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8

which had come into being, to live in a kind of shadow and emptiness; but that the one called Christ, taking pity, was slain by means of the one called Horos and Stauros, and gave to her a form according to substance; but left her destitute of knowledge, and after this drew his power back into himself; and that she, having received a perception of the light that had apprehended her, ran to seek it, but was prevented by Horos from proceeding, who said "Iao"; for from this, they say, this name also came to be; then, being grieved at being prevented from proceeding, she received grief and fear and perplexity 83.357; then there was added to her also a desire of conversion. From these passions, they say, this world was formed; from the conversion, the Demiurge and the souls of all; and from the other passions, the rest; from her tears, the moist substance, from her laughter, the light, and from the others, the other things. For I think it not without blame to relate all the things that they mythologize. And they say that she beseeched the Christ who had already had mercy on her, that he might impart the light to her; and that he received the supplication, but did not come himself, but sent Jesus, so that in him might be created both the visible and the invisible, and thrones and dominions, and divinities, as they themselves say. He arrived, therefore, with the angels who had been projected, and separated her from the passions that had come upon her, and having separated them, he compacted them. But she, being separated from the passions, received a desire for the angels, and bore a spiritual offspring similar to the angels, and this ran upwards. And from the conversion they say the psychic substance came to be, and from this was formed God, and Father, and King of the souls having the same nature as him, which they call "right," and of the things of matter, which they name "left." For they say that he made all visible things his own. And they call him Metropator, and Father, and Demiurge. And what need is there to recount all the nonsense of their myth-making? For the whole fabrication resembles what has been said. He says that the Savior who appeared received the spiritual from Achamoth, was clothed with the psychic Christ from the Demiurge, and from the Economy put on a body having a psychic substance, but made by ineffable wisdom so as to become tangible and visible and passible. But they say that he assumed nothing at all material; for nothing from matter is capable of salvation. And they say that they themselves are saved by knowledge alone; but we by faith and good action; and that they have no need of works, knowledge being sufficient for salvation. For which reason, the most perfect among them fearlessly do anything whatsoever that is forbidden by the divine laws. For they even used to celebrate Greek festivals, and partake of things sacrificed to idols, and they are slaves to pleasures, and dare to do anything evil indiscriminately. 8. -Concerning Secundus and others. But Secundus, succeeding Valentinus, divided the Ogdoad in two, and called one part of it Right, and the other Left; and he added Light and Darkness. And myriad other leaders of heresy sprang up from this, Colarbasus, Theodotus, Heracleon, Ptolemy, Marcus, having devised various additional doctrines. 9. -Concerning Marcus the magician. And Marcus also practiced magic, and performing certain strange things through sorcery, he deceived many of the easily captured. This man, having fabricated a certain long myth, said that Sige (Silence) had said this to him; and he is not ashamed to have declared Sige to be garrulous. This man also compared the Aeons to the twenty-four letters, and some of them as voiceless,

8

γενομένην, ἐν σκιᾷ τινι καὶ κενώματι διάγειν· οἶκτον δὲ λαβόντα τὸν λεγόμενον Χριστὸν, ἀπεκταν θῆναι διὰ τοῦ Ὅρου καὶ Σταυροῦ καλουμένου, καὶ τὴν κατ' οὐσίαν αὐτῇ δοῦναι μορφήν· γνώσεως δὲ καταλιπεῖν ἔρημον, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα εἰς ἑαυτὸν συστεῖλαι τὴν δύναμιν· αἴσθησιν δὲ λαβοῦσαν ἐκείνην τοῦ καταλαβόντος αὐτὴν φωτὸς, δραμεῖν μὲν εἰς ἐπι ζήτησιν τούτου, ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ Ὅρου κωλυθῆναι προβῆναι, εἰρηκότος Ἰαώ· ἐντεῦθεν γάρ φασι καὶ τοῦτο γενέσθαι τὸ ὄνομα· εἶτα ἀλγήσασαν ὡς προ βῆναι κωλυθεῖσαν, λύπην καὶ φόβον καὶ ἀπορίαν 83.357 εἰσδέξασθαι· ἔπειτα προσγενέσθαι αὐτῇ καὶ ἐπιστρο φῆς ἐπιθυμίαν. Ἐκ τῶνδε τῶν παθῶν τόνδε συστῆ ναι τὸν κόσμον φασίν· ἐκ μὲν τῆς ἐπιστροφῆς τὸν ∆η μιουργὸν, καὶ τὰς ἁπάντων ψυχάς· ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων παθῶν τὰ λοιπά· ἐκ μὲν τῶν δακρύων αὐτῆς τὴν ὑγρὰν οὐσίαν, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ γέλωτος τὸ φῶς, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων τὰ ἄλλα. Οὐκ ἄμοιρον γὰρ οἶμαι μέμψεως τὰ πάντα λέγειν ὅσα ἐκεῖνοι μυθολογοῦσιν. ∆εηθῆναι δὲ αὐτήν φασι τοῦ ἤδη αὐτὴν ἠλεηκότος Χριστοῦ, ὥστε αὐτῇ τοῦ φωτὸς μεταδοῦναι· τὸν δὲ δέξασθαι μὲν τὴν ἱκετείαν, μὴ μετελθεῖν δὲ, ἀλλὰ πέμψαι τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ὥστε ἐν αὐτῷ κτισθῆναι καὶ τὰ ὁρατὰ καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα, καὶ θρόνους καὶ κυριότητας, καὶ θεότητας, ὡς αὐτοὶ λέγουσιν. Ἀφίκετο οὖν σὺν τοῖς προβληθεῖσιν ἀγγέλοις, καὶ τῶν ἐπιγενομένων αὐτὴν ἐχώρισε παθημάτων, καὶ χωρίσας ταῦτα συνέπηξεν. Αὕτη δὲ χωρισθεῖσα τῶν παθημάτων, ἐπιθυμίαν τῶν ἀγγέλων ἐδέξατο, καὶ τέτοκε πνευματικὸν κύημα τοῖς ἀγγέλοις προσόμοιον, καὶ τοῦτο ἀνέδραμεν ἄνω. Ἐκ δὲ τῆς ἐπιστροφῆς τὴν ψυχικὴν οὐσίαν λέγουσι γενέσθαι, καὶ ἐκ ταύτης μορφωθῆναι τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Πατέρα, καὶ Βασιλέα τῶν τὴν αὐτὴν αὐτῷ φύσιν ἐχουσῶν ψυχῶν, ἃ δεξιὰ καλοῦσι, καὶ τῶν τῆς ὕλης, ἅπερ ἀριστερὰ ὀνο μάζουσι. Πάντα γὰρ αὐτὸν τὰ ὁρώμενα ἰδιοποιῆσαί φασι. Καλοῦσι δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ Μητροπάτορα, καὶ Πατέρα, καὶ ∆ημιουργόν. Καὶ τί δεῖ πάντα καταλέ γειν τῆς μυθοποιίας τὸν λῆρον; τοῖς γὰρ δὴ εἰρη μένοις ὅλον τὸ πλάσμα προσέοικε. Τὸν ἐπιφανέντα Σωτῆρα λαβεῖν φησιν, ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς Ἀχαμὼθ τὸ πνευματικὸν, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ τὸν ψυχικὸν ἐνδεδύ σθαι Χριστὸν, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς Οἰκονομίας περιθέσθαι σῶμα ψυχικὴν ἔχον οὐσίαν, ἀῤῥήτῳ δὲ σοφίᾳ πε ποιημένον πρὸς τὸ ἁπτὸν καὶ ὁρατὸν γενέσθαι καὶ παθητόν. Ὑλικὸν δὲ οὐδ' ὁτιοῦν ἀνειληφέναι αὐτὸν λέγουσιν· οὐδὲν γὰρ τῶν ἐκ τῆς ὕλης ἐπιδέχεται σωτηρίαν. Φασὶ δὲ αὐτοὺς μὲν ἀπὸ μόνης τῆς γνώσεως σώζεσθαι· ἡμᾶς δὲ ἀπὸ πίστεως καὶ πράξεως ἀγαθῆς· αὐτοὺς δὲ μὴ χρῄζειν ἔργων, ἀρκούσης εἰς σωτηρίαν τῆς γνώσεως. Οὗ δὴ χάριν, οἱ τελειότατοι παρ' αὐτοῖς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν τοῖς θείοις νό μοις ἀπηγορευμένον πράττουσιν ἀδεῶς. Καὶ γὰρ Ἑλληνικὰς ἑορτὰς ἐπετέλουν, καὶ εἰδωλοθύτων μετελάμβανον, καὶ ταῖς φιληδονίαις δουλεύουσι, καὶ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν πονηρὸν ἀδιακρίτως τολμῶσιν. Ηʹ. -Περὶ Σεκούνδου καὶ ἄλλων. Ὁ δὲ Σεκοῦνδος, τὸν Βαλεντῖνον διαδεξάμενος, διχῆ τὴν Ὀγδοάδα διεῖλε, καὶ τὸ μὲν αὐτῆς ἐκάλεσε ∆εξιὸν, τὸ δὲ Εὐώνυμον· καὶ προστέθεικε Φῶς καὶ Σκό τος. Καὶ ἄλλοι δὲ μυρίοι ἐντεῦθεν ἀνεφύησαν αἱρέσεως ἀρχηγοὶ, Κοσσιανὸς, Θεόδοτος, Ἡρακλέων, Πτολε μαῖος, Μάρκος, διάφορα προσεπινοήσαντες δόγματα. Θʹ. -Περὶ Μάρκου τοῦ γόητος. Ὁ δὲ Μάρκος καὶ γοητείαν ἠσκήθη, καί τινα παράδοξα διὰ μαγγανείας ἐπιτελῶν, πολλοὺς τῶν εὐαλώτων ἠπάτησεν. Οὗτος μακρόν τινα πλασάμενος μῦθον, ἔφησεν αὐτῷ τοῦτο τὴν Σιγὴν εἰρηκέναι· καὶ οὐκ αἰσχύνεται Σιγὴν φλύαρον ἀποφήνας. Οὗτος καὶ τοῖς τέτταρσι καὶ εἴκοσι στοιχείοις τοὺς Αἰῶνας ἀπείκασε, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀφώνους,