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being for the most part occupied with a barbarian dialect, the art of words which we have not learned, nor the power of a writer which we have not practiced, nor elegance of diction, nor persuasiveness which we do not know, but simply and truly and in a common way, may you receive with love the things written to you with love, and you yourself will increase them in yourself, since you happen to be more capable than we are, as if receiving seeds and beginnings from us, and in the breadth of your mind you will bring to much fruit the things said by us in brief, and will powerfully present to those with you the things weakly declared by us. And as we have been zealous, when you long ago sought to learn their opinion, not only to make it plain to you, but also to give you the means for demonstrating it to be false, so also you will zealously minister to the rest, according to the grace given to you by the Lord, so that men may no longer be carried away by their plausible discourse, which is as follows. 1.401 For they say that there is in the invisible and unnameable heights a pre-existent perfect Aeon; and this they call Fore-Beginning and Fore-Father and Bythos. Since he is incomprehensible and invisible, eternal and unbegotten, he has been in great quiet and stillness in infinite ages of time; and co-existing with him was also Ennoia, whom they also name Charis and Sige. And at some time this Bythos thought to pro-ject from himself the beginning of all things, and this projection, which he thought to pro-ject, he deposited like a seed, as in a womb, in the co-existent Sige. And she, having received this seed and become pregnant, brought forth Nous, who was both similar and equal to the one who pro-jected him; and he alone comprehends the magnitude of the Father; and this Nous they also call Monogenes and Father and the beginning of all things. And with him Aletheia was also pro-jected; and this is the first and primal Pythagorean Tetrad, which they also call the root of all things. For there is Bythos and Sige, then Nous and Aletheia. And this Monogenes, perceiving for what purpose he was pro-jected, himself also pro-jected Logos and Zoe, the father of all who would come after him and the beginning and formation of the whole Pleroma; and from Logos and Zoe, Man and Ecclesia were pro-jected in a syzygy. And this is the primal Ogdoad, the root and substance of all things, called among them by four names, Bythos and Nous and Logos and Anthropos. For each of them is male-female, as follows: first the Fore-Father was united in a syzygy with his own Ennoia, and Monogenes, that is Nous, with Aletheia, and Logos with Zoe, and Anthropos with Ecclesia. 1.402 And these Aeons, having been pro-jected for the glory of the Father, and themselves wishing to glorify the Father through what was their own, put forth projections in syzygies; Logos and Zoe, after pro-jecting Man and Ecclesia, another ten Aeons, whose names they say are these: Bythios and Mixis, Ageratos and Henosis, Autophyes and Hedone, Acinetos and Syncrasis, Monogenes and Macaria. These are the ten Aeons, which they assert were pro-jected from Logos and Zoe. And Man himself, with Ecclesia, pro-jected twelve Aeons, to whom they grant these names: Paracletus and Pistis, Patricus and Elpis, Metricus and Agape, Aeinous and Synesis, Ecclesiasticus and Macariotes, Theletus and Sophia. These are the thirty Aeons of their error, which are kept in silence and are not known. This, according to them, is the invisible and spiritual Pleroma, divided three ways into an Ogdoad, a Decad, and a Dodecad. And for this reason, they say, the Savior—for they do not want to call him Lord—did nothing openly for thirty years, showing the mystery of these Aeons. But also in the parable of the laborers sent into the vineyard they say most clearly the

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βάρβαρον διάλεκτον τὸ πλεῖστον ἀσχολουμένων, λόγων τέχνην ἣν οὐκ ἐμάθομεν οὔτε δύναμιν συγγραφέως ἣν οὐκ ἠσκήσαμεν οὔτε καλλωπισμὸν λέξεων οὔτε πιθανότητα ἣν οὐκ οἴδαμεν, ἀλλὰ ἁπλῶς καὶ ἀληθῶς καὶ ἰδιωτικῶς τὰ μετὰ ἀγάπης σοὶ γραφέντα μετὰ ἀγάπης σὺ προσδέξῃ καὶ αὐτὸς αὐξήσεις αὐτὰ παρὰ σεαυτῷ ἅτε ἱκανώτερος ἡμῶν τυγχάνων, οἱονεὶ σπέρματα καὶ ἀρχὰς λαβὼν παρ' ἡμῶν, καὶ ἐν τῷ πλάτει σοῦ τοῦ νοῦ ἐπὶ πολὺ καρποφορήσεις τὰ δι' ὀλίγων ὑφ' ἡμῶν εἰρημένα καὶ δυνατῶς παραστήσεις τοῖς μετὰ σοῦ τὰ ἀσθενῶς ὑφ' ἡμῶν ἀπηγγελμένα. καὶ ὡς ἡμεῖς ἐφιλοτιμήθημεν, πάλαι ζητοῦντός σου μαθεῖν τὴν γνώμην αὐτῶν, μὴ μόνον σοὶ ποιῆσαι φανεράν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐφόδια δοῦναι πρὸς τὸ ἐπιδεικνύειν αὐτὴν ψευδῆ, οὕτως δὲ καὶ σὺ φιλοτίμως τοῖς λοιποῖς διακονήσεις, κατὰ τὴν χάριν τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου σοὶ διδομένην, εἰς τὸ μηκέτι παρασύρεσθαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ὑπὸ τῆς ἐκείνων πιθανολογίας, οὔσης τοιαύτης. 1.401 Λέγουσιν γάρ τινα εἶναι ἐν ἀοράτοις καὶ ἀκατονομάστοις ὑψώμασι τέλειον Αἰῶνα προόντα· τοῦτον δὲ καὶ Προαρχὴν καὶ Προπάτορα καὶ Βυθὸν καλοῦσιν. ὑπάρχοντα δ' αὐτὸν ἀχώρητον καὶ ἀόρατον, ἀίδιόν τε καὶ ἀγέννητον, ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ καὶ ἠρεμίᾳ πολλῇ γεγονέναι ἐν ἀπείροις αἰῶσι χρόνων· συνυπάρχειν δ' αὐτῷ καὶ Ἔννοιαν, ἣν δὴ καὶ Χάριν καὶ Σιγὴν ὀνομάζουσι καὶ ποτὲ ἐννοηθῆναι ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ προβαλέσθαι τὸν Βυθὸν τοῦτον ἀρχὴν τῶν πάντων, καὶ καθάπερ σπέρμα τὴν προβολὴν ταύτην, ἣν προβαλέσθαι ἐνενοήθη, καὶ καταθέσθαι ὡς ἐν μήτρᾳ ἐν τῇ συνυπαρχούσῃ ἑαυτῷ Σιγῇ. ταύτην δὲ ὑποδεξαμένην τὸ σπέρμα τοῦτο καὶ ἐγκύμονα γενομένην ἀποκυῆσαι Νοῦν, ὅμοιόν τε καὶ ἴσον τῷ προβαλόντι· καὶ μόνον χωροῦντα τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πατρός· τὸν δὲ Νοῦν τοῦτον καὶ Μονογενῆ καλοῦσι καὶ Πατέρα καὶ ἀρχὴν τῶν πάντων. συμπροβεβλῆσθαι δὲ αὐτῷ Ἀλήθειαν καὶ εἶναι ταύτην πρώτην καὶ ἀρχέγονον Πυθαγορικὴν τετρακτύν, ἣν καὶ ῥίζαν τῶν πάντων καλοῦσιν. ἔστιν γὰρ Βυθὸς καὶ Σιγή, ἔπειτα Νοῦς καὶ Ἀλήθεια. αἰσθόμενον δὲ τὸν Μονογενῆ τοῦτον ἐφ' οἷς προεβλήθη, προβαλεῖν καὶ αὐτὸν Λόγον καὶ Ζωήν, πατέρα πάντων τῶν μετ' αὐτὸν ἐσομένων καὶ ἀρχὴν καὶ μόρφωσιν παντὸς τοῦ Πληρώματος· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Λόγου καὶ τῆς Ζωῆς προβεβλῆσθαι κατὰ συζυγίαν Ἄνθρωπον καὶ Ἐκκλησίαν. καὶ εἶναι ταύτην ἀρχέγονον Ὀγδοάδα, ῥίζανκαὶ ὑπόστασιν τῶν πάντων, τέτρασιν ὀνόμασι παρ' αὐτοῖς καλουμένην, Βυθῷ καὶ Νῷ καὶ Λόγῳ καὶ Ἀνθρώπῳ. εἶναι γὰρ αὐτῶν ἕκαστον ἀρρενόθηλυν, οὕτως· πρῶτον τὸν Προπάτορα ἡνῶσθαι κατὰ συζυγίαν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ Ἐννοίᾳ, τὸν δὲ Μονογενῆ τουτέστιν τὸν Νοῦν τῇ Ἀληθείᾳ, τὸν δὲ Λόγον τῇ Ζωῇ καὶ τὸν Ἄνθρωπον τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ. 1.402 Τούτους δὲ τοὺς Αἰῶνας εἰς δόξαν τοῦ Πατρὸς προβεβλημένους, βουληθέντας καὶ αὐτοὺς διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου δοξάσαι τὸν Πατέρα, προβαλεῖν προβολὰς ἐν συζυγίᾳ· τὸν μὲν Λόγον καὶ τὴν Ζωὴν μετὰ τὸ προβαλέσθαι τὸν Ἄνθρωπον καὶ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἄλλους δέκα Αἰῶνας, ὧν τὰ ὀνόματα λέγουσι ταῦτα· Βύθιος καὶ Μῖξις, Ἀγήρατος καὶ Ἕνωσις, Αὐτοφυὴς καὶ Ἡδονή, Ἀκίνητος καὶ Σύγκρασις, Μονογενὴς καὶ Μακαρία. οὗτοι οἱ δέκα Αἰῶνες, οὓς φάσκουσιν ἐκ Λόγου καὶ Ζωῆς προβεβλῆσθαι. τὸν δὲ Ἄνθρωπον καὶ αὐτὸν προβαλεῖν μετὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας Αἰῶνας δώδεκα, οἷς ταῦτα τὰ ὀνόματα χαρίζονται· Παράκλητος καὶ Πίστις, Πατρικὸς καὶ Ἐλπίς, Μητρικὸς καὶ Ἀγάπη, Ἀείνους καὶ Σύνεσις, Ἐκκλησιαστικὸς και Μακαριότης, Θελητὸς καὶ Σοφία. Οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ τριάκοντα Αἰῶνες τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶν, οἱ σεσιγημένοι καὶ μὴ γινωσκόμενοι. τοῦτο τὸ ἀόρατον καὶ πνευματικὸν κατ' αὐτοὺς Πλήρωμα, τριχῆ διεσταμένον εἰς ὀγδοάδα καὶ δεκάδα καὶ δωδεκάδα. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὸν σωτῆρα λέγουσιν οὐδὲ γὰρ κύριον ὀνομάζειν αὐτὸν θέλουσι τριάκοντα ἔτεσι κατὰ τὸ φανερὸν μηδὲν πεποιηκέναι, ἐπιδεικνύντα τὸ μυστήριον τούτων τῶν Αἰώνων. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς παραβολῆς τῶν εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα πεμπομένων ἐργατῶν φασι φανερώτατα τοὺς