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.The prophets rouse their hearers to see clearlyand think clearly, so that they may not miss the truth when it arrives, asif they were branded with the letters of their prophecy, and make theiractions a base for contemplation.1025.From the time when our God and saviour Jesus Christ appeared onearth and lived among us men, all idolatry vanished, and true knowledgeof God covered the earth like a flood.8 PS states the orthodox view that Jesus had a human body (which Paulicians denied),and was born of the Virgin Mary.He claims that the NT teaching about this isconfirmed by OT prophecies, of which he cites four.Paulicians did not accept theOT.9 The brothers of Jesus are mentioned in Matt.12.40 42, Mark 3.31, Luke.8.21; thesisters in Mark 6.3.Some early church writers believed that they were the children ofMary and Joseph, but this opinion came to be frowned on by orthodox opinion.SeeGraef, Mary, I, pp.42, 70 71.10 Paulicians rejected the OT, while accepting most of the NT as divinely inspired; yetNT writers cite OT prophets as evidence that the life of Jesus fulfils the law and theprophecies.PS is careful to identify this weakness in their position; see chapter 41.69 CHRISTIAN DUALIST HERESIES26.Once the cross had been planted on earth and the bread of life forlove of man came down from heaven together with the divinity notthat His body came down from heaven, He took that from earth with thesame capacity for feeling as we have and was raised upon the wood ofthe cross and watered the earth with the streams of His divine blood, Hemade it breathe out a sweet smell.Fertilized by the hallowing of Hisprecious blood and water, it blossomed with different sorts of sweet-smelling spiritual flowers, as it still does.1127.So the wood is venerated though which the gift of salvation came tomankind, and through which the enemy, the source of evil, was castdown to the ground and received a mortal blow.There is no othersymbol of Christ s passion, through which so many miracles have hap-pened, as through the venerable and life-giving cross of the Lord; thedead were raised even before the descent of our Lord and God to Hades.Then the curtain was torn and the earth quaked, the sun was darkenedand then regained its light, revealing by the one the moonless darknessof the Jews, by the other foretelling the glory of the resurrection, andfinally the deliverance of all the souls that were held in Hades (whichtook place when our Lord and God appeared to them) and the dissolu-tion of Hades, so that it no longer holds the souls of those who fall asleepin the Lord.1228.The unequalled power of the holy cross performed all theseawe-inspiring wonders by the power of Him who was nailed to it, Christour God.Let them be ashamed and turned backward and destroyed,those who do not admit its glory and do not venerate it with undoubtingfaith as the invincible trophy given by God.29.The devil, that envious and evil hater of good, when once his headhad been smitten and his heart pierced by the spear of the cross, couldno longer carry out his abominable desires openly as he had before; butsecretly he made the souls of some wretches frantic and deceived theirminds through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared [1Tim.4.2]; who deserve to be the fuel of the fire that is not quenchedalong with him.11 In flowery language PS emphasizes the importance of the cross to orthodox Chris-tians; the image is that of a tree bearing the fruits of the spirit.12 It was believed that the empress Helena, wife of Constantine the Great, discoveredthe True Cross in Jerusalem before the emperor s death in 327; part of it was kept inConstantinople and greatly revered.For the miraculous powers attributed to it, seeDrijvers, Helena Augusta, pp.147 80; for the resurrection of the dead after the cruci-Pfixion see Matt.27.52 3.70 PETER OF SICILY S HISTORY OF THE PAULICIANS30.The Lord, who is.superlatively good, did not abandon His ac-customed benefits to His precious creation, man, but first appointed inthe Church apostles [1 Cor.12.28] as eyewitnesses and ministers toannounce clearly His descent in the flesh and His unlimited power, togive a true account of the evidences of His divinity, men who would notbe ashamed of the bodily sufferings of Christ, nor claim that the miracleswere a fraud, but would everywhere be concerned for the truth anddeclare the economy of the incarnation of the Word of God. Second,prophets [1 Cor.12.28], who would cut off at the root secret andunhallowed emotions by the sword of the Holy Spirit, and plant thehealthy strong shoots of virtue. Third, teachers [1 Cor.12.28] to assistthe others and give clearer explanations of what they said and did.31.By their holy doctrines the whole Christian Church has been estab-lished of old, and is established still; destructive heresies, the gates ofHell , have never prevailed over it,13 and do not now, as you well know,and as divine revelation promised.The waves of the verbosity of hereticsalways dissolve into froth
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