Chapter III: Book VI: Simon Magus, Valentinus, and Their Followers (2)

32. Since then there was a certain single peace and harmony of all the Aeons within the Pleroma, it seemed good to them not only to have glorified the Father in pairs, but also to glorify him by the offering to him of fitting fruits. Therefore all the thirty Aeons were well pleased to project one Aeon, the Common Fruit of the Pleroma, so that he might be the (fruit) of their unity and likemindedness and peace. And as He alone was projected by all the Father’s Aeons, He is called by them the Common Fruit of the Pleroma. Thus then were things within the Pleroma. And the Common Fruit of the Pleroma was projected, (to wit) Jesus--for that is His name--the Great High Priest. [Sidenote: p. 288.] But Sophia without the Pleroma seeking after Christ, who had given her shape and the Holy Spirit, stood in great fear, lest she might perish when separated from Him who had given her shape and had established her. And she mourned and was in great perplexity considering who it was that had given her shape, who the Holy Spirit was, whence she had gone forth, who had hindered them from coming near her, (and) who had begrudged her that fair and blessed vision. Brought low by these passions, she turns to beseeching supplication of Him who had left her. Then Christ who was within the Pleroma had compassion on her beseeching, as had all the Aeons of the Pleroma, and they send forth outside the Pleroma its Common Fruit to be a spouse to Sophia Without and the corrector of the passions which she suffered while seeking after Christ.[125] Then the Fruit being outside the Pleroma and finding her amid the first four passions (to wit) in fear and grief and perplexity and supplication, corrected her passions, but did not think it seemly in correcting them that they should be destroyed, since they [Sidenote: p. 289.] were eternal and special to Sophia, nor yet that Sophia should be among such passions as fear and grief, supplication and perplexity. He, therefore, being so great an Aeon and the offspring of the whole Pleroma, made the passions stand away from her and He made them fundamental essences.[126] And He made the fear into the essence of the soul,[127] and the grief into that of matter, and the perplexity into (that) of demons, but the conversion and entreaty and supplication He made a path to repentance and (the) power of the soul’s essence, which (essence) is called the Right Hand or Demiurge from fear. This, he says, is the Scripture saying: “The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord.”[128] For it was the beginning of the passions of Sophia. For she feared, then she grieved, then she was perplexed, and [Sidenote: p. 290.] then she took refuge in prayer and supplication. And the essence of the soul, he says, is fiery and is called a (supercelestial) Place and Hebdomad and Ancient of Days.[129] And whatever things they say of him, he says, the same belong to the psychic one whom they declare to be the Demiurge of the Cosmos; but he is fiery. And Moses also, he says, spake, “The Lord thy God is a burning and consuming fire.”[130] And truly he wishes this (text) to be thus written. But the power of the fire, he says, is in some sort double; for it is an all-devouring fire (and) cannot be quenched. And according to this, indeed, a part of the soul is mortal, being a certain middle state; for it is a Hebdomad and Laying to Rest. For below (the soul) is of the Ogdoad where is Sophia, a day which has been given shape, and the Common Fruit of the Pleroma; but above it is of Matter wherein is the Demiurge.[131] If it makes itself completely like those who are on high in the Ogdoad, it becomes immortal and comes to the Ogdoad, which is, he says, the heavenly Jerusalem; but if it makes itself completely like matter, that is to the material passions, it is corruptible and is destroyed.

33. As therefore the first and greatest power of the [Sidenote: p. 291.] psychic essence becomes an image [of the only-begotten Son, so the power of the material essence] is the devil, the ruler of this world, and (that) of the essence of demons, which is from perplexity, is Beelzebud.[132] But it is Sophia on high who works from the Ogdoad up to the Hebdomad. They say that the Demiurge knows absolutely nothing, but is according to them mindless and foolish and knows not what he does or works. And for him who knows not what he makes, Sophia creates all things and strengthens them. And when she had wrought it, he thought that he had by himself accomplished the creation of the cosmos; wherefore he began to say: “I am God, and beside me there is none other.”

34. The Tetractys of Valentinus is then at once:--

“A certain source containing roots of eternal nature.”
(Pyth., _Carm. Aur._, l. 48.)

and Sophia by whom the psychic and material creation is now framed. And Sophia is called Spirit, but the [Sidenote: p. 292.] Demiurge Soul, and the Devil the ruler of the world, and Beelzebud that of the demons. This is what they say, and beside this, they make their whole teaching arithmetical; [and] as is said above, they (imagine) that (the) thirty Aeons within the Pleroma again projected other Aeons by analogy with themselves, so that the Pleroma may be summed up in a perfect number. For, as it has been made clear that the Pythagoreans divide (the circle) into 12 and 30 and 60 (parts) and that these have also minutes of minutes, thus also do (the Valentinians) subdivide the things within the Pleroma. But subdivided also are the things in the Ogdoad, and there rules[133] (there) Sophia who is according to them the Mother of All Living, and the Logos, the Joint Fruit of the Pleroma, (and) there are (there) supercelestial angels, citizens of the Jerusalem on [Sidenote: p. 293.] high, which is in heaven. For this Jerusalem is Sophia. Without and her bridegroom the Joint Fruit of the Pleroma. (But) the Demiurge also projected souls; for he is the essence of souls. This is according to them Abraham and these are the children of Abraham. Then, from the material and devilish essence the Demiurge has made the bodies of the souls. This is the saying: “And God made man, taking dust from the earth, and breathed into his face a breath of life, and man became a living soul.”[134] This is, according to them, the inward psychic man who dwells in the material body which is material, corruptible, and formed entirely of devilish essence. But this material man is (according to them) like unto an inn, or the dwelling-place, sometimes of the soul alone, sometimes of the soul and demons, and sometimes of the soul and logoi, who are logoi sown from above in this world by the Joint Fruit of the Pleroma, and by Sophia, and who dwell in the earthly body with the soul when there are no demons dwelling with it. [Sidenote: p. 294.] This, he says, is what was written in Scripture: “For this cause I bow my knees to the God and Father and Lord of our Lord Jesus Christ, that God would grant you that Christ should dwell in the inner man, that is the psychical not the somatic, that you be strengthened to comprehend what is the depth” which is the Father of the universals “and what is the breadth,”[135] which is Stauros the Limit of the Pleroma, “or what the length,” which is the Pleroma of the Aeons. Wherefore, he says, the psychic man does not receive the things of God’s spirit; for they are foolishness unto him. But foolishness, he says, is the power of the Demiurge, for he was senseless and mindless and thought that he fashioned the cosmos, being ignorant that Sophia, the Mother, the Ogdoad, wrought all things with regard to the creation of the world for him who knew it not.

35. All the prophets and the Law, then, spake from the (inspiration of the) Demiurge, a foolish god,[136] he says, being themselves foolish and knowing nothing. Wherefore, he says, the Saviour declared: “All who came before me are thieves and robbers.”[137] The Apostle also: “The mystery which was not known to the first generations.”[138] For none [Sidenote: p. 295.] of the prophets, he says, declared anything concerning the things of whereof we speak; for all (of them) were ignored in what was said by the Demiurge alone.[139] When, therefore, creation was brought to completion,[140] and the revelation of the sons of God, that is of the Demiurge, at length became necessary, which had before been concealed, he says, the psychic man was veiled and had a veil upon his heart. Then when it was time that the veil should be taken away, and that these mysteries should be seen, Jesus was born through Mary the Virgin[141] according to the saying: “(The) Holy Spirit shall come upon thee”--the Spirit is Sophia--“and a power of the Highest shall overshadow thee”--the Highest is the Demiurge. “Wherefore that which is born from thee shall be called holy.”[142] For He was born not from the Highest alone, as those created after the fashion of Adam were created from the Highest, that is from the Demiurge. But Jesus was the new man (born) from the Holy Spirit (and the Highest),[143] that is from Sophia and the Demiurge, so that the Demiurge supplied the mould and constitution of His body, but the Holy Spirit supplied [Sidenote: p. 296.] His substance,[144] and thus the Heavenly Logos came into being, having been begotten from the Ogdoad through Mary. Concerning this there is a great enquiry among them and a source of schisms and variance. And hence their school[145] has become divided and one part is called by them the Anatolic and the other the Italiote. Those from Italy, whereof are Heracleon and Ptolemy, say that the body of Jesus was born psychic, and therefore the Spirit descended as a dove at the Baptism, that is the Word which is of the mother Sophia on high and cried aloud to the psychic man[146] and raised him from the dead. This, he says, is the saying: “He who raised Christ from the dead, shall quicken your mortal bodies (and your psychic).”[147] For earth, he says, has come under a curse. “For Earth,” he says, “thou art, and to earth thou shalt return.”[148] But those from the East, whereof are Axionicus and Bardesanes,[149] [Sidenote: p. 297.] say that the body of the Saviour was spiritual. For (the) Holy Spirit came upon Mary, that is Sophia and the Power of the Highest is the demiurgic art,[150] so that that which was given by the Spirit to Mary might be moulded (into form).

36. These things then let these men enquire after in their own way, and if they should happen to do so in any other, so let it be. But (Valentinus) also says that as the false steps among the Aeons had been put straight[151] and also those in the Ogdoad or Sophia Without, so also were those in the Hebdomad. For the Demiurge was taught by Sophia that he is not the only God as he thought, and that beside him there is none other; but he knew better after being taught by Sophia. For he was schooled by her and was initiated and taught the great mystery of the Father and the Aeons and told it to none. This, he says, is what he spake to Moses: “I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, and my name I have not announced to them,”[152] that is to say: “I have not told the mystery nor have I explained who is God, but I have kept to myself the mystery which I have heard from Sophia.” It was necessary, then, that the things on high having been put straight, in the same sequence,[153] correction [Sidenote: p. 298.] should come to those here. For this cause was Jesus the Saviour born through Mary, that He might put straight things here, as the Christ, who on high was projected by Nous and Aletheia, put straight the passions of Sophia Without, that is, of the Ectroma. And again the Saviour who was born through Mary came to set straight the passions of the soul. There are, then, according to them three Christs, the one projected by Nous and Aletheia along with the Holy Spirit; and the Joint Fruit of the Pleroma the equal yoke-fellow[154] of Sophia Without who is called and is herself a Holy Spirit (but) inferior to the first; and third, He who was born through Mary for the restoration[155] of this creation of ours.

37. I consider I have now by means of many (explanations) sufficiently sketched the heresy of Valentinus, it being a Pythagorean one; and it seems to me that the refutation of these doctrines by exposition should stop. Plato, moreover, when setting forth mysteries concerning the universe writes to Dionysius in some such way as this:[156]

“I must speak to you in enigmas, so that if the tablet [Sidenote: p. 299.] should suffer in any of its leaves on sea or land, whoso reads may not understand.[157] For things are thus. As regards the king of all, all things are his, and all are for his sake, and he is the cause of all that is fair. A second (cause exists) concerning secondary things and a third concerning those things which come third.[158] But respecting the king himself there is nothing of this kind of which I have spoken. But after this the soul seeks to learn of what quality these are, since it looks towards the things which are germane to itself, of which it has nought sufficiently. This is, O son of Dionysius and Doris, your question as to what is the cause of all evils. But it is rather that anxiety about this is inborn, and if one does not remove it, one will never hit upon the truth.[159] But what is wonderful about it, hear. For there are men who have heard these things, able to learn and able to remember,[160] and who have yet grown old while straining to form a complete judgment. They say that what (once) appeared believable is now unbelievable, and that what was then unbelievable was then the opposite. Looking therefore to [Sidenote: p. 300.] this, beware, lest you repent what has unworthily fallen from you. Wherefore I have written none of these things, nor is there anything (upon them) signed Plato, nor will there ever be. But the sayings now attributed to Socrates were (said by him)[161] when he was young and fair.”[162]

(Now) Valentinus having chanced upon these (lines) conceived the king of all, of whom Plato spoke, to be Father and Bythos and the primal source of all the Aeons.[163] And when Plato spoke of the second (cause) concerning secondary things, Valentinus assumed that the secondary things were all the Aeons being within the limit of the Pleroma and the third (cause) concerning the third things, he assumed to be the whole arrangement without the limit and (outside) the Pleroma. And this Valentinus made plain in the fewest words in a psalm, beginning from below and not as Plato did from above, in these words:--

[Sidenote: p. 301.] “I behold all things hanging from air,
I perceive all things upheld by spirit,
Flesh hanging from soul,
Soul standing forth from air,
And air hanging from aether,
But fruits borne away from Bythos
But the embryo from the womb.”[164]

Understanding this thus:--Flesh is, according to them, Matter, which depends from the soul of the Demiurge. But soul stands out from air, that is the Demiurge from the Spirit outside the Pleroma. But air stands out from æther, that is Sophia Without from that which is within (the) limit and the whole Pleroma. Fruits are borne away from Bythos, which is the whole emanation of Aeons coming into being from the Father. The opinions of Valentinus have therefore been sufficiently told.[165] It remains to tell of the teachings of those who have been obedient to his school, another having different teaching.

3. _About Secundus and Epiphanes._[166]

[Sidenote: p. 302.] 38. A certain Secundus, who was born at the same time as Ptolemy, says that there exist a right hand and a left hand tetrad like light and darkness. And he says that the Power which fell away and is lacking[167] came into being not from the thirty Aeons, but from their fruits. But there is a certain Epiphanes, a teacher of theirs, who says: “The First Principle[168] was incomprehensible, ineffable and unnameable” which he calls Solitude[169] and that a Power of this co-exists with it which he names Oneness.[170] The same Monotes and Henotes preceded [but] did not send forth[171] an unbegotten and invisible principle over all which he calls[172] a Monad. “With this Power co-exists a power of the same essence with itself, which same power I also name the One.” These four Powers themselves sent forth the remaining projections of the Aeons. But others of them [Sidenote: p. 303.] again have called the first and primordial Ogdoad by these names: first, “Before the Beginning,” then “Inconceivable,” third “Ineffable” and the fourth, “Invisible;”[173] and (they say) that from the first Proarche was projected in the first and fifth place Beginning; from Anennoetos, in the second and sixth (place) Unrevealed, from Arrheton in the third and seventh place, Unnameable and from Aoratos, Unbegotten.[174] (This is the) Pleroma of the first Ogdoad. And they will have these powers to have existed before Bythos and Sige. But yet others understand differently about Bythos himself, some saying that he is spouseless and neither male nor female, and others that Sige exists beside him as his female and that this is the first syzygy.

4. _About Ptolemy._[175]

[Sidenote: p. 304.] 39. But the adherents of Ptolemy say that he [Bythos] has two partners whom they call also (his) predispositions[176] (_i. e._) Thought and Will. For he first had it in mind to project something, and then he willed (to do so). Wherefore from these two diatheses and powers, that is, from Ennoia and Thelesis as it were blending with one another, the projection of Monogenes and Aletheia as a pair came to pass. The which types and images of the two diatheses of the Father came forth visible from the invisible, Nous from Thelema[177] and Aletheia from Ennoia. Therefore also the male image was born from the later-begotten Thelema, but the female from the unbegotten Ennoia, because Thelema came into being like a power from Ennoia. For Ennoia has ever in mind projection, but she is not able by herself to project what she has in mind. But when the power of Thelema [came into being later],[178] then she projected what she had in mind.

5. _About Marcus._[179]

40. And a certain other teacher of theirs, Marcus, an [Sidenote: p. 305.] expert in magic, depending now on trickery and now on demons, leads astray many. For he says that there is in him the greatest power from the invisible and unnameable places. And often he takes a cup, as if consecrating it,[180] and prolonging the words of consecration, causes the mixture to appear purple and sometimes red, so as to make his dupes think that a certain grace has come down, and has given a blood-like power[181] to the draught. But the rogue, though he formerly escaped the notice of many, will, now that he has been refuted,[182] have to stop. For he used secretly to insert a certain drug having the power of giving such a colour to the mixture, and then to wait while uttering much gibberish, until it dissolved by absorbing moisture and, mixing with the draught, coloured it. And the drugs which can thus give colour we have before described in our book against the Magicians,[183] and have set forth how leading many astray, they utterly ruin them. Which (last), if they care to consider more carefully what has been said above, will know the fraud of Marcus.

[Sidenote: p. 306.] 41. Which (Marcus) also, mixing a cup by another hand, (sometimes) gives it[184] to a woman to consecrate, while he stands by her side holding a larger one empty: and when the dupe has made the consecration, he takes (the cup) from her, and empties it into the larger one and many times pouring (the contents) from one cup to the other, says these words over them: “May the Incomprehensible and Ineffable Charis who is earlier than the universals fill thy inner man, and make abundant in thee the knowledge[185] of her, even as she scatters the mustard seed upon the good ground!” And as he speaks some such words over it, and (thereby) distracts the dupe and the bystanders, so that he is considered a miracle-worker, he fills the larger cup from the smaller so that it overflows. And we have set forth the trick of this in the above-named book, where we have pointed out many drugs which have the power of causing increase when thus mixed with watery substances,[186] especially when mingled with wine: the drug compounded beforehand, being hidden in the empty cup in such a way that this may be exhibited as containing nothing, and being poured backwards and forwards from one cup to the other, so as to dissolve the drug by mixture with the water,[187] and so that [Sidenote: p. 307.] when it is inflated by air, an overflow of the water comes about, and it increases the more it is shaken, since such is the nature of the drug. If, however, one lays aside the cup when filled, the mixture will before long return to its former volume, the power of the drug being quenched by the continued moisture. Wherefore he hurriedly gives the bystanders to drink; and they being at the same time scared and thirsting for it as something divine and mingled by a god, hasten to drink.

42. Such like and other things, the deceiver undertakes to do. Whence he was glorified by those he duped and was thought sometimes to prophesy himself and sometimes to make others do so, either effecting this by demons or by trickery as we have said above. Further he utterly ruined many,[188] and led on many of them to become his disciples (by) teaching them to be indifferent to sin[189] as free from danger (to them) through their belonging to the Perfect Power and partakers of the Inconceivable Authority. To whom also after baptism they promise another which they call Redemption,[190] and thereby turn again to evil those [Sidenote: p. 308.] who remain with them in the hope of deliverance, (as if) those who had been once baptized might again meet with acquittal. Through such jugglery,[191] they seem to retain their hearers, whom, when they consider that they have been (duly) indoctrinated and are able to keep fast the things entrusted to them, they then lead to this (second baptism), not contenting themselves with this alone, but promising them still something else, for the purpose of keeping control over them by hope, lest they should separate from them. For they mutter something in an inaudible voice, laying hands on them for the receiving of Redemption which they pretend cannot be spoken openly unless one were highly instructed, or when the bishop should come to speak it into the ears of one departing this life.[192] And this jugglery is practised so that they may remain the bishop’s disciples, eagerly desirous to learn what has been said about the last thing[193] whereby the learner would become perfect. Of which things I have kept silence for this cause, lest any should think I put the worst construction on them. For this is not what we have set before us, but rather the exposure of whence they have derived the hints[194] from which their doctrines have arisen.

43. For the blessed elder Irenæus having come forward [Sidenote: p. 309.] very openly for (their) refutation has set forth these baptisms and redemptions saying in rounder terms what those who traffic[195] with them do; and if some of these deny that they have thus received them (it is because) they learn to always deny.[196] Wherefore we have been careful to enquire very sedulously and to find out minutely what they hand down in the first baptism as they call it, and what in the second which they call Redemption: and no unutterable doing of theirs has escaped us. But let us abandon[197] these things to Valentinus and his school. Marcus, however, imitating his teacher himself also concocts a vision, thinking thus to glorify himself. For Valentinus claims that he himself saw a new-born infant, hearing whom he enquired who he might be. And (the infant) answered declaring himself to be the Logos. Thereupon (Valentinus) having added a certain tragic myth, wishes from this to construct the heresy which he had already taken in hand.[198] With like audacity, Marcus declares that the Tetrad came before him in feminine shape; because, he says, the cosmos could not bear its male form.[199] And [Sidenote: p. 310.] she disclosed to him what she was, and the coming into being of all things, which she had never yet revealed to any either of gods or men (but) announced it to him alone, saying thus:--when the First (Being) who has no father,[200] the Inconceivable and Substanceless One, who is neither male nor female, willed the ineffable to be spoken and the invisible to take shape, He opened His mouth and a Logos like unto Him went forth. Who, standing beside Him, showed Him what He was, Himself having appeared in the shape of the Invisible One. And the utterance of the name was on this wise. He spoke the first word of the name which was the beginning and was the syllable[201] of four letters. And He added to it the second, and it also was of four letters. And He spoke the third, which was of ten letters and then the fourth, and this was of twelve. There came to pass therefore, the pronunciation of the whole name of thirty letters, but of four syllables. But each of the elements has its own letters[202] and its own character,[203] and its own pronunciation and figures and images, nor is there any of them which perceives the form of another. [Sidenote: p. 311.] Nor does it see that it is an element, nor know the pronunciation of its neighbour; but each sounds as if pronouncing the whole, and believes itself to be naming the [universe].[204] For while each of them is a part of the universe, it thinks its own sound names as it were the whole, and does not cease to sound until it has arrived at the last single-tongued letter of the last element. Then he says that the return of the universals (to the Deity)[205] will come to pass when all things coming together into one letter shall echo one and the same sound. He supposes that the likeness of this sound is the Amen[206] which we speak in unison. But (he says) that the vowels[207] exist to give shape to the substanceless and unbegotten Aeon, and that they are those forms which the Lord called angels, which behold without ceasing the Father’s face.[208]

44. But the names of the elements which are common (to all) and may be spoken, he calls Aeons and Logoi and Roots and Seeds[209] and Pleromas and Fruits. And (he says) [Sidenote: p. 312.] that every one of them and what is special to each is to be comprehended as comprised in the name of Ecclesia. Of which elements, he says, that the last letter of the last element first sent forth[210] its own sound, the echo of which going forth begot its own elements as being the images of the other elements. Wherefrom, he says, both the things here below were set in order and those which were before them were brought into being.[211] He says nevertheless that the very letter the sound of which followed immediately upon the echo below was taken up again by its own syllable in order to fill full again the universe, but that the echo remained in the things below as if cast outside it.[212] But the element itself wherefrom the letter with its pronunciation came down below, he says, is of thirty letters, and every one of the thirty letters contains within itself other letters whereby the name of the letter is named. And again others are named by other letters and yet others by these others, so that the total comes out to infinity, if the letters be written separately.[213] You will more clearly [Sidenote: p. 313.] understand what has been said (if it be put) thus:--The element Delta contains in itself five letters, the Delta, the Epsilon, the Lambda, the Tau and the Alpha and the same letters (are written) by other letters [214]. If then the whole substance[215] of the Delta comes out to infinity, letters constantly giving birth to other letters and succeeding one another, how much greater than that one element is the sea of letters? And if the one letter be thus infinite, behold the depth[216] of the letters of the whole name whereof the industry or rather the idiot labour[217] of Marcus will have the Forefather to be composed. Wherefore, (he says) the Father, knowing well His unconfined nature, gave to the elements which He calls Aeons, the power for each to send forth the pronunciation of his own name, whereby none is capable of pronouncing the whole.

45. And [it is said that] the Tetrad having explained these things to him, said:--“I desire now to show to thee Aletheia[218] herself; for I have brought her down from the dwellings on high in order that thou mayest behold her [Sidenote: p. 314.] unclothed and learn her beauty, and may also hear her speak and admire her wisdom. See then the head on high the first Alpha-Omega, and the neck Beta-Psi, the shoulders (together with the hands) Gamma-Chi, the breast Delta-Phi, the waist Epsilon-Upsilon, the belly Zeta-Tau, the privy parts Eta-Sigma, the thighs Theta-Rho, the knees Iota-Pi, the legs Kappa-Omicron, the ankles Lambda-Xi, the feet Mu-Nu.” Such is the body of Aletheia according to Marcus, this the form of the element, this the impress of the letter. And he calls this element Anthropos[219] and says that it is the fountain of all speech and the principle of every sound, and the utterance of everything ineffable, and the mouth of the silent Sige.[220] “And this is her body. But do thou raising on high the understanding of the intelligence,[221] hear the Self-Begotten and Forefather Word from the lips of Truth.”

46. When (the Tetrad) had thus spoken (says Marcus), Aletheia looking upon him and opening her mouth spake a word. But that word was a name and the name was that which we know and speak (to wit) Christ Jesus, having [Sidenote: p. 315.] spoken which, she straightway became silent. And when Marcus expected her to say something more, the Tetrad again coming forward said: “Holdest thou simple the word which thou hast heard from the lips of Aletheia? Yet that which you know and seem to have possessed of old is not the name. For you have its sound only, and know not its power. For Jesus is an illustrious name having six letters[222] invoked by all the Elect. But that which occurs among the (five)[223] Aeons of the Pleroma has many parts (and) is of another shape and of a different type, being known by those of (His) kindred whose magnitudes[224] are ever with Him.”

47. “Know ye that the twenty-four letters among you are emanations in the likeness of the Three Powers encompassing the universe[225] and (the) number of the elements on [Sidenote: p. 316.] high. For suppose that the nine mute letters[226] are those of the Father and of Aletheia, because they are mute, that is, ineffable and unutterable; and the semi-mute which are eight,[227] those of Logos and Zoe, because they exist as it were half-way between the mute and those which sound,[228] and they receive the emanation from those above them and the ascension of those below; and the vowels--and they are seven[229]--are those of Anthropos and Ecclesia, since it is the sound going forth from Anthropos which has given form to the universals. For the echo of the sound has clothed them with shape.[230] There are then Logos and Zoe having the 8 and Anthropos and Ecclesia the 7 and the Father and Aletheia the 9. But since the reckoning was deficient,[231] He who was seated in the Father came down, having been sent forth from that wherefrom he had been separated for the rectification of the things which had been done, so that the unity of the Pleromas which is in the Good One might bear as fruit one power which is in all from all. And thus the 7 recovered the power of the 8, [Sidenote: p. 317.] and the three places became alike in numbers, being three ogdoads. Which three added together show forth the number of 24.” In fact the three elements (which he says exist in the syzygy of the three powers, which are 6, the flowing-forth of which are the 24 elements) having been quadrupled by the Word of the Ineffable Tetrad make the same number for themselves which he says is (that) of the Unnameable One. But they were clothed by the 6 powers in the likeness of the Invisible One, of the images of which elements the double letters are the likeness, which added to the 24 elements by analogy make potentially the number 30.[232]

48. He says that the fruit of this reckoning and arrangement[233] appeared[234] in semblance of an image (to wit) He who after the six days went up to the mountain[235] as one of four [Sidenote: p. 318.] persons and became one of six. Who came down and bore rule in the Hebdomad, Himself becoming the illustrious[236] Ogdoad and containing within Himself the whole number of the elements. Which the descent of the dove coming upon Him at the baptism made plain, which (dove) is Alpha and Omega, the number being plainly 801.[237] And because of this Moses said that man came into being on the 6th day. But according to the economy of the Passion on the 6th day, which is the Preparation,[238] the last man appeared for the regeneration of the First Man. Of this economy, the beginning and the end was the 6th hour, wherein he was nailed to the Cross. For, (he says) that the perfect Nous, knowing that number 6 possesses the power of creation and regeneration[239] made apparent to the Sons of Light the regeneration which had come through Him who appeared as Episemon. For the illustrious number[240] when blended with the other elements completes the 30-lettered name.

[Sidenote: p. 319.] 49. But He has made use as His instrument of the greatness of the 7 numbers, in order that the Fruit of the self-inspired (Council)[241] might be made manifest. Consider, he says, this Episemon here present, which has taken shape from the Illustrious One who has been, as it were, cut into parts and remains without. Who, by His own power and forethought, by means of His own projection which is that of the Seven Powers, imitated the Seventh Power and gave life to the cosmos[242] and set it to be the soul of this visible universe. He therefore uses this same work also as if it came into being by Him independently; but the rest being imitations of that which is inimitable minister to the Enthymesis[243] of the Mother. And the first heaven sounds the Alpha, and that following it the Epsilon, and the 3rd the Eta, and the 4th and middle one of the 7 the power of the Iota, and the 5th the Omicron, and the 6th the Upsilon, [Sidenote: p. 320.] and the 7th the Omega. And all the heavens when locked together into one, give forth a sound and glorify Him by whom they were projected. And the glory of the sounding is sent on high into the presence of the Forefather[244]. And, he says, that the echo of this glorifying being borne to the earth becomes the Fashioner and begetter of those upon the earth. And there is a proof of this in the case of newly born children, whose breath immediately they come forth from the womb, cries aloud likewise the sound of each one of these elements. As then the Seven Powers, he says, glorify the Word, so does the complaining soul among infants. Wherefore, he says, David declared:--“Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise.”[245] And again:--“The heavens declare the glory of God.”[246] When also the soul is in pain it cries aloud nothing else than the Omega in which it is grieved, so that the soul on high recognizing its kindred may send it help.

[Sidenote: p. 321.] 50. And so far as to this.[247] But concerning the beginning of the 24 elements, she speaks thus:--Henotes existed along with Monotes[248] from which (two) came into being two projections: Monad and the One which, as twice 2, became four. For twice 2 is 4. And again the 2 and the 4 being added together the number 6 is manifested, but when these 6 are quadrupled, 24. And these names of the first Tetrad are understood to be the holiest of holy things, and cannot be spoken, but are known by the Son alone. The Father knows also what they are. Those named by Him in silence and faith are: Arrhetos[249] and Sige, Pater and Aletheia. And the total number of this Tetrad is 24 elements. For Arrhetos has 7 elements, Sige 5[250] and Pater 5 and Aletheia[251] 7. In like manner also the second Tetrad, Logos and Zoe, Anthropos and Ecclesia, show forth the same number of elements. And the spoken [Sidenote: p. 322.] name of the Saviour, that is Jesus, consists of 6 letters; but His unspoken (name)[252] from the number of letters taken one by one, is of 24 elements, but Christ (the) Son of 12.[253] But the unspoken (element) in the Chreistos is of 30 letters and is that of the letters in it, counting the elements one by one. For the [name] Chreistos is of 8 elements: ([254] for the Chi[255] is of 3, and the Rho of 2, and the Ei of 2 and the Iota of 4, the Sigma of 5 and the Tau of 3, while the Ou is of 2 and the San of 3). Thus they imagine that the unspoken element in “Chreistos” is of 30 elements. Wherefore also, say they, He said “I am Alpha and Omega,” thereby indicating that the Dove has this number, which is eight hundred and one.[256]

51. But Jesus has this ineffable generation.[257] For from the Mother of the Universals the first Tetrad came forth, as if it were a daughter, and the second Tetrad and an Ogdoad thus came into being, wherefrom the Decad [Sidenote: p. 323.] proceeded. Thus an Eighteen[258] came into being. Then the Decad having united with the Ogdoad and making it tenfold, [the number] 80 [proceeded; and the 80][259] being again multiplied by 10, gives birth to the number 800. So that the total number coming forth from the Ogdoad to the Decad is 8 and 80 and 800, which is Jesus. For the name Jesus according to the number in the letters is 888. And the Greek Alphabet has eight monads and eight decads and eight hecatontads indicating the cipher of the eight hundreds as 88, that is the (word) Jesus (made up) from all the constituent numbers. Wherefore also He is named Alpha and Omega as signifying the birth from them all.

52. But concerning His fashioning[260] (Marcus) speaks thus: Powers which emanated from the Second Tetrad [Sidenote: p. 324.] fashioned the Jesus who appeared upon earth, and the angel Gabriel filled the place[261] of the Logos and the Holy Spirit that of Zoe, and the power of the Highest[262] (that) of Anthropos and the Virgin that of Ecclesia. Thus by incarnation[263] a man was generated by Himself through Mary. But when He came to the water, there descended upon Him as a dove he who had ascended on high and had filled the 12th number,[264] in whom existed the seed of those who had been sown together[265] in Him, and had descended together and had ascended together. But this Power which descended on Him, he says, was the seed of the Pleroma having within it the Father and the Son, which through them was known to be the unnamed power of Sige, and (to be) all the Aeons. And that this was the Spirit which in Him spake through the mouth of the Son, confessed Himself to be Son of Man, and manifested the Father, yet veritably descended into Jesus (and) became one with Him. The Saviour from the Economy,[266] destroyed death, they say, but Christ Jesus made known the [Sidenote: p. 325.] Father. He says therefore that Jesus was the name of the man from the Economy, but that it was set forth in resemblance and shape of the Anthropos who was to come upon Him; and that when He had received he retained the Anthropos himself and the Father himself and Arrhetos and Sige and Aletheia and Ecclesia and Zoe.[267]

53. I hope then that these things are clearly to all of sane mind without authority and far from that knowledge which is according to religion, being (in fact) fragments of astrological inventions and of the arithmetical art of the Pythagoreans, as you who love learning will also know from those their doctrines which we have exposed in the foregoing books. But in order that we may exhibit them more clearly to the disciples, not of Christ, but, of Pythagoras, I will also set forth so far as can be done in epitome, the things which they have taken from (this last) concerning the phenomena of the stars. For they say that these universals are composed from a monad and a dyad, [Sidenote: p. 326.] and counting from a monad up to four, they bring into being a decad. And the dyad[268] again going forth up to Episemon, for example, two and four and six show forth the dodecad. And, again, if we count in the same way from the dyad up to the decad, the triacontad appears, wherein are the ogdoad and decad and dodecad. Then they say that the dodecad through its containing the Episemon and because the Episemon closely follows it, is Passion.[269] And since through this, the lapse with regard to the 12th number occurred, the sheep skipped away and was lost.[270] And in like manner from the decad: and on this they tell of the drachma which the woman lost and lamp in hand searched for and of the loss of the one sheep;[271] and having contrasted with this the (number) 99, they make a fable for themselves of the numbers, since of the 11 multiplied by 9 they make the number 99, and thanks to this they say that the Amen contains this number.[272]

[Sidenote: p. 327.] And of another number they say this:--the element Eta with the Episemon is an ogdoad, as it lies in the 8th place from the Alpha. Then again counting the numbers of the same elements together without the Episemon and adding them together as far as the Eta, they display the number 30. For if one begins the number of the elements with the Alpha (and continues) up to the Eta (inclusive) after subtracting the Episemon, one finds the number 30.[273] Since then the number 30 is made from the uniting of the three powers, the same number 30 occurring thrice made 90--for three times 30 are 90 [and the same triad multiplied into itself brought forth 9]. Thus the ogdoad made the number 99 from the first ogdoad and decad and dodecad. The number of which (ogdoad) they sometimes carry to completion[274] and make a triacontad and sometimes deducting the 12th number they count it 11 and likewise make the 10th (number) 9. And multiplying and decupling[275] [Sidenote: p. 328.] these (figures) they complete the number 99. And since the 12th Aeon left the 11 [on high] and fell away from them and came below, they imagine that these things correspond one to the other. For the type of the letters is instructive. For the 11th letter is the Lambda which is the number 30 and is so placed after the likeness of the arrangement on high,[276] since from the Alpha apart from the Episemon, the number of the same letters up to Lambda when added together makes up the number 99.[277] But (they say) that the Lambda which is put in the 11th place[278] came down to seek for what is like unto it so that it may complete the 12th number, and having found it did (so) complete it is plain from the very shape of the element.[279] For the Lambda succeeding as it were in the search for what was like unto itself and finding, seized it, and filled up with it the place of the 12th element Mu, which is composed of two Lambdas.[280] Wherefore they avoid by this gnosis the place [Sidenote: p. 329.] of the 99 that is to say the Hysterema[281] as the type of the left hand, but follow the One which added to the 99, brings them over to the right hand.

54.[282] But they declare that first the four elements which they say are fire, water, earth (and) air, were made through the Mother and projected as an image of the Tetrad on high. And reckoning in with them their energies, such as heat, cold, moisture, and dryness they exactly reflect the Ogdoad. Next, they enumerate ten powers, thus: Seven circular bodies which they also call heavens, then a circle encompassing these which they call the Eighth Heaven and besides these, the Sun and Moon.[283] And these making up the number 10, they declare to be the image of the invisible decad which is from Logos and Zoe. And (they say) that the dodecad is revealed through the circle called the Zodiac. For they declare that the twelve most evident signs shadow forth the dodecad which is the daughter of Anthropos and [Sidenote: p. 330.] Ecclesia. And since they say the highest heaven has been linked to the ascension of the universals, the swiftest in existence, which (heaven) weighs down upon the sphere itself, and counterbalances by its own weight the swiftness of the others, so that in thirty years it completes the cycle from sign to sign--this they declare to be the image of Horos encircling their thirty-named Mother.[284]

Again the Moon traversing the heavens completely in 30 days, typifies (they say) by these days the number of the Aeons. And the Sun completing his journey and terminating his cyclical return to his former place in 12 months shows forth the Dodecad. And that the days themselves, since they are measured by 12 hours, are a type of the mighty[285] Ogdoad. And also that the perimeter of the Zodiacal circle has 360 degrees and that each Zodiacal sign has 30. Thus by means of the circle, they say, the [Sidenote: p. 331.] image of the connection of the 12 with the 30 is observed. And again also they imagine that the earth is divided into 12 climates, and that each several climate receives a single power from the heavens immediately above it[286] and produces children of the same essence with the power sending down [this influence] by emanation [which is they say] a type of the Dodecad on high.

55. And besides this, they say that the Demiurge of the Ogdoad on high,[287] wishing to imitate the Boundless and Everlasting and Unconfined and Timeless One and not being able to form a model of His stability and permanence, because he was himself the fruit of the Hysterema, was forced to place in it for rendering it eternal, times and seasons and numbers, thinking that by the multitude of times he was imitating the Boundless One. But they declare that in this the truth having escaped him, he followed the false; and that therefore when the times are fulfilled, his work will be dissolved.[288]

[Sidenote: p. 332.] 56. These things, then, those who are from the school of Valentinus declare concerning Creation and the Universe, every time producing something newer[289] (than the last). And they consider this to be fructification, if any one similarly discovering something greater appears to work wonders. And finding in each case from the Scriptures something accordant with the aforesaid numbers, they prate of Moses and the Prophets, imagining them to declare allegorically the dimensions of the Aeons. Which things it does not seem to me expedient to explain as they are senseless and inconsistent, and already the blessed elder Irenæus has marvellously and painfully refuted their doctrines. From whom also [we have taken] their so-called discoveries and have shown that they, having appropriated these things from (the) trifling[290] of the Pythagorean philosophy and the astrologies, accuse Christ of having handed them down. But since I consider that their senseless doctrines have been sufficiently set forth, and that it has been already proved whose disciples Marcus and Colarbasus[291] by becoming the successors of the school of Valentinus (really) are, let us see also what Basilides says.[292]

FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 1: He of course refers to the Ophites, whence it is clear that he included Justinus among them. His language may imply that all these serpent-worshipping sects had been in existence some time before, but did not begin to write their doctrines until they had taken on a veneer of Christianity. This is very probable, but there is not as yet any convincing proof that this was the case.]

[Footnote 2: Here again it is very difficult to say whether τῶν ἀκολούθων means those who follow in point of time or in the pages of the book.]

[Footnote 3: ὄργια, “secret rites” and ὀργή, “wrath,” is the pun here.]

[Footnote 4: Simon Magus, the convert of Philip the Evangelist, is said by all patristic writers to be at once the first teacher and the founder of all (post-Christian) Gnosticism; but until the discovery of our text our knowledge of his doctrines hardly went further than the statements of St. Irenæus and Epiphanius that he claimed to be the Supreme Being. The only other light on the subject came from Theodoret, who, writing in the fifth century, discloses in a few brief words the assertion by Simon of a system of aeons or inferior powers emanating from the Divinity by pairs. It is plain that in this, Theodoret must have either borrowed from, or used the same material as, our author, and it is now seen that Simon’s aeons were said by him to be six in number, the sources of all subsequent being, and to be considered under a double aspect. On the one hand, they were names or attributes of God like the Amshaspands of Zoroastrianism or the Sephiroth of the Jewish Cabala; and on the other they were identified with natural objects such as Heaven and Earth, Sun and Moon, Earth and Water, thereby forming a link with the Orphic and other cosmogonies current in Greece and the East. We now learn, too, for the first time that Simon taught, like the Ophites, that the Supreme Being was of both sexes like his antitypes, that the universe consisted of three worlds reflecting one another, and that man must achieve his salvation by coming to resemble the Deity--a result which was apparently to be brought about by finding his twin soul and uniting himself to her. None of these ideas seem to have been Simon’s own invention, and all are found among those of earlier or later Gnostics. Hence their appearance has here given rise to the theories, put forward in the first instance by German writers, but also adopted by some English ones, that the Simon of our text was not the magician of the _Acts_ but an heresiarch of the same name who flourished in the second century, and that the opponent of St. Peter covers under the same name the personality of St. Paul. Neither theory seems to have any foundation.]

[Footnote 5: τοῦ Γιττηνοῦ. Hippolytus’ usual practice is to use the place-name as an adjective. The Codex has Γειττηνοῦ, Justin Martyr, “of Gitto.”]

[Footnote 6: Probably Paramedes or Agamedes is intended. Cf. Theocritus, _Idyll_, II, 14. The Paramedes or Perimedes there mentioned was said to have been a famous witch, child of the Sun, and mistress of Poseidôn.]

[Footnote 7: Acts viii. 9-14.]

[Footnote 8: _i.e._ Cyrene.]

[Footnote 9: This story in one form or another appears in Maximus Tyrius (_Diss._ xxxv), Ælian (_Hist._, xiv. 30), Justin (xxi. 4), and Pliny (_Nat. Hist._, viii. 16). The name seems to be Psapho.]

[Footnote 10: Cruice’s emendation. Schneidewin, Miller, and Macmahon read τάχιον ἀνθρώπῳ γενομένῳ, ὄντως θεῷ, “sooner than to Him who though made man, was really God;” but there seems no question here of the Second Person of the Trinity.]

[Footnote 11: γέννημα γυναικός, “birth of a woman.”]