IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES
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
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