11

of the Creator, who did not know the cause, but reckoned from himself that they were such. For this reason also, they say, he appointed them as prophets, and priests, and kings. And they explain that many things have been spoken by this seed through the prophets, since they are of a higher nature; and they say that the Mother also has said many things about the things above, both through him and through the souls that came from him. And so they divide the prophecies, wanting some part to have been spoken by the Mother, another part by the seed, and another part by the Creator. But also Jesus in like manner, that he said some things from the Savior, some from the Mother, and some from the Creator, as we shall show as our discourse proceeds. But the Creator, since he was ignorant of the things above him, was moved by what was said, but despised them, thinking at different times different causes, either the prophesying spirit, which also had its own particular motion, or the man, or the contrivance of inferior hands, and thus he continued in ignorance until the coming of the Lord. But when the Savior came, they say that he learned all things from him, and gladly joined him with all his power, and that he is the centurion in the Gospel, who said to the Savior: For I also have soldiers and servants under my own authority, and whatever I command, they do. And that he will complete the economy concerning the world until the appointed time, especially for the care of the church, but also because of the knowledge of the prize prepared for him, that he will advance to the place of the Mother. 1.1.14 And three kinds of men exist, spiritual, earthy, psychical, just as Cain, Abel, and Seth were; and from these the three natures, no longer in one, but according to kind. And the earthy goes to corruption; and the psychical, if it chooses the better things, will rest in the place of the middle region; but if the worse, it too will go to like things; but the spiritual, which Achamoth has sown from that time until now in righteous souls, having been instructed and nurtured here, because they were sent forth as infants, and later deemed worthy of perfection, they teach will be given as brides to the Angels of the Savior, their souls of necessity resting completely in the middle region with the Creator. And again subdividing the psychical souls themselves, they say some are good by nature, and some evil by nature. And that the good are these that become receptive of the seed; but that those evil by nature could never receive that seed. 1.1.15 And since their hypothesis is such, which neither the Prophets proclaimed, nor the Lord taught, nor the Apostles handed down, concerning which they boast of having known more about all things than others, reading from unwritten sources, and, as the saying goes, making it their practice to weave ropes out of sand, they try to fit plausibly ἀξιόπιστα Assem. to the things that have been said, whether the Lord's parables, or prophetic sayings, or apostolic words, so that their fabrication may not seem to be without witness; while transgressing the order and connection of the scriptures, and, as much as in them lies, dismembering the limbs of the truth. They transfer and reshape, and making one thing out of another, they deceive many by the wickedly composed wisdom φαντασίᾳ Ephr. S. of the Lord's oracles which they apply. Just as if someone, when a beautiful image of a king has been carefully constructed out of precious mosaic tiles by a skillful artist, should undo the underlying form of the man, and transfer and rearrange those tiles, and make the form of a dog or a fox, and this poorly constructed, then should maintain and say that this is that beautiful image of the king, which the skillful artist constructed, pointing to the tiles which were well put together by the first artist into the image of the king, but poorly transferred by the later one into the form of a dog, and by the appearance of the mosaic tiles should deceive the more inexperienced, those who have no conception of the royal form, and persuade them that this is the

11

∆ημιουργοῦ, μὴ εἰδότος τὴν αἰτίαν, ἀλλὰ παρ' αὑτοῦ λογιζομένου εἶναι τοιαύτας. ∆ιὸ καὶ εἰς προφήτας, φασὶν, ἔτασσεν αὐτοὺς αὐτὰς, καὶ ἱερεῖς, καὶ βασιλεῖς. Καὶ πολλὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ σπέρματος τούτου εἰρῆσθαι διὰ τῶν προφητῶν ἐξηγοῦνται, ἅτε ὑψηλοτέρας φύσεως ὑπαρχούσας· πολλὰ δὲ καὶ τὴν μητέρα περὶ τῶν ἀνωτέρω εἰρηκέναι λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τούτου καὶ τῶν ὑπὸ τούτου γενομένων ψυχῶν. Καὶ λοιπὸν τέμνουσι τὰς προφητείας, τὸ μέν τι ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς εἰρῆσθαι θέλοντες, τὸ δέ τι ἀπὸ τοῦ σπέρματος, τὸ δέ τι ἀπὸ τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὡσαύτως, τὸ μέν τι ἀπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος εἰρηκέναι, τὸ δέ τι ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς, τὸ δέ τι ἀπὸ τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ, καθὼς ἐπιδείξομεν προϊόντος ἡμῖν τοῦ λόγου. Τὸν δὲ ∆ημιουργὸν, ἅτε ἀγνοοῦντα τὰ ὑπὲρ αὐτὸν, κινεῖσθαι μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις, καταπεφρονηκέναι δὲ αὐτῶν, ἄλλοτε ἄλλην αἰτίαν νομίσαντα, ἢ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ προφητεῦον, ἔχον καὶ αὐτὸ ἰδίαν τινὰ κίνησιν, ἢ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἢ τὴν προσπλοκὴν τῶν χειρῶν χειρόνων καὶ οὕτως ἀγνοοῦντα διατετελεκέναι ἄχρι τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ Κυρίου. Ἐλθόντος δὲ τοῦ Σωτῆρος, μαθεῖν αὐτὸν παρ' αὐτοῦ πάντα λέγουσι, καὶ ἄσμενον αὐτῷ προσχωρήσαντα μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, καὶ αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ ἑκατόνταρχον, λέγοντα τῷ Σωτῆρι· καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ ὑπὸ τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ ἐξουσίαν ἔχω στρατιώτας καὶ δούλους, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν προστάξω, ποιοῦσι. Τελέσειν δὲ αὐτὸν τὴν κατὰ τὸν κόσμον οἰκονομίαν μέχρι τοῦ δέοντος καιροῦ, μάλιστα δὲ διὰ τὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐπιμέλειαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ ἑτοιμασθέντος αὐτῷ ἐπάθλου, ὅτι εἰς τὸν τῆς μητρὸς τόπον χωρήσει. 1.1.14 Ἀνθρώπων δὲ τρία γένη ὑφίστανται, πνευματικὸν, χοϊκὸν, ψυχικὸν, καθὼς ἐγένοντο Κάϊν, Ἄβελ, Σήθ· καὶ ἐκ τούτων τὰς τρεῖς φύσεις, οὐκέτι καθ' ἓν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ γένος. Καὶ τὸ μὲν χοϊκὸν εἰς φθορὰν χωρεῖν· καὶ τὸ ψυχικὸν, ἐὰν τὰ βελτίονα ἕληται, ἐν τῷ τῆς μεσότητος τόπῳ ἀναπαύσεσθαι· ἐὰν δὲ τὰ χείρω, χωρήσειν καὶ αὐτὸ πρὸς τὰ ὅμοια· τὰ δὲ πνευματικὰ, ἃ ἂν κατασπείρῃ ἡ Ἀχαμὼθ ἔκτοτε ἕως τοῦ νῦν δικαίαις ψυχαῖς, παιδευθέντα ἐνθάδε καὶ ἐκτραφέντα, διὰ τὸ νήπια ἐκπεπέμφθαι, ὕστερον τελειότητος ἀξιωθέντα, νύμφας ἀποδοθήσεσθαι τοῖς τοῦ Σωτῆρος Ἀγγέλοις δογματίζουσι, τῶν ψυχῶν αὐτῶν ἐν μεσότητι κατ' ἀνάγκην μετὰ τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ ἀναπαυσαμένων εἰς τὸ παντελές. Καὶ αὐτὰς μὲν τὰς ψυχικὰς ψυχὰς πάλιν ὑπομερίζοντες λέγουσιν, ἃς μὲν φύσει ἀγαθὰς, ἃς δὲ φύσει πονηράς. Καὶ τὰς μὲν ἀγαθὰς ταύτας εἶναι τὰς δεκτικὰς τοῦ σπέρματος γινομένας· τὰς δὲ φύσει πονηρὰς μηδέποτε ἂν ἐπιδέξασθαι ἐκεῖνο τὸ σπέρμα. 1.1.15 Τοιαύτης δὲ τῆς ὑποθέσεως αὐτῶν οὔσης, ἣν οὔτε Προφῆται ἐκήρυξαν, οὔτε ὁ Κύριος ἐδίδαξεν, οὔτε Ἀπόστολοι παρέδωκαν, ἣν περὶ τῶν ὅλων αὐχοῦσι πλεῖον τῶν ἄλλων ἐγνωκέναι, ἐξ ἀγράφων ἀναγινώσκοντες, καὶ τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον, ἐξ ἄμμου σχοινία πλέκειν ἐπιτηδεύοντες, ἀξιοπίστως ἀξιόπιστα Assem. προσαρμόζειν πειρῶνται τοῖς εἰρημέ νοις, ἤτοι παραβολὰς κυριακὰς, ἢ ῥήσεις προφητικὰς, ἢ λόγους ἀποστολικοὺς, ἵνα τὸ πλάσμα αὐτῶν μὴ ἀμάρτυρον εἶναι δοκῇ· τὴν μὲν τάξιν καὶ τὸν εἱρμὸν τῶν γραφῶν ὑπερβαίνοντες, καὶ, ὅσον ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς, λύοντες τὰ μέλη τῆς ἀληθείας. Μεταφέρουσι δὲ καὶ μεταπλάττουσι, καὶ ἄλλο ἐξ ἄλλου ποιοῦντες ἐξαπατῶσι πολλοὺς τῇ τῶν ἐφαρμοζομένων κυριακῶν λογίων κακοσυνθέτῳ σοφίᾳ φαντασίᾳ Ephr. S.. Ὅνπερ τρόπον εἴ τις βασιλέως εἰκόνος καλῆς κατεσκευασμένης ἐπιμελῶς ἐκ ψηφίδων ἐπισήμων ὑπὸ σοφοῦ τεχνίτου, λύσας τὴν ὑποκειμένην τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἰδέαν, μετενέγκῃ τὰς ψηφῖδας ἐκείνας, καὶ μεθαρμόσοι, καὶ ποιήσει μορφὴν κυνὸς ἢ ἀλώπεκος, καὶ ταύτην φαύλως κατεσκευασμένην, ἔπειτα διορίζοιτο, καὶ λέγοι ταύτην εἶναι τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐκείνην εἰκόνα τὴν καλὴν, ἣν ὁ σοφὸς τεχνίτης κατεσκεύασε, δεικνὺς τὰς ψηφῖδας τὰς καλῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ τεχνίτου τοῦ πρώτου εἰς τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως εἰκόνα συντεθείσας, κακῶς δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ὑστέρου εἰς κυνὸς μορφὴν μετενεχθείσας, καὶ διὰ τῆς τῶν ψηφίδων φαντασίας μεθοδεύοι τοὺς ἀπειροτέρους, τοὺς κατάληψιν βασιλικῆς μορφῆς οὐκ ἔχοντας, καὶ πείθοι ὅτι αὕτη ἡ