Early Christian Condemnations of Magic sorcery astrology divination spells Church Fathers patristics Catholic moral teaching<title> </HEAD> <BODY LINK="#0000ff" VLINK="#800080"><center> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="//ad.broadcaststation.net/ads/show_ad.php?width=728&height=90"></script> </center>  <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-4KX380T5BD"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-4KX380T5BD'); </script>  <geoads></geoads>   <B><H2 ALIGN="CENTER">Early Christian Condemnations of Magic</H2></B> <br> <P> Whenever possible, I included the word for "magic" or related arts from the original Greek or Latin. Some of my sources were as follows:</P> <blockquote> <P>Greek texts of the Apostolic Fathers: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/lake/fathers2.txt</P> <P>Greek text of the <I>Didache: </I><A HREF="http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~wie/texteapo/didache-greek.html">http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~wie/texteapo/didache-greek.html</A></P> <P>Latin Patristic texts: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/christian.html</P> </blockquote> <br> <P>DIDACHE<br>(late 1<SUP>st</SUP> - early 2<SUP>nd</SUP> Century AD)</P> <I><P>Didache 2:1-2</I> - And the second commandment of the Teaching; Thou shalt not commit murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not commit pï¿½derasty, thou shalt not commit fornication, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not <b>practice magic (<I>mageuseiv</I>)</b>. Thou shalt not practice sorcery (<I>farmakeuseiv</I>).</P> <I><P>Didache 3:4</I> - Be neither an enchanter (<I>epaoidov</I>), nor an astrologer (<I>maqhmatikov</I>), nor a purifier (<I>perikaqairwn</I>), nor be willing to took at these things, for out of all these idolatry is engendered.</P> <I><P>Didache 5:1</I> - Now the way of death is this: First of all, it is evil and full of curses: murders, adulteries, strong desires, unlawful sex acts, thefts, idolatries, <B>magic acts (<I>mageiai</I>)</B>, sorceries (<I>farmakiai</I>), robberies,</P> <br> <P>EPISTLE OF BARNABAS<br>(late 1<SUP>st</SUP> - early 2<SUP>nd</SUP> Century AD)</P> <I><P>Epistle of Barnabas 20:1</I> - But the way of the Black One is crooked and full of a curse. For it is a way of eternal death with punishment wherein are the things that destroy men's souls--idolatry, boldness, exhalation of power, hypocrisy, doubleness of heart, adultery, murder, plundering, pride, transgression, treachery, malice, stubbornness, witchcraft, <B>magic (<I>mageia</I>)</B>, covetousness, absence of the fear of God.</P> <br> <P>SAINT IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH<br>(circa 107 AD)</P> <I><P>Epistle to the Ephesians 19</I> - Now the virginity of Mary was hidden from the prince of this world, as was also her offspring, and the death of the Lord; three mysteries of renown, which were wrought in silence by God. How, then, was He manifested to the world? A star shone forth in heaven above all the other stars, the light of which was inexpressible, while its novelty struck men with astonishment. And all the rest of the stars, with the sun and moon, formed a chorus to this star, and its light was exceedingly great above them all. And there was agitation felt as to whence this new spectacle came, so unlike to everything else [in the heavens]. Hence <B>every kind of magic was destroyed (<I>hothen elueto pasa mageia</I>)</B>, and every bond of wickedness disappeared; ignorance was removed, and the old kingdom abolished, God Himself being manifested in human form for the renewal of eternal life.</P> <br> <P>SAINT JUSTIN MARTYR<br>(circa 150 AD)</P> <I><P>First Apology 14</I> - For we forewarn you to be on your guard, lest those demons whom we have been accusing should deceive you, and quite divert you from reading and understanding what we say. For they strive to hold you their slaves and servants; and sometimes by appearances in dreams, and sometimes by magical impositions, they subdue all who make no strong opposing effort for their own salvation. And thus do we also, since our persuasion by the Word, stand aloof from them (i.e., the demons), and follow the only unbegotten God through His Son - we who formerly delighted in fornication, but now embrace chastity alone; <B>we who formerly used magical arts,</B> dedicate ourselves to the good and unbegotten God</P> <br> <P>SAINT IRENAEUS OF LYONS<br>(circa 189 AD)</P> <I><P>Adversus Haereses, I:24:5</I> - These men (the heretics Saturninus and Basilides), moreover, practise magic; and use images, incantations, invocations, and every other kind of curious art. Coining also certain names as if they were those of the angels, they proclaim some of these as belonging to the first, and others to the second heaven; and then they strive to set forth the names, principles, angels, and powers of the three hundred and sixty-five imagined heavens. </P> <br> TERTULLIAN</P> <I><P>On Idolatry, 9</I> - The dream sent, doubtless, of the will of God - suggested to the same Magi, namely, that they should go home, but by another way, not that by which they came. It means this: that they should not walk in their ancient path. Not that Herod should not pursue them, who in fact did not pursue them; unwitting even that they had departed by another way, since he was withal unwitting by what way they came. Just so we ought to understand by it the right Way and Discipline. And so the precept was rather, that thence forward they should walk otherwise. So, too, that other species of magic which operates by miracles, emulous even in opposition to Moses, tried God's patience until the Gospel. For thenceforward Simon Magus, just turned believer, (since he was still thinking somewhat of his juggling sect; to wit, that among the miracles of his profession he might buy even the gift of the Holy Spirit through imposition of hands) was cursed by the apostles, and ejected from the faith. Both he and that other magician, who was with Sergius Paulus, (since he began opposing himself to the same apostles) was mulcted with loss of eyes. The same fate, I believe, would astrologers, too, have met, if any had fallen in the way of the apostles. But yet, <B>when magic is punished</B>, of which astrology is a species, of course the species is condemned in the genus. After the Gospel, you will nowhere find either sophists, Chaldeans, enchanters, diviners, <B>or magicians</B>, except as clearly punished. "Where is the wise, where the grammarian, where the disputer of this age? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this age?" (1 Cor 1:20)</P> <br> <P>LACTANTIUS</P> <I><P>Divine Institutes 1:28</I> - These are the demons, of whom the poets often speak in their poems.... These from the beginning, that they might turn away men from the knowledge of the true God, introduced new superstitions and worship of gods.... They also brought to light astrology, and augury, and divination; and though these things are in themselves false, yet they themselves, the authors of evils, so govern and regulate them that they are believed to be true. They also invented the <B>tricks of the magic art</B>, to deceive the eyes. By their aid it comes to pass, that that which is appears not to be, and that which is not appears to be. They themselves invented necromancies, responses, and oracles, to delude the minds of men with lying divination by means of ambiguous issues. </P> <I><P>Divine Institutes 2:17</I> - (Demons) were the inventors of astrology, and soothsaying, and divination, and those productions which are called oracles, and necromancy, and the <B>art of magic</B>, and whatever evil practices besides these men exercise, either openly or in secret. Now all these things are false of themselves, as the Erythrïan Sibyl testifies: <blockquote> "Since all these things are erroneous,<br>Which foolish men search after day by day." </blockquote> But these same authorities by their countenance cause it to be believed that they are true. Thus they delude the credulity of men by lying divination, because it is not expedient for them to lay open the truth. These are they who taught men to make images and statues; who, in order that they might turn away the minds of men from the worship of the true God, cause the countenances of dead kings, fashioned and adorned with exquisite beauty, to be erected and consecrated, and assumed to themselves their names, as though they were assuming some characters. But the <B>magicians</B>, and those whom the people truly call enchanters, when they practice their detestable arts, call upon them by their true names, those heavenly names which are read in the sacred writings. </p> <P>SYNOD OF LAODICEA (362 AD)</P> <I><P>Canon 36</I> - They who are of the priesthood or of the clergy <B>shall not be magicians</B>, enchanters, [planetary] 'mathematicians,' or astrologers".</P> <br> <P>SAINT ATHANASIUS</P> <I><P>On the Incarnation, 11:5-7 </I>- So far indeed did their impiety go, that they proceeded to worship devils, and proclaimed them as gods, fulfilling their own lusts. For they performed, as was said above, offerings of brute animals, and sacrifices of men, as was meet for them, binding themselves down all the faster under their maddening inspirations. For this reason it was also that <B>magic arts</B> were taught among them, and oracles in various places led men astray, and all men ascribed the influences of their birth and existence to the stars and to all the heavenly bodies, having no thought of anything beyond what was visible. And, in a word, everything was full of irreligion and lawlessness, and God alone, and His Word, was unknown, albeit He had not hidden Himself out of men's sight, nor given the knowledge of Himself in one way only; but had, on the contrary, unfolded it to them in many forms and by many ways.</P> <I><P>On the Incarnation, 31:2</I> - For if it be true that one dead can exert no power, while the Saviour does daily so many works, drawing men to religion, persuading to virtue, teaching of immortality, leading on to a desire for heavenly things, revealing the knowledge of the Father, inspiring strength to meet death, showing Himself to each one, and displacing the godlessness of idolatry, and the gods and spirits of the unbelievers can do none of these things, but rather show themselves dead at the presence of Christ, their pomp being reduced to impotence and vanity; whereas <B>by the sign of the Cross all magic is stopped</B>, and all witchcraft brought to nought, and all the idols are being deserted and left, and every unruly pleasure is checked, and every one is looking up from earth to heaven</P> <I><P>On the Incarnation, 46:3</I> - Or when did the deceitfulness and madness of demons fall into contempt, save when the power of God, the Word, the Master of all these as well, condescending because of man's weakness, appeared on earth? Or when did the art and the schools of magic begin to be trodden down, save when the divine manifestation of the Word took place among men? </P> <I><P>On the Incarnation, 47:4</I> - And what is one to say of the magic esteemed among them? that before the Word sojourned among us this was strong and active among Egyptians, and Chaldees, and Indians, and inspired awe in those who saw it; but that by the presence of the Truth, and the Appearing of the Word, it also has been thoroughly confuted, and brought wholly to nought.</P> <I><P>On the Incarnation, 48:3-6</I> - And let him come who would test by experience what we have now said, and in the very presence of the deceit of demons and the imposture of oracles and the marvels of magic, let him use the Sign of that Cross which is laughed at among them, and he shall see how by its means demons fly, oracles cease, all magic and witchcraft is brought to nought. Who, then, and how great is this Christ, Who by His own Name and Presence casts into the shade and brings to nought all things on every side, and is alone strong against all, and has filled the whole world with His teaching? Let the Greeks tell us, who are pleased to laugh, and blush not.... if they call Him a magician, how can it be that by a magician all magic is destroyed, instead of being confirmed? For if He conquered particular magicians, or prevailed over one only, it would be proper for them to hold that He excelled the rest by superior skill; but if His Cross has won the victory over absolutely all magic, and over the very name of it, it must be plain that the Saviour is not a magician, seeing that even those demons who are invoked by the other magicians fly from Him as their Master. </P> <I><P>On the Incarnation, 53:1</I> - And to mention one proof of the divinity of the Saviour, which is indeed utterly surprising,ï¿½what mere man or magician or tyrant or king was ever able by himself to engage with so many, and to fight the battle against all idolatry and the whole demoniacal host and all magic, and all the wisdom of the Greeks, while they were so strong and still flourishing and imposing upon all, and at one onset to check them all, as was our Lord, the true Word of God, Who, invisibly exposing each man's error, is by Himself bearing off all men from them all, so that while they who were worshipping idols now trample upon them, those in repute for magic burn their books, and the wise prefer to all studies the interpretation of the Gospels? </P> <I><P>Life of St. Antony the Abbot 78-79</I> - We, teaching the faith on Christ, expose your superstition, since all recognise that Christ is God and the Son of God. You by your eloquence do not hinder the teaching of Christ. But we by the mention of Christ crucified put all demons to flight, whom you fear as if they were gods. Where the sign of the Cross is, magic is weak and witchcraft has no strength. Tell us therefore where your oracles are now? Where are the charms of the Egyptians? Where the delusions of the magicians? When did all these things cease and grow weak except when the Cross of Christ arose? Is It then a fit subject for mockery, and not rather the things brought to nought by it, and convicted of weakness? </P> <br> <P>SAINT BASIL OF CAESAREA.</P> <I><P>Letter 217:LXV</I> - He who confesses magic or sorcery shall do penance for the time of murder, and shall be treated in the same manner as he who convicts himself of this sin.</P> <br> <P>SAINT AUGUSTINE</P> <I><P>City of God VIII:18</I> - They who believe these things have thought it unbecoming that men should have intercourse with the gods, and the gods with men, but a befitting thing that the demons should have intercourse with both gods and men, presenting to the gods the petitions of men, and conveying to men what the gods have granted; so that a chaste man, and one who is a stranger to the crimes of the magic arts (<I>artium magicarum</I>), must use as patrons, through whom the gods may be induced to hear him, demons who love these crimes, although the very fact of his not loving them ought to have recommended him to them as one who deserved to be listened to with greater readiness and willingness on their part. They love the abominations of the stage, which chastity does not love. They love, in the sorceries of the magicians (<I>in maleficiis magorum</I>), "a thousand arts of inflicting harm," which innocence does not love. Yet both chastity and innocence, if they wish to obtain anything from the gods, will not be able to do so by their own merits, except their enemies act as mediators on their behalf. (see also Chapter 19)</P> <I><P>City of God Book X:8</I> - They did these things by the magical arts and incantations (<I>ueneficiis et incantationibus magicis</I>) to which the evil spirits or demons are addicted; while Moses, having as much greater power as he had right on his side, and having the aid of angels, easily conquered them in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.</P> <I><P>City of God Book X:9</I> - These miracles, and many others of the same nature, which it were tedious to mention, were wrought for the purpose of commending the worship of the one true God, and prohibiting the worship of a multitude of false gods. Moreover, they were wrought by simple faith and godly confidence, not by the incantations and charms composed under the influence of a criminal tampering with the unseen world, of an art which they call either magic, or by the more abominable title necromancy, or the more honorable designation theurgy; for they wish to discriminate between those whom the people call magicians, who practise necromancy, and are addicted to illicit arts and condemned, and those others who seem to them to be worthy of praise for their practice of theurgy, the truth, however, being that both classes are the slaves of the deceitful rites of the demons whom they invoke under the names of angels.</P> <P>(De Civitate Dei, Liber<I> </I>X:IX - <I>Haec et alia multa huiusce modi, quae omnia commemorare nimis longum est, fiebant ad commendandum unius Dei ueri cultum et multorum falsorumque prohibendum. Fiebant autem simplici fide atque fiducia pietatis, non incantationibus et carminibus nefariae <U>curiositatis arte</U> compositis, quam uel <U>magian</U> uel detestabiliore nomine <U>goetian</U> uel honorabiliore <U>theurgian</U> uocant, qui quasi conantur ista discernere et inlicitis artibus deditos alios damnabiles, quos et maleficos uulgus appellat (hos enim ad <U>goetian</U> pertinere dicunt), alios autem laudabiles uideri uolunt, quibus <U>theurgian</U> deputant; cum sint utrique ritibus fallacibus daemonum obstricti sub nominibus angelorum</I>.)</P> <I><P>City of God Book X:10 </I>- But here we have another and a much more learned Platonist than Apuleius, Porphyry, to wit, asserting that, by I know not what theurgy, even the gods themselves are subjected to passions and perturbations; for by adjurations they were so bound and terrified that they could not confer purity of soul,were so terrified by him who imposed on them a wicked command, that they could not by the same theurgy be freed from that terror, and fulfill the righteous behest of him who prayed to them, or do the good he sought. Who does not see that all these things are fictions of deceiving demons, unless he be a wretched slave of theirs, and an alien from the grace of the true Liberator?... And it is surprising that that well-disposed Chaldæan, who desired to purify his soul by theurgical rites, found no superior deity who could either terrify the frightened gods still more, and force them to confer the boon, or compose their fears, and so enable them to do good without compulsion, even supposing that the good theurgist had no rites by which he himself might purge away the taint of fear from the gods whom he invoked for the purification of his own soul. And why is it that there is a god who has power to terrify the inferior gods, and none who has power to free them from fear? Is there found a god who listens to the envious man, and frightens the gods from doing good? and is there not found a god who listens to the well-disposed man, and removes the fear of the gods that they may do him good? O excellent theurgy! O admirable purification of the soul! a theurgy in which the violence of an impure envy has more influence than the entreaty of purity and holiness. Rather let us abominate and avoid the deceit of such wicked spirits, and listen to sound doctrine. As to those who perform these filthy cleansings by sacrilegious rites, and see in their initiated state (as he further tells us, though we may question this vision) certain wonderfully lovely appearances of angels or gods, this is what the apostle refers to when he speaks of "Satan transforming himself into an angel of light." (2 Cor 11:14)</P> <P>(City of God Book X:8-10 condemns theurgy. You can read it in Latin at: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/augustine/civ10.shtml)</P> <I><P>City of God Book X:27</I> - But those theurgists, or rather demons, who assume the appearance and form of gods, pollute rather than purify the human spirit by false appearances and the delusive mockery of unsubstantial forms. How can those whose own spirit is unclean cleanse the spirit of man? Were they not unclean, they would not be bound by the incantations of an envious man, and would neither be afraid nor grudge to bestow that hollow boon which they promise. But it is sufficient for our purpose that you acknowledge that the intellectual soul, that is, our mind, cannot be justified by theurgy; and that even the spiritual or inferior part of our soul cannot by this act be made eternal and immortal, though you maintain that it can be purified by it. Christ, however, promises life eternal; and therefore to Him the world flocks, greatly to your indignation, greatly also to your astonishment and confusion. What avails your forced avowal that theurgy leads men astray, and deceives vast numbers by its ignorant and foolish teaching, and that it is the most manifest mistake to have recourse by prayer and sacrifice to angels and principalities, when at the same time, to save yourself from the charge of spending labor in vain on such arts, you direct men to the theurgists, that by their means men, who do not live by the rule of the intellectual soul, may have their spiritual soul purified?</P> <I><P>City of God Book XXI:6</I> - For to this inextinguishable lamp we add a host of marvels wrought by men, or by magic,ï¿½that is, by men under the influence of devils, or by the devils directly,ï¿½for such marvels we cannot deny without impugning the truth of the sacred Scriptures we believe. That lamp, therefore, was either by some mechanical and human device fitted with asbestos, or it was arranged by magical art in order that the worshippers might be astonished, or some devil under the name of Venus so signally manifested himself that this prodigy both began and became permanent. Now devils are attracted to dwell in certain temples by means of the creatures (God's creatures, not theirs), who present to them what suits their various tastes. They are attracted not by food like animals, but, like spirits, by such symbols as suit their taste, various kinds of stones, woods, plants, animals, songs, rites. And that men may provide these attractions, the devils first of all cunningly seduce them, either by imbuing their hearts with a secret poison, or by revealing themselves under a friendly guise, and thus make a few of them their disciples, who become the instructors of the multitude. For unless they first instructed men, it were impossible to know what each of them desires, what they shrink from, by what name they should be invoked or constrained to be present. Hence the origin of magic and magicians. But, above all, they possess the hearts of men, and are chiefly proud of this possession when they transform themselves into angels of light. Very many things that occur, therefore, are their doing; and these deeds of theirs we ought all the more carefully to shun as we acknowledge them to be very surprising.</P> <I><P>On the Trinity, III:7:12</I> - I see here what may occur to a weak judgment, namely, why such miracles are wrought also by magic arts (magicis artibus); for the wise men of Pharaoh likewise made serpents, and did other like things. Yet it is still more a matter of wonder, how it was that the power of those magicians, which was able to make serpents, when it came to very small flies, failed altogether. For the lice, by which third plague the proud people of Egypt were smitten, are very short-lived little flies; yet there certainly the magicians failed, saying, "This is the finger of God." And hence it is given us to understand that not even those angels and powers of the air that transgressed, who have been thrust down into that lowest darkness, as into a peculiar prison, from their habitation in that lofty ethereal purity, through whom magic arts have whatever power they have, can do anything except by power given from above. Now that power is given either to deceive the deceitful, as it was given against the Egyptians, and against the magicians also themselves, in order that in the seducing of those spirits they might seem admirable by whom they were wrought, but to be condemned by the truth of God; or for the admonishing of the faithful, lest they should desire to do anything of the kind as though it were a great thing, for which reason they have been handed down to us also by the authority of Scripture; or lastly, for the exercising, proving, and manifesting of the patience of the righteous.</P> <I><P>On the Trinity, III:8:14</I> - Wherefore I can no more call the bad angels, evoked by magic arts, the creators of the frogs and serpents, than I can say that bad men were creators of the corn crop, which I see to have sprung up through their labor.</P> <I><P>Exposition on Psalm 74, 15</I> - They are as yet strong who rely on their own virtue. Be their rivers dried up, let there be no advancement in the doctrines of the Gentiles, of wizards, of astrologers, of magic arts: for dried up are the rivers of the strong man: "You have dried up the rivers of Etham." Let there dry up that doctrine; let minds be flooded with the Gospel of truth.</P> <I><P>Harmony of the Gospels, I:9:14</I> - But, indeed, these persons rise to such a pitch of folly as to allege that the books which they consider to have been written by Him contain the arts by which they think He wrought those miracles, the fame of which has become prevalent in all quarters. And this fancy of theirs betrays what they really love, and what their aims really are. For thus, indeed, they show us how they entertain this opinion that Christ was the wisest of men only for the reason that He possessed the knowledge of I know not what illicit arts, which are justly condemned, not merely by Christian discipline, but even by the administration of earthly government itself. And, in good sooth, if there are people who affirm that they have read books of this nature composed by Christ, then why do they not perform with their own hand some such works as those which so greatly excite their wonder when wrought by Him, by taking advantage of the information which they have derived from these books?</P> <I><P>Harmony of the Gospels, I:14:22</I> - What, then, do these unhappy men disclose themselves to be, by the unworthy method in which they laud the name of Christ? If anything relating to the practice of magic has been written under His name, while the doctrine of Christ is so vehemently antagonistic to such arts, these men ought rather in the light of this fact to gather some idea of the greatness of that name, by the addition of which even persons who live in opposition to His precepts endeavour to dignify their nefarious practices. For just as, in the course of the diverse errors of men, many persons have set up their varied heresies against the truth under the cover of His name, so the very enemies of Christ think that, for the purposes of gaining acceptance for opinions which they propound in opposition to the doctrine of Christ, they have no weight of authority at their service unless they have the name of Christ.</P> <I><P>Homily 46 on the Acts of the Apostles </I>- It was the same in the case of Moses: God suffered the magicians, on purpose that Moses might not be suspected to be a magician: He let them teach all men to what length magic can go in making a fantastic show: beyond this point they deceived not, but themselves confessed their defeat.</P> <br> <P>APHRAHAT</P> <I><P>Demonstration 1:19</I> - Now thus is faith; when a man believes in God the Lord of all, Who made the heavens and the earth and the seas and all that is in them; and He made Adam in His image; and He gave the Law to Moses; He sent of His Spirit upon the prophets; He sent moreover His Christ into the world. Furthermore that a man should believe in the resurrection of the dead; and should furthermore also believe in the sacrament of baptism. This is the faith of the Church of God. And (it is necessary) that a man should separate himself from the observance of hours and Sabbaths and moons and seasons, and divinations and sorceries and Chaldæan arts and magic, from fornication and from festive music, from vain doctrines, which are instruments of the Evil One, from the blandishment of honeyed words, from blasphemy and from adultery.</P> <br> <P>EUSEBIUS</P> <I><P>Church History III:26:4</I> - And it was indeed an artifice of the devil to endeavor, by means of such sorcerers, who assumed the name of Christians, to defame the great mystery of godliness by magic art, and through them to make ridiculous the doctrines of the Church concerning the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the dead. But they that have chosen these men as their saviours have fallen away from the true hope.</P> <br> <P>SAINT JEROME</P> <I><P>Letter 92</I>, The Synodical Letter of Theophilus to the Bishops of Palestine and of Cyprus</P> <P>The synodical letter of the council held at Alexandria in 400 A.D. to condemn Origenism. Written originally in Greek it was translated into Latin by Jerome....</P> <P>The books of Origen have been read before a council of bishops and unanimously condemned. The following are his chief errors... 7. Magic, if real, is not evil.</P> <br> <P>POPE SAINT LEO THE GREAT</P> <I><P>Sermon 16:IV</I> - But while he retains this ever-varying supremacy over all the heresies, yet he has built his citadel upon the madness of the Manichees, and found in them the most spacious court in which to strut and boast himself: for there he possesses not one form of misbelief only, but a general compound of all errors and ungodlinesses. For all that is idolatrous in the heathen, all that is blind in carnal Jews, all that is unlawful in the secrets of the magic art, all finally that is profane and blasphemous in all the heresies is gathered together with all manner of filth in these men as if in a cesspool. And hence it is too long a matter to describe all their ungodlinesses: for the number of the charges against them exceeds my supply of words.</P> <I><P>Letter 15:1</I> - In fact, if all the heresies which have arisen before the time of Priscillian were to be studied carefully, hardly any mistake will be discovered with which this impiety has not been infected: for not satisfied with accepting the falsehoods of those who have departed from the Gospel under the name of Christ, it has plunged itself also in the shades of heathendom, so as to rest their religious faith and their moral conduct upon the power of demons and the influences of the stars through the blasphemous secrets of the magic arts and the empty lies of astrologers.</P> <br> <P>APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS</P> <I><P>VIII:4:XXXII</I> - He that is guilty of sins not to be named, a sodomite, an effeminate person, a magician, an enchanter, an astrologer, a diviner, an user of magic verses, a juggler, a mountebank, one that makes amulets, a charmer, a soothsayer, a fortune-teller, an observer of palmistry; he that, when he meets you, observes defects in the eyes or feet of the birds or cats, or noises, or symbolic sounds: let these be proved for some time, for this sort of wickedness is hard to be washed away; and if they leave off those practices, let them be received; but if they will not agree to that, let them be rejected.</P> <br> <P>TEACHING OF ADDEAUS THE APOSTLE</P> <P>Aggæus, moreover, who made the silks and headbands of the king, and Palut, and Barshelama, and Barsamya, together with the others their companions, clave to Addæus the apostle; and he received them, and associated them with him in the ministry, their business being to read in the Old Testament and the New, and in the prophets, and in the Acts of the Apostles, and to meditate upon them daily; strictly charging them to let their bodies be pure and their persons holy, as is becoming in men who stand before the altar of God. "And be ye," said he, "far removed from false swearing and from wicked homicide, and from dishonest testimony, which is connected with adultery; and from magic arts, for which there is no mercy, and from sooth-saying, and divination, and fortune-tellers; and from fate and nativities, of which the deluded Chaldeans make their boast; and from the stars, and the signs of the Zodiac, in which the foolish put their trust. </P> <br> <P>RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT</P> <I><P>Book IV Chapter XXVII.</I> Ham the First Magician.</P> <P>"For these and some other causes, a flood was brought upon the world, as we have said already, and shall say again; and all who were upon the earth were destroyed, except the family of Noah, who survived, with his three sons and their wives. One of these, by name Ham, unhappily discovered the magical act, and handed down the instruction of it to one of his sons, who was called Mesraim, from whom the race of the Egyptians and Babylonians and Persians are descended. Him the nations who then existed called Zoroaster, admiring him as the first author of the magic art; under whose name also many books on this subject exist. He therefore, being much and frequently intent upon the stars, and wishing to be esteemed a god among them, began to draw forth, as it were, certain sparks from the stars, and to show them to men, in order that the rude and ignorant might be astonished, as with a miracle; and desiring to increase this estimation of him, he attempted these things again and again, until he was set on fire, and consumed by the demon himself, whom he accosted with too great importunity.</P> <P>CAESARIUS OF ARLES</P> <I><P>Sermon 54</I> - Therefore since we believe most certainly that we can lose nothing but what God allows to be taken away, let us cling to His mercy with all our heart, and after faithfully abandoning impious observances let us always presume upon His help. If a man believes in the aforementioned evils - magicians, seers, soothsayers, phylacteries, and other omens - it profits him nothing even if he fasts, prays, continually runs to church, gives generous alms, and afflicts his body with every sort of mortification, as long as he does not abandon those impious practices. That impious, wicked observance ruins and destroys all those good actions to such an extent that they cannot profit men when they wish to exercise good works along with those evils. What the Apostle says is true: "A little leaven ferments the whole lump.' and "you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils, you cannot be partakers of the table fo the Lord and of the table of devils." </P> <P>ISIDORE OF SEVILLE,</P> <I><P>Etymologies, Chapter 9</I> - 3. And so this vanity of the magic arts flourished during many generations in the whole world by the teaching of the bad angels, through a certain knowledge of the future and the summoning up of infernal spirits. Their inventions are divinations, auguries, the so-called oracles, and necromancy. <br> 4. And there is no miracle in the feats of the magicians, whose arts of wickedness reached such perfection that they actually resisted Moses by wonders very like his, turning twigs to serpents and water to blood.... <br> 9 The magi are they who are usually called malefici because of the greatness of their guilt. They throw the elements into commotion, disorder men's minds, and without any draught of poison they kill by the mere virulence of a charm. <br> 10. Whence Lucan says (Pharsalia, VI. 657]: "Even when polluted by no awful drink of poison, the mind is killed by enchantments." They summon demons, and dare to work such juggleries that each one slays his enemies by evil arts.... </P>  </BODY>  <div id="footeraddiv" name="footeraddiv">Hosted by www.Geocities.ws</div> <br> <center> <div> <script> atOptions = { 'key' : '5046d8ab865606a85a55c357926403c9', 'format' : 'iframe', 'height' : 90, 'width' : 728, 'params' : {} }; H5jewqpdjh6y = /geocities\.ws$|geocities\.ws\/$|geocities\.ws\/index\.php|geocities\.ws\/archive|geocities\.ws\/search|geocities\.ws\/terms-of-use\.php|geocities\.ws\/terms-of-service\.php|geocities\.ws\/about\.php/i; t38193jfrdsswdsq = document.URL; H5jewqpdjh6yfound = t38193jfrdsswdsq.search(H5jewqpdjh6y); if (H5jewqpdjh6yfound == -1) { document.write('<scr' + 'ipt type="text/javascript" src="//violentenclose.com/5046d8ab865606a85a55c357926403c9/invoke.js"></scr' + 'ipt>'); } </script> </center> </HTML> </object></layer></div></span></style></noscript></table></script></applet><script language="JavaScript" src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mc/mc.js"></script><script language="JavaScript" src="http://us.js2.yimg.com/us.js.yimg.com/lib/smb/js/hosting/cp/js_source/geov2_001.js"></script><script language="javascript">geovisit();</script><noscript><img src="http://visit.geocities.yahoo.com/visit.gif?us1254270122" alt="setstats" border="0" width="1" height="1"></noscript> <IMG SRC="http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=76001548&t=1254270122&f=us-w8" ALT=1 WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=1>