Early Writings:IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES
Book I
Preface.
1. Inasmuch1 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. One4 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 enjoined5 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 purged6 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; then Monogenes,
that is Nous, with Aletheia; Logos with Zoe, and Anthropos with Ecclesia.
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 parable14 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 multitude15 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. The Production of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, in Order to the
Completion of the Aeons. Manner of the Production of Jesus.
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 end17 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 substance18 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, fenced21 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 Spirit26 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 consolidation27 [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 repentance29 [of Sophia], and of the second30 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 giving32 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 twelve33 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 months35 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
Iota36 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 essence40 [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 Saviour41 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 womb43 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 material52 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
anything54 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
formation55 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 others56 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 light58 and the Pleroma, and was without form or figure, like
an untimely birth, because she had received nothing59 [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
(for Sophia is spoken of as being her father), and Holy Spirit from that Spirit
who is along with Christ. 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 Demiurge64
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 Aeons67 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 virtually71 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 Saviour74 did so
through her instrumentality. And she, in the image75 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 begirt81 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 of86 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 was89 made of him by the
prophets. This Christ passed through Mary90 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 inhabit ants. 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
spoken92 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 gospel114 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. 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 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 support127 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
kind128 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:-
"Thus saying, there sent forth from his house deeply groaning."-Od., x. 76.
"The hero Hercules conversant with mighty deeds."-Od., xxi. 26.
"Eurystheus, the son of Sthenelus, descended from Perseus."-Il., xix. 123.
"That he might bring from Erebus the dog of gloomy Pluto."-Il., viii. 368.
"And he advanced like a mountain-bred lion confident of strength."-Od., vi. 130.
"Rapidly through the city, while all his friends followed."-Il., xxiv. 327.
"Both maidens, and youths, and much-enduring old men."-Od., xi. 38.
"Mourning for him bitterly as one going forward to death."-Il., xxiv. 328.
"But Mercury and the blue-eyed Minerva conducted him."-Od., xi. 626.
"For she knew the mind of her brother, how it laboured with grief."-Il., ii.
409.
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 unchangeable129 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-stroke130 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 dispensations132 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 regions136 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 sufficient137
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 "God138 hath concluded every
man139 in unbelief, that He may have mercy upon all; "and gratefully140 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
first145 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 rest146 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 Aletheia147 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: There149 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 say151 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 beings153 (like the Jove of Homer, who is represented154 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 all156 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. But159 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 Anaxilaus160
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. Pretending161 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 themselves166 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 forms169 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 Homeric171 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 Marcus173 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 beginning175 [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 know176 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 sound179 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 arithmetically181 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 mute182 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-vowels183 represent Logos and
Zoe, because they are, as it were, midway between the consonants and the vowels,
partaking184 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 double187 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, ascended188 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 letters192 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, Seige200 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 Son201 (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 Hecatads203 , 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 elder209 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 Gospel210 ], 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 calculation215 (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 composed224 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 courts229 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 gave235 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 sceptres237 (tribes), and the ten courts238
of the tabernacle, and the columns of ten cubits239 [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,-Thomas241 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 story257
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 redemption267 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 Jesus268 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 lives272 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 rule275 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 eternal278 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 Stesichorus283 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 witnessed291 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
Satan293 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 necessary297 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.
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 educated301 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 serpent304 which was in Marcion declared that Abel,
and Enoch, and Noah, and those other righteous men who sprang305 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 those306 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 conception310 [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, Chaffs 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 imparted317 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 "flesh325 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. 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 configuration327 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. 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.
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
nature329 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.