ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 154

OTTO KERN

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For links to many more fragments: The Orphic Fragments of Otto Kern.

SUMMARY: This testimony, from the Christian Church-father Athanasius of Alexandria, equates the words of Orpheus to a useless spell. There is a second testimony, from another Christian, Caesarius of Nazianzus, who refers to the stories of the Gods as “foolish things” (λήρους) invented by Orpheus and Hesiod.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 154

From codice Reg. 1993 fol. 317 Ἀθανασίου Ἀλεξανρείας περὶ ἅπτων* (Jacque Paul Migne Patrologia Graeca 26, 1320):

καταντλεῖ γάρ σοι γραῦς διὰ κʹ ὀβολοὺς, ἢ τετάρτην οἴνου ἐπαοιδὴν τοῦ Ὀρφέως (ὄφεως cod.; em. A. Abt Arch. f. Religionsw. XII 1909, 412). Καὶ σὺ ἕστηκας ὡς ὄνος χασμώμενος, φορῶν δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν αὐχένα τὴν ῥυπαρίαν τῶν τετραπόδων, παρακρουσάμενος τὴν σφραγῖδα τοῦ σωτηρίου σταυροῦ. Ἣν σφραγῖδα οὐ μόνον νοσήματα δεδοίκασιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶν τὸ στῖφος τῶν δαιμόνων φοβεῖται καὶ τέθηπεν. ὅθεν καί πᾶς γόης ἀσφράγιστος ὑπάρχει.

“For indeed, an old woman pours words of Orphéfs (Ὀρφεύς) over you for 20 oboles or a quarter of wine. And you stand gaping like an ass, and bearing the filth of the beasts on your neck, having struck away from yourself the seal of the saving cross. Diseases have feared this seal, but also the whole array of demons are terrified and astonished by it. Wherefore also every sorcerer is unsealed.”

(trans. by the author)

*Jacque Paul Migne’s forenote (1857) to this quotation:

Hoc fragmentum Περὶ ἅπτων inscribitur in manuscripto: quia vitandae κακοφωνίας et repetitionis ergo, ex περιάπτιον unica voce, περί resecatur, ne περιάπτων legatur. Nam amuleta et praestigiae, quae hic confutantur et prohibeni, περίαπτα non autem ἅπτα dicuntur, ut videus hie in fragmento et apud Gregorium Nazianzenum, qui illa voce utitur.

“This fragment is inscribed in the manuscript Περὶ ἅπτων (“Concerning tangible things”): so as to avoid κακοφωνίας (“bad sound”) and for the sake of (avoiding) repetition. It has been cut off from the single word περιάπτιον “amulet”, περί, that it should not be read περιάπτων (“amulets”). For the amulets and deceptions, which are here disproven and forbidden, are called περίαπτα (“amulets”) but not ἅπτα (“tangible things”), as we see here in the fragment and as found in Gregory of Nazianzus, who has made use of that word.”

(trans. by the author)

Testimony 154 a. Διάλογος II 76 Καισαρίου Ναζιανζηνοῦ (Jacque Paul Migne Patrologia Graeca 38, 993):

εἰ δέ τις ἀκούειν βούλεται τοὺς ἐκείνων (sc. paganorum) λήρους, πυθέσθω Ὀρφέως καὶ Ἡσιόδου τῶν συγγραφέων τῆς ἐκείνων μυθοποιίας, ἐμοὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ σιωπᾶν χαριούμενος.

“If anyone wishes to hear the foolish things about them (sc. the pagan Gods), he should learn them from Orphéfs (Ὀρφεύς) and Îsíodos (Ἡσίοδος) who invented their fables, but to which I oblige myself to keep silent in the future.”

(trans. by the author)

Christian Lobeck I 378.

The story of the birth of the Gods: Orphic Theogony.

We know the various qualities and characteristics of the Gods based on metaphorical stories: Mythology.

Dictionary of terms related to ancient Greek mythology: Glossary of Hellenic Mythology.

Introduction to the Thæí (the Gods): The Nature of the Gods.

How do we know there are Gods? Experiencing Gods.