From: Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts
BOOK I
PREFACE.
1. INASMUCH(1) as certain men have set the truth aside, and bring in lying
words and vain genealogies, which, as the apostle says,(2) "minister questions
rather than godly edifying which is in faith," and by means of their
craftily-constructed plausibilities draw away the minds of the inexperienced
and take them captive, [I have felt constrained, my dear friend, to compose
the following treatise in order to expose and counteract their machinations.]
These men falsify the oracles of God, and prove themselves evil interpreters
of the good word of revelation. They also overthrow the faith of many, by
drawing them away, under a pretence of [superior] knowledge, from Him who
rounded and adorned the universe; as if, forsooth, they had something more
excellent and sublime to reveal, than that God who created the heaven and the
earth, and all things that are therein. By means of specious and plausible
words, they cunningly allure the simple-minded to inquire into their system;
but they nevertheless clumsily destroy them, while they initiate them into
their blasphemous and impious opinions respecting the Demiurge;(3) and these
simple ones are unable, even in such a matter, to distinguish falsehood from
truth.
2. Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being
thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in
an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the
inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may seem) more true than the truth
itself. One(4) far superior to me has well said, in reference to this point,
"A clever imitation in glass casts contempt, as it were, on that precious
jewel the emerald (which is most highly esteemed by some), unless it come
under the eye of one able to test and expose the counterfeit. Or, again, what
inexperienced person can with ease detect the presence of brass when it has
been mixed up with silver?" Lest, therefore, through my neglect, some should
be carried off, even as sheep are by wolves, while they perceive not the true
character of these men,-because they outwardly are covered with sheep's
clothing (against whom the Lord has enjoined(5) us to be on our guard), and
because their language resembles ours, while their sentiments are very
different,--I have deemed it my duty (after reading some of the Commentaries,
as they call them, of the disciples of Valentinus, and after making myself
acquainted with their tenets through personal intercourse with some of them)
to unfold to thee, my friend, these portentous and profound mysteries, which
do not fall within the range of every intellect, because all have not
sufficiently purged(6) their brains. I do this, in order that thou, obtaining
an acquaintance with these things, mayest in turn explain them to all those
with whom thou art connected, and exhort them to avoid such an abyss of
madness and of blasphemy against Christ. I intend, then, to the best of my
ability, with brevity and clearness to set forth the opinions of those who are
now promulgating heresy. I refer especially to the disciples of Ptolemaeus,
whose school may be described as a bud from that of Valentinus. I shall also
endeavour, according to my moderate ability, to furnish the means of
overthrowing them, by showing how absurd and inconsistent with the truth are
their statements. Not that I am practised either in composition or eloquence;
but my feeling of affection prompts me to make known to thee and all thy
companions those doctrines which have been kept in concealment until now, but
which are at last, through the goodness of God, brought to light. "For there
is nothing hidden which shall not be revealed, nor secret that shall not be
made known."(1)
3. Thou wilt not expect from me, who am resident among the Keltae,(2) 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.(3)
CHAP. 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,(4) 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.(5) 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.(6) 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,(1) thus setting forth the mystery of these AEons. They
maintain also, that these thirty AEons are most plainly indicated in the
parable(2) of the labourers sent into the vineyard. For some are sent about
the first hour, others about the third hour, others about the sixth hour,
others about the ninth hour, and others about the eleventh hour. Now, if we
add up the numbers of the hours here mentioned, the sum total will be thirty:
for one, three, six, nine, and eleven, when added together, form thirty. And
by the hours, they hold that the AEons were pointed out; while they maintain
that these are great, and wonderful, and hitherto unspeakable mysteries which
it is their special function to develop; and so they proceed when they find
anything in the multitude(3) of things contained in the Scriptures which they
can adopt and accommodate to their baseless speculations.
CHAP. 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.(4) When she looked upon it, her first
feeling was one of grief, on account of the imperfection of its generation,
and then of fear lest this should end(5) her own existence. Next she lost, as
it were, all command of herself, and was in the greatest perplexity while
endeavouring to discover the cause of all this, and in what way she might
conceal what had happened. Being greatly harassed by these passions, she at
last changed her mind, and endeavoured to return anew to the Father. When,
however, she in some measure made the attempt, strength failed her, and she
became a suppliant of the Father. The other AEons, Nous in particular,
presented their supplications along with her. And hence they declare material
substance(1) 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,(2) 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.(3) And by this Horos they declare that Sophia was purified and
established, while she was also restored to her proper conjunction. For her
enthymesis (or inborn idea) having been taken away from her, along with its
supervening passion, she herself certainly remained within the Pleroma; but
her enthymesis, with its passion, was separated from her by Horos, fenced(4)
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.(5) And
on this account they say that it was an imbecile and feminine production.(6)
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.(7) 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.(8) Christ, then, who had just been produced, effected these things among
them.
6. But the Holy Spirit(9) 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.
CHAP. III.--TEXTS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE USED BY THESE HERETICS TO SUPPORT THEIR
OPINIONS.
1. Such, then, is the account they give of what took place within the
Pleroma; such the calamities that flowed from the passion which seized upon
the AEon who has been named, and who was within a little of perishing by being
absorbed in the universal substance, through her inquisitive searching after
the Father; such the consolidation(1) [of that AEon] from her condition of
agony by Horos, and Stauros, and Lytrotes, and Carpistes, and Horothetes, and
Metagoges.(2) Such also is the account of the generation of the later AEons,
namely of the first Christ and of the Holy Spirit, both of whom were produced
by the Father after the repentance(3) [of Sophia], and of the second(4) 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."(5) Nay, we ourselves, when
at the giving of thanks we pronounce the words, "To AEons of AEons" (for ever
and ever), do set forth these AEons. And, in fine, wherever the words AEon or
AEons occur, they at once refer them to these beings.
2. The production, again, of the Duodecad of the AEons, is indicated by the
fact that the Lord was twelve(7) 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.(8) The other eighteen AEons are made manifest in this way: that
the Lord, [according to them,] conversed with His disciples for eighteen
months(9) after His resurrection from the dead. They also affirm that these
eighteen AEons are strikingly indicated by the first two letters of His name [Ihsous],
namely Iota(10) 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."(11)
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?"(12)--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,(13)
that is, Aletheia of the first Tetrad, who is denoted by the hem spoken of,
she would have been dissolved into the general essence(14) [of which she
participated]. She stopped short, however, and ceased any longer to suffer.
For the power that went forth from the Son (and this power they term Horos)
healed her, and separated the passion from her.
4. They moreover affirm that the Saviour(15) 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."(16) For He, being everything, opened the
womb(17) 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;"(1) and again, "All things are to Him,
and of Him are all things;"(2) and further, "In Him dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead;"(3) and yet again, "All things are gathered together by God in
Christ."(4) 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;"(5) and again, "Taking up the cross follow me;"(6)
but the separating power when He said, "I came not to send peace, but a
word."(7) 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."(8) By this declaration He set forth the faculty of Horos. For
that fan they explain to be the cross (Stauros), which consumes, no doubt, all
material(9) 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."(10) And again: "God forbid that I should glory in
anything(11) save in the cross of Christ, by whom the world is crucified to
me, and I unto the world."
6. Such, then, is the account which they all give of their Pleroma, and of
the formation(12) of the universe, striving, as they do, to adapt the good
words of revelation to their own wicked inventions. And it is not only from
the writings of the evangelists and the apostles that they endeavour to derive
proofs for their opinions by means of perverse interpretations and deceitful
expositions: they deal in the same way with the law and the prophets, which
contain many parables and allegories that can frequently be drawn into various
senses, according to the kind of exegesis to which they are subjected. And
others(13) 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.
CHAP. 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,(14) being removed from the Pleroma, together with her
passion, they relate to have, as a matter of course, become violently excited
in those places of darkness and vacuity [to which she had been banished]. For
she was excluded from light(15) and the Pleroma, and was without form or
figure, like an untimely birth, because she had received nothing(16) [from a
male parent]. But the Christ dwelling on high took pity upon her; and having
extended himself through and beyond Stauros,(17) he imparted a figure to her,
but merely as respected substance, and not so as to convey intelligence.(18)
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,(1) 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].(2)
Moreover, another kind of passion fell upon her her (Achamoth), namely, that
of desiring to return to him who gave her life.
2. This collection [of passions] they declare was the substance of the
matter from which this world was formed. For from [her desire of] returning
[to him who gave her life], every soul belonging to this world, and that of
the Demiurge(3) 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."(4) 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.(5)
This being was endowed with all power by the Father, who placed everything
under his authority, the AEons(6) doing so likewise, so that "by him were all
things, visible and invisible, created, thrones, divinities, dominions."(7) 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,(1) 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.(2) He then
by this process conferred upon them a fitness and a nature to become
concretions and corporeal structures, in order that two substances should be
formed,--the one evil, resulting from the passions, and the other subject
indeed to suffering, but originating from her conversion. And on this account
(i.e., on account of this hypostatizing of ideal matter) they say that the
Saviour virtually(3) 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.
CHAP. 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.(4) 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,(5) Apator, Demiurge, and
Father, saying that he is Father of the substances on the right hand, that is,
of the animal, but Demiurge of those on the left, that is, of the material,
while he is at the same time the king of all. For they say that this
Enthymesis, desirous of making all things to the honour of the AEons, formed
images of them, or rather that the Saviour(6) did so through her
instrumentality. And she, in the image(7) 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.(1) Her place of habitation is an intermediate one, above the
Demiurge indeed, but below and outside of the Pleroma, even to the end.(2)
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."(3) 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.(4) 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.
CHAP. 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"(1) and "the light of the world." For the
animal substance had need of training by means of the outward senses; and on
this account they affirm that the world was created, as well as that the
Saviour came to the animal substance (which was possessed of free-will), that
He might secure for it salvation. For they affirm that He received the
first-fruits of those whom He was to save [as follows], from Achamoth that
which was spiritual, while He was invested by the Demiurge with the animal
Christ, but was begirt(2) 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.(3) 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.(4) 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."(5) 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.(6) They maintain, therefore, that
in every way it is always necessary for them to practise the mystery of
conjunction. And that they may persuade the thoughtless to believe this, they
are in the habit of using these very words, "Whosoever being in this world
does not so love a woman as to obtain possession of her, is not of the truth,
nor shall attain to the truth. But whosoever being of(1) 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.
CHAP. 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,(2) 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;(3) that
is, the intermediate habitation. In this intermediate place, also, shall the
souls of the righteous repose; but nothing of an animal nature shall find
admittance to the Pleroma. When these things have taken place as described,
then shall that fire which lies hidden in the world blaze forth and bum; and
while destroying all matter, shall also be extinguished along with it, and
have no further existence. They affirm that the Demiurge was acquainted with
none of these things before the advent of the Saviour.
2. There are also some who maintain that he also produced Christ as his own
proper son, but of an animal nature, and that mention was(4) made of him by
the prophets. This Christ passed through Mary(5) 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,(6) and
imparted to Achamoth shape, so far as substance was concerned. For they
declare that all these transactions were counterparts of what took place
above.
3. They maintain, moreover, that those souls which possess the seed of
Achamoth are superior to the rest, and are more dearly loved by the Demiurge
than others, while he knows not the true cause thereof, but imagines that they
are what they are through his favour towards them. Wherefore, also, they say
he distributed them to prophets, priests, and kings; and they declare that
many things were spoken(7) by this seed through the prophets, inasmuch as it
was endowed with a transcendently lofty nature. Themother 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].(1) 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."(2) 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,(3) 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.
CHAP. 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;(4) 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,(1) 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."(2) 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."(3) 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?"(4) 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;"(5) her fear by the words, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from Me;"(6) and her perplexity, too, when He said, "And what I shall
say, I know not."(7)
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?"(8)
"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"(9) (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,"(10) and when He said to Zaccheus the publican,
"Make haste, and come down, for to-day I must abide in thine house"(11)--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;"(12) and in another place, "But the animal man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit;"(13) and again: "He that is spiritual judgeth all
things."(14) 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,"(15) 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.(16) 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,"(1) was a type of the
Demiurge, who, on the arrival of the Saviour, learned his own change of place,
and gave thanks to Bythus. They also assert that by Anna, who is spoken of in
the gospel(2) 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."(3) This, too, was done by Paul in these
words," But we speak wisdom among them that are perfect."(4) 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."(5)
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."(6) 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;"(7) 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."(8) 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."(9) 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"(10) by it, inasmuch as, when He
imparted form to all those things which had their origin from passion, He was
not known by it.(11) 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."(12) (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."(1)) 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.(2)
CHAP. 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 Phos, and Sorer, and Christus, and the Son of God, and He who became
incarnate for us, have been proved to be one and the same, the Ogdoad which
they have built up at once falls to pieces. And when this is destroyed, their
whole system sinks into ruin,--a system which they falsely dream into
existence, and thus inflict injury on the Scriptures, while they build up
their own hypothesis.
4. Then, again, collecting a set of expressions and names scattered here
and there [in Scripture], they twist them, as we have already said, from a
natural to a non-natural sense. In so doing, they act like those who bring
forward any kind of hypothesis they fancy, and then endeavour to support(1)
them out of the poems of Homer, so that the ignorant imagine that Homer
actually composed the verses bearing upon that hypothesis, which has, in fact,
been but newly constructed; and many others are led so far by the
regularly-formed sequence of the verses, as to doubt whether Homer may not
have composed them. Of this kind(2) 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
unchangeable(3) in his heart the rule of the truth which he received by means
of baptism, will doubtless recognise the names, the expressions, and the
parables taken from the Scriptures, but will by no means acknowledge the
blasphemous use which these men make of them. For, though he will acknowledge
the gems, he will certainly not receive the fox instead of the likeness of the
king. But when he has restored every one of the expressions quoted to its
proper position, and has fitted it to the body of the truth, he will lay bare,
and prove to be without any foundation, the figment of these heretics.
5. But since what may prove a finishing-stroke(4) 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,(5) and that the theories of these men are but a
tissue of falsehoods.
CHAP. X.--UNITY OF THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE WORLD.
1. The Church, though dispersed through our the whole world, even to the
ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this
faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and
earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus,
the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy
Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations(6) 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,"(7) 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"(8) to Him, and that He
should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send "spiritual
wickednesses,"(9) and the angels who transgressed and became apostates,
together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men,
into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer
immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His
commandments, and have persevered in His love, some from the beginning [of
their Christian course], and others from [the date of] their repentance, and
may surround them with everlasting glory.
2. As I have already observed, the Church, having received this preaching
and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if
occupying but one house, carefully preserves it. She also believes these
points [of doctrine] just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same
heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with
perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth. For, although the
languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import of the tradition is one
and the same. For the Churches which have been planted in Germany do not
believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in
Gaul, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those
which have been established in the central regions(1) of the world. But as the
sun, that creature of God, is one and the same throughout the whole world, so
also the preaching of the truth shineth everywhere, and enlightens all men
that are willing to come to a knowledge of the truth. Nor will any one of the
rulers in the Churches, however highly gifted he may be in point of eloquence,
teach doctrines different from these (for no one is greater than the Master);
nor, on the other hand, will he who is deficient in power of expression
inflict injury on the tradition. For the faith being ever one and the same,
neither does one who is able at great length to discourse regarding it, make
any addition to it, nor does one, who can say but little diminish it.
3. It does not follow because men are endowed with greater and less degrees
of intelligence, that they should therefore change the subject-matter [of the
faith] itself, and should conceive of some other God besides Him who is the
Framer, Maker, and Preserver of this universe, (as if He were not
sufficient(2) for them), or of another Christ, or another Only-begotten. But
the fact referred to simply implies this, that one may [more accurately than
another] bring out the meaning of those things which have been spoken in
parables, and accommodate them to the general scheme of the faith; and explain
[with special clearness] the operation and dispensation of God connected with
human salvation; and show that God manifested longsuffering in regard to the
apostasy of the angels who transgressed, as also with respect to the
disobedience of men; and set forth why it is that one and the same God has
made some things temporal and some eternal, some heavenly and others earthly;
and understand for what reason God, though invisible, manifested Himself to
the prophets not under one form, but differently to different individuals; and
show why it was that more covenants than one were given to mankind; and teach
what was the special character of each of these covenants; and search out for
what reason "God(3) hath concluded every man(4) in unbelief, that He may have
mercy upon all;" and gratefully(5) 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;"(6) and proclaim in what sense [God] says, "'That is a people
who was not a people; and she is beloved who was not beloved;"(7) and in what
sense He says that "more are the children of her that was desolate, than of
her who possessed a husband."(8) 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!"(9) 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.
CHAP. XI.--THE OPINIONS OF VALENTINUS, WITH THOSE OF HIS DISCIPLES AND
OTHERS.
1. Let us now look at the inconsistent opinions of those heretics (for
there are some two or three of them), how they do not agree in treating the
same points, but alike, in things and names, set forth opinions mutually
discordant. The first(1) of them, Valentinus, who adapted the principles of
the heresy called "Gnostic" to the peculiar character of his own school,
taught as follows: He maintained that there is a certain Dyad (twofold being),
who is inexpressible by any name, of whom one part should be called Arrhetus
(unspeakable), and the other Sige (silence). But of this Dyad a second was
produced, one part of whom he names Pater, and the other Aletheia. From this
Tetrad, again, arose Logos and Zoe, Anthropos and Ecclesia. These constitute
the primary Ogdoad. He next states that from Logos and Zoe ten powers were
produced, as we have before mentioned. But from Anthropos and Ecclesia
proceeded twelve, one of which separating from the rest, and falling from its
original condition, produced the rest(2) of the universe. He also supposed two
beings of the name of Horos, the one of whom has his place between Bythus and
the rest of the Pleroma, and divides the created AEons from the uncreated
Father, while the other separates their mother from the Pleroma. Christ also
was not produced from the AEons within the Pleroma, but was brought forth by
the mother who had been excluded from it, in virtue of her remembrance of
better things, but not without a kind of shadow. He, indeed, as being
masculine, having severed the shadow from himself, returned to the Pleroma;
but his mother being left with the shadow, and deprived of her spiritual
substance, brought forth another son, namely, the Demiurge, whom he also
styles the supreme ruler of all those things which are subject to him. He also
asserts that, along with the Demiurge, there was produced a left-hand power,
in which particular he agrees with those falsely called Gnostics, of whom to
we have yet to speak. Sometimes, again, he maintains that Jesus was produced
from him who was separated from their mother, and united to the rest, that is,
from Theletus, sometimes as springing from him who returned into the Pleroma,
that is, from Christ; and at other times still as derived from Anthropos and
Ecclesia. And he declares that the Holy Spirit was produced by Aletheia(5) 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,(4) 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 Monoten; and again, with this Monotes there co-exists a
power which I also call Henores,- -it is most manifest that he confesses the
things which have been said to be his own invention, and that he himself has
given names to his scheme of things, which had never been previously suggested
by any other. It is manifest also, that he himself is the one who has had
sufficient audacity to coin these names; so that, unless he had appeared in
the world, the truth would still have been destitute of a name. But, in that
case, nothing hinders any other, in dealing with the same subject, to affix
names after such a fashion as the following: There(5) 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.(1) 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.
CHAP. XII.--THE DOCTRINES OF THE FOLLOWERS OF PTOLEMY AND COLORBASUS.
1. But the followers of Ptolemy say(2) 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,(3) while that from Ennoea was feminine.
Thus Thelesis (will) became, as it were, a faculty of Ennoea (thought). For
Ennoea continually yearned after offspring; but she could not of herself bring
forth that which she desired. But when the power of Thelesis (the faculty of
will) came upon her, then she brought forth that on which she had brooded.
2. These fancied beings(4) (like the Jove of Homer, who is represented(5)
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,](6) all eye, all ear, the one entire fountain of all good things.
3. Those of them, however, who are deemed more skilful than the persons who
have just been mentioned, say that the first Ogdoad was not produced
gradually, so that one AEon was sent forth by another, but that all(7) 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,(8) 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.(1) 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."
CHAP. XIII.--THE DECEITFUL ARTS AND NEFARIOUS PRACTICES OF MARCUS.
I. But(2) there is another among these heretics, Marcus by name, who boasts
himself as having improved upon his master. He is a perfect adept in magical
impostures, and by this means drawing away a great number of men, and not a
few women, he has induced them to join themselves to him, as to one who is
possessed of the greatest knowledge and perfection, and who has received the
highest power from the invisible and ineffable regions above. Thus it appears
as if he really were the precursor of Antichrist. For, joining the
buffooneries of Anaxilaus(3) to the craftiness of the magi, as they are
called, he is regarded by his senseless and cracked-brain followers as working
miracles by these means.
2. Pretending(4) 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,(5) 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,(6) 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:(7) 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,(1) weeping over and lamenting the defilement which she had
received from this magician.
6. Some of his disciples, too, addicting themselves(2) 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"(3) 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,(4) and the mystical, eternal Sige, thou through whom the angels
(mightiness), who continually behold the face of the Father, having thee as
their guide and introducer, do derive their forms(5) 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."(6) Now, as soon as the Mother hears these words,
she puts the Homeric(7) 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.(1) 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.
CHAP. XIV.--THE VARIOUS HYPOTHESES OF MARCUS AND OTHERS. THEORIES
RESPECTING LETTERS AND SYLLABLES.
1. This Marcus(2) 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 Euthymesis. 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,(3) and is neither
male nor female, willed to bring forth that which is ineffable to Him, and to
endow with form that which is invisible, He opened His mouth, and sent forth
the Word similar to Himself, who, standing near, showed Him what He Himself
was, inasmuch as He had been manifested in the form of that which was
invisible. Moreover, the pronunciation of His name took place as follows:--He
spoke the first word of it, which was the beginning(4) [of all the rest], and
that utterance consisted of four letters. He added the second, and this also
consisted of four letters. Next He uttered the third, and this again embraced
ten letters. Finally, He pronounced the fourth, which was composed of twelve
letters. Thus took place the enunciation of the whole name, consisting of
thirty letters, and four distinct utterances. Each of these elements has its
own peculiar letters, and character, and pronunciation, and forms, and images,
and there is not one of them that perceives the shape of that [utterance] of
which it is an element. Neither does any one know(5) 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.(6) 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.(7)
2. Those names of the elements which may be told, and are common, he has
called AEons, and words, and roots, and seeds, and fulnesses, and fruits. He
asserts that each of these, and all that is peculiar to every one of them, is
to be understood as contained in the name Ecclesia. Of these elements, the
last letter of the last one uttered its voice, and this sound(8) 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,(1) 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 ancles, 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 (Ihsous) is a
name arithmetically(2) symbolical, consisting of six letters, and is known by
all those that belong to the called. But that which is among the AEons of the
Pleroma consists of many parts, and is of another form and shape, and is known
by those [angels] who are joined in affinity with Him, and whose figures (mightinesses)
are always present with Him.
5. Know, then, that the four-and-twenty letters which you possess are
symbolical emanations of the three powers that contain the entire number of
the elements above. For you are to reckon thus--that the nine mute(3) letters
are [the images] of Pater and Aletheia, because they are without voice, that
is, of such a nature as cannot be uttered or pronounced. But the
semi-vowels(4) represent Logos and Zoe, because they are, as it were, midway
between the consonants and the vowels, partaking(5) 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,(6) 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,(7) and thus form the six from which have flowed
the twenty-four letters), being quadrupled by the word of the ineffable
Tetrad, give rise to the same number with them; and these elements he
maintains to belong to Him who cannot be named. These, again, were endowed by
the three powers with a resemblance to Him who is invisible. And he says that
those letters which we call double(8) are the images of the images of these
elements; and if these be added to the four-and-twenty letters, by the force
of analogy they form the number thirty.
6. He asserts that the fruit of this arrangement and analogy has been
manifested in the likeness of an image, namely, Him who, after six days,
ascended(1) into the mountain along with three others, and then became one of
six (the sixth),(2) in which character He descended and was contained in the
Hebdomad, since He was the illustrious Ogdoad,(3) 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.(4) And for this reason did Moses declare
that man was formed on the sixth day; and then, again, according to
arrangement, it was on the sixth day, which is the preparation, that the last
man appeared, for the regeneration of the first, Of this arrangement, both the
beginning and the end were formed at that sixth hour, at which He was nailed
to the tree. For that perfect being Nous, knowing that the number six had the
power both of formation and regeneration, declared to the children of light,
that regeneration which has been wrought out by Him who appeared as the
Episemon in regard to that number. Whence also he declares it is that the
double letters(5) 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,(6) 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,(7) 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.(8) For this reason, too, David said: "Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings Thou hast perfected praise;"(9) and again: "The heavens declare the
glory of God."(10) 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,(11) 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,(12) 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.
CHAP. xv.--SIGE RELATES TO MARCUS THE GENERATION OF THE TWENTY-FOUR
ELEMENTS AND OF JESUS. EXPOSURE OF THESE ABSURDITIES.
1. The all-wise Sige then announced the production of the four-and-twenty
elements to him as follows:--Along with Monotes there coexisted Henotes, from
which sprang two productions, as we have remarked above, Monas and Hen, which,
added to the other two, make four, for twice two are Four. And again, two and
four, when added together, exhibit the number six. And further, these six
being quadrupled, give rise to the twenty-four forms. And the names of the
first Tetrad, which are understood to be most holy, and not capable of being
expressed in words, are known by the Son alone, while the father also knows
what they are. The other names which are to be uttered with respect, and
faith, and reverence, are, according to him, Arrhetos and Sige, Pater and
Aletheia. Now the entire number of this Tetrad amounts to four-and-twenty
letters; for the name Arrhetos contains in itself seven letters, Seige(1)
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 'Ihsous, consists of six letters, but
His unutterable name comprises for-and-twenty letters. The name Christ the
Son(2) (uios Xreistos) 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.(3) This is the name of Jesus; for this name, if you reckon up
the numerical value of the letters, amounts to eight hundred and eighty-eight.
Thus, then, you have a clear statement of their opinion as to the origin of
the supercelestial Jesus. Wherefore, also, the alphabet of the Greeks contains
eight Monads, eight Decads, and eight Hecatads(4), 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, (uios) 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.(5) 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.(1) 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.(2) For who would not
detest one who is the wretched centriver 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;"(3) 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
Enncea (thought), thou hast driven on all that place confidence in thee to the
highest point of blasphemy, and to the grossest impiety.(4)
6. With good reason, therefore, and very fittingly, in reference to thy
rash attempt, has that divine elders 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.
CHAP. XVI.--ABSURD INTERPRETATIONS OF THE MARCOSIANS.
1. Blending in one the production of their own AEons, and the straying and
recovery of the sheep [spoken of in the Gospel(1)], 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,(2) 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,(3) 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,(4) 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,(5) 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 (e)
fifteen are formed; then adding seven to that number, the sum of twenty-two is
reached. Next, Eta being added to these, since its value is eight, the most
wonderful Triacontad is completed. And hence they give forth that the Ogdoad
is the mother of the thirty AEons. Since, therefore, the number thirty is
composed of three powers [the Ogdoad, Decad, and Duodecad], when multiplied by
three, it produces ninety, for three times thirty are ninety. Likewise this
Triad, when multiplied by itself, gives rise to nine. Thus the Ogdoad
generates, by these means, ninety-nine. And since the twelfth AEon, by her
defection, left eleven in the heights above, they maintain that therefore the
position of the letters is a true coordinate of the method of their
calculation(6) (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 Zambda 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 (L). Wherefore also
they, by means of their "knowledge," avoid the place of ninety-nine, that is,
the defection--a type of the left hand,(7)--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."(8) 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;"(1) and that with reason, "for
there is no good-speed to the ungodly,"(2) 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.(3) 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,(4) 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,"(5) 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.
CHAP. 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.(6) And then, again, as the moon travels
through her allotted space of heaven in thirty days, they hold, that by these
days she expresses the number of the thirty AEons. The sun also, who runs
through his orbit in twelve months, and then returns to the same point in the
circle, makes the Duodecad manifest by these twelve months; and the days, as
being measured by twelve hours, are a type of the invisible Duodecad.
Moreover, they declare that the hour, which is the twelfth part of the day, is
composed(7) 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.
CHAP. 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;"(1) 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."(2) 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,(3)
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.(4) But the Ogdoad, as being unspeakable and invisible, is understood
as hidden in the viscera.
2. Again, they assert that the sun, the great light-giver, was formed on
the fourth day, with a reference to the number of the Tetrad. So also,
according to them, the courts(5) 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,(6) 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,(7) 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.(8) Moreover,
that circumcision which took place on the eighth day,(9) 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.(10) The arrangement also made by Sarah when, after
ten years, she gave(11) 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;, Jeroboam also, who received the ten
sceptresa (tribes), and the ten courts(3) of the tabernacle, and the columns
of ten cubits(4) [high], and the ten sons of Jacob who were at first sent into
Egypt to buy com,(5) and the ten apostles to whom the Lord appeared after His
resurrection,--Thomas(6) 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,(7)
from whom also sprung twelve tribes,--the breastplate of the high priest,
which bore twelve precious stones and twelve little bells,(8)--the twelve
stones which were placed by Moses at the foot of the mountain,(9)--the same
number which was placed by Joshua in the river,(10) and again, on the other
side, the bearers of the ark of the covenant,(11)--those stones which were set
up by Elijah when the heifer was offered as a burnt-offering;(12) 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;(13) by the case of
Samuel, who assigned Saul the chief place among thirty guests;(14) by David,
when for thirty days he concealed himself in the field;(15) 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;(16) and if they meet with
any other like numbers, they still apply these to their Triacontad.
CHAP. 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,"(17)
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,"(18) 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,"(19) they maintain to be said
concerning ignorance of Bythus. Also that which is spoken by Moses, "No man
shall see God and live,"(20) 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."(21) Moreover, they vaunt
themselves as being the white and the men of good understanding.
CHAP.XX.--THE APOCRYPHAL AND SPURIOUS SCRIPTURES OF THE MARCOSIANS, WITH
PASSAGES OF THE GOSPELS WHICH THEY PERVERT.
1. Besides the above [misrepresentations], they adduce an unspeakable
number of apocryphal and spurious writings, which they themselves have forged,
to bewilder the minds of foolish men, and of such as are ignorant of the
Scriptures of truth. Among other things, they bring forward that false and
wicked story(22) 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?"(1) 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,"(2) 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;"(3) 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?"(4) 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,"(5) 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,"(6) 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,"(7) 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,(8) 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."(9) 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.
CHAP. XXI.--THE VIEWS OF REDEMPTION ENTERTAINED BY THESE HERETICS.
1. It happens that their tradition respecting redemption(10) is invisible
and incomprehensible, as being the mother of things which are incomprehensible
and invisible; and on this account, since it is fluctuating, it is impossible
simply and all at once to make known its nature, for every one of them hands
it down just as his own inclination prompts. Thus there are as many schemes of
"redemption" as there are teachers of these mystical opinions. And when we
come to refute them, we shall show in its fitting-place, that this class of
men have been instigated by Satan to a denial of that baptism which is
regeneration to God, and thus to a renunciation of the whole [Christian]
faith.
2. They maintain that those who have attained to perfect knowledge must of
necessity be regenerated into that power which is above all. For it is
otherwise impossible to find admittance within the Pleroma, since this
[regeneration] it is which leads them down into the depths of Bythus. For the
baptism instituted by the visible Jesus was for the remission of sins, but the
redemption brought in by that Christ who descended upon Him, was for
perfection; and they allege that the former is animal, but the latter
spiritual. And the baptism of John was proclaimed with a view to repentance,
but the redemption by Jesus(11) 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."(12) 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?"(13) 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."(1) The
interpretation of these terms runs thus: "I invoke that which is above every
power of the Father, which is called light, and good Spirit, and life, because
Thou hast reigned in the body." Others, again, set forth the redemption thus:
The name which is hidden from every deity, and dominion, and truth which Jesus
of Nazareth was clothed with in the lives(2) 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.(3) 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."(1) 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.
CHAP. XXII.--DEVIATIONS OF HERETICS FROM THE
TRUTH.
1. The rule(2) 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."(3) And again, "All things were
made by Him, and without Him was nothing made."(4) There is no exception or
deduction stated; but the Father made all things by Him, whether visible or
invisible, objects of sense or of intelligence, temporal, on account of a
certain character given them, or eternal; and these eternal(5) 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](6) 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.
CHAP. 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."(7) 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."(8) 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.(1)
This man, then, was glorified by many as if he were a god; and he taught that
it was himself who appeared among the Jews as the Son, but descended in
Samaria as the Father while he came to other nations in the character of the
Holy Spirit. He represented himself, in a word, as being the loftiest of all
powers, that is, the Being who is the Father over all, and he allowed himself
to be called by whatsoever title men were pleased to address him.
2. Now this Simon of Samaria, from whom all sorts of heresies derive their
origin, formed his sect out of the following materials:--Having redeemed from
slavery at Tyre, a city of Phoenicia, a certain woman named Helena, he was in
the habit of carrying her about with him, declaring that this woman was the
first conception of his mind, the mother of all, by whom, in the beginning, he
conceived in his mind [the thought] of forming angels and archangels. For this
Ennoea leaping forth from him, and comprehending the will of her father,
descended to the lower regions [of space], and generated angels and powers, by
whom also he declared this word was formed. But after she had produced them,
she was detained by them through motives of jealousy, because they were
unwilling to be looked upon as the progeny of any other being. As to himself,
they had no knowledge of him whatever; but his Ennoea was detained by those
powers and angels who had been produced by her. She suffered all kinds of
contumely from them, so that she could not return upwards to her father, but
was even shut up in a human body, and for ages passed in succession from one
female body to another, as from vessel to vessel. She was, for example, in
that Helen on whose account the Trojan war was undertaken; for whose sake also
Stesichorus(2) 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.(3)
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,"(4) 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.
CHAP. 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."(1) 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.(2) 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.(3) 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.(1)
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;(2) and, on this account, that word contains
in itself the numbers amounting to three hundred and sixty-five.
CHAP. XXV.--DOCTRINES OF CARPOCRATES.
1. Carpocrates, again, and his followers maintain that the world and the
things which are therein were created by angels greatly inferior to the
unbegotten Father. They also hold that Jesus was the son of Joseph, and was
just like other men, with the exception that he differed from them in this
respect, that inasmuch as his soul was stedfast and pure, he perfectly
remembered those things which he had witnessed(3) 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,(4) which in the same way embraced
like things to itself. They further declare, that the soul of Jesus, although
educated in the practices of the Jews, regarded these with contempt, and that
for this reason he was endowed with faculties, by means of which he destroyed
those passions which dwelt in men as a punishment [for their sins].
2. The soul, therefore, which is like that of Christ can despise those
rulers who were the creators of the world, and, in like manner, receives power
for accomplishing the same results. This idea has raised them to such a pitch
of pride, that some of them declare themselves similar to Jesus; while others,
still more mighty, maintain that they are superior to his disciples, such as
Peter and Paul, and the rest of the apostles, whom they consider to be in no
respect inferior to Jesus. For their souls, descending from the same sphere as
his, and therefore despising in like manner the creators of the world, are
deemed worthy of the same power, and again depart to the same place. But if
any one shall have despised the things in this world more than he did, he thus
proves himself superior to him.
3. They practise also magical arts and incantations; philters, also, and
love-potions; and have recourse to familiar spirits, dream-sending demons, and
other abominations, declaring that they possess power to rule over, even now,
the princes and formers of this world; and not only them, but also all things
that are in it. These men, even as the Gentiles, have been sent forth by
Satan(5) 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,(1) 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,"(2) 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.(3) They deem it necessary, therefore, that by means
of transmigration from body to body, souls should have experience of every
kind of life as well as every kind of action (unless, indeed, by a single
incarnation, one may be able to prevent any need for others, by once for all,
and with equal completeness, doing all those things which we dare not either
speak or hear of, nay, which we must not even conceive in our thoughts, nor
think credible, if any such thing is mooted among those persons who are our
fellow-citizens), in order that, as their writings express it, their souls,
having made trial of every kind of life, may, at their departure, not be
wanting in any particular. It is necessary(4) 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."(5) 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.(6) 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.(7) 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.
CHAP. XXVI.--DOCTRINES OF CERINTHUS, THE EBIONITES, AND NICOLAITANES.
1. Cerinthus, again, a man who was educated(8) 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.(1) 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."(2)
CHAP. XXVII.--DOCTRINES OF CERDO AND MARCION.
1. Cerdo was one who took his system from the followers of Simon, and came
to live at Rome in the time of Hyginus, who held the ninth place in the
episcopal succession from the apostles downwards. He taught that the God
proclaimed by the law and the prophets was not the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. For the former was known, but the latter unknown; while the one also
was righteous, but the other benevolent.
2. Marcion of Pontus succeeded him, and developed his doctrine. In so
doing, he advanced the most daring blasphemy against Him who is proclaimed as
God by the law and the prophets, declaring Him to be the author of evils, to
take delight in war, to be infirm of purpose, and even to be contrary to
Himself. But Jesus being derived from that father who is above the God that
made the world, and coming into Judaea in the times of Pontius Pilate the
governor, who was the procurator of Tiberius Caesar, was manifested in the
form of a man to those who were in Judaea, abolishing the prophets and the
law, and all the works of that God who made the world, whom also he calls
Cosmocrator. Besides this, he mutilates the Gospel which is according to Luke,
removing all that is written respecting the generation of the Lord, and
setting aside a great deal of the teaching of the Lord, in which the Lord is
recorded as most dearly confessing that the Maker of this universe is His
Father. He likewise persuaded his disciples that he himself was more worthy of
credit than are those apostles who have handed down the Gospel to us,
furnishing them not with the Gospel, but merely a fragment of it. In like
manner, too, he dismembered the Epistles of Paul, removing all that is said by
the apostle respecting that God who made the world, to the effect that He is
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and also those passages from the
prophetical writings which the apostle quotes, in order to teach us that they
announced beforehand the coming of the Lord.
3. Salvation will be the attainment only of those souls which had learned
his doctrine; while the body, as having been taken from the earth, is
incapable of sharing in salvation. In addition to his blasphemy against God
Himself, he advanced this also, truly speaking as with the mouth of the devil,
and saying all things in direct opposition to the truth,--that Cain, and those
like him, and the Sodomites, and the Egyptians, and others like them, and, in
fine, all the nations who walked in all sorts of abomination, were saved by
the Lord, on His descending into Hades, and on their running unto Him, and
that they welcomed Him into their kingdom. But the serpent(3) which was in
Marcion declared that Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and those other righteous men
who sprang(4) from the patriarch Abraham, with all the prophets, and those who
were pleasing to God, did not partake in salvation. For since these men, he
says, knew that their God was constantly tempting them, so now they suspected
that He was tempting them, and did not run to Jesus, or believe His
announcement: and for this reason he declared that their souls remained in
Hades.
4. But since this man is the only one who has dared openly to mutilate the
Scriptures, and unblushingly above all others to inveigh against God, I
purpose specially to refute him, convicting him out of his own writings; and,
with the help of God, I shall overthrow him out of those(1) 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?
CHAP. 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.(3)
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.
CHAP. 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.(4) They declare that somewhere or other there exists a certain
father who cannot be named, and that he was desirous to reveal himself to this
Barbelos. Then this Ennoea went forward, stood before his face, and demanded
from him Prognosis (prescience). But when Prognosis had, [as was requested,]
come forth, these two asked for Aphtharsia (incorruption), which also came
forth, and after that Zoe Aionios (eternal life). Barbelos, glorying in these,
and contemplating their greatness, and in conception s [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.(1) 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, Auto-genes 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.(2) 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."(3) Such are the falsehoods which these people invent.
CHAP. 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,(4) 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;(1) 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;(2) and hence were
derived the spirit, the soul, and all mundane things: from this too were
generated all oblivion, wickedness, emulation, envy, and death. They declare
that the father imparted(3) 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."(4) 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.(1) 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.(2) 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,(3) 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,(4) 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,(1) 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),(2) 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 marveiling at the novelty of those things which
were announced by the prophets, Prunicus brought it about by means of
Ialdabaoth (who knew not what he did), that emissions of two men took place,
the one from the barren Elizabeth, and the other from the Virgin Mary.
12. And since she herself had no rest either in heaven or on earth, she
invoked her mother to assist her in her distress. Upon this, her mother, the
first woman, was moved with compassion towards her daughter, on her
repentance, and begged from the first man that Christ should be sent to her
assistance, who, being sent forth, descended to his sister, and to the
besprinkling of light. When he recognised her (that is, the Sophia below), her
brother descended to her, and announced his advent through means of John, and
prepared the baptism of repentance, and adopted Jesus beforehand, in order
that on Christ descending he might find a pure vessel, and that by the son of
that Ialdabaoth the woman might be announced by Christ. They further declare
that he descended through the seven heavens, having assumed the likeness of
their sons, and gradually emptied them of their power. For they maintain that
the whole besprinkling of light rushed to him, and that Christ, descending to
this world, first clothed his sister Sophia [with it], and that then both
exulted in the mutual refreshment they felt in each other's society: this
scene they describe as relating to bridegroom and bride. But Jesus, inasmuch
as he was begotten of the Virgin through the agency of God, was wiser, purer,
and more righteous than all other men: Christ united to Sophia descended into
him, and thus Jesus Christ was produced.
13. They affirm that many of his disciples were not aware of the descent of
Christ into him; but that, when Christ did descend on Jesus, he then began to
work miracles, and heal, and announce the unknown Father, and openly to
confess himself the son of the first man. The powers and the father of Jesus
were angry at these proceedings, and laboured to destroy him; and when he was
being led away for this purpose, they say that Christ himself, along with
Sophia, departed from him into the state of an incorruptible AEon, while Jesus
was crucified. Christ, however, was not forgetful of his Jesus, but sent down
a certain energy into him from above, which raised him up again in the body,
which they call both animal and spiritual; for he sent the mundane parts back
again into the world. When his disciples saw that he had risen, they did not
recognise him--no, not even Jesus himself, by whom he rose again from the
dead. And they assert that this very great error prevailed among his
disciples, that they imagined he had risen in a mundane body, not knowing that
"flesh(3) 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,(4) 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
configuration(1) in the form of a serpent reveals our hidden generatrix.
CHAP. 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.(2) Moreover, they call this Hystera
the creator of heaven and earth. They also hold, like Carpocrates, that men
cannot be saved until they have gone through all kinds of experience. An
angel, they maintain, attends them in every one of their sinful and abominable
actions, and urges them to venture on audacity and incur pollution. Whatever
may be the nature(3) 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.(4) 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.(5) 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.
