Irenaeus Against Heresies
Book I
Chapter III.-Texts of Holy Scripture Used by
These Heretics to Support Their Opinions. Chapter VIII.-How the Valentinians Pervert
the Scriptures to Support Their Own Pious Opinions.
Chapter IX.-Refutation of the Impious
Interpretations of These Heretics. Chapter X.-Unity of the Faith of the Church
Throughout the Whole World. Chapter XI.-The Opinions of Valentinus, with
Those of His Disciples and Others. Chapter XII.-The Doctrines of the Followers
of Ptolemy and Colorbasus. Chapter XIII.-The Deceitful Arts and
Nefarious Practices of Marcus. Chapter XIV.-The Various Hypotheses of
Marcus and Others. Theories Respecting Letters and
Syllables. Chapter XVI.-Absurd Interpretations of the
Marcosians. Chapter XVIII.-Passages from Moses, Which
the Heretics Pervert to the Support of Their
Hypothesis. Chapter XXI.-The Views of Redemption
Entertained by These Heretics. Chapter XXII.-Deviations of Heretics from
the Truth. Chapter XXIII.-Doctrines and Practices of
Simon Magus and Menander. Chapter XXIV.-Doctrines of Saturninus and
Basilides. Chapter XXV.-Doctrines of
Carpocrates. Chapter XXVI.-Doctrines of Cerinthus, the
Ebionites, and Nicolaitanes. Chapter XXVII.-Doctrines of Cerdo and
Marcion. Chapter XXVIII.-Doctrines of Tatian, the
Encratites, and Others. Discussion of Zoe comparable to
Lucifer as the light. Chapter XXX.-Doctrines of the Ophites and
Sethians. Chapter XXXI.-Doctrines of the
Cainites.
1. Inasmuch 1
as certain men have set the truth aside, and bring in lying words and
vain genealogies, which, as the apostle says, 2
"minister questions rather than godly
edifying which is in faith," and by
means of their craftily-constructed
plausibilities draw away the minds of
the inexperienced and take them captive, [I have felt constrained, my
dear friend, to compose the following treatise in order to expose and
counteract their machinations.] These men falsify the oracles of God,
and prove themselves evil interpreters of the good word of
revelation. They also overthrow the faith of many, by drawing them
away, under a pretence of [superior] knowledge, from Him who rounded
and adorned the universe; as if, forsooth, they had something more
excellent and sublime to reveal, than that God who created the heaven
and the earth, and all things that are therein. By means of specious
and plausible words, they cunningly allure the simple-minded to
inquire into their system; but they nevertheless clumsily destroy
them, while they initiate them into their blasphemous and impious
opinions respecting the Demiurge; 3
and these simple ones are unable, even in such a matter, to
distinguish falsehood from truth. 2. Error, indeed, is never set forth in its
naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be
detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so
as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced
(ridiculous as the expression may seem) more true than the truth
itself. One 4
far superior to me has well said, in reference to this point, "A
clever imitation in glass casts contempt, as it were, on that
precious jewel the emerald (which is most highly esteemed by some),
unless it come under the eye of one able to test and expose the
counterfeit. Or, again, what inexperienced person can with ease
detect the presence of brass when it has been mixed up with silver?
"Lest, therefore, through my neglect, some should be carried off,
even as sheep are by wolves, while they perceive not the true
character of these men, -because they outwardly are covered with
sheep's clothing (against whom the Lord has enjoined 5
us to be on our guard), and because their language resembles ours,
while their sentiments are very different,-I have deemed it my duty
(after reading some of the Commentaries, as they call
them, of the disciples of Valentinus, and after making myself
acquainted with their tenets through personal intercourse with some
of them) to unfold to thee, my friend, these portentous and profound
mysteries, which do not fall within the range of every intellect,
because all have not sufficiently purged 6
their brains. I do this, in order that thou, obtaining an
acquaintance with these things, mayest in turn explain them to all
those with whom thou art connected, and exhort them to avoid such an
abyss of madness and of blasphemy against Christ. I intend, then, to
the best of my ability, with brevity and clearness to set forth the
opinions of those who are now promulgating heresy. I refer especially
to the disciples of Ptolemaeus, whose school may be described as a
bud from that of Valentinus. I shall also endeavour, according to my
moderate ability, to furnish the means of overthrowing them, by
showing how absurd and inconsistent with the truth are their
statements. Not that I am practised either in composition or
eloquence; but my feeling of affection prompts me to make known to
thee and all thy companions those doctrines which have been kept in
concealment until now, but which are at last, through the goodness of
God, brought to light. "For there is nothing hidden which shall not be
revealed, nor secret that shall not be made known." 7 3. Thou wilt not expect from me, who am
resident among the Keltae, 8
and am accustomed for the most part to use a barbarous dialect, any
display of rhetoric, which I have never learned, or any excellence of
composition, which I have never practised, or any beauty and
persuasiveness of style, to which I make no pretensions. But thou
wilt accept in a kindly spirit what I in a like
spirit write to thee simply, truthfully, and in my own homely way;
whilst thou thyself (as being more capable than I am) wilt expand
those ideas of which I send thee, as it were, only the seminal
principles; and in the comprehensiveness of thy understanding, wilt
develop to their full extent the points on which I briefly touch, so
as to set with power before thy companions those things which I have
uttered in weakness. In fine, as I (to gratify thy long-cherished
desire for information regarding the tenets of these persons) have
spared no pains, not only to make these doctrines known to thee, but
also to furnish the means of showing their falsity; so shalt thou,
according to the grace given to thee by the Lord, prove an earnest
and efficient minister to others, that men may no longer be drawn
away by the plausible system of these heretics, which I now proceed
to describe. 9 Chapter I.-Absurd
Ideas of the Disciples of Valentinus as to the Origin, Name, Order,
and Conjugal Productions of Their Fancied Aeons, with the Passages of
Scripture Which They Adapt to Their Opinions. 1. They maintain, then, that in the invisible
and ineffable heights above there exists a certain perfect,
pre-existent Aeon, 10 whom they call Proarche, Propator, and
Bythus,
and describe as being invisible and incomprehensible. Eternal and
unbegotten, he remained throughout innumerable cycles of ages in
profound serenity and quiescence. There existed along with him
Ennoea,
whom they also call Charis and
Sige. 11 At last this Bythus determined to send forth from
himself the beginning of all things, and deposited this production
(which he had resolved to bring forth) in his contemporary Sige, even
as seed is deposited in the womb. She then, having received this
seed, and becoming pregnant, gave birth to Nous, who was both similar
and equal to him who had produced him, and was alone capable of
comprehending his father's greatness. This Nous they call also
Monogenes, and Father, and the Beginning of all Things. Along with
him was also produced Aletheia; and these four constituted the first
and first-begotten Pythagorean Tetrad, which they also denominate the
root of all things. For there are first Bythus and Sige, and then
Nous and
Aletheia.
And Monogenes, perceiving for
what purpose he had been produced, also himself sent forth Logos and Zoe, being the father of
all those who were to come after him, and the beginning and
fashioning of the entire Pleroma. By the conjunction of Logos and Zoo were brought forth Anthropos and
Ecclesia;
and thus was formed the first-begotten Ogdoad, the root and substance
of all things, called among them by four names, viz., Bythus, and
Nous, and Logos, and Anthropos. For each of these is masculo-feminine, as
follows: Propator was
united by a conjunction with his Ennoea; 2. These Aeons having been produced for the
glory of the Father, and wishing, by their own efforts, to effect
this object, sent forth emanations by means of conjunction.
Logos and Zoe, after producing Anthropos and Ecclesia, sent forth
other ten Aeons, whose names are the following: Bythius and Mixis,
Ageratos and Henosis, Autophyes and Hedone, Acinetos and Syncrasis,
Monogenes and Macaria. 12 These are the ten Aeons whom they declare to have been
produced by Logos and Zoe. They then add that Anthropos himself,
along with Ecclesia, produced twelve Aeons, to whom they give the
following names: Paracletus and Pistis, Patricos and Elpis, Metricos
and Agape, Ainos and Synesis, Ecclesiasticus and Macariotes,
Theletos
and Sophia. 3. Such are the thirty Aeons in the erroneous
system of these men; and they are described as being wrapped up, so
to speak, in silence, and known to none [except these professing
teachers]. Moreover, they declare that this invisible and spiritual
Pleroma of theirs is tripartite, being divided into an Ogdoad, a
Decad, and a Duodecad. And for this reason they affirm it was that
the "Saviour"-for they do not please to call Him "Lord"-did no work
in public during the space of thirty years, 13 thus setting forth the mystery of these Aeons. They
maintain also, that these thirty Aeons are most plainly indicated in
the parable 14 of the labourers sent into the vineyard. For some are
sent about the first hour, others about the third hour, others about
the sixth hour, others about the ninth hour, and others about the
eleventh hour. Now, if we add up the numbers of the hours here
mentioned, the sum total will be thirty: for one, three, six, nine,
and eleven, when added together, form thirty. And by the hours, they
hold that the Aeons were pointed out; while they maintain that these
are great, and wonderful, and hitherto unspeakable mysteries which it
is their special function to develop; and so they proceed when they
find anything in the multitude 15 of things contained in the Scriptures which they can
adopt and accommodate to their baseless speculations. Chapter II.-The
Propator Was Known to Mono-Genes
Alone. Ambition, Disturbance, and
Danger into Which Sophia
Fell; Her Shapeless Offspring:
She is
Restored by Horos. 1. They proceed to tell us that the Propator of
their scheme was known only to Monogenes, who sprang from him; in
other words, only to Nous, while to all the others he was invisible
and incomprehensible. And, according to them, Nous alone took
pleasure in contemplating the Father, and exulting in considering his
immeasurable greatness; while he also meditated how he might
communicate to the rest of the Aeons the greatness of the Father,
revealing to them how vast and mighty he was, and how he was without
beginning,-beyond comprehension, and altogether incapable of being
seen. But, in accordance with the will of the Father, Sige restrained
him, because it was his design to lead them all to an acquaintance
with the aforesaid Propator, and to create within them a desire of
investigating his nature. In like manner, the rest of the Aeons also,
in a kind of quiet way, had a wish to behold the Author of their
being, and to contemplate that First Cause which had no
beginning. 2. But there rushed forth in advance of the
rest that Aeon who was much the latest of them, and was the youngest
of the Duodecad which sprang from Anthropos and Ecclesia, namely
Sophia,
and suffered passion apart from the embrace of her consort
Theletos.
This passion, indeed, first arose among those who were connected with
Nous and Aletheia, but passed as by contagion to this degenerate
Aeon, who acted under a pretence of love, but was in reality
influenced by temerity, because she had not, like Nous, enjoyed
communion with the perfect Father. This passion, they say, consisted
in a desire to search into the nature of the Father; for she wished,
according to them, to comprehend his greatness. When she could not
attain her end, inasmuch as she aimed at an impossibility, and thus
became involved in an extreme agony of mind, while both on account of
the vast profundity as well as the unsearchable nature of the Father,
and on account of the love she bore him, she was ever stretching
herself forward, there was danger lest she should at last have been
absorbed by his sweetness, and resolved into his absolute essence,
unless she had met with that Power which supports all things, and
preserves them outside of the unspeakable greatness. This power they
term Horos; by whom, they say, she was restrained and supported; and
that then, having with difficulty been brought back to herself, she
was convinced that the Father is incomprehensible, and so laid aside
her original design, along with that passion which had arisen within
her from the overwhelming influence of her admiration. 3. But others of them fabulously describe the
passion and restoration of Sophia as follows: They say that she, having engaged
in an impossible and impracticable attempt, brought forth an
amorphous substance, such as her female nature enabled her to
produce. 16 When she looked upon it, her first feeling was one of grief, on account of the imperfection of its generation, and
then of fear lest this should end 17 her own existence. Next she lost, as it were, all command of
herself, and was in the greatest perplexity while endeavouring to
discover the cause of all this, and in what way she might conceal
what had happened. Being greatly harassed by these passions, she
at last changed her mind, and endeavoured to return anew to the Father.
When, however, she in some measure
made the attempt, strength failed her, and she became a suppliant of
the Father. The other Aeons, Nous in particular, presented their
supplications along with her. And hence they declare material
substance 18 had its beginning from ignorance and grief, and fear
and bewilderment. 4. The Father afterwards produces,
in his own image, by means of Monogenes, the above-mentioned Horos,
without conjunction, 19 masculo-feminine. For they
maintain that sometimes the Father acts in conjunction with Sige, but
that at other times he shows himself independent both of male and
female. They term this Horos both Stauros and Lytrotes, and
Carpistes, and Horothetes, and Metagoges. 20 And by this Horos they declare that Sophia was purified and
established, while she was also restored to her proper conjunction.
For her enthymesis (or inborn idea) having been taken away from her,
along with its supervening passion, she herself certainly remained
within the Pleroma; but her enthymesis, with its passion, was
separated from her by Horos, fenced 21 off, and expelled from that circle. This enthymesis
was, no doubt, a spiritual substance, possessing some of the natural
tendencies of an Aeon, but at the same time shapeless and without
form, because it had received nothing. 22 And on this account they say that it was an imbecile
and feminine production. 23 5. After this substance had been placed outside
of the Pleroma of the Aeons, and its mother restored to her proper
conjunction, they tell us that Monogenes, acting in accordance with
the prudent forethought of the Father, gave origin to another
conjugal pair, namely Christ and the Holy Spirit
(lest any of the Aeons should fall into a calamity similar to that of
Sophia),
for the purpose of fortifying and strengthening the Pleroma, and who
at the same time completed the number of the Aeons. Christ then
instructed them as to the nature of their conjunction, and taught
them that those who possessed a comprehension of the Unbegotten were
sufficient for themselves. 24 He also announced among them what related to the
knowledge of the Father,-namely, that he cannot be understood or
comprehended, nor so much as seen or heard, except in so far as he is
known by Monogenes only. And the reason why the rest of the Aeons
possess perpetual existence is found in that part of the Father's
nature which is incomprehensible; but the reason of their origin and
formation was situated in that which may be comprehended regarding
him, that is, in the Son. 25 Christ, then, who had just been produced, effected
these things among them. 6. But the Holy
Spirit 26 taught them to give thanks on being all rendered equal
among themselves, and led them to a state of true repose. Thus, then,
they tell us that the Aeons were constituted equal to each other in
form and sentiment, so that all became as Nous, and Logos, and
Anthropos, and Christus. The female Aeons, too, became all as
Aletheia,
and Zoe,
and Spiritus, and Ecclesia. Everything, then, being thus established, and
brought into a state of perfect rest, they next tell us that these
beings sang praises with great joy to the Propator, who himself
shared in the abounding exaltation. Then, out of gratitude for the
great benefit which had been conferred on them, the whole Pleroma of
the Aeons, with one design and desire, and with the concurrence of
Christ and the Holy
Spirit, their Father also setting the
seal of His approval on their conduct, brought together whatever each
one had in himself of the greatest beauty and preciousness; and
uniting all these contributions so as skilfully to blend the whole,
they produced, to the honour and glory of Bythus, a being of most
perfect beauty, the very star of the Pleroma, and the perfect fruit
[of it], namely Jesus. Him they also speak of under the name of
Saviour, and Christ, and patronymically, Logos, and Everything,
because He was formed from the contributions of all. And then we are
told that, by way of honour, angels of the same nature as Himself
were simultaneously produced, to act as His body-guard. Chapter III.-Texts
of Holy Scripture Used by These Heretics to Support Their
Opinions. 1. Such, then, is the account they give of what
took place within the Pleroma; such the calamities that flowed from
the passion which seized upon the Aeon who has been named, and who
was within a little of perishing by being absorbed in the universal
substance, through her inquisitive searching after the Father; such
the consolidation 27 [of that Aeon] from her condition of agony by Horos,
and Stauros, and Lytrotes, and Carpistes, and Horothetes, and
Metagoges. 28 Such also is the account of the generation of the later
Aeons, namely of the first Christ and of the Holy Spirit, both of whom
were produced by the Father after the repentance 29 [of Sophia], and of the second 30 Christ (whom they also style Saviour), who owed his
being to the joint contributions [of the Aeons]. They tell us,
however, that this knowledge has not been openly divulged, because
all are not capable of receiving it, but has been mystically revealed
by the Saviour through means of parables to those qualified for
understanding it. This has been done as follows. The thirty Aeons are
indicated (as we have already remarked) by the thirty years during
which they say the Saviour performed no public act, and by the
parable of the labourers in the vineyard. Paul also, they affirm,
very clearly and frequently names these Aeons, and even goes so far
as to preserve their order, when he says, "To all the generations of
the Aeons of the Aeon." 31 Nay, we ourselves, when at the giving 32 of thanks we pronounce the words, "To Aeons of Aeons"
(for ever and ever), do set forth these Aeons. And, in fine, wherever
the words Aeon or Aeons occur, they at once refer them to these
beings. 2. The production, again, of the Duodecad of
the Aeons, is indicated by the fact that the Lord was twelve 33 years of age when He disputed with the teachers of the
law, and by the election of the apostles, for of these there were
twelve. 34 The other eighteen Aeons are made manifest in this way:
that the Lord, [according to them, ] conversed with His disciples for
eighteen months 35 after His resurrection from the dead. They also affirm
that these eighteen Aeons are strikingly indicated by the first two
letters of His name ['Ihsou=j], namely Iota 36 and Eta. And, in like manner, they assert that the ten
Aeons are pointed out by the letter Iota, which begins His
name; while, for the same reason, they tell us the Saviour said, "One
Iota, or
one tittle, shall by no means pass away until all be fulfilled."
37 3. They further maintain that the passion which
took place in the case of the twelfth Aeon is pointed at
by the apostasy of Judas, who was the twelfth apostle, and also by the
fact that Christ suffered in the twelfth month. For their opinion is, that He continued to
preach for one year only after His baptism. The same thing is also
most clearly indicated by the case of the woman who suffered from an
issue of blood. For after she had been thus afflicted during twelve
years, she was healed by the advent of the Saviour, when she had
touched the border of His garment; and on this account the Saviour
said, "Who touched me? " 38 -teaching his disciples the mystery which had occurred
among the Aeons, and the healing of that Aeon who had been involved
in suffering. For she who had been afflicted twelve years represented
that power whose essence, as they narrate, was stretching itself
forth, and flowing into immensity; and unless she had touched the
garment of the Son, 39 that is, Aletheia of the first Tetrad, who is denoted
by the hem spoken of, she would have been dissolved into the general
essence 40 [of which she participated]. She stopped short,
however, and ceased any longer to suffer. For the power that went
forth from the Son (and this power they term Horos) healed her, and
separated the passion from her. 4. They moreover affirm that the Saviour
41 is shown to be derived from all the Aeons, and to be in
Himself everything by the following passage: "Every male that openeth the
womb." 42 For He, being everything, opened the womb 43 of the enthymesis of the suffering Aeon, when it had
been expelled from the Pleroma. This they also style the second
Ogdoad, of which we shall speak presently. And they state that it was
clearly on this account that Paul said, "And He Himself is all
things; " 44 and again, "All things are to Him, and of Him are all
things; " 45 and further, "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead; " 46 and yet again, "All things are gathered together by God
in Christ." 47 Thus do they interpret these and any like passages to
be found in Scripture. 5. They show, further, that that
Horos of
theirs, whom they call by a variety of names, has two faculties,-the
one of supporting, and the other of separating; and in so far as he
supports and sustains, he is Stauros, while in so far as he divides
and separates, he is Horos. They then represent the Saviour as having
indicated this twofold faculty: first, the sustaining power, when He
said, "Whosoever doth not bear his cross
(Stauros), and follow after me, cannot be my disciple; " 48 and again, "Taking up the cross follow me; "
49 but the separating power when He said, "I came not to send peace, but a word."
50 They also maintain that John indicated the same thing
when he said, "The fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly
purge the floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the
chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable." 51 By this declaration He set forth the faculty of
Horos. For that fan they explain to be the cross (Stauros), which consumes,
no doubt, all material 52 objects, as fire does chaff, but it purifies all them
that are saved, as a fan does wheat. Moreover, they affirm that the Apostle Paul
himself made mention of this cross in the following words: "The
doctrine of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us
who are saved it is the power of God." 53 And again: "God forbid that I should glory in anything
54 save in the cross of Christ, by whom the world is
crucified to me, and I unto the world." 6. Such, then, is the account which they all
give of their Pleroma, and of the formation 55 of the universe, striving, as they do, to adapt the
good words of revelation to their own wicked inventions. And it is
not only from the writings of the evangelists and the apostles that
they endeavour to derive proofs for their opinions by means of
perverse interpretations and deceitful expositions: they deal in the
same way with the law and the prophets, which contain many parables
and allegories that can frequently be drawn into various senses,
according to the kind of exegesis to which they are subjected. And
others 56 of them, with great craftiness, adapted such parts of
Scripture to their own figments, lead away captive from the truth
those who do not retain a stedfast faith in one God, the Father
Almighty, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Chapter IV.-Account
Given by the Heretics of the Formation of Achamoth; Origin of the
Visible World from Her Disturbances. 1. The following are the transactions which
they narrate as having occurred outside of the Pleroma: The
enthymesis of that Sophia who dwells above, which they also term
Achamoth, 57 being removed from the Pleroma, together with her
passion, they relate to have, as a matter of course, become violently
excited in those places of darkness and vacuity [to which she had
been banished]. For she was excluded from light 58 and the Pleroma, and was without form or figure, like
an untimely birth, because she had received nothing 59 [from a male parent]. But the Christ dwelling on high
took pity upon her; and having extended himself through and beyond
Stauros, 60 he imparted a figure to her, but merely as respected
substance, and not so as to convey intelligence. 61 Having effected this, he withdrew his influence, and
returned, leaving Achamoth to herself, in order that she, becoming
sensible of her suffering as being severed from the Pleroma, might be
influenced by the desire of better things, while she possessed in the
meantime a kind of odour of immortality left in her by Christ and the
Holy Spirit. Wherefore also she is called by two
names-Sophia after her father Having then obtained a form, along with
intelligence, and being immediately deserted by that Logos who had been invisibly present with
her-that is, by Christ-she strained
herself to discover that light which had forsaken her, but could not
effect her purpose, inasmuch as she was prevented by Horos. And as
Horos thus obstructed her further progress, he exclaimed,
Iao,
62 whence, they say, this name Iao derived its
origin. And when she could not pass by Horos on account
of that passion in which she had been involved, and because she alone
had been left without, she then resigned herself to every sort of
that manifold and varied state of passion to which she was subject;
and thus she suffered grief on the one hand because she had not
obtained the object of her desire, and fear on the other hand, lest
life itself should fail her, as light had already done, while, in
addition, she was in the greatest perplexity. All these feelings were
associated with ignorance. And this ignorance of hers was not like
that of her mother, the first Sophia, an Aeon, due to
degeneracy by means of passion, but to an [innate] opposition [of
nature to knowledge]. 63 Moreover, another kind of passion fell upon her her
(Achamoth), namely, that of desiring to return to him who gave
her life. 2. This collection [of passions] they declare
was the substance of the matter from which this world was formed. For
from [her desire of] returning [to him who gave her life], every soul
belonging to this world, and that of the Demiurge 64 himself, derived its origin. All other things owed
their beginning to her terror and sorrow. For from her tears all that
is of a liquid nature was formed; from her smile all that is lucent;
and from her grief and perplexity all the corporeal elements of the
world. For at one time, as they affirm, she would weep and lament on
account of being left alone in the midst of darkness and vacuity;
while, at another time, reflecting
on the light which had forsaken her, she would be filled with joy,
and laugh;
then, again, she would be struck with terror; or, at other
times, would sink into consternation and bewilderment. 3. Now what follows from all this? No light
tragedy comes out of it, as the fancy of every man among them
pompously explains, one in one way, and another in another, from what
kind of passion and from what element being derived its origin. They
have good reason, as seems to me, why they should not feel inclined
to teach these things to all in public, but only to such as are able
to pay a high price for an acquaintance with such profound mysteries.
For these doctrines are not at all similar to those of which our Lord
said, "Freely ye have received, freely give." 65 They are, on the contrary, abstruse, and portentous,
and profound mysteries, to be got at only with great labour by such
as are in love with falsehood. For who would not expend lull that he
possessed, if only he might learn in return, that from the tears of
the enthymesis of the Aeon involved in passion, seas, and fountains,
and rivers, and every liquid substance derived its origin; that light
burst forth from her smile; and that from her perplexity and
consternation the corporeal elements of the world had their
formation? 4. I feel somewhat inclined myself to
contribute a few hints towards the development of their system. For
when I perceive that waters are in part fresh, such as fountains,
rivers, showers, and so on, and in part salt; such as those in the
sea, I reflect with myself that all such waters cannot be derived
from her tears, inasmuch as these are of a saline quality only. It is
clear, therefore, that the waters which are salt are alone those
which are derived from her tears. But it is probable that she, in her
intense agony and perplexity, was covered with perspiration. And
hence, following out their notion, we may conceive that fountains and
rivers, and all the fresh water in the world, are due to this source.
For it is difficult, since we know that all tears are of the same
quality, to believe that waters both salt and fresh proceeded from
them. The more plausible supposition is, that some are from her
tears, and some from her perspiration. And since there are also in
the world certain waters which are hot and acrid in their nature,
thou must be left to guess their origin, how and whence. Such are
some of the results of their hypothesis. 5. They go on to state that, when the mother
Achamoth had passed through all sorts of passion, and had with
difficulty escaped from them, she turned herself to supplicate the
light which had forsaken her, that is, Christ. He, however, having
returned to the Pleroma, and being probably unwilling again to
descend from it, sent forth to her the Paraclete, that is, the
Saviour.
66 This being was endowed with all power by the Father,
who placed everything under his authority, the Aeons 67 doing so likewise, so that "by him were all things,
visible and invisible, created, thrones, divinities, dominions."
68 He then was sent to her along with his contemporary
angels. And they related that Achamoth, filled with
reverence, at first veiled herself through modesty, but that by and
by, when she had looked upon him with all his endowments, and had
acquired strength from his appearance, she ran forward to meet him.
He then imparted to her form as respected intelligence, and brought
healing to her passions, separating them from her, but not so as to
drive them out of thought altogether. For it was not possible that they should be
annihilated as in the former
case, 69 because they had already taken root and acquired
strength [so as to possess an indestructible existence]. All that he could do was to separate them and
set them apart, and then commingle and condense them, so as to
transmute them from incorporeal passion into unorganized matter.
70 He then by this process conferred upon them a fitness
and a nature to become concretions and corporeal structures, in order
that two substances should be formed,-the one evil, resulting from
the passions, and the other subject indeed to suffering, but
originating from her conversion. And on this account (i.e., on
account of this hypostatizing of ideal matter) they say that the
Saviour virtually 71 created the world. But when Achamoth was freed from her
passion, she gazed with rapture on the dazzling vision of the angels
that were with him; and in her ecstasy, conceiving by them, they tell
us that she brought forth new beings, partly after her oven image,
and partly a spiritual progeny after the image of the Saviour's
attendants. Chapter
V.-Formation of the Demiurge; Description of Him. He is the Creator
of Everything Outside of the Pleroma. 1. These three kinds of existence, then,
having, according to them, been now formed,-one from the passion,
which was matter; a second from the conversion, which was animal; and
the third, that which she (Achamoth) herself brought forth, which was
spiritual,-she next addressed herself to the task of giving these
form. But she could not succeed in doing this as respected the
spiritual existence, because it was of the same nature with herself.
She therefore applied herself to give form to the animal substance
which had proceeded from her own conversion, and to bring forth to
light the instructions of the Saviour. 72 And they say she first formed out of animal substance
him who is Father and King of all things, both of these which are of
the same nature with himself, that is, animal substances, which they
also call right-handed, and those which sprang from the passion, and
from matter, which they call left-handed. For they affirm that he
formed all the things which came into existence after him, being
secretly impelled thereto by his mother. From this circumstance they
style him Metropator, 73 Apator, Demiurge, and Father, saying that he is Father
of the substances on the right hand, that is, of the animal, but
Demiurge of those on the left, that is, of the material, while he is
at the same time the king of all. For they say that this Enthymesis,
desirous of making all things to the honour of the Aeons, formed
images of them, or rather that the Saviour 74 did so through her instrumentality. And she, in the
image 75 of the invisible Father, kept herself concealed from
the Demiurge. But he was in the image of the only-begotten Son, and
the angels and archangels created by him were in the image of the
rest of the Aeons. 2. They affirm, therefore, that he was
constituted the Father and God of everything outside of the Pleroma,
being the creator of all animal and material substances. For he it
was that discriminated these two kinds of existence hitherto
confused, and made corporeal from incorporeal substances, fashioned
things heavenly and earthly, and became the Framer (Demiurge) of
things material and animal, of those on the right and those on the
left, of the light and of the heavy, and of those tending upwards as
well as of those tending downwards. He created also seven heavens,
above which they say that he, the Demiurge, exists. And on this
account they term him Hebdomas, and his mother Achamoth Ogdoads,
preserving the number of the first-begotten and primary Ogdoad as the
Pleroma. They affirm, moreover, that these seven heavens are
intelligent, and speak of them as being angels, while they refer to
the Demiurge himself as being an angel bearing a likeness to God; and
in the same strain, they declare that Paradise, situated above the
third heaven, is a fourth angel possessed of power, from whom Adam
derived certain qualities while he conversed with him. 3. They go on to say that the Demiurge imagined
that he created all these things of himself, while he in reality made
them in conjunction with the productive power of Achamoth. He formed
the heavens, yet was ignorant of the heavens; he fashioned man, yet
knew not man; he brought to light the earth, yet had no acquaintance
with the earth; and, in like manner. they declare that he was
ignorant of the forms of all that he made, and knew not even of the
existence of his own mother, but imagined that he himself was all
things. They further affirm that his mother originated this opinion
in his mind, because she desired to bring him forth possessed of such
a character that he should be the head and source of his own essence,
and the absolute ruler over every kind of operation [that was
afterwards attempted]. This mother they also call Ogdoad, Sophia;
Terra, Jerusalem, Holy Spirit, and, with a masculine reference, Lord.
76 Her place of habitation is an intermediate one, above
the Demiurge indeed, but below and outside of the Pleroma, even to
the end. 77 4. As, then, they represent all material
substance to be formed from three passions, viz., fear, grief, and
perplexity, the account they give is as follows: Animal substances
originated from fear and from conversion; the Demiurge they also
describe as owing his origin to conversion; but the existence of all
the other animal substances they ascribe to fear, such as the souls
of irrational animals, and of wild beasts, and men. And on this
account, he (the Demiurge), being incapable of recognising any
spiritual essences, imagined himself to be God alone, and declared
through the prophets, "I am God, and besides me there is none else."
78 They further teach that the spirits of wickedness
derived their origin from grief. Hence the devil, whom they also call
Cosmocrator (the ruler of the world), and the demons, and the angels,
and every wicked spiritual being that exists, found the source Of
their existence. They represent the Demiurge as being the son of that
mother of theirs (Achamoth), and Cosmocrator as the creature of the
Demiurge. Cosmocrator has knowledge of what is above himself, because
he is a spirit of wickedness; but the Demiurge is ignorant of such
things, inasmuch as he is merely animal. Their mother
dwells in that place which is above the heavens, that is, in the
intermediate abode; the Demiurge in the heavenly place, that is, in
the hebdomad; but the Cosmocrator in this our world. The corporeal
elements of the world, again, sprang, as we before remarked, from
bewilderment and perplexity, as from a more ignoble source. Thus the
earth arose from her state of stupor; water from the agitation caused
by her fear; air from the consolidation of her grief; while fire,
producing death and corruption, was inherent in all these elements,
even as they teach that ignorance also lay concealed in these three
passions. 5. Having thus formed the world, he (the
Demiurge) also created the earthy [part of] man, not taking him from
this dry earth, but from an invisible substance consisting of fusible
and fluid matter, and then afterwards, as they define the process,
breathed into him the animal part of his nature. It was this latter
which was created after his image and likeness. The material part,
indeed, was very near to. God, so far as the image went, but not of
the same substance with him. The animal, on the Other hand, was so in
respect to likeness; and hence his substance was called the
spirit of life, because it took its rise from a spiritual outflowing.
After all this, he was, they say, enveloped all round with a covering
of skin; and by this they mean the outward sensitive flesh.
6. But they further affirm that the Demiurge
himself was ignorant of that offspring of his mother Achamoth, which
she brought forth as a consequence of her contemplation of those
angels who waited on the Saviour, and which was, like herself, of a
spiritual nature. She took advantage of this ignorance to deposit it
(her production) in him without his knowledge, in order that, being
by his instrumentality infused into that animal soul proceeding from
himself, and being thus carried as in a womb in this material body,
while it gradually increased in strength, might in course of time
become fitted for the reception of perfect rationality. 79 Thus it came to pass, then, according to them, that,
without any knowledge on the part of the Demiurge, the man formed by
his inspiration was at the same time, through an unspeakable
providence, rendered a spiritual man by the simultaneous inspiration
received from Sophia. For, as he was ignorant of his mother, so
neither did he recognise her offspring. This [offspring] they also
declare to be the Ecclesia, an emblem of the Ecclesia which is above.
This, then, is the kind of man whom they conceive of: he has his
animal soul from the Demiurge, his body from the earth, his fleshy
part from matter, and his spiritual man from the mother
Achamoth. Chapter VI.-The
Threefold Kind of Man Feigned by These Heretics: Good Works Needless
for Them, Though Necessary to Others: Their Abandoned Morals.
1. There being thus three kinds of substances,
they declare of all that is material (which they also describe as
being "on the left hand") that it must of necessity perish, inasmuch
as it is incapable of receiving any afflatus of incorruption.
As to every animal existence (which they also denominate "on the
right hand"), they hold that, inasmuch as it is a mean between the
spiritual and the material, it passes to the side to which
inclination draws it. Spiritual substance, again, they describe as
having been sent forth for this end, that, being here united with
that which is animal, it might assume shape, the two elements being
simultaneously subjected to the same discipline. And this they
declare to be "the salt" 80 and "the light of the world." For the animal substance
had need of training by means of the outward senses; and on this
account they affirm that the world was created, as well as that the
Saviour came to the animal substance (which was possessed of
free-will), that He might secure for it salvation. For they affirm
that He received the first-fruits of those whom He was to save [as
follows], from Achamoth that which was spiritual, while He was
invested by the Demiurge with the animal Christ, but was begirt
81 by a [special] dispensation with a body endowed with an
animal nature, yet constructed with unspeakable skill, so that it
might be visible and tangible, and capable of enduring suffering. At
the same time, they deny that He assumed anything material [into His
nature], since indeed matter is incapable of salvation. They further
hold that the consummation of all things will take place when all
that is spiritual has been formed and perfected by Gnosis
(knowledge); and by this they mean spiritual men who have attained to
the perfect knowledge of God, and been initiated into these mysteries
by Achamoth. And they represent themselves to be these
persons. 2. Animal men, again, are instructed in animal
things; such men, namely, as are established by their works, and by a
mere faith, while they have not perfect knowledge. We of the Church,
they say, are these persons. 82 Wherefore also they maintain that good works are
necessary to us, for that otherwise it is impossible we should be
saved. But as to themselves, they hold that they shall be entirely
and undoubtedly saved, not by means of conduct, but because they are
spiritual by nature. 83 For, just as it is impossible that material substance
should partake of salvation (since, indeed, they maintain that it is
incapable of receiving it), so again it is impossible that spiritual
substance (by which they mean themselves) should ever come under the
power of corruption, whatever the sort of actions in which they
indulged. For even as gold, when submersed in filth, loses not on
that account its beauty, but retains its own native qualities, the
filth having no power to injure the gold, so they affirm that they
cannot in any measure suffer hurt, or lose their spiritual substance,
whatever the material actions in which they may be involved.
3. Wherefore also it comes to pass, that the
"most perfect" among them addict themselves without fear to all those
kinds of forbidden deeds of which the Scriptures assure us that "they
who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
84 For instance, they make no scruple about eating
meats offered in sacrifice to idols, imagining that they can in this
way contract no defilement. Then, again, at every heathen festival
celebrated in honour of the idols, these men are the first to
assemble; and to such a pitch do they go, that some of them do not
even keep away from that bloody spectacle hateful both to God and
men, in which gladiators either fight with wild beasts, or singly
encounter one another. Others of them yield themselves up to the
lusts of the flesh with the utmost greediness, maintaining that
carnal things should be allowed to the carnal nature, while spiritual
things are provided for the spiritual. Some of them, moreover, are in the habit of
defiling those women to whom they have taught the above doctrine, as
has frequently been confessed by those women who have been led astray
by certain of them, on their returning to the Church of God, and
acknowledging this along with the rest of their errors. Others of
them, too, openly and without a blush, having become passionately
attached to certain women, seduce them away from their husbands, and
contract marriages of their own with them. Others of them, again, who
pretend at first. to live in all modesty with them as with sisters,
have in course of time been revealed in their true colours, when the
sister has been found with child by her [pretended] brother.
4. And committing many other abominations and impieties, they run us down (who from the fear of God guard
against sinning even in thought or word) as utterly contemptible and
ignorant persons, while they highly exalt themselves, and claim to be
perfect, and the elect seed. For they declare that we simply receive
grace for use, wherefore also it will again be taken away from us;
but that they themselves have grace as their own special possession,
which has descended from above by means of an unspeakable and
indescribable conjunction; and on this account more will be given
them. 85 They maintain, therefore, that in every way it is
always necessary for them to practise the mystery of conjunction. And
that they may persuade the thoughtless to believe this, they are in
the habit of using these very words, "Whosoever being in this world does not so
love a woman as to obtain possession of her, is not of the truth, nor
shall attain to the truth. But whosoever being of 86 this world has intercourse with woman, shall not attain
to the truth, because he has so acted under the power of
concupiscence." On this account, they tell us that it is necessary
for us whom they call animal men, and describe
as being of the world, to practise continence and good works, that
by this means we may attain at length to the intermediate habitation,
but that to them who are called "the spiritual and perfect" such a
course of conduct is not at all necessary. For it is not conduct of
any kind which leads into the Pleroma, but the seed sent forth thence
in a feeble, immature state, and here brought to perfection.
Chapter VII.-The
Mother Achamoth, When All Her Seed are
Perfected, Shall Pass into the Pleroma,
Accompanied by Those Men Who are Spiritual; The Demiurge, with Animal
Men, Shall Pass into the Intermediate Habitation; But All Material
Men Shall Go into Corruption. Their Blasphemous Opinions Against the
True Incarnation of Christ by the Virgin Mary. Their Views as to the
Prophecies. Stupid Ignorance of the Demiurge. 1. When all the seed shall have come to
perfection, they state that then their mother Achamoth shall pass from
the intermediate place, and enter in within the Pleroma, and shall
receive as her spouse the Saviour, who sprang from all the Aeons,
that thus a conjunction may be formed between the Saviour and Sophia,
that is, Achamoth. These, then, are the bridegroom and bride, while
the nuptial chamber is the full extent of the Pleroma. The spiritual
seed, again, being divested of their animal souls, 87 and becoming intelligent spirits, shall in an
irresistible and invisible manner enter in within the Pleroma, and be
bestowed as brides on those angels who wait upon the Saviour. The
Demiurge himself will pass into the place of his mother Sophia;
88 that is, the intermediate habitation. In this
intermediate place, also, shall the souls of the righteous repose;
but nothing of an animal nature shall find admittance to the Pleroma.
When these things have taken place as described, then shall that
fire which
lies hidden in the world blaze forth and bum; and while destroying
all matter, shall also be extinguished along with it, and have no
further existence. They affirm that the Demiurge was acquainted with
none of these things before the advent of the Saviour. 2. There are also some who maintain that
he also produced Christ as his own proper son, but of an animal nature, and
that mention was 89 made of him by the prophets. This Christ passed through Mary
90 just as water flows
through a tube; and there descended upon him in the
form of a dove it the time of his baptism, that Saviour who belonged
to the Pleroma, and was formed by the combined efforts of all its
inhabitants. Note 90 "Thus," says Harvey,"we may trace back
to the Gnostic
period the Apollinarian error, closely allied
to the Docetic, that the body of
Christ was not derived
from the blessed Virgin, but that it was of
heavenly
substance, and was only
brought forth into the world through her
instrumentality." Max Lucado is Vice President of the Promise Keepers and a popular Evangelical author. In
1997, Lucado wrote Cosmic Christmas, a short novel which
reimagines the events that occurred prior to and including the
nativity of Jesus Christ. There is a disclaimer in the Afterward of
Cosmic Christmas to the effect that many elements of Lucado's
narrative are imaginary and not found in Scripture. As points of fundamental
doctrine, however, at least a few are seriously heretical and have no
place in a Christian book. The spotlight in
Cosmic
Christmas is on the
Archangel Gabriel, who is sent by God on a mission to announce to
Mary her election to receive the Seed of
God. Lucado's novel portrays God as "the Light" who sends the "treasure" of his "essence" to earth.
This "essence" or "Seed" -- designated "it" -- "will become" the Son of God. Carefully note in the following
excerpt from Cosmic Christmas Gabriel's words that "the
fruit of the Seed," rather than the Seed, is the Son of
God. "I entered the
circle of unceasing
Light... I lifted my
eyes to see a necklace - a clear vial on
a golden chain - dangling from (God's) extended hand... Handing me
the necklace, He explained, 'This vial will contain the essence of Myself; a Seed to
be placed in the womb of a young girl... The fruit of the Seed is
the Son of God. Take it to her... He draped the
chain around my
neck. Amazingly, the
vial was no longer empty.
It glowed with Light.
Jesus. Tell her to call my son Jesus..." 98. Privy to this conversation is
Satan, to whom God offers forgiveness if he will only repent. Max
Lucado presents the following outrageous scene
as the Archangel Gabriel watches on: "From the
circle of
Light came His extended
hand. From His throne came an honest invitation. 'Will you surrender?
Will you return to me?' I do not know the thoughts of Satan. But I believe
that for a fleeting second the evil heart softened..." 99. An important Gnostic doctrine
is the ultimate
salvation of Lucifer.
In the Afterward, Lucado does not decisively state that Lucifer can
never be saved, but rather equivocates, leaving room for the remote
possibility: "Finally, the Bible
tells no story of a throne room encounter where Lucifer is offered a
second chance. But the
Bible does contain page after page showing God giving grace to the
scalawags and turncoats of the world. He seems more willing to give
grace than we are to seek it. Such divine love leaves me to wonder
one thing more: if the
old snake himself sought mercy, wouldn't he too, find it where millions have -
at the foot of the cross
of Christ?" 100.
As previously noted in this
report, the removal of Lucifer's judgment in Isaiah 14 leaves room
for innumerable heresies, including his ultimate salvation. This
aberrant doctrine was proposed, c. 250 A.D., by Clement and Origen of
the Gnostic cult of
Alexandria, Egypt.
Although they are promoted in our day as "Church Fathers," these
heretics produced copies of the Scriptures which were corrupted with
Gnostic doctrine. Clement of Alexandria's false gospel is also found
in his Homilies: "After a
preliminary examination of all possible different attempts at a
solution of the problem of evil, the attempt is here made to
represent the devil as
an instrument of God.
Christ and the devil
are the two hands of
God, Christ the
right
hand, and the devil the
left, the devil having power over
this world-epoch and Christ over the next. The devil here assumes very much the
characteristics of the punishing and just God of the Old Testament,
and the prospect is even held out of his ultimate pardon." 101.
In Cosmic Christmas, Max Lucado
continues his subtle departure from Scripture with an allusion to the
Immaculate Heart of
Mary: (Note also a New
Age analogy comparing angels to "stars.") "One final time I
faced the
Light. We turned and
plunged into the heavenlies. On a wave of
His Light
we flew... We flew as a torrent of stars
through the universe... On a wave of
worship I flew, this time alone. I circled
through the clouds and over the ground... I knew her in an instant. Her
heart had no shadow. Her
soul was as pure as any
I've seen...
Her heart is so flawless, so
willing..." 102.
The angels and archangels occupy center stage of
Cosmic
Christmas,
overshadowing and preempting the second and third Persons of the Godhead. In fact, Jesus Christ is
nowhere seen in the heavenly courts of this
pseudo-Christian book, although Scripture declares His eternal
pre-existence: For by Him were all
things created, that are in heaven and that are on the earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all thing were created by him, and for
him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Col.
1:16, 17 In Max Lucado's imaginary tale, the "the Light" disappears from the vial
that has been entrusted to Gabriel, and presently impregnates Mary with "the essence" which will be called the Son of God. In the final
analysis, Cosmic Christmas has reduced the Lord Jesus Christ to a
"divine
spark" which is
implanted in a worthy human being: "Mary...You will become pregnant and give birth to
a son and call His name Jesus. He will be
great. He will be called the Son of the Highest. The Lord God will
give Him the throne of His father David; He will rule Jacob's house forever - no end, ever, to His
kingdom... "I continued, 'The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, the power of the highest hover over you;
therefore the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of
God... 'I'm the Lord's maid, ready to
serve. Let it be with me just as you say.' As she spoke, a
Light appeared in her womb. I glanced at the vial.
It was empty."
103. Evangelical leader, Max Lucado
has portrayed in story form the Gnostic principle that human beings are, through their own merits,
incipient
vessels of the
divine
essence. Jay Gary would
agree. From his Bimillennial Report we read: "We must recover
the simple idea that the spark
of eternity has been placed within each human being. We must fan this
flame, this tiny spark within each person - and insure that no
government, not group, or no authority is allowed to smother or snuff out this sacred
flame." 104. The Annunciation scene from Max
Lucado's Cosmic Christmas bears an eerie resemblance to a similar
portion of New Age book titled Messiah & The Second Coming. However, as members of the Coptic
Order belonging to the Spiritual United
Nations (S.U.N.), John Davis and Naomi Rice are at liberty to present
a more blatantly heretical account: David and Naomi
Rice.... The Christ is
within each and everyone of God's creatures. É. . .the
Christ is the spark of
pure energy of God that
has always existed within the individual manifestation of God in in
many forms, but has been forgotten. (Messiah and the 2nd coming John
David and Naomi Rice 1982 Coptic press Wyoming MI) "(Mary) was considered by the
elders and priests to have the most flawless character of all women
in the temple. At the age of fourteen, Gabriel was sent to Mary's bed
chamber. He stood outside her chamber door and poured his radiant light into her chamber. When she saw this
great light she became afraid and he backed away. The procedure was
repeated three
times. On the third
time, Gabriel spoke to her and assured her that she need not be
afraid. He told Mary who he was and that he had been sent to inform
her that she had been chosen among all women to bear the body of the
new Messiah and to protect and raise the
child with great care. "The Holy Spirit then entered
into Mary
through her air pipe in
her throat, and there
the seed thought
of the baby Messiah initially took shape. As she held this
immaculate
concept within her mind
and heart, the fetus of Jesus began to
take shape in her womb." 105. Matthew Fox- The Cosmic Christ is the divine pattern that connects in the person of
Jesus Christ (but creatures. The divine name from Exod. 3:14, "1 Am
who I Am, "is appropriated by Jesus who shows us how to embrace
our own
divinity. The
Cosmic
Christ is the
"I am" in every
creature. (P154) Notice that in Cosmic Christmas and the New Age book, the
archangel is the agent
who brings
"the Light" to Mary. In Holy Scripture, Gabriel's mission is to
simply announce to Mary that she has been chosen to bear the Son of
God, the incarnation
being the work of the
Holy Spirit alone and that moment is never recorded in Scripture. The
authors of Messiah &
The Second Coming have
developed the concept of the fruit of the Seed to its Gnostic
conclusion: "...the
seed
thought of the baby
Messiah initially took shape... As she held this immaculate concept within her mind
and heart, the fetus of Jesus began to take shape in her womb."
In him there existed also that spiritual seed which
proceeded from Achamoth. They hold, accordingly, that our Lord, while
preserving the type of the first-begotten and primary tetrad, was
compounded of these four substances,-of that which is spiritual, in
so far as He was from Achamoth; of that which is animal, as being
from the Demiurge by a special dispensation, inasmuch as He was
formed [corporeally] with unspeakable skill; and of the Saviour, as
respects that dove which descended upon Him. He also continued free
from all suffering, since indeed it was not possible that He should
suffer who was at once incomprehensible and invisible. And for this
reason the Spirit of Christ, who had been placed within Him, was
taken away when He was brought before Pilate. They maintain, further,
that not even the seed which He had received from the mother
[Achamoth] was subject to suffering; for it, too, was impassible, as
being spiritual, and invisible even to the Demiurge himself. It
follows, then, according to them, that the animal Christ, and that
which had been formed mysteriously by a special dispensation,
underwent suffering, that the mother might exhibit through him a type
of the Christ above, namely, of him who extended himself through
Stauros, 91 and imparted to Achamoth shape, so far as substance was
concerned. For they declare that all these transactions were
counterparts of what took place above. 3. They maintain, moreover, that those souls
which possess the seed of Achamoth are superior to the rest, and are
more dearly loved by the Demiurge than others, while he knows not the
true cause thereof, but imagines that they are what they are through
his favour towards them. Wherefore, also, they say he distributed
them to prophets, priests, and kings; and they declare that many
things were spoken 92 by this seed through the prophets, inasmuch as it was
endowed with a transcendently lofty nature. The mother also, they
say, spake much about things above, and that both through him and
through the souls which were formed by him. Then, again, they divide
the prophecies [into different classes], maintaining that one portion
was uttered by the mother, a second by her seed, and a third by the
Demiurge. In like manner, they hold that Jesus uttered some things
under the influence of the Saviour, others under that of the mother,
and others still under that of the Demiurge, as we shall show further
on in our work. 4. The Demiurge, while ignorant of those things
which were higher than himself, was indeed excited by the
announcements made [through the prophets], but treated them with
contempt, attributing them sometimes to one cause and sometimes to
another; either to the prophetic spirit (which itself possesses the
power of self-excitement), or to [mere unassisted] man, or that it
was simply a crafty device of the lower [and baser order of men].
93 He remained thus ignorant until the appearing of the
Lord. But they relate that when the Saviour came, the Demiurge
learned all things from Him, and gladly with all, his power joined
himself to Him. They maintain that he is the centurion mentioned in
the Gospel, who addressed the Saviour in these words: "For I also am
one having soldiers and servants under my authority; and whatsoever I
command they do." 94 They further hold that he will continue administering
the affairs of the world as long as that is fitting and needful, and
specially that he may exercise a care over the Church; while at the
same time he is influenced by the knowledge of the reward prepared
for him, namely, that he may attain to the habitation of his
mother. 5. They conceive, then, of three kinds of men,
spiritual, material, and animal, represented by Cain, Abel, and Seth.
These three natures are no
longer found in one person, 95 but constitute various kinds [of men]. The material goes, as a matter of course, into
corruption. The animal, if it make choice of the better part, finds
repose in the intermediate place; but if the worse, it too shall pass
into destruction. But they assert that the spiritual principles which
have been sown by Achamoth, being disciplined and nourished here from
that time until now in righteous souls (because when given forth by
her they were yet but weak), at last attaining to perfection, shall
be given as brides to the angels of the Saviour, while their animal
souls of necessity rest for ever with the Demiurge in the
intermediate place. And again subdividing the animal souls
themselves, they say that some are by nature good, and others by
nature evil. The good are those who become capable of receiving the
[spiritual] seed; the evil by nature are those who are never able to
receive that seed. Chapter VIII.-How
the Valentinians Pervert the Scriptures to Support Their Own Pious
Opinions. 1. Such, then, is their system, which neither
the prophets announced, nor the Lord taught, nor the apostles
delivered, but of which they boast that beyond all others they have a
perfect knowledge. They gather their views from other sources than
the Scriptures; 96 and, to use a common proverb, they strive to weave
ropes of sand, while they endeavour to adapt with an air of
probability to their own peculiar assertions the parables of the
Lord, the sayings of the prophets, and the words of the apostles, in
order that their scheme may not seem altogether without support. In
doing so, however, they disregard the order and the connection of the
Scriptures, and so far as in them lies, dismember and destroy the
truth. By transferring passages, and dressing them up anew, and
making one thing out of another, they succeed in deluding many
through their wicked art in adapting the oracles of the Lord to their
opinions. Their manner of acting is just as if one, when a beautiful
image of a king has been constructed by some skilful artist out of
precious jewels, should then take this likeness of the man all to
pieces, should rearrange the gems, and so fit them together as to
make them into the form of a dog or of a fox, and even that but
poorly executed; and should then maintain and declare that
this was
the beautiful image of the king which the skilful artist constructed,
pointing to the jewels which had been admirably fitted together by
the first artist to form the image of the king, but have been with
bad effect transferred by the latter one to the shape of a dog, and
by thus exhibiting the jewels, should deceive the ignorant who had no
conception what a king's form was like, and persuade them that that
miserable likeness of the fox was, in fact, the beautiful image of
the king. In like manner do these persons patch together old wives'
fables, and then endeavour, by violently drawing away from their
proper connection, words, expressions, and parables whenever found,
to adapt the oracles of God to their baseless fictions. We have
already stated how far they proceed in this way with respect to the
interior of the Pleroma. 2. Then, again, as to those things outside of
their Pleroma, the following are some specimens of what they attempt
to accommodate out of the Scriptures to their opinions. They affirm
that the Lord came in the last times of the world to endure
suffering, for this end, that He might indicate the passion which
occurred to the last of the Aeons, and might by His own end announce
the cessation of that disturbance which had risen among the Aeons.
They maintain, further, that that girl of twelve years old, the
daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, 97 to whom the Lord approached and raised her from the
dead, was a type of Achamoth, to whom their Christ, by extending
himself, imparted shape, and whom he led anew to the perception of
that light which had forsaken her. And that the Saviour appeared to
her when she lay outside of the Pleroma as a kind of abortion, they
affirm Paul to have declared in his Epistle to the Corinthians [in
these words], "And last of all, He appeared to me also, as to one
born out of due time." 98 Again, the coming of the Saviour with His attendants to
Achamoth is declared in like manner by him in the same Epistle, when
he says, "A woman ought to have a veil upon her head, because of the
angels." 99 Now, that Achamoth, when the Saviour came to her, drew
a veil over herself through modesty, Moses rendered manifest when he
put a veil upon his face. Then, also, they say that the passions
which she endured were indicated by the Lord upon the cross. Thus,
when He said, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? "
100 He simply showed that Sophia was deserted by the light,
and was restrained by Horos from making any advance forward. Her
anguish, again, was indicated when He said, "My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death; " 101 her fear by the words, "Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from Me; " 102 and her perplexity, too, when He said, "And what I
shall say, I know not." 103 3. And they teach that He pointed out the three
kinds of men as follows: the material, when He said to
him that asked Him, "Shall I follow Thee? " 104 "The Son of man hath not where to lay His head; "-the
animal,
when He said to him that declared, "I will follow Thee, but suffer me
first to bid them farewell that are in my house," "No man, putting
his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of
heaven" 105 (for this man they declare to be of the intermediate
class, even as they do that other who, though he professed to have
wrought a large amount of righteousness, yet refused to follow Him,
and was so overcome by [the love of] riches, as never to reach
perfection)-this one it pleases them to place in the animal
class;-the spiritual, again, when He said, "Let the dead bury their dead,
but go thou and preach the kingdom of God," 106 and when He said to Zaccheus the publican, "Make haste,
and come down, for to-day I must abide in thine house" 107 -for these they declared to have belonged to the
spiritual class. Also the parable of the leaven which the woman is
described as having hid in three measures of meal, they declare to
make manifest the three classes. For, according to their teaching,
the woman represented Sophia; the three measures of meal, the three
kinds of men-spiritual, animal, and material; while the leaven
denoted the Saviour Himself. Paul, too, very plainly set forth the
material, animal, and spiritual, saying in one place, "As is the
earthy, such are they also that are earthy; " 108 and in another place, "But the animal man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit; " 109 and again: "He that is spiritual judgeth all things."
110 And this, "The animal man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit," they affirm to have been spoken concerning the Demiurge,
who, as being animal, knew neither his mother who was spiritual, nor
her seed, nor the Aeons in the Pleroma. And that the Saviour received
first-fruits of those whom He was to save, Paul declared when he
said, "And if the first-fruits be holy, the lump is also holy,"
111 teaching that the expression "first-fruits" denoted
that which is spiritual, but that "the lump" meant us, that is, the
animal Church, the lump of which they say He assumed, and blended it
with Himself, inasmuch as He is "the leaven." 4. Moreover, that Achamoth wandered beyond the
Pleroma, and received form from Christ, and was sought after by the
Saviour, they declare that He indicated when He said, that He had
come after that sheep which was gone astray. 112 For they explain the wandering sheep to mean their
mother, by whom they represent the Church as having been sown. The
wandering itself denotes her stay outside of the Pleroma in a state
of varied passion, from which they maintain that matter derived its
origin. The woman, again, who sweeps the house and finds the piece of
money, they declare to denote the Sophia above, who, having lost her
enthymesis, afterwards recovered it, on all things being purified by
the advent of the Saviour. Wherefore this substance also, according
to them, was reinstated in Pleroma. They say, too, that Simeon, "who
took Christ into his arms, and gave thanks to God, and said, Lord,
now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word,"
113 was a type of the Demiurge, who, on the arrival of the
Saviour, learned his own change of place, and gave thanks to Bythus.
They also assert that by Anna, who is spoken of in the gospel
114 as a prophetess, and who, after living seven years with
her husband, passed all the rest of her life in widowhood until she
saw the Saviour, and recognised Him, and spoke of Him to all, was
most plainly indicated Achamoth, who, having for a little while
looked upon the Saviour with His associates, and dwelling all the
rest of the time in the intermediate place, waited for Him till He
should come again, and restore her to her proper consort. Her name,
too, was indicated by the Saviour, when He said, "Yet wisdom is
justified by her children." 115 This, too, was done by Paul in these words," But we
speak wisdom among them that are perfect." 116 They declare also that Paul has referred to the
conjunctions within the Pleroma, showing them forth by means of one;
for, when writing of the conjugal union in this life, he expressed
himself thus: "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ
and the Church." 117 5. Further, they teach that John, the disciple
of the Lord, indicated the first Ogdoad, expressing themselves in
these words: John, the disciple of the Lord, wishing to set forth the
origin of all things, so as to explain how the Father produced the
whole, lays down a certain principle,- that, namely, which was
first-begotten by God, which Being he has termed both the only-begotten Son and God,
in whom the Father, after a seminal manner, brought
forth all things. By him the Word
was produced, and in him the whole
substance of the Aeons, to which the Word himself afterwards imparted
form. Since, therefore, he treats of the first origin
of things, he rightly proceeds in his teaching from the beginning,
that is, from God and the Word. And he expresses himself thus: "In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God; the same was in the beginning with God." 118 Having first of all distinguished
these three-God, the Beginning, and the
Word- he again unites them, that he may
exhibit the production of each of
them, that is, of the Son and of the
Word, and
may at the same time show their union with one another, and with the
Father. For "the beginning" is
in the
Father, and of the Father, while "the Word" is in the beginning, and
of the beginning. Very properly, then, did he say,
"In the
beginning
was the Word," for He was in the Son; "and the Word
was with God," for He was the beginning; "and the Word was God," of
course, for that which is begotten of
God is God. "The same was in the
beginning with God"-this clause discloses the order of production.
"All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made; "
119 for the Word was the author of form and beginning to
all the Aeons that came into existence after Him. But "what was made
in Him," says John, "is life." 120 Here again he indicated conjunction; for all
things, he said, were made by Him, but
in
Him was life. This, then, which is in Him, is more closely connected
with Him than those things which were simply made by Him, for it
exists along with Him, and is developed by Him. When, again, he adds,
"And the life was the light of men," while thus mentioning
Anthropos,
he indicated also Ecclesia by that one
expression, in order that, by using only one name, he might disclose
their fellowship with one another, in virtue of their conjunction.
For Anthropos and
Ecclesia
spring from Logos and
Zoe. Moreover, he styled life
(Zoe) the
light of men, because they are enlightened by her, that is, formed
and made manifest. This also Paul declares in these words: "For
whatsoever doth make manifest is light." 121 Since, therefore, Zoe manifested and begat
both Anthropos and Ecclesia, she is termed their light.
see Lucifer in DocOrigin and
Hypostas Thus, then, did John by these words reveal both
other things and the second Tetrad, Logos and Zoe,
Anthropos and Ecclesia. And still further, he also indicated the first Tetrad.
For, in discoursing of the Saviour and declaring that all things
beyond the Pleroma received form from Him, he says that He is the
fruit of the entire Pleroma. For he styles Him a "light which shineth in darkness, and which was not comprehended" 122 by it, inasmuch as, when He imparted form to all those
things which had their origin from passion, He was not known by it.
123 John 6:63 He also styles Him Son, and Aletheia, and
Zoe, and
the "Word made flesh, whose glory," he says, "we beheld; and His glory
was as that of the Only-begotten (given to Him by the Father), full
of grace and truth." 124 (But what John really does say is this: "And the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
125 ) Thus, then, does he [according to them] distinctly
set forth the first Tetrad, when he speaks of the Father, and
Charis,
and Monogenes, and Aletheia. In this way, too, does John tell of the first
Ogdoad, and that which is the mother of
all the Aeons. For he mentions the Father, and Charis, and
Monogenes, and Aletheia, and Logos, and Zoe, and Anthropos, and
Ecclesia. Such are the views of Ptolemaeus. 126 Chapter
IX.-Refutation of the Impious Interpretations of These
Heretics. 1. You see, my friend, the method which these
men employ to deceive themselves, while they abuse the Scriptures by
endeavouring to support their own system out of them. For this
reason, I have brought forward their modes of expressing themselves,
that thus thou mightest understand the deceitfulness of their
procedure, and the wickedness of their error. For, in the first
place, if it had been John's intention to set forth that Ogdoad
above, he would surely have preserved the order of its production,
and would doubtless have placed the primary Tetrad first as being,
according to them, most venerable and would then have annexed the
second, that, by the sequence of the names, the order of the Ogdoad
might be exhibited, and not after so long an interval, as if
forgetful for the moment and then again calling the matter to mind,
he, last of all, made mention of the primary Tetrad. In the next
place, if he had meant to indicate their conjunctions, he certainly
would not have omitted the name of Ecclesia; while, with respect to
the other conjunctions, he either would have been satisfied with the
mention of the male [Aeons] (since the others [like Ecclesia] might
be understood), so as to preserve a uniformity throughout; or if he
enumerated the conjunctions of the rest, he would also have announced
the spouse of Anthropos, and would not have left us to find out her
name by divination. 2. The fallacy, then, of this exposition is
manifest. For when John, proclaiming one God, the Almighty, and one
Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten, by whom all things were made,
declares that this was the Son of God, this the Only-begotten, this
the Former of all things, this the true Light who enlighteneth every
man this the Creator of the world, this He that came to His own, this
He that became flesh and dwelt among us,-these men, by a plausible
kind of exposition, perverting these statements, maintain that there
was another Monogenes, according to production, whom they also style
Arche. They also maintain that there was another Saviour, and another
Logos, the son of Monogenes, and another Christ produced for the
re-establishment of the Pleroma. Thus it is that, wresting from the
truth every one of the expressions which have been cited, and taking
a bad advantage of the names, they have transferred them to their own
system; so that, according to them, in all these terms John makes no
mention of the Lord Jesus Christ. For if he has named the Father, and
Charis, and Monogenes, and Aletheia, and Logos, and Zoe, and
Anthropos, and Ecclesia, according to their hypothesis, he has, by
thus speaking, referred to the primary Ogdoad, in which there was as yet no Jesus, and no
Christ, the teacher of John. But that the apostle did not speak concerning
their conjunctions, but concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, whom he
also acknowledges as the Word of God, he himself has made evident.
For, summing up his statements respecting the Word previously
mentioned by him, he further declares, "And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us." But, according to their hypothesis, the Word did
not become flesh at all, inasmuch as He never went outside of the
Pleroma, but that Saviour [became flesh] who was formed by a special
dispensation [out of all the Aeons], and was of later date than the
Word. 3. Learn then, ye foolish men, that Jesus who
suffered for us, and who dwelt among us, is Himself the Word of God.
For if any other of the Aeons had become flesh for our salvation, it
would have been probable that the apostle spoke of another. But if
the Word of the Father who descended is the same also that ascended,
He, namely, the Only-begotten Son of the only God, who, according to
the good pleasure of the Father, became flesh for the sake of men,
the apostle certainly does not speak regarding any other, or
concerning any Ogdoad, but respecting our Lord Jesus Christ. For,
according to them, the Word did not originally become flesh. For they
maintain that the Saviour assumed an animal body, formed in
accordance with a special dispensation by an unspeakable providence,
so as to become visible and palpable. But flesh is that which was of
old formed for Adam by God out of the dust, and it is this that John
has declared the Word of God became. Thus is their primary and
first-begotten Ogdoad brought to nought. For, since Logos, and
Monogenes, and Zoe, and Phoµs, and Sorer, and Christus, and the
Son of God, and He who became incarnate for us, have been proved to
be one and the same, the Ogdoad which they have built up at once
falls to pieces. And when this is destroyed, their whole system sinks
into ruin,-a system which they falsely dream into existence, and thus
inflict injury on the Scriptures, while they build up their own
hypothesis. 4. Then, again, collecting a set of expressions
and names scattered here and there [in Scripture], they twist them,
as we have already said, from a natural to a non-natural sense. In so
doing, they act like those who bring forward any kind of hypothesis
they fancy, and then endeavour to support 127 them out of the poems of Homer, so that the ignorant
imagine that Homer actually composed the verses bearing upon that
hypothesis, which has, in fact, been but newly constructed; and many
others are led so far by the regularly-formed sequence of the verses,
as to doubt whether Homer may not have composed them. Of this kind
128 is the following passage, where one, describing
Hercules as having been sent by Eurystheus to the dog in the infernal
regions, does so by means of these Homeric verses,-for there can be
no objection to our citing these by way of illustration, since the
same sort of attempt appears in both:- Now, what simple-minded man, I ask, would not
be led away by such verses as these to think that Homer actually
framed them so with reference to the subject indicated? But he who is
acquainted with the Homeric writings will recognise the verses
indeed, but not the subject to which they are applied, as knowing
that some of them were spoken of Ulysses, others of Hercules himself,
others still of Priam, and others again of Menelaus and Agamemnon.
But if he takes them and restores each of them to its proper
position, he at once destroys the narrative in question. In like
manner he also who retains unchangeable 129 in his heart the rule of the truth which he received by
means of baptism, will doubtless recognise the names, the
expressions, and the parables taken from the Scriptures, but will by
no means acknowledge the blasphemous use which these men make of
them. For, though he will acknowledge the gems, he will certainly not
receive the fox instead of the likeness of the king. But when he has
restored every one of the expressions quoted to its proper position,
and has fitted it to the body of the truth, he will lay bare, and
prove to be without any foundation, the figment of these
heretics. 5. But since what may prove a finishing-stroke
130 to this exhibition is wanting, so that any one, on
following out their farce to the end, may then at once append an
argument which shall overthrow it, we have judged it well to point
out, first of all, in what respects the very fathers of this fable
differ among themselves, as if they were inspired by different
spirits of error. For this very fact forms an a priori proof that the
truth proclaimed by the Church is immoveable, 131 and that the theories of these men are but a tissue of
falsehoods. Chapter X.-Unity of
the Faith of the Church Throughout the Whole World. 1. The Church, though dispersed through our the
whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the
apostles and their disciples this faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth,
and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ
Jesus, the Son of God, who became
incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy
Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations 132 of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin,
and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the
ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our
Lord, and His [future] manifestation from heaven in the glory of the
Father "to gather all things in one," 133 and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race,
in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and
King, according to the will of the invisible Father, "every knee
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess" 134 to Him, and that He should execute just judgment
towards all; that He may send "spiritual wickednesses," 135 and the angels who transgressed and became apostates,
together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane
among men, into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise of His
grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who
have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love, some
from the beginning [of their Christian course], and others from [the
date of] their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting
glory. 2. As I have already observed, the Church,
having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered
throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house,
carefully preserves it. She also believes these points [of doctrine]
just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she
proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect
harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth. For, although the
languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import of the
tradition is one and the same. For the Churches which have been
planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different,
nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East, nor
those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have been
established in the central regions 136 of the world. But as the sun, that creature of God, is
one and the same throughout the whole world, so also the preaching of
the truth shineth everywhere, and enlightens all men that are willing
to come to a knowledge of the truth. Nor will any one of the rulers
in the Churches, however highly gifted he may be in point of
eloquence, teach doctrines different from these (for no one is
greater than the Master); nor, on the other hand, will he who is
deficient in power of expression inflict injury on the tradition. For
the faith being ever one and the same, neither does one who is able
at great length to discourse regarding it, make any addition to it,
nor does one, who can say but little diminish it. 3. It does not follow because men are endowed
with greater and less degrees of intelligence, that they should
therefore change the subject-matter [of the faith] itself, and should
conceive of some other God besides Him who is the Framer, Maker, and
Preserver of this universe, (as if He were not sufficient
137 for them), or of another Christ, or another
Only-begotten. But the fact referred to simply implies this, that one
may [more accurately than another] bring out the meaning of those
things which have been spoken in parables, and accommodate them to
the general scheme of the faith; and explain [with special clearness]
the operation and dispensation of God connected with human salvation;
and show that God manifested longsuffering in regard to the apostasy
of the angels who transgressed, as also with respect to the
disobedience of men; and set forth why it is that one and the same
God has made some things temporal and some eternal, some heavenly and
others earthly; and understand for what reason God, though invisible,
manifested Himself to the prophets not under one form, but
differently to different individuals; and show why it was that more
covenants than one were given to mankind; and teach what was the
special character of each of these covenants; and search out for what
reason "God 138 hath concluded every man 139 in unbelief, that He may have mercy upon all; "and
gratefully 140 describe on what account the Word of God became flesh
and suffered; and relate why the advent of the Son of God took place
in these last times, that is, in the end, rather than in the
beginning [of the world]; and unfold what is contained in the
Scriptures concerning the end [itself], and things to come; and not
be silent as to how it is that God has made the Gentiles, whose
salvation was despaired of, fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and
partakers with the saints; and discourse how it is that "this mortal
body shall put on immortality, and this corruptible shall put on
incorruption; " 141 and proclaim in what sense [God] says, "`That is a
people who was not a people; and she is beloved who was not beloved;
" 142 and in what sense He says that "more are the children
of her that was desolate, than of her who possessed a husband."
143 For in reference to these points, and others of a like
nature, the apostle exclaims: "Oh! the depth of the riches both of
the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments,
and His ways past finding out!" 144 But [the superior skill spoken of] is not found in
this, that any one should, beyond the Creator and Framer [of the
world], conceive of the Enthymesis of an erring Aeon, their mother
and his, and should thus proceed to such a pitch of blasphemy; nor
does it consist in this, that he should again falsely imagine, as
being above this [fancied being], a Pleroma at one time supposed to
contain thirty, and at another time an innumerable tribe of Aeons, as
these teachers who are destitute of truly divine wisdom maintain;
while the Catholic Church possesses one and the same faith throughout
the whole world, as we have already said. Chapter XI.-The
Opinions of Valentinus, with Those of His Disciples and
Others. 1. Let us now look at the inconsistent opinions
of those heretics (for there are some two or three of them), how they
do not agree in treating the same points, but alike, in things and
names, set forth opinions mutually discordant. The first 145 of them, Valentinus, who adapted the principles of the
heresy called "Gnostic" to the peculiar character of his own school,
taught as follows: He maintained that there is a certain Dyad
(twofold being), who is inexpressible by any name, of whom one part
should be called Arrhetus (unspeakable), and the other Sige
(silence). But of this Dyad a second was produced, one part of whom
he names Pater, and the other Aletheia. From this Tetrad, again,
arose Logos and Zoe, Anthropos and Ecclesia. These constitute the primary
Ogdoad. He next states that from Logos and Zoe ten powers were
produced, as we have before mentioned. But from Anthropos and Ecclesia proceeded
twelve, one of which separating from the rest, and falling from its
original condition, produced the rest 146 of the universe. He also supposed two beings of the
name of Horos, the one of whom has his place between Bythus and the rest of the
Pleroma, and divides the created Aeons from the uncreated Father,
while the other separates their mother from the Pleroma. Christ also was not
produced from the Aeons within the
Pleroma, but was brought forth by the mother who had been
excluded from it, in virtue of her remembrance of better things, but
not without a kind of shadow. He, indeed, as being masculine, having
severed the shadow from himself, returned to the Pleroma;
but his mother being left with the
shadow,
and deprived of her spiritual substance, brought forth another son, namely, the Demiurge, whom
he also styles the supreme
ruler of all those things which are
subject to him. He also asserts that, along with the Demiurge,
there was produced a left-hand power, in which particular he agrees
with those falsely called Gnostics, of whom to we have yet to speak.
Sometimes, again, he maintains that Jesus was produced from him who
was separated from their mother, and united to the rest, that is,
from Theletus, sometimes as springing from him who returned into the
Pleroma, that is, from Christ; and at other times still as derived
from Anthropos and Ecclesia. And he declares that the Holy Spirit was
produced by Aletheia 147 for the inspection and fructification of the Aeons, by
entering invisibly into them, and that, in this way, the Aeons
brought forth the plants of truth. 2. Secundus again affirms that the primary
Ogdoad consists of a right hand and a left hand Tetrad, and teaches
that the one of these is called light, and the other darkness. But he
maintains that the power which separated from the rest, and fell
away, did not proceed directly from the thirty Aeons, but from their
fruits. 3. There is another, 148 who is a renowned teacher among them, and who,
struggling to reach something more sublime, and to attain to a kind
of higher knowledge, has explained the primary Tetrad as follows:
There is [he says] a certain Proarche who existed before all things,
surpassing all thought, speech, and nomenclature, whom I call Monotes
(unity). Together with this Monotes there exists a power, which again
I term Henotes (oneness). This Henotes and Monotes, being one,
produced, yet not so as to bring forth [apart from themselves, as an
emanation] the beginning of all things, an intelligent, unbegotten,
and invisible being, which beginning language terms "Monad." With
this Monad there co-exists a power of the same essence, which again I
term Hen (One). These powers then-Monotes, and Henotes, and Monas,
and Hen-produced the remaining company of the Aeons. 4. Iu, Iu! Pheu, Pheu!-for well may we utter
these tragic exclamations at such a pitch of audacity in the coining
of names as he has displayed without a blush, in devising a
nomenclature for his system of falsehood. For when he declares: There
is a certain Proarche before all things, surpassing all thought, whom
I call Monotes; and again, with this Monotes there co-exists a power
which I also call Henotes,-it is most manifest that he confesses the
things which have been said to be his own invention, and that he
himself has given names to his scheme of things, which had never been
previously suggested by any other. It is manifest also, that he
himself is the one who has had sufficient audacity to coin these
names; so that, unless he had appeared in the
world, the truth would still have been destitute of a name. But, in
that case, nothing hinders any other, in dealing with the same
subject, to affix names after such a fashion as the following: There
149 is a certain Proarche, royal, surpassing all thought, a
power existing before every other substance, and extended into space
in every direction. But along with it there exists a power which I
term a Gourd; and along with this Gourd there exists a power which
again I term Utter-Emptiness. This
Gourd and Emptiness, since they are one, produced (and yet did not
simply produce, so as to be apart from themselves) a fruit,
everywhere visible, eatable, and delicious, which fruit-language
calls a Cucumber. Along with this Cucumber exists a power of the same
essence, which again I call a Melon. These powers, the
Gourd, Utter-Emptiness, the Cucumber, and the Melon, brought forth
the remaining multitude of the delirious melons of Valentinus.
150 For if it is fitting that that language which is used
respecting the universe be transformed to the primary Tetrad, and if
any one may assign names at his pleasure, who shall prevent us from
adopting these names, as being much more credible [than the others],
as well as in general use, and understood by all? 5. Others still, however, have called their
primary and first-begotten Ogdoad by the following names: first,
Proarche; then Anennoetos; thirdly, Arrhetos; and fourthly, Aoratos.
Then, from the first, Proarche, there was produced, in the first and
fifth place, Arche; from Anennoetos, in the second and sixth place,
Acataleptos; from Arrhetos, in the third and seventh place,
Anonomastos; and from Aoratos, in the fourth and eighth place,
Agennetos. This is the Pleroma of the first Ogdoad. They maintain
that these powers were anterior to Bythus and Sige, that they may
appear more perfect than the perfect, and more knowing than the very
Gnostics To. these persons one may justly exclaim: "O ye trifling
sophists!" since, even respecting Bythus himself, there are among
them many and discordant opinions. For some/declare him to be without
a consort, and neither male nor female, and, in fact, nothing at all;
while others affirm him to be masculo-feminine, assigning to him the
nature of a hermaphrodite; others, again, allot Sige to him as a
spouse, that thus may be formed the first conjunction. Chapter XII.-The
Doctrines of the Followers of Ptolemy and Colorbasus. 1. But the followers of Ptolemy say
151 that he [Bythos] has two consorts, which they also name
Diatheses (affections), viz., Ennoae and Thelesis. For, as they
affirm, he first conceived the thought of producing something, and
then willed to that effect. Wherefore, again, these two affections,
or powers, Ennoea and Thelesis, having intercourse, as it were,
between themselves, the production of Monogenes and Aletheia took
place according to conjunction. These two came forth as types and
images of the two affections of the Father,-visible representations
of those that were invisible,-Nous (i.e., Monogenes) of Thelesis, and
Aletheia of Ennoea, and accordingly the image resulting from Thelesis
was masculine, 152 while that from Ennoea was feminine. Thus Thelesis
(will) became, as it were, a faculty of Ennœa (thought).
For Ennoea continually yearned after offspring; but she could not of
herself bring forth that which she desired. But when the power of
Thelesis (the faculty of will) came upon her, then she brought forth
that on which she had brooded. 2. These fancied beings 153 (like the Jove of Homer, who is represented
154 as passing an anxious sleepless night in devising plans
for honouring Achilles and destroying numbers of the Greeks) will not
appear to you, my dear friend, to be possessed of greater knowledge
than He who is the God of the universe. He, as soon as He thinks,
also performs what He has willed; and as soon as He wills, also
thinks that which He has willed; then thinking when He wills, and
then willing when He thinks, since He is all thought, [all will, all
mind, all light, ] 155 all eye, all ear, the one entire fountain of all good
things. 3. Those of them, however, who are deemed more
skilful than the persons who have just been mentioned, say that the
first Ogdoad was not produced gradually, so that one Aeon was sent
forth by another, but that all 156 the Aeons were brought into existence at once by
Propator
and his Ennoea. He (Colorbasus) affirms this as confidently as if he
had assisted at their birth. Accordingly, he and his followers
maintain that Anthropos and Ecclesia were not produced, 157 as others hold, from Logos
and Zoe; but, on the contrary, Logos
and Zoe from Anthropos and Ecclesia. But they express this in another
form, as follows: When the Propator conceived the thought of
producing something, he received the name of Father. But because what he did produce was
true, it was named Aletheia. Again, when he wished to reveal himself, this
was termed Anthropos. Finally, when he produced those whom he had
previously thought of, these were named Ecclesia. Anthropos, by speaking, formed Logos: this is the first-born
son. But Zoe followed upon Logos; and thus the first
Ogdoad was completed. 4. They have much contention also among
themselves respecting the Saviour. For some maintain that he was
formed out of all; wherefore also he was called Eudocetos, because
the whole Pleroma was well
pleased through him to glorify the
Father. But others assert that he was produced from those ten Aeons
alone who sprung from Logos and Zoe, and that on this account he was
called Logos and Zoe, thus preserving the ancestral names.
158 Others, again, affirm that he had his being from those
twelve Aeons who were the offspring of Anthropos and Ecclesia; and on
this account he acknowledges himself the Son of man, as being a
descendant of Anthropos. Others still, assert that he was produced by
Christ and the Holy Spirit, who were brought forth for the security
of the Pleroma; and that on this account he was called Christ, thus
preserving the appellation of the Father, by whom he was produced.
And there are yet others among them who declare that the Propator of
the whole, Proarche, and Proanennoetos is called Anthropos; and that
this is the great and abstruse mystery, namely, that the Power which
is above all others, and contains all in his embrace, is termed
Anthropos; hence does the Saviour style himself the "Son of
man." Chapter
XIII.-The Deceitful Arts and Nefarious Practices of
Marcus. I. But 159 there is another among these heretics, Marcus by name, who boasts
himself as having improved upon his master. He is a perfect adept in
magical impostures, and by this means drawing away a great number of
men, and not a few women, he has induced them to join themselves to
him, as to one who is possessed of the greatest knowledge and
perfection, and who has received the highest power from the invisible
and ineffable regions above. Thus it appears as if he really
were the precursor of
Antichrist. For, joining the
buffooneries of
Anaxilaus 160 to the craftiness of
the magi, as they are
called, he is regarded by his senseless and cracked-brain followers
as working miracles by these means. 2. Pretending 161 to consecrate cups mixed
with wine, and protracting to great
length the word of invocation, he contrives to give them a purple and
reddish colour, so that Charis, 162 who is one of those that are superior to all things,
should be thought to drop her own blood into that cup through means
of his invocation, and that thus those who are present should be led
to rejoice to taste of that cup, in order that, by so doing, the
Charis, who is set forth by this magician, may also flow into them.
Again, handing mixed cups to the women, he bids
them consecrate these in his presence. When this has been done, he
himself produces another cup of much larger size than that which the
deluded woman has consecrated, ) and pouting from the smaller one
consecrated by the woman into that which has been brought forward by
himself, he at the same time pronounces these words: "May that Chaffs
who is before all things, and who transcends all knowledge and
speech, fill thine inner man, and multiply in thee her own knowledge,
by sowing the grain of mustard seed in thee as in good soil."
Repeating certain other like words, and thus goading on the wretched
woman [to madness], he then appears a worker of wonders when the
large cup is seen to have been filled out of the small one, so as
even to overflow by what has been obtained from it. By accomplishing
several other similar things, he has completely deceived many, and
drawn them away after him. 3. It appears probable enough that this man
possesses a demon as his
familiar spirit, by means of whom
he seems able to prophesy, 163 and also enables as many as he counts worthy to be
partakers of his Charis themselves to prophesy. He devotes himself especially to women, and
those such as are well-bred, and elegantly
attired, and of great wealth, whom he frequently seeks to draw after
him, by addressing them in such seductive words as these:
"I am eager to make thee a partaker
of my Charis, since the Father of all doth continually behold thy
angel before His face. Now the place of thy angel is among us:
164 it behoves us to become one. Receive first from me and
by me [the gift of] Chaffs. Adorn thyself as a bride who is expecting her
bridegroom, that thou mayest be what I am, and I what thou art.
Establish the germ of light in thy nuptial chamber. Receive from me a
spouse, and become receptive of him, while thou art received by him.
Behold Charis has descended upon thee; open thy
mouth and prophesy." On the woman replying," I have never at any time
prophesied, nor do I know how to prophesy; "then engaging, for the second time, in certain
invocations, so as to astound his deluded victim, he says to her,"
Open thy mouth, speak whatsoever occurs to
thee, and thou shalt prophesy." She then, vainly puffed up and elated by these
words, and greatly excited in soul by the expectation that it is
herself who is to prophesy, her heart beating violently [from
emotion], reaches the requisite pitch of audacity, and
idly as well as impudently utters some nonsense as it happens. to
occur to her, such as might be expected from one heated by an empty spirit.
(Referring to this, one superior to me has
observed, that the soul is both audacious and impudent when heated
with empty air.) Henceforth she reckons herself a prophetess, and expresses
her thanks to Marcus for having imparted to her of his own Chaffs.
She then makes the effort to reward him, not
only by the gift of her possessions (in which way he has collected a
very large fortune), but also by yielding up to him her person,
desiring in every way to be united to him, that she may become
altogether one with him. 4. But already some of the most faithful women,
possessed of the fear of God, and not being deceived (whom,
nevertheless, he did his best to seduce like the rest by bidding them
prophesy), abhorring and execrating him, have withdrawn from such a
vile company of revellers. This they have done, as being well aware that
the gift of prophecy is not conferred on men by Marcus, the magician,
but that only those to whom God sends His grace from above possess
the divinely-bestowed power of prophesying; and then they speak where
and when God pleases, and not when Marcus orders them to do so. For
that which commands is greater and of higher authority than that
which is commanded, inasmuch as the former rules, while the latter is
in a state of subjection. If, then, Marcus, or any one else, does
command,-as these are accustomed continually at their feasts to play
at drawing lots, and [in accordance with the lot] to command one
another to prophesy, giving forth as oracles what is in harmony with
their own desires,-it will follow that he who commands is greater and
of higher authority than the prophetic spirit, though he is but a
man, which is impossible. But such spirits as are commanded by these
men, and speak when they desire it, are earthly and weak, audacious
and impudent, sent forth by Satan for the seduction and perdition of
those who do not hold fast that well-compacted faith which they
received at first through the Church. 5. Moreover, that this Marcus compounds
philters and love-potions, in order to insult the persons of some of
these women, if not of all, those of them who have returned to the
Church of God-a thing which frequently occurs-have acknowledged,
confessing, too, that they have been defiled by him, and that they
were filled with a burning passion towards him. A sad example of this
occurred in the case of a certain Asiatic, one of our deacons, who
had received him (Marcus) into his house. His wife, a woman of
remarkable beauty, fell a victim both in mind and body to this
magician, and, for a long time, travelled about with him. At last,
when, with no small difficulty, the brethren had converted her, she
spent her whole time in the exercise of public confession,
165 weeping over and lamenting the defilement which she had
received from this magician. 6. Some of his disciples, too, addicting
themselves 166 to the same practices, have deceived many silly women,
and defiled them. They proclaim themselves as being "perfect," so
that no one can be compared to them with respect to the immensity of
their knowledge, nor even were you to mention Paul or Peter, or any
other of the apostles. They assert that they themselves know more
than all others, and that they alone have imbibed the greatness of
the knowledge of that power which is unspeakable. They also maintain
that they have attained to a height above all power, and that
therefore they are free in every respect to act as they please,
having no one to fear in anything. For they affirm, that because of
the "Redemption" 167 it has come to pass that they can neither be
apprehended, nor even seen by the judge. But even if he should happen
to lay hold upon them, then they might simply repeat these words,
while standing in his presence along with the "Redemption: ""O thou,
who sittest beside God, 168 and the mystical, eternal Sige, thou through whom the
angels (mightiness), who continually behold the face of the Father,
having thee as their guide and introducer, do derive their forms
169 from above, which she in the greatness of her daring
inspiring with mind on account of the goodness of the Propator,
produced us as their images, having her mind then intent upon the
things above, as in a dream,-behold, the judge is at hand, and the
crier orders me to make my defence. But do thou, as being acquainted
with the affairs of both, present the cause of both of us to the
judge, inasmuch as it is in reality but one cause." 170 Now, as soon as the Mother hears these words, she puts
the Homeric 171 helmet of Pluto upon them, so that they may invisibly
escape the judge. And then she immediately catches them up, conducts
them into the bridal chamber, and hands them over to their
consorts. 7. Such are the words and deeds by which, in
our own district of the Rhone, they have deluded many women, who have
their consciences seared as with a hot iron. 172 Some of them, indeed, make a public confession of their
sins; but others of them are ashamed to do this, and in a tacit kind
of way, despairing of [attaining to] the life of God, have, some of
them, apostatized altogether; while others hesitate between the two
courses, and incur that which is implied in the proverb, "neither
without nor within; "possessing this as the fruit from the seed of
the children of knowledge. Chapter XIV.-The
Various Hypotheses of Marcus and Others. Theories Respecting Letters
and Syllables. 1. This Marcus 173 then, declaring that he alone was the matrix and
receptacle of the Sige of Colorbasus, inasmuch as he was
only-begotten, has brought to the birth in some such way as follows
that which was committed to him of the defective Enthymesis. He
declares that the infinitely exalted Tetrad descended upon him from
the invisible and indescribable places in the form of a woman (for
the world could not have borne it coming in its male form), and
expounded to him alone its own nature, and the origin of all things,
which it had never before revealed to any one either of gods or men.
This was done in the following terms: When first the unoriginated,
inconceivable Father, who is without material substance, 174 and is neither male nor female, willed to bring forth
that which is ineffable to Him, and to endow with form that which is
invisible, He opened His mouth, and sent forth the Word similar to
Himself, who, standing near, showed Him what He Himself was, inasmuch
as He had been manifested in the form of that which was invisible.
Moreover, the pronunciation of His name took place as follows:-He
spoke the first word of it, which was the beginning 175 [of all the rest], and that utterance consisted of four
letters. He added the second, and this also consisted of four
letters. Next He uttered the third, and this again embraced ten
letters. Finally, He pronounced the fourth, which was composed of
twelve letters. Thus took place the enunciation of the whole name,
consisting of thirty letters, and four distinct utterances. Each of
these elements has its own peculiar letters, and character, and
pronunciation, and forms, and images, and there is not one of them
that perceives the shape of that [utterance] of which it is an
element. Neither does any one know 176 itself, nor is it acquainted with the pronunciation of
its neighbour, but each one imagines that by its own utterance it
does in fact name the whole. For while every one of them is a part of
the whole, it imagines its own sound to be the whole name, and does
not leave off sounding until, by its own utterance, it has reached
the last letter of each of the elements. This teacher declares that
the restitution of all things will take place, when all these, mixing
into one letter, shall utter one and the same sound. He imagines that
the emblem of this utterance is found in Amen, which we pronounce
in concert. 177 The diverse sounds (he adds) are those which give form
to that Aeon who is without material substance and unbegotten, and
these, again, are the forms which the Lord has called angels, who
continually behold the face of the Father. 178 2. Those names of the elements which may be
told, and are common, he has called Aeons, and words, and roots, and
seeds, and fulnesses, and fruits. He asserts that each of these, and
all that is peculiar to every one of them, is to be understood as
contained in the name Ecclesia. Of these elements, the last letter of
the last one uttered its voice, and this sound 179 going forth generated its own elements after the image
of the [other] elements, by which he affirms, that both the things
here below were arranged into the order they occupy, and those that
preceded them were called into existence. He also maintains that the
letter itself, the sound of which followed that sound below, was
received up again by the syllable to which it belonged, in order to
the completion of the whole, but that the sound remained below as if
cast outside. But the element itself from which the letter with its
special pronunciation descended to that below, he affirms to consist
of thirty letters, while each of these letters, again, contains other
letters in itself, by means of which the name of the letter is
expressed. And thus, again, others are named by other letters, and
others still by others, so that the multitude of letters swells out
into infinitude. You may more clearly understand what I mean by the
following example:-The word Delta contains five
letters, viz., D, E, L, T, A: these letters again, are written by
other letters, 180 and others still by others. If, then, the entire
composition of the word Delta [when thus analyzed] runs out into
infinitude, letters continually generating other letters, and
following one another in constant succession, how much raster than
that [one] word is the [entire] ocean of letters! And if even one
letter be thus infinite, just consider the immensity of the letters
in the entire name; out of which the Sige of Marcus has taught us the
Propator is composed. For which reason the Father, knowing the
incomprehensibleness of His own nature, assigned to the elements
which He also terms Aeons, [the power] of each one uttering its own
enunciation, because no one of them was capable by itself of uttering
the whole. 3.Moreover, the Tetrad, explaining these things
to him more fully, said:-I wish to show thee Aletheia (Truth)
herself; for I have brought her down from the dwellings above, that
thou mayest see her without a veil, and understand her beauty-that
thou mayest also hear her speaking, and admire her wisdom. Behold,
then, her head on high, Alpha and Omega; her neck,
Beta and
Psi; her
shoulders with her hands, Gamma and Chi; her breast,
Delta and
Phi; her
diaphragm, Epsilon and Upsilon;
her back, Zeta and Tau; her belly,
Eta and
Sigma; her
thighs, Theta and Rho; her knees, Iota and Pi; her legs,
Kappa and
Omicron; her ankles, Lambda and Xi; her feet,
Mu and
Nu. Such
is the body of Truth, according to this magician, such the figure of
the element, such the character of the letter. And he calls this
element Anthropos (Man), and says that is the fountain of all speech,
and the beginning of all sound, and the expression of all that is
unspeakable, and the mouth of the silent Sige. This indeed is the
body of Truth. But do thou, elevating the thoughts of thy mind on
high, listen from the mouth of Truth to the self-begotten Word, who
is also the dispenser of the bounty of the Father. 4. When she (the Tetrad) had spoken these
things, Aletheia looked at him, opened her mouth, and uttered a word.
That word was a name, and the name was this one which we do know and
speak of, viz., Christ Jesus. When she had uttered this name, she at
once relapsed into silence. And as Marcus waited in the expectation
that she would say something more, the Tetrad again came forward and
said, "Thou hast reckoned as contemptible that word which thou hast
heard from the mouth of Aletheia. This which thou knowest and seemest
to possess, is not an ancient name. For thou possessest the sound of
it merely, whilst thou art ignorant of its power. For Jesus
('Ihsou=j) is a name arithmetically 181 symbolical, consisting of six letters, and is known by
all those that belong to the called. But that which is among the
Aeons of the Pleroma consists of many parts, and is of another form
and shape, and is known by those [angels] who are joined in affinity
with Him, and whose figures (mightinesses) are always present with
Him. 5. Know, then, that the four-and-twenty letters
which you possess are symbolical emanations of the three powers that
contain the entire number of the elements above. For you are to
reckon thus-that the nine mute 182 letters are [the images] of Pater and Aletheia, because
they are without voice, that is, of such a nature as cannot be
uttered or pronounced. But the semi-vowels 183 represent Logos and Zoe, because they are, as it were,
midway between the consonants and the vowels, partaking 184 of the nature of both. The vowels, again, are
representative of Anthropos and Ecclesia, inasmuch as a voice
proceeding from Anthropos gave being to them all; for the sound of
the voice imparted to them form. Thus, then, Logos and Zoe possess
eight [of these letters]; Anthropos and Ecclesia seven; and Pater and
Aletheia nine. But since the number allotted to each was unequal, He
who existed in the Father came down, having been specially sent by
Him from whom He was separated, for the rectification of what had
taken place, that the unity of the Pleromas, being endowed with
equality, might develop in all that one power which flows from all.
Thus that division which had only seven letters, received the power
of eight, 185 and the three sets were rendered alike in point of
number, all becoming Ogdoads; which three, when brought together,
constitute the number four-and-twenty. The three elements, too (which
he declares to exist in conjunction with three powers, 186 and thus form the six from which have flowed the
twenty-four letters), being quadrupled by the word of the ineffable
Tetrad, give rise to the same number with them; and these elements he
maintains to belong to Him who cannot be named. These, again, were
endowed by the three powers with a resemblance to Him who is
invisible. And he says that those letters which we call double
187 are the images of the images of these elements; and if
these be added to the four-and-twenty letters, by the force of
analogy they form the number thirty. 6. He asserts that the fruit of this
arrangement and analogy has been manifested in the likeness of an
image, namely, Him who, after six days, ascended 188 into the mountain along with three others, and then
became one of six (the sixth), 189 in which character He descended and was contained in
the Hebdomad, since He was the illustrious Ogdoad, 190 and contained in Himself the entire number of the
elements, which the descent of the dove (who is Alpha and Omega) made
clearly manifest, when He came to be baptized; for the number of the
dove is eight hundred and one. 191 And for this reason did Moses declare that man was
formed on the sixth day; and then, again, according to arrangement,
it was on the sixth day, which is the preparation, that the last man
appeared, for the regeneration of the first, Of this arrangement,
both the beginning and the end were formed at that sixth hour, at
which He was nailed to the tree. For that perfect being Nous, knowing
that the number six had the power both of formation and regeneration,
declared to the children of light, that regeneration which has been
wrought out by Him who appeared as the Episemon in regard to that
number. Whence also he declares it is that the double letters
192 contain the Episemon number; for this Episemon, when
joined to the twenty-four elements, completed the name of thirty
letters. 7. He employed as his instrument, as the Sige
of Marcus declares, the power of seven letters, 193 in order that the fruit of the independent will [of
Achamoth] might be revealed. "Consider this present Episemon," she says-"Him
who was formed after the [original] Episemon, as being, as it
were, divided or cut into two parts, and remaining outside; who, by
His own power and wisdom, through means of that which had been
produced by Himself, gave life to this world, consisting of seven
powers, 194 after the likeness of the power of the Hebdomad, and so
formed it, that it is the soul of everything visible. And He indeed
uses this work Himself as if it had been formed by His own free will;
but the rest, as being images of what cannot be [fully] imitated, are
subservient to the Enthymesis of the mother. And the first heaven
indeed pronounces Alpha, the next to this Epsilon, the third
Eta, the
fourth, which is also in the midst of the seven, utters the sound of
Iota, the
fifth Omicron, the sixth Upsilon, the seventh,
which is also the fourth from the middle, utters the elegant
Omega,"-as
the Sige of Marcus, talking a deal of nonsense, but uttering no word
of truth, confidently asserts. "And these powers," she adds, "being
all simultaneously clasped in each other's embrace, do sound out the
glory of Him by whom they were produced; and the glory of that sound
is transmitted upwards to the Propator." She asserts, moreover, that
"the sound of this uttering of praise, having been wafted to the
earth, has become the Framer and the Parent of those things which are
on the earth." 8. He instances, in proof of this, the case of
infants who have just been born, the cry of whom, as soon as they
have issued from the womb, is in accordance with the sound of every
one of these elements. As, then, he says, the seven powers glorify
the Word, so also does the complaining soul of infants. 195 For this reason, too, David said: "Out of the mouth of
babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise; " 196 and again: "The heavens declare the glory of God."
197 Hence also it comes to pass, that when the soul is
involved in difficulties and distresses, for its own relief it calls
out, "Oh" (W), in honour of the letter in question, 198 so that its cognate soul above may recognise [its
distress], and send down to it relief. 9. Thus it is, that in regard to the whole
name, 199 which consists of thirty letters, and Bythus, who
receives his increase from the letters of this [name], and, moreover,
the body of Aletheia, which is composed of twelve members, each of
which consists of two letters, and the voice which she uttered
without having spoken at all, and in regard to the analysis of that
name which cannot be expressed in words, and the soul of the world
and of man, according as they possess that arrangement, which is
after the image [of things above], he has uttered his nonsensical
opinions. It remains that I relate how the Tetrad showed him from the
names a power equal in number; so that nothing, my friend, which I
have received as spoken by him, may remain unknown to thee; and thus
thy request, often proposed to me, may be fulfilled. Chapter XV.-Sige
Relates to Marcus the Generation of the Twenty-Four Elements and of
Jesus. Exposure of These Absurdities. 1. The all-wise Sige then announced the
production of the four-and-twenty elements to him as follows:-Along
with Monotes there coexisted Henotes, from which sprang two
productions, as we have remarked above, Monas and Hen, which, added
to the other two, make four, for twice two are Four. And again, two
and four, when added together, exhibit the number six. And further,
these six being quadrupled, give rise to the twenty-four forms. And
the names of the first Tetrad, which are understood to be most holy,
and not capable of being expressed in words, are known by the Son
alone, while the father also knows what they are. The other names
which are to be uttered with respect, and faith, and reverence, are,
according to him, Arrhetos and Sige, Pater and Aletheia. Now the
entire number of this Tetrad amounts to four-and-twenty letters; for
the name Arrhetos contains in itself seven letters, Seige
200 five, Pater five, and Aletheia seven. If all these be
added together-twice five, and twice seven-they complete the number
twenty-four. In like manner, also, the second Tetrad, Logos and Zoe,
Anthropos and Ecclesia, reveal the same number of elements. Moreover,
that name of the Saviour which may be pronounced, viz., Jesus
['Ihsou=j, consists of six letters, but His unutterable name
comprises for-and-twenty letters. The name Christ the Son
201 (ui9o\ j Xreisto/j) comprises twelve letter, but that
which is unpronounceable in Christ contains thirty letters. And for
this reason he declares that fie is Alpha and Omega, that he may
indicate the dove, inasmuch as that bird has this number [in its
name]. 2. But Jesus, he affirms, has the following
unspeakable origin. From the mother of all things, that is, the first
Tetrad; there came forth the second Tetrad, after the manner of a
daughter; and thus an Ogdoad was formed, from which, again, a Decad
proceeded: thus was produced a Decad and an Ogdoad. The Decad, then,
being joined with the Ogdoad, and multiplying it ten times, gave rise
to the number eighty; and, again, multiplying eighty ten times, produced the
number eight hundred. Thus, then, the whole number of the letters proceeding
from the Ogdoad [multiplied] into the Decad, is eight hundred and
eighty-eight. 202 This is the name of Jesus; for this name, if you reckon
up the numerical value of the letters, amounts to eight hundred and
eighty-eight. Thus, then, you have a clear statement of their opinion
as to the origin of the supercelestial Jesus. Wherefore, also, the
alphabet of the Greeks contains eight Monads, eight Decads, and eight
Hecatads 203 , which present the number eight hundred and
eighty-eight, that is, Jesus, who is formed of
all numbers; and on this account He is called Alpha and Omega, indicating His
origin from all. And, again, they put the matter thus: If the first
Tetrad be added up according to the progression of number, the number
ten appears. For one, and two, and three, and four, when added
together, form ten; and this, as they will have it, is Jesus.
Moreover, Chreistus, he says, being a word of eight letters,
indicates the first Ogdoad, and this, when multiplied by ten, gives
birth to Jesus (888). And Christ the Son, he says, is also spoken of,
that is, the Duodecad. For the name Son, (ui9o\ j) contains four
letters, and Christ (Chreistus) eight, which, being combined, point
out the greatness of the Duodecad. But, he alleges, before the
Episemon
of this name appeared, that is Jesus the Son, mankind were involved
in great ignorance and error. But when this name of six letters was
manifested (the person bearing it clothing Himself in flesh, that He
might come under the apprehension of man's senses, and having in
Himself these six and twenty-four letters), then, becoming acquainted
with Him, they ceased from their ignorance, and passed from death
unto life, this name serving as their guide to the Father of truth.
204 For the Father of all had resolved to put an end to
ignorance, and to destroy death. But this abolishing of ignorance was
just the knowledge of Him. And therefore that man (Anthropos) was
chosen according to His will, having been formed after the image of
the [corresponding] power above. 3. As to the Aeons, they proceeded from the
Tetrad, and in that Tetrad were Anthropos and Ecclesia, Logos and
Zoe. The powers, then, he declares, who emanated from these,
generated that Jesus who appeared upon the earth. The angel Gabriel
took the place of Logos, the Holy Spirit that of Zoe, the Power of
the Highest that of Anthropos, while the Virgin pointed out the place
of Ecclesia. And thus, by a special dispensation, there was generated
by Him, through Mary, that man, whom, as He passed through the womb,
the Father of all chose to [obtain] the knowledge of Himself by means
of the Word. And on His coming to the water [of baptism], there
descended on Him, in the form of a dove, that Being who had formerly
ascended on high, and completed the twelfth number, in whom there
existed the seed of those who were produced contemporaneously with
Himself, and who descended and ascended along with Him. Moreover, he
maintains that power which descended was the seed of the Father,
which had in itself both the Father and the Son, as well as that
power of Sige which is known by means of them, but cannot be
expressed in language, and also all the Aeons. And this was that
Spirit who spoke by the mouth of Jesus, and who confessed that He was
the son of Man as well as revealed the Father, and who, having
descended into Jesus, was made one with Him. And he says that the
Saviour formed by special dispensation did indeed destroy death, but
that Christ made known the Father. 205 He maintains, therefore, that Jesus is the name of that
man formed by a special dispensation, and that He was formed after
the likeness and form of that [heavenly] Anthropos, who was about to
descend upon Him. After He had received that Aeon, He possessed
Anthropos himself, and Loges himself, and Pater, and Arrhetus, and
Sige, and Aletheia, and Ecclesia, and Zoe. 4.Such ravings, we may now well say, go beyond
Iu, Iu, Pheu, Pheu, and every kind of tragic exclamation or utterance of
misery. 206 For who would not detest one who is the wretched
contriver of such audacious falsehoods, when he perceives the truth
turned by Marcus into a mere image, and that punctured all over with
the letters of the alphabet? The Greeks confess that they first
received sixteen letters from Cadmus, and that but recently, as
compared with the beginning, [the vast antiquity of which is implied]
in the common proverb: "Yesterday and before; " 207 and afterwards, in the course of time, they themselves
invented at one period the aspirates, and at another the double
letters, while, last of all, they say Palamedes added the long
letters to the former. Was it so, then, that until these things took
place among the Greeks, truth had no existence? For, according to
thee, Marcus, the body of truth is posterior to Cadmus and those who
preceded him-posterior also to those who added the rest of the
letters-posterior even to thyself! For thou alone hast formed that
which is called by thee the truth into an [outward, visible]
image. 5. But who will tolerate thy nonsensical Sige,
who names Him that cannot be named, and expounds the nature of Him
that is unspeakable, and searches out Him that is unsearchable, and
declares that He whom thou maintainest to be destitute of body and
form, opened His mouth and sent forth the Word, as if He were
included among organized beings; and that His Word, while like to His
Author, and bearing the image of the invisible, nevertheless
consisted of thirty elements and four syllables? It will follow,
then, according to thy theory, that the Father of all, in accordance
with the likeness of the Word, consists of thirty elements and four
syllables! Or, again, who will tolerate thee in thy juggling with
forms and numbers,-at one time thirty, at another twenty-four, and at
another, again, only six,-whilst thou shuttest up [in these] the Word
of God, the Founder, and Framer, and Maker of all things; and then,
again, cutting Him up piecemeal into four syllables and thirty
elements; and bringing down the Lord of all who founded the heavens
to the number eight hundred and eighty-eight, so that He should be
similar to the alphabet; and subdividing the Father, who cannot be
contained, but contains all things, into a Tetrad, and an Ogdoad, and
a Decad, and a Duodecad; and by such multiplications, setting forth
the unspeakable and inconceivable nature of the Father, as thou
thyself declarest it to be? And showing thyself a very Daedalus for
evil invention, and the wicked architect of the supreme power, thou
dost construct a nature and substance for Him whom thou callest
incorporeal and immaterial, out of a multitude of letters, generated
the one by the other. And that power whom thou affirmest to be
indivisible, thou dost nevertheless divide into consonants, and
vowels, and semi-vowels; and, falsely ascribing those letters which
are mute to the Father of all things, and to His Ennœa
(thought), thou hast driven on all that place confidence in thee to
the highest point of blasphemy, and to the grossest impiety.
208
6. With good reason, therefore, and very
fittingly, in reference to thy rash attempt, has that divine elder
209 and preacher of the truth burst forth in verse against
thee as follows:-"Marcus, thou former of idols, inspector of
portents, Skill'd in consulting the stars, and deep in the black arts
of magic, Ever by tricks such as these confirming the doctrines of
error, Furnishing signs unto those involved by thee in deception,
Wonders of power that is utterly severed from God and apostate, Which
Satan, thy true father, enables thee still to accomplish, By means of
Azazel, that fallen and yet mighty angel,-Thus making thee the
precursor of his own impious actions."Such are the words of the
saintly elder. And I shall endeavour to state the remainder of their
mystical system, which runs out to great length, in brief compass,
and to bring to the light what has for a long time been concealed.
For in this way such things will become easily susceptible of
exposure by all. Chapter XVI.-Absurd
Interpretations of the Marcosians. 1. Blending in one the production of their own
Aeons, and the straying and recovery of the sheep [spoken of in the
Gospel 210 ], these persons endeavour to set forth things in a
more mystical style, while they refer everything to numbers,
maintaining that the universe has been formed out of a Monad and a
Dyad. And then, reckoning from unity on to four, they thus generate
the Decad. For when one, two, three, and four are added together,
they give rise to the number of the ten Aeons. And, again, the Dyad
advancing from itself [by twos] up to six-two, and four, and
six-brings out the Duodecad. Once more, if we reckon in the same way
up to ten, the number thirty appears, m which are found eight, and
ten, and twelve. They therefore term the Duodecad-because it contains
the Episemon, 211 and because the Episemon [so to speak] waits upon
it-the passion. And for this reason, because an error occurred in
connection with the twelfth number, 212 the sheep frisked off, and went astray; for they assert
that a defection took place from the Duodecad. In the same way they
oracularly declare, that one power having departed also from the
Duodecad, has perished; and this was represented by the woman who
lost the drachma, 213 and, lighting a lamp, again found it. Thus, therefore,
the numbers that were left, viz., nine, as respects the pieces of
money, and eleven in regard to the sheep, 214 when multiplied together, give birth to the number
ninety-nine, for nine times eleven are ninety-nine. Wherefore also
they maintain the word "Amen" contains this number. 2. I will not, however, weary thee by
recounting their other interpretations, that you may perceive the
results everywhere. They maintain for instance, that the letter
Eta (h)
along with the Episemon (õ\) constitutes an Ogdoad, inasmuch as it
occupies the eighth place from the first letter. Then, again, without
the Episemon, reckoning the number of the letters, and adding them
up till we come to Eta, they bring out the Priacontad. For if one begins at
Alpha and
ends with Eta, omitting the Episeman, and adds
together the value of the letters in succession, he will find their
number altogether to amount to thirty. For up to Epsilon (e) fifteen are
formed; then adding seven to that number, the sum of twenty-two is
reached. Next, Eta being added to these, since its value is eight, the
most wonderful Triacontad is completed. And hence they give forth
that the Ogdoad is the mother of the thirty Aeons. Since, therefore,
the number thirty is composed of three powers [the Ogdoad, Decad, and
Duodecad], when multiplied by three, it produces ninety, for three
times thirty are ninety. Likewise this Triad, when multiplied by
itself, gives rise to nine. Thus the Ogdoad generates, by these
means, ninety-nine. And since the twelfth Aeon, by her defection,
left eleven in the heights above, they maintain that therefore the
position of the letters is a true coordinate of the method of their
calculation 215 (for Lambda is the eleventh in order among the letters,
and represents the number thirty), and also forms a representation of
the arrangement of affairs above, since, on from Alpha, omitting
Episemon,
the number of the letters up to Lambda, when added together according
to the successive value of the letters, and including Lambda itself, forms the
sum of ninety-nine; but that this Lambda, being the eleventh
in order, descended to seek after one equal to itself, so as to
complete the number of twelve letters, and when it found such a one,
the number was completed, is manifest from the very configuration of
the letter; for Lambda being engaged, as it were, in the quest of one similar
to itself, and finding such an one, and clasping it to itself, thus
filled up the place of the twelfth, the letter Mu (M) being composed of
two Lambdas (LL). Wherefore also they, by means of their
"knowledge," avoid the place of ninety-nine, that is, the defection-a
type of the left hand, 216 -but endeavour to secure one more, which, when
added to the ninety and nine, has the effect of changing their
reckoning to the right hand. 3. I well know, my dear friend, that when thou
hast read through all this, thou wilt indulge in a hearty laugh over this their inflated wise
folly! But those men are really worthy
of being mourned over, who promulgate such a kind of religion, and
who so frigidly and perversely pull to pieces the greatness of the
truly unspeakable power, and the dispensations of God in themselves
so striking, by means of Alpha and Beta, and through the aid of
numbers. But as many as separate from the Church, and
give heed to such old wives' fables as
these, are truly self-condemned; and these
men Paul commands us, "after a first and second admonition, to
avoid." 217 And John, the disciple of the Lord, has intensified
their condemnation, when he desires us not even to address to them
the salutation of "good-speed; "for, says he, "He that bids them be
of good-speed is a partaker with their evil deeds; " 218 and that with reason, "for there is no good-speed to
the ungodly," 219 saith the Lord. Impious indeed, beyond all impiety, are
these men, who assert that the Maker of heaven and earth, the only
God Almighty, besides whom there is no God, was produced by means of
a defect, which itself sprang from another defect, so that, according
to them, He was the product of the third defect. 220 Such an opinion we should detest and execrate, while we
ought everywhere to flee far apart from those that hold it; and in
proportion as they vehemently maintain and rejoice in their
fictitious doctrines, so much the more should we be convinced that
they are under the influence of the wicked spirits of the
Ogdoad,- just as those persons who fall into
a fit of frenzy, the more they
laugh, and imagine themselves to be
well, and
do all things as if they were in good health [both of body and mind],
yea, some things better than those who really are so, are only thus
shown to be the more seriously
diseased. In like manner do these men, the more they seem
to excel others in wisdom, and waste their strength by drawing the
bow too tightly, 221 the greater
fools do they show themselves.
For when the unclean spirit of folly has gone
forth, and when afterwards he finds them not waiting upon God, but
occupied with mere worldly questions, then, "taking seven other
spirits more wicked than himself," 222 and inflating the minds of these men with the notion of
their being able to conceive of something beyond God, and having
fitly prepared them for the reception of deceit, he implants within
them the Ogdoad of the foolish spirits of wickedness. Chapter XVII.-The
Theory of the Marcosians, that Created Things Were Made After the
Image of Things Invisible. 1. I wish also to explain to thee their theory
as to the way in which the creation itself was formed through the
mother by the Demiurge (as it were without his knowledge), after the
image of things invisible. They maintain, then, that first of all the
four elements, fire, water, earth, and air, were produced after the
image of the primary Tetrad above, and that then, we add their
operations, viz., heat, cold, dryness, and humidity, an exact
likeness of the Ogdoad is presented. They next reckon up ten powers
in the following manner:-There are seven globular bodies, which they
also call heavens; then that globular body which contains these,
which also they name the eighth heaven; and, in addition to these,
the sun and moon. These, being ten in number, they declare to be
types of the invisible Decad, which proceeded from Logos and Zoe. As
to the Duodecad, it is indicated by the zodiacal circle, as it is
called; for they affirm that the twelve signs do most manifestly
shadow forth the Duodecad, the daughter of Anthropos and Ecclesia.
And since the highest heaven, beating upon the very sphere [of the
seventh heaven], has been linked with the most rapid precession of
the whole system, as a check, and balancing that system with its own
gravity, so that it completes the cycle from sign to sign in thirty
years,-they say that this is an image of Horus, encircling their
thirty-named mother. 223 And then, again, as the moon travels through her
allotted space of heaven in thirty days, they hold, that by these
days she expresses the number of the thirty Aeons. The sun also, who
runs through his orbit in twelve months, and then returns to the same
point in the circle, makes the Duodecad manifest by these twelve
months; and the days, as being measured by twelve hours, are a type
of the invisible Duodecad. Moreover, they declare that the hour,
which is the twelfth part of the day, is composed 224 of thirty parts, in order to set forth the image of the
Triacontad. Also the circumference of the zodiacal circle itself
contains three hundred and sixty degrees (for each of its signs
comprises thirty); and thus also they affirm, that by means of this
circle an image is preserved of that connection which exists between
the twelve and the thirty. Still further, asserting that the earth is
divided into twelve zones, and that in each zone it receives power
from the heavens, according to the perpendicular [position of the sun
above it], bringing forth productions corresponding to that power
which sends down its influence upon it, they maintain that this is a
most evident type of the Duodecad and its offspring. 2. In addition to these things, they declare
that the Demiurge, desiring to imitate the infinitude, and eternity,
and immensity, and freedom from all measurement by time of the Ogdoad
above, but, as he was the fruit of defect, being unable to express
its permanence and eternity, had recourse to the expedient of
spreading out its eternity into times, and seasons, and vast numbers
of years, imagining, that by the multitude of such times he might
imitate its immensity . They declare further, that the truth having
escaped him, he followed that which was false, and that, for this
reason, when the times are fulfilled, his work shah perish.
Chapter
XVIII.-Passages from Moses, Which the Heretics Pervert to the Support
of Their Hypothesis. 1. And while they affirm such things as these
concerning the creation, every one of them generates something new,
day by day, according to his ability; for no one is deemed "perfect,"
who does not develop among them some mighty fictions. It is thus
necessary, first, to indicate what things they metamorphose [to their
own use] out of the prophetical writings, and next, to refute them.
Moses, then, they declare, by his mode of beginning the account of
the creation, has at the commencement pointed out the mother of all
things when he says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth; " 225 for, as they maintain, by naming these four,-God,
beginning, heaven, and earth,-he set forth their Tetrad. Indicating
also its invisible and hidden nature, he said, "Now the earth was
invisible and unformed." 226 They will have it, moreover, that he spoke of the
second Tetrad, the offspring of the first, in this way-by naming an
abyss and darkness, in which were also water, and the Spirit moving
upon the water. Then, proceeding to mention the Decad, he names
light, day, night, the firmament, the evening, the morning, dry land,
sea, plants, and, in the tenth place, trees. Thus, by means of these
ten names, he indicated the ten Aeons. The power of the Duodecad,
again, was shadowed forth by him thus:-He names the sun, moon, stars,
seasons, years, whales, fishes, reptiles, birds, quadrupeds, wild
beasts, and after all these, in the twelfth place, man. Thus they
teach that the Triacontad was spoken of through Moses by the Spirit.
Moreover, man also, being formed after the image of the power above,
had in himself that ability which flows from the one source. This
ability was seated in the region of the brain, from which four
faculties proceed, after the image of the Tetrad above, and these are
called: the first, sight, the second, hearing, the third,
smell, and
the fourth, 227 taste. And they say that the Ogdoad is indicated by man in
this way: that he possesses two ears, the like number of eyes, also
two nostrils, and a twofold taste, namely, of bitter and sweet.
Moreover, they teach that the whole man contains the entire image of
the Triacontad as follows: In his hands, by means of his fingers, he
bears the Decad; and in his whole body the Duodecad, inasmuch as his
body is divided into twelve members; for they portion that out, as
the body of Truth is divided by them-a point of which we have already
spoken. 228 But the Ogdoad, as being unspeakable and invisible, is
understood as hidden in the viscera. 2. Again, they assert that the sun, the great
light-giver, was formed on the fourth day, with a reference to the
number of the Tetrad. So also, according to them, the courts
229 of the tabernacle constructed by Moses, being composed
of fine linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, pointed to the same
image. Moreover, they maintain that the long robe of the priest
failing over his feet, as being adorned with four rows of precious
stones, 230 indicates the Tetrad; and if there are any other things
in the Scriptures which can possibly be dragged into the number
four, they
declare that these had their being with a view to the Tetrad. The
Ogdoad, again, was shown as follows:-They affirm that man was formed
on the eighth day, for sometimes they will have him to have been made
on the sixth day, and sometimes on the eighth, unless, perchance,
they mean that his earthly part was formed on the sixth day, but his
fleshly part on the eighth, for these two things are distinguished by
them. Some of them also hold that one man was formed after the image
and likeness of God, masculo-feminine, and that this was the
spiritual man; and that another man was formed out of the
earth. 3. Further, they declare that the arrangement
made with respect to the ark in the Deluge, by means of which eight
persons were saved, 231 most clearly indicates the Ogdoad which brings
salvation. David also shows forth the same, as holding the eighth
place in point of age among his brethren. 232 Moreover, that circumcision which took place on the
eighth day, 233 represented the circumcision of the Ogdoad above. In a
word, whatever they find in the Scriptures capable of being referred
to the number eight, they declare to fulfil the mystery of the Ogdoad. With
respect, again, to the Decad, they maintain that it is indicated by
those ten nations which God promised to Abraham for a possession.
234 The arrangement also made by Sarah when, after ten
years, she gave 235 her handmaid Hagar to him, that by her he might have a
son, showed the same thing. Moreover, the servant of Abraham who was
sent to Rebekah, and presented her at the well with ten bracelets of
gold, and her brethren who detained her for ten days; 236 Jeroboam also, who received the ten sceptres
237 (tribes), and the ten courts 238 of the tabernacle, and the columns of ten cubits
239 [high], and the ten sons of Jacob who were at first
sent into Egypt to buy com, 240 and the ten apostles to whom the Lord appeared after
His resurrection,-Thomas 241 being absent,-represented, according to them, the
invisible Decad. 4. As to the Duodecad, in connection with which
the mystery of the passion of the defect occurred, from which passion
they maintain that all things visible were framed, they assert that
is to be found strikingly and manifestly everywhere [in Scripture].
For they declare that the twelve sons of Jacob, 242 from whom also sprung twelve tribes,-the breastplate of
the high priest, which bore twelve precious stones and twelve little
bells, 243 -the twelve stones which were placed by Moses at the
foot of the mountain, 244 -the same number which was placed by Joshua in the
river, 245 and again, on the other side, the bearers of the ark of
the covenant, 246 -those stones which were set up by Elijah when the
heifer was offered as a burnt-offering; 247 the number, too, of the apostles; and, in fine, every
event which embraces in it the number twelve,-set forth their
Duodecad. And then the union of all these, which is called the
Triacontad, they strenuously endeavour to demonstrate by the ark of
Noah, the height of which was thirty cubits; 248 by the case of Samuel, who assigned Saul the chief
place among thirty guests; 249 by David, when for thirty days he concealed himself in
the field; 250 by those who entered along with him into the cave; also
by the fact that the length (height) of the holy tabernacle was
thirty cubits; 251 and if they meet with any other like numbers, they
still apply these to their Triacontad. Chapter
XIX.-Passages of Scripture by Which They Attempt to Prove that the
Supreme Father Was Unknown Before the Coming of Christ. 1. I judge it necessary to add to these details
also what, by garbling passages of Scripture, they try to persuade us
concerning their Propator, who was unknown to all before the coming
of Christ. Their object in this is to show that our Lord announced
another Father than the Maker of this universe, whom, as we said
before, they impiously declare to have been the fruit of a defect.
For instance, when the prophet Isaiah says, "But Israel hath not
known Me, and My people have not understood Me," 252 they pervert his words to mean ignorance of the
invisible Bythus. And that which is spoken by Hosea, "There is no
truth in them, nor the knowledge of God," 253 they strive to give the same reference. And, "There is
none that understandeth, or that seeketh after God: they have all
gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable,"
254 they maintain to be said concerning ignorance of
Bythus. Also that which is spoken by Moses, "No man shall see God and
live," 255 has, as they would persuade us, the same
reference. 2. For they falsely hold, that the Creator was
seen by the prophets. But this passage, "No man shall see God and
live," they would interpret as spoken of His greatness unseen and
unknown by all; and indeed that these words, "No man shall see God,"
are spoken concerning the invisible Father, the Maker of the
universe, is evident to us all; but that they are not used concerning
that Bythus whom they conjure into existence, but concerning the
Creator (and He is the invisible God), shall be shown as we proceed.
They maintain that Daniel also set forth the same thing when he
begged of the angels explanations of the parables, as being himself
ignorant of them. But the angel, hiding from him the great mystery of
Bythus, said unto him, "Go thy way quickly, Daniel, for these sayings
are closed up until those who have understanding do understand them,
and those who are white be made white." 256 Moreover, they vaunt themselves as being the
white and
the men of good
understanding. Chapter XX.-The
Apocryphal and Spurious Scriptures of the Marcosians, with Passages
of the Gospels Which They Pervert. 1. Besides the above [misrepresentations], they
adduce an unspeakable number of apocryphal and spurious writings,
which they themselves have forged, to bewilder the minds of foolish
men, and of such as are ignorant of the Scriptures of truth. Among
other things, they bring forward that false and wicked story
257 which relates that our Lord, when He was a boy learning
His letters, on the teacher saying to Him, as is usual, "Pronounce
Alpha," replied [as He was bid], "Alpha." But when, again, the
teacher bade Him say, "Beta," the Lord replied, "Do thou first tell
me what Alpha is, and then I will tell thee what Beta is." This they
expound as meaning that He alone knew the Unknown, which He revealed
under its type Alpha. 2. Some passages, also, which occur in the
Gospels, receive from them a colouring of the same kind, such as the
answer which He gave His mother when He was twelve years of age:
"Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business? "
258 Thus, they say, He announced to them the Father of whom
they were ignorant. On this account, also, He sent forth the
disciples to the twelve tribes, that they might proclaim to them the
unknown God. And to the person who said to Him, "Good Master,"
259 He confessed that God who is truly good, saying, "Why
callest thou Me good: there is One who is good, the Father in the
heavens; " 260 and they assert that in this passage the Aeons receive
the name of heavens. Moreover, by His not replying to those who said
to Him, "By what power doest Thou this? " 261 but by a question on His own side, put them to utter
confusion; by His thus not replying, according to their
interpretation, He showed the unutterable nature of the Father.
Moreover, when He said, "I have often desired to hear one of these
words, and I had no one who could utter it," 262 they maintain, that by this expression "one" He set
forth the one true God whom they knew not. Further, when, as He drew
nigh to Jerusalem, He wept over it and said, "If thou hadst known,
even thou, in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace,
but they are hidden from thee," 263 by this word "hidden" He showed the abstruse nature of
Bythus. And again, when He said, "Come unto Me all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, and learn of Me,"
264 He announced the Father of truth. For what they knew
not, these men say that He promised to teach them. 3. But they adduce the following passage as the
highest testimony, 265 and, as it were, the very crown of their system:-"I
thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid
these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to
babes. Even so, my Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight. All
things have been delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knoweth the
Father but the Son, or the Son but the Father, and he to whom the Son
will reveal Him." 266 In these words they affirm that He clearly showed that
the Father of truth, conjured into existence by them, was known to no
one before His advent. And they desire to construe the passage as if
teaching that the Maker and Framer [of the world] was always known by
all, while the Lord spoke these words concerning the Father unknown
to all, whom they now proclaim. Chapter XXI.-The
Views of Redemption Entertained by These Heretics. 1. It happens that their
tradition respecting redemption 267 is invisible and incomprehensible, as
being the mother
of things which are incomprehensible and invisible; and on this
account, since it is fluctuating, it is impossible simply and all at
once to make known its nature, for every one of them hands it down
just as his own inclination prompts. Thus there are as many schemes
of "redemption" as there are teachers of these mystical opinions.
And when we come to refute
them, we shall show in its fitting-place, that this class of
men have been instigated
by Satan to a denial of
that baptism which is
regeneration to God,
and thus to a renunciation of the whole [Christian]
faith. 2. They maintain that those who have attained
to perfect knowledge must of necessity be regenerated into that power which is above all. For it is otherwise impossible to find
admittance within the Pleroma, since this [regeneration] it is which leads them down into the depths of
Bythus. For the baptism instituted by the
visible Jesus was for the remission of
sins, but the redemption brought in by that
Christ who descended upon
Him, was for perfection; and they allege that the former is animal, but the
latter spiritual. And the baptism of John was proclaimed with a
view to repentance, but the redemption by Jesus 268 was brought in for the sake of perfection. And to this He refers when He says, "And I have
another baptism to be baptized with, and I hasten eagerly towards
it." 269 Moreover, they affirm that the Lord added this
redemption to the sons of Zebedee, when their mother asked that they
might sit, the one on His right hand, and the other on His left, in
His kingdom, saying, "Can ye be baptized with the baptism which I
shall be baptized with? " 270 Paul, too, they declare, has often set forth, in
express terms, the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; and this was
the same which is handed down by them in so varied and discordant
forms. 3. For some of them prepare a nuptial couch,
and perform a sort of mystic
rite (pronouncing certain expressions)
with those who are being initiated, and affirm that
it is a spiritual marriage which is celebrated by them, after the
likeness of the conjunctions above. Others, again, lead them to a place where water
is, and baptize them, with the utterance of these words, "Into the
name of the unknown Father of the universe-into truth, the mother of
all things-into Him who descended on Jesus-into union, and
redemption, and communion with the powers." Others still repeat certain Hebrew words, in
order the more thoroughly to bewilder those who are being initiated,
as follows: "Basema, Chamosse, Baoenaora, Mistadia, Ruada, Kousta,
Babaphor, Kalachthei." 271 The interpretation of these terms runs thus: "I invoke
that which is above every power of the Father, which is called light,
and good Spirit, and life, because Thou hast reigned in the body."
Others, again, set forth the redemption thus: The name which is
hidden from every deity, and dominion, and truth which Jesus of
Nazareth was clothed with in the lives 272 of the light of Christ-of Christ, who lives by the Holy
Ghost, for the angelic redemption. The name of restitution stands
thus: Messia, Uphareg, Namempsoeman, Chaldoeaur, Mosomedoea,
Acphranoe, Psaua, Jesus Nazaria. 273 The interpretation of these words is as follows: "I do
not divide the Spirit of Christ, neither the heart nor the
supercelestial power which is merciful; may I enjoy Thy name, O
Saviour of truth!" Such are words of the initiators; but he who is
initiated, replies, "I am established, and I am redeemed; I redeem my
soul from this age (world), and from all things connected with it in
the name of Iao, who redeemed his own soul into redemption in Christ
who liveth." Then the bystanders add these words, "Peace be to all on
whom this name rests." After this they anoint the initiated person
with balsam; for they assert that this unguent is a type of that
sweet odour which is above all things. 4. But there are some of them who assert that
it is superfluous to bring persons to the water, but mixing oil and
water together, they place this mixture on the heads of those who are
to be initiated, with the use of some such expressions as we have
already mentioned. And this they maintain to be the redemption. They,
too, are accustomed to anoint with balsam. Others, however, reject
all these practices, and maintain that the mystery of the unspeakable
and invisible power ought not to be performed by visible and
corruptible creatures, nor should that of those [beings] who are
inconceivable, and incorporeal, and beyond the reach of sense, [be
performed] by such as are the objects of sense, and possessed of a
body. These hold that the knowledge of the unspeakable Greatness is
itself perfect redemption. For since both defect and passion flowed
from ignorance, the whole substance of what was thus formed is
destroyed by knowledge; and therefore knowledge is the redemption of
the inner man. This, however, is not of a corporeal nature, for the
body is corruptible; nor is it animal, since the animal soul is the
fruit of a defect, and is, as it were, the abode of the spirit. The
redemption must therefore be of a spiritual nature; for they affirm
that the inner and spiritual man is redeemed by means of knowledge,
and that they, having acquired the knowledge of all things, stand
thenceforth in need of nothing else. This, then, is the true
redemption. 5. Others still there are who continue to
redeem persons even up to the moment of
death, by placing on their heads oil and water, or the pre-mentioned ointment with water, using at the
same time the above-named invocations, that the persons referred to
may become incapable of being
seized or seen by the principalities and powers, and that their inner man may ascend
on high in an invisible manner, as if their body were left among
created things in this world, while their soul is sent forward to the
Demiurge. And they instruct them, on their reaching the
principalities and powers, to make use of these words: "I am a son
from the Father-the Father who had a pre-existence, and a son in Him
who is pre-existent. I have come to behold all things, both those
which belong to myself and others, although, strictly speaking, they
do not belong to others, but to Achamoth, who is
female in
nature, and made these things for herself. For I derive being from Him who is
pre-existent, and I come again to my own place whence I went forth."
And they affirm that, by saying these things, he escapes from the powers.
He then advances to the companions of the Demiurge, and thus
addresses them:-"I am a vessel more precious than the female who
formed you. If your mother is ignorant of her own descent, I know
myself, and am aware whence I am, and I call upon the incorruptible
Sophia,
who is in the Father, and is the mother of your
mother, who has no father, nor any
male consort; but a female springing from a female formed
you, while ignorant of her own mother, and imagining that she alone
existed; but I call upon her mother." And they declare, that when the
companions of the Demiurge hear these words, they are greatly
agitated, and upbraid their origin and the race of their mother. But
he goes into his own place, having thrown [off] his chain, that is,
his animal nature. These, then, are the particulars which have
reached us respecting "redemption." 274 But since they differ so widely among themselves both
as respects doctrine and tradition, and since those of them who are
recognised as being most modern make it their effort daily to invent
some new opinion, and to bring out what no one ever before thought
of, it is a difficult matter to describe all their opinions.
Chapter
XXII.-Deviations of Heretics from the Truth. 1. The rule 275 of truth which we hold, is, that there is one God
Almighty, who made all things by His Word, and fashioned and formed,
out of that which had no existence, all things which exist. Thus
saith the Scripture, to that effect "By the Word of the Lord were the
heavens established, and all the might of them, by the spirit of His
mouth." 276 And again, "All things were made by Him, and without
Him was nothing made." 277 There is no exception or deduction stated; but the
Father made all things by Him, whether visible or invisible, objects
of sense or of intelligence, temporal, on account of a certain
character given them, or eternal; and these eternal 278 things He did not make by angels, or by any powers
separated from His Ennoea. For God needs none of all these things,
but is He who, by His Word and Spirit, makes, and disposes, and
governs all things, and commands all things into existence,-He who
formed the world (for the world is of all),-He who fashioned man,-He
[who] 279 is the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob, above whom there is no other God, nor initial
principle, nor power, nor pleroma,-He is the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, as we shall prove. Holding, therefore, this rule, we shall
easily show, notwithstanding the great variety and multitude of their
opinions, that these men have deviated from the truth; for almost all
the different sects of heretics admit that there is one God; but
then, by their pernicious doctrines, they change [this truth into
error], even as the Gentiles do through idolatry,-thus proving
themselves ungrateful to Him that created them. Moreover, they
despise the workmanship of God, speaking against their own salvation,
becoming their own bitterest accusers, and being false witnesses
[against themselves]. Yet, reluctant as they may be, these men shall
one day rise again in the flesh, to confess the power of Him who
raises them from the dead; but they shall not be numbered among the
righteous on account of their unbelief. 2. Since, therefore, it is a complex and
multiform task to detect and convict all the heretics, and since our
design is to reply to them all according to their special characters,
we have judged it necessary, first of all, to give an account of
their source and root, in order that, by getting a knowledge of their
most exalted Bythus, thou mayest understand the nature of the tree which
has produced such fruits. Chapter
XXIII.-Doctrines and Practices of Simon
Magus and Menander. 1. Simon the Samaritan was that magician of
whom Luke, the disciple and follower of the apostles, says, "But
there was a certain man, Simon by name, who beforetime used
magical arts in that
city, and led astray the people of
Samaria, declaring that he himself was some great one, to whom they
all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This is the power of God, which
is called great. And to him they had regard, because that of
long time he had driven them mad by his
sorceries." 280 This Simon, then-who feigned faith, supposing that the
apostles themselves performed their cures by the art of magic, and not by
the power of God; and with respect to their filling with the Holy
Ghost, through the imposition of hands, those that believed in God
through Him who was preached by them, namely, Christ Jesus-suspecting that even
this was done through a kind of greater
knowledge of magic, and offering money
to the apostles, thought he, too, might receive this power of
bestowing the Holy Spirit on whomsoever he would,-was addressed in
these words by Peter: "Thy money perish with thee,
because thou hast thought that the gift
of God can be purchased with money: thou
hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not fight
in the sight of God; for I perceive that thou art in the gall of
bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity." 281 He, then, not putting faith in God a whit the
more, set himself eagerly to contend
against the apostles, in order that he
himself might seem to be a wonderful
being, and applied himself with still
greater zeal to the study of the whole
magic art, that he might the better
bewilder and overpower multitudes of men. Such was his procedure in
the reign of Claudius Caesar, by whom also he is said to have been
honoured with a statue, on account of his magical power. 282 This man, then, was glorified by many as if he
were a god; and he taught that it was himself who appeared among
the Jews as the Son, but descended in Samaria as the Father while he
came to other nations in the character of the Holy Spirit.
He represented himself, in a word,
as being the loftiest of all powers, that is, the Being who is the
Father over all, and he allowed himself to be called by whatsoever
title men were pleased to address him. 2. Now this Simon
of Samaria, from whom all sorts of
heresies derive their origin, formed his sect out of the following
materials:- Having redeemed from
slavery at Tyre, a city of Phoenicia, a certain woman named
Helena, he
was in the habit of carrying her about with him, declaring that
this woman was the first conception of
his mind, the mother of all, by whom,
in the beginning, he conceived in his mind [the thought] of forming
angels and archangels. For this Ennoea
leaping forth from him, and
comprehending the will of her father, descended to the lower regions
[of space], and generated angels and powers, by whom also he declared
this word was formed. But after she had produced them, she was
detained by them through motives of jealousy, because they were
unwilling to be looked upon as the progeny of any other being. As to
himself, they had no knowledge of him whatever; but his Ennoea was
detained by those powers and angels who had been produced by her. She
suffered all kinds of contumely from them, so that she could not
return upwards to her father, but was even shut up in a human body,
and for ages passed in succession from
one female body to another, as from vessel to vessel. She was, for example, in that Helen on whose account the
Trojan war
was undertaken; for whose sake also Stesichorus 283 was struck blind, because he had cursed her in his
verses, but afterwards, repenting and
writing what are called palinodes, in which he
sang her praise, he was restored to sight. Thus she, passing from body to body, and
suffering insults in every one of them, at last became a
common prostitute; and she it was that was meant by the lost
sheep.
284
3. For this purpose, then, he had come that he
might win her first, and free her from slavery, while he conferred
salvation upon men, by making himself known to them. For since the
angels ruled the world ill because each one of them coveted the
principal power for himself, he had come to amend matters, and had
descended, transfigured and assimilated to powers and principalities
and angels, so that he might appear among men to be a man, while yet
he was not a man; and that thus he was thought to have suffered in
Judaea, when he had not suffered. Moreover, the prophets uttered their
predictions under the inspiration of those angels who formed the
world; for which reason those who place their trust in him and Helena
no longer regarded them, but, as being free, live as they please; for
men are saved through his grace, and not on account of their own
righteous actions. For such deeds are not righteous in the nature of
things, but by mere accident, just as those angels who made the
world, have thought fit to constitute them, seeking, by means of such
precepts, to bring men into bondage. On this account, he pledged
himself that the world should be dissolved, and that those who are
his should be freed from the rule of them who made the world.
4. Thus, then, the mystic priests belonging to
this sect both lead profligate lives and
practise magical arts, each one to the
extent of his ability. They use exorcisms and incantations. Love-potions, too, and charms, as well as those
beings who are called "Paredri" (familiars) and
"Oniropompi" (dream-senders), and whatever other curious arts can be had recourse to, are eagerly pressed into their service. They also have
an image of Simon fashioned after the likeness of Jupiter, and another of
Helena in
the shape of Minerva; and these they worship. In fine, they have a name
derived from Simon, the author of these most impious doctrines, being
called Simonians; and from them "knowledge, falsely so called," 285 received its beginning, as one may learn even from
their own assertions. 5. The successor of this man was
Menander,
also a Samaritan by birth, and he, too, was a perfect adept in the practice of
magic. He
affirms that the primary Power continues unknown to all, but that he
himself is the person who has been sent forth from the presence of
the invisible beings as a saviour, for the deliverance of men. The
world was made by angels, whom, like Simon, he maintains to have been
produced by Ennoea. He gives, too, as he affirms, by means of that
magic which he teaches, knowledge to this effect, that one may
overcome those very angels that made the world; for his disciples
obtain the resurrection by being baptized into him, and can die no more, but
remain in the possession of immortal youth. Chapter
XXIV.-Doctrines of Saturninus and Basilides. 1. Arising among these men, Saturninus (who was
of that Antioch which is near Daphne) and Basilides laid hold of some
favourable opportunities, and promulgated different systems of
doctrine-the one in Syria, the other at Alexandria. Saturninus, like
Menander, set forth one father unknown to all, who made angels,
archangels, powers, and potentates. The world, again, and all things
therein, were made by a certain company of seven angels. Man, too,
was the workmanship of angels, a shining image bursting forth below
from the presence of the supreme power; and when they could not, he
says, keep hold of this, because it immediately darted upwards again,
they exhorted each other, saying, "Let us make man after our image
and likeness." 286 He was accordingly formed, yet was
unable to stand erect, through the inability of the angels to convey to him
that power, but wriggled [on the ground] like a worm. Then the power above taking pity upon him,
since he was made after his likeness, sent forth a spark of life, which gave man an erect posture, compacted his joints,
and made him live. He declares, therefore, that this spark of life, after the
death of a man, returns to those things which are of the same nature
with itself, and the rest of the body is decomposed into its original
elements. 2. He has also laid it down as a truth, that
the Saviour was without
birth, without body, and without
figure,
but was, by supposition, a visible man; and he maintained
that the God of the Jews was
one of the angels; and, on this account, because all the powers wished to
annihilate his father, Christ came to destroy the God of the Jews, but to
save such as believe in him; that is, those who possess the
spark of
his life. This heretic was the first to affirm that two
kinds of men were formed by the angels,-the one wicked, and the other
good.
And since the demons assist the
most wicked, the Saviour came for the destruction of evil men and of
the demons, but for the salvation of the good. They declare also,
that marriage and generation are from
Satan.
287 Many of those, too, who belong to his school, abstain
from animal food, and draw away multitudes by a reigned temperance of
this kind. They hold, moreover, that some of the prophecies were
uttered by those angels who made the world, and some by Satan; whom
Saturninus represents as being himself an angel, the enemy of the
creators of the world, but especially of the God of the Jews.
3. Basilides again, that he
may appear to have discovered something more sublime and plausible,
gives an immense development to his doctrines. He sets forth that
Nous was first born of the unborn father, that from him, again, was
born Logos, from Logos Phronesis, from Phronesis Sophia and Dynamis,
and from Dynamis and Sophia the powers, and principalities, and
angels, whom he also calls the first;
and that by them the first heaven was
made. Then other powers, being formed by emanation from these, crated
another heaven similar to the first; and in like manner, when others,
again, had been formed by emanation from them, corresponding exactly
to those above them, these, too, framed another third heaven; and
then from this third, in downward order, there was a fourth
succession of descendants; and so on, after the same fashion, they
declare that more and more principalities and angels were formed, and
three hundred and sixty-five heavens. 288 Wherefore the year contains the same number of days in
conformity with the number of the heavens. 4. Those angels who occupy the lowest heaven,
that, namely, which is visible to us, formed all the things which are
in the world, and made allotments among themselves of the earth and
of those nations which are upon it. The chief of them is he who is
thought to be the God of the Jews; and inasmuch as he desired to
render the other nations subject to his own people, that is, the
Jews, all the other princes resisted and opposed him. Wherefore all
other nations were at enmity with his nation. But the father without
birth and without name, perceiving that they would be destroyed, sent
his own first-begotten Nous (he it is who is called Christ) to bestow
deliverance on them that believe in him, from the power of those who
made the world. He appeared, then, on earth as a man, to the nations
of these powers, and wrought miracles. Wherefore he did not himself
suffer death, but Simon, a certain man of Cyrene, being compelled,
bore the cross in his stead; so that this latter being transfigured
by him, that he might be thought to be Jesus, was crucified, through
ignorance and error, while Jesus himself received the form of Simon,
and, standing by, laughed at
them. For since he was an incorporeal
power, and the Nous (mind) of the unborn father, he transfigured
himself as he pleased, and thus ascended to him who had sent him,
deriding them, inasmuch as he could not be laid hold of, and was
invisible to all. Those, then, who know these things have been freed
from the principalities who formed the world; so that it is not
incumbent on us to confess him who was crucified, but him who came in
the form of a man, and was thought to be crucified, and was called
Jesus, and was sent by the father, that by this dispensation he might
destroy the works of the makers of the world. If any one, therefore,
he declares, confesses the crucified, that man is still a slave, and
under the power of those who formed our bodies; but he who denies him
has been freed from these beings, and is acquainted with the
dispensation of the unborn father. 5. Salvation belongs to the soul alone, for the
body is by nature subject to corruption. He declares, too, that the
prophecies were derived from those powers who were the makers of the
world, but the law was specially given by their chief, who led the
people out of the land of Egypt. He attaches no importance to [the
question regarding] meats offered in sacrifice to idols, thinks them
of no consequence, and makes use of them without any hesitation; he
holds also the use of other things, and the practice of every kind of
lust, a matter of perfect indifference. These men, moreover, practise
magic; and use images, incantations, invocations, and every other
kind of curious art. Coining also certain names as if they were those
of the angels, they proclaim some of these as belonging to the first,
and others to the second heaven; and then they strive to set forth
the names, principles, angels, and powers of the three hundred and
sixty-five imagined heavens. They also affirm that the barbarous name
in which the Saviour ascended and descended, is Caulacau.
289
6. He, then, who has learned [these things],
and known all the angels and their causes, is rendered invisible and
incomprehensible to the angels and all the powers, even as Caulacau
also was. And as the son was unknown to all, so must they also be
known by no one; but while they know all, and pass through all, they
themselves remain invisible and unknown to all; for, "Do thou," they
say, "know all, but let nobody know thee." For this reason, persons
of such a persuasion are also ready to recant [their opinions], yea,
rather, it is impossible that they should suffer on account of a mere
name, since they are like to all. The multitude, however, cannot
understand these matters, but only one out of a thousand, or two out
of ten thousand. They declare that they are no longer Jews, and that
they are not yet Christians; and that it is not at all fitting to
speak openly of their mysteries, but right to keep them secret by
preserving silence. 7. They make out the local position of the
three hundred and sixty-five heavens in the same way as do
mathematicians. For, accepting the theorems of these latter, they
have transferred them to their own type of doctrine. They hold that
their chief is Abraxas; 290 and, on this account, that word contains in itself the
numbers amounting to three hundred and sixty-five. Chapter
XXV.-Doctrines of Carpocrates. 1. Carpocrates, again, and his followers
maintain that the world and the things which are therein were created
by angels greatly inferior to the unbegotten Father.
They also hold that Jesus was the son of
Joseph, and was just like other men, with the exception that he
differed from them in this respect, that inasmuch as his soul was
stedfast and pure, he perfectly remembered those things which he had
witnessed 291 within the sphere of the unbegotten God. On this account, a power descended upon him
from the Father, that by means of it he might escape from the creators
of the world; and they say that it, after passing through them all,
and remaining in all points free, ascended again to him, and to the
powers, 292 which in the same way embraced like things to itself.
They further declare, that the soul
of Jesus, although educated in the practices of the Jews, regarded
these with contempt, and that for this reason he was endowed with
faculties, by means of which he destroyed those passions which dwelt
in men as a punishment [for their sins]. 2. The soul, therefore, which is like that of
Christ can despise those rulers who were the creators of the world,
and, in like manner, receives power for accomplishing the same
results. This idea has raised them to such a pitch of pride,
that some of them declare
themselves similar to Jesus; while others, still more mighty, maintain that
they are superior to his disciples, such as Peter and Paul, and the
rest of the apostles, whom they consider to be in no respect inferior
to Jesus. For their souls, descending from the same sphere as his,
and therefore despising in like manner the creators of the world, are
deemed worthy of the same power, and again depart to the same place.
But if any one shall have despised the things in this world more than
he did, he thus proves himself superior to him. 3. They practise also magical arts and incantations; philters, also, and love-potions; and have
recourse to familiar
spirits, dream-sending demons, and
other abominations, declaring that they possess power to rule over,
even now, the princes and formers of this world; and not only them, but also all things that are in it.
These men, even as the Gentiles,
have been sent forth by
Satan 293 to bring dishonour upon the
Church, so that, in one way or another,
men hearing the things which they speak, and imagining that we all are such as they, may
turn away their ears from the preaching of the truth; or, again, seeing the things they practise, may
speak evil of us all, who have in fact no fellowship with them,
either in doctrine or in morals, or in our daily conduct. But they
lead a licentious life, 294 and, to conceal their impious doctrines, they
abuse the name [of Christ], as a means of hiding their wickedness; so
that "their condemnation is just," 295 when they receive from God a recompense suited to their
works. 4. So unbridled is their madness, that they
declare they have in their power all things which are irreligious and
impious, and are at liberty to practise them; for they maintain that
things are evil or good, simply in virtue of human opinion.
296 They deem it necessary, therefore, that by
means of transmigration from body to body, souls should have experience of every kind of life as well as
every kind of action (unless, indeed,
by a single incarnation, one may be able to prevent any need for
others, by once for all, and with equal completeness, doing all those things which we dare not either
speak or hear of, nay, which we must not even conceive in our
thoughts, nor think credible, if any such thing is mooted among those
persons who are our fellow-citizens), in order that, as their
writings express it, their souls, having made trial of every kind of
life, may, at their departure, not be wanting in any particular. It
is necessary 297 to insist upon this, lest, on account of some one thing
being still wanting to their deliverance, they should be compelled
once more to become incarnate. They affirm that for this reason Jesus spoke
the following parable:-"Whilst thou art with thine adversary in the
way, give all diligence, that thou mayest be delivered from him, lest
he give thee up to the judge, and the judge surrender thee to the
officer, and he cast thee into prison. Verily, I say unto thee, thou shalt not go out
thence until thou pay the very last farthing." 298 They also declare the "adversary" is one of those
angels who are in the world, whom they call the Devil, maintaining
that he was formed for this purpose, that he might lead those souls
which have perished from the world to the Supreme Ruler. They
describe him also as being chief among the makers of the world, and
maintain that he delivers such souls [as have been mentioned] to
another angel, who ministers to him, that he may shut them up in
other bodies; for they declare that the body is "the prison." Again,
they interpret these expressions, "Thou shalt not go out thence until
thou pay the very last farthing," as meaning that no one can escape
from the power of those angels who made the world, but that he must
pass from body to body, until he has experience of every kind of action which can be
practised in this world, and when nothing is longer wanting to him,
then his liberated soul should soar upwards to that God who is above the angels, the makers of the
world. In this way also all souls are saved, whether their own which,
guarding against all delay, participate in all sorts of actions
during one incarnation, or those, again, who, by passing from body to
body, are set free, on fulfilling and accomplishing what is requisite
in every form of life into which they are sent, so that at length
they shall no longer be [shut in the body. 5. And thus, if ungodly, unlawful, and forbidden actions are committed among them, I can no longer find ground
for believing them to be such. 299 And in their writings we read as
follows, the interpretation which they give [of their views],
declaring that Jesus spoke in a mystery to His disciples and apostles
privately, and that they requested and obtained permission
to hand down the things thus taught them, to others who should be
worthy and believing. We are saved, indeed, by means of faith and
love; but all other things, while in their nature indifferent, are
reckoned by the opinion of men-some good and some evil, there being
nothing really evil by nature. 2. I have also made a
collection of their writings in which they advocate the abolition of
the doings of Hystera. Moreover, they call this Hystera the creator of
heaven and earth. They also hold,
like Carpocrates, that men cannot be saved until they have gone
through all kinds of
experience.
An angel, they maintain,
attends them in every one of their sinful and abominable actions, and urges them to venture on audacity and incur
pollution. Whatever may be the nature of the action, they declare
that they do it in the name of the angel, saying, "O thou angel, I
use thy work; O thou power, I accomplish thy operation!" And they maintain that this is "perfect
knowledge," without shrinking to rush into such actions as it is not
lawful even to name. 6. Others of them employ outward marks,
branding their disciples inside the lobe
of the right ear. From among these also
arose Marcellina, who came to Rome under [the episcopate of]
Anicetus,
and, holding these doctrines,
she led multitudes
astray. They style themselves
Gnostics.
They also possess images, some of them
painted, and others formed from different kinds of material; while
they maintain that a likeness of Christ was made by Pilate at that
time when Jesus lived among them. 300 They crown these images, and set them up along with the
images of the philosophers of the world that is to say, with the
images of Pythagoras, and Plato, and Aristotle, and the rest. They have also
other modes of honouring these images, after the same manner of the
Gentiles. Chapter
XXVI.-Doctrines of Cerinthus, the Ebionites, and Nicolaitanes.
1. Cerinthus, again, a man who was educated
301 in the wisdom of the Egyptians, taught that the world
was not made by the primary God, but by a certain Power far separated
from him, and at a distance from that Principality who is supreme
over the universe, and ignorant of him who is above all. He
represented Jesus as having not been born of a virgin, but as being
the son of Joseph and Mary according to the ordinary course of human
generation, while he nevertheless was more righteous, prudent, and
wise than other men. Moreover, after his baptism, Christ descended
upon him in the form of a dove from the Supreme Ruler, and that then
he proclaimed the unknown Father, and performed miracles. But at last
Christ departed from Jesus, and that then Jesus suffered and rose
again, while Christ remained impassible, inasmuch as he was a
spiritual being. 2. Those who are called Ebionites agree that the
world was made by God; but their opinions with respect to the Lord
are similar to those of Cerinthus and Carpocrates. They use the
Gospel according to Matthew only, and repudiate the Apostle Paul,
maintaining that he was an apostate from the law. As to the
prophetical writings, they endeavour to expound them in a somewhat
singular manner: they practise circumcision, persevere in the
observance of those customs which are enjoined by the law, and are so
Judaic in their style of life, that they even adore Jerusalem as if
it were the house of God. 3. The Nicolaitanes are the followers of that
Nicolas who was one of the seven first ordained to the diaconate by
the apostles. 302 They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence. The
character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the Apocalypse
of John, [when they are represented] as teaching that it is a matter
of indifference to practise adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to
idols. Wherefore the Word has also spoken of them thus: "But this
thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I
also hate." 303 Chapter
XXVII.-Doctrines of Cerdo and Marcion. 1. Cerdo was one who took his system from the
followers of Simon, and came to live at Rome in the time of Hyginus, who
held the ninth place in the episcopal succession from the apostles
downwards. He taught that the God proclaimed by the law and the
prophets was not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the former
was known, but the latter unknown; while the one also was righteous,
but the other benevolent. 2. Marcion of Pontus succeeded him, and
developed his doctrine. In so doing, he advanced the most daring
blasphemy against Him who is proclaimed as God by the law and the
prophets, declaring Him to be the author of evils, to take delight in
war, to be infirm of purpose, and even to be contrary to Himself.
But Jesus being derived from that father who is above the God that made the world,
and coming into Judaea in the
times of Pontius Pilate the governor, who was the procurator of
Tiberius Caesar, was manifested in the form of a
man to those who were in Judaea,
abolishing the prophets and the law, and all the works of that God
who made the world, whom also he calls Cosmocrator. Besides this, he mutilates the Gospel which
is according to Luke, removing all that is written respecting the
generation of the Lord, and setting aside a great deal of
the teaching of the Lord, in which the Lord is recorded as most dearly
confessing that the Maker of this universe is
His Father. He likewise persuaded his disciples that
he himself was more
worthy of credit than are those apostles who have handed down
the Gospel to us, furnishing them not with the Gospel, but merely
a fragment of it. In like manner, too, he dismembered the
Epistles of Paul, removing all that is said by the apostle
respecting that God who made the
world, to the effect that He is the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and also those passages
from the prophetical writings which the apostle quotes, in order to
teach us that they announced beforehand the coming of the Lord. 3. Salvation will be the attainment only of
those souls which had learned his doctrine; while the body, as having
been taken from the earth, is incapable
of sharing in salvation. In addition to his blasphemy against God Himself, he advanced this also, truly speaking as
with the mouth of the devil, and saying all things in direct
opposition to the truth,- that Cain, and
those like him, and the Sodomites, and the
Egyptians,
and others like them, and, in fine, all the nations who walked in all
sorts of abomination, were saved by the Lord, on His descending into Hades,
and on their running unto
Him, and that they welcomed Him into
their kingdom. But the serpent
304 which was in Marcion declared that Abel, and Enoch, and
Noah, and those other righteous men who sprang 305 from the patriarch Abraham, with all the prophets, and
those who were pleasing to God, did not partake in salvation. For
since these men, he says, knew that their God was constantly tempting
them, so now they suspected that He was tempting them, and did not
run to Jesus, or believe His announcement: and for this reason he
declared that their souls remained in Hades. 4. But since this man is the only one who has
dared openly to mutilate the
Scriptures, and unblushingly above all
others to inveigh against God, I purpose specially to refute him,
convicting him out of his own writings; and, with the help of God, I
shall overthrow him out of those 306 discourses of the Lord and the apostles, which are of
authority with him, and of which he makes use. At present, however, I
have simply been led to mention him, that thou mightest know that all
those who in any way corrupt the truth,
and injuriously affect the preaching of the Church, are the disciples and successors of
Simon Magus of Samaria. Although they do not confess the name of their master,
in order all the more to seduce others, yet they do teach his
doctrines. They set forth, indeed, the name of Christ Jesus as a sort of lure, but in various ways they introduce the impieties of Simon;
and thus they destroy multitudes,
wickedly disseminating their own doctrines by the use of a good name,
and, through means of its sweetness and
beauty, extending to their hearers the bitter and
malignant poison of the
serpent, the great author of apostasy.
307
Chapter
XXVIII.-Doctrines of Tatian, the Encratites, and Others. 1. Many offshoots of numerous heresies have
already been formed from those heretics we have described. This
arises from the fact that numbers of them-indeed, we may say
all-desire themselves to be teachers, and to break off from the
particular heresy in which they have been involved. Forming one set
of doctrines out of a totally different system of opinions, and then
again others from others, they insist upon teaching something new,
declaring themselves the inventors of any sort of opinion which they
may have been able to call into existence. To give an example:
Springing from Saturninus and Marcion, those who are called
Encratites (self-controlled) preached against marriage, thus setting
aside the original creation of God, and indirectly blaming Him who
made the male and female for the propagation of the human race. Some
of those reckoned among them have also introduced abstinence from
animal food, thus proving themselves ungrateful to God, who formed
all things. They deny, too, the salvation of him who was first
created. It is but lately, however, that this opinion has been
invented among them. A certain man named Tatian first introduced the
blasphemy. He was a hearer of Justin's, and as long as he continued
with him he expressed no such views; but after his martyrdom he
separated from the Church, and, excited and puffed up by the thought
of being a teacher, as if he were superior to
others, he composed his own peculiar type of doctrine.
He invented a system of certain invisible
Aeons, like the followers of Valentinus; while, like Marcion and
Saturninus, he declared that marriage was nothing else than
corruption and fornication. 308 But his denial of Adam's salvation was an opinion due
entirely to himself. 2. Others, again, following upon Basilides and
Carpocrates, have introduced promiscuous intercourse and a plurality
of wives, and are indifferent about eating meats sacrificed to idols,
maintaining that God does not greatly regard such matters. But why
continue? For it is an impracticable attempt to mention all those
who, in one way or another, have fallen away from the truth.
Chapter
XXIX.-Doctrines of Various Other Gnostic Sects, and Especially of the
Barbeliotes or Borborians. 1. Besides those, however, among these heretics
who are Simonians, and of whom we have already spoken, a multitude of
Gnostics have sprung up, and have been manifested like mushrooms
growing out of the ground. I now proceed to describe the principal
opinions held by them. Some of them, then, set forth a
certain Aeon who never grows old, and exists in a virgin spirit:
him they style Barbelos. 309 They declare that somewhere or other there
exists a certain father who cannot be named, and that he was desirous to reveal
himself to this Barbelos. Then this Ennoea went forward, stood
before his face, and demanded from him Prognosis (prescience).
But when Prognosis had, [as was requested, ]
come forth, these two asked for Aphtharsia (incorruption),
which also came forth, and after that Zoe
Aionios (eternal life). Barbelos,
glorying in these, and contemplating their greatness, and in
conception 310 [thus formed], rejoicing in this greatness,
generated light similar to it. They declare that this was the beginning both
of light
and of the generation of all things; and that the Father, beholding this
light,
anointed it with his own benignity, that it might be rendered
perfect. Moreover, they maintain that this was
Christ,
who again, according to them, requested that Nous should be given him
as an assistant; and Nous came forth accordingly. Besides these, the Father sent forth
Logos.
The conjunctions of Ennoea and Logos, and of Aphtharsia and
Christ,
will thus be formed; while Zoe
Aionios was united to Thelema, and Nous to Prognosis. These, then, magnified the
great light and Barbelos. 2. They also affirm that Autogenes was afterwards
sent forth from Ennoea and
Logos, to be a representation of the
great light, and that he was greatly honoured, all things being
rendered subject unto him. Along with him was sent forth
Aletheia,
and a conjunction was formed between Autogenes and
Aletheia.
But they declare that from the Light, which is
Christ,
and from Aphtharsia, four luminaries were sent forth to
surround Autogenes; and again from Thelema and Zoe Aionios
four other emissions took place, to wait upon these four luminaries;
and these they name Charis (grace),
Thelesis
(will), Synesis (understanding), and
Phronesis (prudence) Of these, Charris is connected with the great
and first luminary: him they represent as Sorer (Saviour), and style
Armogenes.
311 Thelesis, again, is united to the second
luminary, whom they also name Raguel; Synesis to
the third, whom they call David; and Phronesis to the fourth, whom
they name Eleleth. 3. All these, then, being thus settled,
Autogenes
moreover produces a perfect and true man, whom they also call
Adamas,
inasmuch as neither has he himself ever been conquered, nor have
those from whom he sprang; he also was, along with the first
light, severed from
Armogenes. Moreover, perfect knowledge was sent forth by
Autogenes along with man, and was united to him; hence he attained to
the knowledge of him that is above all. Invincible power was also conferred on him by
the virgin spirit; and all things then rested in him, to sing praises to the great Aeon.
Hence also they declare were manifested the mother, the father, the
son; while from Anthropos and Gnosis that Tree was produced which
they also style Gnosis
itself. 4. Next they maintain, that from the first
angel, who stands by the side of Monogenes, the Holy Spirit has been sent
forth, whom they also term Sophia and Prunicus. 312 He then, perceiving that all the others had
consorts, while he himself was destitute of one, searched after a
being to whom he might be united; and not finding one, he exerted and
extended himself to the uttermost and looked down into the lower
regions, in the expectation of there finding a consort; and still not
meeting with one, he leaped forth [from his place] in a state of
great impatience, [which had come upon him] because he had made his
attempt without the good-will of his father. Afterwards, under the
influence of simplicity and kindness, he produced a work in which
were to be found ignorance and audacity. This work of his they
declare to be Protarchontes, the former of this [lower] creation. But
they relate that a mighty power carried him away from his mother, and
that he settled far away from her in the lower regions, and formed
the firmament of heaven, in which also they affirm that he dwells.
And in his ignorance he formed those powers which are inferior to
himself-angels, and firmaments, and all things earthly. They affirm
that he, being united to Authadia (audacity), produced Kakia
(wickedness), Zelos (emulation), Phthonos (envy), Erinnys (fury), and
Epithymia (lust). When these were generated, the mother Sophia deeply
grieved, fled away, departed into the upper regions, and became the
last of the Ogdoad, reckoning it downwards. On her thus departing, he
imagined he was the only being in existence; and on this account
declared, "I am a jealous God, and besides me there is no one."
313 Such are the falsehoods which these people
invent. Chapter
XXX.-Doctrines of the Ophites and
Sethians. 1. Others, again, portentously declare that
there exists, in the power of Bythus, a certain primary
light, blessed, incorruptible, and infinite: this is the
Father of all, and is styled the first man. They also maintain that his Ennoea, going forth
from him, produced a son, and that this is the son of man-the second
man. Below these, again, is the Holy Spirit, and
under this superior spirit the elements were separated from each
other, viz., water, darkness, the abyss, chaos, above which they
declare the Spirit was borne, calling
him the first woman. Afterwards, they maintain, the
first man, with his son, delighting over the beauty of the Spirit-that is, of the
woman-and
shedding light upon her, begat by her an incorruptible light, the
third male, whom they call Christ,-the son of the
first and second man, and of the Holy Spirit, the first woman.
2. The father and son thus both had intercourse with the woman
(whom they also call the mother of the living).
When, however, 314 she could not bear nor receive into herself the
greatness of the lights, they declare that she was
filled to repletion, and became ebullient on the
left
side;
and that thus their only son Christ, as
belonging to the right side, and ever tending to what was higher,
was immediately caught up with his mother to
form an incorruptible
Aeon. This constitutes the true and
holy Church, which has become the appellation, the meeting together,
and the union of the father of all, of the first man, of the son, of
the second man, of Christ their son, and of the woman who has been
mentioned. 3. They teach, however, that the power which
proceeded from the woman by ebullition, being besprinkled with
light,
fell downward from the place occupied by its progenitors, yet
possessing by its own will that besprinkling of light; and it they
call Sinistra, Prunicus, and Sophia, as well as masculo-feminine.
This being, in its simplicity, descended into the waters while they
were yet in a state of immobility, and imparted motion to them also,
wantonly acting upon them even to their lowest depths, and assumed
from them a body. For they affirm that all things rushed towards and
clung to that sprinkling of light, and begin it all round. Unless it
had possessed that, it would perhaps have been totally absorbed in,
and overwhelmed by, material substance. Being therefore bound down by
a body which was composed of matter, and greatly burdened by it, this
power regretted the course it had followed, and made an attempt to
escape from the waters and ascend to its mother: it could not effect
this, however, on account of the weight of the body lying over and
around it. But feeling very ill at ease, it endeavoured at least to
conceal that light which came from above, fearing lest it too might
be injured by the inferior elements, as had happened to itself. And
when it had received power from that besprinkling of light which it
possessed, it sprang back again, and was borne aloft; and being on
high, it extended itself, covered [a portion of space], and formed
this visible heaven out of its body; yet remained under the heaven
which it made, as still possessing the form of a watery body. But
when it had conceived a desire for the light above, and had received
power by all things, it laid down this body, and was freed from it.
This body which they speak of that power as having thrown off, they
call a female from a female. 4. They declare, moreover, that her son had
also himself a certain breath of
incorruption left him by his mother,
and that through means of it he works; and becoming powerful, he
himself, as they affirm, also sent forth from the waters a son
without a mother; for they do not allow him either to have known a
mother. His son, again, after the example of his father, sent forth
another son. This third one, too, generated a fourth; the fourth also
generated a son: they maintain that again a son was generated by the
fifth; and the sixth, too, generated a seventh. Thus was the
Hebdomad, according to them, completed, the mother possessing the
eighth place; and as in the case of their generations, so also in
regard to dignities and powers, they precede each other in
turn. 5. They have also given names to [the several
persons] in their system of falsehood, such as the following:
he who was the first descendant of the
mother is called Ialdabaoth; 315 he, again, descended from him, is named
Iao;
he, from this one, is called Sabaoth; the fourth is named Adoneus; the fifth, Eloeus; the sixth, Oreus; and the seventh and last of all, Astanphaeus. Moreover, they represent these heavens,
potentates, powers, angels, and creators, as sitting in their proper
order in heaven, according to their generation, and as invisibly
ruling over things celestial and terrestrial. The first of them, namely
Ialdabaoth, holds his mother in
contempt, inasmuch as he produced sons
and grandsons without the permission of any one, yea, even angels,
archangels, powers, potentates, and dominions. After these things had been done, his sons
turned to strive and quarrel with him about the supreme power,-conduct
which deeply grieved Ialdabaoth, and drove him
to despair. In these circumstances, he cast his eyes upon
the subjacent dregs of
matter, and fixed his desire upon it,
to which they declare his son owes his origin. This son is Nous himself,
twisted into the form of a
serpent; 316 and hence were derived the spirit, the soul, and all
mundane things: from this too were generated all oblivion,
wickedness, emulation, envy, and death. They declare that the father
imparted 317 still greater crookedness to this
serpent-like and contorted
Nous of theirs, when he was with their
father in heaven and Paradise. 6. On this account, Ialdabaoth, becoming
uplifted in spirit, boasted
himself over all those things that were
below him, and exclaimed, "I am father, and God, and above me
there is no one." But his mother, hearing him speak
thus, cried out against him, "Do not
lie, Ialdabaoth: for the father of all,
the first Anthropos (man), is above thee; and so is Anthropos the son of
Anthropos." Then, as all were disturbed by this new voice,
and by the unexpected proclamation, and as they were inquiring whence
the noise proceeded, in order to lead them away and attract them to
himself, they affirm that Ialdabaoth exclaimed,
"Come, let us make man after our image." 318 The six powers, on hearing this, and their
mother furnishing them with the idea of a man (in order that by means
of him she might empty them of their original power), jointly formed a man of immense size, both in
regard to breadth and length. But as he could merely writhe along
the ground, they carried him to their father; Sophia so labouring in this matter, that she might empty him
(Ialdabaoth) of the light with which he had
been sprinkled, so that he might no longer, though still powerful, be
able to lift up himself against the powers above. They declare, then, that by breathing into man the spirit of life, he was secretly emptied of his power; that hence man became a
possessor
of nous
(intelligence) and enthymesis (thought); and
they affirm that these are the faculties which partake in salvation.
He [they further assert] at once gave
thanks to the first
Anthropos (man), forsaking those who had created him. 7. But Ialdabaoth, feeling
envious at this, was pleased to form the design of again emptying man by means of
woman, and produced a
woman from his own enthymesis, whom that
Prunicus [above mentioned] laying hold of, imperceptibly emptied her of power.
But the others coming and admiring her beauty, named her Eve, and falling in love with her, begat sons by
her, whom they also declare to be the angels. But their mother
(Sophia) cunningly devised a scheme to
seduce Eve
and Adam,
by means of the serpent, to transgress the
command of Ialdabaoth. Eve listened
to this as if it had proceeded from a son of God, and yielded an easy
belief. She also persuaded Adam to eat of the
tree
regarding which God had said that they should not eat of it. They
then declare that, on their thus eating, they attained to the
knowledge of that power which is above all, and departed from those who had
created them. 319 When Prunicus perceived that the powers were thus
baffled by their own creature, she greatly rejoiced, and again cried
out, that since the father was incorruptible, he (Ialdabaoth) who formerly
called himself the father was a
liar; and
that, while Anthropos and the
first woman (the Spirit) existed previously, this one (Eve) sinned by committing
adultery. 8. Ialdabaoth, however,
through that oblivion in which he was involved, and not paying any
regard to these things, cast Adam and
Eve out of Paradise, because they had
transgressed his commandment. For he had a desire to beget sons by Eve, but did
not accomplish his wish, because his mother opposed him in every
point, and secretly emptied Adam and Eve of the light with which they had
been sprinkled, in order that that spirit which proceeded from the
supreme power might participate neither in the curse nor opprobrium
[caused by transgression]. They also teach that, thus being
emptied of the divine substance, they were cursed by him, and cast
down from heaven to this world. 320 But the serpent also, who was
acting against the father, was cast
down by him into this lower world; he
reduced, however, under his power the angels here, and
begat six sons, he himself forming the seventh person, after the
example of that Hebdomad which surrounds the father. They further declare that these are
the seven mundane demons, who always oppose and resist the human
race, because it was on their account that their father was cast down
to this lower world. 9. Adam and Eve previously had light, and clear, and as
it were spiritual bodies, such as they were at their creation; but when they
came to this world, these changed into bodies more opaque, and gross, and sluggish. Their soul also was feeble and languid, inasmuch as
they had received from their creator a merely mundane inspiration.
This continued until Prunicus, moved with
compassion towards them, restored to them the sweet savour of the
besprinkling of light, by means of which they came to a remembrance
of themselves, and knew that they were naked, as well as that the
body was a material substance, and thus recognised that they bore
death about with them. They thereupon became patient, knowing that
only for a time they would be enveloped in the body. They also found out food, through the
guidance of Sophia; and when they were satisfied, they had carnal knowledge of each other, and begat Cain, whom the serpent, that had been
cast down along with his sons, immediately laid hold of and destroyed by
filling him with mundane
oblivion, and urging into folly and audacity, so that, by
slaying his brother Abel, he was the first to bring to
light envy and death. After these, they affirm that, by the
forethought of Prunicus, Seth was begotten, and then Norea, 321 from whom they represent all the rest of mankind as
being descended. They were urged on to all kinds of
wickedness by the inferior
Hebdomad, and to apostasy, idolatry, and a general
contempt for everything by the superior holy Hebdomad, 322 since the mother was always secretly opposed to them,
and carefully preserved what was peculiarly her own, that is, the
besprinkling of light. They maintain, moreover, that the holy Hebdomad
is the seven stars which they call planets; and they affirm that the serpent
cast down has two names, Michael and Samael. 10. Ialdabaoth, again, being
incensed with men, because they did not
worship or honour him as father and
God, sent forth a deluge upon them, that he might at once destroy
them all. But Sophia opposed him in this
point also, and Noah and his family were saved in the ark by means of
the besprinkling of that light which proceeded from her, and through it the world was again filled with
mankind. Ialdabaoth himself chose a certain man named Abraham from among these,
and made a covenant with him, to the effect that, if his seed
continued to serve him, he would give to them the earth for an
inheritance. Afterwards, by means of Moses, he brought forth
Abraham's descendants from Egypt, and gave them the law, and made
them the Jews. Among that people he chose seven days, 323 which they also call the holy Hebdomad. Each of these
receives his own herald for the purpose of glorifying and proclaiming
God; so that, when the rest hear these praises, they too may serve
those who are announced as gods try the prophets. 11. Moreover, they distribute the prophets in
the following manner: Moses, and Joshua the son of Nun,
and Amos,
and Habakkuk, belonged to Ialdabaoth; Samuel, and Nathan, and Jonah, and Micah, to
Iao;
Elijah, Joel, and Zechariah to Sabaoth; Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Daniel, to
Adohai;
Tobias and Haggai to Eloi; Michaiah and Nahum to Oreus; Esdras and Zephaniah to Astanphaeus. Each one of these, then, glorifies his own
father and God, and they maintain that Sophia, herself has also
spoken many things through them regarding the first Anthropos (man),
324 and concerning that Christ who is above, thus
admonishing and reminding men of the incorruptible light, the first
Anthropos, and of the descent of Christ. The [other] powers being
terrified by these things, and marvelling at the novelty of those
things which were announced by the prophets, Prunicus brought it
about by means of Ialdabaoth (who knew not what he did), that
emissions of two men took place, the one from the barren Elizabeth,
and the other from the Virgin Mary. 12. And since she herself had no rest either in
heaven or on earth, she invoked her mother to assist her in her
distress. Upon this, her mother, the first woman, was moved with
compassion towards her daughter, on her repentance, and begged from
the first man that Christ should be sent to her assistance, who,
being sent forth, descended to his sister, and to the besprinkling of
light. When he recognised her (that is, the
Sophia
below), her brother descended to her, and announced his advent
through means of John, and prepared the baptism of repentance, and
adopted Jesus beforehand, in order that on Christ descending he might
find a pure vessel, and that by the son of that Ialdabaoth the woman
might be announced by Christ. They further declare that he descended through the seven heavens, having assumed the likeness of their sons, and
gradually emptied them of their power. For they maintain that the
whole besprinkling of light rushed to him, and that Christ,
descending to this world, first clothed his sister Sophia [with it],
and that then both exulted in the mutual refreshment they felt in
each other's society: this scene they describe as relating to
bridegroom and bride. But Jesus, inasmuch as he was begotten of the
Virgin through the agency of God, was wiser, purer, and more
righteous than all other men: Christ united to
Sophia descended into him, and thus
Jesus Christ was produced. 13. They affirm that many of his disciples were
not aware of the descent of Christ into him; but that, when Christ
did descend on Jesus, he then began to work miracles, and heal, and
announce the unknown Father, and openly to confess himself the son of
the first man. The powers and the father of Jesus were angry at these
proceedings, and laboured to destroy him; and when he was being led
away for this purpose, they say that Christ himself, along with
Sophia, departed from him into the state of an incorruptible Aeon,
while Jesus was crucified. Christ, however, was not forgetful of his
Jesus, but sent down a certain energy into him from above, which
raised him up again in the body, which they call both animal and
spiritual; for he sent the mundane parts back again into the world.
When his disciples saw that he had risen, they did not recognise
him-no, not even Jesus himself, by whom he rose again from the dead.
And they assert that this very great error prevailed among his
disciples, that they imagined he had risen in a mundane body, not
knowing that "flesh 325 and blood do not attain to the kingdom of God."
14. They strove to establish the
descent
and ascent
of Christ, by the fact that neither before his
baptism, nor after his resurrection from the dead, do his disciples
state that he did any mighty works, not being aware that Jesus was united to Christ, and the incorruptible Aeon to the Hebdomad; and they
declare his mundane body to be of the same nature as that of animals.
But after his resurrection he tarried [on
earth] eighteen months; and knowledge descending into him from above,
he taught what was clear. He instructed a few of his disciples, whom
he knew to be capable of understanding so great mysteries, in these
things, and was then received up into heaven, Christ sitting down at the right hand of his
father Ialdabaoth, that he may receive to himself the souls of those who
have known them, 326 after they have laid aside their mundane flesh, thus
enriching himself without the knowledge or perception of his father;
so that, in proportion as Jesus enriches himself with holy souls, to
such an extent does his father suffer loss and is diminished, being
emptied of his own power by these souls. For he will not now possess
holy souls to send them down again into the world, except those only
which are of his substance, that is, those into which he has
breathed. But the consummation [of all things] will take place, when
the whole besprinkling of the spirit of light is gathered together,
and is carried off to form an incorruptible Aeon. 15. Such are the opinions which prevail among
these persons, by whom, like the Lernaean hydra, a
many-headed beast has been generated from the school of Valentinus.
For some of them assert that
Sophia herself became the
serpent; on which account she was hostile to the creator
of Adam, and implanted knowledge in men, for which
reason the serpent was called wiser than all others (Gen 3:1). Moreover,
by the position of our intestines, through which the food is
conveyed, and by the fact that they possess such a figure, our
internal configuration 327 in the form of a serpent
reveals our hidden generatrix.
Chapter
XXXI.-Doctrines of the Cainites. 1. Others again declare that Cain derived his being
from the Power above, and acknowledge that Esau, Korah, the Sodomites,
and all such persons, are
related to themselves. For it is written,
that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. Gal 4:22 But he who was of the
bondwoman was born after
the flesh; but he of
the freewoman was by
promise Gal 4:23
Which things are an
allegory: for these are the two covenants; the
one from the mount
Sinai, which gendereth
to bondage, which is Agar. Gal 4:24 For this Agar is
mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and
is in bondage with her children. Ga.4:25 But Jerusalem which is above is
free, which is the mother of us all. Gal 4:26 And their dead bodies shall lie
in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called
Sodom and
Egypt, where also
our Lord was
crucified Re.
11:8 On this account, they add, they have been
assailed by the Creator, yet no one of them has suffered injury.
For Sophia was in the
habit of carrying off that which belonged to her from them to herself.
They declare that Judas the traitor was
thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone,
knowing the truth as no others
did, accomplished the mystery of the
betrayal;
by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into
confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they
style the Gospel of Judas. The arrow below points to the
Judas Bag. It is made up of words meaning "to speak in tongues" and
"of the world." This is the sodomite form of "religion" the Jews tried to force Jesus
into as fulfilment of the prophecy of TRIUMPHING OVER him in Psalm
41. The Dead Sea
Scrolls detail how this was
attempted. 2. I have also made a collection of their
writings in which they advocate the abolition of the doings of
Hystera.
328 Moreover, they call this Hystera the creator of heaven
and earth. They also hold, like
Carpocrates, that men cannot be saved until they have gone
through all kinds of
experience. An angel, they maintain, attends them in every one
of their sinful and abominable actions, and urges them to
venture on audacity and incur
pollution. Whatever may be the nature
329 of the action, they declare that they do it in the name
of the angel, saying, "O thou angel, I use thy work; O thou power, I
accomplish thy operation!" And they maintain that this is "perfect knowledge,"
without shrinking to rush into such
actions as it is not lawful even to
name. 3. It was necessary clearly to prove, that, as
their very opinions and regulations exhibit them, those who are of
the school of Valentinus derive their origin from such mothers,
fathers, and ancestors, and also to bring forward their doctrines,
with the hope that perchance some of them, exercising repentance and
returning to the only Creator, and God the Former of the universe,
may obtain salvation, and that others may not henceforth be drown
away by their wicked, although plausible, persuasions, imagining that
they will obtain from them
the knowledge of some greater
and more sublime mysteries. But let them rather, learning to
good effect from us the wicked tenets of these men, look with contempt upon their doctrines, while at the same time they pity those who, still
cleaving to these miserable and baseless fables, have reached such a pitch of
arrogance as to reckon themselves superior to all others on account
of such knowledge, or, as it should
rather be called, ignorance. They have now been fully exposed; and
simply to exhibit their sentiments, is to obtain a victory over
them. 4. Wherefore I have laboured to bring forward,
and make clearly manifest, the utterly ill-conditioned carcase of
this miserable little fox. 330 For there will not now be need of many words to
overturn their system of doctrine, when it has been made manifest to
all. It is as when, on a beast hiding itself in a wood, and by
rushing forth from it is in the habit of destroying multitudes, one
who beats round the wood and thoroughly explores it, so as to compel
the animal to break cover, does not strive to capture it, seeing that
it is truly a ferocious beast; but those present can then watch and
avoid its assaults, and can cast darts at it from all sides, and
wound it, and finally slay that destructive brute. So, in our case,
since we have brought their hidden mysteries, which they keep in
silence among themselves, to the light, it will not now be necessary
to use many words in destroying their system of opinions. For it is
now in thy power, and in the power of all thy associates, to
familiarize yourselves with what has been said, to overthrow their
wicked and undigested doctrines, and to set forth doctrines agreeable
to the truth. Since then the case is so, I shall, according to
promise, and as my ability serves, labour to overthrow them, by
refuting them all in the following book. Even to give an account of
them is a tedious affair, as thou seest. 331 But I shall furnish means for overthrowing them, by
meeting all their opinions in the order in which they have been
described, that I may not only expose the wild beast to view, but may
inflict wounds upon it from every side. 4. Wherefore I have laboured to bring forward,
and make clearly manifest, the utterly ill-conditioned
carcase of this miserable little
fox. 330 For there will not now be need of many words to
overturn their system of doctrine, when it has been made manifest to
all. It is as when, on a beast hiding itself in a wood, and by rushing forth from it is in
the habit of destroying multitudes, one who beats round the wood and thoroughly
explores it, so as to compel the animal to break cover, does not
strive to capture it, seeing that it is truly a ferocious beast;
but those present can then watch and avoid
its assaults, and can cast darts at it
from all sides, and wound it, and finally slay that destructive
brute. So, in our case, since we have brought their
hidden mysteries, which they keep in
silence among themselves, to the light,
it will not now be necessary to use many words in destroying their
system of opinions. For it is now in thy power, and in the power of
all thy associates, to familiarize
yourselves with what has been said, to
overthrow their wicked and undigested doctrines, and to set forth
doctrines agreeable to the truth. Since then the case is so, I shall,
according to promise, and as my ability serves, labour to overthrow
them, by refuting them all in the following book. Even to give an
account of them is a tedious affair, as thou seest. 331 But I shall furnish means for overthrowing them, by
meeting all their opinions in the order in which they have been
described, that I may not only expose the wild beast to view, but may
inflict wounds upon it from every side.
1 The
Greek original of the work of
Irenaeus is from time to time recovered
through the numerous
quotations made from it by subsequent
writers, especially by the author's pupil Hippolytus, and by
Epiphanius. The latter preserves (Haer. xxxi. secs. 9-32)
the preface of Irenaeus, and most of the first book. An important
difference of reading occurs between the Latin and Greek in the very
first word. The translator manifestly read epei, quatenus, while in
Epiphanius we find epi, against. The former is
probably correct, and has been followed in our version. We have also
supplied a clause, in order to avoid the extreme length of the
sentence in the original, which runs on without any apodosis to the
words anagkaion hghsamhn, "I have judged it necessary." 2 1 Tim. i. 4. The
Latin has here genealogias
infinitas, "endless genealogies," as in
textus receptus of New Testament. 3 As will be seen
by and by, this fancied being was, in the Valentinian system, the
creator of the material universe, but far inferior to the supreme
ruler Bythus. 4 There are
frequent references to Irenaeus to some venerable men who had
preceded him in the Church. It is supposed that Pothinus, whom he
succeeded at Lyons, is generally meant; but the reference may
sometimes be to Polycarp, with whom in early life he had been
acquainted. 6 The original is
egkefalon eceptukasin, which the Latin translator renders simply,
"have not sufficient brains." He probably followed a somewhat
different reading. Various emendations have been proposed, but the
author may be understood by the ordinary text to be referring
ironically to the boasted subtlety and sublimity of the
Gnostics. 8 As Caesar informs
us (Comm.,
i. 1), Gaul was divided into three parts, one of which was called
Celtic Gaul, lying between the Seine and the Garonne. Of this
division Lyons is the principal city. 9 [The reader will
find a logical and easy introduction to the crabbed details which
follow, by turning to chap. xxiii., and reading through succeeding
chapters down to chap. xxix.] 10 This term Aeon
(Aiwn) seems to have been formed from the words aei wn,
ever-existing. "We may take aiwn, therefore," says Harvey
(Irenaeus,
cxix.), "in the Valentinian acceptation of the word, to mean an
emanation from the divine substance, subsisting coordinately and
co-eternally with the Deity, the Pleroma still remaining one."
11 Sige, however,
was no true consort of Buthus, who included in himself the idea of
male and female, and was the one cause of all things: comp.
Hippolytus, Philosop., vi. 29. There seems to have been considerable
disagreement among these heretics as to the completion of the
mystical number thirty. Valentinus himself appears to have considered
Bythus as a monad, and Sige as a mere nonentity. The two latest
Aeons, Christ and the Holy Spirit, would then complete the number
thirty. But other Gnostic teachers included both Bythus and Sige in
that mystical number. 12 It may be well
to give here the English equivalents of the names of these
Anthropos, Man; Ecclesia,
Church;
Bythius, Deep; Mixis, Mingling; Ageratos,
Undecaying; Henosis, Union; Autophyes,
Self-existent; Hedone, Pleasure; Acinetos,
Immoveable; Syncrasis, Blending; Monogenes,
Only-Begotten; Macaria, Happiness; Paracletus,
Advocate;
Pistis,
Faith;
Patricos, Ancestral; Elpis, Hope; Metricos,
Metrical;
Agape, Love; Ainos, Praise; Synesis,
Understanding; Ecclesiasticus, Ecclesiastical;
Macariotes, Felicity; Theletos, Desiderated; Sophia,
Wisdom. 15 Some omit en
plhqei, while others render the words "a definite number," thus: "And
if there is anything else in Scripture which is referred to by a
definite number." 16 Alluding to the
Gnostic notion that, in generation, the male gives form, the female
substance. Sophia, therefore, being a female Aenon, gave to her
enthymesis substance alone, without form. Comp. Hippol.,
Philosop.,
vi. 30. 17 Some render this
obscure clause, "lest it should never attain perfection," but the
above seems preferable. See Hippol., vi. 31, where the fear referred
to is extended to the whole Pleroma. 18 "The reader will
observe the parallel; as the enthymesis of Bythus produced
intelligent substance, so the enthymesis of Sophia resulted in the
formation of material substance."-Harvey. 19 Some propose
reading these words in the dative rather than the accusative, and
thus to make them refer to the image of
the Father. 20 The meaning of
these terms is as follows: Stauros means primarily a stake, and then
a cross;
Lytrotes is a Redeemer; Carpistes, according to Grabe, means an Emancipator, according
to Neander a Reaper; Horothetes is one that
fixes boundaries; and Metagoges is
explained by Neander as being one that
brings back, from the supposed function
of Horos, to bring back all that sought to wander from the special
grade of being assigned them. 21 The common text
has aposterhqhnai, was
deprived; but Billius proposes to read
apostaurwqhnai, in conformity with the ancient Latin version,
"crucifixam." 22 That is, had not
shared in any male influence, but was a purely female
production. 23 Literally,
"fruit."
Harvey remarks on this expression, "that what we understand by
emanations, the Gnostic described as spiritual fructification; and
as the seed of a tree is in
itself, even in the embryo
state, so these various Aeons, as
existing always in the divine nature, were co-eternal with
it." 24 This is an
exceedingly obscure and difficult passage. Harvey's rendering is:
"For, say they, Christ taught them the nature of their copulae,
(namely,) that being cognisant of their (limited) perception of the
Unbegotten they needed no higher knowledge, and that He enounced,"
etc. the words seem scarcely capable of yielding this sense: we have
followed the interpretation of Billius. 25 Both the text
and meaning are here very doubtful. Some think that the import of the
sentence is, that the knowledge that the Father is incomprehensible
secured the continued safety of the Aeons, whilethe same knowledge
conferred upon Monogenes his origin and form. 26 The Greek text
inserts en, one, before "Holy
Spirit." 27 The reading is
here very doubtful. We have followed the text of Grabe (approved by
Harvey), ec agwnoj sumphcij. 28 These are all
names of the same person: see above, ii. 4. Hence some have proposed
the reading ecaiwnioj instead of ec agwnoj, alluding to the
sixfold
appellation of the Aeon Horos. 29 Billius renders,
"from the repentance of the Father," but the above seems
preferable. 30 Harvey remarks,
"Even in their Christology the Valentinians must have their part and
counterpart." 31 Or, "to all the
generations of the ages of the age." See Eph. iii. 21. The apostle,
of course, simply uses these words as a strong expression to denote
"for ever." 32 Literally, "at
the thanksgiving," or "eucharist." Massuet, the Benedictine editor,
refers this to the Lord's Supper, and hence concludes that some of
the ancient liturgies still extant must even then have been in use.
Harvey and others, however, deny that there is any necessity for
supposing the Holy Eucharist to be referred to; the ancient Latin
version translates in the plural, "in gratiarum actionibus."
35 This opinion is
in positive contradiction to the forty
days mentioned by St. Luke (Acts i. 3).
But the Valentinians seem to have followed a spurious writing of
their own called "The Gospel of Truth." See iii. 11, 8. 36 The numeral
value of Iota in Greek is ten, and of Eta, eight. 39 The Latin reads
"filii,"
which we have followed. Reference is made in this word to Nous, who
was, as we have already seen, also called Son, and who interested
himself in the recovery of Sophia. Aletheia was his consort, and was
typified by the hem of the Saviour's garment. 40 Her
individuality (morfh) would have been lost, while her substance
(ou0si/a) would have survived in the common essence of the
Aeons. 41 That is, the
"second Christ" referred to above, sec. 1. [It is much to be wished
that this second were always distinguished by the untranslated name
Soter.] 43 Not as being
born of it, but as fecundating it, and so producing a manifold
offspring. See below. 48 Luke xiv. 27. It
will be observed that the quotations of Scripture made by Irenaeus
often vary somewhat from the received text. This may be due to
various reasons-his quoting from memory; his giving the texts in the
form in which they were quoted by the heretics; or, as Harvey
conjectures, from his having been more familiar with a Syriac version
of the New Testament than with the Greek original. 52 Hence Stauros
was called ty the agricultural name Carpistes, as separating what was
gross and material from the spiritual and heavenly. 54 Gal. vi. 14. The
words en mhdeni do not occur in the Greek text. 55 Billius renders,
"of their opinion." 56 The punctuation
and rendering are here slightly doubtful. 57 This term,
though Tertullian declares himself to have been ignorant of its
derivation, was evidently formed from the Hebrew word hmbx
-chockmah,
wisdom. 58 The reader will
observe that light and fulness are the exact
correlatives of the darkness and
vacuity
which have just been mentioned. 59 As above stated
(ii. 3), the Gnostics held that form and figure were due to the male,
substance to the female parent. 60 The Valentinian
Stauros was the boundary fence of the Pleroma beyond which Christ
extended himself to assist the enthymesis of Sophia. 61 The peculiar
gnosis
which Nous received from his father, and communicated to the other
Aeons. 62 Probably
corresponding to the Hebrew hwh, Jehovah. 63 This sentence is
very elliptical in the original, but the sense is as given above.
Sophia fell from Gnosis by degradation; Achamoth never possessed this
knowledge, her nature being from the first opposed to it. 64 "The Demiurge
derived from Enthymesis an animal, and not a spiritual
nature."-Harvey. 66 "Jesus, or
Soter, was also called the Paraclete in the sense of Advocate, or one
acting as the representative of others."-Harvey. 67 Both the Father
and the other Aeons constituting Soter an impersonation of the entire
Pleroma. 69 That is, as in
the case of her mother
Sophia, who is sometimes called
"the Sophia above," Achamothe being "the Sophia below," or "the
second Sophia." 70 Thus Harvey
renders aswmaton ulhn: so Baur, Chr.
Gnos., as quoted by Stieren. Billius
proposes to read enswmaton, corporeal. 71 Though not
actually, for that was the work of the Demiurge. See next
chapter. 72 "In order that,"
says Grabe, "this formation might not be merely according to essence, but
also according to
knowledge, as the formation of the
mother Achamoth was characterized above." 73 Metropator, as
proceeding only from his mother Achamoth: Apator, as having no male
progenitor. 74 Harvey remarks,
"The Valentinian Saviour being an aggregation of all the aeonic
perfections, the images of them were reproduced by the spiritual
conception of Achamoth beholding the glory of Swthr. The reader will not fail
to observe that every successive development is the reflex of a more
divine antecedent." 75 The relation
indicated seems to be as follows: Achamoth, after being formed
"according to knowledge," was outside of the Pleroma as the image of
Propator, the Demiurge was as Nous, and the mundane angels which he
formed corresponded to the other Aeons of the Pleroma. 76 "Achamoth by
these names must be understood to have an intermediate position
between the divine prototypal idea and creation: she was the reflex
of the one, and therefore masculo-feminine; she was
the pattern to be realized in the latter, and therefore was named
Earth and Jerusalem."-Harvey. 77 But after the
consummation here referred to, Achamoth regained the Pleroma: see
below, chap. vii. 1. 79 An account is
here given of the infusion of a spiritual principle into mankind. The
Demiurge himself could give no more than the animal soul; but,
unwittingly to himself, he was made the instrument of conveying that
spiritual essence from Achamoth, which had grown up within her from
the contemplation of those angels who accompanied the Saviour.
81 "The doctrine of
Valentinus, therefore," says Harvey, "as regards the human nature of
Christ, was essentially Docetic. His body was animal, but not
material,
and only visible and tangible as having been formed kat oikonomian
and kateskeuasmenon arrhtw texnh." 82 [That is,
carnal;
men of the carnal mind, psychic instead of
pneumatic.
Rom. viii. 6.] 83 On account of
what they had received from Achamoth. 86 Comp. John xvii.
16. The Valentinians, while in the
world, claimed to be not
of the world, as animal men were. 87 Their
spiritual
substance was received from Achamoth; their animal souls were created by
the Demiurge. These are now separated; the spirit enters the Pleroma,
while the soul remains in heaven. 89 A Syriac
fragment here reads, "He spake by the prophets through him."
90 "Thus," says
Harvey,"we may trace back to the Gnostic period the Apollinarian
error, closely allied to the Docetic, that the body of Christ
was not derived from the blessed
Virgin, but that it was of heavenly substance, and
was only brought forth into the world through her
instrumentality." 91 By thus
extending himself through Stauros, who bounded the Pleroma,
the Christ above became the type of
the Christ below, who was extended upon
the cross. 92 Billius,
following the old Latin version, reads, "They interpret many things,
spoken by the prophets, of this
seed." 93 Such appears to
be the meaning of this sentence, but the original is very obscure.
The writer seems to refer to the spiritual, the animal, and the
material classes of men, and to imply that the Demiurge supposed some
prophecies to be due to one of these classes, and some to the
others. 94 Matt. viii. 9;
Luke vii. 8. 95 As was the case
at first, in Adam. 96 Literally,
"reading from things unwritten." 99 1 Cor. xi. 10.
Irenaeus here reads kalumma, veil, instead of ecousian,
power, as
in the received text. [An interesting fact, as it betokens an old
gloss, which may have slipped into the text of some ancient
mss.] 103 John xii. 27.
The Valentinians seem, for their own purposes, to have added ouk oida
to this text. 120 John i. 3, 4.
The punctuation here followed is different from that commonly
adopted, but is found in many of the Fathers, and in some of the most
ancient mss. 123 up authj,
occurring twice, is rendered both times in the old Latin version, "ab
eis." The reference is to skotia, darkness, i.e., all those
not belonging to the spiritual seed. 125 This is
parenthetically inserted by the author, to show the misquotation of
Scripture by these heretics. 126 These words are
wanting in the Greek, but are inserted in the old Latin
version. 127 It is difficult
to give an exact rendering of meletan in this passage; the old Lat.
version translates it by meditari, which
Massuet proposes to render "skilfully to fit." 128 Tertullian
refers (Praescrip. Haer.) to those Homeric centos of which a specimen follows.
We have given each line as it stands in the original: the text
followed by Irenaeus differs slightly from the received text.
129 Literally,
"immoveable in himself," the word aklinh being used with an apparent
reference to the original meaning of kanona, a builder's rule.
130 The meaning of
the word apolutrwsij here is not easily determined; but it is
probably a scenic term equivalent to apolusij, and may be rendered as
above. 131 [The Creed, in
the sublime simplicity of its fundamental articles, is established;
that is, by the impossiblility of framing anything to take their
place.] 132 "Of God" is
added from the old Latin. 136 Probably
referring to the Churches in Palestine. 137 The text here
is arkoumenouj toutouj, which is manifestly corrupt. Various
emendations have been proposed: we prefer reading arkoumenoj toutoij,
and have translated accordingly. 139 Irenaeus here
reads panta instead of pantaj, as in Text. Rec. of New
Testament. 140
euxaristein-this word has been deemed corrupt, as it certainly
appears out of keeping with the other verbs; but it may be rendered
as above. 145 That is, the
first of the two or three here referred to, not the first of the
Gnostic teachers, as some have imagined. [The Gnosticism of one age
may be essentially the same in spirit as the Agnosticism of
another.] 146 Viz., all
outside of the Pleroma. 147 Corrected from
Ecclesia
in the text. 148 Some have
supposed that the name of this teacher was Epiphanes, and that the
old Latin mistakenly translates this by clarus; others think that
Colorbasus is the teacher in question. 149 The Greek text
is wanting till the end of this section. 150 [1 Kings xviii.
27. "It came to pass that Elijah mocked them," etc. This
reductio ad absurdum of our author is singularly applicable to certain forms
of what is called "Modern Thought."] 151 We here follow
the Greek as preserved by Hippolytus (Philosoph., vi. 38). The
text followed by Epiphanius (Haer., xxxiii. 1) does not
so well agree with the Latin. 152 The text is
here hopelessly corrupt; but the general meaning seems to be that
given above. 153 This sentence
exists only in the Latin version, and we can give only a free
translation. 155 These words are
found in Epiphanius, but omitted in the old Latin version. The Latin gives
"sense" instead of "light." 156 The text is
here very uncertain. Some propose to read six Aeons instead of
all. 157 Here again the
text is corrupt and obscure. We have followed what seems the most
probable emendation. 158 Harvey justly
remarks, that "one cause of perplexity in unravelling the Valentinian
scheme is the recurrence of similar names at different points of the
system, e.g., the Enthymesis of Sophia
was called Sophia and Spiritus; and
Pater, Arche, Monogenes, Christus, Anthropos, Ecclesia, were all of
them terms of a double denomination." 159 The Greek text
of this section is preserved both by Epiphanius (Haer. xxxiv. 1) and by
Hippolytus (Philosoph., vi. 39, 40). Their citation are somewhat discordant,
and we therefore follow the old Latin version. 160 Pliny,
Hist. Nat., xxxv. 15, etc. 161 Epiphanius now
gives the Greek text verbatim, to which,
therefore, we return. 162 Probably
referring to Sige, the consort of Bythus. 164 Literally, "the
place of thy mightiness is in us." 165 [Note this
manner of primitive "confession;" and see Bingham, Antiquities, book xv. cap.
8] 166 We here follow
the rendering of Billius, "in iisdem studiis versantes." Others
adhere to the received text, and translate peripolizontej "going
about idly." 167 Grabe is of
opinion that reference is made in this term to an imprecatory formula
in use among the Marcosians, analogous to the form of thanksgiving
employed night and morning by the Jews for their redemption from
Egypt. Harvey refers the word to the second baptism practised
among these and other heretics, by which it was supposed they were
removed from the cognizance of the Demiurge, who is styled the
"judge" in the close of the above sentence. 168 That is,
Sophia, of whom Achamoth, afterwards referred to, was the emanation. 169 The angels
accompanying Soter were the consorts of spiritual Gnostics, to whom
they were restored after death. 170 The syntax in
this long sentence is very confused, but the meaning is tolerably
plain. The gist of it is, that these Gnostics, as being the spiritual
seed, claimed a consubstantiality with Achamoth, and consequently
escaped from the material Deniurge, and attained at last to the
Pleroma. 171 Rendering the
wearer invisible. See Il., v. 844. 173 This sentence
has completely baffled all the critics. [Its banter, or mock gravity,
has not been self-evident.] We cannot enter upon the wide field of
discussion which it has opened up, but would simply state that
Irenaeus here seems to us, as often, to be playing upon the terms
which were in common use among these heretics. Marcus probably
received his system from Colorbasus, and is here declared, by the use
of that jargon which Irenaeus means to ridicule while so employing
it, to have proceeded to develop it in the way described. 174 Such appears to
be the meaning of anousioj in this passage. The meaning of ousia
fluctuated for a time in the early Church, and was sometimes used to
denote material
substance, instead of its usual
significance of being. 175 The old Latin
preserves arxh untranslated, implying that this was the first word
which the Father spoke. Some modern editors adopt this view, while
others hold the meaning simply to be, as given above, that that first
sound which the Father uttered was the origin of all the rest.
176 The letters are
here confounded with the Aeons, which they represented. 179 By this
Achamoth is denoted, who was said to give rise to the material
elements, after the image of the Divine. 180 That is, their
names are spelt by other letters. 181 The old Latin
version renders epishmon, insigne,
illustrious, but there seems to be a
reference to the Valentinian notion of the mystic number of
888 formed
( 10+8+200+70+400+200) vy the numerical value of the letters in the
word Ihsouj. 182 The mutes are
p, k, t, b, g, d, f, x, q. 183 The semi-vowels
are l, m, n, r, j, z, c, y. 184 It seems
scarcely possible to give a more definite rendering of this clause:
it may be literally translated thus: "And because they receive the
outflow of those above, but the turning back again of those
below." 185 The ninth
letter being taken from the mutes and added to the semi-vowels, an
equal division of the twenty-four was thus secured. 186 Viz., Pater,
Athropos, and Logos. 187 Viz., z, c, y =
dj, kj, pj. 188 Matt. xvii. 7;
Mark ix. 2. 189 Moses and Elias
being added to the company. 190 Referring to
the word Xreistoj, according to Harvey, who remarks, that "generally
the Ogdoad was the receptacle of the spiritual seed." 191 The
Saviour, as Alpha and
Omega, was symbolized by the
dove, the
sum of the Greek numerals, p, e, r, i, j, t, e, r, a (peristera,
dove),
being, like that of A and W, 801. . 192 That is, the
letters z, c, y all contain j, whose value is six, and which was called
epishmon by the Greeks. 193 Referring to
Aletheia, which, in Greek, contains seven letters. 194 By these seven
powers are meant the seven heavens (also called angels), formed by
the Demiurge. 195 We here follow
the text of Hippolytus: the ordinary text and the old Latin read, "So
does the soul of infants, weeping and mourning over Marcus, deify
him." 198 The text is
here altogether uncertain: we have given the probable meaning.
199 That is, the
name of Soter, the perfect result of the whole Pleroma. 200 Manifestly to
be so spelt here, as in the sequel Chreistus, for
Christus. 201 The text is
here altogether uncertain, and the meaning obscure. 202 The reading is
exceedingly doubtful: some prefer the number eighty-eight. 203 There were, as
Harvey observes, three extraneous characters introduced into the
Greek alphabet for the sake of numeration-the three episema for 6, 90, and 900
respectively. The true alphabet, then, as employed to denote number,
included eight units, eight tens, and eight hundreds. 204 Or, according
to the Greek text, "being as the way to the Father;" comp. John xiv.
6. 205 The text is
here uncertain: we follow that suggested by Grabe. 206 [Comp. cap. xi.
4, supra.] 207 Comp. Gen.
xxxi. 2.-We here follow the punctuation of Scaliger, now generally
accepted by the editors, though entirely different from the old
Latin. 208 [Mosheim thinks
this Marcus was a lunatic.] 211 All the
editors, Grabe, Massuet, Stieren, and Harvey, differ as to the text
and interpretation of this sentence. We have given what seems the
simplest rendering of the text as it stands. 212 Referring to
the last of the twelve Aeons. 214 Meaning the
Aeon who left the Duodecad, when eleven remained, and not referring
to the lost sheep of the parable. 215 Harvey gives
the above paraphrase of the very obscure original; others propose to
read l/ instead of logou. 216 Massuet
explains this and the following reference, by remarking that the
ancients used the fingers of the hand in counting; by the left hand
they indicated all the numbers below a hundred, but by the right hand
all above that sum.-Comp. Juvenal, Sat., x. 249. 220 The Demiurge
being the fruit of the abortive conversion of the abortive passion of
Achamoth,
who, again, was the abortive issue of
Sophia. 221 i.e., by aiming
at what transcends their ability, they fall into absurdity, as a bow
is broken by bending it too far. 223 Such is the
translation which Harvey, following the text preserved by Hippolytus,
gives of the above intricate and obscure sentence. 224 Literally, "is
adorned with." 227 One of the
senses was thus capriciously cancelled by these heretics. 229 Or, rather,
perhaps "curtains." Ex. xxvi. 1. 231 Gen. vi. 18; 1
Pet. iii. 20. 243 Ex. xxviii.
3.-There is no mention of the number of the bells in
Scripture. 251 Ex. xxvi. 8.
Numbers
appear to have been often capriciously introduced by these heretics
to give a colour of support to their own theories. 256 Dan. xii. 9,
10. The words in the above quotation not occurring in the Hebrew text
of the passage, seem to have been interpolated by these
heretics. 257 [From the
Protevangel of Thomas. Compare the curious work of Dominic Deodati,
De Christo Graece
loquente, p. 95. London, 1843.]
262 Taken from some
apocryphal writing. 263 Luke xix. 42,
loosely quoted. 265 The translator
evidently read tw=n for th/n, in which case the rendering will be
"proof of those most high," but the Greek text seems
preferable. 269 Luke xii. 50.
The text was probably thus corrupted by the heretics. 271 We have given
these words as they stand in the Greek text: a very different list,
but equally unmeaning, is found in the Latin. 272 The Latin reads
zonis,
"zones," instead of "lives," as in the Greek. 273 Here, again,
are many variations. 274 The Greek text,
which has hitherto been preserved almost entire, ends at this point.
With only brief extracts from the original, now and then, we are
henceforth exclusively dependent on the old Latin version, with some
Syriac and Armenian fragments recently discovered. 275 The Latin here
begins with the words "cum teneamus," and the apodosis is found
afterwards at "facile arguimus." But we have broken up the one long
sentence into several. 278 The text is
here uncertain and obscure: eternal things seem to be referred to,
not as regarded substance, but the
forms
assigned them. 279 This word would
perhaps be better cancelled. 282 Comp. Just.
Mart., Apol., i. 26. It is generally supposed that Simon Magus was thus
confounded with the Sabine god, Semo Sancus; but see our note,
loc. cit.
[And mine at end of the First Apology. Consult Orelli's Inscriptions
there noted.] 283 A lyric poet of
Sicily, said to have been dealt with, as stated above, by Castor and
Pollus. 288 The ordinary
text reads, "three hundred and seventy-five," but it should
manifestly be corrected as above. 289 This sentence
is wholly unintelligible as it stands in the Latin version. Critics
differ greatly as to its meaning; Harvey tries to bring out of it
something like the translation given above. [This name is
manufactured from a curious abuse of (wql wq ) Isaiah xxviii. 10-13, which is variously
understood. See (Epiphanius ed. Oehler, vol. i.)
Philastr.,
p. 38.] 290 So written in
Latin, but in Greek 'Abrasac, the numerical value of the letters in
which is three hundred and sixty-five. [See Aug. (ed. Migne), vol. viii. p. 26.]
It is doubtful to whom or what this word refers; probably to the
heavens. 291 [I note again
this "Americanism."] 292 Such seems to
be the meaning of the Latin, but the original text is
conjectural. 294 The text is
here defective, but the above meaning seems to be indicated by
Epiphanius. 296 [Isaiah v. 20.
Horne Tooke derives our word Truth from what any one
troweth.] 297 The text here
has greatly puzzled the editors. We follow the simple emendation
proposed by Harvey. 298 Matt. v. 25,
26; Luke xii. 58. 299 The meaning is
here very doubtful, but Tertullian understood the words as above. If
sinning were a necessity, then it could no longer be regarded as evil.
300 [This censure
of images as a Gnostic peculiarity, and as a heathenish corruption,
should be noted.] 301 We here follow
the text as preserved by Hippolytus. The Latin has, "a certain man in
Asia." 302 [This is
disputed by other primitive authorities.] 305 We here follow
the amended version proposed by the Benedictine editor. 306 A promise never
fulfilled: comp. book iii. 12, and Euseb., Hist. Eccl., v. 8.
308 [The whole
casuistical system of the Trent divines, De Matrimonio, proceeds on
this principle: marriage is licensed evil.] 309 Harvey supposes
this name to be derived from two Syriac words, meaning "God in a
Tetrad." Matter again derives it from two Hebrew words, denoting
"Daughter of the Lord." 310 Both the text
and meaning are here altogether doubtful. 311 Harvey refers
to the cabbalistic books in explanation of this and the following
names, but their meanings are very uncertain. 312 Harvey refers
to the cabbalistic books in explanation of this and the following
names, but their meanings are very uncertain. 313 Ex. xx. 5; Isa.
xlv. 5, 6. 314 The punctuation
is here difficult and doubtful. 315 The probable
meaning of this and the following names is thus given by Harvey:
Ialdabaoth, Lord God of the
Fathers; Iao,
Jehovah;
Oreus, Light; Astanphaeus, Crown; Sabaoth, of course, means Hosts; Adoneus, Lord; and Eloeus, God. All the names are derived from the cabbalistic
theology of the Jews. 316 Hence their
name of Ophites, from ofej, a serpent.
317 The Latin has
evertisse,
implying that thus Nous was more degraded. 319 That is, from
Ialdabaoth, etc. [Philastr. (ut supra), Oehler, i. p.
38.] 320 There is
constant reference in this section to rabbinical conceits and
follies. 321 A name probably
derived from the Hebrew hr(n, girl, but of the person
referred to we know nothing. 322 We here follow
the emendation of Grabe: the defection of Prunicus is
intended. 323 The Latin here
is "ex quibus," and the meaning is exceedingly obscure. Harvey thinks
it is the representative ec wn (xronwn) in the Greek, but we prefer
to refer it to "Judaeos," as above. The next sentence seems
unintelligible: but, according to Harvey, "each deified day of the
week had his ministering prophets." 324 The common text
inserts "et incorruptibili Aeone," but this seems better rejected as
a glossarial interpolation. 325 1 Cor. xv. 50.
The Latin text reads "apprehendunt," which can scarcely be the
translation of klhronomhsai in the Greek text of the New
Testament. 326 That is, Christ
and Jesus. 327 The text of
this sentence is hopelessly corrupt, but the meaning is as given
above. 328 According to
Harvey, Hystera corresponds to the "passions" of Achamoth. [Note the
"Americanism," advocate used as a verb.] 329 The text is
here imperfect, and the translation only conjectural. 330 [Cant. ii. 15;
St. Luke xiii. 32.] 331 [Let the reader
bear in mind that the Greek of this original and very precious author
exists only in fragments. We are reading the translation of a
translation; the Latin very rude, and the subject itself full of
difficulties. It may yet be discovered that some of the faults of the
work are not chargeable to Irenaeus.] Counter added 12.04.04 7:00 pm 1118
then Monogenes, that is Nous, with Aletheia;
Logos with
Zoe, and
Anthropos
with Ecclesia.
The Production of Christ and of the Holy
Spirit, in Order to the Completion of
the Aeons. Manner of the Production of
Jesus.
(for Sophia is spoken of as being her
father),
and Holy Spirit from that Spirit who is along with Christ.
