Library Theodoret Compendium of Heretical Fables
Book 5
Prologue
That he raised up the nature which he assumed.
That the same one is both good and just.
That the same one gave both the Old and the New Covenant.
On baptism.
On the resurrection.
On judgment.
On the promises.
On the second appearing of the Savior.
On the Antichrist.
On virginity.
On marriage.
On a second marriage.
On fornication.
On repentance.
On continence.
Prologue.
Honey seems sweet to all human beings even without comparison; yet it appears sweeter still when some bitter quality is set beside it. All regard health as desirable, but after illness they regard it as more desirable still; and calm weather is more pleasant after a storm.
So also those of sound mind know that the truth is a possession worth acquiring; yet falsehood, when set beside it for comparison, shows it still more brilliant and more divine.
Since, then, we have displayed the shame of falsehood, and have stripped bare the heretics’ fables, and both their impiety and their unpleasantness and improbability have become plain, come now: setting beside these the evangelical teaching, let us show the difference between light and gloom, between perfect health and the most grievous disease.
Yet one cannot find an image that fits the comparison before us. For even darkness, though it falls short of light, nevertheless affords human beings a necessary service: for those who labor by day, night provides rest. And illness too has become beneficial to many: for through it they came to know the Savior and Creator, and the one who promised release from their pains, and having obtained what they asked, they gave thought to virtue.
But from those utterly wicked fables and unspeakable blasphemies, every injury is evident for those who believe them. So one cannot find an opposite image for the difference between these opposing doctrines—or rather, I have found one that is extremely clear. For as great as is the interval between God and the devil, so great is the difference between the teaching of God and that of the devil.
And this will be shown still more clearly when the beauty of the divine oracles is set beside those fables, sending forth the radiance of intellectual light.
But before all else we must say what we have been taught concerning the first principle of all things.
Greek: Theodoret of Cyrus, Haereticarum fabularum compendium / Αἱρετικῆς κακομυθίας ἐπιτομή (CPG 6223; PG 83, 336–556). English: study translation for BWAB Library—not a modern copyrighted translation. The full five books are hosted here.