Freethought & Rationalism Archive

andrewcriddle · 08-26-2008, 02:12 PM

The Apocritus of Macarius Magnes contains a Pagan attack on Christianity (Possibly by Porphyry) and an attempted Christian refutation.

Part of the Pagan argument concerns John 6

Quote:

That saying of the Teacher is a far-famed one, which says, "Except ye eat my flesh and drink my blood, ye have no life in yourselves." Truly this saying is not merely beast-like and absurd, but is more absurd than any absurdity, and more beast-like than any fashion of a beast, that a man should taste human flesh, and drink the blood of members of the same tribe and race, and that by doing this he should have eternal life. For, tell, me, if you do this, what excess of savagery do you introduce into life? Rumour does not record---I do not say, this action, but even the mention of this strange and novel deed of impiety. The phantoms of the Furies never revealed this to those who lived in strange ways, nor would the Potidasans have accepted it unless they had been reduced by a savage hunger. Once the banquet of Thyestes became such, owing to a sister's grief, and the Thracian Tereus took his fill of such food unwillingly. Harpagus was deceived by Astyages when he feasted on the flesh of his dearest, and it was against their desire that all these underwent such a pollution. But no one living in a state of peace prepared such a table in his life; no one learnt from a teacher any knowledge so foul. If you look up Scythia in the records, and go through the Macrobian Ethiopians, and if you career through the ocean girdle round about, you will find men who eat, live, and devour roots; you will hear of men who eat reptiles and feed on mice, but they refrain altogether from human flesh.

What then does this saying mean? [Even if there is a mystical meaning hidden in it, yet that does not pardon the outward significance, which places men lower than the beasts. Men have made up strange tales, but nothing so pernicious as this, with which to gull the simple.]

Wherefore it seems to me that neither Mark nor Luke nor even Matthew recorded this, because they regarded the saying as not a comely one, but strange and discordant, and far removed from civilised life. Even you yourself could scarcely be pleased at reading it, and far less any man who has had the advantage of a liberal education.

The way in which the saying is seen as unparalleled may be evidence of the absence of authentic parallels in Hellenistic religion and in the mysteries.

Andrew Criddle

Roger Pearse · 08-27-2008, 12:56 AM

It's nice to see some attention being paid to this obscure work, which is partly lost but was still more complete in Venice in the 16th century. I can't help feeling that the remainder of the text is out there somewhere, awaiting discovery.

mountainman · 08-27-2008, 04:46 AM

CHAPTER I. How did Jesus allow Himself to be crucified with insult?

Quote:

Why did not Christ utter anything worthy of one who was wise and divine, when brought either before the high-priest or before the governor? He might have given instruction to His judge and those who stood by and made them better men. But He endured to be smitten with a reed and spat on and crowned with thorns, unlike Apollonius, [109] who, after speaking boldly to the Emperor Domitian, disappeared from the royal court, and after not many hours was plainly seen in the city then called Dicaearchia, but now Puteoli. But even if Christ had to suffer according to God's commands, and was obliged to endure punishment, yet at least He should have endured His Passion with some boldness, and uttered words of force and wisdom to Pilate His judge, instead of being mocked like any gutter-snipe.

Clivedurdle · 08-27-2008, 07:37 AM

Maybe the reaction was about the similarity to a certain tale in Wars?

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08-27-2008, 12:56 AM	#2
Roger Pearse Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: N/A Posts: 4,370	It's nice to see some attention being paid to this obscure work, which is partly lost but was still more complete in Venice in the 16th century. I can't help feeling that the remainder of the text is out there somewhere, awaiting discovery.

08-27-2008, 07:37 AM	#4
Clivedurdle Contributor Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: London UK Posts: 16,024	Maybe the reaction was about the similarity to a certain tale in Wars?

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