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2.1. When, however, they are confuted from the
Scriptures, they turn round and accuse these same Scriptures, as if they were
not correct, nor of authority, and [assert] that they are ambiguous, and that
the truth cannot be extracted from them by those who are ignorant of tradition.
For [they allege] that the truth was not delivered by means of written
documents, but vivâ voce: wherefore also Paul declared, "But we speak wisdom
among those that are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world." And this wisdom
each one of them alleges to be the fiction of his own inventing, forsooth;..
2.2. But, again, when we refer them to that tradition which originates from the
apostles, [and] which is preserved by means of the succession of presbyters in
the Churches, they object to tradition, saying that they themselves are wiser
not merely than the presbyters, but even than the apostles, because they have
discovered the unadulterated truth. For [they maintain] that the apostles
intermingled the things of the law with the words of the Saviour; and that not
the apostles alone, but even the Lord Himself, spoke as at one time from the
Demiurge, at another from the intermediate place, and yet again from the Pleroma,
but that they themselves, indubitably, unsulliedly, and purely, have knowledge
of the hidden mystery: this is, indeed, to blaspheme their Creator after a most
impudent manner! It comes to this, therefore, that these men do now consent
neither to Scripture nor to tradition.
2.3. Such are the adversaries with whom we have to deal, my very dear friend,
endeavouring like slippery serpents to escape at all points...
3.1. It is within the power of all, therefore, 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
by the apostles instituted bishops in the Churches, and [to demonstrate] the
succession of these men to our own times; those who neither taught nor knew of
anything like what 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 privily from the rest, they would have delivered them especially to
those to whom they were also committing the Churches themselves. For they were
desirous that these men should be very perfect and blameless in all things, whom
also they were leaving behind as their successors, delivering up their own place
of government to these men; which men, if they discharged their functions
honestly, would be a great boon [to the Church], but if they should fall away,
the direst calamity.
3.2. Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this, to
reckon up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to confusion all those
who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil self-pleasing, by vainglory, or by
blindness and perverse opinion, assemble in unauthorized meetings; [we do this,
I say, ] 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; as 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
should agree with this Church, on account of its pre-eminent authority, that is,
the faithful everywhere, inasmuch as the apostolical tradition has been
preserved continuously by those [faithful men] who exist everywhere.
3.3. The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church,
committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus,
Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus; and
after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement was allotted the
bishopric. This man, as he had seen the blessed apostles, and had been
conversant with them, might be said to have the preaching of the apostles still
echoing [in his ears], and their traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone
[in this], for there were many still remaining who had received instructions
from the apostles. In the time of this Clement, no small dissension having
occurred among the brethren at Corinth, the Church in Rome despatched a most
powerful letter to the Corinthians, exhorting them to peace, renewing their
faith, and declaring the tradition which it had lately received from the
apostles, proclaiming the one God, omnipotent, the Maker of heaven and earth,
the Creator of man, who brought on the deluge, and called Abraham, who led the
people from the land of Egypt, spake with Moses, set forth the law, sent the
prophets, and who has prepared fire for the devil and his angels. From this
document, whosoever chooses to do so, may learn that He, the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, was preached by the Churches, and may also understand the
apostolical tradition of the Church, since this Epistle is of older date than
these men who are now propagating falsehood, and who conjure into existence
another god beyond the Creator and the Maker of all existing things.
To this Clement there succeeded Evaristus. Alexander followed Evaristus; then,
sixth from the apostles, Sixtus was appointed; after him, Telephorus, who was
gloriously martyred; then Hyginus; after him, Pius; then after him, Anicetus.
Soter having succeeded Anicetus, Eleutherius does now, in the twelfth place from
the apostles, hold the inheritance of the episcopate. In this order, and by this
succession, the ecclesiastical tradition from the apostles, and the preaching of
the truth, have come down to us. And this is most abundant proof that there is
one and the same vivifying faith, which has been preserved in the Church from
the apostles until now, and handed down in truth. 3.4.
But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many
who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the
Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried [on earth] a
very long time, and, when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering
martyrdom, departed this life, having always taught the things which he had
learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone
are true. To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify, as do also those men
who have succeeded Polycarp down to the present time,-a man who was of much
greater weight, and a more stedfast witness of truth, than Valentinus, and
Marcion, and the rest of the heretics. He it was who, coming to Rome in the time
of Anicetus caused many to turn away from the aforesaid heretics to the Church
of God, proclaiming that he had received this one and sole truth from the
apostles,-that, namely, which is handed down by the Church. There are also those
who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at
Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without
bathing, exclaiming, "Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because
Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within." And Polycarp himself replied to
Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and said, "Dost thou know me? ""I do know
thee, the first-born of Satan." Such was the horror which the apostles and their
disciples had against holding even verbal communication with any corrupters of
the truth; as Paul also says, "A man that is an heretic, after the first and
second admonition, reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and
sinneth, being condemned of himself." There is also a very powerful Epistle of
Polycarp written to the Philippians, from which those who choose to do so, and
are anxious about their salvation, can learn the character of his faith, and the
preaching of the truth. Then, again, the Church in Ephesus, founded by Paul, and
having John remaining among them permanently until the times of Trajan, is a
true witness of the tradition of the apostles.
4.1. Since therefore we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek the truth
among others which it 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, whosoever will,
can draw from her the water of life. For she is the entrance to life; all others
are thieves and robbers. On this account are we bound to avoid them, but to make
choice of 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
arise 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 in regard to the
present question? For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left
us writings? Would it not be necessary, [in that case,] to follow the course of
the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they did commit the
Churches?
4.2. To which course many nations of those barbarians who believe in Christ do
assent, having salvation written in their hearts by the Spirit, without paper or
ink, and, carefully preserving the ancient tradition, believing in one God, the
Creator of heaven and earth, and all things therein, by means of Christ Jesus,
the Son of God; who, because of His surpassing love towards His creation,
condescended to be born of the virgin, He Himself uniting man through Himself to
God, and having suffered under Pontius Pilate, and rising again, and having been
received up in splendour, shall come in glory, the Saviour of those who are
saved, and the Judge of those who are judged, and sending into eternal fire
those who transform the truth, and despise His Father and His advent. Those who,
in the absence of written documents, have believed this faith, are barbarians,
so far as regards our language; but as regards doctrine, manner, and tenor of
life, they are, because of faith, very wise indeed; and they do please God,
ordering their conversation in all righteousness, chastity, and wisdom. If any
one were to preach to these men the inventions of the heretics, speaking to them
in their own language, they would at once stop their ears, and flee as far off
as possible, not enduring even to listen to the blasphemous address. Thus, by
means of that ancient tradition of the apostles, they do not suffer their mind
to conceive anything of the [doctrines suggested by the] portentous language of
these teachers, among whom neither Church nor doctrine has ever been
established.
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