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And some of them, called Phibionites, offer their shameful sacrifices of fornication, which we have mentioned before here, under three hundred and sixty-five names, which they themselves invented for their supposed archons, mocking the silly women and saying: "Have intercourse with me, so that I may offer you up to the archon." And with each act of intercourse they name some barbaric name of one of their invented beings, and supposedly they pray, saying: "I offer to you, so-and-so, so that you may offer to so-and-so." And in the next act of intercourse, he again in the same way pretends to offer to another, so that he in turn may offer to another. And until he ascends, or rather descends, three hundred and sixty-five falls of lechery, with each one he invokes some name while performing such an act. And he begins again to descend through the same ones, performing the same shameful acts and mocking the deceived women. Therefore, when he has driven to such a mass of seven hundred and thirty falls, I mean of shameful acts of intercourse and of their invented names, then at last such a man dares to say: "I am the Christ, since I have descended from above through the names of the 365 archons." 10. And they say that the names of the greater archons according to them are these 1.287, mentioning many: in the first heaven is the archon Iao, and in the second, he says, is Saklas, the archon of fornication, and in the third the archon Seth, and in the fourth he says is David. For they suppose a fourth heaven and a third, and another fifth heaven, in which they say is Eloaios, who is also Adonaios. And in the sixth, some say is Ialdabaoth, but others Elilaios. And they suppose another, a seventh heaven, in which they say is Sabaoth; but others say no, but Ialdabaoth is in the seventh. And in the eighth heaven the one called Barbelo and the father of all and lord, the same self-father and another self-begotten Christ and this Christ who descended and showed this knowledge to men, whom they also call Jesus; and that he was not born of Mary, but shown through Mary. And that he did not take on flesh, but was only an appearance. And some say that Sabaoth has the form of a donkey, 1.288 and others of a pig; for which reason, he says, he commanded the Jews not to eat pork. And that he is the maker of heaven and earth and of the heavens after him and of his own angels. And that the soul, in its departure from here, passes through these archons, and it cannot pass through unless one has been in the fullness of this knowledge, or rather, condemnation, and being sated, should escape the hands of the archons and the authorities. And that the archon who holds this world is serpent-shaped, and devours the souls that are not in knowledge and through his tail returns them again to the world, here into pigs and into other animals * and again brought up through the same things. But if someone, he says, comes to be in this knowledge and gathers himself from the world through the menstrual fluids and through the flow of desire, he is no longer held here, but passes beyond the aforementioned archons. And they say they come to Sabaoth and trample on his head, blaspheming with unbridled tongue, and so pass beyond to the upper region, where the mother of the living, Barbero or also Barbelo, is, and in this way the soul is saved. And these wretched people say that Sabaoth also has hair like a woman, thinking that the name Sabaoth is some archon, not knowing that where it says, "thus says the Lord Sabaoth," it did not state the name of someone, but a name of doxology of the divinity. For Sabaoth is interpreted from the Hebrew dialect as "Lord of hosts"; for wherever in the Old Testament the name Sabaoth is written, it signifies power, whence Aquila everywhere interprets "Adonai Sabaoth," saying

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καὶ οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν Φιβιωνῖται καλούμενοι ἀναφέρουσι τὰς αἰσχρὰς αὐτῶν θυσίας τὰς τῆς πορνείας, τὰς ὑφ' ἡμῶν ἐνταῦθα προειρημένας, ὀνόμασι τριακοσίοις ἑξήκοντα πέντε, οἷς αὐτοὶ ἔπλασαν ἀρχόντων δῆθεν, ἐμπαίζοντες τοῖς γυναικαρίοις καὶ λέγοντες· μίγηθι μετ' ἐμοῦ, ἵνα σε ἀνενέγκω πρὸς τὸν ἄρχοντα. καθ' ἑκάστην δὲ μῖξιν ὀνομάζουσιν ἑνὸς ὄνομά τινος βάρβαρον τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς πεπλασμένων, καὶ δῆθεν εὔχονται λέγοντες· προσφέρω σοὶ τῷ δεῖνι, ἵνα προσενέγκῃς τῷ δεῖνι. τῇ δὲ ἄλλῃ μίξει πάλιν ἄλλῳ ὑποτίθεται ὡσαύτως προσφέρειν, ἵνα καὶ αὐτὸς τῷ ἄλλῳ. καὶ ἕως ἀνέλθῃ, μᾶλλον δὲ κατέλθῃ τριακοσίας ἑξήκοντα πέντε πτώσεις τῆς λαγνείας, καθ' ἑκάστην ὄνομά τι ἐπικαλεῖται τὸ τοιοῦτο ἐργαζόμενος. καὶ ἄρχεται πάλιν κατιέναι διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν, τὰ αὐτὰ αἰσχρὰ ἐπιτελῶν καὶ ἐμπαίζων ταῖς ἠπατημέναις. ὅταν οὖν εἰς τοσοῦτον ὄγκον ἐλάσῃ ἀριθμοῦ ἑπτακοσίων τριάκοντα πτώσεων, λέγω δὴ μίξεων αἰσχρῶν καὶ ὀνομάτων τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς πεπλασμένων, τότε λοιπὸν τολμᾷ ὁ τοιοῦτος καὶ λέγει· «ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Χριστός, ἐπειδὴ ἄνωθεν καταβέβηκα διὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων τῶν ˉτˉξˉε ἀρχόντων.» 10. Τὰ δὲ τῶν μειζόνων κατ' αὐτοὺς ἀρχόντων ὀνόματα ταῦτα 1.287 εἶναι λέγουσι, πολλοὺς λέγοντες· ἐν μὲν τῷ πρώτῳ οὐρανῷ εἶναι τὸν Ἰαὼ ἄρχοντα, καὶ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ φησὶν εἶναι τὸν Σακλᾶν ἄρχοντα τῆς πορνείας, ἐν δὲ τῷ τρίτῳ τὸν Σὴθ ἄρχοντα, ἐν δὲ τῷ τετάρτῳ εἶναί φησι τὸν ∆αυίδην. τέταρτον γὰρ ὑποτίθενται οὐρανὸν καὶ τρίτον, πέμπτον δὲ ἄλλον οὐρανόν, ἐν ᾧ φασιν εἶναι τὸν Ἐλωαῖον τὸν καὶ Ἀδωναῖον. ἐν δὲ τῷ ἕκτῳ φασὶν εἶναι οἱ μὲν τὸν Ἰαλδαβαώθ, οἱ δὲ τὸν Ἠλιλαῖον. ἄλλον δὲ ἕβδομον οὐρανὸν ὑποτίθενται, ἐν ᾧ λέγουσιν εἶναι τὸν Σαβαώθ· ἄλλοι δὲ λέγουσιν οὐχί, ἀλλ' ὁ Ἰαλδαβαώθ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ ἑβδόμῳ. ἐν δὲ τῷ ὀγδόῳ οὐρανῷ τὴν Βαρβηλὼ καλουμένην καὶ τὸν πατέρα τῶν ὅλων καὶ κύριον τὸν αὐτὸν αὐτοπάτορα καὶ Χριστὸν ἄλλον αὐτολόχευτον καὶ Χριστὸν τοῦτον τὸν κατελθόντα καὶ δείξαντα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ταύτην τὴν γνῶσιν, ὃν καὶ Ἰησοῦν φασιν· μὴ εἶναι δὲ αὐτὸν ἀπὸ Μαρίας γεγεννημένον, ἀλλὰ διὰ Μαρίας δεδειγμένον. σάρκα δὲ αὐτὸν μὴ εἰληφέναι, ἀλλ' ἢ μόνον δόκησιν εἶναι. φασὶ δὲ τὸν Σαβαὼθ οἱ μὲν ὄνου μορφὴν 1.288 ἔχειν, οἱ δὲ χοίρου· διόπερ ἐνετείλατο, φησί, τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις χοῖρον μὴ ἐσθίειν. εἶναι δὲ αὐτὸν ποιητὴν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς καὶ τῶν μετ' αὐτὸν οὐρανῶν καὶ ἀγγέλων τῶν ἑαυτοῦ. τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν ἐν τῷ ἐξέρχεσθαι ἐντεῦθεν διαβαίνειν διὰ τῶν ἀρχόντων τούτων, μὴ δύνασθαι δὲ διαπερᾶσαι, εἰ μή τι ἄν τις τῆς γνώσεως ταύτης, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς καταγνώσεως, ἐν πληρώματι γένηται καὶ ἐμφορηθεὶς διαδράσειε τῶν ἀρχόντων καὶ τῶν ἐξουσιῶν τὰς χεῖρας. εἶναι δὲ δρακοντοειδῆ τὸν ἄρχοντα τὸν κατέχοντα τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον, καὶ καταπίνοντα μὲν τὰς ψυχὰς τὰς μὴ ἐν γνώσει ὑπαρχούσας καὶ διὰ τῆς κέρκου πάλιν ἐπιστρέφοντα εἰς τὸν κόσμον, ἐνταῦθα εἰς χοίρους καὶ εἰς ἄλλα ζῷα * καὶ πάλιν διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν ἀναφερομένας. εἰ δέ τις, φησίν, ἐν τῇ γνώσει γένηται ταύτῃ καὶ συλλέξῃ ἑαυτὸν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου διὰ τῶν ἐμμηνίων καὶ διὰ τῆς ῥύσεως τῆς ἐπιθυμίας, μηκέτι ἐνταῦθα κατέχεσθαι αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ ὑπερβαίνειν τοὺς προειρημένους ἄρχοντας. ἔρχεσθαι δέ φασι παρὰ τὸν Σαβαὼθ καὶ πατεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, ἀθυρογλώττως βλασφημοῦντες, καὶ οὕτως ὑπερβαίνειν εἰς τὸ ἄνω μέρος, ὅπου ἡ μήτηρ τῶν ζώντων ἡ Βαρβηρὼ ἤτοι καὶ Βαρβηλώ, καὶ οὕτως τὴν ψυχὴν σῴζεσθαι. ἔχειν δὲ καὶ τρίχας ὡς γυναικὸς τὸν Σαβαὼθ λέγουσιν οἱ τάλανες, νομίζοντες τὸ ὄνομα τὸ Σαβαὼθ ἄρχοντά τινα εἶναι, οὐκ εἰδότες ὅτι ὅπου λέγει «τάδε λέγει κύριος Σαβαώθ», οὐκ ὄνομά τινος εἶπεν, ἀλλ' ὄνομα δοξολογίας τῆς θεότητος. Σαβαὼθ γὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑβραϊκῆς διαλέκτου κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων· ὅπου γὰρ ἐν τῇ παλαιᾷ διαθήκῃ τὸ Σαβαὼθ ὄνομά ἐστι γεγραμμένον, δύναμιν ὑποφαίνει, ὅθεν ὁ Ἀκύλας πανταχοῦ τὸ «Ἀδωναῒ Σαβαώθ» ἑρμηνεύει λέγων