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John a reed shaken by the opinions of men, as a reed is shaken by the power of every wind» 1.284 but since he said, «among those born of women there is none greater than John,» lest some might think that John was greater even than the Savior himself, because he too was born of a woman, Mary the ever-virgin, through the holy spirit, to secure us he said that the one who is younger than him, that is, in the time of his incarnate presence, is greater than him in the kingdom of heaven. For since the Savior was born six months after John's birth, it is clear that *, being greater than him; for he always was and is. And to whom is this not clear? Therefore, all things have been fabricated by them in vain, having been changed from good things to base ones. 8. And their books are many. For they put forth certain Questions of Mary, and others put forward many books in the name of Seth to the aforementioned Ialdabaoth; others speak of Revelations of Adam, and they have dared to compose other gospels in the name of the disciples, and they are not ashamed to say that our savior and lord Jesus Christ himself revealed this shameful practice. For in the so-called Great Questions of Mary—for there are also little ones fabricated by them—they propose that he reveals to her, having taken her to the mountain and prayed and brought forth a woman from his side and begun to have intercourse with her, and thus, supposedly, having partaken of his emission, to show that «we must do this, so that we may live», and that when Mary was disturbed and fell to the ground, he raised her up again and said to her, «Why did you doubt, you of little faith?» and they say that this is what is said 1.285 in the gospel, that «if I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe heavenly things?» and the saying «when you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before,» that is, the emission being partaken of from whence it came out, and his saying «unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood» and the disciples being troubled and saying «who can hear this?» they say that the word was about the shameful act. For this reason they were troubled and went back; for they were not yet, he says, established in the fullness. And David’s saying, «he will be like the tree planted by the channels of waters, which will give its fruit in its season» speaks, he says, about the shamefulness of the man. «upon the exit of the waters» and «which will give its fruit» means, he says, the emission of pleasure; and «its leaf will not fall off,» because, he says, we do not allow it to fall to the ground, but we ourselves eat it. 9. And lest by bringing their testimonies into the open I do more harm than good, for this reason I will skip over many things, since I would be relating all the evil things said by them by setting them down here. For the saying, he says, that Rahab placed the scarlet in the window was not, he says, scarlet, but it means the parts of the female nature and the red blood of menstruation, and the saying «drink water from your own vessels» speaks about the same thing. And they say that the flesh is perishing and not raised, and that this belongs to the archon. And they say that the power in the menses and in the seed is soul, which we collect and eat; and whatever we 1.286 eat, whether meat or vegetables or bread or anything else, we do a favor to created things, by collecting the soul from all things and carrying it with ourselves to the heavenly realms. Wherefore they also partake of all meats, saying, that we may have mercy on our kind. And they assert that the same soul is sown in animals and in beasts and in fish and in snakes and in humans, and in vegetables and in trees and in produce.

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Ἰωάννης κάλαμος σαλευόμενος γνώμαις ἀνθρώπων, ὡς δονούμενος κάλαμος ὑπὸ ἑκάστης ἀνέμων ἐξουσίας» 1.284 ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἶπεν «ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν οὐκ ἔστι μείζων Ἰωάννου», ἵνα μή τινες νομίσωσι καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος μείζονα εἶναι τὸν Ἰωάννην, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπὸ γυναικὸς ἐγεννήθη τῆς Μαρίας τῆς ἀειπαρθένου διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου, ἀσφαλιζόμενος ἡμᾶς ἔφη ὅτι ὁ μικρότερος αὐτοῦ, τουτέστιν ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ τῆς ἐνσάρκου παρουσίας, μείζων αὐτοῦ ἐστιν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ μετὰ ἑξάμηνον ἐγεννήθη ὁ σωτὴρ τῆς Ἰωάννου γεννήσεως, δῆλον ὅτι *, μείζων αὐτοῦ ὤν· ἦν γὰρ ἀεὶ καὶ ἔστιν. τίνι δὲ τοῦτο οὐ δῆλόν ἐστιν; ἄρα γοῦν ματαίως τὰ πάντα παρ' αὐτοῖς πεποιήτευται, ἀπὸ ἀγαθῶν εἰς φαῦλα μεταβεβλημένα. 8. Καὶ τὰ μὲν βιβλία αὐτῶν πολλά. ἐρωτήσεις γάρ τινας Μαρίας ἐκτίθενται, ἄλλοι δὲ εἰς τὸν προειρημένον Ἰαλδαβαὼθ εἰς ὄνομα τε τοῦ Σὴθ πολλὰ βιβλία ὑποτίθενται· ἀποκαλύψεις δὲ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἄλλα λέγουσιν, εὐαγγέλια δὲ ἕτερα εἰς ὄνομα τῶν μαθητῶν συγγράψασθαι τετολμήκασιν, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν σωτῆρα ἡμῶν καὶ κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν οὐκ αἰσχύνονται λέγειν ὅτι αὐτὸς ἀπεκάλυψε ταύτην τὴν αἰσχρουργίαν. ἐν γὰρ ταῖς ἐρωτήσεσι Μαρίας καλουμέναις μεγάλαις εἰσὶ γὰρ καὶ μικραὶ αὐτοῖς πεπλασμέναι ὑποτίθενται αὐτὸν αὐτῇ ἀποκαλύπτειν, παραλαβόντα αὐτὴν εἰς τὸ ὄρος καὶ εὐξάμενον καὶ ἐκβαλόντα ἐκ τῆς πλευρᾶς αὐτοῦ γυναῖκα καὶ ἀρξάμενον αὐτῇ ἐγκαταμίγνυσθαι, καὶ οὕτως δῆθεν τὴν ἀπόρροιαν αὐτοῦ μεταλαβόντα δεῖξαι ὅτι «δεῖ οὕτως ποιεῖν, ἵνα ζήσωμεν», καὶ ὡς τῆς Μαρίας ταραχθείσης καὶ πεσούσης χαμαὶ αὐτὸν πάλιν αὐτὴν ἐγείραντα εἰπεῖν αὐτῇ «ἵνα τί ἐδίστασας, ὀλιγόπιστε;» καί φασιν ὅτι τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ εἰρη1.285 μένον ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ, ὅτι «εἰ τὰ ἐπίγεια εἶπον ὑμῖν καὶ οὐ πιστεύετε, τὰ ἐπουράνια πῶς πιστεύσετε;» καὶ τό «ὅταν ἴδητε τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀνερχόμενον ὅπου ἦν τὸ πρότερον», τουτέστιν τὴν ἀπόρροιαν μεταλαμβανομένην ὅθεν καὶ ἐξῆλθεν, καὶ τὸ εἰπεῖν «ἐὰν μὴ φάγητέ μου τὴν σάρκα καὶ πίητέ μου τὸ αἷμα» καὶ τῶν μαθητῶν ταρασσομένων καὶ λεγόντων «τίς δύναται τοῦτο ἀκοῦσαι;» φασὶν ὡς περὶ τῆς αἰσχρότητος ἦν ὁ λόγος. διὸ καὶ ἐταράχθησαν καὶ ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω· οὔπω γὰρ ἦσαν, φησίν, ἐν πληρώματι ἐστερεωμένοι. καὶ τὸ εἰπεῖν τὸν ∆αυίδ «ἔσται ὡς τὸ ξύλον τὸ πεφυτευμένον παρὰ τὰς διεξόδους τῶν ὑδάτων, ὃ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ δώσει ἐν καιρῷ αὐτοῦ» περὶ τῆς αἰσχρότητος τοῦ ἀνδρός, φησί, λέγει. «ἐπὶ τὴν ἔξοδον τῶν ὑδάτων» καί «ὃ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ δώσει» τὴν τῆς ἡδονῆς ἀπόρροιαν, φησί, λέγει· καί «τὸ φύλλον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀπορρυήσεται», ὅτι οὐκ ἐῶμεν, φησίν, αὐτὸ χαμαὶ πεσεῖν, ἀλλὰ αὐτοὶ αὐτὸ ἐσθίομεν. 9. Καὶ ἵνα μὴ τὰς μαρτυρίας αὐτῶν ἐν μέσῳ φέρων βλάψω μᾶλλον ἤπερ ὠφελήσω, τούτου χάριν τὰ πολλὰ ὑπερβήσομαι, ἐπεὶ ἂν τὰ πάντα παρ' αὐτοῖς λεγόμενα κακῶς ἐνταῦθα παρατιθέμενος διηγόρευον. τὸ γὰρ εἰπεῖν, φησί, τεθεικέναι τὴν Ῥαὰβ κόκκινον ἐν τῇ θυρίδι οὐκ ἦν, φησί, κόκκινον, ἀλλὰ τὰ μόρια τῆς γυναικείας φύσεως καὶ τὸ κόκκινον αἷμα τῶν καταμηνίων λέγει, καὶ τὸ εἰπεῖν «πῖνε ὕδατα ἀπὸ σῶν ἀγγείων», περὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λέγει. φασὶ δὲ εἶναι τὴν σάρκα ἀπολλυμένην καὶ μὴ ἐγειρομένην, εἶναι δὲ ταύτην τοῦ ἄρχοντος. τὴν δὲ δύναμιν τὴν ἐν τοῖς καταμηνίοις καὶ ἐν ταῖς γοναῖς ψυχὴν εἶναί φασιν, ἣν συλλέγοντες ἐσθίομεν· καὶ ἅπερ ἡμεῖς 1.286 ἐσθίομεν, κρέα ἢ λάχανα ἢ ἄρτον ἢ εἴ τι ἕτερον, χάριν ποιοῦμεν ταῖς κτίσεσι, συλλέγοντες ἀπὸ πάντων τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ μεταφέροντες μεθ' ἑαυτῶν εἰς τὰ ἐπουράνια. διόπερ καὶ πάντων μεταλαμβάνουσι κρεῶν λέγοντες, ἵνα ἐλεήσωμεν τὸ γένος ἡμῶν. φάσκουσι δὲ τὴν αὐτὴν ψυχὴν εἶναι, ἔν τε τοῖς ζῴοις καὶ ἐν κνωδάλοις καὶ ἰχθύσι καὶ ὄφεσι καὶ ἀνθρώποις ἐγκατεσπάρθαι καὶ ἐν λαχάνοις καὶ ἐν δένδρεσι καὶ ἐν γεννήμασι.