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taking their pretexts from Simon before him, I say, and from the others, calling themselves Gnostics, but in everything worthy of condemnation because of the wickedness and shameful conduct in the practices of their unclean work. For truly, after he practiced continence for a little while, then abandoned continence, like the water-snake, the so-called serpent, coming up from the waters onto the land and returning again to the water, having struck and destroyed him with the reed given into Christ’s hand, let us proceed to the next heresies.

1.275 Against the Gnostics, also known as Borborites ˉ, and of the sequence ˉκˉ.

1. Again these Gnostics, deceived men springing up from this one in various ways, like fruit from dung, have sprouted in the world—as is clear to everyone and detectable for the testing of truth, I would say not only to the faithful but perhaps even to the unfaithful. For to speak of the Womb and filth and the other things, how would it not seem laughable to all men, "to Greeks and to barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish"? It is a great misfortune and a very great misery, so to speak, that the leaders of the heresies, who are in condemnation and in error, are brandished against us and rise up like a swarm of noxious creatures, causing us vexations and foul odors, itches and chafings through the deceit of the myth-maker. And these men, yoked with this Nicolaus, born again from him as from the addled egg of a snake, scorpions or from asps *, introduce to us certain names of empty sounds and fabricate books, calling a certain book Noria, and from a suspicion of Greek superstition, they reshape the mythical rhapsody and fantasy among the Greeks, thus weaving falsehood with truth. For they say that this Noria was the wife of Noah. They call her Noria, so that, having reshaped with barbarian names what was rhapsodized in Greek among the Greeks, they might produce a fantasy for those deceived by them, in order that they might also make an interpretation 1.276 of the name of Pyrrha, calling this woman Noria. For since *noura* in Hebrew is not interpreted as "fire" in the deep language but in the Syriac dialect—for fire is called *esath* among the Hebrews in the deep language—for this reason it has happened to them, through ignorance and inexperience, to use this name. For neither Pyrrha among the Greeks nor the Noria of their myths, but Barthenos was the wife of Noah. For the Greeks also say that the wife of Deucalion was called Pyrrha. Then these men, who bring forward to us again the things of Philistion, propose the cause, that often when she wished to be with Noah in the ark she was not permitted, because the archon, he says, who created the world, wished to destroy her with all the others in the flood. And he says that she sat down upon the chest and set it on fire, a first and a second and a third time. Hence, indeed, the construction of Noah’s chest was drawn out for many years because it was often set on fire by her. For Noah, he says, obeyed the archon, but Noria revealed the powers above and Barbelo from the powers, who is opposed to the archon, as are the other powers, and she showed that it is necessary to gather what was stolen from the Mother above by the archon who made the world and the other gods and angels and demons with him, from the power in bodies, through the emission of males and females.

2. And in short, I shrink from showing the entire blindness of these men of darkness. For I would spend a long time, if here the treatise written about them

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πρὸ αὐτοῦ Σίμωνος δέ φημι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων λαβόντες τὰς προφάσεις, Γνωστικοὶ μὲν καλούμενοι, κατάγνωστοι δὲ τὸ πᾶν διὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι τῆς ἀκαθάρτου ἐργασίας αὐτῶν μοχθηρίαν καὶ αἰσχρουργίαν. ὡς ἀληθῶς γὰρ καὶ τοῦτον πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐγκρατευσάμενον, εἶτα ἀποστάντα τῆς ἐγκρατείας, δίκην ὕδρωπος τοῦ ἑρπετοῦ καλουμένου ἐξ ὑδάτων εἰς γῆν ἀνελθόντος καὶ εἰς ὕδωρ αὖθις ἀναστρέψαντος, καλάμῳ τῷ ἐν χειρὶ δοθέντι Χριστοῦ παίσαντες καὶ ὀλέσαντες ἐπὶ τὰς ἑξῆς αἱρέσεις βαδίσωμεν.

1.275 Κατὰ Γνωστικῶν τῶν καὶ Βορβοριτῶν ˉ, τῆς δὲ ἀκολουθίας ˉκˉ.

1. Πάλιν οὗτοι οἱ Γνωστικοὶ διαφόρως ἀπὸ τούτου φυόμενοι ἠπατημένοι ἄνθρωποι, ὥσπερ ἀπὸ κοπρίας καρποί, ὡς παντί τῳ δῆλόν ἐστι καὶ φωρατὸν πρὸς δοκιμὴν ἀληθείας οὐ μόνον εἴποιμι πιστοῖς ἀλλὰ τάχα καὶ ἀπίστοις, ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐβλάστησαν· τὸ γὰρ Μήτραν καὶ αἰσχρότητα λέγειν καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πῶς οὐχὶ καταγέλαστα φανείη πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, «Ἕλλησί τε καὶ βαρβάροις, σοφοῖς τε καὶ ἀνοήτοις»; πολλὴ δὲ συμφορὰ καὶ μεγίστη ὡς εἰπεῖν ταλαιπωρία, τοὺς ἐν καταγνώσει καὶ ἐν πλάνῃ ἐπισείεσθαι ἡμῖν τῶν αἱρέσεων ἀρχηγοὺς καὶ ἐπανίστασθαι ὥσπερ κνωδάλων πλῆθος, ὀχλήσεις τε καὶ δυσοδμίας κνισμούς τε καὶ ἐπεντριβὰς ἡμῖν ἐμποιοῦντας διὰ τῆς τοῦ μυθοποιοῦ πλάνης. οὗτοι δὲ οἱ τούτῳ τῷ Νικολάῳ συνεζευγμένοι, πάλιν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ὡς ἀπὸ οὐρίου ᾠοῦ ὄφεως σκορπίοι ἢ ἐξ ἀσπίδων * γεγεννημένοι, τινὰ ἡμῖν παρεισφέρουσι κενοφωνίας ὀνόματα καὶ βίβλους πλάττουσι, Νωρίαν τινὰ βίβλον καλοῦντες, καὶ ἐξ ὑπονοίας Ἑλληνικῆς δεισιδαιμονίας μεταποιοῦντες τὴν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι μυθώδη ῥαψῳδίαν καὶ φαντασίαν οὕτω τὸ ψεῦδος τῇ ἀληθείᾳ παραπλέκουσι. ταύτην γάρ φασιν τὴν Νωρίαν εἶναι τοῦ Νῶε γυναῖκα· καλοῦσι δὲ Νωρίαν, ὅπως τὰ Ἑλληνικῶς παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι ῥαψῳδηθέντα αὐτοὶ βαρβαρικοῖς ὀνόμασι μεταποιήσαντες τοῖς ἠπατημένοις παρ' αὐτῶν φαντασίαν ἐργάσωνται, ἵνα δὴ καὶ ἑρμηνείαν ποιήσωσι 1.276 τοῦ τῆς Πύρρας ὀνόματος, Νωρίαν ταύτην ὀνομάζοντες. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ νοῦρα ἐν τῇ Ἑβραΐδι πῦρ οὐ κατὰ τὴν βαθεῖαν γλῶσσαν ἑρμηνεύεται ἀλλὰ Συριακῇ διαλέκτῳ ἡσὰθ γὰρ τὸ πῦρ παρὰ Ἑβραίοις καλεῖται κατὰ τὴν βαθεῖαν γλῶσσαν, τούτου χάριν αὐτοῖς συμβέβηκε κατὰ ἄγνοιαν καὶ ἀπειρίαν τῷ ὀνόματι τούτῳ χρήσασθαι. οὔτε γὰρ Πύρρα ἡ παρ' Ἕλλησιν οὔτε Νωρία ἡ παρὰ τούτοις μυθευομένη, ἀλλὰ Βαρθενὼς τῷ Νῶε γέγονε γυνή· καὶ οἱ Ἕλληνες γάρ φασι τὴν ∆ευκαλίωνος γυναῖκα Πύρραν καλεῖσθαι. εἶτα τὴν αἰτίαν ὑποτίθενται οὗτοι οἱ τὰ τοῦ Φιλιστίωνος ἡμῖν αὖθις προφερόμενοι, ὅτι πολλάκις βουλομένη μετὰ τοῦ Νῶε ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ γενέσθαι οὐ συνεχωρεῖτο, τοῦ ἄρχοντος, φησίν, τοῦ τὸν κόσμον κτίσαντος βουλομένου αὐτὴν ἀπολέσαι σὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἐν τῷ κατακλυσμῷ. αὐτὴν δέ φησιν ἐπικαθιζάνειν ἐν τῇ λάρνακι καὶ ἐμπιπρᾶν αὐτήν, καὶ πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον καὶ τρίτον· ὅθεν δὴ εἰς ἔτη πολλὰ ἐλήλακεν ἡ τῆς αὐτοῦ τοῦ Νῶε λάρνακος κατασκευὴ διὰ τὸ πολλάκις αὐτὴν ὑπ' αὐτῆς ἐμπεπρῆσθαι. ἦν γάρ, φησίν, ὁ Νῶε πειθόμενος τῷ ἄρχοντι, ἡ δὲ Νωρία ἀπεκάλυψε τὰς ἄνω δυνάμεις καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν δυνάμεων Βαρβηλώ, τὴν ὑπεναντίαν τῷ ἄρχοντι, ὡς καὶ αἱ ἄλλαι δυνάμεις, καὶ ὑπέφαινεν ὅτι δεῖ τὰ συληθέντα ἀπὸ τῆς ἄνωθεν Μητρὸς διὰ τοῦ ἄρχοντος τοῦ τὸν κόσμον πεποιηκότος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ θεῶν τε καὶ ἀγγέλων καὶ δαιμόνων συλλέγειν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν τοῖς σώμασι δυνάμεως, διὰ τῆς ἀπορροίας ἀρρένων τε καὶ θηλειῶν. 2. Καὶ ἁπλῶς περικακῶ τὴν πᾶσαν τούτων τοῦ σκότους πήρωσιν ὑποδεῖξαι. πολὺν γὰρ χρόνον ἀναλώσαιμι ἄν, εἰ ἐνταῦθα τὴν περὶ τούτων γενομένην σύνταξιν