# On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God - Author: [Lucifer of Cagliari](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/lucifer-of-cagliari/) - Latin title: *De non parcendo in Deum delinquentibus* - Date: ca. 356–361 (approximate) - Source: Wilhelm von Hartel, ed., Luciferi Calaritani opuscula, CSEL 14 (Vienna: Gerold, 1886) (Latin text: W. von Hartel (CSEL 14, 1886), digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lucifer-non-parcendo/ - Passages: 35 ## On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lucifer-non-parcendo/1/#p-1 - Source: CSEL 14:209–211 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Lucifer answers Constantius's complaint that the bishops insulted him by pointing to Moses and the Levites and to Phinehas, who punished idolaters, and asks by what authority the emperor would lead them from the way of all the saints. ### Latin text Superatum te, imperator, a dei seruis ex omni cum conspexisses parte, dixisti passum te ac pati a nobis contra monita sacrarum scripturarum contumeliam; dicis nos insolentes exstitisse circa te quem honorari decuerit. si quisquam dei cultorum pepercit apostatis, sint uera quae dicis de nobis. unde ordiamur, ut tu nunc a nobis corriperis, ita esse correptos omnes erraticos per dei cultores, quo probare possimus? unde nisi a Mosi dei serui actibus? legimus in Exodo ascendisse montem Mosen post testamentum sibi traditum et plurimos interfecisse eorum propter idololatriae reatum. stetit, inquit, Moses ad portas castrorum et dixit: quis ad dominum paratus? ueniat ad me. et conuenerunt ad eum omnes filii Leui et dixit eis: haec dicit dominus deus Israel: ponite unusquisque gladium suum in femore suo et pertransite et reuertimini a porta usque ad portam per castra, et occidite unusquisque fratrem suum et unusquisque propinquum suum et unusquisque proximum suum. et fecerunt filii Leui sicut dixit eis Moses. et ceciderunt de populo in illa die quasi tria millia hominum. et dixit eis Moses: inplestis hodie manus domino unusquisque in filio aut in fratre dari in uobis benedictionem. sumus tibi contumeliosi ut fuit Moses populo insulso illi; neque illis placebant illa quae dicebantur aut fiebant a Mosi, quando iam delegissent non seruire deo qui eos eripuisset de potestate Pharaonis, sed illi uitulo quem illis fuderat ignis. ita et tu iam non deo mancipatus, sed Arrii idololatriae, qui errasse arguaris, indigne fers, contumaces nos clamitas, dicis indignum nos circa te facinus perpetratos, ut imperatori Romani regni dicere auderemus: male, Constanti, facis idololatriam introducere in ecclesiam. Moses primus prophetarum ille deo amantissimus gladio est persecutus eos quorum te instituisti imitatorem, et ego contumax esse notor a te, quia dixerim deum te dereliquisse et idololatriae temet mancipasse? adhuc filios Israel fornicatos clamat sacra scriptura in filias Moabitarum et quod uocati ab eis manducauerunt immolata idolis et eadem adorasse idola; contra quos quia ita exarserit zelo deuotionis incensus Finees sacerdos, propterea uel maxime quod gladio idololatres media in synagoga interemerit, adeo placuit deo, ut sit scriptum ad hoc factum domini indignantis quieuisse iram et ipsum nimio praecipuum apud dominum effectum: et locutus est dominus ad Mosen dicens: Finees filius Eleasar filii Aaron sacerdotis conpescuit iram meam a filiis Israel, in eo quod zelatus est zelo in eis, et non έξνήλωσα filios Israel in zelo meo. et ecce dabo ei testamentum meum, testamentum pacis ei et semini eius cum ipso in testamentum sacerdotii aeternum, quoniam selatus est deo suo et exorauit pro filiis Israel. et tu nos arbitraris contumaces, quia tibi erranti uera dicamus? existimas, cum tibi displicemus, non nos tunc deo placere? sed oro te dicas, Constanti, qua auctoritate uiam iustorum patriarcharum prophetarum apostolorum ac martyrum nos uolueris deserere et conprehendere istam tuam nouam quam per Arrium instituerat diabolus. numquidnam somnio es admonitus et dictum est ad te, ne patiaris Christi nos tenere uiam quam tenuerunt Abel, Enoc, Noe, Melchisedec, Abraham, Isaac et Iacob, Ioseph, Moses, Aaron, Iesus Nane, Iob, iudices et ceteri reges, hoc est Dauid, Iosaphat, Ezechias, Iosias, quam tenuerant cuncti prophetae apostoli ac martyres, quam tenuerant omnes qui deo inueniuntur placuisse? ### English translation (Claude) When you saw that you had been overcome on every side by the servants of God, you said, emperor, that you have suffered and are suffering insult from us, against the warnings of the holy Scriptures; you say that we have been insolent toward you, who ought to have been honoured. If any worshipper of God ever spared apostates, then let what you say about us be true. Where shall we begin, so that we can prove that, just as you are now rebuked by us, so all who strayed have been rebuked by the worshippers of God? Where but from the deeds of Moses, the servant of God? We read in Exodus that Moses went up the mountain after the covenant had been handed to him, and that he killed very many of them for the guilt of idolatry. “Moses stood,” it says, “at the gates of the camp and said: Who is ready for the Lord? Let him come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered to him, and he said to them: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Each of you put his sword on his thigh, and go through and return from gate to gate through the camp, and each of you kill his brother, and each his kinsman, and each his neighbour. And the sons of Levi did as Moses told them. And there fell of the people on that day about three thousand men. And Moses said to them: You have filled your hands today for the Lord, each against his son or his brother, so that a blessing may be given upon you.” We are insulting to you as Moses was to that foolish people. Nor did the things said or done by Moses please them, since they had already chosen not to serve God, who had rescued them from the power of Pharaoh, but the calf that the fire had cast for them. So you too, now enslaved not to God but to the idolatry of Arius, take it ill that you are shown to have gone astray; you cry out that we are defiant; you say that we have committed an unworthy outrage against you, in that we dared to say to the emperor of the Roman realm: “You do wrong, Constantius, to bring idolatry into the church.” Moses, the first of the prophets, that man most beloved by God, pursued with the sword those whose imitator you have made yourself; and am I branded by you as defiant because I said that God has forsaken you and that you have sold yourself to idolatry? Again, holy Scripture cries out that the children of Israel committed fornication with the daughters of the Moabites, and that when invited by them they ate food sacrificed to idols and worshipped those same idols. Because the priest Phinehas, fired by the zeal of devotion, blazed out against them, and above all because he killed the idolaters with the sword in the middle of the congregation, he so pleased God that it is written that at this deed the anger of the indignant Lord was quieted and that he himself became especially great before the Lord: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has checked my anger from the children of Israel, in that he was zealous with zeal among them, and I did not consume the children of Israel in my zeal. And behold, I will give him my covenant, a covenant of peace, to him and to his seed with him, as a covenant of everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made intercession for the children of Israel.” And do you think us defiant because we tell the truth to you who are in error? Do you suppose that when we displease you we do not then please God? But tell me, I beg you, Constantius, by what authority you have wished us to desert the way of the righteous patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and to take up this new way of yours, which the devil had established through Arius. Were you warned in a dream, and was it said to you that you should not allow us to hold to the way of Christ, which Abel, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob held, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua the son of Nun, Job, the judges and the kings besides, that is, David, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah; which all the prophets, apostles, and martyrs had held; which all who are found to have pleased God had held? ### Scripture references - Exod 32:26–29: quotation, high confidence - Num 25:1–3: allusion, high confidence - Num 25:7–8: allusion, high confidence - Num 25:11–13: quotation, high confidence - Heb 11:4–32: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations: Exod 32:26–29 and Num 25:11–13, in Lucifer's Old Latin. In Num 25:11 the printed text has a Greek word, ἐξανήλωσα (“I consumed”, OCR “έξνήλωσα”), in place of the Latin verb; it is translated “consume”. “Fornicated” (Num 25:1) is rendered “committed fornication”, as the scriptural idiom for both the sexual sin and idolatry. - Lucifer's characteristic charge, repeated throughout: the Arianism favoured by Constantius is “idolatry”, because it worships a Son it calls a creature. ### Citation (SBL) Lucifer, Non parc. 1 (CSEL 14:209–211; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/lucifer-non-parcendo/1). ## On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lucifer-non-parcendo/1/#p-2 - Source: CSEL 14:211–212 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Applying Deuteronomy's law against prophets and kinsmen who entice to other gods, Lucifer argues that the patriarchs and apostles shared one faith in the Son and that Constantius, urging the bishops to abandon it, is an enemy of God. ### Latin text Si hoc tibi a daemonum dictum est principe, audi quid fieri deus statuerit de te per gloriosum prophetam Mosen: si autem surrexerit in te propheta aut somnium somnians et dederit signum aut prodigium et uenerit signa faciens aut prodigia et dixerit ad te dicens: eamus et seruiamus dis alienis quos nescitis, non audietis uerbum prophetae illius aut somniantis, quoniam temptat dominus deus uos uidere, si diligatis dominum deum uestrum ex toto corde uestro et ex tota anima uestra. post dominum deum uestrum abibitis et ipsum timebitis, et mandata eius custodietis et uocem eius audietis, et illi adponemini. et propheta ille aut somnium somnians, illi moriantur. locuti sunt enim seducere uos a domino deo uestro. cognoscis quid pati iussus sis? siue etenim te somnio dicas admonitum siue te prophetam uelis adstruere nobis, inimicus dei es, qui uelis nos fidem apostolicam derelinquere atque suscipere eam quae negat unicum dei filium. illos etenim cunctos quos recitaui, propterea quod credentes fuerint in unicum dei filium, tantos ac tales effectos est clarum, siquidem qui non crediderit in filium nec patrem habeat, qui uero credit in filium et patrem et filium habeat. haec cum uox sit beati Iohannis, cum quo quia sit faciens chorus sanctorum apostolorum, omnes utique debes intellegere, sicut crediderunt apostoli, quod sic ante fuissent credentes patriarchae atque prophetae, sic cuncti qui fidei merito honorati esse noscantur. neque enim poteris mihi probare, quia aliter crediderunt Abraham Isaac et Iacob et aliter Iohannes uel omnes coapostoli eius. si enim non ita crediderunt apostoli, ut crediderunt patriarchae, cur beatus Paulus omnes ad Abrahae conprehendendam prouocat fidem? sed inquis: ego te arguo cur insolens sis, cur contumeliosus imperatori extiteris; et tu fidei causam retexis. fidei utique, ut probem te esse sacrilegum, ut probem te a uia deorbitasse ueritatis; hinc contumeliosus tibi uideor, quia dicam tibi deseruisse te iter omnium dei cultorum atque conprehendisse illam quam tenuerant ac sunt tenentes hi qui non deo, sed phantasiae seruierunt ac sunt seruientes. de te itaque a deo me recedere suadenti accipe quid sanxerit fieri deus per Mosen: si autem rogauerit te frater tuus ex patre uel matre aut filius tuus aut filia tua aut mulier quae in gremio tuo est aut amicus qui animae tuae par est, clam dicens: eamus et seruiamus dis alienis quos nescis nec patres tui, ex diis nationum quae circa te proxime aut longe, ne uelis ire cum illo et ne audieris eum non parcet oculus tuus super eum nec salutabis eum m celabis eum. adnuntians adnuntiabis de eo. manus tuae erunt in eum in primis ad occidendum eum et manus populi tui in nouissimo. et lapidabitis illum, et morietur, quoniam quaesiit absistere a domino deo tuo. praeceptum te interfici quippe deum me derelinquere inuitantem ignorans dicis: contumeliam mihi facit Lucifer. aut negabis te ad idololatriam inuitasse nos suscipiendam? si censes negandum, conuincent te expositiones sectae tuae episcoporum, conblasphemorum uidelicet tuorum; conuincent te libelli recitati a te ac dati Romae episcopis etiam catholicis ad hoc uidelicet, ut omni in loco tua roborari posset blasphemia. ### English translation (Claude) If this was told you by the prince of demons, hear what God has decreed should be done concerning you, through the glorious prophet Moses: “But if a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you, and gives a sign or a wonder, and comes doing signs or wonders, and speaks to you, saying: Let us go and serve strange gods whom you do not know, you shall not hear the word of that prophet or of the dreamer, for the Lord your God is testing you, to see whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him, and keep his commandments and hear his voice, and cleave to him. And that prophet, or the dreamer of dreams, they shall die; for they have spoken to lead you astray from the Lord your God.” Do you see what you have been ordered to suffer? For whether you say you were warned in a dream or want to present yourself to us as a prophet, you are an enemy of God, since you want us to abandon the apostolic faith and take up the one that denies the only Son of God. For it is clear that all those whom I have listed became so great and so excellent because they believed in the only Son of God, since he who does not believe in the Son does not have the Father either, but he who believes in the Son has both the Father and the Son. Since this is the word of blessed John, and the chorus of the holy apostles acts in agreement with him, you surely ought to understand that all of them, as the apostles believed, so the patriarchs and prophets believed before, and so all who are known to have been honoured for the merit of faith. For you will not be able to prove to me that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob believed one way and John and all his fellow apostles another. For if the apostles did not believe as the patriarchs believed, why does blessed Paul call everyone to lay hold of the faith of Abraham? But you say: “I accuse you of being insolent, of having been insulting to the emperor, and you go back over the matter of faith.” Of faith, certainly, to prove that you are sacrilegious, to prove that you have turned off the way of truth. This is why I seem insulting to you: because I tell you that you have deserted the road of all the worshippers of God and taken up the one that those held and hold who have served, and are serving, not God but a phantasm. So, concerning yourself, who urge me to depart from God, hear what God has ordained should be done, through Moses: “But if your brother by your father or mother asks you, or your son or your daughter, or the wife who is in your bosom, or the friend who is equal to your soul, saying secretly: Let us go and serve strange gods, whom you do not know nor your fathers, of the gods of the nations that are around you, near or far, do not consent to go with him, and do not listen to him; your eye shall not spare him, nor shall you greet him or hide him. You shall surely denounce him. Your hands shall be first against him to put him to death, and the hands of your people last. And you shall stone him, and he shall die, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God.” Not knowing that you are ordered to be put to death, inviting me as you do to forsake God, you say: “Lucifer insults me.” Or will you deny that you invited us to take up idolatry? If you think you should deny it, you will be convicted by the statements of the bishops of your sect, your fellow blasphemers that is; you will be convicted by the documents read out by you and given to bishops at Rome, even catholic ones, for this purpose, plainly, that your blasphemy might be strengthened in every place. ### Scripture references - Deut 13:1–5: quotation, high confidence - Deut 13:6–10: quotation, high confidence - 1 John 2:23: allusion, high confidence - Rom 4:11–16: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 3:7–9: allusion, low confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations: Deut 13:1–5 and 13:6–10 (Old Latin). “He who does not believe in the Son does not have the Father either” paraphrases 1 John 2:23 (cf. 2 John 9). The appeal to the faith of Abraham recalls Rom 4 and Gal 3. - The text reads “nec salutabis eum m celabis eum”; “m” is evidently a damaged “nec” (“nor hide him”) and is translated so. - “The documents … given to bishops at Rome, even catholic ones” probably refers to the formulas presented to Western bishops in the 350s; the exact documents are not identified here. ### Citation (SBL) Lucifer, Non parc. 2 (CSEL 14:211–212; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/lucifer-non-parcendo/2). ## On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lucifer-non-parcendo/1/#p-3 - Source: CSEL 14:212–215 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Lucifer sets out the whole story of Achan's theft and stoning as a warning to Constantius, who by denying the Son has himself become a thing devoted to destruction. ### Latin text Quas incurreris errorum tenebras non sentis? non conspicis quo possis perire modo? quando uideas, cur contra diuina fecerit monita Achar unus e populo, cur furto abstulisset ab Hiericho certam partem uestis argenti aurique, (quod) sic fuerit multatus morte, quid tibi sit futurum conspice, qui sis negans aeternam unici filii dei diuinam maiestatem. accipe quid circa Achar fuerit celebratum et tandem consule tuae saluti, redi ad dei ecclesiam, a qua te per Arrianos abigauit coluber ille refuga qui uerterit Adam quoque et Euam: et erat, inquit, dominus cum Iesu, et erat nomen eius super uniuersam terram. ei neglexerunt filii Israel neglegentia et fraudauerunt fraude de anathemate. et indignatus est ira dominus filiis Israel. et misit Iesus uiros in Ge, quae est coniuncta Bethel, dicens; considerate Ge. et ascenderunt uiri et considerauerunt Ge. et reuersi sunt ad Iesum et dixerunt ad eum: non ascendat omnis populus, sed duo uel tria milia uirorum ascendant et deuastent ciuitatem. ne inducas illo uniuersum populum, pauci enim sunt. et ascenderunt cum illo fere tria millia uirorum, et fugerunt a facie uirorum qui erant in Ge. et occiderunt ex ipsis uiri Ge triginta sex uiros, et persecuti sunt illos a porta et contribulauerunt illo in procliuo, et expauit cor populi, et factum est ut aqua. et conscidit Iesus uestimenta sua, et procidit Iesus in faciem ante deum usque ad uesperum, ipse et seniores Israel, et miserunt puluerem super capita sua, et dixit Iesus: precor, domine, ut quid transiecit puer tuus populum istum Iordanem tradere eum Amorrhaeo, perdere nos? si mansimus in terra, commorati sumus apud Iordanem. et quid dicam, quod conuertit Israel dorsum contra inimicum suum? et audiet Chananaeus et omnes qui commorantur terram, et circumibunt nos et contribulabunt nos a terra. et quid facias nomen tuum magnum? et dixit dominus ad Iesum: surge, ut quid tu procidisti in faciem tuam? peccauit populus et transgressus est testamentum meum quod disposui ad eos, et furati sunt de anathemate et miserunt in uasa sua. non poterunt filii Israel resistere contra faciem inimicorum suorum, dorsa conuertent in conspectu inimicorum, quia facti sunt anathema. non ero ultra uobiscum, nisi abstuleritis anathema ex uobis ipsis. surge, sanctifica populum et dic, sanctificetur in crastinum. haec enim dicit dominus deus Israel: anathema est inter uos, non poteritis resistere contra inimicos uestros usque dum auferetis anathema ex uobis ipsis. et conuenite mane omnes per tribus, et erit tribus quae ostensa fuerit mane per deum, adducite per plebes, plebem quam ostenderit dominus offerte per uirum, et quisquis ostensus fuerit per dominum, cremabitur igni et omnia quae sunt eius, quia transgressus est testamentum domini et fecit iniquitatem in Israel. et uigilauit Iesus mane et obtulit populum per tribus, et ostensa est tribus Iuda. et oblati sunt per plebes, et ostensa est plebs, Zara. et obtulit plebem Zarae per domus, et ostensa est domus Iambri. et lata est domus per uiros, et ostensus est Achar filius Charmi filii Iambri. et dixit Iesus ad Achar: da honorem hodie domino deo Israel et da confessionem et indica mihi quid feceris et ne celaueris me. et respondit Achar ad Iesum et dixit: uere peccaui ante conspectum domini dei Israel, taliter et taliter feci. uidi in praeda uestem uariam optimam et ducenta argenti didragma et ligulam unam auream quinquaginta didragmorum, et concupiui eam et sustuli, et ecce haec abscondita sunt in tabernaculo meo et argentum absconsum est sub ipsis. et misit Iesus nuntios, et cucurrerunt in tabernaculum, et haec erant abscondita in tabernaculo et argenta sub ipsis. et tulerunt ea de tabernaculo et attulerunt ad Iesum et ad seniores Israel et posuerunt ea ante dem. et adprehenderunt Achar filium Charmi et perduxerunt in ualle le Achar et filios eius et filias et uitulos eius et subiunctoria eius et oues eius et tabernaculum eius et omnia quae erant eius. et omnis Israel cum eo erat, et perduxerunt eos in Mecachor. et dixit Iesus ad Achar: quid exterminasti nos? disperdat te dominus sicut hodierna die. et lapidauerunt eum omnis Israel lapidibus et inposuerunt super illum congestum lapidum magnum. et cessauit dominus ab indignatione irae suae. considera, Constanti, quali sis periturus exemplo, nisi tibi prouideris tu, quas sis in aeternum daturus poenas. Achar propter praeuaricationem mandatorum talia est consecutus; tu qualia mereris hinc intellegi datur, quod sis apostata. si ille etenim quia habuerit de anathemate, tanto est punitus exitio, quanto magis tu! sine dubio punieris grauius qui fueris facio anathema negando dei filium. ### English translation (Claude) Do you not feel what darkness of errors you have run into? Do you not see by what means you may perish? When you see why Achan, one of the people, acted against the divine commands, why he stole from Jericho a certain portion of clothing, silver and gold, and was punished with death for it, look at what is to happen to you, who deny the eternal divine majesty of the only Son of God. Hear what was done concerning Achan, and at last take thought for your salvation; return to the church of God, from which that renegade serpent who overturned Adam and Eve too has driven you away through the Arians. “And the Lord was with Joshua,” it says, “and his name was over all the earth. And the children of Israel were negligent with negligence and committed fraud concerning the devoted thing. And the Lord was angry with wrath against the children of Israel. And Joshua sent men to Ai, which is next to Bethel, saying: Spy out Ai. And the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him: Let not all the people go up, but let two or three thousand men go up and lay waste the city. Do not take all the people there, for they are few. And about three thousand men went up with him, and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai killed thirty-six men of them, and pursued them from the gate and crushed them on the slope; and the heart of the people was terrified and became like water. And Joshua tore his clothes, and Joshua fell on his face before God until evening, he and the elders of Israel, and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said: I pray, Lord, why did your servant bring this people across the Jordan, to hand it over to the Amorite, to destroy us? If only we had stayed in the land, we would have lived by the Jordan. And what shall I say, since Israel has turned its back before its enemy? The Canaanite and all who live in the land will hear, and they will surround us and crush us from the land. And what will you do for your great name? And the Lord said to Joshua: Get up; why have you fallen on your face? The people have sinned and transgressed my covenant which I appointed for them, and they have stolen from the devoted thing and put it among their goods. The children of Israel will not be able to stand before their enemies; they will turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become a thing devoted. I will not be with you any longer unless you remove the devoted thing from among you. Get up, sanctify the people and say: Let them be sanctified for tomorrow. For thus says the Lord God of Israel: There is a devoted thing among you; you will not be able to stand against your enemies until you remove the devoted thing from among you. And assemble in the morning, all of you, by tribes; and the tribe that is shown by God in the morning, bring it forward by clans; the clan that the Lord shows, bring forward man by man; and whoever is shown by the Lord shall be burned with fire, and all that is his, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord and done iniquity in Israel. And Joshua rose early in the morning and brought the people forward by tribes, and the tribe of Judah was shown. And they were brought forward by clans, and the clan of Zerah was shown. And he brought forward the clan of Zerah by houses, and the house of Zimri was shown. And the house was brought forward man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, was shown. And Joshua said to Achan: Give glory today to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession, and tell me what you have done, and do not hide it from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said: Truly I have sinned before the Lord God of Israel; thus and thus I did. I saw among the spoil a fine embroidered garment and two hundred didrachms of silver and one tongue of gold of fifty didrachms, and I coveted it and took it; and see, these are hidden in my tent, and the silver is hidden under them. And Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and these things were hidden in the tent and the silver under them. And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and the elders of Israel and laid them before God. And they seized Achan the son of Carmi and led him into the valley of Achor, Achan and his sons and daughters and his calves and his beasts of burden and his sheep and his tent and all that was his. And all Israel was with him, and they led them to Emek-achor. And Joshua said to Achan: Why have you destroyed us? May the Lord destroy you as on this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and they put over him a great heap of stones. And the Lord ceased from the indignation of his wrath.” Consider, Constantius, by what example you will perish, unless you take care for yourself, and what punishments you will pay for ever. Achan received such things for transgressing the commandments; what you deserve can be understood from this, since you are an apostate. For if he was punished with such destruction because he kept some of the devoted thing, how much more you! Without doubt you will be punished more severely, you who have become a thing devoted by denying the Son of God. ### Scripture references - Josh 7:1–26: quotation, high confidence - Gen 3:1–13: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Quotation: Josh 7:1–26 (Old Latin, following the Septuagint: “Ge” for Ai, “Iambri” for Zimri, “Mecachor” for the valley of Achor; the place-names are given in their English Bible forms). Several words of the quotation are damaged in the digital text (“ante dem”, “in ualle le Achar”) and are translated by the sense of the passage. - The last clause reads “qui fueris facio anathema”, evidently a slip for “factus anathema” (“become a thing devoted”); translated so. - “That renegade serpent” refers to the devil of Gen 3. ### Citation (SBL) Lucifer, Non parc. 3 (CSEL 14:212–215; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/lucifer-non-parcendo/3). ## On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lucifer-non-parcendo/1/#p-4 - Source: CSEL 14:215–217 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Lucifer defends the bishops' plain speech by the example of Samuel rebuking and mourning for Saul and of Elisha calling the king of Israel a murderer's son, and insists that calling Constantius a persecutor and denier of the Son is simply telling the truth. ### Latin text In eo nos scelesti apud te, in eo superbi ac peruicaces, in eo petulantes, quia dicamus tibi: sacrilegium fecisti unici filii dei existendo negator, quia dicamus: consule tibi, eripe animam tuam de laqueis diaboli. quid noui facimus episcopi, si tibi ea dicamus quae tu mereris audire? cum inueniamus illum sanctissimum Samuhel dei sacerdotem haec dixisse ad Saul regem quae infra lecturus es: dolores et gemitus ad te adducentur. pro quibus nullius momenti fecisti uerbum domini, nullius momenti te faciet dominus, ne regnes, et iterum: quoniam nullius momenti fecisti uerbum domini, et ad nihilum rediget te deus, ne sis rex super Israel, et infra: disrumpet dominus regnum tuum ex Israel de manu tua hodie, et dabit illud proximo tuo meliori te. si haec ille dixit ad Saul, propterea quod domini praecepta praeterierit, cur nos putas non libera uoce dicere oportuisse te esse sacrilegum, qui nisi conuerteris temet ad deum, quod sit te ad nihilum redacturus? si non te fuissemus hortati, si non ad satisfactionem prouocaremus, merito diceres odiri te a nobis. aut cum audias nos dicere. poenitere, imperator, corrige uias tuas, ut misericordiae inuenias locum, arbitror considerare te oportuisse, quod enim diligaris a nobis, amaris a nobis; et tu in eo nos exsecraris, cur maneamus in fide apostolica, reddis mala pro bonis. non miramur, si uos, ex quo receditis a dei uoluntate, et facere non desinitis desiderium diaboli, bene uobis fieri poscentibus deum atque cupientibus repraesentetis mala, quandoquidem sit uobis insitum male agere, quippe qui a bono ad malum feceritis transitum, hoc est ad diabolum. si nos tu persequeris diligentes te, omnia tibi summa cupientes prouenire, non magnum nec nouum, quando et istum Samuhel prophetam atque sacerdotem domini Saul fuerit persecutus. persequebatur eum, per quem et in regem unctus fuerat et cuius preces ad dominum iugi obsecratione dirigerentur pro incolumitate utique istius persecutoris. si nobis non credis dolere nobis sacerdotibus dei pro te, propterea quod tantas hauseris errorum tenebras, quod sic temet sis mactans, deo dicenti crede ad Samuhel propter Saul: usquequo luges tu in Saul? ecce ego expello illum ne regnet super Israel, et supra: et factum est uerbum domini ad Samuhel dicens: paenitet me quod constituerim regem Saul, quoniam auersus est a me et uerba mea non statuit. et contristatus est Samuhel et clamauit dominum tota nocte et ante lucem. cum haec propter Saul regis incolumitatem Samuhel sacerdos egerit, tamen Saul postea persequebatur Samuhelem nec cognoscens miser quod prophetam atque sacerdotem persequeretur domini; ita et tu ignorans quid faciens sis persequeris nos, qui te placere deo cupiamus, et amas eos, qui secum te ad aeternam mortem trahant, ad perpetuam domini offensam; indignaris cur uera audias, cum uideas Samuhel sacerdotem domini non adulatum regi. an numquid decuerat aliud praecessores nostros, aliud nos agere? cur tibi uera dicamus, superbi tibi uidemur. quid a nobis audisti? nempe quod homicida sis. si mentimur, tunc contumeliosi, tunc superbi recte dicimur a te; si uero rem dicamus ueram, non sumus contumeliosi, sed hi qui imitemur illos, qui commissis sibi non adulando, sed eos salubriter praemonendo deo effici meruerint dilectissimi. ad Helisaeum interficiendum prophetam ut rex misit Israel, si minime legisses dixisse Helisaeum ad eos qui secum fuissent: si uidistis quoniam filius homicidae illius misit ad auferendum caput meum? merito ut reum me iniuriarum peteres. sancto spiritu plenus propheta homicidae filium uocauit regem Israel, hoc est filium diaboli, non quia patrem illius carnalem dixisset homicidam, sed diabolum, cuius se filium esse, ut tu nunc te actibus tuis aperis, et ille se esse monstrabat dei persequendo seruos, prophetas illius clementiae interficere audendo. omnia haec ut faciatis, diabolus uestra instigat corda. quod ita esse accipe dominum dicentem Iudaeis in euangelio: uos de diabolo patre nati estis et concupiscentias patris uestri facere uultis; ille enim homicida fuit ab initio. propheta, inquam, domini plenus spiritu sancto regem Israel homicidae filium uocat, hoc est diaboli, et nos arbitraris contumeliam tibi facere, quia dicamus te esse interfectorem seruorum dei, esse carnificem corporum nostrorum, esse te totius cogitationis uirum iniustitiae, destructorem religionis, negatorem unici filii dei? quae te facere cernimus haec te dicimus, quod es hoc te esse clamamus. dicis nos petulantes, quoniam quidem quod es tibi dicamus. ### English translation (Claude) In this we are wicked in your eyes, in this proud and stubborn, in this insolent: that we say to you, “You have committed sacrilege by being a denier of the only Son of God”; that we say, “Take thought for yourself; snatch your soul from the snares of the devil.” What new thing are we bishops doing if we tell you what you deserve to hear? For we find that the most holy Samuel, priest of God, said to King Saul the things you are about to read: “Pains and groans will be brought upon you. Because you made the word of the Lord of no account, the Lord will make you of no account, so that you may not reign”; and again: “Because you made the word of the Lord of no account, God will also bring you to nothing, so that you may not be king over Israel”; and below: “The Lord will tear the kingdom from Israel out of your hand today, and will give it to your neighbour, who is better than you.” If he said these things to Saul because he passed over the Lord's commands, why do you think we ought not to say with a free voice that you are sacrilegious, and that unless you turn to God he will bring you to nothing? If we had not exhorted you, if we did not call you to make amends, you would rightly say that you are hated by us. But when you hear us say, “Repent, emperor, correct your ways, so that you may find room for mercy,” I think you ought to have considered that you are cherished by us, loved by us; and you curse us for this, that we remain in the apostolic faith; you return evil for good. We are not surprised if you, ever since you departed from the will of God and do not cease doing the desire of the devil, repay with evils those who ask God that good may come to you and who long for it, since doing evil is ingrained in you, as people who have passed over from good to evil, that is, to the devil. If you persecute us who love you and wish the highest things to come to you, it is nothing great or new, since Saul too persecuted this Samuel, prophet and priest of the Lord. He persecuted the man by whom he had been anointed king, and whose prayers were directed to the Lord in unceasing supplication for the safety of this very persecutor. If you do not believe us that we priests of God grieve for you, because you have drunk in such darkness of errors, because you are slaughtering yourself in this way, believe God, who says to Samuel concerning Saul: “How long will you mourn for Saul? Behold, I am rejecting him, so that he may not reign over Israel”; and above: “And the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying: I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from me and has not established my words. And Samuel was grieved, and cried to the Lord all night and before dawn.” Although Samuel the priest did this for the safety of King Saul, Saul afterwards persecuted Samuel, the wretch not recognizing that he was persecuting a prophet and priest of the Lord. So you too, not knowing what you are doing, persecute us, who long for you to please God, and you love those who drag you with them to eternal death, to the everlasting displeasure of the Lord; you are indignant because you hear the truth, though you see that Samuel, the priest of the Lord, did not flatter the king. Or was it fitting for our predecessors to do one thing and us another? Because we tell you the truth, we seem proud to you. What have you heard from us? Only that you are a murderer. If we lie, then we are rightly called insulting and proud by you; but if we say what is true, we are not insulting, but people who imitate those who, by not flattering those entrusted to them but warning them for their good, deserved to become most beloved of God. When the king of Israel sent to kill the prophet Elisha, if you had not read that Elisha said to those with him, “Do you see that the son of that murderer has sent to take away my head?”, you might rightly have sued me as guilty of slander. The prophet, full of the Holy Spirit, called the king of Israel the son of a murderer, that is, the son of the devil; not because he called his fleshly father a murderer, but the devil, whose son he showed himself to be, as you now reveal yourself by your deeds, by persecuting the servants of God, by daring to kill the prophets of his mercy. The devil stirs up your hearts to do all these things. Hear the Lord saying to the Jews in the gospel that this is so: “You were born of the devil as your father, and you want to do the desires of your father; for he was a murderer from the beginning.” The prophet of the Lord, I say, full of the Holy Spirit, calls the king of Israel son of a murderer, that is, of the devil; and do you think we insult you because we say that you are a killer of the servants of God, the executioner of our bodies, a man whose whole thought is injustice, a destroyer of religion, a denier of the only Son of God? What we see you doing, that we say you are; what you are, that we proclaim you to be. You call us insolent because we tell you what you are. ### Scripture references - 1 Sam 15:23: quotation, high confidence - 1 Sam 15:26: quotation, high confidence - 1 Sam 15:28: quotation, high confidence - 1 Sam 16:1: quotation, high confidence - 1 Sam 15:10–11: quotation, high confidence - 1 Sam 19:18–24: allusion, low confidence - 2 Kgs 6:31–32: quotation, high confidence - John 8:44: quotation, high confidence - Rom 12:17: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations: 1 Sam 15:23, 15:26, 15:28 (with an Old Latin opening, “pains and groans will be brought upon you”, not in the Hebrew); 16:1; 15:10–11; 2 Kgs 6:32; John 8:44. - “What we see you doing, that we say you are” follows Hartel's conjecture “haec te dicimus” (see the apparatus that the digital text leaks into section 5). ### Citation (SBL) Lucifer, Non parc. 4 (CSEL 14:215–217; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/lucifer-non-parcendo/4). ## On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lucifer-non-parcendo/1/#p-5 - Source: CSEL 14:217–220 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Citing Jehu's reward for destroying Ahab's house and the fate of Amaziah, who persecuted the prophet that rebuked his idolatry, Lucifer argues that apostate kings always persecute those who warn them, and that Constantius should remember Arius's death. ### Latin text Dicas uelim, unde meruerit a domino talia audire rex Israel: eapropter quod fecisti bona coram me et fecisti secundum cor meum, et secundum animam meam domui Achab, filii tui quarta progenie sedebunt tibi in throno Israel? dic, inquam, cur haec audire a deo meruerit? quia pepercerit dei inimicis? an quia eos quam acerrime fuerit etiam gladio persecutus (s)eu quia interfecerit filium Achab idololatrem et quadraginta eius filios, Iezabelem quoque reginam quod extinctam proiecerit canibus omnesque seruos Bahal cum omnibus sacerdotibus et prophetis confusionis ore extinxerit gladii, quod simulacra destruxerit, placet deo? nos quid agere circa te decuerat, ne nos contumeliae designares reos te circa, quem Achab et Iezabel uias tenentem uidemus? non est nouum quod agis facere contra deum, impugnare eius domum, persequi eius antistites, eos per quos te monet ut tibi consulas, ut, dum est locus paenitentiae, temet trahas a malo. fuerunt tibi ante te in sacrilegio similes sic idolis seruientes derelicto deo patrum suorum. in libro secundo Paralipomenon Amasiam regem Iudae commonitum a deo per prophetam tibi atque illi Iudaeo pseudoprophetae”) by its evident sense. - Lucifer refers to his own earlier letters and books, written “in rustic style”, an echo of his modesty formulas elsewhere. ### Citation (SBL) Lucifer, Non parc. 21 (CSEL 14:254–256; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/lucifer-non-parcendo/21). ## On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 22 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lucifer-non-parcendo/19/#p-22 - Source: CSEL 14:256–258 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Lucifer defends urging the persecuted to resist by the example of the Maccabean mother, quoting at length her charge to her youngest son and his defiant speech to Antiochus. ### Latin text Dolens es, cur commissis nobis te et quisnam sis reuelemus et quod sit dignum antichristi umbram te calcari a cunctis Christi militibus. qui me, inquis, calcare potuerunt? illi quos, cur se Christianos fateantur, carceribus retines reclusos, patrimonio priuas, facis extorres, torques, interficis. hinc nos insolentes esse censes, quod cunctos nobis creditos deprecemur diaboli calcare caput, sacrilegos conatus tuos uirtute passionum Suarum inlatarum pro Christo dei unico filio deducere ad nihilum. sit tibi et illa gloriosissima mater septem horum filiorum insolens, quia ad coamentem tuum uincendum Antiochum suos inlicere dignata filios dicens: nescio qualiter in utero meo apparuistis, neque ego spiritum donaui uobis et uitam et singulorum membraturam non ipsas conpegi; sed enim mundi creator, qui formauit hominis natiuitatem quique omnium scrutatur originem et spiritum uobis cum misericordia iterum reddet et uitam, sicuti nunc uos ipsos despicitis propter leges eius. haec dicere non destitit filiis religiosa mater, fortiter filios diligens, quoad usque cunctos aduertisset interfectos. nos contra, quos praedixerat ore prophetae futuros pastores gregi suo dicens: et dabo uobis pastores secundum cor meum, et pascent uos pascentes cum disciplina, tacere decuerat, ne tibi ad mactandas uenienti rabido lupo dei oues fuissemus uisi insolentes? mulier eo usque corda incendit dei amore filiorum, ut eorum interitu gladii fuisset potita uictoriarum; et nos Christi dicere militibus fuisse congruum arbitratus es: nolite arma sumere contra Constantium diaboli satellitem, nolite resistere templo omnium daemonum; magis autem facite quaecumque fieri praeceperit. quae haec est nostra contumacia, si officium nobis delegatum a deo nitamur implere, si denique istius mulieris imitatores fuerimus inuenti? tu uis diabolo placere cuius opus inueniris celebrare, nos minime uis deo haec te gerendo contra fieri acceptissimos. si te adhuc mouet, cur quod ea uoceris a nobis, accipe etiam ab illo septimo huius mulieris sic clamitatum contra Antiochum filio: Antiochus autem contemni arbitratus et eius quae increpabat uocem despiciens, cum adhuc adolescentior superesset, non uerbis hortabatur tantum, sed etiam cum iuramento adfirmabat diuitem et beatum facturum, translaturum a patriis et hospitem habiturum et res necessarias crediturum. sed ad ista adolescente non intendente uocauit matrem et suadebat, ut adolescenti fieret in salutem. cum autem multis esset hortatus, suscepit suadere se (filium. itaque inclinata ad illum derisit, crudelem tyrannum et ait patria uoce: fili, miserere mei, quae te in utero mensibus decem portaui et lac triennio dedi et alui et in aetatem istam perduxi. peto, nate, aspicias in caelum et in terram et omnibus quae in eis Sunt inspectis intellegere quia ex nihilo fecit illa deus et hominum genus ita (fit, ut non timeas carnificem istum, sed dignus fratrum effectus suscipias mortem, ut in illa misericordia cum fratribus te recipiat. cum haec illa dixisset, ait adolescens: quem sustinetis? non oboedio regis imperio, sed praecepto legis obaudio, quae data est nobis per Moysen; tu uero, qui inuentor omnis malitiae factus es in Hebraeos, non effugies manum dei. si enim propter increpationem et correptionem dominus noster nobis uiuis modice iratus est, sed iterum reconciliabitur seruis suis; tuque, o sceleste et omnium hominum flagitiosissime, noli frustra extolli uanis spebus in seruos eius inflatus; nondum enim omnipotentis, omnia conspicientis dei iudicium effugisti, nam fratres nostri modico nunc dolore sustentato sub testamento dei aeternae uitae recciderunt; tu uero iudicio dei instas superbiae poenas exsolues. ego autem sicut et fratres et animam et corpus trado pro patriis legibus, inuocans deum maturius genti nostrae fieri propitium teque cum tormentis aliquid es hominis gestans, poteris, siquidem uideas tibi me idcirco dicere anathema, quia iam beatus apostolus te anathematizauerit. iniuriosum me iudicas, quia dicam te stultam: sed quomodo potero recte a te iniuriosus uocari, quando constet me uerum dicere quod enim sis stultus? si enim Galatae audiant O stulti Galatae a beato apostolo, cur putes tu non stulti debere te nomine uocitari? illi etenim si propterea quod falsis fratribus obtemperassent, quia ad illorum conserpentinorum tuorum suggestiones intendentes et sabbata seruare se oportuisse et circumcisionem fuisse custodiendam, censuerant, sunt stulti dicti, quanto magis tu digne diceris stultus, qui unici dei filii negator extiteris! quia dicam tibi: eripe te a canibus rabidis Arrianis dole tibi quod illorum maligno haerendo concilio et ipse canis factus sis, contumacem me dicis; sed fortassis ignoras unici dei filii negatores dictos canes, dictos tauros pingues, dictos filios iniquitatis, semen adulterum et meretricis, filios perditionis et semen inicum. si fugit te ita uocitatos uos a deo, audi per Esaiam ipsum dicentem ad comblasphemos tuos Iudaeos: accedite huc, filii iniquitatis, semen adulterum et meretricis, in quo delectati estis et in quem aperuistis os uestrum et aduersus quem inmisistis linguam uestram? nonne uos estis filii perditionis, semen iniquum? et alio loco: uidete quia omnia excaecata sunt, non cognouerunt sapere, omnes canes muti qui non poterunt latrare, somniantes in cubile, amantes dormitare. et canes improbi animae nescientes satietatem, et sunt nequam nescientes intellectum, omnes uias suas secuti sunt. qui hi sunt ad quos haec uel propter quos dicantur? nempe illi quos in uicesimo primo psalmo incusat unicus dei filius ore Dauid dicens: circumdederunt me uituli multi, tauri pingues obsederunt me. aperuerunt in me os suum, sicut leo rapiens et rugiens, et infra: circumdederunt me canes multi, concilium malignantium obsedit ore, foderunt manus meas et pedes. quando itaque illos in sacrilegio magistros tuos dictos uitulos, tauros pingues atque canes aduertes, non poteris tu unus ex malignantium concilio contumeliosum me iudicare, quia illis te nuncupem nominibus quibus compestilentes tui uocati sunt ac uocantur; neque enim tu minor es in nequitia, qui audeas dicere: erat quando non erat et factus est ex nihilo, ut non illis aptis tibi nominibus nuncuperis. sed uis his non nuncupari nominibus, muta uias tuas, corrige errores tuos, ut correxerunt Paulus beatissimus et ceteri ex illo perfido populo. quia dicam tibi: eripe te a malignantium concilio, uideor esse tibi contumeliosus. qua de re? nempe quia profitear me Christianum, quia noluerim derelinquere deum et abire post idololatriam tuam. non nos primum contumeliosi ac superbi a uobis dicti sumus sacrilegis; dicti sunt enim etiam illi cuncti qui restiterunt funestis edictis contyrannorum tuorum. ### English translation (Claude) To the Galatians the chosen vessel says: “I marvel that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you in grace to another gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than that, let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: if anyone preaches to you other than what you received, let him be anathema.” And do you think you can be judged by me as anything but anathema, when I find you preaching otherwise than the blessed apostles handed down? So when you hear from me that I hold you anathema for preaching otherwise than the apostles preached, if you call me offensive, you will be able to recognize that you are lying, if you carry anything of a man, since you see that I call you anathema because the blessed apostle has already anathematized you. You judge me offensive because I call you foolish; but how can I rightly be called offensive by you, when it is clear that I speak the truth, that you are foolish? For if the Galatians hear “O foolish Galatians” from the blessed apostle, why do you think you ought not to be called by the name “foolish”? For if they were called foolish because they had obeyed false brothers, because, heeding the suggestions of those fellow serpents of yours, they had decided that they ought to keep sabbaths and that circumcision should be observed, how much more rightly are you called foolish, who have come forward as a denier of God's only Son! Because I say to you, “Snatch yourself from the rabid Arian dogs; grieve that by clinging to their malignant council you have become a dog yourself,” you call me defiant. But perhaps you do not know that the deniers of God's only Son have been called dogs, called fat bulls, called sons of iniquity, seed of the adulterer and the harlot, sons of perdition and wicked seed. If it escapes you that you have been so called by God, hear him say through Isaiah to the Jews, your fellow blasphemers: “Come here, sons of iniquity, seed of the adulterer and the harlot. In whom have you delighted, and against whom have you opened your mouth, and against whom have you put out your tongue? Are you not sons of perdition, a wicked seed?” And in another place: “See that all are blinded; they have not known how to understand; all are dumb dogs that cannot bark, dreaming in their beds, loving to slumber; and they are shameless dogs, souls that know no fullness, and they are wicked, knowing no understanding; they have all followed their own ways.” Who are those to whom or about whom these things are said? Surely those whom the only Son of God accuses in the twenty-first psalm by the mouth of David, saying: “Many calves surrounded me, fat bulls besieged me; they opened their mouth against me like a lion ravening and roaring”; and below: “Many dogs surrounded me, a council of evildoers besieged me; they pierced my hands and feet.” So when you notice that your teachers in sacrilege were called calves, fat bulls, and dogs, you, one of the council of evildoers, cannot judge me insulting because I call you by the names by which your fellow pestilences were and are called; for you are not less in wickedness, you who dare to say, “There was when he was not, and he was made from nothing,” that you should not be called by those names that suit you. But if you want not to be called by these names, change your ways, correct your errors, as the most blessed Paul and others from that faithless people corrected theirs. Because I say to you, “Snatch yourself from the council of evildoers,” I seem insulting to you. Why? Surely because I profess myself a Christian, because I have refused to forsake God and go after your idolatry. We are not the first to be called insulting and proud by you sacrilegious men; for all those too were so called who resisted the deadly edicts of your fellow tyrants. ### Scripture references - Gal 1:6–9: quotation, high confidence - Gal 3:1: quotation, high confidence - Gal 2:4: allusion, medium confidence - Isa 57:3–4: quotation, high confidence - Isa 56:10–11: quotation, high confidence - Ps 22:12–13 (21:13-Ps LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 22:16 (21:17 LXX): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations: Gal 1:6–9; Gal 3:1; Isa 57:3–4; Isa 56:10–11 (Old Latin, close to the Septuagint); Ps 22:12–13 and 22:16 (Ps 21 in the Septuagint and Vulgate numbering, which Lucifer uses). - “Their malignant council” (concilium) plays on the “council of evildoers” of Ps 22:16 and the Arian councils. ### Citation (SBL) Lucifer, Non parc. 34 (CSEL 14:279–281; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/lucifer-non-parcendo/34). ## On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 35 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lucifer-non-parcendo/32/#p-35 - Source: CSEL 14:281–284 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Closing his work, Lucifer compares the bishops' sufferings under Constantius with the Jews' under Antiochus's decrees in 2 Maccabees and urges the emperor to repent and return to the church before he joins the tyrants in punishment. ### Latin text Ut et ceteros praeteream in clausula orationis, ad solum iterum me uertam Antiochum regem. iudicabatne resistentes sibi contumeliosos superbos necne? sine dubio, quia contumeliosos superbos illos existimant fuisse, tali est crudelitate deo dicatos ad mortem usque persecutus. restat ergo ut uideas quae adhuc super illa quem iam cognouisti gesserit Antiochus; et si illos recte poteris dicere superbos fuisse Antiocho contumeliosos, poteris et nos. haec etenim nos patimur a te quae sunt et illi perpessi ab Antiocho; sic nos sumus proclamantes pro fide, pro religione, sicut fuerunt proclamantes et illi; sic nos deo Abrahae, deo Isaac, deo Iacob seruire profitemur, quomodo et illi sunt confessi. misit, inquit scriptura, rex senem Atheniensem qui conpelleret Iudaeos, ut se transferrent a patriis et dei legibus, ne uterentur, contaminare etiam quod in Hierosolymis erat templum et cognominare Iouis Olympii et Margariein, prout erant qui locum inhabitabant, Iouis hospitalis. pessima autem et uniuersis grauis malorum erat seditio. nam quia templum comisationibus gentium erat plenum, scortantibus cum meretricibus et in sanctis tectis mulieribus se adpropiantibus, insuper intro inferentes ea quae non oportebat; altare etiam plenum erat inlicitis quae legibus prohibebantur. neque autem sabbata agebantur neque dies solemnes patricii custodiebantur, et infra: ducebantur autem amara necessitate per singulos menses in diem regis natalis, miseratio erat; et cum sacra Liberi celebrarentur, cogebantur enim hederas habentes Libero circumire. decretum autem exiit in proximas Graecorum ciuitates, suggerentibus Ptolomaeis id ipsum institutum aduersus Iudaeos agere et misereri, eos uero qui nolint transire ad instituta Graecorum interficere. aduenit ergo uidere miseriam. duae enim mulieres delatae sunt natos suos circumcidisse, quarum infantes ad ubera suspenderunt et, cum publice per ciuitatem illas circumduxissent, per murum illas praecipitauerunt. alii uero in proximo concurrerunt in speculas et latenter septimum diem celebrabant. quod cum indicatum esset, sufflammati sunt, eo quod metuerent in die solemni gloriosa ferre sibi auxilia. quid censes oportuisse facere tunc cultores dei? deo oportuerat an Antiocho placendum? si illos non censes Antiocho placere oportuisse, nec nos utique tibi, quia et tu alio licet modo, tamen nos sis cupiens tollere a deo et iungere diabolo, ut ille uoluerit illos. ipsa per te crudelitas geritur; sic saeuus atque inicus in eos qui tuo funesto edicto resistunt. superest igitur, ut est saepe dictum, doleas te errasse agnoscensque te esse homicidam atque blasphemum temet, desertor dei, repraesentes domui, alioquin tu tibi inputaturus, cum te uidere coeperis illic esse ubi nunc sunt cuncti illi contyranni tui. ### English translation (Claude) To pass over the rest at the close of my speech, I will turn once more to King Antiochus alone. Did he judge those who resisted him insulting and proud, or not? Without doubt, because they thought them insulting and proud, he persecuted those dedicated to God to the death with such cruelty. It remains, then, for you to see what Antiochus did beyond what you have already learned; and if you can rightly say that they were proud and insulting to Antiochus, you can say it of us too. For we suffer from you what they suffered from Antiochus; we cry out for the faith, for religion, as they cried out; we profess to serve the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, as they confessed. “The king,” says Scripture, “sent an old man of Athens to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers and of God and not to live by them, and also to pollute the temple in Jerusalem and call it the temple of Olympian Zeus, and that on Gerizim, as the inhabitants of the place were, the temple of Zeus the Friend of Strangers. And the onset of evils was most grievous and hard for all. For the temple was full of the revelling of the gentiles, who played the harlot with prostitutes and approached women in the holy precincts, and moreover brought in things that were not fitting; the altar too was full of unlawful things forbidden by the laws. And neither were sabbaths kept nor the ancestral feast days observed.” And below: “And they were led by bitter necessity every month to the king's birthday, a pitiable thing; and when the rites of Liber were celebrated, they were compelled to walk around for Liber wearing ivy. And a decree went out to the neighbouring Greek cities, at the suggestion of the Ptolemies, to follow the same practice against the Jews and to show them no mercy, but to kill those who would not go over to the customs of the Greeks. One could see, then, the misery. For two women were brought in for having circumcised their children; they hung their infants at their breasts, and when they had led them publicly around the city, they threw them down from the wall. Others, who had run together into caves nearby to keep the seventh day secretly, when this was reported, were burned together, because they feared to defend themselves, out of regard for the most glorious day.” What do you think the worshippers of God should have done then? Ought they to have pleased God or Antiochus? If you do not think they ought to have pleased Antiochus, then surely neither ought we to please you, because you too, though in another way, desire to take us from God and join us to the devil, as he wished to do with them. The same cruelty is carried on by you; so savage and unjust are you toward those who resist your deadly edict. It remains, then, as has often been said, that you grieve that you have gone astray, and, recognizing that you are a murderer and a blasphemer, that you, a deserter of God, present yourself again to his house; otherwise you will have yourself to blame, when you begin to see yourself there where all those fellow tyrants of yours now are. ### Extrabiblical texts - 2 Macc 6:1-11 (2 Maccabees): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotation: 2 Macc 6:1–6, 6:7–11 (extrabiblical; Old Latin; Liber = Dionysus; “Margariein” in the text is a corruption of Garizin, Gerizim). - This is the end of the work On Not Sparing Those Who Offend against God. ### Citation (SBL) Lucifer, Non parc. 35 (CSEL 14:281–284; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/lucifer-non-parcendo/35).