On Epiphanius's Claim to Have Written the Pragmateia on Marcion's Canon

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Secret Alias
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On Epiphanius's Claim to Have Written the Pragmateia on Marcion's Canon

Post by Secret Alias »

I decided to tackle the question of whether or not Epiphanius wrote the Pragmateia appended to Panarion 42. Here is what I suggest the Pragmateia originally looked like:
This is my < treatise >, prefaced in the foregoing selections from Marcion’s still preserved scripture. Anyone who examines its collection (of texts) must be struck with awe at the dispensations of < the > bountiful God.

Αὕτη μὲν ἡμῶν ἡ προθεωρηθεῖσα ἐν τοῖς προειρημένοις σύνταξις ἀναλεχθεῖσιν ἀπὸ τῆς παρ' αὐτῷ τῷ Μαρκίωνι ἔτι σῳζομένης γραφῆς, ἧς τὴν
ἀνάλεξιν σκοπήσας τις ἐκπλαγείη τὰς τοῦ μεγαλοδώρου θεοῦ οἰκονομίας.

If every matter is attested and established by three witnesses, how has God granted me, by a dispensation, to put together here, as I said, a sheer total of testimonies from the Gospel, and from the Apostle?

ἑκάστου γὰρ πράγματος διὰ τριῶν μαρτυριῶν ἐπιβεβαιουμένου καὶ συνισταμένου, ὡς ἐνταῦθα ψιλῶς ὁ θεὸς ἐχαρίσατο συνάψαι ὡς ἔφην ἡμᾶς κατὰ οἰκονομίαν ἑβδομήκοντα μὲν ὀκτὼ μαρτυρίας ἀπὸ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, τεσσαράκοντα δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου

And these are preserved in Marcion to this day and < not > disputed, so that there are altogether, and all contradicting Marcion’s own opinion—as though in the person of the Lord’s name through eighteen, and in the name of the blessing on its right through the hundred.

καὶ ταύτας παρ' αὐτῷ εἰς ἔτι καὶ δεῦρο σῳζομένας τε καὶ οὐκ ἀμφιβαλλομένας, ὡς εἶναι τὰς πάσας ἑκατὸν δεκαοκτώ, ἀντιλεγούσας δὲ πάσας τῇ αὐτοῦ Μαρκίωνος γνώμῃ, ὡς ἀπὸ προσώπου ὀνόματος κυρίου διὰ τῶν δεκαοκτὼ καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐνδεξίου εὐλογίας διὰ τῶν ἑκατόν.

1. “Go shew thyself unto the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded—that this may be a testimony unto you,”34 instead
of the Savior’s “for a testimony unto them.”
2. “But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power to forgive
sins upon earth.”35
3. “The Son of Man is lord also of the Sabbath.”36
4. “Judas Iscariot, which was a betrayer.” Instead of, “He came down
with them,” he has, “He came down among them.”37
5. “And the whole multitude sought to touch him. And he lifted up
his eyes,”38 and so forth.
6. “In the like manner did your fathers unto the prophets.”39
7. “I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in
Israel.”40
8. “Blessed is he who shall not be offended in me,”41 is altered. For
he had it as though it refers to John.
9. “He it is of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before
thy face.”42
10. “And entering into the Pharisee’s house he reclined at table. And
the woman which was a sinner, standing at his feet behind him, washed
his feet with her tears, and wiped and kissed them.”43
11. And again, “She hath washed my feet with her tears, and wiped
and kissed them.”44
12. He did not have, “His mother and his brethren,” but only, “Thy
mother and thy brethren.”45
13. “As they sailed he fell asleep. Then he arose and rebuked the wind
and the sea.”46
14. “And it came to pass as they went the people thronged him, and
a woman touched him, and was healed of her blood. And the Lord said,
Who touched me?” And again, “Someone hath touched me; for I perceive
that virtue hath gone out of me.”47
15. “Looking up to heaven he pronounced a blessing upon them.”48
16. “Saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be slain,
and be raised after three days.”49
17. “And, behold, there were talking with him two men, Elijah and
Moses in glory.”50
18. “Out of the cloud, a voice, This is my beloved Son.”51
19. “I besought thy disciples.” But in addition to, “And they could not
cast it out,” he had, “And he said to them, O faithless generation, how
long shall I suffer you?”52
20. “For the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of
men.”53
21. “Have ye not read so much as this, what David did: he went into
the house of God.”54
22. “I thank thee, Lord of heaven.”55 But he did not have, “and earth,”
nor did he have, “Father.” He is shown up, however; for further down he
had, “Even so, Father.”
23. He said to the lawyer, “What is written in the Law?” And after
the lawyer’s answer he replied, “Thou hast answered right; this do, and
thou shalt live.”56
24. And he said, “Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto
him at midnight, asking three loaves?” And then, “Ask, and it shall be
given. If a son shall ask a fi sh any of you that is a father, will he for a fi sh
give him a serpent, or a scorpion for an egg? If, then, ye evil men know of
good gifts, how much more the Father?”57
25. The saying about Jonah the prophet has been gutted; Marcion
had, “This generation, no sign shall be given it.” But he did not have anything
about Nineveh, the queen of the south, and Solomon.58
26. Instead of, “Ye pass over the judgment of God,”59 he had, “Ye pass
over the calling of God.”
27. “Woe unto you, for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and
your fathers killed them.”60
28. He did not have, “Therefore said the wisdom of God, I send unto
them prophets,” and the statement that the blood of Zacharias, Abel and
the prophets will be required of this generation.61
29. “I say unto my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body.
Fear him which, after he hath killed, hath authority to cast into hell.” But
he did not have, “Are not fi ve sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one
of them is forgotten before God?”
30. Instead of, “He shall confess before the angels of God,”62 Marcion
says, “before God.”
31. He does not have, “God doth clothe the grass.”63
32. “And your Father knoweth ye have need of these things,”64 physical
things, of course.
33. “But seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be
added unto you.”65
34. Instead of, “Your Father,” Marcion had, “Father.”66
35. Instead of, “In the second or third watch,” he had, “in the evening
watch.”67
36. “The Lord of that servant will come and will cut him in sunder,
and will appoint his portion with the unbelievers.”68
37. “Lest he hale thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the
offi cer.”69
38. There is a falsifi cation from “There came some that told him of the
Galilaeans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifi ces” down to
the place where he speaks of the eighteen who died in the tower at Siloam;
and of “Except ye repent’’ < and the rest > until the parable of the fi g tree
of which the cultivator said, “I am digging about it and dunging it, and if
it bear no fruit, cut it down.”70
39. “This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound.”71
40. Again, he falsifi ed, “Then ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and
Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God.” In place of this he
put, “When ye see all the righteous in the kingdom of God and yourselves
thrust”—but he put, “kept”—“out.” “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”72
41. Again, he falsifi ed, “They shall come from the east and from the
west, and shall sit down in the kingdom,” “The last shall be fi rst,” and “The
Pharisees came saying, Get thee out and depart, for Herod will kill thee”;
also, “He said, Go ye, and tell that fox,” until the words, “It cannot be
that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem,” and, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which
killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent, Often would I have
gathered, as a hen, thy children,” “Your house is left unto you desolate,”
and, “Ye shall not see me until ye shall say, Blessed.”73
42. Again, he falsifi ed the entire parable of the two sons, the one who
took his share of the property and spent it in dissipation, and the other.74
43. “The Law and the prophets were until John, and every man presseth into it.”75
44. The story of the rich man, and that Lazarus the beggar was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.76
45. “But now he is comforted,”77 again meaning this same Lazarus.
46. Abraham said, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear
them, since neither will they hear him that is risen from the dead.”78
47. He falsifi ed, “Say, We are unprofi table servants: we have done that
which was our duty to do.”79
48. When the ten lepers met him. Marcion excised a great deal and
wrote, “He sent them away, saying, Show yourselves unto the priests”; and
he substituted different words for others and said, “Many lepers were in
the day of Elisha the prophet, and none was cleansed, saving Naaman
the Syrian.”80
49. “The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days
of the Son of Man.”81
50. “One said unto him, Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He replied, Call not thou me good. One is good, God.” Marcion
added, “the Father,” and instead of, “Thou knowest the commandments,”
says, “I know the commandments.”82
51. “And it came to pass that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a
blind man cried, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And when
he was healed, he said, Thy faith hath saved thee.”83
52. Marcion falsifi ed, “He took unto him the twelve, and said, Behold,
we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written in the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered
and killed, and the third day he shall rise again”84 He falsifi ed the whole
of this.
53. He falsifi ed the passage about the ass and Bethphage, and the one
about the city and the temple, because of the scripture, “My house shall
be called an house of prayer, but ye make it a den of thieves.”85
54. “And they sought to lay hands on him and they were afraid.”86
55. Again, he excised the material about the vineyard which was let
out to husbandmen, and the verse, “What is this, then, The stone which
the builders rejected?”87
56. He excised, “Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at
the bush, in calling the Lord the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
But he is a God of the living, not of the dead.”88
57. He did not have the following: “Now that the dead are raised, even
Moses showed, saying that the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob is God of the living.”89
58. Again he falsifi ed, “There shall not an hair of your head perish.”90
59. Again, he falsifi ed the following: “Then let them which are in Judaea
fl ee to the mountains,” and so on, because of the words subjoined in the
text, “until all things that are written be fulfi lled.”91
60. “He communed with the captains how he might deliver him unto
them.”92
61. “And he said unto Peter and the rest, Go and prepare that we may
eat the passover.”93
62. “And he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him, and he said,
With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.”94
63. He falsifi ed, “I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfi lled in
the kingdom of God.”95
64. He falsifi ed “When I sent you, lacked ye anything,” and so on,
because of the words, “This also that is written must be accomplished,
And he was numbered among the transgressors.”96
65. “He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled
down, and prayed.”97
66. “And Judas drew near to kiss him, and said . . .”98
67. He falsifi ed what Peter did when he struck the servant of the high
priest and cut off his ear.99
68. “They that held him mocked him, smiting and striking him and
saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?”100
69. After, “We found this fellow perverting the nation,” Marcion added,
“and destroying the Law and the prophets.”101
70. The addition after “forbidding to give tribute” is “and turning away
the wives and children.”102
71. “And when they were come unto a place called Place of a Skull they
crucifi ed him and parted his garments, and the sun was darkened.”1
72. Marcion falsifi ed the words, “Today thou shalt be with me in
paradise.”104
73. “And when he had cried with a loud voice he gave up the
ghost.”105
74. “And, lo, a man named Joseph took the body down, wrapped it in
linen and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn out of the rock.”106
75. “And the women returned and rested the sabbath day according
to the Law.”107
76. “The men in shining garments said, Why seek ye the living among
the dead? He is risen; remember all that he spake when he was yet with
you, that the Son of Man must suffer and be delivered.”108
77. He falsifi ed what Christ said to Cleopas and the other when he
met them, “O fools, and slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Ought not he to have suffered these things?” And instead of, “what the
prophets have spoken,” he put, “what I said unto you.” But he is shown
up since, “When he broke the bread their eyes were opened and they knew
him.”109
78. “Why are ye troubled? Behold my hands and my feet, for a spirit
hath not bones, as ye see me have.”110
79. “As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without
law, and as many as have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law.
For not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the
Law shall be justifi ed.”111
80. “Circumcision verily profi teth if thou keep the Law; but if thou
be a breaker of the Law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.”112
81. “Which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the
Law.”113
82. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died
for the ungodly.”114
83. “Wherefore the Law is holy, and the commandment holy and
just and good.”115
84. “That the requirement of the Law might be fulfi lled in us.”116
85. “For Christ is the fulfi llment of the Law for righteousness to
everyone that believeth.”117
86. “He that loveth his neighbor hath fulfi lled the Law.”118
87. “Remember that ye, being in time past gentiles, who are called
uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the fl esh made
by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus
ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by his blood. For he is our
peace, who hath made both one,”119 and so on.
88. “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from
the dead, < and > Christ shall give thee light.”12
89. “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, < and >
shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one fl esh,”121 minus the
phrase, “unto his wife.”
90. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in
respect of an holyday, or of the new moon and sabbath days, which are a
shadow of things to come.”122
91. “(There is) one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all.”123
92. “Learn that the just shall live by faith. For as many as are under the
Law are under a curse; but, The man that doeth them shall live by them.”124
93. “Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree; but he that is of
promise is by the freewoman.”125
94. “I testify again that a man that is circumcised is a debtor to do the
whole Law.”126
95. > In place of, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,” he put,
“corrupteth the whole lump.”127
96. > “For all the Law is fulfi lled by you; thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself.”128
97. “Now the works of the fl esh are manifest which are these: Adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft,hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, factions, envyings, drunkenness, revellings—of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past,
that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”129
98. “They that are Christ’s have crucifi ed the fl esh with the affections
and lusts.”130
99. “For neither do they themselves who are circumcised (now) keep
the Law.”131
100. “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will
bring to naught the understanding of the prudent.”132
101. “That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord.”133
102. “Of the fi rst beings of this world that come to naught.”134
103. “For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.’’ And
again, “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men, that they are vain.”135
104. “For even Christ our passover is sacrifi ced.”136
105. “Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body?
For two, saith he, shall be one fl esh.”137
106. Given in an altered form. In place of, “in the Law,” he says “in
the Law of Moses.” But before this he says, “Or saith not the Law the
same also?”138
107. “Doth God take care for oxen?”139
108. “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant
how that our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and that
rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased. Now
these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil
things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters as were some of them;
as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
Neither let us tempt Christ,” until the words, “These things happened unto
them for examples, and they were written for us,”140 and so on.
109. “What say I then? That sacrifi cial meat is anything, or that that
which is offered in sacrifi ce to idols is anything? But the things which they
sacrifi ce, they sacrifi ce to devils and not to God.”141 But Marcion added,
“Sacrifi cial meat.”
110. “A man ought not to have long hair, forasmuch as he is the
image and glory of God.”142
111. “But God hath composed the body.”143
112. Marcion has erroneously added the words, “on the Law’s
account,” < after >, “Yet in the church I had rather speak fi ve words with
my understanding.”144
113. “In the Law it is written, With men of other tongues and other
lips will I speak unto this people.”145
114. “Let your women keep silence in the church; For it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience,
as also saith the Law.”146
115. On resurrection of the dead: “Brethren, I make known unto
you the gospel which I preached unto you.”147 Also, “If Christ be not
raised, it is in vain,”148 and so on. “So we preach, and so ye believed . . .149
that Christ died, and was buried, and rose again the third day . . . When
this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.”150
116. “For all the promises of God have their Yea in him; therefore
through him we utter Amen to God.”151
117. “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and
ourselves your servants through Jesus. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness . . .”15
118. “We having the same Spirit of faith also believe and therefore
speak.” But he excised, “according as it is written.”1
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
Secret Alias
Posts: 18362
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2015 8:47 am

Re: On Epiphanius's Claim to Have Written the Pragmateia on Marcion's Canon

Post by Secret Alias »

This is the 'pragmateia' that Basil sent to Epiphanius. Basil died in 377 CE. The Panarion was completed 378 CE. As such it would have been one of the last things written by Basil. Basil was Epiphanius's informant on at least one other section of the Panarion universally acknowledged by scholars - the report on a Magian sect near Cappadocia - viz. the Magusians https://books.google.com/books?id=f73mC ... us&f=false.

It is clear that when Epiphanius started dictating the Panarion to his secretary Anatolius 374 – 7 CE he did not yet have this pragmateia. He simply follows the report about the Galatians first canon of Marcion and basically confirms Tertullian's ordering. I cannot say whether Epiphanius, who claimed to be fluent in Latin, had Tertullian's text or the Greek original likely written by Irenaeus for this information. Whatever the case, the pragmateia clearly contradicts this understanding, ordering the Apostolic - Romans, Ephesians, Colossians, Ephesians, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians.

Epiphanius clearly has difficult reconciling his dictation with the ordering of the Apostolic in the pragmateia. That accounts for his breaking up of the original material in his final editing of the Panarion. During dictation he simply said he was going to append the 'work.' In the case of the citations of the gospel he does exactly this. Yet he spends a great deal of effort making the ordering of the Apostlic agree with his Galatians-first ordering.

Why is this ordering so problematic for Epiphanius? It has to do with the structure of the pragmateia. Why does Epiphanius call it his pragmateia? Look at the introduction:
If every work is attested and established by three witnesses, how has God granted me, by a dispensation, to put together here, as I said, a sheer total of testimonies from the Gospel, and from the Apostle?

ἑκάστου γὰρ πράγματος διὰ τριῶν μαρτυριῶν ἐπιβεβαιουμένου καὶ συνισταμένου, ὡς ἐνταῦθα ψιλῶς ὁ θεὸς ἐχαρίσατο συνάψαι ὡς ἔφην ἡμᾶς κατὰ οἰκονομίαν [ἑβδομήκοντα μὲν ὀκτὼ] μαρτυρίας ἀπὸ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, [τεσσαράκοντα] δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου
The actual reference to Matthew 18:19 does not say 'three' but 'two':
Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about any work they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

Πάλιν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐὰν δύο συμφωνήσωσιν ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς περὶ παντὸς πράγματος οὗ ἐὰν αἰτήσωνται, γενήσεται αὐτοῖς παρὰ τοῦ Πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς.
I will argue that original pragmateia said 'two' not 'three' and that Epiphanius deliberately changed it to 'three.' Look at the Panarion again. Epiphanius has to expand the original testimony THREE times to explain why the Romans-first canon in the pragmateia agrees with his original dictation about a Galatians-first Marcionite canon. Immediately following the 118th citation from the Marcionite canon Epiphanius acknowledges the contradictory ordering of the Apostolic and writes:
This is Marcion’s corrupt compilation, containing a version and form of the Gospel according to Luke, and an incomplete one of the
apostle Paul—not of all his epistles (10) but simply of Romans, Ephesians, Colossians, Laodiceans, Galatians, First and Second Corinthians, First and
Second Thessalonians, Philemon and Philippians.

Αὕτη ἡ νενοθευμένη τοῦ Μαρκίωνος σύνταξις, ἔχουσα μὲν χαρακτῆρα καὶ τύπον τοῦ κατὰ Λουκᾶν εὐαγγελίου, καὶ Παύλου τοῦ ἀποστόλου οὐχ ὅλον, οὐ πασῶν τῶν αὐτοῦ ἐπιστολῶν, ἀλλὰ μόνον τῆς πρὸς Ῥωμαίους καὶ τῆς πρὸς Ἐφεσίους καὶ τῆς πρὸς Κολασσαεῖς καὶ τῆς πρὸς Λαοδικεῖς καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς πρὸς Γαλάτας καὶ τῆς πρὸς Κορινθίους πρώτης καὶ δευτέρας καὶ τῆς πρὸς Θεσσαλονικεῖς πρώτης καὶ δευτέρας καὶ τῆς πρὸς Φιλήμονα καὶ τῆς πρὸς Φιλιππησίους

(11) (There is no version) of First and Second Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews < in his scripture at all, and > even the epistles that are there < have been mutilated >, since they are not all there but are counterfeits. (12)

καὶ τῆς πρὸς Τιμόθεον πρώτης καὶ δευτέρας καὶ τῆς πρὸς Τίτον καὶ τῆς πρὸς Ἑβραίους * τῶν ἐμφερομένων παρ' αὐτῷ, ὡς οὐ πληρεστάτων οὐσῶν, ἀλλὰ ὡς ἐν παραχαράξει.

And < I found > that this compilation had been tampered with throughout, and had supplemental material added in certain passages—not for any use, but for inferior, harmful strange sayings against the sound faith, < fictitious > creatures of Marcion’s cracked brain.

πανταχόθεν δὲ τὴν αὐτὴν σύνταξιν * ἐρρᾳδιουργημένην καὶ ἔν τισι λέξεσιν ἐπιποιήτως προσθήκην ἔχουσαν, οὐκ εἰς ὠφέλειαν, ἀλλὰ εἰς ἥσσονας καὶ ἐπιβλαβεῖς ξενολεξίας κατὰ τῆς ὑγιοῦς πίστεως ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐμβεβροντημένου νοῦ † βοσκήματος.

I have made this searching and laborious compilation from the scripture he has chosen, Apostle and the Gospel according to Luke, < so that > all who are attempting to contradict his imposture may understand that the altered sayings have been fraudulently inserted, (14) and that any not in their proper places have been stolen from them by his audacity. For the oaf thought that only these run counter to his false notion.

Ταῦτα δὲ ἡμῖν πεπόνηται καὶ πεπολυπραγμόνηται ἐκ τῆς παρ' αὐτῷ προλελεγμένης γραφῆς, ἀποστόλου τε καὶ τοῦ κατὰ Λουκᾶν εὐαγγελίου, ὅπως εἰδέναι ἔχοιεν πάντες οἱ πειρώμενοι ἀντιλέγειν τῇ αὐτοῦ πλάνῃ, ὅτι τὰ μὲν παρηλλαγμένα ῥήματα κατὰ ῥᾳδιουργίαν ἐντέτακται, ὅσα δὲ οὐκ ἐμφέρεται ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις τόποις συληθέντα ὑπάρχει ὑπὸ τῆς αὐτοῦ τόλμης· ταῦτα γὰρ ἐδόκει ὁ κτηνώδης μόνα ἐναντία εἶναι ἀντιλέγειν τῇ αὐτοῦ ἐπιπλάστῳ διανοίᾳ.

But there is a third < work > of my scholarship: the compilation of whatever material he and we have in common, and whose meaning is the Savior’s incarnation and his testimony to the agreement of the New Testament with the Old—and the acknowledgment in the Gospel, by the Son of God, that God is the maker of heaven and earth and the same God who spoke in the Law and the prophets, and that this God is his own Father.
The point is that in the original letter that Epiphanius received from Basil the 'pragmatos' is twofold as Matthew 18.19 states - two agree in one work (pragmatos). The 'two' are said to be the witness of the Gospel and the Apostolic. Epiphanius confuses or obscures that understanding developed from Matthew 18.19 with the 'two or three' from Deuteronomy 19:15 - a typical Epiphanius slip or deception.

Notice the repeated identification of THE WHOLE WORK - i.e. the thrice rewritten appendage to the Panarion - as 'laborious' i.e. adjectives involving the root 'pragmatos.' No one has ever been able to explain why Epiphanius writes the appended 'work' THREE times. Now we know the answer. He is trying to change the original letters simplicity - i.e. to TWO who agree on one work 'pragmatos.' The letter Basil wrote is the pragmatos, the two are the witness of the (1) the Gospel and (2) the Apostolic. That's the two. Epiphanius has a problem with that because it necessarily implies that the ordering of Marcion's gospel is Romans, Ephesians, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians - i.e. not the Galatians-first Apostolicon cited in Tertullian and in his original dictation to Anatolius c. 374 - 377.
Last edited by Secret Alias on Sun Jan 26, 2020 9:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
Secret Alias
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Re: On Epiphanius's Claim to Have Written the Pragmateia on Marcion's Canon

Post by Secret Alias »

Once you see that the letter betrays a Romans-first Marcionite canon everything falls into place. Epiphanius decides to change the letters citation:
If every work is attested and established by two how has God granted me, by a dispensation, to put together here, as I said, a sheer total of testimonies from the Gospel, and from the Apostle?
to
If every work is attested and established by three witnesses [γὰρ πράγματος διὰ τριῶν μαρτυριῶν], how has God granted me, by a dispensation, to put together here, as I said, a sheer total of testimonies from the Gospel, and from the Apostle?
The logic of 'every work is attested and established by three witnesses' and then 'God granted me ... to put together here ... a sheer total of testimonies from the Gospel, and from the Apostle [i.e. TWO] simply doesn't make sense. 'Three' contradicts the 'two' of Matthew 18.19 where πράγματος is used (it is not used in LXX Deuteronomy 19:15).

The pragmateia is called a pragmateia because of Matthew 18.19. Matthew 18.19 speaks only of two witnesses, not three. The two witnesses are the 78 citations from the Gospel and the 40 citations from the Apostolic which add up to 118. Even the pragmateia's interest in gematria is very uncharacteristic of Epiphanius. While the author of the work speaks of 100 from the Marcosian system (i.e. 'right hand') and 18 being the Lord's name it should be noted that 118 is the value of δογμα in Greek.

Let's look at the number of times that Epiphanius describes the thrice revised 'work' as a work:
42.10 I am also going to append the treatise [πραγματεία] which I had written against him before, a your instance, brothers, hastening to compose this one ... And here, below, is my treatise [ἡμῖν πεπραγματευμένα] , as follows:
What follows is not the original letter but Epiphanius's thrice rewritten appendage.

After the 78th Elenchos Epiphanius again makes reference to his entire thrice rewritten work as the 'pragmateia':
42.12. This is the publication of the treatise against Marcion based on the remains of the Gospel he preserves, which I have composed on his
account and which, in my opinion, is adequate to expose his deceit.

Αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ κατ' αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν λειψάνων τῶν παρ' αὐτῷ σῳζομένων ἐκ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ὑπόθεσις τῆς ἡμῶν πεποιημένης δι' αὐτὸν πραγματείας, ὥς γε νομίζω ἱκανῶς ἐχούσης πρὸς ἀντίθεσιν τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀπάτης
Then the aforementioned reworked 'preface' to the citation of 118 that originally came from Basil:
42.13 ἑκάστου γὰρ πράγματος διὰ τριῶν μαρτυριῶν ἐπιβεβαιουμένου καὶ συνισταμένου, ὡς ἐνταῦθα ψιλῶς ὁ θεὸς ἐχαρίσατο συνάψαι ὡς ἔφην ἡμᾶς κατὰ οἰκονομίαν ἑβδομήκοντα μὲν ὀκτὼ μαρτυρίας ἀπὸ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, τεσσαράκοντα δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
Secret Alias
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Re: On Epiphanius's Claim to Have Written the Pragmateia on Marcion's Canon

Post by Secret Alias »

So to repeat. Basil is acknowledged to have been one of Epiphanius's 'informants' for the Panarion. I argue the short letter came from Basil months before his death in 377 CE. The Panarion was published shortly thereafter with a massively expanded - thrice expanded - 'pragmateia.' Epiphanius decided to claim that the witness of the Marcionite was his. Even though the Romans-first canon it attests to contradicted his own testimony in his original dictation to Anatolius. It was recognized that Epiphanius plagiarized and falsified Basil's testimony by Origenists (cf. Rufinus). I will go through Basil's treatment of Matthew 18.19 as well as other linguistic signs the short letter comes from Basil's hand. But first I have to go to another soccer game 11:15, then futsal game 3:15, then perhaps futsal practice 7:10 or perhaps a visit from family services ...

Roth on the pragmateia
At the beginning of chapter ten, Epiphanius indicates that he had previously written a treatise (πραγματεία) against Marcion, which he would present (παρατίθημι) in his present work. He describes his procedure for preparing this treatise in the following manner: (1) quite a few years ago (ἀπὸ ἐτῶν ἰκανῶν) he took up Marcion's Euangelion and Apostolikon and selected material out of these books that would serve to refute Marcion; (2) he wrote something of an outline for a text in which he ordered the points and numbered them.18 Epiphanius indicates that this “outline” contained both passages that Marcion had falsified and passages that were unchanged but capable of refuting him.19 This selection of passages is then presented in Pan. 42.11.1–8, a section which Epiphanius entitles προοίμιον τῆς περὶ τῶν Μαρκίωνος βιβλίων ὑποθέσεώς τε καὶ ἐλέγχου. The “outline” contains 78 excerpts from Marcion’s Gospel, followed by 40 excerpts from seven Pauline epistles In Pan. 42.11.9–14 Epiphanius concludes that he has now presented Marcion’s falsified compilation (ἡ νενοθευμένη σύνταξις) containing a version of Luke and an incomplete collection of Paul’s epistles and that he has toiled over and investigated these texts so that it might be understood that the altered sayings had been fraudulently inserted (τὰ μὲν παρηλλαγμένα ῥήματα κατὰ ῥᾳδιουργίαν ἐντέτακται).

In Pan. 42.11.15 Epiphanius begins describing a third part of his scholarship (τρίτον τῆς φιλοκαλίας) where he contends that texts which he and Marcion had in common could be used to prove theological points contrary to Marcion’s beliefs. In Pan. 42.11.16 Epiphanius goes on to state,
And here is the brief arrangement of that work of mine, transcribed word for word by myself from copies of Marcion in the form of scholia with
exegetical comments, to serve as an outline.20 In Pan. 42.11.17, Epiphanius adds that in order for the difficult things not to be obscure, he would now explain every entry, offering a reason for why each saying was chosen and transferred here to the Panarion.21 Epiphanius then lists the 118 passages a second time, this time as scholia, each of which is followed by an elenchus.22 Though some scholars previously had given attention to Epiphanius as a source,23 Zahn appears to have been the first to devote attention to the question of how Pan. 42 came to have this rather unusual structure.24

Zahn’s position was that the earlier work against Marcion, a work which previously had not been completed or published, was taken up again and included without alteration (unverändert) in the Panarion.25 The beginning and conclusion of this previous work is, according to Zahn, clearly designated in Pan. 42.11.1 and Pan. 42.11.16, respectively. The work thus contained a chapter one (the excerpts from the Gospel) and a chapter two (the excerpts from the Pauline epistles); however, Epiphanius at the time did not get further than the introduction to chapter 3, a chapter that Zahn characterized as having been intended to contain “die Vertheidigung der kirchlichen Lehre gegenüber der marcionitsichen.”26 It is only when Epiphanius took up this older work into Pan. 42 that it was completed by the addition of the refutations of Marcion’s texts. When writing the second listing comprised of scholia and elenchi, Zahn argued that Epiphanius did not once again take up Marcion’s text, but simply recopied the list of citations, i.e., the list in the original work that is the first listing in Pan. 42. For this reason Zahn concluded that the second listing has value only for the textual criticism of Epiphanius, and that die zweiten Anführungen marcionitischer Texte bei Ep. als bloße Abschrift der ersten und die in den Widerlegungen, wovon jene begleitet sind, vorgetragenen Erwägungen in keinem Betracht den Werth einer Geschichtsquelle [haben].27

Zahn’s views were accepted by Harnack, who in his own consideration of Epiphanius as a source referred the reader to Zahn’s discussion.28 Schmid, however, argues against Zahn’s perspective and contends that for the Apostolikon the second listing actually contains more original readings and that the first listing is often secondary.29 At the same time, Schmid demonstrates that the second listing also has some secondary elements or readings, ultimately concluding that there was an Ur-Exzerptsammlung that was then copied in different ways at least twice, with the second listing in Epiphanius’s book, at least for the Apostolikon, being closer to the original.30 Several observations seem to confirm Schmid’s rejection of Zahn’s position and that it is also not the case for Marcion’s Gospel that the first list is the “original” list taken from Marcion’s text. https://gnosis.study/library/%D0%93%D0% ... Gospel.pdf
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
Secret Alias
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Re: On Epiphanius's Claim to Have Written the Pragmateia on Marcion's Canon

Post by Secret Alias »

On the Origenist application of Matt 18:19 to two bodies of scripture - Commentary on Matthew 14:
Again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them. Matthew 18:19 The word symphony is strictly applied to the harmonies of sounds in music. And there are indeed among musical sounds some accordant and others discordant ... it is a pleasant thing to endeavour to understand and exhibit the fact of the concord of the two covenants — of the one before the bodily advent of the Saviour and of the new covenant; for among those things in which the two covenants are at concord so that there is no discord between them would be found prayers, to the effect that about anything whatever they shall ask it shall be done to them from the Father in heaven. And if also you desire the third that unites the two, do not hesitate to say that it is the Holy Spirit, since the words of the wise, whether they be of those before the advent, or at the time of the advent, or after it, are as goads, and as nails firmly fixed, which were given by agreement from one shepherd. Ecclesiastes 12:11 And do not let this also pass unobserved, that He did not say, where two or three are gathered together in My name, there shall I be in the midst of them, but there am I, Matthew 18:20 not going to be, not delaying, but at the very moment of the concord being Himself found, and being in the midst of them.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
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