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their own. They also gave names to the aforementioned sons, using the Hebrew language, names which I have deemed it quite superfluous to mention. They say that the others dissented from the first one, who was a grandfather to some, a great-grandfather to others, and an ancestor to some. But the one who was disheartened cast his thought into the dregs of matter, and begot a serpent-formed son from it. Then the father of the serpent-formed one, boasting, said, "I am God and Father, and above me there is no one." But his mother, being displeased, cried out to him, "Do not lie; for there is above you the father of all, the first man, the son of man." And the father of the serpent, he says, having heard these words, said: "Come, let us make man in our image." And they add very many other things, full of impiety and loathsomeness alike. And they call that serpent-formed one Michael and Samanna. And they divide the prophets, and assign them to the seven sons as they wish. And they say that Seth is a certain divine power; for which reason they were also called Sethians. And they say that Jesus is other than the Christ; and that Jesus was born of the Virgin, but the Christ came down from heaven upon him. They also say that the apostles were deceived, having supposed that the flesh of the Savior rose again. And some of them say that the Christ, having fashioned himself into the form of a serpent, entered the womb of the Virgin. And thus do the wretches understand the apostolic saying: "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, 83.368 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." But some say that the serpent itself was with Wisdom, and warring against the Creator as an opposing God, deceived Adam, and gave him knowledge, and for this reason it was said that the serpent was the most cunning of all, and that the convoluted arrangement of our intestines is the body of the serpent wrapped around, demonstrating the life-giving wisdom of the serpent. For this very reason they also worship the serpent. Which, having charmed with certain incantations, they keep in darkness, and in the rite of their abominable mysteries they bring it to the table; and when it has passed over them, they partake of the loaves as if they have been sanctified. 15. —Concerning the Cainites. But others, whom they call Cainites, say also that Cain was redeemed from the power above, and Esau, and Korah, and the Sodomites, and they confess all such as their own kindred, and that these were hated by the Creator, but received no harm. For Wisdom snatched away from them that which she had in them; and they say that the traitor Judas alone of all the apostles had this knowledge, and for this reason he performed the mystery of the betrayal. And they bring forward a Gospel of his, which they have composed; for he immediately received the noose as the reward for his betrayal. And performing forbidden things, they invoke the name of a certain angel, as if, forsooth, bestowing the licentiousness on him; and this they do for each kind of debauchery. For they say there are certain angels equal in number to the kinds of debauchery, who are served by the things that are done. 16. —Concerning the Antitactae. And there were also certain others, whom they called Antitactae, impious men, who called the great unknown God, as they themselves say, their own father; that he is good, and God the creator; but that one of those who came from him sowed tares; who also, as they themselves say, encompassed us all with evils, having set himself against our

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τὸν οἰκεῖον. Ἐπέθεσαν δὲ καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα τοῖς προειρημέ νοις υἱοῖς, τῇ Ἑβραίων χρησάμενοι γλώττῃ, ὧν ἐπι μνησθῆναι περιττὸν ἄγαν ὑπέλαβον. ∆ιαστασιάσαι δέ φασι τοὺς ἄλλους πρὸς τὸν πρῶτον, τῶν μὲν ὄντα πάππον, τῶν δὲ ἐπίπαππον, ἐνίων δὲ πρόγονον. Τὸν δὲ ἀθυμήσαντα, εἰς τὴν τρύγα τῆς ὕλης ἐρεῖ σθαι τὴν ἔννοιαν, καὶ γεννῆσαι υἱὸν ὀφιόμορφον ἐξ αὐτῆς. Εἶτα καυχώμενον τὸν τοῦ ὀφιομόρφου πατέρα εἰπεῖν, Ἐγὼ Θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐμὲ οὐδείς. Τὴν δὲ μητέρα δυσχεράνασαν ἐπιβοῆσαι αὐτῷ, Μὴ ψεύδου· ἔστι γὰρ ὑπὲρ σὲ πατὴρ ἁπάν των, πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος, υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου. Τούτων δὲ, φησὶν, ἀκούσας τῶν λόγων τοῦ ὄφεως ὁ πατὴρ ἔφη· "∆εῦτε, ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμῶν." Καὶ ἕτερα δὲ πάμπολλα προστιθέασι δυσσεβείας ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀηδίας μεστά. Καὶ τὸν ὀφιό μορφον δὲ ἐκεῖνον Μιχαὴλ καὶ Σαμαννὰ ὀνομά ζουσι. Καὶ τοὺς προφήτας διαιροῦσι, καὶ τοῖς ἑπτὰ υἱοῖς ὡς θέλουσιν ἀπονέμουσι. Καὶ τὸν Σὴθ θείαν τινὰ δύναμιν εἶναί φασι· διὸ καὶ Σηθιανοὶ προσ ηγορεύθησαν. Τὸν δὲ Ἰησοῦν ἄλλον λέγουσι παρὰ τὸν Χριστόν· καὶ τὸν μὲν Ἰησοῦν ἐκ τῆς Παρ θένου γεννηθῆναι, τὸν δὲ Χριστὸν οὐρανόθεν εἰς αὐτὸν κατελθεῖν. Φασὶ δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀποστόλους πλα νηθῆναι, νενομικότας τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἀναστῆναι τὴν σάρκα. Τινὲς δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν φασιν, εἰς ὄφεως εἶδος ἑαυτὸν ἐκτυπώσαντα τὸν Χριστὸν, εἰς τὴν τῆς Παρ θένου μήτραν εἰσδῦναι. Καὶ οὕτω νοοῦσιν οἱ δεί λαιοι τὴν ἀποστολικὴν ῥῆσιν· "Ὃς ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων, οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα Θεῷ, 83.368 ἀλλ' ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε μορφὴν δούλου λαβών." Τινὲς δὲ αὐτὸν τὸν ὄφιν τῇ Σοφίᾳ συνεῖναί φασι, καὶ ὡς ἐναντίῳ Θεῷ τῷ ποιητῇ πολεμοῦντα, τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἐξαπατῆσαι, καὶ δεδωκέναι τὴν γνῶσιν, καὶ τούτου χάριν εἰρῆσθαι φρονιμώτατον εἶναι πάντων τὸν ὄφιν, καὶ τὴν πολυέλικτον δὲ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐντέρων θέσιν τοῦ ὄφεως περικεῖσθαι τὸ σῶμα, δεικνῦσαν τὴν ζωο γόνον σοφίαν τοῦ ὄφεως. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο καὶ προσ κυνοῦσι τὸν ὄφιν. Ὃν ἐπῳδαῖς τισι καταθέλξαντες, ἐν σκότει τρέφουσι, καὶ τῇ τελετῇ τῶν μυσαρῶν αὐτῶν μυστηρίων τοῦτον τῇ τραπέζῃ προσφέρουσιν· ἐπιβάντος δὲ αὐτοῦ, τῶν ἄρτων ὡς ἡγιασμένων μεταλαγχάνουσιν. ΙΕʹ. -Περὶ Καϊνῶν. Ἄλλοι δὲ, οὓς Καϊνοὺς ὀνομάζουσι, καὶ τὸν Κάϊν φασὶν ἐκ τῆς ἄνωθεν αὐθεντίας λελυτρῶσθαι, καὶ τὸν Ἠσαῦ, καὶ τὸν Κορὲ, καὶ τοὺς Σοδομί τας, καὶ πάντας δὲ τοὺς τοιούτους συγγενεῖς ἰδίους ὁμολογοῦσι, καὶ τούτους ὑπὸ μὲν τοῦ Ποιητοῦ μιση θῆναι, μηδεμίαν δὲ βλάβην εἰσδέξασθαι. Ἡ γὰρ σοφία ὅπερ εἶχεν ἐν αὐτοῖς, ἀνήρπασεν ἐξ αὐτῶν· καὶ τὸν προδότην δὲ Ἰούδαν μόνον ἐκ πάντων τῶν ἀποστόλων ταύτην ἐσχηκέναι τὴν γνῶσίν φασι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὸ τῆς προδοσίας ἐνεργῆσαι μυστήριον. Προφέρουσι δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ Εὐαγγέλιον, ὅπερ ἐκεῖνοι συντεθείκασιν ἐκεῖνος γὰρ εὐθὺς τὴν ἀγχόνην ἔλαβε τῆς προδοσίας μισθόν. Καὶ τὰ ἀπειρημένα πράττοντες, ἀγγέλου τινὸς ἐπιλέγουσιν ὄνομα, ὡς ἐκείνῳ δῆθεν τὴν ἀσέλ γειαν χαριζόμενοι· καὶ τοῦτο ἐφ' ἑκάστης ἰδέας ἀκολάστου ποιοῦσιν. Εἶναι γὰρ τοῖς τῆς ἀκολασίας εἴδεσιν ἰσαρίθμους τινὰς ἀγγέλους λέγουσιν, οἳ θε ραπεύονται τοῖς δρωμένοις. Ιςʹ. -Περὶ Ἀντιτακτῶν. Ἦσαν δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι τινὲς, οὓς Ἀντιτάκτας ἐκά λουν, ἀσεβεῖς, οἳ τὸν μέγαν ἄγνωστον Θεὸν, ὡς αὐτοὶ λέγουσι, πατέρα οἰκεῖον ὠνόμαζον· τοῦτον δὲ ἀγα θὸν εἶναι, καὶ Θεὸν ποιητήν· ἕνα δέ τινα τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γεγονότων ἐπισπεῖραι ζιζάνια· ὃς καὶ πάντας ἡμᾶς, ὡς αὐτοὶ λέγουσι, κακοῖς περιέβαλεν, ἀντιτα ξάμενος ἡμῶν τῷ