Medicine Chest against Heresies · §1 · Epiphanius of Salamis

The original faith before heresy, Judaism, and idolatry

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Epiphanius is opening his treatise by describing the earliest state of humanity, before any heresy or Judaism existed, and arguing that the faith of the catholic and holy Church was present from the beginning.

And there was nothing on the earth—no heresy, no one opinion and then another. People were simply called human beings, of one lip and one tongue. There was only impiety and piety, the natural law, and each person's natural choice of the will—not error from teaching or from the writings of authors. There was no Judaism, no other heresy, but, so to speak, the faith that now lives as a citizen in the catholic and holy Church of God existed from the beginning and was later revealed again. For anyone willing to see in a truth-loving way, the catholic and holy Church is the beginning of all things, from this very aim. For Adam was formed as the first-formed man, not circumcised but uncircumcised in the flesh, and not an idolater. He knew God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit—for he was a prophet. Since he did not have circumcision, he was not a Jew; and since he did not worship carved images or anything else, he was not an idolater. For Adam was a prophet, and he knew that the Father said to the Son, "Let us make man" (Genesis 1:26). What then was he, having neither circumcision nor worship of idols, but showing forth the mark of Christianity? So also one must discuss Abel, and Seth, and Enosh, and Enoch, and Methuselah, and Noah, and Eber, up to Abraham.

Greek

Καὶ οὐδὲν ἦν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, οὐχ αἵρεσις, οὐ γνώμη ἑτέρα καὶ ἑτέρα, ἀλλ᾽ ἢ μόνον ἄνθρωποι ἐκαλοῦντο, ἑνὸς χείλους καὶ μιᾶς γλώττης. Ἦν δὲ μόνον ἀσέβεια καὶ εὐσέβεια ὁ κατὰ φύσιν νόμος, καὶ ἡ κατὰ φύσιν ἑνὸς ἑκάστου προαίρεσις τοῦ θελήματος, καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ διδασκαλίας, οὔτε ἀπὸ συγγραμμάτων συγγραφέων πλάνη· οὐκ Ἰουδαϊσμός, οὐχ αἵρεσίς τις ἑτέρα, ἀλλ᾽, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἡ νῦν πίστις ἐμπολιτευομένη τῇ ἄρτι ἁγίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ καθολικῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς οὖσα, καὶ ὕστερον πάλιν ἀποκαλυφθεῖσα. Τῷ γὰρ βουλομένῳ φιλαλήθως ἰδεῖν ἀρχὴ πάντων ἐστὶν ἡ καθολικὴ καὶ ἁγία Ἐκκλησία ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σκοποῦ. Ἀδὰμ γὰρ πρωτόπλαστος πέπλασται, οὐκ ἐμπερίτομος, ἀλλ᾽ ἀκροβύστης μὲν τῇ σαρκί· οὐκ εἰδωλολάτρης δέ· ᾔδει Πατέρα Θεόν, καὶ Υἱόν, καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα· προφήτης γὰρ ἦν. Οὐκ ἔχων τοίνυν περιτομήν, οὐκ ἦν Ἰουδαῖος· ξόανα δὲ μὴ προσκυνῶν ἢ ἄλλο τι, οὐκ ἦν εἰδωλολάτρης. Προφήτης γὰρ ὁ Ἀδάμ, καὶ ᾔδει ὅτι ὁ Πατὴρ εἶπε τῷ Υἱῷ· Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον. Τί οὖν ἦν μήτε περιτομὴν ἔχων, μήτε εἴδωλα σέβων, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Χριστιανισμοῦ τὸν χαρακτῆρα ὑποφαίνων; οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἄβελ, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Σήθ, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἐνώς, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἐνώχ, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Μαθουσάλα, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Νῶε, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἕβερ, ἄχρι τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ διαληπτέον.

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