98

Conductor. These were named sons of the Mediety. But I want you to know: Ampsiou Abraan Boukoua Thardouou Ouboukoua Thardeddein Merexa Atar Barba Oudouak Estēn OudououakEslēn Amphain Essoumen Ouananin Lamertarde Athames Soumin Allōr Koubiatha Danadaria Dammō Ōrēn Lanaphek Oudinphek Emphiboche BarraAssiou Ache Belim Dexariche Masemōn. And let these things, quoted in part from their own books, be said by me up to this point. This man also made his proclamation in Egypt from where indeed his seed still remains in Egypt like the remains of a viper's bones, both in the Athribite and Prosopite and Arsinoite nomes and the Thebaid and the lower parts of the Paralia and Alexandreiopolites; 1.396 but he also went up to Rome and preached. But having come to Cyprus, † having suffered shipwreck, so to speak, physically by nature, he departed from the faith and was turned in his mind. For before this he was thought to have a share of piety and right faith in the aforesaid places. But in Cyprus he finally drove on to the extreme of impiety and plunged himself into this wickedness proclaimed by him. And both he and his followers call our Lord Jesus Christ, as I said, also Savior and Christ and Word and Cross and Conductor and Boundary-Setter and Boundary. And they say that he brought the body down from above and passed through Mary the virgin as water through a pipe, having taken nothing from the virginal womb, but having the body from above, as I said before. And that he is not the first Word nor the Christ after the Word who is above in the upper Aeons, but they claim that this one was projected for no other reason than only to come and save the spiritual race from above. But they deny the resurrection of the dead, asserting something fab1.397 ulous and nonsensical, that this body does not rise, but another from it, which they indeed call spiritual; and only of those among them who are spiritual and of the others who are called psychic *, if at least the psychics should act righteously, but that those called hylic and carnal and earthy perish completely and are not saved at all. And that each substance goes to its own projectors, the hylic being given over to matter and the carnal and earthy to the earth. For they want there to be three orders of men, spiritual, psychic, and carnal, and they call themselves the spiritual order, as also gnostics, and as not being in need of labor but only of the knowledge and of the words of their mysteries. And that each of them does anything whatsoever without fear and is concerned about nothing; for they say that their order, being spiritual, will in any case be saved. But the other order of men in the world, which they call psychic, is not able to be saved on its own, unless it should save itself by labor and righteous action. But they say that the hylic order of men in the world is neither able to contain knowledge nor to receive it, even if one originating from this order should wish to, but that it perishes together with both soul and body. But that their own order, being spiritual, is saved with another body, being some inner one, which they imagine and call a spiritual body. But that the psychics, having labored 1.398 much and having ascended above the Demiurge, will be given above to the angels who are with Christ, bringing up nothing of their bodies, but only their souls, found in the pleroma of their knowledge and having gone beyond the Demiurge, are given to the angels with Christ as brides. 8. Such is the tragedy according to them, although it contains more than these things; but I have dictated only those things which I considered by nature necessary to come to light, as the † knowledge came to us; both from where it originated and in what times it existed and from

98

Μεταγωγεύς. οὗτοι τῆς Μεσότητος ὠνομάσθησαν υἱοί. βούλομαι δὲ ὑμᾶς γινώσκειν· Ἀμψίου Αὐραὰν Βουκοῦα Θαρδουοῦ Οὐβουκοῦα Θαρδεδδεὶν Μερεξὰ Ἀτὰρ Βαρβὰ Οὐδουὰκ Ἐστὴν ΟὐδουουὰκἘσλὴν Ἀμφαὶν Ἐσσουμὲν Οὐανανὶν Λαμερτάρδε Ἀθαμὲς Σουμὶν Ἀλλωρ Κουβιαθὰ ∆αναδαρία ∆αμμὼ Ὠρὴν Λαναφὲκ Οὐδινφὲκ Ἐμφιβοχὲ ΒάρραἈσσίου Ἀχὲ Βελὶμ ∆εξαριχὲ Μασεμών. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἀπὸ μέρους ἐκ τῶν βιβλίων αὐτῶν παρατεθέντα ἕως ὧδέ μοι εἰρήσθω. Ἐποιήσατο δὲ οὗτος τὸ κήρυγμα καὶ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ὅθεν δὴ καὶ ὡς λείψανα ἐχίδνης ὀστέων ἔτι ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ περιλείπεται τούτου ἡ σπορά, ἔν τε τῷ Ἀθριβίτῃ καὶ Προσωπίτῃ καὶ Ἀρσινοΐτῃ καὶ Θηβαΐδι καὶ τοῖς κάτω μέρεσι τῆς Παραλίας καὶ Ἀλεξανδρειοπολίτῃ· 1.396 ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν Ῥώμῃ ἀνελθὼν κεκήρυχεν. εἰς Κύπρον δὲ ἐληλυθώς, † ὡς ναυάγιον ὑποστὰς φύσει σωματικῶς, τῆς πίστεως ἐξέστη καὶ τὸν νοῦν ἐξετράπη. ἐνομίζετο γὰρ πρὸ τούτου μέρος ἔχειν εὐσεβείας καὶ ὀρθῆς πίστεως ἐν τοῖς προειρημένοις τόποις. ἐν δὲ τῇ Κύπρῳ λοιπὸν εἰς ἔσχατον ἀσεβείας ἐλήλακεν καὶ ἐβάθυνεν ἑαυτὸν ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ καταγγελλομένῃ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ μοχθηρίᾳ. λέγει δὲ αὐτός τε καὶ οἱ αὐτοῦ τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν. ὡς ἔφην, καὶ Σωτῆρα καὶ Χριστὸν καὶ Λόγον καὶ Σταυρὸν καὶ Μεταγωγέα καὶ Ὁροθέτην καὶ Ὅρον. φασὶ δὲ ἄνωθεν κατενηνοχέναι τὸ σῶμα καὶ ὡς διὰ σωλῆνος ὕδωρ διὰ Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου διεληλυθέναι, μηδὲν δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς παρθενικῆς μήτρας εἰληφέναι, ἀλλὰ ἄνωθεν τὸ σῶμα ἔχειν, ὡς προεῖπον. μὴ εἶναι δὲ αὐτὸν τὸν πρῶτον Λόγον μηδὲ τὸν μετὰ τὸν Λόγον Χριστὸν τὸν ἄνω ὄντα ἐν τοῖς ἄνω Αἰῶσι, ἀλλὰ τοῦτον φάσκουσι προβεβλῆσθαι δι' οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ μόνον εἰς τὸ ἐλθεῖν καὶ ἀνασῶσαι τὸ γένος τὸ ἄνωθεν πνευματικόν. τὴν δὲ τῶν νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν ἀπαρνοῦνται, φάσκοντές τι μυ1.397 θῶδες καὶ ληρῶδες, μὴ τὸ σῶμα τοῦτο ἀνίστασθαι, ἀλλ' ἕτερον μὲν ἐξ αὐτοῦ, ὃ δὴ πνευματικὸν καλοῦσι· μόνων δὲ ἐκείνων τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς πνευματικῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ψυχικῶν καλουμένων *, ἐάν γε οἱ ψυχικοὶ δικαιοπραγήσειαν, τοὺς δὲ ὑλικοὺς καὶ σαρκικοὺς καὶ γηΐνους καλουμένους παντάπασιν ἀπόλλυσθαι καὶ μηδ' ὅλως σῴζεσθαι. χωρεῖν δὲ ἑκάστην οὐσίαν πρὸς τοὺς ἰδίους αὐτῆς προβολέας, τὴν μὲν ὑλικὴν τῇ ὕλῃ ἐκδιδομένην καὶ τὸ σαρκικὸν καὶ γήϊνον τῇ γῇ. τρία γὰρ τάγματα βούλονται εἶναι ἀνθρώπων, πνευματικῶν ψυχικῶν σαρκικῶν, τὸ δὲ τάγμα τὸ πνευματικὸν ἑαυτοὺς λέγουσιν, ὥσπερ καὶ γνωστικούς, καὶ μήτε καμάτου ἐπιδεομένους ἢ μόνον τῆς γνώσεως καὶ τῶν ἐπιρρημάτων τῶν αὐτῶν μυστηρίων. πᾶν δὲ ὁτιοῦν ποιεῖν ἀδεῶς ἕκαστον αὐτῶν καὶ μηδὲν πεφροντικέναι· ἐξ ἅπαντος γάρ φασι σωθήσεσθαι πνευματικὸν ὂν τὸ αὐτῶν τάγμα. τὸ δὲ ἕτερον τάγμα τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν κόσμῳ, ὅπερ ψυχικὸν καλοῦσιν, ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ σῴζεσθαι μὴ δυνάμενον, εἰ μή τι ἂν καμάτῳ καὶ δικαιοπραγίᾳ ἑαυτὸ ἀνασώσειε. τὸ δὲ ὑλικὸν τάγμα τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἀνθρώπων μήτε δύνασθαι χωρεῖν τὴν γνῶσίν φασι μήτε δέχεσθαι ταύτην, κἂν θέλοι ὁ ἐκ τούτου τοῦ τάγματος ὁρμώμενος, ἀπόλλυσθαι δὲ ἅμα σὺν ψυχῇ καὶ σώματι. τὸ δὲ ἑαυτῶν τάγμα πνευματικὸν ὂν σῴζεσθαι σὺν σώματι ἄλλῳ, ἐνδοτέρῳ τινὶ ὄντι, ὅπερ αὐτοὶ σῶμα πνευματικὸν καλοῦσι φανταζόμενοι. τοὺς δὲ ψυχικοὺς κεκμη1.398 κότας πολὺ καὶ ὑπεραναβεβηκότας τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν ἄνω δοθήσεσθαι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις τοῖς ἅμα Χριστῷ οὖσιν, οὐδέν τι τῶν σωμάτων ἀνακομιζομένους, ἀλλὰ μόνον τὰς ψυχὰς ἐν πληρώματι εὑρεθείσας τῆς αὐτῶν γνώσεως καὶ τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν ὑπερβεβηκυίας δίδοσθαι τοῖς μετὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀγγέλοις εἰς νύμφας. 8. Τοιαύτη ἐστὶν ἡ κατ' αὐτοὺς τραγῳδία, ἔχουσα μὲν καὶ πλείω τούτων· ἐγὼ δὲ μόνον ἅτινα φύσει ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι ἡγησάμην εἰς τοὐμφανὲς ἐλθεῖν, ταῦθ' ὑπηγόρευσα, ὡς ἡ εἰς ἡμᾶς † γνῶσις ἦλθεν· τὸ πόθεν τε ὡρμᾶτο ἐν ποίοις δὲ καιροῖς ὑπῆρχεν καὶ ἀπὸ