This page copyright © 2002 Blackmask Online.
http://www.blackmask.com
IN WHICH THE AUTHOR GIVES A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF, TOGETHER WITH SUNDRY CAUSTIC ANIMADVERSIONS ON, THE VERY FANTASTIC THEOLOGY OF THE SECT. THIS TREATISE IS PROFESSEDLY TAKEN FROM THE WRITINGS OF JUSTIN, MILTIADES, IRENAEUS, AND PROCULUS.
[TRANSLATED BY DR. ROBERTS.]
The Valentinians, who are no doubt a very large body of heretics—comprising as they do so many apostates from the truth, who have a propensity for fables, and no discipline to deter them (therefrom) care for nothing so much as to obscure(1) what they preach, if indeed they (can be said to) preach who obscure their doctrine. The officiousness with which they guard their doctrine is an officiousness which betrays their guilt.(2) Their disgrace is proclaimed in the very earnestness with which they maintain their religious system. Now, in the case of those Eleusinian mysteries, which are the very heresy of Athenian superstition, it is their secrecy that is their disgrace. Accordingly, they previously beset all access to their body with tormenting conditions;(3) and they require a long initiation before they enrol (their members),(4) even instruction during five years for their perfect disciples,(5) in order that they may mould(6) their opinions by this suspension of full knowledge, and apparently raise the dignity of their mysteries in proportion to the craving for them which they have previously created. Then follows the duty of silence. Carefully is that guarded, which is so long in finding. All the divinity, however, lies in their secret recesses:(7) there are revealed at last all the aspirations of the fully initiated,(8) the entire mystery of the sealed tongue, the symbol of virility. But this allegorical representation,(9) under the pretext of nature's reverend name, obscures a real sacrilege by help of an arbitrary symbol,(10) and by empty images obviates(11) the reproach of falsehood!(12) In like manner, the heretics who are now the object of our remarks,(13) the Valentinians, have formed Eleusinian dissipations(14) of their own, consecrated by a profound silence, having nothing of the heavenly in them but their mystery.(15) By the help of the sacred names and titles and arguments of true religion, they have fabricated the vainest and foulest figment for men's pliant liking,(16) out of the affluent suggestions of Holy Scripture, since from its many springs many errors may well emanate. If you propose to them inquiries sincere and honest, they answer you with stern(17) look and contracted brow, and say, "The subject is profound." If you try them with subtle questions, with the ambiguities of their double tongue, they affirm a community of faith (with yourself). If you intimate to them that you understand their opinions, they insist on knowing nothing themselves. If you come to a close engagement with them they destroy your own fond hope of a victory over them by a self-immolation.(1) Not even to their own disciples do they commit a secret before they have made sure of them. They have the knack of persuading men before instructing them; although truth persuades by teaching, but does not teach by first persuading.
For this reason we are branded(2) by them as simple, and as being
merely so, without being wise also; as if indeed wisdom were compelled
to be wanting in simplicity, whereas the Lord unites them both: "Be ye
therefore wise as serpents, and simple as doves."(3) Now if we, on our
parts, be accounted foolish because we are simple, does it then follow
that they are not simple because they are wise? Most perverse, however,
are they who are not simple, even as they are most foolish who are not
wise. And yet, (if I must choose) I should prefer taking(4) the latter
condition for the lesser fault; since it is perhaps better to have a
wisdom which falls short in quantity, than that which is bad in quality
(5)—better to be in error than to mislead. Besides, the face of the
Lord (6) is patiently waited for by those who "seek Him in simplicity
of heart," as says the very Wisdom—not of Valentinus, but—of
Solomon.(7) Then, again, infants have borne(8) by their blood a
testimony to Christ. (Would you say) that it was children who shouted
"Crucify Him" ?(9) They were neither children nor infants; in other
words, they were not simple. The apostle, too, bids us to "become
children again" towards God,(10) " to be as children in malice" by our
simplicity, yet as being also "wise in our practical faculties."(11) At
the same time, with respect to the order of development in Wisdom, I
have admitted(12) that it flows from simplicity. In brief, "the dove"
has usually served to figure Christ; "the serpent," to tempt Him. The
one even from the first has been the harbinger of divine peace; the
other from the beginning has been the despoiler of the divine image.
Accordingly, simplicity alone(13) will be more easily able to know and
to declare God, whereas wisdom alone will rather do Him violence,(14)
and betray Him.
Let, then, the serpent hide himself as much as he is able, and
let him wrest(15) all his wisdom in the labyrinths of his obscurities;
let him dwell deep down in the ground; let him worm himself into secret
holes; let him unroll his length through his sinuous joints;(16) let
him tortuously crawl, though not all at once,(17) beast as he is that
skulks the light. Of our dove, however, how simple is the very
home!—always in high and open places, and facing the light! As the
symbol of the Holy Spirit, it loves the (radiant) East, that figure of
Christ.(18) Nothing causes truth a blush, except only being hidden,
because no man will be ashamed to give ear thereto. No man will be
ashamed to recognise Him as God whom nature has already commended to
him, whom he already perceives in all His works,(19)—Him indeed who is
simply, for this reason, imperfectly known; because man has not thought
of Him as only one, because he has named Him in a plurality (of gods),
and adored Him in other forms. Yet,(20) to induce oneself to turn from
this multitude of deities to another crowd,(21) to remove from a
familiar authority to an unknown one, to wrench oneself from what is
manifest to what is hidden, is to offend faith on the very threshold.
Now, even suppose that you are initiated into the entire fable, will it
not occur to you that you have heard something very like it from your
fond nurse(22) when you were a baby, amongst 505
the lullabies she sang to you(1) about the towers of Lamia, and the horns of the sun?(2) Let, however, any man approach the subject from a knowledge of the faith which he has otherwise learned, as soon as he finds so many names of AEons, so many marriages, so many offsprings, so many exits, so many issues, felicities and infelicities of a dispersed and mutilated Deity, will that man hesitate at once to pronounce that these are "the fables and endless genealogies" which the inspired apostle (3) by anticipation condemned, whilst these seeds of heresy were even then shooting forth? Deservedly, therefore, must they be regarded as wanting in simplicity, and as merely prudent, who produce such fables not without difficulty, and defend them only indirectly, who at the same time do not thoroughly instruct those whom they teach. This, of course, shows their astuteness, if their lessons are disgraceful; their unkindness, if they are honourable. As for us, however, who are the simple folk, we know all about it. In short, this is the very first weapon with which we are armed for our encounter; it unmasks(4) and brings to views the whole of their depraved system.(6) And in this we have the first augury of our victory; because even merely to point out that which is concealed with so great an outlay of artifice,(7) is to destroy it.
We know, I say, most fully their actual origin, and we are quite
aware why we call them Valentinians, although they affect to disavow
their name. They have departed, it is true,(8) from their founder, yet
is their origin by no means destroyed; and even if it chance to be
changed, the very change bears testimony to the fact. Valentinus had
expected to become a bishop, because he was an able man both in genius
and eloquence. Being indignant, however, that another obtained the
dignity by reason of a claim which confessorship(9) had given him, he
broke with the church of the true faith. Just like those (restless)
spirits which, when roused by ambition, are usually inflamed with the
desire of revenge, he applied himself with all his might(10) to
exterminate the truth; and finding the clue(11) of a certain old
opinion, he marked out a path for himself with the subtlety of a
serpent. Ptolemaeus afterwards entered on the same path, by
distinguishing the names and the numbers of the AEnons into personal
substances, which, however, he kept apart from God. Valentinus had
included these in the very essence of the Deity, as senses and
affections of motion. Sundry bypaths were then struck off therefrom, by
Heraclean and Secundus and the magician Marcus. Theotimus worked hard
about "the images of the law." Valentinus, however, was as yet nowhere,
and still the Valentinians derive their name from Valentinus. Axionicus
at Antioch is the only man who at the present time does honour(12) to
the memory of Valentinus, by keeping his rules(13) to the full. But
this heresy is permitted to fashion itself into as many various shapes
as a courtezan, who usually changes and adjusts her dress every day.
And why not ? When they review that spiritual seed of theirs in every
man after this fashion, whenever they have hit upon any novelty, they
forthwith call their presumption a revelation, their own perverse
ingenuity a spiritual gift; but (they deny all) unity, admitting only
diversity.(14) And thus we clearly see that, setting aside their
customary dissimulation, most of them are in a divided state, being
ready to say (and that sincerely) of certain points of their belief,
"This is not so;" and, "I take this in a different sense;" and, "I do
not admit that." By this variety, indeed, innovation is stamped on the
very face of their rules; besides which, it wears all the colourable
features of ignorant conceits.(15)
My own path, however, lies along the original tenets(16) of
their chief teachers, not with the self-appointed leaders of their
promiscuous(17) followers. Nor shall we hear it said of us from any
quarter, that we have of our own mind fashioned our own materials,
since these have been already produced, both in respect of the opinions
and their refutations, in carefully written volumes, by so many
eminently holy and excellent men, not only those who have lived before
us, but those also who were contemporary with the heresiarchs
themselves: for instance Justin, philosopher and martyr; Miltiades, the
sophist(2) of the churches Irenaeus, that very exact inquirer into all
doctrines;(3) our own Proculus, the model(4) of chaste old age and
Christian eloquence. All these it would be my desire closely to follow
in every work of faith, even as in this particular one. Now if there
are no heresies at all but what those who refute them are supposed to
have fabricated, then the apostle who predicted them s must have been
guilty of falsehood. If, however, there are heresies, they can be no
other than those which are the subject of discussion. No writer can be
supposed to have so much time on his hands(6) as to fabricate materials
which are already in his possession.
In order then, that no one may be blinded by so many
outlandish(7) names, collected together, and adjusted at pleasure,(8)
and of doubtful import, I mean in this little work, wherein we merely
undertake to propound this (heretical) mystery, to explain in what
manner we are to use them. Now the rendering of some of these names
from the Greek to as to produce an equally obvious sense of the word,
is by no means an easy process: in the case of some others, the
genders, are not suitable; while others, again, are more familiarly
known in their Greek form. For the most part, therefore, we shall use
the Greek names; their meanings will be seen on the margins of the
pages. Nor will the Greek be unaccompanied with the Latin equivalents;
only these will be marked in lines above, for the purpose of
explaining(9) the personal names, rendered necessary by the ambiguities
of such of them as admit some different meaning. But although I must
postpone all discussion, and be content at present with the mere
exposition (of the heresy), still, wherever any scandalous feature
shall seem to require a castigation, it must be attacked(10) by all
means, if only with a passing thrust.(11) Let the reader regard it as
the skirmish before the battle. It will be my drift to show how to
wound(12) rather than to inflict deep gashes. If in any instance mirth
be excited, this will be quite as much as the subject deserves. There
are many things which deserve refutation in such a way as to have no
gravity expended on them. Vain and silly topics are met with especial
fitness by laughter. Even the truth may indulge in ridicule, because it
is jubilant; it may play with its enemies, because it is fearless.(13)
0nly we must take care that its laughter be not unseemly, and so itself
be laughed at; but wherever its mirth is decent, there it is a duty to
indulge it. And so at last I enter on my task.
Beginning with Ennius,(14) the Roman poet, he simply spoke of
"the spacious saloons(15) of heaven,"—either on account of their
elevated site, or because in Homer he had read about Jupiter banqueting
therein. As for our heretics, however, it is marvellous what storeys
upon storeys (16) and what heights upon heights, they have hung up,
raised and spread out as a dwelling for each several god of theirs.
Even our Creator has had arranged for Him the saloons of Ennius in the
fashion of private rooms? with chamber piled upon chamber, and assigned
to each god by just as many staircases as there were heresies. The
universe, in fact, has been turned into "rooms to let."(18) Such
storeys of the heavens you would imagine to be detached tenements in
some happy isle of the blessed,(19) I know not where. There the god
even of the Valentinians has his dwelling in the attics. They call him
indeed, as to his essence, A iwn teleos (Perfect AEon), but in
respect of his personality, Proarkh (Before the Beginning), H'A rkh
(The Beginning), and sometimes Bythos (Depth),(20) a name 507
which is most unfit for one who dwells in the heights above! They describe him as unbegotten, immense, infinite, invisible, and eternal; as if, when they described him to be such as we know that he ought to be, they straightway prove him to be a being who may be said to have had such an existence even before all things else. I indeed insist upon(1) it that he is such a being; and there is nothing which I detect in beings of this sort more obvious, than that they who are said to have been before all things—things, too, not their own—are found to be behind all things. Let it, however, be granted that this Bythos of theirs existed in the infinite ages of the past in the greatest and profoundest repose, in the extreme rest of a placid and, if I may use the expression, stupid divinity, such as Epicurus has enjoined upon us. And yet, although they would have him be alone, they assign to him a second person in himself and with himself, Ennoea (Thought), which they also call both Charis (Grace) and Sige (Silence). Other things, as it happened, conduced in this most agreeable repose to remind him of the need of by and by producing out of himself the beginning of all things. This he deposits in lieu of seed in the genital region, as it were, of the womb of his Sige. Instantaneous conception is the result: Sige becomes pregnant, and is delivered, of course in silence; and her offspring is Nus (Mind), very like his father and his equal in every respect. In short, he alone is capable of comprehending the measureless and incomprensible greatness of his father. Accordingly he is even called the Father himself, and the Beginning of all things, and, with great propriety, Monogenes (The Only-begotten). And yet not with absolute propriety, since he is not born alone. For along with him a female also proceeded, whose name was Veritas(2) (Truth). But how much more suitably might Monogenes be called Protogenes (Firstbegotten), since he was begotten first! Thus Bythos and Sige, Nus. and Veritas, are alleged to be the first fourfold team (3) of the Valentinian set (of gods)(4) the parent stock and origin of them all. For immediately when(5) Nus received the function of a procreation of his own, he too produces out of himself Sermo (the Word) and Vita (the Life). If this latter existed not previously, of course she existed not in Bythos. And a pretty absurdity would it be, if Life existed not in God! However, this offspring also produces fruit, having for its mission the initiation of the universe and the formation of the entire Pleroma: it procreates Homo (Man) and Ecclesia (the Church). Thus you have an Ogdoad, a double Tetra, out of the conjunctions of males and females—the cells(6) (so to speak) of the primordial AEons, the fraternal nuptials of the Valentinion gods, the simple originals(7) of heretical sanctity and majesty, a rabble(8)—shall I say of criminals(9) or of deities ?(10)—at any rate, the fountain of all ulterior fecundity.
For, behold, when the second Tetrad—Sermo and Vita, Homo and Ecclesia(11)—had borne fruit to the Father's glory, having an intense desire of themselves to present to the Father something similar of their own, they bring other issue into being(12)—conjugal of course, as the others were(13)—by the union of the twofold nature. On the one hand, Sermo and Vita pour out at a birth a half-score of AEons; on the other hand, Homo and Ecclesia produce a couple more, so furnishing an equipoise to their parents, since this pair with the other ten make up just as many as they did themselves procreate. I now give the names of the half-score whom I have mentioned: Bythios (Profound) and Mixis (Mixture), Ageratos (Never old) and Henosis (Union), Autophyes (Essential nature) and Hedone (Pleasure), Acinetos (Immoveable) and Syncrasis (Commixture,) Monogenes (Only-begotten) and Macaria (Happiness). On the other hand, these will make up the number twelve (to which I have also referred): Paracletus (Comforter) and Pistis (Faith), Patricas (Paternal) and Elpis (Hope), Metricos (Maternal) and Agape (Love), Ainos (Praise)(14) and Synesis (Intelligence), Ecclesiasticus (Son of Ecclesia) and Macariotes (Blessedness) Theletus(15) (Perfect) and Sophia (Wisdom). I cannot help(16) here quoting from a like example what may serve to show the import of these names. In the schools of Carthage there was once a certain Latin rhetorician, an excessively cool fellow,(1) whose name was Phosphorus. He was personating a man of valour, and wound up(2) with saying, "I come to you, excellent citizens, from battle, with victory for myself, with happiness for you, full of honour, covered with glory, the favourite of fortune, the greatest of men, decked with triumph." And forthwith his scholars begin to shout for the school of Phosphorus, feu (ah!) Are you a believer in(4) Fortunata, and Hedone, and Acinetus, and Theletus? Then shout out your feu for the school of Ptolemy.(5) This must be that mystery of the Pleroma, the fulness of the thirty-fold divinity. Let us see what special attributes(6) belong to these numbers—four, and eight, and twelve. Meanwhile with the number thirty all fecundity ceases. The generating force and power and desire of the AEons is spent.(7) As if there were not still left some strong rennet for curdling numbers.(8) As if no other names were to be got out of the page's hall!(9) For why are there not sets of fifty and of a hundred procreated? Why, too, are there no comrades and boon companions(10) named for them ?
But, further, there is an "acceptance(11) of persons," inasmuch
as Nus alone among them all enjoys the knowledge of the immeasurable
Father, joyous and exulting, while they of course pine in sorrow. To be
sure, Nus, so far as in him lay, both wished and tried to impart to the
others also all that he had learnt about the greatness and
incomprehensibility of the Father; but his mother, Sige,
interposed—she who (you must know) imposes silence even on her own
beloved heretics;(12) although they affirm that this is done at the
will of the Father, who will have all to be inflamed with a longing
after himself. Thus, while they are tormenting themselves with these
internal desires, while they are burning with the secret longing to
know the Father, the crime is almost accomplished. For of the twelve
AEons which Homo and Ecclesia had produced, the youngest by birth
(never mind the solecism, since Sophia (Wisdom) is her name), unable to
restrain herself, breaks away without the society of her husband
Theletus, in quest of the Father and contracts that kind of sin which
had indeed arisen amongst the others who were conversant with Nus but
had flowed on to this AEon,(13) that is, to Sophia; as is usual with
maladies which, after arising in one part of the body, spread abroad
their infection to some other limb. The fact is,(14) under a pretence
of love to the Father, she was overcome with a desire to rival Nus, who
alone rejoiced in the knowledge of the Father.(15) But when Sophia,
straining after impossible aims, was disappointed of her hope, she is
both overcome with difficulty, and racked with affection. Thus she was
all but swallowed up by reason of the charm and toil (of her
research),(16) and dissolved into the remnant of his substance;(17) nor
would there have been any other alternative for her than perdition, if
she had not by good luck fallen in with Horus (Limit). He too had
considerable power. He is the foundation of the great(18) universe,
and, externally, the guardian thereof. To him they give the additional
names of Crux (Cross), and Lytrotes (Redeemer,) and
Carpistes(Emancipator).(19) When Sophia was thus rescued from danger,
and tardily persuaded, she relinquished further research after the
Father, found repose, and laid aside all her excitement,(20) or
Enthymesis (Desire,) along with the passion which had come over her.
But some dreamers have given another account of the
aberration(21) and recovery of Sophia. After her vain endeavours, and
the disappointment of her hope, she was, I suppose, disfigured with
paleness and emaciation, and that neglect of her beauty which was
natural to one who(1) was deploring the denial of the Father,—an
affliction which was no less painful than his loss. Then, in the midst
of all this sorrow, she by herself alone, without any conjugal help,
conceived and bare a female offspring. Does this excite your surprise?
Well, even the hen has the power of being able to bring forth by her
own energy.(2) They say, too, that among vultures there are only
females, which become parents alone. At any rate, she was another
without aid from a male, and she began at last to be afraid that her
end was even at hand. She was all in doubt about the treatment(3) of
her case, and took pains at self-concealment. Remedies could nowhere be
found. For where, then, should we have tragedies and comedies, from
which to borrow the process of exposing what has been born without
connubial modesty? While the thing is in this evil plight, she raises
her eyes, and turns them to the Father. Having, however, striven in
vain, as her strength was failing her, she falls to praying. Her entire
kindred also supplicates in her behalf, and especially Nus. Why not?
What was the cause of so vast an evil? Yet not a single casualty(4)
befell Sophia without its effect. All her sorrows operate. Inasmuch as
all that conflict of hers contributes to the origin of Matter. Her
ignorance, her fear, her distress, become substances. Hereupon the
Father by and by, being moved, produces in his own image, with a view
to these circumstances(5) the Horos whom we have mentioned above; (and
this he does) by means of Monogenes Nus, a male-female (AEon), because
there is this variation of statement about the Father's(6) sex. They
also go on to tell us that Horos is likewise called Metagogius, that
is, "a conductor about," as well as Horothetes (Setter of Limits). By
his assistance they declare that Sophia was checked in her illicit
courses, and purified from all evils, and henceforth strengthened (in
virtue), and restored to the conjugal state: (they add) that she indeed
remained within the bounds(7) of the Pleroma, but that her Enthymesis,
with the accruing(8) Passion, was banished by Horos, and crucified and
cast out from the Pleroma,— even as they say, Malum for as! (Evil,
avaunt!) Still, that was a spiritual essence, as being the natural
impulse of an AEon, although without form or shape, inasmuch as it had
apprehended nothing, and therefore was pronounced to be an infirm and
feminine fruit.(9)
Accordingly, after the banishment of the Enthymesis, and the
return of her mother Sophia to her husband, the (illustrious)
Monogenes, the Nus,(10) released indeed from all care and concern of
the Father, in order that he might consolidate all things, and defend
and at last fix the Pleroma, and so prevent any concussion of the kind
again, once more(11) emits a new couple(12) (blasphemously named). I
should suppose the coupling of two males to be a very shameful thing,
or else the one(13) must be a female, and so the male is
discredited(14) by the female. One divinity is assigned in the case of
all these, to procure a complete adjustment among the AEons. Even from
this fellowship in a common duty two schools actually arise, two
chairs,(15) and, to some extent,(16) the inauguration of a division in
the doctrine of Valentinus. It was the function of Christ to instruct
the AEons in the nature of their conjugal relations(17) (you see what
the whole thing was, of course!), and how to form some guess about the
unbegotten,(18) and to give them the capacity of generating within
themselves the knowledge of the Father; it being impossible to catch
the idea of him, or comprehend him, or, in short, even to enjoy any
perception of him, either by the eye or the ear, except through
Monogenes (the Only-begotten). Well, I will even grant them what they
allege about knowing the Father, so that they do not refuse us (the
attainment of) the same. I would rather point out what is perverse in
their doctrine, how they were taught that the incomprehensible part of
the Father was the cause of their own perpetuity,(19) whilst that which
might be com- prehended of him was the reason(1) of their generation
and formation. Now by these several positions(2) the tenet, I suppose,
is insinuated, that it is expedient for God not to be apprehended, on
the very ground that the incomprehensibility of His character is the
cause of perpetuity; whereas what in Him is comprehensible is
productive, not of perpetuity, but rather of conditions which lack
perpetuity-namely, nativity and formation. The Son, indeed, they made
capable of comprehending the Father. The manner in which He is
comprehended, the recently produced Christ fully taught them. To the
Holy Spirit, however, belonged the special gifts, whereby they, having
been all set on a complete par in respect of their earnestness to
learn, should be enabled to offer up their thanksgiving, and be
introduced to a true tranquillity.
Thus they are all on the self-same footing in respect of form and
knowledge, all of them having become what each of them severally is;
none being a different being, because they are all what the others
are.(3) They are all turned into(4) Nuses, into Homos, into
Theletuses;(5) and so in the case of the females, into Siges, into
Zoes, into Ecclesias, into Forunatas, so that Ovid would have blotted
out his own Metamorphoses if he had only known our larger one in the
present day. Straightway they were reformed and thoroughly established,
and being composed to rest from the truth, they celebrate the Father in
a chorus(6) of praise in the exuberance of their joy. The Father
himself also revelled(7) in the glad feeling; of course, because his
children and grandchildren sang so well. And why should he not revel in
absolute delight? Was not the Pleroma freed (from all danger)? What
ship's captain(8) fails to rejoice even with indecent frolic? Every
day we observe the uproarious ebullitions of sailors' joys.(9)
Therefore, as sailors always exult over the reckoning they pay. in
common, so do these AEons enjoy a similar pleasure, one as they now all
are in form, and, as I may add,(10) in feeling too. With the
concurrence of even their new brethren and masters,(11) they contribute
into one common stock the best and most beautiful thing with which they
are severally adorned. Vainly, as I suppose. For if they were all one
by reason by the above-mentioned thorough equalization, there was no
room for the process of a common reckoning,(12) which for the most part
consists of a pleasing variety. They all contributed the one good
thing, which they all were. There would be, in all probability, a
formal procedure(13) in the mode or in the form of the very
equalization in question. Accordingly, out of the donation which they
contributed(14) to the honour and glory of the Father, they jointly
fashion(15) the most beautiful constellation of the Pleroma, and its
perfect fruit, Jesus. Him they also surname(16) Soter (Saviour) and
Christ, and Sermo (Word) after his ancestors;(17) and lastly Omnia (All
Things), as formed from a universally culled nosegay,(18) like the jay
of AEsop, the Pandora of Hesiod, the bowl(19) of Accius, the honey-cake
of Nestor, the miscellany of Ptolemy. How much nearer the mark, if
these idle title-mongers had called him Pancarpian, after certain
Athenian customs.(20) By way of adding external honour also to their
wonderful puppet, they produce for him a bodyguard of angels of like
nature. If this be their mutual condition, it may be all right; if,
however, they are consubstantial with Soter (for I have discovered how
doubtfully the case is stated), where will be his eminence when
surrounded by attendants who are co-equal with himself?
In this series, then, is contained the first emanation of AEons,
who are alike born, and are married, and produce offspring: there are
the most dangerous fortunes of Sophia in her ardent longing for the
Father, the most sea sonable help of Horos, the expiation of her
Enthymesis and accruing Passion, the instruction of Christ and the Holy
Spirit, their tutelar reform of the AEons, the piebald ornamentation of
Sorer, the consubstantial retinue(1) of the angels. All that remains,
according to you, is the fall of the curtain and the clapping of
hands.(2) What remains in my opinion, however, is, that you should hear
and take heed. At all events, these things are said to have been played
out within the company of the Pleroma, the first scene of the tragedy.
The rest of the play, however, is beyond the curtain—I mean outside of
the Pleroma. And yet if it be such within the bosom of the Father,
within the embrace of the guardian Horos, what must it be outside, in
free space,(3) where God did not exist?
For Enthymesis, or rather Achamoth—because by this
inexplicable(4) name alone must she be henceforth designated—when in
company with the vicious Passion, her inseparable companion, she was
expelled to places devoid of that light which is the substance of the
Pleroma, even to the void and empty region of Epicurus, she becomes
wretched also because of the place of her banishment. She is indeed
without either form or feature, even an untimely and abortive
production. Whilst she is in this plight,(5) Christ descends from(6)
the heights, conducted by Horos, in order to impart form to the
abortion, out of his own energies, the form of substance only, but not
of knowledge also. Still she is left with some property. She has
restored to her the odour of immortality, in order that she might,
under its influence, be overcome with the desire of better things than
belonged to her present plight.(7) Having accomplished His merciful
mission, not without the assistance of the Holy Spirit, Christ returns
to the Pleroma. It is usual out of an abundance of things(8) for names
to be also forthcoming. Enthymesis came from action;(9) whence Achamoth
came is still a question; Sophia emanates from the Father, the Holy
Spirit from an angel. She entertains a regret lot Christ immediately
after she had discovered her desertion by him. Therefore she hurried
forth herself, in quest of the light of Him Whom she did not at all
discover, as He operated in an invisible manner; for how else would she
make search for His light, which was as unknown to her as He was
Himself? Try, however, she did, and perhaps would have found Him, had
not the self-same Horos, who had met her mother so opportunely, fallen
in with the daughter quite as unseasonably, so as to exclaim at her
IAO! just as we hear the cry "Porro Quirites" ("Out of the way,
Romans!"), or else Fidem Caesaris!" ("By the faith of Caesat!"), whence
(as they will have it) the name IAO comes to be found is the
Scriptures.(10) Being thus hindered from proceeding further, and being
unable to surmount(11) the Cross, that is to say, Horos, because she
had not yet practised herself in the part of Catullus' Laureolus,(12)
and given over, as it were, to that passion of hers in a manifold and
complicated mesh, she began to be afflicted with every impulse thereof,
with sorrow,—because she had not accomplished her enterprise, with
fear,—lest she should lose her life, even as she had lost the light,
with consternation, and then with ignorance. But not as her mother (did
she suffer this), for she was an AEon. Hers, however, was a worse
suffering, considering her condition; for another tide of emotion still
overwhelmed her, even of conversion to the Christ, by Whom she had been
restored to life, and had been directed(13) to this very conversion.
Well, now, the Pythagoreans may learn, the Stoics may know, Plato
himself (may discover), whence Matter, which they will have to be
unborn, derived both its origin and substance for all this pile of the
world—(a mystery) which not even the renowned(14) Mercurius
Trismegistus, master (as he was) of all physical philosophy, thought
out.(1) You have just heard of Conversion," one element in the
"Passion" (we have so often mentioned). Out of this the whole life of
the world,(2) and even that of the Demiurge himself, our God, is said
to have had its being. Again, you have heard of "sorrow" and "fear."
From these all other created things(3) took their beginning. For from
her(4) tears flowed the entire mass of waters. From this circumstance
one may form an idea of the calamity(5) which she encountered, so vast
were the kinds of the tears wherewith she overflowed. She had salt
tear-drops, she had bitter, and sweet, and warm, and cold, and
bituminous, and ferruginous, and sulphurous, and even(6) poisonous, so
that the Nonacris exuded therefrom which killed Alexander; and the
river of the Lyncestae(7) flowed from the same source, which produces
drunkenness; and the Salmacis(8) was derived from the same source,
which renders men effeminate. The rains of heaven Achamoth whimpered
forth,(9) and we on our part are anxiously employed in saving up in our
cisterns the very wails and tears of another. In like manner, from the
"consternation" and "alarm" (of which we have also heard), bodily
elements were derived. And yet amidst so many circumstances of
solitude, in this vast prospect of destitution, she occasionally smiled
at the recollection of the sight of Christ, and from this smile of joy
light flashed forth. How great was this beneficence of Providence,
which induced her to smile, and all that we might not linger for ever
in the dark! Nor need you feel astonished how(10) from her joy so
splendid an element(11) could have beamed upon the world, when from her
sadness even so necessary a provision(12) flowed forth for man. O
illuminating smile! O irrigating tear! And yet it might now have acted
as some alleviation amidst the horror of her situation; for she might
have shaken off all the obscurity thereof as often as she had a mind to
smile, even not to be obliged to turn suppliant to those who had
deserted her.(13)
Then Achamoth, delivered at length from all her evils, wonderful
to tell(20) goes on and bears fruit with greater results. For warmed
with the joy of so great an escape from her unhappy condition, and at
the same time heated with the actual contemplation of the angelic
luminaries (one is ashamed) to use such language, but there is no other
way of expressing one's meaning), she during the emotion somehow became
personally inflamed with desire(1) towards them, and at once grew
pregnant with a spiritual conception, at the very image of which the
violence of her joyous transport,and the delight of her prurient
excitement had imbibed and impressed upon her. She at length gave birth
to an offspring, and then there arose a leash of natures,(2) from a
triad of causes,—one material, arising from her passion; another
animal, arising from her conversion; the third spiritual, which had its
origin in her imagination.
Having become a better proficient(3) in practical conduct by the
authority which, we may well suppose,(4) accrued to her from her three
children, she determined to impart form to each of the natures. The
spiritual one however, she was unable to touch, inasmuch as she was
herself spiritual. For a participation in the same nature has, to a
very great extent,(5) disqualified like and consubstantial beings from
having superior power over one another. Therefore(6) she applies
herself solely to the animal nature, adducing the structions of
Soter(7) (for her guidance). And first of all (she does) what cannot be
described and read, and heard of, without an intense horror at the
blasphemy thereof: she produces this God of ours, the God of all except
of the heretics, the Father and Creator(8) and King of all things,
which are inferior to him. For from him do they proceed. If, however,
they proceed from him, and not rather from Achamoth, or if only
secretly from her, without his perceiving her, he was impelled to all
that he did, even like a puppet(9) which is moved from the outside. In
fact, it was owing to this very ambiguity about the personal agency in
the works which were done, that they coined for him the mixed name of
(Motherly Father),(10) whilst his other appellations were distinctly
assigned according to the conditions and positions of his works: so
that they call him Father in relation to the animal substances to which
they give the place of honour(11) on his fight hand; whereas, in
respect of the material substances which they banish(12) to his left
hand, they name him Demiurgus; whilst his title King designates his
authority over both classes, nay over the universe.(13)
And yet there is not any agreement between the propriety of the
names and that of the works, from which all the names are suggested;
since all of them ought to have borne the name of her by whom the
things were done, unless after all(14) it turn out that they were not
made by her. For, although they say that Achamoth devised these forms
in honour of the AEons, they yet(15) transfer this work to Soter as its
author, when they say that he(16) operated through her, so far as to
give her the very image of the invisible and unknown Father—that is,
the image which was unknown and invisible to the Demiurge; whilst
he(17) formed this same Demiurge in imitation(18) of Nus the son of
Propator;(19) and whilst the archangels, who were the work of the
Demiurge, resembled the other AEons. Now, when I hear of such images of
the three, I ask, do you not wish me to laugh at these pictures of
their most extravagant painter? At the female Achamoth, a picture of
the Father? At the Demiurge, ignorant of his mother, much more so of
his father? At the picture of Nus, Ignorant of his father too, and the
ministering angels, facsimiles of their lords? This is painting a mule
from an ass, and sketching Ptolemy from Valentinus.
The Demiurge therefore, placed as he was without the limits of
the Pleroma in the ignominious solitude of his eternal exile, rounded a
new empire—this world (of ours)—by clear- ing away the confusion and
distinguishing the difference between the two substances which
severally constituted it,(1) the animal and the material. Out of
incorporeal (elements) he constructs bodies, heavy, light, erect(2) and
stooping, celestial and terrene. He then completes the sevenfold stages
of heaven itself, with his own throne above all. Whence he had the
additional name of Sabbatum from the hebdomadal nature of his abode;
his mother Achamoth, too, had the title Ogdoada, after the precedent of
the primeval Ogdoada.(3) These heavens, however, they consider to be
intelligent,(4) and sometimes they make angels of them, as indeed they
do of the Demiurge himself; as also (they call) Paradise the fourth
archangel, because they fix it above the third heaven, of the power of
which Adam partook, when he sojourned there amidst its fleecy clouds(5)
and shrubs.(6) Ptolemy remembered perfectly well the prattle of his
boyhood,(7) that apples grew in the sea, and fishes on the tree; after
the same fashion, he assumed that nut-trees flourished in the skies.
The Demiurge does his work in ignorance, and therefore perhaps he is
unaware that trees ought to be planted only on the ground. His mother,
of course, knew all about it: how is it, then, that she did not suggest
the fact, since she was actually executing her own operation? But
whilst building up so vast an edifice for her son by means of those
works, which proclaim him at once to be father, god and, king before
the conceits of the Valentinians, why she refused to let them be known
to even him,(8) is a question which I shall ask afterwards.
Meanwhile you must believe(9) that Sophia has the surnames of
earth and of Mother—"Mother-Earth," of course—and (what may excite
your laughter still more heartily) even Holy Spirit. In this way they
have conferred all honour on that female, I suppose even a beard, not
to say other things. Besides,(10) the Demiurge had so little mastery
over things,(11) on the score,(12) you must know,(13) of his inability
to approach spiritual essences, (constituted as he was) of animal
elements, that, imagining himself to be the only being, he uttered this
soliloquy: "I am God, and beside me there is none else."(14) But for
all that, he at least was aware that he had not himself existed before.
He understood, therefore, that he had been created, and that there must
be a creator of a creature of some sort or other. How happens it, then,
that he seemed to himself to be the only being, notwithstanding his
uncertainty, and although he had, at any rate, some suspicion of the
existence of some creator?
The odium felt amongst them(15) against the devil is the more
excusable,(16) even because the peculiarly sordid character of his
origin justifies it.(17) For he is supposed by them to have had his
origin in that criminal excess(18) of her(19) sorrow, from which they
also derive the birth of the angels, and demons, and all the wicked
spirits. Yet they affirm that the devil is the work of the Demiurge,
and they call him Munditenens(20) (Ruler of the World), and maintain
that, as he is of a spiritual nature, he has a better knowledge of the
things above than the Demiurge, an animal being. He deserves from them
the pre-eminence which all heresies provide him with.
Their most eminent powers, moreover, they confine within the
following limits, as in a citadel. In the most elevated of all summits
presides the tricenary Pleroma,(21) Horos marking off its boundary
line. Beneath it, Achamoth occupies the intermediate space for her
abode,(22) treading down her son. For under her comes the Demiurge in
his own Hebdomad, or rather the Devil, sojourning in this world in
common with ourselves, formed, as has been said above, of the same
elements
and the same body, out of the most profitable calamities of
Sophia; inasmuch as, (if it had not been for these,) our spirit would
have had no space for inhaling and ejecting(1) air—that delicate vest
of all corporeal creatures, that revealer of all colours, that
instrument of the seasons—if the sadness of Sophia had not filtered
it, just as her fear did the animal existence, and her conversion the
Demiurge himself. Into all these elements and bodies fire was fanned.
Now, since they have not as yet explained to us the original sensation
of this(2) in Sophia, I will on my own responsibility(3) conjecture
that its spark was struck out of the delicate emotions(4) of her
(feverish grief). For you may be quite sure that, amidst all her
vexations, she must have had a good deal of fever.(5)
Such being their conceits respecting: God, or, if you like,(6)
the gods, of what sort are their figments concerning man? For, after he
had made the world, the Demiurge turns his hands to man, and chooses
for him as his substance not any portion of "the dry land," as they
say, of which alone we have any knowledge (although it was, at that
time, not yet dried by the waters becoming separated from the earthy
residuum, and only afterwards became dry), but of the invisible
substance of that matter, which philosophy indeed dreams of, from its
fluid and fusible composition, the origin of which I am unable to
imagine, because it exists nowhere. Now, since fluidity and fusibility
are qualities Of liquid matter, and since everything liquid flowed from
Sophia's tears, we must, as a necessary conclusion, believe that muddy
earth is constituted of Sophia's eye-rheums and viscid discharges,(7)
which are just as much the dregs of tears as mud is the sediment of
waters. Thus does the Demiurge mould man as a potter does his clay, and
animates him with his own breath. Made after his image and likeness, he
will therefore be both material and animal. A fourfold being! For in
respect of his "image," he must be deemed clayey,(8) that is to say,
material, although the Demiurge is not composed of matter; but as to
his "likeness," he is animal, for such, too, is the Demiurge. You have
two (of his constituent elements). Moreover, a coating of flesh was,
as they allege, afterwards placed over the clayey substratum, and it is
this tunic I of skin which is susceptible of sensation.
In Achamoth, moreover, there was inherent a certain property of a
spiritual germ, of her mother Sophia's substance; and Achamoth herself
had carefully severed off (the same quality), and implanted it in her
son the Demiurge, although he was actually unconscious of it. It is for
you to imagine(9) the industry of this clandestine arrangement. For to
this end had she deposited and concealed (this germ), that, whenever
the Demiurge came to impart life to Adam by his inbreathing, he might
at the same time draw off from the vital principle(10) the spiritual
seed, and, as by a pipe, inject it into the clayey nature; in order
that, being then fecundated in the material body as in a womb, and
having fully grown there, it might be found fit for one day receiving
the perfect Word.(11) When, therefore, the Demiurge commits to Adam the
transmission of his own vital principle,(12) the spiritual man lay hid,
although inserted by his breath, and at the same time introduced into
the body, because the Demiurge knew no more about his mother's seed
than about herself. To this seed they give the name of Ecclesia (the
Church), the mirror of the church above, and the perfection(13) of man;
tracing this perfection from Achamoth, just as they do the animal
nature from the Demiurge, the clayey material of the body (they derive)
from the primordial substance,(14) the flesh from Matter. So that you
have a new Geryon here, only a fourfold (rather than a threefold)
monster.
In like manner they assign to each of them a separate end.(15) To
the material, that is to say the carnal (nature), which they also call
"the left-handed," they assign undoubted destruction; to the animal
(nature), which they also call "the right-handed," a doubtful issue,
inasmuch as it oscillates between the material and the spiritual, and
is sure to fall at last on the side to which it has mainly gravitated.
As regards the spiritual, however, (they say) that it enters into the
formation of the animal, in order that it may be educated in company
with it and be disciplined by repeated intercourse with it. For the
animal (nature) was in want of training even by the senses: for this
purpose, accordingly, was the whole structure of the world provided;
for this purpose also did Soter (the Saviour) present Himself in the
world—even for the salvation of the animal (nature). By yet another
arrangement they will have it that He, in some prodigious way,(1)
clothed Himself with the primary portions(2) of those substances, the
whole of which He was going. to restore to salvation; in such wise that
He assumed the spiritual nature from Achamoth, whilst He derived the
animal (being), Christ, afterwards from the Demiurge; His corporal
substance, however, which was constructed of an animal nature (only
with wonderful and indescribable skill), He wore for a dispensational
purpose, in order that He might, in spite of His own unwillingness,(3)
be capable of meeting persons, and of being seen and touched by them,
and even of dying. But there was nothing material assumed by Him,
inasmuch as that was incapable of salvation. As if He could possibly
have been more required by any others than by those who were in want of
salvation! And all this, in order that by severing the condition of our
flesh from Christ they may also deprive it of the hope of salvation!
I now adduce(4) (what they say) concerning Christ, upon whom some
of them engraft Jesus with so much licence, that they foist into Him a
spiritual seed together with an animal inflatus. Indeed, I will not
undertake to describe(5) these incongruous crammings,(6) which they
have contrived in relation both to their men and their gods. Even the
Demiurge has a Christ of His on—His natural Son. An animal, in short,
produced by Himself, proclaimed by the prophets—His position being one
which must be decided by prepositions; in other words, He was produced
by means of a virgin, rather than of a virgin! On the ground that,
having descended into the virgin rather in the manner of a passage
through her than of a birth by her, He came into existence through her,
not of her—not experiencing a mother in her, but nothing more than a
way. Upon this same Christ, therefore (so they say.), Jesus descended
in the sacrament of baptism, in the likeness of a dove. Moreover, there
was even in Christ accruing from Achamoth the condiment of a spiritual
seed, in order of course to prevent the corruption of all the other
stuffing.(7) For after the precedent of the principal Tetrad, they
guard him with four substances—the spiritual one of Achamoth, the
animal one of the Demiurge, the corporeal one, which cannot be
described, and that of Soter, or, in other phrase, the columbine.(8) As
for Sorer Jesus), he remained in Christ to the last, impassible,
incapable of injury, incapable of apprehension. By and by, when it came
to a question of capture, he departed from him during the examination
before Pilate. In like manner, his mother's seed did not admit of being
injured, being equally exempt from all manner of outrage,(9) and being
undiscovered even by the Demiurge himself. The animal and carnal
Christ, however, does suffer after the fashion(10) of the superior
Christ, who, for the purpose of producing Achamoth, had been stretched
upon the cross, that is, Horos, in a substantial though not a
cognizable(11) form. In this manner do they reduce all things to mere
images—Christians themselves being indeed nothing but imaginary beings!
Meanwhile the Demiurge, being still ignorant of everything,
although he will actually have to make some announcement himself by the
prophets, but is quite incapable of even this part of his duty (because
they divide authority over the prophets(12) between Achamoth, the Seed,
and the Demiurge), no sooner heard of the advent of Sorer (Saviour)
than he runs to him with haste and joy, with all his might, like the
centurion in the Gospel.(1) And being enlightened by him on all points,
he learns from him also of his own prospect how that he is to succeed
to his mother's place. Being thenceforth free from all care, he carries
on the administration of this world, mainly under the plea of
protecting the church, for as long a time as may be necessary and
proper.
I will now collect from different sources, by way of conclusion,
what they affirm concerning the dispensation(2) of the whole human
race. Having at first stated their views as to man's threefold
nature—which was, however, united in one(3) in the case of Adam—they
then proceed after him to divide it (into three) with their especial
characteristics, finding opportunity for such distinction in the
posterity of Adam himself, in which occurs a threefold division as to
moral differences. Cain and Abel, and Seth, who were in a certain sense
the sources of the human race, become the fountain-heads of just as
many qualities(4) of nature and essential character.(5) The material
nature,(6) which had become reprobate for salvation, they assign to
Cain; the animal nature, which was poised between divergent hopes, they
find(7) in Abel; the spiritual, preordained for certain salvation, they
store up(7) in Seth. In this way also they make a twofold distinction
among souls, as to their property of good and evil—according to the
material condition derived from Cain, or the animal from Abel. Men's
spiritual state they derive over and above the other conditions,(8)
from Seth adventitiously,(9) not in the way of nature, but of
grace,(10) in such wise that Achamoth infuses it(11) among superior
beings like rain(12) into good souls, that is, those who are enrolled
in the animal class. Whereas the material class—in other words, those
which are bad souls—they say, never receive the blessings of
salvation;(13) for that nature they have pronounced to be incapable of
any change or reform in its natural condition.(14) This grain, then, of
spiritual seed is modest and very small when cast from her hand, but
under her instruction(15) increases and advances into full conviction,
as we have already said;(16) and the souls, on this very account, so
much excelled all others, that the Demiurge, even then in his
ignorance, held them in great esteem. For it was from their list that
he had been accustomed to select men for kings and for priests; and
these even now, if they have once attained to a full and complete
knowledge of these foolish conceits of theirs,(17) since they are
already naturalized in the fraternal bond of the spiritual state, Will
obtain a sure salvation, nay, one which is on all accounts their due.
For this reason it is that they neither regard works(18) as
necessary for themselves, nor do they observe any of the calls of
duty, eluding even the necessity of martyrdom on any pretence which may
suit their pleasure. For this rule, (they say), is enjoined upon the
animal seed, in order that the salvation, which we do not possess by
any privilege of our state,(19) we may work out by right(20) of our
conduct. Upon us, who are of an imperfect nature,(21) is imprinted the
mark of this (animal) seed, because we are reckoned as sprung from the
loves of Theletus,(22) and consequently as an abortion, just as their
mother was. But woe to us indeed, should we in any point transgress the
yoke of discipline, should we grow dull in the works of holiness and
justice, should we desire to make our confession anywhere else, I know
not where, and not before the powers of this world at the tribunals of
the chief magistrates!(23) As for them, however, they may prove their
nobility by the dissoluteness(24) of their life and their diligence(25)
in sin, since Achamoth fawns on them as her own; for she, too, found
sin no unprofitable pursuit. Now it is held amongst them, that, for the
purpose of honouring the celestial marriages,(1) it is necessary to
contemplate and celebrate the mystery always by cleaving to a
companion, that, is to a woman; otherwise (they account any man)
degenerate, and a bastard(2) to the truth, who spends his life in the
world without loving a woman or uniting himself to her. Then what is to
become of the eunuchs whom we see amongst them?
It remains that we say something about the end of the world,(3)
and the dispensing of reward. As soon as Achamoth has completed the
full harvest of her seed, and has then proceeded to gather it into her
garner, or, after it has been taken to the mill and ground to flour,
has hidden it in the kneading-trough with yeast until the whole be
leavened, then shall the end speedily come.(4) Then, to begin with,
Achamoth herself removes from the middle region,(5) from the second
stage to the highest, since she is restored to the Pleroma: she is
immediately received by that paragon of perfection(6) Sorer, as her
spouse of course, and they two afterwards consummate(7) new nuptials.
This must be the spouse of the Scripture,(8) the Pleroma of espousals
(for you might suppose that the Julian laws(9) were interposing, since
there are these migrations from place to place). In like manner, the
Demiurge, too, will then change the scene of his abode from the
celestial Hebdomad(10) to the higher regions, to his mother's now
vacant saloon(11)—by this time knowing her, without however seeing
her. (A happy coincidence!) For if he had caught a glance of her, he
would have preferred never to have known her.
As for the human race, its end will be to the following
effect:—To all which bear the earthy" and material mark there accrues
an entire destruction, because "all flesh is grass,"(13) and amongst
these is the soul of moral man, except when it has found salvation by
faith. The souls of just men, that is to say, our souls, will be
conveyed to the Demiurge in the abodes of the middle region. We are
duly thankful; we shall be content to be classed with our god, in whom
lies our own origin.(14) Into the palace of the Pleroma nothing of the
animal nature is admitted—nothing but the spiritual swarm of
Valentinus. There, then, the first process is the despoiling of men
themselves, that is, men within the Pleroma.(15) Now this despoiling
consists of the putting off of the souls in which they appear to be
clothed, which they will give back to their Demiurge as they had
obtained(6) them from him. They will then become wholly intellectual
spirits—impalpable,(17) invisible(18)—and in this state will be
readmitted invisibly to the Heroma—stealthily, if the case admits of
the idea.(19) What then? They will be dispersed amongst the angels, the
attendants on Soter. As sons, do you suppose? Not at all. As servants,
then? No, not even so. Well, as phantoms? Would that it were nothing
more! Then in what capacity, if you are ashamed to tell us? In the
capacity of brides. Then will they end(20) their Sabine rapes with the
sanction of wedlock. This will be the guerdon of the spiritual, this
the recompense of their faith! Such fables have their use. Although but
a Marcus or a Gaius,(21) full-grown in this flesh of ours, with a beard
and such like proofs (of virility,) it may be a stern husband, a
father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather (never mind what, in fact,
if only a male), you may perhaps in the bridal-chamber of the
Pleroma—I have already said so tacitly(22)—even become the parent by
an angel of some AEon of high numerical rank.(23) For the right
celebration of these nuptials, instead of the torch and veil, I suppose
that secret fire is then to burst forth, which, after devastating the
whole existence of things, will itself also be reduced to nothing at
last, after everything has been reduced to ashes; and so their fable
too will be ended.(24) But I, too, am no doubt a rash man, in having
exposed: so great a mystery in so derisive a way: I ought to be afraid
that Achamoth, who did not choose to make herself known even to her own
son, would turn mad, that Theletus would be enraged, that Fortune(1)
would be irritated. But I am yet a liege-man of the Demiurge. I have to
return after death to the place where there is no more giving in
marriage, where I have to be clothed upon rather than to be
despoiled,—where, even if I am despoiled of my sex, I am Glassed with
angels—not a male angel, nor a female one. There will be no one to do
aught against me, nor will they then find any male energy in me.
I shall now at last produce, by way of finale,(2) after so long a
story, those points which not to interrupt the course of it, and by the
interruption distract the reader's attention, I have preferred
reserving to this place. They have been variously advanced by those who
have improved on(3) the doctrines of Ptolemy. For there have been in
his school "disciples above their master," who have attributed to their
Bythus two wives—Cogitatio (Thought) and Voluntas (Will). For
Cogitatio alone was not sufficient wherewith to produce any offspring,
although from the two wives procreation was most easy to him. The
former bore him Monogenes (Only-Begotten) and Veritas (Truth). Veritas
was a female after the likeness of Cogitatio; Monogenes a male bearing
a resemblance to Voluntas. For it is the strength of Voluntas which
procures the masculine nature,(4) inasmuch as she affords efficiency to
Cogitatio.
Others of purer mind, mindful of the honour of the Deity, have,
for the purpose of freeing him from the discredit of even single
wedlock, preferred assigning no sex whatever to By-thus; and therefore
very likely they talk of "this deity" in the neuter gender rather than
"this god." Others again, on the other hand, speak of him as both
masculine and feminine, so that the worthy chronicler Fenestella must
not suppose that an hermaphrodite; was only to be found among the good
people of Luna.
There are some who do not claim the first place for Bythus, but
only a lower one. They put their Ogdoad in the foremost rank; itself,
however, derived from a Tetrad, but under different names. For they put
Proarche (Before the Beginning) first, Anennoetos (Inconceivable)
second, Arrhetos (Indescribable) third, Aoratos (Invisible) fourth.
Then after Proarche they say Arche (Beginning) came forth and occupied
the first and the fifth place; from Anennoetos came Acataleptos
(Incomprehensible) in the second and the sixth place; from Arrhetos
came Anonomastos (Nameless) in the third and the seventh place; from
Aoratos(5) came Agennetos (Unbegotten) in the fourth and the eight
place. Now by what method he arranges this, that each of these AEons
should be born in two places, and that, too, at such intervals, I
prefer to be ignorant of than to be informed. For what can be right in
a system which is propounded with such absurd particulars?
How much more sensible are they who, rejecting all this tiresome
nonsense, have refused to believe that any one AEon has descended from
another by steps like these, @which are really neither more nor less
Gemonian;(6) but that on a given signal(7) the eight-fold emanation, of
which we have heard,(8) issued all at once from the Father and His
Ennoea (Thought?—that it is, in fact, from His mere motion that they
gain their designations. When, as they say, He thought of producing
offspring, He on that account gained the name of FATHER. After
producing, because the issue which He produced was true, He received
the name of Truth. When He wanted Himself to be manifested, He on that
account was announced as Man. Those, moreover, whom He preconceived in
His thought when He produced them, were then designated the Church. As
man, He uttered His Word; and so this Ward is His first-begotten Son,
and to the Word was added Life. And by this process the first Ogdoad
was completed. However, the whole of this tiresome story is utterly
poor and weak.
Now listen to some other buffooneries(1) of a master who is a
great swell among them,(2) and who has pronounced his dict with an
even priestly authority. They run thus: There comes, says he, before
all things Proarche, the inconceivable, and indescribable, and
nameless, which I for my own part call Monotes (Solitude). With this
was associated another power, to which also I give the name of Henotes
(Unity). Now, inasmuch as Monotes and Henotes—that is to say, Solitude
and Union—were only one being, they produced, and yet not in the way
of production,(3) the intellectual, innascible, invisible beginning of
all things, which human language' has called Monad (Solitude).(3) This
has inherent in itself a consubstantial force, which it calls Unity?
These powers, accordingly, Solitude or Solitariness, and Unity, or
Union, propagated all the other emanations of AEons.(7) Wonderful
distinction, to be sure! Whatever change Union and Unity may undergo,
Solitariness and Solitude is profoundly supreme. Whatever designation
you give the power, it is one and the same.
Secundus is a trifle more human, as he is briefer: he divides the
Ogdoad into a pair of Tetrads, a right hand one and a left hand one,
one light and the other darkness. Only he is unwilling to derive the
power which apostatized and fell away(8) from any one of the AEons, but
from the fruits which issued from their substance.
Now, concerning even the Lord Jesus, into how great a diversity
of opinion are they divided! One party form Him of the blossoms of all
the AEons.(9) Another party will have it that He is made up only of
those ten whom the Word and the Life(10) produced;(11)` from which
circumstance the titles of the Word and the Life were suitably
transferred to Him. @Others, again, that He rather sprang from the
twelve, the offspring of Man and the Church(12) and therefore, they
say, He was designated "Son of man." Others, moreover, maintain that He
was formed by Christ and the Holy Spirit, who have to provide for the
establishment of the universe,(13) and that He inherits by right His
Father's appellation. Some there are who have imagined that another
origin must be found for the title "Son of man;" for they have had the
presumption to call the Father Himself Man, by reason of the profound
mystery of this title: so that what can you hope for more ample
concerning faith in that God, with whom you are now yourself on a par?
Such conceits are constantly cropping out(14) amongst them, from the
redundance of their mother's seed.(15) And so it happens that the
doctrines which have grown up amongst the Valentinians have already
extended their rank growth to the woods of the Gnostics.