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that the Lord by some trick hid himself and handed over another in his place; and your foolish talk will be slandering the truth, but not being able to. But, being refuted by the truth itself, it incoherently introduces this fabrication. 9. For in every way the truth refutes this heresiarch in the Old and New Testament. For it is clear to everyone that Christ came willingly to the passion, and by his own will and that of his own Father and by the good pleasure of the Holy Spirit he took on flesh, becoming man among us, being God in perfection from the beginning, begotten of the Father without beginning and without time, but in the last days deigning to be born in the womb of a virgin, fashioning for himself a body and being born in truth and becoming man in certainty, so that in it he might suffer 1.266 for us in the flesh and give his soul for his own sheep; as he refutes them saying, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over and killed, and on the third day he will rise again," and saying to the sons of Zebedee, "Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?", as also the apostle Peter says, "put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit," and again, "who suffered for us in the flesh"; and again John says, "If anyone does not say that Christ has come in the flesh, this one is an antichrist," and the holy Paul says, "having tasted death, even the death of the cross," as also Moses proclaimed beforehand, saying, "You will see your life hanging on a tree." And our life is not Simon, but the Lord who suffered for us, that he might dissolve our passions, and dying in the flesh, death has become death to death, that he might break the sting of death, descending into the underworld, that he might shatter the adamantine bars; which having done, he led up the captivity of souls and emptied Hades. 10. Therefore, Christ was not the cause of death for Simon, having handed himself over. For what are you saying, O one accursed of men? Was he not able to speak freely and withdraw from them, if he had not wished to be crucified? But did the Son of God, God the Word, make a game of dice and hand over another in his place to die and be crucified, he who says, "I am the truth"; "For I am," he says, "the truth and the life"? And life would not prepare death for another, nor would the truth hide what is done by it in truth and show other things in place of others. For the truth will no longer be found to be truth, if it works deceit and hides its own work, but rather engages in a contrary sophism. And simply from all things, so to speak, that I may not prolong the discourse, "Woe to the world for its offenses" and "to those who work iniquity." How many have found darkness for themselves and for others after them who are persuaded by their darkness; but to the 1.267 prudent the truth will be revealed, and the treatise of Basilides and such as these will be refuted as a work of error. And let these things be said by me concerning this heresy and this myth; and from here I will proceed to another heresy. For to whom will such a heresy not be detectable, being a kind of myth and like a horned serpent buried in the sand, but through its horn projecting into the air and working destruction for those who encounter it? But also, "the Lord has shattered the horn of sinners, but the horn of the righteous alone will be exalted," which is faith of the truth. Therefore, having shattered this man with the teaching of the truth, let us pass on to those that follow, calling upon God as our helper, to whom be glory and honor and worship for ever and ever, amen.

Against the Nicolaitans 5, and in sequence 25.

1. Nicolaus was one of the seven deacons who were chosen by the

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ὅτι ὁ κύριος κυβείᾳ τινὶ ἑαυτὸν κρύψας ἄλλον ἀντ' αὐτοῦ παρέδωκε· καὶ ἔσται ἡ παρὰ σοῦ μωρολογία συκοφαντοῦσα μὲν τὴν ἀλήθειαν μὴ δυναμένη δέ. ἀλλὰ ἐλεγχομένη ὑπ' αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας ἀσυστάτως τὸ ποίημα τοῦτο εἰσηγουμένη. 9. Πάντῃ γὰρ ἐλέγχει τοῦτον τὸν αἱρεσιάρχην ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐν παλαιᾷ καὶ καινῇ διαθήκῃ. παντὶ γάρ τῳ δῆλον ὅτι Χριστὸς ἑκὼν ἐπὶ τὸ πάθος ἦλθε καὶ θελήματι ἰδίῳ καὶ τοῦ ἰδίου πατρὸς καὶ εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἔλαβε τὴν σάρκα ἐνανθρωπήσας ἐν ἡμῖν, ἐν τελειότητι θεὸς ὢν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, ἐκ πατρὸς γεγεννημένος ἀνάρχως καὶ ἀχρόνως, ἐπ' ἐσχάτων δὲ τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐν μήτρᾳ παρθένου γενέσθαι καταξιώσας, εἰς ἑαυτόν τε σῶμα ἀναπλασάμενος καὶ γεννηθεὶς ἐν ἀληθείᾳ καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσας ἐν βεβαιώσει, ἵνα ἐν αὐτῇ πάθῃ ὑπὲρ 1.266 ἡμῶν τῇ σαρκὶ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν δῷ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἰδίων προβάτων· ὡς ἐλέγχει τούτους λέγων «ἰδού, ἀναβαίνομεν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα, καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου παραδοθήσεται καὶ ἀποκτανθήσεται καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀναστήσεται», τοῖς τε υἱοῖς Ζεβεδαίου φήσας «δύνασθε πιεῖν τὸ ποτήριον ὃ μέλλω πίνειν;», ὡς καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος Πέτρος λέγει «θανατωθεὶς σαρκί, ζωοποιηθεὶς δὲ πνεύματι» καὶ πάλιν «ὃς ἔπαθεν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σαρκί»· πάλιν δὲ Ἰωάννης λέγει «εἴ τις οὐ λέγει τὸν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθέναι, οὗτος ἀντίχριστός ἐστιν», ὁ δὲ ἅγιος Παῦλός φησι «γευσάμενος θανάτου, θανάτου δὲ σταυροῦ», ὡς καὶ Μωυσῆς προαναφωνῶν ἔλεγεν «ὄψεσθε τὴν ζωὴν ὑμῶν κρεμαμένην ἐπὶ ξύλου». ζωὴ δὲ ἡμῶν οὐχ ὁ Σίμων, ἀλλ' ὁ κύριος ὁ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πεπονθώς, ἵνα τὰ ἡμέτερα πάθη διαλύσῃ, καὶ θανὼν σαρκὶ θάνατος θανάτῳ γεγένηται, ἵνα τὸ κέντρον τοῦ θανάτου κλάσῃ, καταβὰς εἰς τὰ καταχθόνια, ἵνα τοὺς ἀδαμαντίνους μοχλοὺς συντρίψῃ· ὅπερ ποιήσας ἀνήγαγε τῶν ψυχῶν τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν ἐκένωσέ τε τὸν Ἅιδην. 10. Οὐκ ἄρα οὖν αἴτιος θανάτου γέγονεν ὁ Χριστὸς τῷ Σίμωνι, αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν παραδούς. τί γὰρ λέγεις, ὦ θεήλατε τῶν ἀνθρώπων; οὐκ ἠδύνατο ἐλευθεροστομεῖν καὶ ἀναχωρῆσαι ἀπ' αὐτῶν, εἰ μὴ ἠθέλησε σταυρωθῆναι; ἀλλὰ παίγνιον ἐποίει κυβείας ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ υἱὸς θεὸς Λόγος καὶ ἄλλον ἀντὶ ἑαυτοῦ παρεδίδου ἀποθανεῖν καὶ σταυρωθῆναι, ὁ λέγων ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀλήθεια· «ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι, φησίν, ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή»; ἡ δὲ ζωὴ οὐκ ἂν ἑτέρῳ θάνατον παρασκευάσειε καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια οὐκ ἂν κρύψῃ τὸ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ παρ' αὐτῆς γινόμενον καὶ ἕτερα ἀνθ' ἑτέρων ὑποδείξῃ. οὐκέτι γὰρ ἡ ἀλήθεια εὑρεθήσεται ἀλήθεια, πλάνην ἐργαζομένη καὶ κρύπτουσα τὸ ἑαυτῆς ἔργον, δι' ἐναντίου δὲ πραγματευομένη σοφίσματος. καὶ ἁπλῶς ἐκ πάντων ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἵνα μὴ μηκύνω τὸν λόγον, «οὐαὶ τῷ κόσμῳ ἀπὸ τῶν σκανδάλων» καὶ «τῶν ἐργαζομένων τὴν ἀνομίαν». πόσοι ἑαυτοῖς σκότος ηὕρηνται καὶ ἄλλοις τοῖς μετέπειτα τῷ σκότει αὐτῶν πειθομένοις· τοῖς δὲ 1.267 συνετοῖς φανήσεται ἡ ἀλήθεια, ἡ δὲ Βασιλείδου καὶ τῶν τοιούτων πραγματεία πλάνης ἔργον ἐλεγχθήσεται. Καὶ ταῦτά μοι περὶ ταύτης τῆς αἱρέσεως καὶ τοῦ μύθου τούτου εἰρήσθω· ἐντεῦθεν δὲ ἐφ' ἑτέραν αἵρεσιν βαδιοῦμαι. τίνι γὰρ οὐ φωρατὴ ἔσται ἡ τοιαύτη αἵρεσις μῦθός τις οὖσα καὶ ὡσεὶ κεράστου τρόπον ἐν ἄμμῳ κεχωσμένη, διὰ δὲ τοῦ κέρατος ἐν ἀέρι προκύπτουσα καὶ τὸν ὄλεθρον τοῖς περιτυγχάνουσιν αὐτῇ ἐργαζομένη; ἀλλὰ καὶ «τὸ κέρας τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ὁ κύριος συνέτριψεν, τὸ δὲ κέρας τοῦ δικαίου μόνον ὑψωθήσεται», ὅπερ ἐστὶ πίστις ἀληθείας. διὸ καὶ τοῦτον συντρίψαντες τῇ τῆς ἀληθείας διδασκαλίᾳ ἐπὶ τὰς μετέπειτα διέλθωμεν, θεὸν βοηθὸν ἐπικαλούμενοι, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ ἡ τιμὴ καὶ ἡ προσκύνησις εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, ἀμήν.

Κατὰ Νικολαϊτῶν ˉε, τῆς δὲ ἀκολουθίας ˉκˉε.

1. Νικόλαος γέγονεν εἷς ἀπὸ τῶν ἑπτὰ διακόνων τῶν ἐκλελεγμένων ὑπὸ τῶν