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that they have been enlightened by it, which is indeed to have been formed and manifested. And Paul says this also: For everything that is made manifest is light. Since, therefore, Life manifested and begat both the Man and the Church, Life is said to be their light. Clearly, therefore, John has shown through these words, both other things, and the second Tetrad, Logos and Life, Man and Church. But indeed he also indicated the first Tetrad; for in speaking about the Savior, and saying that all things outside the Pleroma were formed through him, he says he is the fruit of the whole Pleroma. For he also called him light, that which appeared in the darkness, and was not comprehended by it, since, having ordered all things that came into being from the passion, he was not known by it. And he calls him Son, and Truth, and Life, and the Word made flesh; whose glory we beheld, he says, and his glory was, as was that of the only-begotten, which was given to him by the Father, full of grace and truth. And he speaks thus: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Accurately therefore he also indicated the first Tetrad: speaking of Father, and Grace, and the Only-begotten, and Truth. Thus John has spoken concerning the first Ogdoad, the mother of all Aeons. For he has spoken of Father, and Grace, and Only-begotten, and Truth, and Logos, and Life, and Man, and Church. 1.1.19 You see, beloved, the method, by which those who use it deceive themselves, doing violence to the Scriptures, trying to establish their own fabrication from them. For this reason I myself also have set forth their very words, so that from them you may understand the craftiness of their method, and the wickedness of their error. For in the first place, if it had been John’s purpose to reveal the Ogdoad above, he would have kept the order of the projection, and the first Tetrad, being most venerable, as they say, he would have placed first among the names, and thus would have subjoined the second, so that through the order of the names the order of the Ogdoad might be shown; and not after so great an interval, as if he had forgotten, and then remembered, would he have made mention of the first Tetrad at the very end. Then again, if he wished to signify the syzygies, he would not have omitted the name of the Church; but he would either have been content, in the case of the other syzygies as well, with the designation of the male partners, the others being equally capable of being understood along with them, so that he might have preserved the unity throughout; suppl. or if he enumerated the consorts of the others, he would also have indicated the consort of the Man, and would not have left us to guess her name. The distortion of the exegesis is therefore manifest. For while John was proclaiming one God almighty, and one only-begotten Christ Jesus, through whom he says all things were made, this one the Son l. Word of God, this one the Only-begotten, this one the maker of all, this one the true light who enlightens every man, this one the maker of the world, this one having come to his own things, this same one having become flesh, and having dwelt among us; these men, twisting the exegesis to make it plausible, maintain that one is the Only-begotten according to projection, whom indeed they also call Beginning, and another they maintain has become the Savior, and another the Logos, son of the Only-begotten, and another the Christ, projected for the restoration of the Pleroma; and taking each one of the things spoken of away from the truth, and misusing the names, they have transferred them to their own hypothesis, so that according to them, among so many things, John would suppl. make no mention of the Lord Jesus Christ. For if he has spoken of Father, and Grace, and Only-begotten, and Truth, and Logos, and Life, and Man, and Church, according to their hypothesis, he has spoken about the first Ogdoad, in which there is not yet Jesus, not yet Christ, the teacher of John. But that the Apostle did not speak about their syzygies, but about our Lord Jesus Christ, whom he also knows as the Word of God, he himself has made manifest. For in summing up concerning what has been said

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πεφωτίσθαι αὐτοὺς ὑπ' αὐτῆς, ὃ δή ἐστι μεμορφῶσθαι καὶ πεφανερῶσθαι. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος λέγει· Πᾶν γὰρ τὸ φανερούμενον φῶς ἐστιν. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ἐφανέρωσε καὶ ἐγέννησε τόν τε Ἄνθρωπον καὶ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ἡ Ζωὴ, φῶς εἰρῆσθαι εἴρηται αὐτῶν. Σαφῶς οὖν δεδήλωκεν ὁ Ἰωάννης διὰ τῶν λόγων τούτων, τά τε ἄλλα, καὶ τὴν τετράδα τὴν δευτέραν, Λόγον καὶ Ζωὴν, Ἄνθρωπον καὶ Ἐκκλησίαν. Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὴν πρώτην ἐμήνυσε τετράδα· διηγού μενος γὰρ περὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος, καὶ λέγων πάντα τὰ ἐκτὸς τοῦ πληρώματος δι' αὐτοῦ μεμορφῶσθαι, καρπὸν εἶναί φησιν αὐτὸν παντὸς τοῦ πληρώματος. Καὶ γὰρ φῶς εἴρηκεν αὐτὸν τὸ ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαινόμενον, καὶ μὴ καταληφθὲν ὑπ' αὐτῆς, ἐπειδὴ πάντα τὰ γενόμενα ἐκ τοῦ πάθους ἁρμόσας ἠγνοήθη ὑπ' αὐτῆς. Καὶ υἱὸν δὲ, καὶ ἀλήθειαν, καὶ ζωὴν λέγει αὐτὸν καὶ λόγον σάρκα γενόμενον· οὗ τὴν δόξαν ἐθεασάμεθά, φησι, καὶ ἦν ἡ δόξα αὐτοῦ, οἵα ἦν ἡ τοῦ μονογενοῦς, ἡ ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς δοθεῖσα αὐτῷ, πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας. Λέγει δὲ οὕτως· Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ Πατρὸς, πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας. Ἀκριβῶς οὖν καὶ τὴν πρώτην ἐμήνυσε τετράδα· Πατέρα εἰπὼν, καὶ Χάριν, καὶ τὸν Μονογενῆ, καὶ Ἀλήθειαν. Οὕτως ὁ Ἰωάννης περὶ τῆς πρώτης καὶ μητρὸς τῶν ὅλων Αἰώνων ὀγδοάδος εἴρηκε. Πατέρα γὰρ εἴρηκε, καὶ Χάριν, καὶ Μονογενῆ, καὶ Ἀλήθειαν, καὶ Λόγον, καὶ Ζωὴν, καὶ Ἄνθρωπον, καὶ Ἐκκλησίαν. 1.1.19 Ὁρᾷς, ἀγαπητὲ, τὴν μέθοδον, ᾗ οἱ χρώμενοι φρεναπατοῦσιν ἑαυτοὺς, ἐπηρεάζοντες τὰς γραφὰς, τὸ πλάσμα αὐτῶν ἐξ αὐτῶν συνιστάνειν πειρώμενοι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς αὐτὰς παρεθέμην αὐτῶν τὰς λέξεις, ἵνα ἐξ αὐτῶν κατανοήσῃς τὴν πανουργίαν τῆς μεθοδείας, καὶ τὴν πονηρίαν τῆς πλάνης. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ εἰ προέκειτο Ἰωάννῃ τὴν ἄνω ὀγδοάδα μηνύσειν, τὴν τάξιν ἂν τετηρήκει τῆς προβολῆς, καὶ τὴν πρώτην τετράδα σεβασμιωτάτην οὖσαν, καθὼς λέγουσιν, ἐν πρώτοις ἂν τεθείκει τοῖς ὀνόμασι, καὶ οὕτως ἐπεζεύχθη τὴν δευτέραν, ἵνα διὰ τῆς τάξεως τῶν ὀνομάτων ἡ τάξις δειχθῇ τῆς ὀγδοάδος· καὶ οὐκ ἂν μετὰ τοσοῦτον διάστημα, ὡς ἐκλελησμένος, ἔπειτα ἀναμνησθεὶς, ἐπ' ἐσχάτῳ πρώτης ἐμέμνητο τετράδος. Ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τὰς συζυγίας σημᾶναι θέλων, καὶ τὸ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας οὐκ ἂν παρέλιπεν ὄνομα· ἀλλ' ἢ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λοιπῶν συζυγιῶν ἠρκέσθη τῇ τῶν ἀῤῥένων προσηγορίᾳ, ὁμοίως δυναμένων κᾀκείνων συνυπακούεσθαι, ἵνα τὴν ἑνότητα διὰ πάντων ᾖ πεφυλακώς· suppl. ἢ εἰ τῶν λοιπῶν τὰς συζύγους κατέλεγε, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου ἂν μεμηνύκει σύζυγον, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἀφῆκεν ἐκ μαντείας ἡμᾶς λαμβάνειν τοὔνομα αὐτῆς. Φανερὰ οὖν ἡ τῆς ἐξηγήσεως παραποίησις. Τοῦ γὰρ Ἰωάννου ἕνα Θεὸν παντοκράτορα, καὶ ἕνα μονογενῆ Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν κηρύσσοντος, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα γεγονέναι λέγει, τοῦτον υἱὸν l. Λόγον Θεοῦ, τοῦτον Μονογενῆ, τοῦτον πάντων ποιητὴν, τοῦτον φῶς ἀληθινὸν φωτίζοντα πάντα ἄνθρωπον, τοῦτον κόσμου ποιητὴν, τοῦτον εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἐληλυθότα, τοῦτον αὐτὸν σάρκα γεγονότα, καὶ ἐσκηνωκότα ἐν ἡμῖν· οὗτοι παρατρέποντες κατὰ τὸ πιθανὸν τὴν ἐξήγησιν, ἄλλον μὲν τὸν Μονογενῆ θέλουσιν εἶναι κατὰ τὴν προβολὴν, ὃν δὴ καὶ ἀρχὴν καλοῦσιν, ἄλλον δὲ τὸν Σωτῆρα γεγονέναι θέλουσι, καὶ ἄλλον τὸν Λόγον υἱὸν τοῦ Μονογενοῦς, καὶ ἄλλον τὸν Χριστὸν εἰς ἐπανόρθωσιν τοῦ πληρώματος προβεβλημένον· καὶ ἓν ἕκαστον τῶν εἰρημένων ἄραντες ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας, καταχρησάμενοι τοῖς ὀνόμασιν, εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν ὑπόθεσιν μετή νεγκαν, ὥστε κατ' αὐτοὺς ἐν τοῖς τοσούτοις τὸν Ἰωάννην τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ μνείαν suppl. μὴ ἂν ποιεῖσθαι. Εἰ γὰρ Πατέρα εἴρηκε, καὶ Χάριν, καὶ Μονογενῆ, καὶ Ἀλήθειαν, καὶ Λόγον, καὶ Ζωὴν, καὶ Ἄνθρωπον, καὶ Ἐκκλησίαν, κατὰ τὴν ἐκείνων ὑπόθεσιν περὶ τῆς πρώτης ὀγδοάδος εἴρηκεν, ἐν ᾗ οὐδέπω Ἰησοῦς, οὐδέπω Χριστὸς ὁ τοῦ Ἰωάννου διδάσκαλος. Ὅτι δὲ οὐ περὶ τῶν συζυγιῶν αὐτῶν ὁ Ἀπόστολος εἴρηκεν, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃν καὶ Λόγον οἶδε τοῦ Θεοῦ, αὐτὸς πεποίηκε φανερόν. Ἀνακεφαλαιούμενος γὰρ περὶ τοῦ εἰρημένου