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to be the great and wonderful and secret Mysteries, which they themselves bear as fruit, and if they might be able to adapt anything from what is said at large in the scriptures, and liken it to their own fabrication. 1.1.2 They say, then, that their Fore-Father is known only to the Only-begotten who came from him, that is, to the Mind; but to all the rest he is invisible and incomprehensible; and only the Mind, according to them, delighted in seeing the Father, and comprehending his immeasurable greatness, rejoiced; and he intended to communicate to the other aeons the greatness of the Father, how great and vast he was, and how he was without beginning and uncontained, and not to be comprehended by sight; but Silence restrained him by the will of the Father, because he wished to bring them all to the thought and longing of seeking their aforementioned Fore-Father. And the other Aeons, in like manner, somehow quietly longed to see the procreator of their seed, and to learn of the root without beginning; but the last and youngest Aeon of the twelve projected by the Man and the Church, that is, Wisdom, rushed forth greatly, and suffered a passion without the embrace of her consort l. συζ. the Desired; which began indeed among those around Mind and Truth, but descended upon this one who had gone astray, with a pretext of love, but of audacity, because she had not fellowship with the perfect Father, as Mind also had. And the passion was a seeking of the Father; for she wished, as they say, to comprehend his greatness; then, not being able, because she had attempted an impossible thing, and being in a very great struggle, on account of the magnitude of the depth, and the unsearchable nature of the Father, and her affection for him, ever stretching forward, she would have at last been swallowed up by his sweetness, and dissolved into the universal substance, had she not met with the power that strengthens all things and preserves them outside the ineffable greatness. And this power they also call Limit, by which she was restrained and strengthened, and having with difficulty returned to herself, and being persuaded that the Father is incomprehensible, she laid aside her former thought along with the passion that arose from that astonishing wonder. 1.1.3 But some of them mythologize the passion of Wisdom and her return thus: having attempted an impossible and incomprehensible thing, she brought forth a formless substance, such as a female nature was able to bring forth; and when she perceived this, she was first grieved, on account of the imperfection of the birth, then she was afraid lest this itself should not have perfect being; then she was distraught and perplexed, seeking the cause, and in what way she might hide what had happened. But being caught up in these passions, she undertook to return, and attempted to run back to the Father, and having dared to a certain point, she grew weak, and became a suppliant of the father; and the other Aeons also pleaded with her, especially the Mind. Hence they say that substance had its first beginning, from ignorance, and grief, and fear, and astonishment. And upon this the Father, through the Only-begotten, projects the aforementioned Limit in his own image, without a consort, without female. For they will have it that the Father is sometimes with his consort Silence, and sometimes both beyond male and beyond female. And this Limit they also call Fellow-Redeemer l. Σταυρὸν and Redeemer, and Fructifier, and Boundary-Setter, and Conductor. And through this Limit, they say, Wisdom was purified and strengthened, and restored to her consort; for when her Thought was separated from her along with the accompanying passion, she herself was within the pleroma; l. μεῖναι· Tert. remansisse. but her thought with the passion was separated by Limit and deprived l. ἀποσταυρωθῆναι, and having come to be outside of him, was a spiritual substance, being a certain natural impulse of an Aeon; but formless and without shape because it comprehended nothing; and for this reason they call it a weak and female fruit. 1.1.4 And after this one was separated outside the pleroma of the Aeons, and her Mother was restored to her own consort, the Only-begotten again another

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εἶναι τὰ μεγάλα καὶ θαυμαστὰ καὶ ἀπόῤῥητα Μυστήρια, ἃ καρποφοροῦσιν αὐτοὶ, καὶ εἴ που τι τῶν ἐν πλήθει εἰρημένων ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς δυνηθείη προσαρμόσαι, καὶ εἰκάσαι τῷ πλάσματι αὐτῶν. 1.1.2 Τὸν μὲν οὖν Προπάτορα αὐτῶν γινώσκεσθαι μόνῳ λέγουσι τῷ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγονότι Μονογενεῖ, τουτέστι τῷ Νῷ· τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς πᾶσιν ἀόρατον καὶ ἀκατάληπτον ὑπάρχειν· μόνος δὲ ὁ Νοῦς κατ' αὐτοὺς ἐτέρπετο θεωρῶν τὸν Πατέρα, καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τὸ ἀμέτρητον αὐτοῦ κατανοῶν ἠγάλλετο· καὶ διενοεῖτο καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς αἰῶσιν ἀνακοινώσασθαι τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ Πατρὸς, ἡλίκος τε καὶ ὅσος ὑπῆρχε, καὶ ὡς ἦν ἄναρχός τε καὶ ἀχώρητος, καὶ οὐ καταληπτὸς ἰδεῖν· κατέσχε δὲ αὐτὸν ἡ Σιγὴ βουλήσει τοῦ Πατρὸς, διὰ τὸ θέλειν πάντας αὐτοὺς εἰς ἔννοιαν καὶ πόθον ζητήσεως τοῦ προειρημένου Προπάτορος αὐτῶν ἀγαγεῖν. Καὶ οἱ μὲν λοιποὶ ὁμοίως Αἰῶνες ἡσυχῇ πως ἐπεπόθουν τὸν προβολέα τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτῶν ἰδεῖν, καὶ τὴν ἄναρχον ῥίζαν ἱστορῆσαι· προήλατο δὲ πολὺ ὁ τελευταῖος καὶ νεώτατος τῆς δωδεκάδος, τῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, προβεβλημένος Αἰὼν, τουτέστιν ἡ Σοφία, καὶ ἔπαθε πάθος ἄνευ τῆς ἐπιπλοκῆς τοῦ ζυγοῦ l. συζ. τοῦ Θελητοῦ· ὃ ἐνήρξατο μὲν ἐν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Νοῦν καὶ τὴν Ἀλήθειαν, ἀπέσκηψε δὲ εἰς τοῦτον τὸν παρατραπέντα, πρόφασιν μὲν ἀγάπης, τόλμης δὲ, διὰ τὸ μὴ κεκοινωνῆσθαι τῷ Πατρὶ τῷ τελείῳ, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Νοῦς. Τὸ δὲ πάθος εἶναι ζήτησιν τοῦ Πατρός· ἤθελε γὰρ, ὡς λέγουσι, τὸ μέγεθος αὐτοῦ καταλαβεῖν· ἔπειτα μὴ δυνηθῆναι, διὰ τὸ ἀδυνάτῳ ἐπιβαλεῖν πράγματι, καὶ ἐν πολλῷ πάνυ ἀγῶνι γενόμενον, διά τε τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ βάθους, καὶ τὸ ἀνεξιχνίαστον τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν στοργὴν, ἐκτεινόμενον ἀεὶ ἐπὶ τὸ πρόσθεν, ὑπὸ τῆς γλυκύτητος αὐτοῦ τελευταῖον ἂν καταπεπόσθαι, καὶ ἀναλελύσθαι εἰς τὴν ὅλην οὐσίαν, εἰ μὴ τῇ στηριζούσῃ καὶ ἐκτὸς τοῦ ἀῤῥήτου μεγέθους φυλασσούσῃ τὰ ὅλα συνέτυχε δυνάμει. Ταύτην δὲ τὴν δύναμιν καὶ Ὅρον καλοῦσιν, ὑφ' ἧς ἐπεσχῆσθαι καὶ ἐστηρίχθαι, καὶ μόγις ἐπιστρέψαντα εἰς ἑαυτὸν, καὶ πεισθέντα ὅτι ἀκατάληπτός ἐστιν ὁ Πατὴρ, ἀποθέσθαι τὴν προτέραν ἐνθύμησιν σὺν τῷ ἐπιγινομένῳ πάθει ἐκ τοῦ ἐκπλήκτου ἐκείνου θαύματος. 1.1.3 Ἔνιοι δὲ αὐτῶν πῶς τὸ πάθος τῆς Σοφίας καὶ τὴν ἐπιστροφὴν μυθολογοῦσιν· ἀδυνάτῳ καὶ ἀκαταλήπτῳ πράγματι αὐτὴν ἐπιχειρήσασαν τεκεῖν οὐσίαν ἄμορφον, οἵαν φύσιν εἶχε θήλειαν τεκεῖν· ἣν καὶ κατανοήσασαν πρῶτον μὲν λυπηθῆναι, διὰ τὸ ἀτελὲς τῆς γενέσεως, ἔπειτα φοβηθῆναι μηδὲ αὐτὸ τὸ εἶναι τελείως ἔχειν· εἶτα ἐκστῆναι καὶ ἀπορῆσαι, ζητοῦσαν τὴν αἰτίαν, καὶ ὅντινα τρόπον ἀποκρύψει τὸ γεγονός. Ἐγκαταγενομένην δὲ τοῖς πάθεσι λαβεῖν ἐπιστροφὴν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Πατέρα ἀναδραμεῖν πειρασθῆναι, καὶ μέχρι τινὸς τολμήσασαν, ἐξασθενῆσαι, καὶ ἱκέτιν τοῦ πατρὸς γενέσθαι· συνδεηθῆναι δὲ αὐτῇ καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς Αἰῶνας, μάλιστα δὲ τὸν Νοῦν. Ἐντεῦθεν λέγουσι πρώτην ἀρχὴν ἐσχηκέναι τὴν οὐσίαν, ἐκ τῆς ἀγνοίας, καὶ τῆς λύπης, καὶ τοῦ φόβου, καὶ τῆς ἐκπλήξεως. Ὁ δὲ Πατὴρ τὸν προειρημένον Ὅρον ἐπὶ τούτοις διὰ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς προβάλλεται ἐν εἰκόνι ἰδίᾳ, ἀσύζυγον, ἀθήλυντον. Τὸν γὰρ Πατέρα ποτὲ μὲν μετὰ συζυγίας τῆς Σιγῆς, ποτὲ δὲ καὶ ὑπέραῤῥεν, καὶ ὑπέρθηλυ εἶναι θέλουσι. Τὸν δὲ Ὅρον τοῦτον καὶ Συλλυτρωτὴν l. Σταυρὸν καὶ Λυτρωτὴν, καὶ Καρπιστὴν, καὶ Ὁροθέτην, καὶ Μεταγωγέα καλοῦσι. ∆ιὰ δὲ τοῦ Ὅρου τούτου φασὶ κεκαθάρθαι καὶ ἐστηρίχθαι τὴν Σοφίαν, καὶ ἀποκατασταθῆναι τῇ συζυγίᾳ· χωρισθείσης γὰρ τῆς Ἐνθυμήσεως ἀπ' αὐτῆς σὺν τῷ ἐπιγινομένῳ πάθει, αὐτὴν μὲν ἐντὸς πληρώματος εἶναι· l. μεῖναι· Tert. remansisse. τὴν δὲ ἐνθύμησιν αὐτῆς σὺν τῷ πάθει ὑπὸ τοῦ Ὅρου ἀφορισθῆναι καὶ ἀποστερηθῆναι l. ἀποσταυρωθῆναι, καὶ ἐκτὸς αὐτοῦ γενομένην, εἶναι μὲν πνευματικὴν οὐσίαν, φυσικήν τινα Αἰῶνος ὁρμὴν τυγχάνουσαν· ἄμορφον δὲ καὶ ἀνείδεον διὰ τὸ μηδὲν καταλαβεῖν· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καρπὸν ἀσθενῆ καὶ θῆλυν αὐτὸν λέγουσι. 1.1.4 Μετὰ δὲ τὸ ἀφορισθῆναι ταύτην ἐκτὸς τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν Αἰώνων, τήν τε Μητέρα αὐτῆς ἀποκατασταθῆναι τῇ ἰδίᾳ συζυγίᾳ, τὸν Μονογενῆ πάλιν ἑτέραν