchedness of the needy and the groaning of the poor, now will I arise, saith the Lord.| And elsewh
31. He Ascended into Heaven, and Sitteth on the Right Hand of the Father: from Thence He Shall Come to Judge the Quick and the Dead. These clauses follow with suitable brevity at the end of this part of the Creed which treats of the Son. What is said is p
32. To sit at the right hand of the Father is a mystery belonging to the Incarnation. For it does not befit that incorporeal nature without the assumption of flesh; neither is the excellency of a heavenly seat sought for the divine nature, but for the hum
33. That He shall come to judge the quick and the dead we are taught by many testimonies of the divine Scriptures. But before we cite what the Prophets say on this point, we think it necessary to remind you that this doctrine of the faith would have us da
34. Now let us shew briefly, if you will, that these things were foretold by the Prophets. You will yourself, since you are so minded, gather together more from the ample range of the Scriptures. The Prophet Malachi says, |Behold the Lord Almighty shall c
35. And in the Holy Ghost. What has been delivered above somewhat at large concerning Christ relates to the mystery of His Incarnation and of His Passion, and, by thus intervening, as belonging to His Person, has somewhat delayed the mention of the Holy S
37. Of the Old Testament, therefore, first of all there have been handed down five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Then Jesus Nave, (Joshua the son of Nun), The Book of Judges together with Ruth; then four books of Kings
38. But it should be known that there are also other books which our fathers call not |Canonical| but |Ecclesiastical:| that is to say, Wisdom, called the Wisdom of Solomon, and another Wisdom, called the Wisdom of the Son of Syrach, which last-mentioned
39. We come next in the order of belief to the Holy Church. We have mentioned above why the Creed does not say here, as in the preceding article, |In the Holy Church.| They, therefore, who were taught above to believe in one God, under the mystery of the
40. As to the Forgiveness of Sins, it ought to be enough simple to believe. For who would ask the cause or the reason when a Prince grants indulgence? When the liberality of an earthly sovereign is no fit subject for discussion, shall man's temerity discu
42. But unbelievers cry, |How can the flesh, which has been putrified and dissolved, or changed into dust, sometimes also swallowed up by the sea, and dispersed by the waves, be gathered up again, and again made one, and a man's body formed anew out of it
44. But that you may not suppose this to be a novel doctrine peculiar to Paul, I will adduce also what the Prophet Ezekiel foretold by the Holy Ghost. |Behold,| saith he, |I will open your graves and bring you forth out of your graves.| Let me recall, fur
45. Thus much in proof of the profession which we make in the Creed when we say |The resurrection of this flesh.| As to the addition |this| see how consonant it is with all that we have cited from the divine books. What else does Job signify in the place
46. That the righteous shall ever abide with Christ our Lord we have proved above, where we have shewn that the Apostle says, |Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so shall w
47. Nor let this promise seem to you contrary to the natural structure of the body. For if we believe, according to what is written, that God took clay of the earth and made man, and that the origin of our body was this, that, by the will of God, earth wa
Preface to the Translation of the Sayings of Xystus.
Preface to the Two Books of Ecclesiastical History, Added by Rufinus to His Translation of Eusebius.
Rufinus' Preface to the Translation of Origen's Commentary on Psalms 36, 37, and 38.
Rufinus' Preface to the Translation of Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.
The Peroration of Rufinus Appended to His Translation of Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.
Preface to Origen's Homilies on Numbers.

Life And Works Of Rufinus With Jeromes Apology Against Rufinus

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