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ISTVÁN PÁSZTORI-KUPÁN
The above syllogism is concluded by a very epigrammatic sentence: “Thus,
the beginning of knowledge is the knowledge of our own ignorance”?!
Ignorance, of course, has to be driven out first by the purifying faith of
initiation. Theodoret invokes the authority of Plato, Orpheus, and Euripides:
Now in addition to this, one also needs to drive out evil lessons from the soul,
and thus to receive divine ones. This is again what Plato taught, saying, “It is not
permitted for the impure to touch what is pure”.” This is also what Orpheus
says, “I shall address myself to those to whom it is permitted: close the gates, you
profane!”*? Euripides echoes this when he cries out, “uninitiated mortals have to
ignore ineffable [mysteries]!”**
The first two quotations, which are from Orpheus and Phaedo, contain the
same term OéuiG and Qepttdc respectively, which means something “laid
down”, “customary”, or in a stronger sense, something permitted by the laws
of God and men. This “permission” constitutes the difference between those
who are admitted to and those who are rejected from the rites. Needless to
say, the permission is conditioned by the person’s faith in the rituals.
The excerpt from Euripides’ Bacchae is crucial. In the famous drama,
Dionysus, who claims to have arrived from Zeus, rejects the curious questions
posed by Pentheus, who is seeking the reason why Dionysus intended to
introduce these new mysteries into Greece. Dionysus, disguised as his own
priest, replies: “I was sent by Dionysus, who is of Zeus”. In reply to Pentheus’
sarcastic question whether there was a Zeus who bred new gods, Dionysus
says: No, this is the same Zeus who married Semele, i.e. Dionysus’ mortal
mother. Dionysus also says that he did not see Zeus during the night, i.e. in
a dream, but rather in reality, and that Zeus himself gave him the sacred rites
(orgies). Pentheus inquires about the form (idea) of these rites. This is when
Dionysus replies in the manner quoted above: “Uninitiated mortals have to
ignore ineffable mysteries!” The example taken from Bacchae is particularly
interesting because the cult of Dionysus was a “foreign”, i.e. “Barbarian” rite
for the Greeks. A few lines later, Dionysus himself tells Pentheus that “all the
Barbarians dance in celebration of these rites” (mac dvayopevet Bappapwv Tad’
öpyıa). To which Pentheus replies contemptuously: “Yes, for they are far more
foolish than Hellenes.” Dionysus quickly corrects him: “In this at any rate
they are wiser; but their laws are different.”
21
Theodoret, Curatio 1, 85: Apyn dpa yvwoews Tis ayvoiac 1} yv@oc.
2 Plato, Phaedo 67 b in J. Burnet (ed.), Platonis Opera vol. 1, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1900.
® Orpheus, Fragment 245, 1 in H. Diels, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, vol. 1, Berlin,
Weidmann, 1951. See Eusebius, Praep. ev. XIII, 13, 5.
*4 Euripides, Bacchae, 472.
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