Letter 118

To Benjamin the Hebrew. You assert that in many respects you praise Jesus, but that in his overlooking and dissolving the Sabbath you are exceedingly indignant. But a man ought not to remain an infant forever; for one who has grown up into a man no longer has any need to be fed with milk, and one who has set out toward the studies of the philosophers would not consent to keep poring over the alphabet. Therefore, before the heavenly Wisdom came to dwell among men, the observance of the Sabbath was indeed good and beneficial; but now, at the coming of Christ, it is no longer suitable, since the Christian, by his understanding, is master of days and of seasons and of the whole world.

Φάσκεις ἐν πολλοῖς τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐπαινεῖν, ἐν δὲ ᾖ παριδεῖν αὐτὸν καὶ λῦσαι τὸ Σάββατον, καὶ σφόδρα ἀγανακτεῖν. Ἀλλ’ οὐ πάντοτε νήπιον χρὴ ὑπάρχειν τὸν ἄνθρωπον· εἰς ἄνδρα γάρ τις τελέσας, οὐκ ἔτι ἀνάγκη τῷ ποτίζεσθαι γάλακτι, καὶ ὁ πρὸς τὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων ὁρμήσας μαθήματα, οὐκ ἂν καταδέξαιτο ἀλφαβήτοις προσκαρτερεῖν. Πρὸ τοίνυν τοῦ τὴν οὐράνιον ἐπιδημῆσαι σοφίαν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, καλὴ ἐτύγχανεν ἡ τοῦ Σαββάτου παρατήρησις, καὶ ὠφέλιμος, νῦν δέ, κατὰ τὴν Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημίαν, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπιτήδειος· ἐπείπερ καὶ ἡμερῶν καὶ χρόνων, καὶ παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου φρονήσει Χριστιανός.