|
AT this time, the madman, named from his demoniacal heresy, armed
himself in the perversion of his reason, as the devil, Satan, who
himself fights against God, put him forward to the destruction of
many. He was a barbarian in life, both in word and deed; and in his
nature demoniacal and insane. In consequence of this he sought to pose
as Christ, and being puffed up in his madness, he proclaimed himself
the Paraclete and the very Holy Spirit; and afterwards, like
Christ, he chose twelve disciples as partners of his new doctrine.
And he patched together false and godless doctrines collected from a
multitude of long-extinct impieties, and swept them, like a deadly
poison, from Persia to our part of the world. From him the impious
name of the Manicheans is still prevalent among many. Such was the
foundation of this "knowledge falsely so-called," which sprang up in
those times.
|
|