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has preached of error, and Saturnilus, dwelling in the 1.248 aforementioned place, similarly to Menander, proclaimed that the world had come into being by angels. And that there is one unknown father, and that he made powers and principalities and authorities; and that the angels stood apart from the power above, and that seven of them made the world and the things in it; and that the world had been allotted by portion to each angel. And that these same angels, having come together, conceived and jointly made man according to the form of the luminous image that had peered down from above, which, having peered down, they were unable to hold onto because it immediately shot back up, they wished to imitate. And that man was formed by them for no reason other than for such a pretext. For since, he says, that same light, having peered down from above, created a certain excitement in these same angels, they, out of desire for the likeness from above, attempted to make the form of man. For since they were seized with love for the light from above, with desire and pleasure for it, which appeared and disappeared from them, and having fallen in love with it and not being able to be filled with its loveliness because that same light flew up in a flash, for this reason, he says—this same sorcerer 1.249 puts on a show—that the angels said, “Let us make man in our image and likeness”; distorting what was said in Genesis by the holy God, “in our likeness,” but leaving “in our image,” so that his error might have plausibility; as if indeed some were making the image of another † to say in “Let us make man in our image and likeness.” But when man had come into being, he says, because of their feebleness he was unable to be brought to completion, but lay and twitched on the ground like a crawling worm, unable either to stand upright or to do anything else, until the power from above, peering down and taking pity on account of its own image and form, in compassion sent a spark of its own power and through it raised man upright and thus gave him life, alleging, forsooth, that the spark is the human soul. And for this reason, the spark is certainly saved, but the whole of man perishes; what came down from above is taken up to the above at some time, but all that is from below, formed by the angels, is left here to them. And this sorcerer also claims that Christ came in the form of a man and in appearance only, and that he did all things in appearance, 1.250 that is, to be born, to walk, to be seen, to suffer. 2. And from this man, the falsely so-called Gnosis begins again to add to the depth of its wickedness, taking its beginning and pretext from Simon, but adding other greater nonsense, the refutation of which we will speak of later. For this man claims, speaking of the angels, that the god of the Jews is one of them, and that he and they stood apart from the power above, and that the savior was sent from the father against the will of the powers for the destruction of the god of the Jews and for the salvation of those who believe in him; and that these are the ones of this heresy who have the spark from the father above. For he claims that two men were formed from the beginning, one good and one evil; from whom are the two races of men in the world, the good and the wicked. And since the demons helped the wicked, for this reason in the last days, as I said before, the savior came for the help of the good men and for the destruction of the wicked and the demons. And this same charlatan says that marriage and procreation are from Satan, for which reason most of them 1.251 abstain from things with a soul, so that by their feigned way of life they might lead some into their deceit. And he again claims that the prophecies

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πλάνης κεκήρυχεν, ὁ δὲ Σατορνῖλος ἐν τῷ 1.248 προειρημένῳ τόπῳ διατρίβων ὁμοίως τῷ Μενάνδρῳ τὸν κόσμον ὑπὸ ἀγγέλων γεγενῆσθαι κατήγγελλεν. ἕνα δὲ εἶναι πατέρα ἄγνωστον, τὸν αὐτόν τε πεποιηκέναι δυνάμεις καὶ ἀρχὰς καὶ ἐξουσίας· τοὺς δὲ ἀγγέλους διεστάναι τῆς ἄνω δυνάμεως, ἑπτὰ δέ τινας τὸν κόσμον πεποιηκέναι καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ· τὸν κόσμον δὲ κατὰ μεριτείαν ἑκάστῳ ἀγγέλῳ κεκληρῶσθαι. ὁμοῦ δὲ συνελθόντας τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀγγέλους ἐντεθυμῆσθαι καὶ κοινῇ τὸν ἄνθρωπον πεποιηκέναι κατὰ τὴν μορφὴν τῆς ἄνωθεν παρακυψάσης φωτεινῆς εἰκόνος, ἣν μὴ δυνηθέντες παρακύψασαν κατασχεῖν διὰ τὸ παραχρῆμα ἀναδραμεῖν, μιμήσασθαι ἠθέλησαν. καὶ πεπλάσθαι μὲν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὑπ' αὐτῶν οὐδενὸς ἕνεκα ἀλλ' ἢ διὰ τοιαύτην πρόφασιν. ἐπειδὴ γάρ, φησίν, ἄνωθεν τὸ αὐτὸ φῶς παρακῦψαν ἐρεθισμόν τινα ἐνεποίησε τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἀγγέλοις, τούτους πρὸς πόθον τοῦ ἄνω ὁμοιώματος ἐπιχειρῆσαι τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ πλάσμα ποιῆσαι. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἠράσθησαν τοῦ ἄνω φωτὸς πόθῳ τῷ πρὸς αὐτὸ καὶ ἡδονῇ κατασχεθέντες, φανέντος καὶ ἀφαντωθέντος ἀπ' αὐτῶν, ἐρασθέντας τε αὐτοῦ καὶ μὴ δυνηθέντας ἐμπλησθῆναι τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐρασμιότητος διὰ τὸ ὑπὸ θῆξιν ἀναπτῆναι τὸ αὐτὸ φῶς, τούτου χάριν εἰρηκέναι τοὺς ἀγγέλους φησὶ δραματουργεῖ 1.249 ὁ αὐτὸς γόης ὅτι «ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν»· παρακόψας τὸ εἰρημένον ἐν τῇ Γενέσει ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου θεοῦ τὸ «καθ' ἡμετέραν», ἐάσας δὲ τὸ «κατ' εἰκόνα», ἵνα δὴ ἔχῃ ἡ αὐτοῦ πλάνη τὴν πιθανότητα· ὡς δῆθεν ἄλλων μὲν ποιούντων εἰκόνα δὲ ἑτέρου † λέγειν ἐν τῷ «ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν». γενομένου δέ, φησί, τοῦ ἀνθρώπου διὰ τὸ αὐτῶν ἀδρανὲς μὴ δύνασθαι αὐτὸν τελεσφορῆσαι, κεῖσθαι δὲ καὶ σκαρίζειν χαμαὶ κείμενον δίκην σκώληκος ἕρποντος, μὴ δύνασθαι δὲ μήτε ἀνορθοῦσθαι μήτε τι ἕτερον πράττειν, ἕως ἡ ἄνω δύναμις παρακύψασα καὶ σπλαγχνισθεῖσα διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν αὐτῆς εἰκόνα τε καὶ ἰδέαν κατ' οἶκτον ἀπέστειλε σπινθῆρα τῆς αὐτῆς δυνάμεως καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ ἀνώρθωσε τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ οὕτως ἐζωογόνησε, δῆθεν τὸν σπινθῆρα ψυχὴν τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φάσκων. καὶ τούτου ἕνεκα πάντως δὴ τὸν σπινθῆρα σωθῆναι, τὸ δὲ πᾶν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀπολέσθαι· ἐν τῷ ἄνω μὲν τὸ ἄνωθεν κατελθὸν ἀνακομισθῆναι χρόνοις τισί, τὸ δὲ κάτωθεν πᾶν τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων πλασθὲν ἐνταῦθα αὐτοῖς καταλιμπάνεσθαι. Χριστὸν δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν φάσκει ὁ γόης ἐν σχήματι ἀνθρώπου ἐληλυθέναι καὶ ἰδέᾳ μόνῃ, τὰ πάντα δὲ ἐν τῷ δοκεῖν πεποιηκέναι, 1.250 τουτέστι τὸ γεγεννῆσθαι τὸ περιπατεῖν τὸ ὀπτάνεσθαι τὸ πεπονθέναι. 2. Ἀπὸ τούτου δὲ ἡ ψευδωνύμως καλουμένη γνῶσις ἄρχεται πάλιν προστίθεσθαι τῷ βυθῷ τῆς αὐτῆς πονηρίας, ἀπὸ Σίμωνος μὲν λαβοῦσα τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν πρόφασιν, προστιθεμένη δὲ ἄλλῃ περισσοτέρᾳ φλυαρίᾳ, ὡς τὸν ταύτης ἔλεγχον ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν. φάσκει γὰρ οὗτος, τοὺς ἀγγέλους λέγων, καὶ τὸν θεὸν τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἕνα ἐξ αὐτῶν εἶναι, διεστάναι δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς ἄνω δυνάμεως, τὸν δὲ σωτῆρα ἀπεστάλθαι ἀπὸ πατρὸς παρὰ γνώμην τῶν δυνάμεων ἐπὶ καταλύσει τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν πειθομένων αὐτῷ· εἶναι δὲ αὐτοὺς τοὺς ταύτης τῆς αἱρέσεως τοὺς ἔχοντας τὸν σπινθῆρα τοῦ ἄνωθεν πατρός. δύο γὰρ πεπλάσθαι ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἀνθρώπους φάσκει, ἕνα ἀγαθὸν καὶ ἕνα φαῦλον· ἐξ ὧν δύο εἶναι τὰ γένη τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν κόσμῳ, ἀγαθῶν τε καὶ πονηρῶν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ οἱ δαίμονες τοῖς πονηροῖς ἐβοήθουν, τούτου ἕνεκα ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν ὡς προεῖπον ἦλθεν ὁ σωτὴρ ἐπὶ βοηθείᾳ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἐπὶ καταλύσει τῶν πονηρῶν καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων. τὸ γαμεῖν δὲ καὶ τὸ γεννᾶν ὁ αὐτὸς ἀγύρτης ἐκ τοῦ Σατανᾶ ὑπάρχειν λέγει, ὅθεν καὶ οἱ πλείους αὐτῶν ἐμψύχων 1.251 ἀπέχονται, ὅπως διὰ τῆς προσποιητῆς δῆθεν πολιτείας τινὰς ἐπαγάγωνται εἰς τὴν αὐτῶν ἀπάτην. τὰς δὲ προφητείας φάσκει ὁ αὐτὸς πάλιν