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From those called Naassenes, or Stratiotici, or Phibionites, an abomination sprang. For they posited a certain indestructible Aeon existing in a virginal spirit, whom they name Barbeloth; and that Barbeloth asked for Foreknowledge from him. When this one came forth, and then when she asked again, Incorruption came forth, then eternal Life. And Barbeloth, being delighted, became pregnant and gave birth to the Light. This, they say, being anointed with the perfection 83.364 of the Spirit, was named Christ. This Christ in turn requested Mind, and received it. And the Father added Logos. Then were joined in syzygy Ennoia and Logos, Incorruption and Christ, eternal Life and the Will, the Mind and the Foreknowledge. Then again from Ennoia and Logos, they say, was projected the Self-Begotten, and with him, the Truth, and another syzygy came into being of Self-Begotten and Truth. And what need is there to speak of the other projections, those from the Light and Incorruption? For the myth is long, and in addition to being impious, it is also unpleasant. And to these they have added Hebrew names, trying to impress the more simple-minded. And they say the Self-Begotten projected a perfect and true man, whom they also call Adamas; and that with him was projected a consort, perfect Gnosis. Thence again were revealed mother, father, and son. And from the Man and Gnosis sprouted a Tree; and this too they call Gnosis. From the first angel, they say, was projected a holy Spirit, which they named Sophia and Prunicus. This one, they say, desiring a consort, gave birth to a Work, in which were Ignorance and Audacity. And this Work they call Protarchon, and they say he is the maker of creation. And he, having been joined with Audacity, begot Wickedness, and her parts. These things I have recounted in summary, skipping over the length of the fabrication. But as for their mystical rites, who is so utterly wretched as to utter with his tongue the things that are performed? For the things done by them as divine surpass every evil thought and every foul conception. And their name is sufficient to hint at their all-polluted audacity. For on this account they were named Borborians. 14. —Concerning the Sethians, or Ophianoi, or Ophites. The Sethians, whom some name Ophianoi or Ophites, call the God of all things Man, again naming him Light, and calling him blessed and incorruptible, and affirming that he has his dwelling in the Deep; and his Ennoia they call Son of man, and a second man. And after him exists the holy Spirit; and below these, four elements: water, darkness, abyss, chaos. And they call the Spirit female, and that it is borne upon the elements. And they say 83.365 that the first man and the second fell in love with the beauty of the Spirit, and begot Light, whom they call Christ. And since the female was not able to bear the excess of the light, she overflowed; and Christ, with his mother, was drawn up into the incorruptible Aeon, which they also call the true Church; but the effluence of light that gushed forth, they say, fell downwards, and was called Sophia, and Prunicus, and Androgynous. And swimming in the waters, she took a body from them, and was weighed down, and was in danger of being submerged; but she emerged, and from the body that enveloped her the heaven was constructed, then having cast it off, she flew up to her mother. And him they call the son of Prunicus. And he in turn projected another son, and from him they say another was constituted, and that the projections proceeded up to the number seven. By each of these one heaven was created, and each to inhabit

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Ναασινῶν, ἢ Στρατιωτικῶν, ἢ Φημιονιτῶν καλουμένων, ἐβλάστησε μύσος. Ὑπέθεντο γὰρ Αἰῶνά τινα ἀνώλε θρον ἐν παρθενικῷ διάγοντα πνεύματι, ὃ Βαρ βηλὼθ ὀνομάζουσι· τὴν δὲ Βαρβηλὼθ αἰτῆσαι Πρόγνωσιν παρ' αὐτοῦ. Προελθούσης δὲ ταύτης, εἶτ' αὖθις αἰτησάσης, προελήλυθεν Ἀφθαρσία, ἔπειτα αἰωνία Ζωή. Εὐφρανθεῖσαν δὲ τὴν Βαρβη λὼθ, ἐγκύμονα γενέσθαι, καὶ ἀποτεκεῖν τὸ Φῶς. Τοῦτό φασι, τῇ τοῦ Πνεύματος χρισθὲν τελειό 83.364 τητι, ὀνομασθῆναι Χριστόν. Οὗτος πάλιν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐπήγγειλεν Νοῦν, καὶ ἔλαβεν. Ὁ δὲ Πατὴρ προσ τέθεικε καὶ Λόγον. Εἶτα συνεζύγησαν Ἔννοια καὶ Λόγος, Ἀφθαρσία καὶ Χριστὸς, Ζωὴ αἰώνιος καὶ τὸ Θέλημα, ὁ Νοῦς καὶ ἡ Πρόγνωσις. Ἔπειτα πάλιν ἐκ τῆς Ἐννοίας καὶ τοῦ Λόγου προβληθῆναί φασι τὸν Αὐτογενῆ, καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ τὴν Ἀλήθειαν, καὶ γενέσθαι πάλιν συζυγίαν ἑτέραν Αὐτογενοῦς καὶ Ἀληθείας. Καὶ τί δεῖ λέγειν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας προ βολὰς, τὰς ἐκ τοῦ Φωτὸς καὶ τῆς Ἀφθαρσίας; Μακρὸς γὰρ ὁ μῦθος, καὶ πρὸς τῷ δυσσεβεῖ καὶ τὸ ἀτερπὲς ἔχων. Ἐπιτεθείκασι δὲ τούτοις καὶ Ἑβραϊκὰ ὀνόματα, καταπλήττειν τοὺς ἁπλουστέρους πειρώμενοι. Τὸν δὲ Αὐτογενῆ φασι προβα λέσθαι ἄνθρωπον τέλειον καὶ ἀληθῆ, ὃν καὶ Ἀδά μαντα καλοῦσι· προβεβλῆσθαι δὲ σὺν αὐτῷ καὶ ὁμόζυγα Γνῶσιν τελείαν. Ἐντεῦθεν πάλιν ἀναδει χθῆναι μητέρα, πατέρα, καὶ υἱόν. Ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου καὶ τῆς Γνώσεως βεβλαστηκέναι Ξύλον· Γνῶσιν δὲ καὶ τοῦτο προσαγορεύουσιν. Ἐκ δὲ τοῦ πρώτου ἀγγέλου προβληθῆναι λέγουσι Πνεῦμα ἅγιον, ὃ Σοφίαν καὶ Προύνικον προσηγόρευσαν. Ταύτην φασὶν ἐφιεμένην ὁμόζυγος, Ἔργον ἀποκυῆσαι, ἐν ᾧ ἦν Ἄγνοια καὶ Αὐθάδεια. Τὸ δὲ Ἔργον τοῦτο, Πρωτάρχοντα καλοῦσι, καὶ αὐτὸν εἶναι λέγουσι τῆς κτίσεως ποιητήν. Τοῦτον δὲ τῇ Αὐθ αδείᾳ συναφθέντα, τὴν Κακίαν ἀπογεννῆσαι, καὶ τὰ ταύτης μόρια. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐν κεφαλαίῳ διῆλθον, ὑπερβὰς τὸ τοῦ πλάσματος μῆκος. Τὰς δὲ μυστικὰς αὐτῶν τελετὰς τίς οὕτω τρισάθλιος, ὥστε διὰ γλώτ της προενεγκεῖν τὰ τελούμενα; Πάντα γὰρ λογισμὸν πονηρὸν ὑπερβαίνει, καὶ πᾶσαν ἔννοιαν μυσαρὰν, τὰ παρ' ἐκείνων ὡς θεῖα πραττόμενα. Ἀρκεῖ δὲ καὶ ἡ ἐπωνυμία τὸ παμμίαρον αὐτῶν αἰνίξασθαι τόλμημα. Βορβοριανοὶ γὰρ τούτου χάριν ἐπωνομά σθησαν. Ι∆ʹ. -Περὶ Σηθιανῶν, ἢ Ὀφιανῶν, ἢ Ὀφιτῶν. Οἱ δὲ Σηθιανοὶ, οὓς Ὀφιανοὺς ἡ Ὀφίτας τινὲς ὀνομάζουσιν, ἄνθρωπον καλοῦσι τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων Θεὸν, Φῶς αὐτὸν πάλιν ἐπονομάζοντες, καὶ μακά ριον καὶ ἄφθαρτον ἀποκαλοῦντες, καὶ ἐν Βυθῷ τὴν οἴκησιν ἔχειν διαβεβαιούμενοι· τὴν δὲ Ἔννοιαν αὐτοῦ, Υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου καλοῦσι, καὶ δεύτερον ἄνθρωπον. Μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον ὑπάρχειν τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα· κάτω δὲ τούτων, τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα, ὕδωρ, σκότος, ἄβυσσον, χάος. Θῆλυ δὲ τὸ Πνεῦμα καλοῦσι, καὶ τοῖς στοιχείοις ἐπιφέρεσθαι. Ἐρασθῆναι δέ φασι 83.365 τὸν πρῶτον ἄνθρωπον, καὶ τὸν δεύτερον, τῆς ὥρας τοῦ Πνεύματος, καὶ παιδοποιῆσαι Φῶς, ὃ καλοῦσι Χριστόν. Μὴ δυνηθεῖσαν δὲ βαστάσαι τὴν θήλειαν τοῦ φωτὸς τὴν ὑπερβολὴν, ὑπερβλύσαι· καὶ τὸν μὲν Χριστὸν, σὺν τῇ μητρὶ, εἰς τὸν ἄφθαρτον ἀνασπα σθῆναι Αἰῶνα, ἣν καὶ ἀληθινὴν Ἐκκλησίαν καλοῦσι· τὴν δὲ ἀναβλυσθεῖσαν τοῦ φωτὸς ἰκμάδα ἐκπεσεῖν κάτω φασὶ, καὶ κληθῆναι Σοφίαν, καὶ Προύνι κον, καὶ Ἀρσενόθηλυν. ∆ιανηχομένην δὲ ἐν τοῖς ὕδασι, προσλαβεῖν μὲν ἐξ αὐτῶν σῶμα, καὶ βαρυν θῆναι, καὶ ὑποβρύχιον κινδυνεῦσαι γενέσθαι· ἀνα δῦναι δὲ, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ περικειμένου σώματος κατα σκευάσθαι τὸν οὐρανὸν, εἶτα λοιπὸν ἀποῤῥίψασαν, ἀναπτῆναι πρὸς τὴν μητέρα. Ἐκεῖνον δὲ υἱὸν τοῦ Προυνίκου καλοῦσι. Κἀκεῖνος δὲ πάλιν ἄλλον υἱὸν προεβάλετο, καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνου συστῆναι λέγουσιν ἕτε ρον, καὶ μέχρι τοῦ ἑπτὰ ἀριθμοῦ προβῆναι τὰς προβολάς. Ὑφ' ἑκάστου δὲ τούτων ἕνα οὐρανὸν δη μιουργηθῆναι, καὶ ἕκαστον οἰκεῖν