Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion

with the destruction of the earth he may destroy and at the same time encompass the inhabited world, corrupting on the right and on the left those persuaded and charmed by the error, as if by a musical instrument with its fabricated sounds. 5. But some others of them fabricate certain new names, saying that there was darkness and depth and water, and the spirit made a separation between them; and the darkness was angry and resentful toward the spirit, which darkness, having run up, embraced the 1.273 spirit and begot, he says, a certain being called Womb, who, having been born, became pregnant within the spirit itself. And from the Womb were projected four aeons, and from the four aeons another fourteen, and there came to be right and left, light and darkness. And later after all these a certain shameful aeon was projected, and this one was mixed with the Womb previously revealed above, and from this shameful aeon and the Womb came to be gods and angels and demons and seven spirits. But the mimology of their error is detectable. For while saying and defining one father from the beginning, they later introduced many gods, so as to show the error itself arming itself against itself with the falsehoods spoken by it, and destroying itself, while the truth is always * found from every part. 6. What then shall I say to you, O Nicolaus? What shall I discuss? From where, O you, have you come bringing us a shameful aeon and a root of wickedness and a generative Womb and many gods and demons? For the apostle, by saying "if indeed there are so-called gods," indicates that these do not exist. For in saying "so-called" he showed that they exist only in being spoken of, not existing in substance but through the supposition of some. "but for us," he says, "there is one God," clearly, for those who know the knowledge of the truth. And he did not say a so-called god, but an existing God; and if for us there is one God, there are no longer many gods. And the Lord in the gospel says, "that they may know you, the only true God," in order to subvert the thought of those who speak mythical things and suppose that polytheism exists; for our God is one, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, three persons, one lordship, one divinity, one glorification, and not many gods. But where according to you, O Nicolaus, is that which was said by the Savior fulfilled: "there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who were born so from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven." If, then, there are eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, how have you deceived yourself and those who follow you, through lewdness and 1.274 shameful conduct holding the truth of God in unrighteousness and * teaching? And where with you is fulfilled the saying, "Concerning virgins I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has received mercy, that it is good to be so," and again, "The virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, how she may please the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and in spirit." And how many things are there to say about purity and continence and virginity? For by you all the filth of impurity is shamelessly defined. But from these two or three sayings, for the overthrow of the ridiculous heresy for those who encounter it *, let my purpose be set forth here. 7. Proceeding in order, I will show the heresy yoked to this one, like overgrown matter or a forest of thorns joined together from all sides or a dried up multitude of woods and brushwood in a field being prepared for burning, because of the same heresy of the wretched Nicolaus *. For just as through grafting or wild scabies or leprosy other bodies are corrupted * from other bodies, so in part are the so-called Gnostics joined to these, from Nicolaus himself and from those

γῆς ἀφανισμῷ ἀφανίσῃ καὶ ὁμοῦ συμπεριλάβῃ τὴν οἰκουμένην, δεξιά τε καὶ εὐώνυμα λυμαινόμενος τοὺς τῇ πλάνῃ πειθομένους τε καὶ θελγομένους ὥσπερ διὰ μουσικοῦ ὀργάνου ταῖς φωναῖς ταῖς πεπλασμέναις. 5. Ἄλλοι δέ τινες ἐξ αὐτῶν καινά τινα ὀνόματα ἀναπλάττουσι, λέγοντες ὅτι σκότος ἦν καὶ βυθὸς καὶ ὕδωρ, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ἀνὰ μέσον τούτων διορισμὸν ἐποιήσατο αὐτῶν· τὸ δὲ σκότος ἦν χαλεπαῖνόν τε καὶ ἐγκοτοῦν τῷ πνεύματι, ὅπερ σκότος ἀναδραμὸν περιεπλάκη τῷ 1.273 πνεύματι καὶ ἐγέννησε, φησίν, τινὰ Μήτραν καλουμένην, ἥτις γεννηθεῖσα ἐνεκίσσησεν ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ πνεύματι. ἐκ δὲ τῆς Μήτρας προεβλήθησάν τινες τέσσαρες αἰῶνες, ἐκ δὲ τῶν τεσσάρων αἰώνων ἄλλοι δεκατέσσαρες, καὶ γέγονε δεξιά τε καὶ ἀριστερά, φῶς καὶ σκότος. ὕστερον δὲ μετὰ πάντας τούτους προβεβλῆσθαί τινα αἰσχρὸν αἰῶνα, μεμίχθαι δὲ τοῦτον τῇ Μήτρᾳ τῇ ἄνω προδεδηλωμένῃ καὶ ἐκ τούτου τοῦ αἰῶνος τοῦ αἰσχροῦ καὶ τῆς Μήτρας γεγονέναι θεούς τε καὶ ἀγγέλους καὶ δαίμονας καὶ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα. φωρατὴ δὲ τούτων ἡ τῆς πλάνης μιμολογία. ἀπ' ἀρχῆς γὰρ ἕνα πατέρα λέγοντες καὶ ὁριζόμενοι ὕστερον πολλοὺς θεοὺς ὑπέφηναν, εἰς τὸ δεῖξαι αὐτὴν τὴν πλάνην καθ' ἑαυτῆς τὰ ὑπ' αὐτῆς ψευδῆ λεγόμενα ὁπλίζειν ἑαυτὴν δὲ λύειν, τῆς ἀληθείας ἀεὶ * ἐκ παντὸς μέρους εὑρισκομένης. 6. Τί τοίνυν εἴπω πρὸς σέ, ὦ Νικόλαε; τί διαλεχθήσομαι; πόθεν, ὦ οὗτος, ἥκεις φέρων ἡμῖν αἰσχρὸν αἰῶνα καὶ ῥίζαν πονηρίας καὶ Μήτραν γεννητικὴν καὶ πολλοὺς θεοὺς καὶ δαίμονας; ὁ γὰρ ἀπόστολος φήσας «εἴπερ εἰσὶ λεγόμενοι θεοί» οὐκ εἶναι τούτους ὑποφαίνει. ἐν τῷ γὰρ εἰπεῖν «λεγόμενοι» ἔδειξεν αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι μόνον εἶναι, μὴ ὄντας τῇ ὑποστάσει ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς τινῶν ὑπολήψεως. «ἡμῖν δέ», φησίν, «εἷς θεός», δηλονότι τοῖς τὴν γνῶσιν τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπισταμένοις. καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν λεγόμενον θεόν, ἀλλὰ ὄντα θεόν· εἰ δὲ ἡμῖν εἷς θεός, οὐκέτι πολλοὶ θεοί. καὶ ὁ κύριος ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ φησίν «ἵνα γινώσκωσί σε τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν θεόν», ἵνα ἀνατρέψῃ τὴν διάνοιαν τῶν τὰ μυθώδη λεγόντων καὶ νομιζόντων εἶναι πολυθεΐαν· εἷς γὰρ ἡμῶν ἐστιν ὁ θεός, πατὴρ καὶ υἱὸς καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις μία κυριότης μία θεότης μία δοξολογία, καὶ οὐ πολλοὶ θεοί. ποῦ δὲ πληροῦται κατὰ σέ, ὦ Νικόλαε, τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος εἰρημένον ὅτι «εἰσὶν εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες εὐνουχίσθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ εἰσὶν εὐνοῦχοι οἳ ἐκ γεννητῆς ἐγεννήθησαν καὶ εἰσὶν εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες εὐνούχισαν ἑαυτοὺς διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν». εἰ τοίνυν εὐνοῦχοί εἰσι διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, πῶς σύ γε σεαυτὸν πεπλάνηκας καὶ τοὺς σοὶ πειθομένους, διὰ λαγνείας καὶ 1.274 αἰσχροποιίας τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν ἀδικίᾳ κατέχων καὶ * διδάσκων; ποῦ δὲ παρὰ σοὶ πεπλήρωται τό «περὶ τῶν παρθένων ἐπιταγὴν κυρίου οὐκ ἔχω, γνώμην δὲ δίδωμι ὡς ἠλεημένος, τὸ καλὸν οὕτως εἶναι», καὶ πάλιν «ἡ παρθένος μεριμνᾷ τὰ τοῦ κυρίου, πῶς ἀρέσῃ τῷ κυρίῳ, ἵνα ᾖ ἁγία ἐν σώματι καὶ ἐν πνεύματι». καὶ πόσα ἔστι περὶ ἁγνείας καὶ ἐγκρατείας καὶ παρθενίας λέγειν; παρὰ σοῦ γὰρ ὁ πᾶς βόρβορος τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας ἀναισχύντως ὁρίζεται. ἀλλὰ ἐκ τῶν δύο ἢ τριῶν τούτων ῥητῶν, τῆς καταγελάστου αἱρέσεως πρὸς ἀνατροπὴν τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν *, ὁ σκοπὸς ἐνταῦθά μοι παρακείσθω. 7. Προϊὼν δὲ καθεξῆς τὴν τούτῳ συνεζευγμένην αἵρεσιν, ὥσπερ χορτομανήσασαν ὕλην ἢ δάσος ἀκανθῶν πανταχόθεν συνηνωμένων ἢ κατεξηραμμένην ἐν ἀγρῷ πληθὺν ξύλων τε καὶ φρυγάνων εἰς κατάκαυσιν ἑτοιμαζομένην ὑποδείξω, διὰ τὸ τῇ αὐτῇ αἱρέσει τοῦ ἐλεεινοῦ Νικολάου *. ὥσπερ γὰρ δι' ἐγκεντρισμοῦ ἢ ψώρας ἀγρίας ἢ λέπρας ἐξ ἑτέρων σωμάτων ἕτερα σώματα * παραφθείρεσθαι, οὕτως ἀπὸ μέρους τούτοις εἰσὶ συνηνωμένοι οἱ λεγόμενοι Γνωστικοί, ἐξ αὐτοῦ Νικολάου καὶ τῶν