The Charge of a Sworn Society of Perjury

In the first book of my Apology I dealt with the charges of false doctrine that he tries, unjustly, to pin on others, and by bringing forward his own testimony I turned them back on him. In this second book, now that I have settled and set aside the matters that concern disputes of faith, I will be able to answer the other heads of his accusation with more confidence. For there is another accusation, and a very serious one, which, like the first, must be cut down with the scythe of truth. It is this. He says that certain people have joined themselves to Origen in a secret society of perjury, and that its forms of initiation are to be found in the sixth book of Origen’s Miscellanies. And he says that no one but himself has detected this mystery in all this length of time. If I were to declare, even under oath, that I am a complete stranger to any such secret society of perjury, I would only make him laugh. The road I mean to take to the truth is more direct. I will prove, as I easily can, that I have never owned those books, nor borrowed them from anyone to read. Not only can I not defend myself against an accusation whose meaning I do not know; I do not even see how a thing can be made a charge against me when I do not know what it is, or whether it exists at all. All I know is what my accuser declares: that either Origen wrote, or his disciples hold, that when Scripture says, “He who speaks truth with his neighbor,” the word applies to a neighbor only in the sense of one of the initiated, a member of this secret society. And he says they hold that the apostle’s words, “We speak wisdom among those who are perfect,” and Christ’s words, “Do not give what is holy to the dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs,” mean that the truth is not to be shared with everyone. [a]