CHAPTER XXXVIII

THE HERESY OF THE HELCESAITES

ANOTHER error also sprung up about this time, called the heresy of the Helcesaites, which, however, was almost stifled in its birth. It is mentioned by Origen, in his public lecture on the eighty-second Psalm: “A certain one,” says he, “came recently with a great opinion of his abilities, to maintain that ungodly and wicked error of the Helcesaites, which has but lately appeared in the churches. The mischievous assertions of this heresy, I will give you, that you may not be carried away with it. It sets aside certain parts of the collective Scriptures, and it makes use of passages from the Old Testament, and from the gospels. It rejects the apostles altogether. It asserts, also, that to deny (Christ) is indifferent, and that he who is prudent, in case of necessity, will deny with his mouth, but not in his heart. They also produce a certain book, which they say fell from heaven: and that whoever has heard and believed this, will receive remission of sins; a remission different from that given by Christ.” And such is the account respecting these.