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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

2.

Augustinus respondit: Pius homo Faustus dolet Christum esse maledictum a Moyse et ob hoc odit Moysen, quia diligit Christum. Interim, antequam aperiam, in quam magno sacramento et quam pie dictum sit: Maledictus omnis, qui in ligno pependerit, istos pios homines interrogo, cur irascantur Moysi, quandoquidem maledictum eius ad Christum istorum non pervenerit. Si enim Christus pependit in ligno, clavis utique affixus est, unde etiam ipsas cicatrices post resurrectionem discipulo minus credulo demonstravit. Quod si ita est, utique vulnerabile atque mortale corpus habuit, quod isti nolunt fateri. Si ergo et illa vulnera et illae cicatrices falsae erant, falsum est et quod pependit in ligno. p. 404,19 Non itaque potuit ad eum illa maledictio pervenire, non est, quod suscenseant ei, a cuius ore processit. Itaque si ipsi irasci se fingunt ei, qui maledixerit falsae morti Christi, quod secundum ipsos dixerim, quomodo fugiendi sunt, qui non maledicunt Christum, sed quod est exsecrabilius, criminantur? Si enim non est accipiendus, qui maledictum ingerit mortalitati, quomodo est detestandus, qui fallaciam obicit veritati? Sed iam videamus ex occasione calumniantium haereticorum, quomodo illud sacramentum fidelibus exponatur.

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

2.

Augustin replied: The pious Faustus is pained because Christ is cursed by Moses. His love for Christ makes him hate Moses. Before explaining the sacred import and the piety of the words, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree," I would ask these pious people why they are angry with Moses, since his curse does not affect their Christ. If Christ hung on the tree, He must have been fastened to it with nails, the marks of which He showed to His doubting disciple after His resurrection. Accordingly He must have had a vulnerable and mortal body, which the Manichaeans deny. Call the wounds and the marks false, and it follows that His hanging on the tree was false. This Christ is not affected by the curse, and there is no occasion for this indignation against the person uttering the curse. If they pretend to be angry with Moses for cursing what they call the false death of Christ, what are we to think of themselves, who do not curse Christ, but, what is much worse, make Him a liar? If it is wrong to curse mortality, it is a much more heinous offense to sully the purity of truth. But let us make these heretical cavils an occasion for explaining this mystery to believers.