97. Parermineuts: they reinterpret some chapters of the divine Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and understand them in their own way. But, being hostile to many of the exact and irreproachable interpretations, they tolerate it because of a certain simplicity and indiscriminateness, not knowing what some of the heretical dogmas support from it.

98. Lampetians: so called from a certain Lampetius. They allow everyone who wishes to live separately or to spend his life in coenobitic monasteries, to choose the way of life he wishes, and to dress in such clothes as he wishes, for, they say, a Christian must do nothing under compulsion, since it is written: "Willingly I will devour thee" (Psalm 53:8). And again, "By my will we shall be made unto him" (Psalm 27:7). They allow, as some have reported, to give room to the natural passions, and not to oppose them, as nature requires it. They say that they recognize something else that is close to those who are called Arians.

99. The Monothelites: they originated from Cyrus of Alexandria, and thanks to Sergius of Constantinople they were established. They recognize two natures in Christ and one hypostasis, but teach about one will and one action, thereby rejecting the duality of natures and coming very close to the teaching of Apollinarius.

100. There is still the religion of the Ishmaelites, the forerunner of the Antichrist, which is still valid and leads the people astray. She is descended from Ishmael, who was born of Abraham from Hagar, so they are called Hagarites and Ishmaelites. And they are called Saracens, because Hagar said to the angel, "Sarah has sent me away empty."

They were idolaters and worshipped the morning star and Aphrodite, who in their language was called Khabar, which means great.

Thus, until the time of Heraclius, the Saracens clearly served idols; from his own time to this day they have a false prophet called Mamed (Mohammed). He, having become acquainted with the Old and New Testaments, as well as having communicated with an alleged Arian monk, composed his own heresy. Having won over this tribe with an air of piety, he spread the rumor that a scripture had been sent down to him from heaven. Having written down in his book some ridiculous works, he gave it to them for veneration.

Mohammed says that the one God is the creator of everything, that He was not born and begat anyone. He says that Christ is the Word of God and His Spirit, but a creature and a servant, that He was born without seed of Mary, the sister of Moses and Aaron. For, he says, the Word of God and the Spirit entered into Mary and gave birth to Jesus, the prophet and servant of God. The wicked Jews wanted to crucify Him, and seized Him, and crucified His shadow. Christ Himself, says Mohammed, was not crucified or died. For God took Him to Himself in heaven, because He loved Him. And this is what Mohammed says: When Christ entered into heaven, God asked Him, saying, "Jesus, did You say that I am the Son of God and God?" You know that I have not spoken, and I am not ashamed to be Your servant. But sinful people have written that I have spoken this word, and have lied about me, and have gone astray." And God said to him, I know that thou hast not spoken this word.

And, talking idly about many other ridiculous things in this book, Mohammed boasts that it was sent down to him from God. But we say, "But who is the witness that God gave him the Scriptures, and which of the prophets foretold that such a prophet would arise?" And when they are at a loss to answer, we say that Moses received the law when God appeared on Mount Sinai before all the people in cloud and fire, darkness and storm, and that all the prophets, from Moses onwards, they predicted concerning the appearance of Christ that God Christ and the Son of God would come in the flesh and be crucified, die and rise again, and that He would be the judge of the living and the dead. And to our words: "Why did not your prophet come so that others would bear witness to him? And why did God, who gave the law to Moses on the smoking mountain in the sight of all the people, not in your presence give him also the scripture of which you speak, that you also may be sure of it," they answer, that God does what He wills. We also know this, we say, but we ask, how did the Scriptures come down to your prophet? And they answer that the scripture came down on him from above while he was sleeping. We will say the following joke in application to them: "Then, since he received the scripture in his sleep and did not feel the action of God, the word of the popular proverb was fulfilled in him..." Again we ask, "Why did you, when he commands you in your scripture to do nothing, and not to receive without witnesses, say to him, 'First of all, confirm by witnesses that you are a prophet, that you have come from God, and what writings bear witness to you?'" And we say to them with good reason: "Since it is not lawful for you to marry, or sell, or buy without witnesses, and since you yourselves do not receive without witnesses an ass or cattle, you receive wives, and property, and donkeys, and all other things in the presence of witnesses, but only faith and scripture without them, for he who delivered this scripture to you has no confirmation from anywhere; and not only is there no one to bear witness to him, but he himself received the Scripture in a dream."

They call us etheriasts (companions), because, according to them, we introduce a partner to God, saying that Christ is the Son of God and God. And we will tell them that it was the prophets and the scriptures that have handed it down, and that you say that you receive the prophets. Therefore, if we falsely say that Christ is the Son of God, then this they have taught and passed on to us. Some of them say that we have added this from ourselves, allegorically interpreting the prophets. Others say that the Jews, out of hatred for us, led us astray, writing this as if in the name of the prophets, in order that we might perish.

Again we say to them, Since you say that Christ is the Word of God and the Spirit, why do you abuse us with the Aetheriasts, since the word and the spirit are inseparable from him in whom they are by nature. Thus, if God has His word, then it is clear that it is also God; but if it is outside of God, then God, in your opinion, is dumb and soulless. Therefore, by avoiding God to have a partner, you have mutilated Him. For it would be better for you to say that He has a partner than to cut Him off, or to make Him like a stone or anything else out of senseless objects. Thus you falsely call us etheriasts, but we call you those who cut off God.

They accuse us of being idolaters, because we worship the cross, which they abhor; And we will say to them, Why do you touch the stone that is in your Havathan and kiss it in greeting? Some of you say that Abraham copulated with Hagar on it; others say that here he tied a camel, intending to sacrifice Isaac. To this we answer: "The Scripture says that the mountain was wooded and with trees, of which Abraham chopped branches for a burnt offering, and put them under Isaac, and that he left the donkeys with his servants. Where did you get this nonsense?"

After all, there is no tree thicket, and donkeys do not walk. The Sarakins are ashamed, but they say that this is the stone of Abraham. But we will say to them, Let the rock of which you talk be the rock of Abraham. And so, if you greet him only because Abraham copulated with his wife on it, or because he tied a camel to it, are you not ashamed, but accuse us of worshipping the cross of Christ, by which the power of demons and the errors of the devil have been destroyed? What they call the stone is the head of Aphrodite, whom they worshipped, calling her Khabar. On this stone, to this day, the trace of a carved head is visible to those who look attentively.

This Mohammed, having composed, as has been said, many absurd fables, gave each of them a special name, for example: the scripture "On the Wife". In it, Mohammed establishes that it is possible to openly take four wives and, if you can, thousands of concubines - as many as the hand can hold, in an inferior rank compared to four wives. But that it is possible to let go of whichever one you wish, and to take another, if you wish, this was established by Mohammed on the following occasion. Mohammed had a co-worker named Zid. He had a beautiful wife, whom Mohammed loved. And so, as they sat down, Mohammed said, "God has commanded me to take your wife." He answered: "You are an apostle, do as God has told you; Take my wife." Or rather, instead of what we have said above, Mohammed said to him: "God has commanded me that you should let your wife go." He let him go. After a few days, Mohammed says: "God commanded that I should take it for myself." Then, having taken and committed adultery with her, he established this law: "Whoever will, let him put his wife away." If, having let her go, he turns to her again, then let another marry her, for it is impossible to take her back unless another marries her. If the brother has let her go, then his brother can marry her if he wishes. In the same work he prescribes the following: "Cultivate the land which God has given you, and cultivate it, and do such and such," so as not to speak like him, all that is shameful.

There is also the scripture "On the Camel of God," about which it is said that there was a camel of God, who drank a whole river and could not pass between two mountains, because there was not enough space. So, says Mohammed, there were people in that place, and one day this people drank water, and the next day a camel drank water. After drinking water, the camel fed them, delivering milk instead of water. Those men, he says, rose up, because they were evil, and killed the camel, but she had a child, a little camel, who, they say, when the mother was killed, cried out to God, and God took her to Himself. We will say to them: where does this camel come from? They say that it is from God. We ask: did another camel copulate with her? They say: no. Where, we ask, did she give birth? For we see that your camel has no father or mother, and no pedigree. The evil that bore him suffered, but he who copulated with her does not appear, and the little camel is taken to heaven. Why then did not your prophet, to whom you say God spoke, find out about the camel where she grazed and who nursed her with milk? Or. Perhaps she herself, like a mother, fell into the hands of evil people and was killed, or she entered paradise as your forerunner. And from it will be for you the river of milk of which you speak. For you say that three rivers flow for you in paradise: of water, wine, and milk. If your forerunner, the camel, is outside of paradise, then it is clear that she has dried up from hunger and thirst, or others are using her milk, and in vain does your prophet babble that he conversed with God, for even the secret of the camel was not revealed to him. If he is in paradise, he drinks water again, and you suffer from lack of water among the pleasures of paradise. If you want wine from a flowing river, then, having drunk it unmixed due to the lack of water (for the camel has drunk everything), you become inflamed, become intoxicated and sleep, and feeling a heaviness in your head after sleep and a hangover from wine, you forget about the pleasures of paradise. How is it that your prophet did not take care that this should not happen to you in the paradise of pleasure? Why didn't he think about the camel, where was it now? But you did not ask him about this when he told you, as it were, in a dream, about the three rivers. But we proclaim to you openly that your wonderful camel entered the souls of donkeys before you, where you will also live like beasts. There is external darkness and endless punishment, roaring fire, a worm that never sleeps, and hellish demons.