9

some he called semi-vowels, and others vowels. These men, having written a multitude of pseudonymous and spurious books, attempt through these to strike terror into the foolish. And when they baptize those who have been deceived, they are accustomed to say in addition: Into the name of the unknown Father of the wholes, into Truth the mother of all, into the one who descended into Jesus, into union, and redemption, and the communion of the powers. They also mix in Hebrew names, to terrify those being initiated, which I considered superfluous to mention. From these, a great many heresies have sprung up after the shoot of ignorance; they say that a splinter of these are those called by some Ascodrutes, and by some Ascodrupites. X. -Concerning those called Ascodrutes or Ascodrupites. These say that it is not necessary for the divine mysteries, being symbols of invisible things, to be performed through visible things, nor incorporeal things through sensible and corporeal things. And that the perfect redemption is the true knowledge of that which is. For all visible things, having been constituted by ignorance and passion, are dissolved through knowledge. Therefore, the redemption must also be spiritual. For this reason, they neither baptize those who approach them, nor is the mystery of baptism performed among them. For they call redemption the knowledge of all things. XI. -Concerning the Archontics. And from these some, who are called Archontics, having fabricated certain books, call them revelations 83.361 of prophets. And one of these they called Symphony, in which they described seven heavens, and that each of them has one ruler, and that a certain Luminous mother is the highest. They anathematize the bath, and the participation in the mysteries, as being done in the name of Sabaoth; for they say that he rules tyrannically in the seventh heaven. And they say that the food of the rulers is souls, and that without this it is not possible for them to live. And that the devil is the son of Sabaoth; and that Sabaoth is the God of the Jews; and that the son, being evil, does not honor him, but opposes him in everything. And they say that Cain and Abel are children of the devil. And they recount certain other myths full of all impiety. And some others, after death, pour oil and water on the heads of the deceased. For thus they say they will be both invisible and superior to the principalities and powers in between. And they also teach them to recite a certain myth, which, by inserting into my writing, I would have supposed myself to be partaking in their nonsense. XII. -Concerning the Colorbasians. The Colorbasians say that from the one called by them the Fore-father the first Ogdoad came to be; and as for the Savior, some say he was projected from the thirty Aeons, for which reason he is also called Eudocetus, because the whole Pleroma was well-pleased through him to glorify the Father; others, from the ten Aeons alone, and others, that he came into being by Christ and the Spirit, for the support of the Pleroma, and that he is called Christ by the Father's appellation. And they tell many other monstrous tales. XIII. -Concerning the Barbelites or Borborians. From the seeds of Valentinus, that of the Barbelites, or Borborians, or

9

τοὺς δὲ ἡμι φώνους, τοὺς δὲ φωνήεντας προσηγόρευσεν. Οὗ τοι πλῆθος ψευδωνύμων καὶ νόθων βιβλίων συγγράψαντες, διὰ τούτων καταπλήττειν τοὺς ἀνοή τους ἐπιχειροῦσι. Βαπτίζοντες δὲ τοὺς ἐξαπατωμέ νους ἐπιλέγειν εἰώθασιν· Εἰς ὄνομα ἀγνώστου Πατρὸς τῶν ὅλων, εἰς Ἀλήθειαν μητέρα πάντων, εἰς τὸν κατελθόντα εἰς Ἰησοῦν, εἰς ἕνωσιν, καὶ ἀπολύτρωσιν, καὶ κοινωνίαν τῶν δυνάμεων. Ἀνα μιγνύουσι δὲ καὶ Ἑβραϊκὰ ὀνόματα, δεδιττό μενοι τοὺς τελουμένους, ὧν ἐπιμνησθῆναι περιττὸν ἡγησάμην. Ἐκ τούτων παμπληθεῖς αἱρέσεις μετὰ τὴν τῆς ἀγρώστεως ἀνεφύησαν βλάστην· τούτων εἶναι τμῆμά φασι καὶ τοὺς παρ' ἐνίων Ἀσκοδρού τους, παρ' ἐνίων δὲ Ἀσκοδρουπίτας καλου μένους. Ιʹ. -Περὶ τῶν Ἀσκοδρουτῶν ἢ Ἀσκοδρουπιτῶν καλουμένων. Οὗτοι δέ φασι, μὴ χρῆναι τὰ θεῖα μυστήρια, ἀοράτων ὄντα σύμβολα, δι' ὁρωμένων ἐπιτελεῖσθαι πραγμάτων, καὶ τὰ ἀσώματα δι' αἰσθητῶν καὶ σω ματικῶν. Εἶναι δὲ τὴν τελείαν ἀπολύτρωσιν τὴν ἀληθῆ τοῦ ὄντος ἐπίγνωσιν. Τὰ γὰρ ὁρώμενα πάντα ὑπ' ἀγνοίας καὶ πάθους συστάντα, διὰ γνώσεως καταλύεται. Πνευματικὴν οὖν δεῖ καὶ τὴν λύτρωσιν ὑπάρχειν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο, οὔτε βαπτίζουσι τοὺς προσιόντας, οὐδὲ ἐπιτελεῖται παρ' αὐτοῖς τοῦ βαπτί σματος τὸ μυστήριον. Λύτρωσιν γὰρ καλοῦσι τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐπίγνωσιν. ΙΑʹ. -Περὶ τῶν Ἀρχοντικῶν. Ἐκ δὲ τούτων τινὲς Ἀρχοντικοὶ προσαγορευό μενοι, βιβλία τινὰ πλάσαντες, ἀποκαλύψεις ὀνομά 83.361 ζουσι προφητῶν. Ἓν δὲ τούτων Συμφωνίαν ἐκάλεσαν, ἐν ᾧ ἑπτὰ συνέγραψαν οὐρανοὺς, ἕκαστον δὲ αὐτῶν ἕνα ἄρχοντα ἔχειν, μητέρα δέ τινα Φω τεινὴν ἀνωτάτην εἶναι. Ἀναθεματίζουσι δὲ τὸ λου τρὸν, καὶ τὴν τῶν μυστηρίων μετάληψιν, ὡς εἰς ὄνομα Σαβαὼθ γινομένην· τοῦτον γὰρ ἐν τῷ ἑβδόμῳ λέγουσιν οὐρανῷ τυραννεῖν. Τῶν δὲ ἀρχόντων τρο φὴν εἶναί φασι τὰς ψυχὰς, καὶ ἄνευ ταύτης μὴ οἷόν τε αὐτοὺς ζῇν. Τὸν δὲ διάβολον υἱὸν εἶναι τοῦ Σα βαώθ· εἶναι δὲ τὸν Σαβαὼθ τῶν Ἰουδαίων Θεόν· πονηρὸν δὲ ὄντα τὸν υἱὸν, μὴ τιμᾷν αὐτὸν, ἀλλ' εἰς πάντα ἐναντιοῦσθαι. Τὸν δὲ Κάϊν, καὶ τὸν Ἀβὲλ, τοῦ διαβόλου παῖδάς φασι. Καὶ ἄλλα δέ τινα μυθο λογοῦσι πάσης ἀσεβείας μεστά. Ἕτεροι δέ τινες, μετὰ τὴν ἀποβίωσιν, ἔλαιον καὶ ὕδωρ ταῖς τῶν τε λευτώντων ἐμβάλλουσι κεφαλαῖς. Οὕτω γάρ φασιν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀοράτους ἔσεσθαι, καὶ κρείττους τῶν μεταξὺ ἀρχῶν τε καὶ ἐξουσιῶν. ∆ιδάσκουσι δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐπιλέγειν μῦθόν τινα, ὃν ἐντιθεὶς τῷ συγγράμματι, κοινωνεῖν τῆς φλυαρίας ὑπέλα βον. ΙΒʹ. -Περὶ Κολορβασίων. Οἱ δὲ Κολορβάσιοι ἐκ τοῦ καλουμένου παρ' αὐτοῖς Προπάτορος λέγουσι τὴν πρώτην Ὀγδοάδα γενέσθαι· τὸν δὲ Σωτῆρα, οἱ μὲν ἐκ τῶν τριάκοντα Αἰώνων προβληθῆναί φασι, διὸ καὶ Εὐδόκητον καλεῖσθαι, ὅτι πᾶν τὸ Πλήρωμα δι' αὐτοῦ εὐδόκησε δοξάσαι τὸν Πατέρα· οἱ δὲ ἐκ μόνων τῶν δέκα Αἰώνων, ἄλλοι δὲ ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ καὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος, εἰς στή ριγμα τοῦ Πληρώματος γεγονέναι, καὶ τῇ τοῦ Πα τρὸς αὐτὸν προσηγορίᾳ καλεῖσθαι Χριστόν. Καὶ ἄλλα δὲ τερατολογοῦσι πάμπολλα. ΙΓʹ. -Περὶ Βαρβηλιωτῶν ἤγουν Βορβορια νῶν. Ἐκ τῶν Βαλεντίνου σπερμάτων τὸ τῶν Βαρβη λιωτῶν, ἤγουν Βορβοριανῶν, ἢ