| 1. Septuagint, Baruch, 2018-04-06 00:00:00 (10th cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 169 |
| 2. Plato, Republic, Bk. 4 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 33 |
| 3. Plato, Phaedrus, 245-247, 249, 248 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 33 |
4. Plato, Phaedo, 67a, 67b, 69c (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 33| 69c. κάθαρσίς τις τῶν τοιούτων πάντων καὶ ἡ σωφροσύνη καὶ ἡ δικαιοσύνη καὶ ἀνδρεία, καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ φρόνησις μὴ καθαρμός τις ᾖ. καὶ κινδυνεύουσι καὶ οἱ τὰς τελετὰς ἡμῖν οὗτοι καταστήσαντες οὐ φαῦλοί τινες εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὄντι πάλαι αἰνίττεσθαι ὅτι ὃς ἂν ἀμύητος καὶ ἀτέλεστος εἰς Ἅιδου ἀφίκηται ἐν βορβόρῳ κείσεται, ὁ δὲ κεκαθαρμένος τε καὶ τετελεσμένος ἐκεῖσε ἀφικόμενος μετὰ θεῶν οἰκήσει. εἰσὶν γὰρ δή, ὥς φασιν οἱ περὶ τὰς τελετάς, ναρθηκοφόροι | 69c. from all these things, and self-restraint and justice and courage and wisdom itself are a kind of purification. And I fancy that those men who established the mysteries were not unenlightened, but in reality had a hidden meaning when they said long ago that whoever goes uninitiated and unsanctified to the other world will lie in the mire, but he who arrives there initiated and purified will dwell with the gods. For as they say in the mysteries, the thyrsus-bearers are many, but the mystics few ; |
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5. Septuagint, Ecclesiasticus (Siracides), 34.25-34.26 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 | 34.25. If a man washes after touching a dead body,and touches it again,what has he gained by his washing? 34.26. So if a man fasts for his sins,and goes again and does the same things,who will listen to his prayer?And what has he gained by humbling himself? |
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| 6. Dead Sea Scrolls, Hodayot, 5.30-5.33, 9.21-9.24, 12.28-12.37 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 |
| 7. Dead Sea Scrolls, Hodayot, 5.30-5.33, 9.21-9.24, 12.28-12.37 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 |
| 8. Dead Sea Scrolls, Community Rule, 11.9-11.21 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 |
| 9. Dead Sea Scrolls, 4Q418, 81.2-81.3 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 |
| 10. Philo of Alexandria, Questions On Exodus, 2.51 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 |
| 11. Philo of Alexandria, Who Is The Heir, 184-185 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 |
12. Philo of Alexandria, On The Life of Abraham, 122 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 | 122. Therefore, the middle person of the three, being attended by each of his powers as by body-guards, presents to the mind, which is endowed with the faculty of sight, a vision at one time of one being, and at another time of three; of one when the soul being completely purified, and having surmounted not only the multitudes of numbers, but also the number two, which is the neighbour of the unit, hastens onward to that idea which is devoid of all mixture, free from all combination, and by itself in need of nothing else whatever; and of three, when, not being as yet made perfect as to the important virtues, it is still seeking for initiation in those of less consequence, and is not able to attain to a comprehension of the living God by its own unassisted faculties without the aid of something else, but can only do so by judging of his deeds, whether as creator or as governor. |
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13. Philo of Alexandria, On The Cherubim, 17, 48, 50, 51, 49, 94-6 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 | 49. For I myself, having been initiated in the great mysteries by Moses, the friend of God, nevertheless, when subsequently I beheld Jeremiah the prophet, and learnt that he was not only initiated into the sacred mysteries, but was also a competent hierophant or expounder of them, did not hesitate to become his pupil. And he, like a man very much under the influence of inspiration, uttered an oracle in the character of God, speaking in this manner to most peaceful virtue: "Hast thou not called me as thy house, and thy father, and the husband of thy Virginity?" showing by this expression most manifestly that God is both a house, the incorporeal abode of incorporeal ideas, and the Father of all things, inasmuch as it is he who has created them; and the husband of wisdom, sowing for the race of mankind the seed of happiness in good and virgin soil. For it is fitting for God to converse with an unpolluted and untouched and pure nature, in truth and reality virgin, in a different manner from that in which we converse with such. |
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14. Philo of Alexandria, On The Migration of Abraham, 67 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 | 67. But the foolish man proceeds always by means of the two passions together, both anger and desire, omitting no opportunity, and discarding reason as his pilot and judge. But the man who is contrary to him has extirpated anger and desire from his nature, and has enlisted himself under divine reason as his guide; as also Moses, that faithful servant of God, did. Who, when he is offering the burnt offerings of the soul, "washes out the Belly;" that is to say, he washes out the whole seat of desires, and he takes away "the breast of the ram of the Consecration;" that is to say, that whole of the warlike disposition, that so the remainder, the better portion of the soul, the rational part, having no longer anything to draw it in a different direction or to counteract its natural impulses, may indulge its own free and noble inclinations towards everything that is beautiful; |
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| 15. Philo of Alexandria, On Sobriety, 63-64, 62 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 |
16. Philo of Alexandria, On The Special Laws, 1.257-1.260, 3.208-3.209 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 | 1.257. The law chooses that a person who brings a sacrifice shall be pure, both in body and soul; --pure in soul from all passions, and diseases, and vices, which can be displayed either in word or deed; and pure in body from all such things as a body is usually defiled by. 1.258. And it has appointed a burning purification for both these things; for the soul, by means of the animals which are duly fit for sacrifices; and for the body, by ablutions and sprinklings; concerning which we will speak presently; for it is fit to assign the pre-eminence in honour in every point to the superior and domit part of the qualities existing in us, namely, to the soul. 1.259. What, then, is the mode of purifying the soul? "Look," says the law, "take care that the victim which thou bringest to the altar is perfect, wholly without participation in any kind of blemish, selected from many on account of its excellence, by the uncorrupted judgments of the priests, and by their most acute sight, and by their continual practice derived from being exercised in the examination of faultless victims. For if you do not see this with your eyes more than with your reason, you will not wash off all the imperfections and stains which you have imprinted on your whole life, partly in consequence of unexpected events, and partly by deliberate purpose; 1.260. for you will find that this exceeding accuracy of investigation into the animals, figuratively signifies the amelioration of your own disposition and conduct; for the law was not established for the sake of irrational animals, but for that of those who have intellect and reason." So that the real object taken care of is not the condition of the victims sacrificed in order that they may have no blemish, but that of the sacrificers that they may not be defiled by any unlawful passion. 3.208. And the law says, "Let everything which a man that is unclean has touched be also unclean as being polluted by a participation in that which is unclean." And this sacred injunction appears to have a wide operation, not being limited to the body alone, but proceeding as it would seem also to investigate the dispositions of the soul, 3.209. for the unjust and impious man is peculiarly unclean, being one who has no respect for either human or divine things, but who throws everything into disorder and confusion by the immoderate vehemence of his passions, and by the extravagance of his wickedness, so that everything which he touches becomes faulty, having its nature changed by the wickedness of him who has taken them in hand. For in like manner the actions of the good are, on the contrary, all praiseworthy, being made better by the energies of those who apply themselves to them, since in some degree what is done resembles in its character the person who does it.Go to the Tables of Contents of The Works of PhiloPlease buy the CD to support the site, view it without ads, and get bonus stuff!Early Christian Writings is copyright © 2001-2020 Peter Kirby |
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| 17. Philo of Alexandria, That God Is Unchangeable, 2018-07-09 00:00:00 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 |
| 18. New Testament, 1 Timothy, 2.8-3.12, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12, 5.13, 5.14, 5.15, 5.16, 5.17, 5.18, 5.19, 5.20, 5.21, 5.22 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 169 |
| 19. New Testament, Colossians, 3.18-4.1 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 169 |
| 20. New Testament, Ephesians, 5.21-6.9 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 169 |
21. New Testament, Matthew, 3.11-3.12 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 129| 3.11. ἐγὼ μὲν ὑμᾶς βαπτίζω ἐν ὕδατι εἰς μετάνοιαν· ὁ δὲ ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος ἰσχυρότερός μου ἐστίν, οὗ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς τὰ ὑποδήματα βαστάσαι· αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς βαπτίσει ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ πυρί· 3.12. οὗ τὸ πτύον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ διακαθαριεῖ τὴν ἅλωνα αὐτοῦ, καὶ συνάξει τὸν σῖτον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ἀποθήκην, τὸ δὲ ἄχυρον κατακαύσει πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ. | 3.11. I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. 3.12. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire." |
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| 22. Ignatius, To Polycarp, 2018-04-06 00:00:00 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 169 |
| 23. New Testament, 1 Peter, 2.18-3.7 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 169 |
| 24. Seneca The Younger, De Vita Beata (Dialogorum Liber Vii), 5.3 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 32 |
| 25. Epictetus, Discourses, 3.21 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 32 |
26. Plutarch, Romulus, 28.6-28.7 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 32| 28.6. λέγεται δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἀλκμήνης ἐκκομιζομένης νεκρὸν ἄδηλον γενέσθαι, λίθον δὲ φανῆναι κείμενον ἐπὶ τῆς κλίνης, καὶ ὅλως πολλὰ τοιαῦτα μυθολογοῦσι, παρὰ τὸ εἰκὸς ἐκθειάζοντες τὰ θνητὰ τῆς φύσεως ἅμα τοῖς θείοις.ἀπογνῶναι μὲν οὖν παντάπασι τὴν θειότητα τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀνόσιον καὶ ἀγεννές, οὐρανῷ δὲ μειγνύειν γῆν ἀβέλτερον. φατέον οὖν, ἐχομένοις τῆς ἀσφαλείας, κατὰ Πίνδαρον, ὡςσῶμα μὲν πάντων ἕπεται θανάτῳ περισθενεῖ, ζῳὸν δʼ ἔτι λείπεται αἰῶνος εἴδωλον· τὸ γάρ ἐστι μόνον ἐκ θεῶν. 28.7. ἥκει γὰρ ἐκεῖθεν, ἐκεῖ δʼ ἄνεισιν, οὐ μετὰ σώματος, ἀλλʼ ἐὰν ὅτι μάλιστα σώματος ἀπαλλαγῇ καὶ διακριθῇ καὶ γένηται καθαρὸν παντάπασι καὶ ἄσαρκον καὶ ἁγνόν. αὕη γὰρ ψυχὴ ἀρίστη, Αὔη γὰρ ψυχὴ ἀρίστη Bekker: αὕτη γὰρ ψυχὴ ξηρὴ καὶ ἀρίστη . καθʼ Ἡράκλειτον, ὥσπερ ἀστραπὴ νέφους διαπταμένη τοῦ σώματος. ἡ δὲ σώματι πεφυρμένη καὶ περίπλεως σώματος, οἷον ἀναθυμίασις ἐμβριθὴς καὶ ὁμιχλώδης, δυσέξαπτός ἐστι καὶ δυσανακόμιστος. | 28.6. It is said also that the body of Alcmene disappeared, as they were carrying her forth for burial, and a stone was seen lying on the bier instead. In short, many such fables are told by writers who improbably ascribe divinity to the mortal features in human nature, as well as to the divine. At any rate, to reject entirely the divinity of human virtue, were impious and base; but to mix heaven with earth is foolish. Let us therefore take the safe course and grant, with Pindar, Fragment 131, Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Gr. i.4 p. 427. that Our bodies all must follow death’s supreme behest, But something living still survives, an image of life, for this alone Comes from the gods. 28.7. Yes, it comes from them, and to them it returns, not with its body, but only when it is most completely separated and set free from the body, and becomes altogether pure, fleshless, and undefiled. For a dry soul is best, according to Heracleitus, Fragment 74 (Bywater, Heracliti Ephesii reliquiae, p. 30). and it flies from the body as lightning flashes from a cloud. But the soul which is contaminated with body, and surfeited with body, like a damp and heavy exhalation, is slow to release itself and slow to rise towards its source. |
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| 27. Apollonius of Tyana, Letters, 66 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 33 |
28. Seneca The Younger, Letters, 4.1 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 32 | 4.1. Keep on as you have begun, and make all possible haste, so that you may have longer enjoyment of an improved mind, one that is at peace with itself. Doubtless you will derive enjoyment during the time when you are improving your mind and setting it at peace with itself; but quite different is the pleasure which comes from contemplation when one's mind is so cleansed from every stain that it shines. |
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| 29. Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies, 2.3, 2.20.116 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 129 |
| 30. Marcus Aurelius Emperor of Rome, Meditations, 3.8 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 32 |
| 31. Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation To The Greeks, 10.99 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 128 |
| 32. Clement of Alexandria, Christ The Educator, 1.6.26-1.6.32 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 128, 129 |
| 33. Clement of Alexandria, Extracts From The Prophets, 35.1 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 128, 129 |
| 34. Alcinous, Handbook of Platonism, 36 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 32 |
35. Theophilus, To Autolycus, 1.2 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 128 | 1.2. But if you say, Show me your God, I would reply, Show me yourself, and I will show you my God. Show, then, that the eyes of your soul are capable of seeing, and the ears of your heart able to hear; for as those who look with the eyes of the body perceive earthly objects and what concerns this life, and discriminate at the same time between things that differ, whether light or darkness, white or black, deformed or beautiful, well-proportioned and symmetrical or disproportioned and awkward, or monstrous or mutilated; and as in like manner also, by the sense of hearing, we discriminate either sharp, or deep, or sweet sounds; so the same holds good regarding the eyes of the soul and the ears of the heart, that it is by them we are able to behold God. For God is seen by those who are enabled to see Him when they have the eyes of their soul opened: for all have eyes; but in some they are overspread, and do not see the light of the sun. Yet it does not follow, because the blind do not see, that the light of the sun does not shine; but let the blind blame themselves and their own eyes. So also you, O man, have the eyes of your soul overspread by your sins and evil deeds. As a burnished mirror, so ought man to have his soul pure. When there is rust on the mirror, it is not possible that a man's face be seen in the mirror; so also when there is sin in a man, such a man cannot behold God. Do you, therefore, show me yourself, whether you are not an adulterer, or a fornicator, or a thief, or a robber, or a purloiner; whether you do not corrupt boys; whether you are not insolent, or a slanderer, or passionate, or envious, or proud, or supercilious; whether you are not a brawler, or covetous, or disobedient to parents; and whether you do not sell your children; for to those who do these things God is not manifest, unless they have first cleansed themselves from all impurity. All these things, then, involve you in darkness, as when a filmy defluxion on the eyes prevents one from beholding the light of the sun: thus also do iniquities, man, involve you in darkness, so that you cannot see God. |
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| 36. Apuleius, On Plato, 2.20.247 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 32 |
37. Anon., Acts of Thomas, 25 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 129 | 25. And the apostle, filled with joy, said: I praise thee, O Lord Jesu, that thou hast revealed thy truth in these men; for thou only art the God of truth, and none other, and thou art he that knoweth all things that are unknown to the most; thou, Lord, art he that in all things showest compassion and sparest men. For men by reason of the error that is in them have overlooked thee but thou hast not overlooked them. And now at mv supplication and request do thou receive the king and his brother and join them unto thy fold, cleansing them with thy washing and anointing them with thine oil from the error that encompasseth them: and keep them also from the wolves, bearing them into thy meadows. And give them drink out of thine immortal fountain which is neither fouled nor drieth up; for they entreat and supplicate thee and desire to become thy servants and ministers, and for this they are content even to be persecuted of thine enemies, and for thy sake to be hated of them and to be mocked and to die, like as thou for our sake didst suffer all these things, that thou mightest preserve us, thou that art Lord and verily the good shepherd. And do thou grant them to have confidence in thee alone, and the succour that cometh of thee and the hope of their salvation which they look for from thee alone; and that they may be grounded in thy mysteries and receive the perfect good of thy graces and gifts, and flourish in thy ministry and come to perfection in thy Father. |
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| 38. Porphyry, On Abstinence, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13, 1.30-35, 2.35, 2.36, 2.37, 2.38, 2.39, 2.40, 2.44, 2.45, 2.46, 2.47, 4, 4.20, 56-7 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 35 |
| 39. Porphyry, Fragments, 290F (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 35 |
| 40. Plotinus, Enneads, 1.2, 1.2.3-1.2.5, 1.6.5, 3.6.5 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 32, 35 |
41. Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras, 46 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 32 | 46. He cultivated philosophy, the scope of which is to free the mind implanted within us from the impediments and fetters within which it is confined; without whose freedom none can learn anything sound or true, or perceive the unsoundedness in the operation of sense. Pythagoras thought that mind alone sees and hears, while all the rest are blind and deaf. The purified mind should be applied to the discovery of beneficial things, which can be effected by, certain artificial ways, which by degrees induce it to the contemplation of eternal and incorporeal things, which never vary. This orderliness of perception should begin from consideration of the most minute things, lest by any change the mind should be jarred and withdraw itself, through the failure of continuousness in its subject-matter. |
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42. Lactantius, Divine Institutes, 7.13 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 32 | 7.13. I have made it evident, as I think, that the soul is not subject to dissolution. It remains that I bring forward witnesses by whose authority my arguments may be confirmed. And I will not now allege the testimony of the prophets, whose system and divination consist in this alone, the teaching that man was created for the worship of God, and for receiving immortality from Him; but I will rather bring forward those whom they who reject the truth cannot but believe. Hermes, describing the nature of man, that he might show how he was made by God, introduced this statement: And the same out of two natures- the immortal and the mortal - made one nature, that of man, making the same partly immortal, and partly mortal; and bringing this, he placed it in the midst, between that nature which was divine and immortal, and that which was mortal and changeable, that seeing all things, he may admire all things. But some one may perhaps reckon him in the number of the philosophers, although he has been placed among the gods, and honoured by the Egyptians under the name of Mercury, and may give no more authority to him than to Plato or Pythagoras. Let us therefore seek for greater testimony. A certain Polites asked Apollo of Miletus whether the soul remains after death or goes to dissolution; and he replied in these verses:- As long as the soul is bound by fetters to the body, perceiving corruptible sufferings, it yields to mortal pains; but when, after the wasting of the body, it has found a very swift dissolution of mortality, it is altogether borne into the air, never growing old, and it remains always uninjured; for the first-born providence of God made this disposition.What do the Sibylline poems say? Do they not declare that this is so, when they say that the time will come when God will judge the living and the dead?- whose authority we will hereafter bring forward. Therefore the opinion entertained by Democritus, and Epicurus, and Dic archus concerning the dissolution of the soul is false; and they would not venture to speak concerning the destruction of souls, in the presence of any magician, who knew that souls are called forth from the lower regions by certain incantations, and that they are at hand, and afford themselves to be seen by human eyes, and speak, and foretell future events; and if they should thus venture, they would be overpowered by the fact itself, and by proofs presented to them. But because they did not comprehend the nature of the soul, which is so subtle that it escapes the eyes of the human mind, they said that it perishes. What of Aristoxenus, who denied that there is any soul at all, even while it lives in the body? But as on the lyre harmonious sound, and the strain which musicians call harmony, is produced by the tightening of the strings, so he thought that the power of perception existed in bodies from the joining together of the vitals, and from the vigour of the limbs; than which nothing can be said more senseless. Truly he had his eyes uninjured, but his heart was blind, with which he did not see that he lived, and had the mind by which he had conceived that very thought. But this has happened to many philosophers, that they did not believe in the existence of any object which is not apparent to the eyes; whereas the sight of the mind ought to be much clearer than that of the body, for perceiving those things the force and nature of which are rather felt than seen. |
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| 43. Porphyry, Fragments, 290F (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 35 |
| 44. Nag Hammadi, The Testimony of Truth, 30.32, 41.5-41.12, 42.6, 45.23-45.48 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 169 |
| 45. Papyri, P.Cair.Inv. Sr, 176-177, 175 Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 |
| 46. Babylonian Talmud, Midrash Hagadol Exodus, 10 Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 32 |
| 47. Anon., Apocalypse of David, 3.12-3.18 Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 |
| 48. Anon., Apocalypse of Baruch (Ethiopic), 1.22-1.23, 13.7-13.15 Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 32 |
49. Anon., Letter of Aristeas, 234 Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 52 | 234. The king bestowed great praise upon him and asked the tenth, What is the highest form of glory? And he said, 'To honour God, and this is done not with gifts and sacrifices but with purity of soul and holy conviction, since all things are fashioned and governed by God in accordance with His will. of this purpose you are in constant possession as all men can see from your achievements in the past and in the present.' |
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| 50. Anon., Pesiqta De Rav Kahana, 19 Tagged with subjects: •soul, divisions of Found in books: Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 32 |
