When the resurrection will be, he has not said: It will come in due order; he has said: And our assembling to meet him. This point is quite important. Observe how Paul’s exhortation is accompanied by praise and encouragement, for he makes it clear that Jesus and all the saints will certainly appear at that time with us.

Now it is right and necessary, as in all divine Scripture, so here, faithfully to explain the time of which the apostle wrote, and the person and the point. This is so that the reader will not from ignorance miss either these or any similar particular and thus miss the true sense of the text. This was what the inquiring eunuch understood when he asked Philip, I ask you, of whom does the prophet speak this? Of himself, or of someone else?^[1] He feared lest, having explained the lesson unsuitably to the person, he should wander from the right sense. And the disciples, wishing to learn the time of what was predicted, implored the Lord: Tell us, they said, when shall these things be? And what is the sign of your coming?^[2] And again, hearing from the Savior the events of the end, they desired to learn the time of it, that they might be kept from error themselves. They also wished to be able to teach others, just as, when they had learned, they set right the Thessalonians, who were going wrong.^[3] When, then, one understands these points properly, knows properly these points, his understanding of the faith is right and healthy. But if he fails to understand, he immediately falls into heresy. Thus, Hymenaeus and Alexander and their followers^[4] were beside the time when they said that the resurrection had already taken place. The Galatians, too, were after the time^[5] in continuing to think circumcision was an important issue.

And further, not to know when the end is, or when the day of the end will occur, is actually a good thing. If people knew the time of the end, they might begin to ignore the present time as they waited for the end days. They might well begin to argue that they should only focus on themselves. Therefore, God has also remained silent concerning the time of our death. If people knew the day of their death, they would immediately begin to neglect themselves for the greater part of their lifetime. The Word, then, has concealed both the end of all things and the time of our own death from us, for in the end of all is the end of each, and in the end of each the end of all is comprehended. This is so that, when things remain uncertain and always in prospect, we advance day by day as if summoned, reaching forward to the things before us and forgetting the things behind.^[1]. . . The Lord, then, knowing what is good for us beyond ourselves, thus stabilized the disciples in a correct understanding. They, being taught, set right those of Thessalonica, who were likely to err on the very same point.

To what has been said it must also be added that we must not affirm that after the ascension the Lord Christ is not Christ but only the begotten Son. The divine Gospels and the history of the Acts and the epistles of the apostle himself were, as we know, written after the ascension. It is after the ascension that the divine Paul exclaims Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.^[1]. . . And again when writing to the same a second time, he says, Now we beseech you, brothers, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him.

At least, when the apostles were preaching and the eyewitnesses of Jesus were teaching his precepts, no minor dispute in the church took place among Jewish believers about those of the Gentiles who were converted to the faith; the question was whether they ought to keep the Jewish customs or if the burden of clean or unclean meats ought to be taken away so that it would not be a load upon those Gentiles who abandoned their traditional customs and believed in Jesus. Furthermore, in the epistles of Paul, who was contemporary with those who had seen Jesus, there are some statements to be found which concern certain disputes about the resurrection, and about the view that it had already occurred, and about the question whether the day of the Lord was already present or not.

Therefore, not to know the times is something different from moral decay and the love of vice. For when the apostle Paul said, Don’t be easily shaken in your mind nor be frightened, neither by word nor by epistle as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand, he obviously did not want them to believe those who thought the coming of the Lord was already at hand. Neither, moreover, did he want them to be like the wicked servant and say, My Lord will not be coming for a long time, and deliver themselves over to destruction by pride and immoral behavior. Thus, Paul’s desire that they should not listen to false rumors about the imminent approach of the last day was consistent with his wish that they should await the coming of their Lord fully prepared and ready for the journey, with lamps burning.^[1]

All this you repeat with great piety and truth, praising the happiness of those who love the coming of the Lord. But those to whom the apostle said, Be not easily moved from your mind as if the day of the Lord were at hand, evidently loved the Lord’s coming. The purpose of the doctor of the Gentiles in saying this was not to break them away from the love which burned in them. Rather, he did not want them to put their faith in those from whom they heard that the day of the Lord was at hand, lest, perhaps, when the time had passed when they thought he would come and they realized that he had not come, they might think that the other promises made to them were also false and might despair of the mercy of faith itself. Therefore, it is not the one who asserts that he is near nor the one who asserts that he is not near who loves the coming of the Lord but the one who rightly waits for him, whether he be near or far, with sincere faith, firm hope and ardent love.

As Celsus also objects to the doctrine about the figure called Antichrist, though he has read neither the passages about him in Daniel, nor those in Paul, nor the Savior’s prophecies in the Gospels concerning his coming,^[1] we have to say a little about this also. Just as faces are unlike other faces, so also the hearts of men are unlike one another.^[2] Obviously differences exist in the hearts of men, both among those who have inclined to goodness, since they have not all been molded and shaped equally and similarly in their propensity toward good, and among those who because of their neglect of what is good rapidly pass to the other extreme. For among the latter there also are some who have been overwhelmed by the flood of evil, while others have sunk less far. Why, then, is it absurd that among men there should be two extremes, if I may so say, the one of goodness, the other of the opposite, so that the extreme of goodness exists in the human nature of Jesus, since from him the mighty work of conversion, healing and improvement flowed to the human race, whereas the opposite extreme exists in him who is called Antichrist? God understood all this through his foreknowledge. Seeing that there were these two extremes, he willed to tell men about these things through the prophets, in order that those who understood their words might be made lovers of what is better and be on their guard against the opposite. It was right, also, that one of the extremes, the best, should be called Son of God because of his superiority, and that the one diametrically opposed to him should be called son of the evil demon, who is Satan and the devil.

Here Paul discusses the Antichrist and reveals great mysteries. What is the falling away? He calls him Apostasy; soon he will destroy many and make them fall away. . . . And he calls him the man of sin. For he shall commit numberless evils and shall cause others to do them. But Paul calls him the son of perdition, because he is also to be destroyed. But who is he? Satan? By no means. Rather he is a man in whom Satan fully works. For he is a man. . . . For he will not introduce idolatry but will be a kind of opponent to God. He will abolish all the gods and will order men to worship him instead of God. He will be seated in the temple of God, not that in Jerusalem only, but also in every church.

Such is Paul’s account.^[1] And we have reached the falling away. Men, that is, have fallen away from the true faith. Some proclaim the identity of Father and Son. Others dare to assert that one should believe Christ has come into existence out of nonexistence. Formerly heretics were quite evident, but now the church is full of masked heretics. For men have deserted the truth and want to have their ears tickled.^[2] Make a plausible case, and everyone is ready to listen to you. Talk of changing one’s life, and everyone deserts you. The majority have fallen away from the sound doctrines and are readier to choose what is bad than to prefer what is good. So there you have the falling away, and the coming of the enemy is to be expected next. Meanwhile, he has begun to send out his forerunners here and there, so that the spoil may be prepared for him when he comes. Therefore, brothers, look to yourselves. Watch over your souls carefully.

No one can doubt that Paul is here^[1] speaking of Antichrist, telling us that the day of judgment (which he calls the day of the Lord) will not come without the prior coming of a figure whom he calls the Apostate, meaning, of course, an apostate from the Lord God. And if this appellation can rightly be attached to all the ungodly, how much more to him! There is, however, some uncertainty about the temple in which he is to take his seat. Is it the ruins of the temple built by King Solomon, or actually in a church? For the apostle would not say the temple of God if he meant the temple of some idol or demon. For that reason some people would have it that Antichrist means here not the leader himself but what we may call his whole body, the multitude, that is, of those who belong to him, together with himself, their leader. . . . For myself I am much astonished at the great presumption of those who venture such guesses.

He who speaks on his own seeks his own glory.^[1] This will be that one who is called the Antichrist, exalting himself, as the apostle says, above all that is called God and that is worshiped. Indeed, the Lord, announcing that he would seek his own glory, not the glory of the Father, said to the Jews, I have come in the name of my Father, and you have not received me; another will come in his own name, this one you will receive.^[2] He signified that they would receive the Antichrist, who would seek the glory of his own name, puffed up, hollow, and so not enduring but in fact ruinous. But our Lord Jesus Christ offered us a great example of humility.

In truth, both of our ears rang on learning of the shameless and inhuman heresy of those who persecuted you. They had no regard for age, nor for the labors of a life well spent, nor for the affection of the people. On the contrary, they tortured and dishonored bodies, handed them over to exile and plundered whatever property they were able to find, not fearing the censure of men nor foreseeing the fearful requital of the just Judge. . . . But, along with these considerations, there came this thought also: The Lord has not entirely abandoned his churches, has he? And this is not the last hour, is it? Is apostasy finding an entrance through them, in order that now the impious one may be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and is exalted above all that is called God, or that is worshiped? But if the trial is transitory, bear it, noble champions of Christ. . . . For if all creation is destroyed and the scheme of the world is altered, what wonder is it if we also, being a part of creation, suffer the common evils and are given over to afflictions?. . . The crowns of martyrs await you, brothers; the choirs of confessors are ready to reach out to you their hands and to receive you into their own number.

There is also another, even greater, obligation for us to pray for the emperors; yes, even for the continuance of the empire in general and for Roman interests. We realize that the tremendous force which is hanging over the whole world, and the very end of the world with its threat of dreadful afflictions, is arrested for a time by the continued existence of the Roman Empire. This event we have no desire to experience and, in praying that it may be deferred, we favor the continuance of Rome.

One may naturally inquire what is that which restrains the man of lawlessness, and in addition, why Paul expresses it so obscurely. What then is it that holds back, that is, that hinders the revealing of, the Antichrist? Some indeed say, the grace of the Spirit, but others the Roman Empire. I agree with the latter position. Why? Because if Paul meant to say the Spirit, he would not have spoken obscurely but plainly, that even now the grace of the Spirit, that is the gifts, hold back the Antichrist. If not, he should have come by now, if his coming was to occur with the cessation of the gifts of the Spirit; for they have long since ceased.^[1] But because Paul said this of the Roman Empire, he merely touched the topic, understandably speaking covertly and darkly. For he had no need to create unnecessary enemies and useless dangers. . . . For the mystery of lawlessness does already work. He speaks here of Nero, as if he were the type of the Antichrist.

That which restrains and prevents the coming of the lawless one is the Holy Spirit. Paul says this to show that the mystery of iniquity is already beginning in the heresies that have arisen since apostolic times. The Manichaeans say that the devil is the God of the law, and the Marcionites say that the father of Christ is not the God of the law.

Indeed, the God of the universe has decreed that this figure shall himself appear during the time of consummation, and thus it is God’s own decree that actually detains him until that appearance. What this means is as follows. When the divine apostle taught that the Lord had instructed him to preach the gospel among all the Gentiles, and then the end would come, and when he saw the worship of idols flourishing in connection with this, he spoke in obedience to the Lord’s teaching. He said that superstition would be openly overturned and that when divine preaching would shine forth, then the adversary of the truth would appear. . . . Some say that the mystery of iniquity is Nero, that the master of impiety has already lived. But I think that the apostle indicates the heresies that have since arisen.

Now, if good order with its attendant harmony is characteristic of those who look to one source of authority and are subject to one king, then universal disorder and disharmony are a sign that leadership is lacking. By the same token, if we discover in our midst such discord as I have mentioned, both with regard to one another and with respect to the Lord’s commands, it would either be an indictment or our rejection of the true king. That agrees with the scriptural saying, only that he who now holds back does so until he is taken out of the way, or of denial of him according to the psalmist, The fool has said in his heart: There is no God.^[1]

The Antichrist just mentioned by Paul will come when the destined period of the Roman Empire has run its course and the subsequent end of the world is drawing near. Ten claimants to the empire will arise simultaneously, I suppose in different parts, but all wearing the purple at the same time. Antichrist will form an eleventh after them, having seized the imperial power by the use of magic arts. He will humble three of those who came to power before him and cause the remaining seven to be Caesars under him.^[1] At first he will feign mildness and will appear to be a learned and understanding man, with pretended prudence and kindness. Then he will take in the Jews, by making them suppose him to be their expected Messiah, by false signs and wonders produced by magical trickery. And afterwards his character will be written large in evil deeds of inhumanity and lawlessness of every kind, so as to outdo all wicked and godless men that were before him. He will display a murderous, most absolute, pitiless and unstable temper toward all people, but especially toward us Christians. He will act insolently for only three and a half years. Then he will be defeated by the second glorious coming from heaven of the only-begotten Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus, the true Christ. He will destroy Antichrist with the spirit of his mouth and commit him to the flames of hell.

We have heard that the Lord Jesus not only judges but also punishes in the Spirit. For neither would he punish Antichrist, whom, as we read, the Lord Jesus shall slay with the Spirit of his mouth, unless he had already judged him as fit for punishment. . . but the unity of the divine action remains undivided, since Christ cannot be separated from the Spirit, nor the Spirit act apart from Christ. For the unity of the divine nature cannot be divided.

To the one a savor from death to death, to the other a savor from life to life.^[1] For this sweet savor some so receive that they are saved, others so that they perish. If any one is lost, it is his own fault. . . . Light (as I have already observed) blinds the weak. Such is the nature of good things. They not only correct things similar to them but also destroy their opposite. In this way their power is most clearly displayed. Fire displays its unique power when it gives light and when it purifies gold. The same is true when it consumes thorns. In all these cases it demonstrates itself to be fire. Christ, too, in the same way will display his own majesty when he shall consume Antichrist with the breath of his mouth and overcome him with the manifestation of his coming.

Now just as it is said that the task of the Word is to judge with justice, so also the Word’s task is to fight with justice, that by thus fighting the soul’s enemies with reason and justice, he may dwell in the soul, justifying it when the irrational elements and injustices are destroyed. He casts out the hostile elements from that soul which, if I may speak in this way, has been taken captive by Christ for salvation. The war that the Word wages is seen even more clearly when we compare it to the war waged by he who pretends to be the Word. This one proclaims himself the truth when he is not the truth but a lie, declaring that he is the truth. For then the Word, having fully armed himself against the lie, destroys it with the breath of his mouth and annihilates it by the appearance of his presence.

Thus it is that what is obscure in the words of the apostle has given rise to various conjectures. Yet, of one thing there is no doubt, namely, that Paul meant Christ will not come to judge the living and the dead until after his adversary, Antichrist, has come to seduce the souls of the dead. And, of course, the fact that those souls are to be seduced is already a part of God’s hidden judgment. . . . There seems to be some ambiguity in the expression pretended signs and wonders. It may be that Satan is to deceive men’s senses by means of phantasms, in which they imagine they see wonders which are nonexistent. Or perhaps true miracles will lead into deception those who ought to believe that miracles can be done only by God but who mistakenly ascribe them to the devil’s power, particularly at a time when Satan is to be given unheard-of power. . . . What the devil does is done with his own wicked and malign purpose, but it is permitted by God’s just judgment so that all may be judged who have not believed the truth but have preferred wickedness. Thus it comes about that judgments both precede and follow the deception. Those who are deceived are antecedently judged by these judgments of God, covertly just and justly covert, by which he has never ceased to judge even since the first sin of his rational creature. Those are deceived and subsequently judged in a last and overt judgment by Christ Jesus, who is to be the great judge of all judges as he was the victim of the most unjust of all judgments.

And his coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. This means that Satan will use him as his personal instrument. Realizing that his own condemnation will be no longer deferred, he will no longer wage war through his ministers in his usual way, but now openly, in person. With all signs and lying wonders, for the father of falsehood will display his lying works and cheating fantasies, to make the people think they see a dead man raised, when he is not raised, and the lame walking, and the blind receiving sight, when there have been no such cures.

We can recount many other events clearly showing that from a hidden judgment of God comes perversity of heart, with the result that refusal to hear the truth leads to commission of sin, and this sin is also punishment for preceding sin. For to believe a lie and not believe the truth is indeed sin, but it comes from the blindness of heart which by a hidden but just judgment of God is also punishment for sin. We see this also in what the apostle says to the Thessalonians, For they have not received the love of truth, that they might be saved. Therefore God sends them a misleading influence that they may believe falsehood.

Not to recognize sins lest penance follow is the wrath of God, as it is written, And the Lord gave to them the spirit of a deep sleep,^[1] lest they actually return and be cured and healed by their lamentations and just satisfactions after their sins.^[2] The apostle Paul in his epistle states and says, For they have not received the love of truth that they might be saved. Therefore God will send them a misleading influence that they may believe falsehood, that all may be judged who have not believed the truth but have preferred wickedness. The first degree of happiness is not to sin; the second, to recognize the sins committed.

Sometimes by the hidden and incomprehensible judgment of God, the bad angels are permitted to make certain things to test the good and seduce the evil. Now the bad angels themselves do not create what they produce, but they are permitted to bring forth certain things, because these already exist hidden in the heart of God, things which we cannot see.^[1] Similarly, the devil was not able to create serpents or frogs, although with God’s permission he produced them, just as he was not the creator of the fire when, to test Job, he, with fire falling from heaven, consumed his sheep together with the shepherds. Nor was he the creator of the wind, when a wicked wind blowing out of the desert, struck the four corners of the house and crushed all the children of holy Job in one simultaneous ruin. The omnipotent God alone created the various natures, that is, the elements of this world. In secret and hidden places, God places certain seeds of things, hidden to us but visible to the angels. From these, as the nature of the work and its own proper time require, by the hidden counsel of his wisdom, God either commands that certain things be produced by the good angels or permits them to be shown through the bad angels. By permitting these latter things, God shows how much power he has given to the holy angels when he has given the ability to do certain things in the material creation even to the wicked angels. . . . So it is [that] the blessed apostle, speaking of the Antichrist, says, And thus the lawless one will be revealed.

One should know that the Antichrist must come. Antichrist, to be sure, is everyone who does not confess that the Son of God came in the flesh, is perfect God and became perfect man while at the same time he was God. In a peculiar and special sense, however, he who is to come at the consummation of the world is called Antichrist. So, it is first necessary for the gospel to have been preached to all the Gentiles, as the Lord said,^[1] and then God shall proceed to the conviction of the impious Jews. . . . Because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to let them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

And again he says, Who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped (against every God; Antichrist will abhor the idols), so that he seats himself in the temple of God [2 Thes 2:4]. What temple then? He means the temple of the Jews, which has been destroyed. For God forbid that it should be the one in which we are! Why do we say this? That we may not be supposed to favor ourselves. For if he comes to the Jews as Christ, and desires to be worshipped by the Jews, he will make great account of the temple, that he may beguile them; making it seem that he is the man of the race of David who shall build up the temple that was erected by Solomon. And Antichrist will come at the time when there shall not one stone in the temple of the Jews that is left upon another, according to the doom pronounced by our Savior; for when either decay of time, or demolition ensuing on the pretense of new buildings, or from any other causes, shall have overthrown all the stones, I mean not merely of the outer circuit, but of the inner shrine also, where the cherubim were, then shall he come with all signs and lying wonders, exalting himself against all idols; at first making a pretense of benevolence, but afterwards displaying his relentless temper, and that chiefly against the saints of God. For he says, I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints; and elsewhere, there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation upon earth, even to that time. Dreadful is that beast, a mighty dragon, unconquerable by man, ready to devour; concerning whom we have more to speak of out of the divine Scriptures, yet we will content ourselves at present with thus much, in order to keep within compass.

[T]he whole time of your faith will not profit you unless you are made complete in the last time. For in the last days false prophets and corrupters shall be multiplied, and sheep shall be turned into wolves . . . and then shall appear the world-deceiver as the Son of God, and do signs and wonders, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands.

[B]y means of the events that shall occur in the time of Antichrist it is shown that he, being an apostate and a robber, is anxious to be adored as God; and that, although a mere slave, he wishes himself to be proclaimed as a king. For he [Antichrist] being imbued with the power of the devil, shall come, not as a righteous king, nor as a legitimate king, in subjection to God, but an impious, unjust, and lawless one . . . setting aside idols to persuade [men] that he is God, raising himself up as the only idol. . . . Moreover, [Paul] has also pointed out this that I have shown in many ways, that the temple in Jerusalem was made by the direction of the true God. For the apostle, speaking in his own person, distinctly called it the temple of God . . . in which the enemy shall sit, endeavoring to show himself as Christ.

But when this Antichrist shall have devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire.

Now, as our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also God, was prophesied of in the form of a lion, on account of his royalty and glory, in the same way have the Scriptures spoken of Antichrist as a lion, on account of his tyranny and violence. For the deceiver seeks to liken himself in all things to the Son of God. Christ is a lion, so Antichrist is a lion; Christ is a king [Jn 18:37], so Antichrist is a king. The Savior was manifested as a lamb [Jn 1:29], so he too will appear as a lamb, though within he is a wolf. The Savior came into the world in the circumcision, and he will come in the same way. . . . The Savior raised up and showed his holy flesh like a temple [Jn 2:19], and he will raise a temple of stone in Jerusalem.

[T]he man of sin, the son of perdition, who must first be revealed before the Lord comes, “who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; who is to sit in the temple of God, and boast himself as being God?” [2 Thes 2:3–4]. According to our view, he is Antichrist; as it is taught us in both the ancient and the new prophecies, and especially by the apostle John, who says that “already many false prophets are gone out into the world,” the forerunners of Antichrist, who deny that Christ is come in the flesh [1 Jn 4:1–3], and do not acknowledge Jesus [to be the Christ], meaning in God the Creator.

[B]ecause there can be nothing common to falsehood and truth, to darkness and light, to death and immortality, to Antichrist and Christ, we ought by all means to maintain the unity of the Catholic Church, and not give way to the enemies of faith and truth in any respect. Neither must we prescribe this from custom, but overcome opposite custom by reason. For neither did Peter, whom first the Lord chose, and upon whom he built his Church, when Paul disputed with him about circumcision, claim anything to himself insolently, nor arrogantly assume anything; so as to say that he held the primacy, and that he ought to be obeyed by novices and those lately come. Nor did he despise Paul because he had previously been a persecutor of the Church, but admitted the counsel of truth, and easily yielded to the lawful reason Paul asserted, furnishing thus an illustration to us of concord and patience.

[The Antichrist] will build the temple in Jerusalem, and will restore it again speedily, and give it over to the Jews.

[A] king shall arise out of Syria, born from an evil spirit, the overthrower and destroyer of the human race, who shall destroy what is left by the former evil, together with himself. . . . But that king will be most disgraceful in himself, and a prophet of lies; and he will call himself God, and will order himself to be worshipped as the Son of God; and power will be given him to do signs and wonders, the sight of which he may entice men to adore him. He will command fire to come down from heaven, and the sun to stand and leave its course, and an image to speak; and these things shall be done at his word. . . . Then he will attempt to destroy the temple of God, and persecute the righteous people.

But this aforesaid Antichrist is to come when the times of the Roman Empire shall have been fulfilled, and the end of the world is drawing near. There shall rise up together ten kings of the Romans, reigning in different parts perhaps, but all about the same time; and after these an eleventh, the Antichrist, who by his magical craft shall seize upon the Roman power; and of the kings who reigned before him, he will humble three, and the remaining seven he will keep in subjection to himself. At first he will put on a show of mildness (as though he were a learned and discreet person), and soberness and benevolence.

Daniel prophesies of the last judgment in such a way as to indicate that Antichrist shall first come, and to carry on his description to the eternal reign of the saints. For when in prophetic vision he had seen four beasts, signifying four kingdoms, and the fourth conquered by a certain king, who is recognized as Antichrist, and after this the eternal kingdom of the Son of Man, that is to say, of Christ.

And the apostle also teaches that the Holy Spirit sanctifies. For he speaks thus, We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brothers dearly beloved of the Lord; because God chose you as first fruits for salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth. So, then, the Father sanctifies, the Son also sanctifies, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies; but the sanctification is one, and the grace of the sacrament is one.

In learning and professing the faith, embrace and guard that only which is now delivered to you by the church and confirmed by all the Scriptures. For since not everyone has the education and the leisure required to read and know the Scriptures, to prevent the soul perishing from ignorance, we sum up the whole doctrine of the faith in a few lines. . . . For the present, just listen and memorize the creed as I recite it, and you will receive in due course the testimony from Scripture of each of its propositions. For the articles of faith have not been composed to please human desire, but the most important points collected from the Scriptures make up one complete teaching of the faith. And just as the mustard seed in a small grain contains in embryo many future branches, so also the creed embraces in a few words all the religious knowledge in both the Old and New Testament. Pay attention, therefore, brothers, and cling to the teachings which are now delivered to you, and write them on the tablet of your heart.^[1]

In answer to the objection that the doxology in the form with the Spirit has no written authority, we maintain that if there is no other instance of that which is unwritten, then this must not be received. But if the greater number of our mysteries are admitted into our constitution without written authority, then, in company with the many others, let us receive this one. For I hold it apostolic to abide also by the unwritten traditions. I praise you, it is said, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you,^[1] and Hold fast the traditions which you have been taught whether by word or by our epistle.

Paul did not instruct Timothy in his duty through letters alone, but also through the spoken word. He shows this, both in many other passages, as where he says, whether by word or our epistle, and especially here.^[1] Let us not, therefore, suppose that Paul spoke anything imperfectly that was related to doctrine. For he delivered many things to Timothy without writing. He reminds him of these when he says, Hold fast the form of sound words, which you have heard from me. After the manner of artists, I have impressed on you the image of virtue, fixing in your soul a sort of rule, model and outline of all things pleasing to God. Therefore, cling to these things, and whether you are meditating on any matter of faith or love, or of a sound mind, form your ideas from what I have taught you. It will not be necessary to consult others for examples, when all has been deposited within yourself.

And Papias, of whom we are now speaking, confesses that he received the words of the apostles from those who followed them, but says that he was himself a hearer of Aristion and the presbyter John. At least he mentions them frequently by name, and gives their traditions in his writings. . . . [There are] other passages from his works in which he relates some other wonderful events that he claims to have received from Tradition.

Then the fear of the Law is chanted, and the grace of the prophets is known, and the faith of the Gospels is established, and the Tradition of the apostles is preserved, and the grace of the Church exults.

As I have already observed, the Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully preserves it. She also believes these points [of doctrine] just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth. For, although the languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import of the Tradition is one and the same. For the churches that have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those that have been established in the central regions of the world. But as the sun, that creature of God, is one and the same throughout the whole world, so also the preaching of the truth shines everywhere, and enlightens all men who are willing to come to a knowledge of the truth. Nor will any one of the rulers in the churches, however eloquent he may be, teach doctrines different from these (for no one is greater than the Master); nor, on the other hand, will he who is deficient in power of expression inflict injury on the Tradition. For the faith being ever one and the same neither does one who is able at great length to discourse about it make any addition to it, nor does one who can say but little, diminish it.

Since therefore we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek the truth from others that is easy to obtain from the Church; since the apostles, like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank, lodged in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth: so that every man who will can draw from her the water of life [Rv 22:17]. For she is the entrance to life; all others are thieves and robbers. On this account we are bound to avoid them, but to choose the thing pertaining to the Church with the utmost diligence, and to lay hold of the Tradition of the truth. For how stands the case? Suppose there arises a dispute relative to some important question among us, should we not have recourse to the most ancient churches with which the apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and clear regarding the present question? For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be necessary to follow the course of the Tradition that they handed down to those to whom they committed the churches?

It is within the power of all, in every church, who may wish to see the truth, to contemplate clearly the Tradition of the apostles manifested throughout the whole world; and we are in a position to reckon up those who were instituted bishops in the churches by the apostles, and [to demonstrate] the succession of these men to our own times; those who neither taught nor knew anything these [heretics] rave about. For if the apostles had known hidden mysteries, which they were in the habit of imparting to “the perfect” apart and privately from the rest, they would have delivered them especially to those to whom they were committing the churches. For they were desirous that these men should be very perfect and blameless in all things, men they were leaving behind as their successors, delivering up their own place of government to them; which men, if they discharged their functions honestly, would be a great boon [to the Church], but if they fell away, the direst calamity.

Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this, to reckon up the successions of all the churches, we put to confusion all those who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil self-pleasing, by vanity, or by blindness and perverse opinion, assemble in unauthorized meetings, by indicating that Tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that every church agree with this Church, on account of its preeminent authority, that is, the faithful everywhere, because the apostolic Tradition has been preserved continuously by those [faithful men] who exist everywhere.

They preserving the Tradition of the blessed doctrine derived directly from the holy apostles, Peter, James, John, and Paul, the sons receiving it from the father (but few were like the fathers), came by God’s will to us also to deposit those ancestral and apostolic seeds. And well I know that they will exult; I do not mean delighted with this tribute, but on account of the preservation of the truth, according as they delivered it. For such a sketch as this, will, I think, be agreeable to a soul desirous of preserving the blessed Tradition.

[T]here are many who think they hold the opinions of Christ, and yet some of these think differently from their predecessors, yet, as the teaching of the Church, transmitted in orderly succession from the apostles, and remaining in the churches to the present day, is still preserved, that alone is to be accepted as truth that differs in no respect from ecclesiastical and apostolic Tradition.

[T]he Church is one, and as she is one, cannot be both within and without. For if she is with Novatian, she was not with Cornelius. But if she was with Cornelius, who succeeded the bishop Fabian by lawful ordination, and whom, beside the honor of the priesthood, the Lord glorified also with martyrdom, Novatian is not in the Church; nor can he be reckoned as a bishop, who, succeeding to no one, and despising the evangelical and apostolic Tradition, sprang from himself. For he who has not been ordained in the Church can neither have nor hold to the Church in any way.

At that time there flourished in the Church Hegesippus, whom we know from what has gone before, and Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, and another bishop, Pinytus of Crete, and besides these, Philip, and Apollinarius, and Melito, and Musanus, and Modestus, and finally, Irenaeus. From them has come down to us in writing the sound and orthodox faith received from apostolic Tradition.

Again we write, again keeping to the apostolic traditions, we remind each other when we come together for prayer; and keeping the feast in common, with one mouth we truly give thanks to the Lord. Thus giving thanks unto him, and being followers of the saints, “we shall make our praise in the Lord all the day,” as the Psalmist says. So, when we rightly keep the feast, we shall be counted worthy of the joy that is in heaven.

But you are blessed, who by faith are in the Church, dwell upon the foundations of the faith, and have full satisfaction, even the highest degree of faith that remains among you unshaken. For it has come down to you from apostolic Tradition, and frequently accursed envy has wished to unsettle it, but has not been able.

Of the beliefs and practices that are preserved in the Church, whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined, some we possess derive from written teaching; others we have received “in a mystery” by the Tradition of the Apostles; and both of these have the same force in relation to true religion. And these no one will gainsay—no one, at all events, who is even moderately versed in the institutions of the Church. For were we to attempt to reject such customs as have no written authority, on the ground that the importance they possess is small, we should unintentionally injure the gospel in its very vitals; or, rather, should make our public definition a mere phrase and nothing more.

It is needful also to make use of Tradition, for not everything can be gotten from sacred Scripture. The holy apostles handed down some things in the Scriptures, other things in Tradition.

[T]he custom, which is opposed to Cyprian, may be supposed to have had its origin in apostolic Tradition, just as there are many things that are observed by the whole Church, and therefore are fairly held to have been enjoined by the apostles, that are not mentioned in their writings.

But the admonition that [St. Cyprian] gives us, “that we should go back to the fountain, that is, to apostolic Tradition, and thence turn the channel of truth to our times,” is most excellent, and should be followed without hesitation.

As to those other things that we hold on the authority, not of Scripture, but of Tradition, and that are observed throughout the whole world, it may be understood that they are held as approved and instituted either by the apostles themselves, or by plenary councils, whose authority in the Church is most useful, for example, the annual commemoration, by special solemnities, of the Lord’s Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension, and of the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven, and whatever else is in like manner observed by the whole Church wherever it has been established.

“So then, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions that you were taught, whether by word, or by letter of ours.” From this it is manifest that they did not deliver all things by letter, but many things also unwritten, and in like manner both the one and the other are worthy of credit. Therefore let us think the Tradition of the Church also worthy of credit. It is a Tradition, seek no farther.

I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical pravity; and I have always, and in almost every instance, received an answer to this effect: That whether I or anyone else should wish to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they rise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic faith, we must, the Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways: first, by the authority of the divine law, and then, by the Tradition of the Catholic Church. But here someone perhaps will ask, “Since the canon of Scripture is complete, and sufficient of itself for everything, and more than sufficient, what need is there to join with it the authority of the Church’s interpretation?” For this reason—because, owing to the depth of Holy Scripture, all do not accept it in one and the same sense, but one understands its words in one way, another in another; so that it seems to be capable of as many interpretations as there are interpreters. For Novatian expounds it one way, Sabellius another, Donatus another, Arius, Eunomius, Macedonius, another, Photinus, Apollinarius, Priscillian, another, Iovinian, Pelagius, Celestius, another, and lastly, Nestorius, another. Therefore, it is very necessary, on account of so great intricacies of such various error, that the rule for the right understanding of the prophets and apostles should be framed in accordance with the standard of ecclesiastical and Catholic interpretation.

Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense Catholic, which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally.

[T]he holy Church of God, the mother of your most Christian power, should be delivered and liberated with all your might (through the help of God) from the errors of such teachers, and the evangelical and apostolic uprightness of the orthodox faith, which has been established upon the firm rock of this Church of blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles, which by his grace and guardianship remains free from all error. The whole number of rulers and priests, of the clergy and of the people, unanimously should confess and preach with us as the true declaration of the apostolic Tradition, in order to please God and to save their own souls.