Traduction Masquer
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

5.

We are not afraid to meet your scoff at the Sabbath, when you call it the fetters of Saturn. It is a silly and unmeaning expression, which occurred to you only because you are in the habit of worshipping the sun on what you call Sunday. What you call Sunday we call the Lord's day, and on it we do not worship the sun, but the Lord's resurrection. And in the same way, the fathers observed the rest of the Sabbath, not because they worshipped Saturn, but because it was incumbent at that time, for it was a shadow of things to come, as the apostle testifies. ¹ The Gentiles, of whom the apostle says that they "worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator," ² gave the names of their gods to the days of the week. And so far you do the same, except that you worship only the two brightest luminaries, and not the rest of the stars, as the Gentiles did. Besides, the Gentiles gave the names of their gods to the months. In honor of Romulus, whom they believed to be the son of Mars, they dedicated the first month to Mars, and called it March. The next month, April, is named not from any god, but from the word for opening, because the buds generally open in this month. The third month is called May, in honor of Maia the mother of Mercury. The fourth is called June, from Juno. The rest to December used to be named according to their number. The fifth and sixth, however, got the names of July and August from men to whom divine honors were decreed; while the others, from September to December, continued to be named from their number. January, again, is named from Janus, and February from the rites of the Luperci called Februae. Must we say that you worship the god Mars in the month of March? But that is the month in which you hold the feast you call Bema with great pomp. But if you think it allowable to observe the month of March without thinking of Mars, why do you try to bring in the name of Saturn in connection with the rest of the seventh day enjoined in Scripture, merely because the Gentiles call the day Saturday? The Scripture name for the day is Sabbath, which means rest. Your scoff is as unreasonable as it is profane.

Edition Masquer
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

5.

Nec nos terret insultatio tua, quod sabbatorum otium catenas Saturniacas appellas. Vana est enim et inepta; nec tibi hoc dicere venisset in mentem, nisi quia vos in die, quem dicunt Solis, solem colitis. Sicut autem nos eundem diem dominicum dicimus, in eoque non istum solem, sed resurrectionem domini veneramur, sic otium sabbatorum sine Saturni veneratione a patribus observatum est, cum sic illud observari oportebat. Erat enim umbra futurorum, sicut apostolus testis est. Diebus quippe istis, quorum septenarius numerus in orbem redit, deorum suorum nomina gentes imposuerunt; de quibus ait apostolus, quod coluerunt et servierunt creaturae potius quam creatori. p. 494,2 Quos in hac parte etiam vos imitamini, nisi quod cum eis lucidiora duo lumina, cetera vero sidera non cum eis adoratis. Sed et mensibus imposuerunt nomina deorum suorum. Propter honorem quippe Romuli, quia eum Martis filium crediderunt, primum mensem Marti dicantes Martium vocaverunt. Et inde Aprilem nullo dei sui nomine, sed a re ipsa quasi aperilem, quod tunc plurimum germinis aperiatur in florem. Inde tertium mensem Maium, quod Maiam, Mercurii matrem, deam colant. Inde quartum Iunium a Iunone, inde ceteros usque ad Decembrem a numeris nominarunt. Sed ex eis Quintilis atque Sextilis nominibus hominum, quibus divinos honores decreverant, appellati sunt Iulius et Augustus. Nam septimus September et ceteri, ut dixi, usque ad Decembrem numerorum ex ordine nominibus enuntiantur. p. 494,16 Porro Ianuarius a Iano appellatus est, Februarius a februis sacris lupercorum. Vultis ergo, ut et vos dicamini in mense Martio Martem colere? Illo enim mense bema vestrum cum magna festivitate celebratis. Si autem vobis in mense Martio licere arbitramini aliud considerare, non Martem, cur ex die septimo, quod sabbatum a requie nominatum est, divinis scripturis Saturnum importare conamini, quia eum diem Saturni gentes appellaverunt? Nempe iam videtis, cum quanta impietate deliretis.