For thus the world is worse than the creator and than the artisans, as many as are their works. If therefore man is the work of matter, he is certainly in some way worse than it. And men leave nothing worse than matter; and it is not the same for the divine power to be mixed with matter as with that which is worse than it. But what they say by way of economy, these things it is not even possible to conceive. For why do they think that matter was needed from the better image for the substance of man? Or why is the image not sufficient, like mirrors for revealing man, or just as the sun itself is sufficient for the generation and destruction of all things that come to be? "But it imitated the image in the making of its own creation." With which of the things it had? Was it with the divine power mixed with it? Therefore, the divine power is thus in the role of an instrument for matter. But with disordered motion? Thus they give form to matter. But all like things in orders and precisions arrive at their end through imitations; for neither a house nor a ship nor anything else of the artisans can be completed through disorder, nor a statue, which art contrived in imitation of man.

24 But not even knowing Christ, but calling him Chrestos (Good) by the exchange for the letter eta, introducing another meaning instead of that properly understood about him, they say he is mind. If indeed they say he is the known and the knowing and wisdom, thus arranging their statements in harmony with what those from the churches say about him, they will thus be caught. How then do they reject all of the so-called old history? But if they say he is supervenient according to some, and one of the things that enter from without and happen, let us consider. For indeed the proponents of this opinion say it is most plausible that he enters around the seventh year when the faculty of sensation has been articulated. If indeed Christ is mind according to them, thus he will both be and not be at the same time. For before the mind enters, he is not yet, if indeed Christ is mind according to them; but surely the mind enters him when he already exists; thus therefore again according to them [the mind] will be. Christ both is and is not at the same time. But if, according to their most beautiful heresy, mind according to them is all existing things, since they suppose matter to be ungenerated and, so to speak, coeval with God—and in this way they suppose Christ to be both mind and matter, <if> indeed all things according to them are Christ, being mind which is all things, and matter is also one of the existing things, being ungenerated. And they say that in this way, for a demonstration, the divine power has been crucified to matter, and that he himself endured this suffering; as if it were impossible for that one to do this, which Manichaeus himself accomplishes, teaching about this in word, that the divine power is shut up in matter and again departs in a manner <which> they fashion for themselves. For to say according to the ecclesiastical account that he gave himself up for the remission of sins has a certain credibility with the many also from the histories of the Greeks, when they say that some gave themselves up for the salvation of cities, and the history of the Jews also has an example for the account, preparing the son of Abraham as a sacrifice to God; but to subject Christ to suffering for the demonstration of a thing is a mark of great ignorance, since the Word is sufficient for the teaching and knowledge of existing things.

25 And they abstain from animate things. For if it is for the sake of something else, one must not be overly curious; but if it is because the divine power is absent from these things rather than being more present in them, this very choice of theirs is ridiculous. For whether plants are more material, for food and

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οὕτω γὰρ ὁ κόσμος τοῦ δημιουργοῦ χείρων καὶ τῶν τεχνιτῶν ὅσα τούτων ἔργα. εἰ οὖν τῆς ὕλης ἔργον ὁ ἄνθρωπος, πάντως που ταύ της χείρων. ὕλης δὲ κάκιον οἱ ἄνδρες οὐδὲν καταλεί πουσιν· καὶ οὐκ ἴσον τῇ ὕλῃ μίγνυσθαι τὴν θείαν δύναμιν ἢ τῷ ταύτης χείρονι. ἃ δὲ οἰκονομούμενοι λέγουσιν, ταῦτα οὐδὲ ἐπινοῆσαι οἷόν τε. διὰ τί γὰρ τῆς κρείττονος εἰκόνος εἰς τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὑπό στασιν τὴν ὕλην δεδεῆσθαι νομίζουσιν; ἢ διὰ τί οὐκ αὐτάρκης ἡ εἰκὼν ὥσπερ τῶν κατόπτρων πρὸς τὸ πε φηνέναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἢ καθάπερ αὐτὸς ὁ ἥλιος πρὸς γένεσιν ἁπάντων τῶν γινομένων καὶ φθορὰν αὐτάρ κης; »ἐμιμήσατο δὲ τὴν εἰκόνα κατὰ τὴν ποίησιν τῆς σφετέρας αὐτῆς δημιουργίας.» τίνι ποτὲ ὧν εἶχεν; ἆρά γε τῇ μιχθείσῃ πρὸς αὐτὴν θείᾳ δυνάμει; οὐκοῦν ἐν ὀργάνου λόγῳ θεία δύναμις οὕτω γε πρὸς τὴν ὕλην. ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀτάκτῳ κινήσει; οὕτως εἰδοποιοῦσι τὴν ὕλην. ἀλλὰ πάντα γε τὰ ὅμοια ἐν τάξεσιν καὶ ἀκριβείαις διὰ μιμήσεων ἀφικνεῖται εἰς τέλος· οὐδὲ γὰρ οἰκίαν ἢ πλοῖον ἤ τι ἕτερον τῶν τεχνητῶν δι' ἀταξίας ἀποτε λεῖσθαι οἷόν τε οὐδὲ ἀνδριάντα, ὅνπερ ἡ τέχνη πρὸς ἀνθρώπου μίμησιν ἐμηχανήσατο.

24 Τὸν δὲ χριστὸν οὐδὲ γιγνώσκοντες, ἀλλὰ χρηστὸν αὐτὸν προσαγορεύοντες τῇ πρὸς τὸ η στοιχεῖον μεταλήψει ἕτερον σημαινόμενον ἀντὶ τοῦ κυρίως περὶ αὐτοῦ ὑπειλημμένου εἰσάγοντες νοῦν εἶναί φασιν. εἰ μὲν τὸ γνωστὸν καὶ τὸ γιγνῶσκον καὶ τὴν σοφίαν αὐτὸν λέγοντες, ὁμόφωνα οὕτως τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκκλη σιῶν περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγουσι διαταττόμενοι οὕτω γε ἁλώ σονται. πῶς οὖν τὴν λεγομένην παλαιὰν ἅπασαν ἱστο ρίαν ἐκβάλλουσιν; εἰ δὲ ἐπιγενητὸν κατά τινας λέγουσιν καὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐπεισιόντων καὶ συμβαινόντων, σκο πήσωμεν. οἱ γὰρ δὴ ταύτης προἱστάμενοι τῆς δόξης πιθανὸν μάλιστα λέγουσιν περὶ τὰ ζ ἔτη τῆς αἰσθητικῆς δυνάμεως διαρθρωθείσης αὐτὸν ἐπεισέρχεσθαι. εἰ δὴ νοῦς ἐστιν ὁ χριστὸς κατ' αὐτούς, οὕτω γε ἔσται τε ἅμα καὶ οὐκ ἔσται. πρὶν μὲν γὰρ ἐπεισελθεῖν τὸν νοῦν οὐδέπω ἐστίν, εἴ γε νοῦς ἐστι κατ' αὐτοὺς ὁ χριστός· ἀλλὰ μὴν ὄντι γε αὐτῷ ἐπεισέρχεται ὁ νοῦς· οὕτως οὖν πάλιν κατ' αὐτοὺς ἔσται [ὁ νοῦς]. ἔστιν τε καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ χρόνῳ ὁ χριστός. εἰ δὲ κατ' αὐτῶν τὴν καλλίστην αἵρεσιν ὁ νοῦς κατ' αὐτούς ἐστιν τὰ ὄντα πάντα, ἐπεὶ τὴν ὕλην ἀγένητον ὑποτίθενται καὶ ἰσόχρονον ὡς εἰπεῖν τῷ θεῷ-καὶ νοῦν καὶ ὕλην τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον τὸν χριστὸν ὑποτίθενται εἶναι, <εἴ> γε τὰ πάντα κατ' αὐτούς ἐστιν ὁ χριστὸς νοῦς ὢν ὅς ἐστιν τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἡ ὕλη ἓν τῶν ὄντων καὶ αὐτή, ἀγένητος οὖσα. Εἰς ἐπίδειγμα δὲ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον καὶ τὴν θείαν δύναμιν ἐνεσταυρῶσθαι τῇ ὕλῃ, καὶ αὐτὸν ὑπομεμενηκέναι τὸ πάθημα τοῦτο λέγουσιν· ὥσπερ ἀδυνάτου ὄντος ἐκείνου τοῦτο ποιεῖν, ὅπερ αὐτὸς ὁ Μανιχαῖος διαπράττεται, λόγῳ περὶ τούτου διδάσκων, ὅτι ἡ θεία δύναμις εἰς τὴν ὕλην κατακέκλειται καὶ πάλιν ἀποχωρεῖ τρόπον <ὃν> αὑτοῖς ἀναπλάττουσιν. τὸ μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τὸν ἐκκλησιαστικὸν λόγον εἰπεῖν εἰς λύσιν ἁμαρτιῶν ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδεδωκέναι ἔχει πίστιν τινὰ πρὸς τοὺς πολλοὺς κἀκ τῶν ἱστοριῶν τῶν καθ' Ἕλληνας, ὅταν φῶσίν τινας ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας πόλεων ἑαυτοὺς ἐπι<δε>δωκέναι, καὶ παράδειγμα τοῦ λόγου ἔχει καὶ ἡ Ἰουδαίων ἱστορία τὸν τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ παῖδα εἰς θυσίαν τῷ θεῷ παρασκευάζουσα· τὸ δὲ εἰς πράγματος ἐπίδειξιν τῷ παθήματι ὑπάγειν τὸν χριστὸν πολλῆς ἐστιν ἀμαθίας, εἰς διδασκαλίαν καὶ γνῶσιν τῶν ὄντων τοῦ λόγου ὄντος αὐτάρκους.

25 Ἀπέχονται δὲ ἐμψύχων. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἑτέρου τινὸς χάριν, οὐ περιεργαστέον· εἰ δὲ διότι ἡ δύναμις ἡ θεία τούτων ἄπεστι μᾶλλον ἢ ἐνυπάρχει πλείων, γελοῖον αὐτὴ αὐτῶν ἡ προαίρεσις αὕτη. εἴτε γὰρ τὰ φυτὰ ἔνυλα μᾶλλον, εἰς τροφὴν καὶ

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