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that these thirty Aeons have been revealed. For some are sent around the first hour, some around the third, some around the sixth, some around the ninth, and others around the eleventh; therefore, the aforementioned hours, when added together, complete the number thirty. For one and three and six and nine and eleven become thirty. And through the hours they wish the Aeons to have been revealed. And these are the great and wonderful and secret mysteries, which they themselves bear as fruit, and if there is anything spoken among the many in the scriptures that they could adapt and liken to their own fiction. 11. They say, then, that their Progenitor is known only to the Only-begotten who came from him, that is, to the Mind, but to all the rest he is invisible and incomprehensible. And only the Mind, according to them, was delighted in contemplating the Father and, comprehending his immeasurable greatness, 1.403 rejoiced. And he intended to communicate to the other Aeons the greatness of the Father, how great and of what sort he was, and how he was without beginning and uncontained and incomprehensible to sight; but Silence restrained him by the will of the Father, because he wished to lead them all to a conception and desire of seeking their aforesaid Progenitor. And the other Aeons, in like manner, quietly longed to see the procreator of their seed and to investigate the root without beginning. But the very last and youngest Aeon of the twelve that were projected by Man and Church, that is, Wisdom, rushed forward and suffered a passion without the intercourse of her consort, Theletus, which began among those around Mind and Truth but came to rest on this one who had gone astray, on the pretext of love, but † in audacity, because she had no communion with the perfect Father, as Mind also had. The passion was a search for the Father; for she wished, as they say, to comprehend his greatness. Then, being unable to, because she had attempted an impossible thing, and being in a very great agony on account of the magnitude of the depth and the unsearchable nature of the Father and her affection for him, always stretching forward by his sweetness, she would have at last been swallowed up and dissolved into the whole substance, if she had not encountered the power that supports and guards all things outside the ineffable greatness. And this power they also call Boundary, by which she was checked and strengthened and, having with difficulty returned to herself and been persuaded that the Father is incomprehensible, she laid aside her former thought along with the passion that resulted from that astounding wonder. 12. But some of them mythologize the passion of Sophia and her return thus: that having attempted an impossible and incomprehensible thing 1.404 she brought forth a formless substance, such as a female by nature was able to bring forth; and when she perceived it, first she was grieved on account of the imperfection of the birth, then she was afraid lest this being itself should have an end; then she was distraught and at a loss, seeking the cause and in what way she might hide what had been produced. And being overcome by these passions, she undertook a return and tried to run back to the Father, and having dared for a time, she grew weak and became a suppliant of the Father. And the other Aeons pleaded with her, especially the Mind. From these things, they say, the substance of matter had its first beginning, from ignorance and grief and fear and astonishment. And the Father, upon these things, projects the aforesaid Boundary through the Only-begotten in his own image, without a consort and without female; for they wish the Father to be sometimes with the consortship of Silence, and at other times to be above both male and female. And this Boundary they also call Cross and Redeemer and Fructifier and Demarcator and Conductor. And through this Boundary, they say, Sophia was purified and strengthened and restored to her consortship. For when her Thought was separated from her

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τριάκοντα τούτους Αἰῶνας μεμηνῦσθαι. πέμπονται γὰρ οἱ μὲν περὶ πρώτην ὥραν, οἱ δὲ περὶ τρίτην, οἱ δὲ περὶ ἕκτην, οἱ δὲ περὶ ἐνάτην, ἄλλοι δὲ περὶ ἑνδεκάτην· συντιθέμεναι οὖν αἱ προειρημέναι ὧραι εἰς αὑτὰς τὸν τῶν τριάκοντα ἀριθμὸν ἀναπληροῦσι. μία γὰρ καὶ τρεῖς καὶ ἓξ καὶ ἐννέα καὶ ἕνδεκα τριάκοντα γίνονται. διὰ δὲ τῶν ὡρῶν τοὺς Αἰῶνας μεμηνῦσθαι θέλουσι. καὶ ταῦτ' εἶναι τὰ μεγάλα καὶ θαυμαστὰ καὶ ἀπόρρητα μυστήρια, ἃ καρποφοροῦσιν αὐτοί, καὶ εἴ πού τι τῶν ἐν πλήθει εἰρημένων ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς δυνηθείη προσαρμόσαι καὶ εἰκάσαι τῷ πλάσματι αὐτῶν. 11. Τὸν μὲν οὖν Προπάτορα αὐτῶν γινώσκεσθαι μόνῳ λέγουσι τῷ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγονότι Μονογενεῖ τουτέστιν τῷ Νῷ, τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς πᾶσιν ἀόρατον καὶ ἀκατάληπτον ὑπάρχειν. μόνος δὲ ὁ Νοῦς κατ' αὐτοὺς ἐτέρπετο θεωρῶν τὸν Πατέρα καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τὸ ἀμέτρητον αὐτοῦ κατανοῶν 1.403 ἠγάλλετο. καὶ διενοεῖτο καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς Αἰῶσιν ἀνακοινώσασθαι τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ Πατρός, ἡλίκος τε καὶ ὅσος ὑπῆρχεν, καὶ ὡς ἦν ἄναρχός τε καὶ ἀχώρητος καὶ οὐ καταληπτὸς ἰδεῖν· κατέσχεν δὲ αὐτὸν ἡ Σιγὴ βουλήσει τοῦ Πατρὸς διὰ τὸ θέλειν πάντας αὐτοὺς εἰς ἔννοιαν καὶ πόθον ζητήσεως τοῦ προειρημένου Προπάτορος αὐτῶν ἀναγαγεῖν. καὶ οἱ μὲν λοιποὶ ὁμοίως Αἰῶνες ἡσυχῆ πως ἐπεπόθουν τὸν προβολέα τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτῶν ἰδεῖν καὶ τὴν ἄναρχον ῥίζαν ἱστορῆσαι. προήλατο δὲ ὁ πολὺ τελευταῖος καὶ νεώτατος τῆς δωδεκάδος τῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας προβεβλημένης Αἰὼν τουτέστιν ἡ Σοφία καὶ ἔπαθε πάθος ἄνευ τῆς ἐπιπλοκῆς τοῦ συζύγου τοῦ Θελητοῦ, ὃ ἐνήρξατο μὲν ἐν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Νοῦν καὶ τὴν Ἀλήθειαν ἀπέσκηψε δὲ εἰς τοῦτον τὸν παρατραπέντα, προφάσει μὲν ἀγάπης † τόλμης δέ, διὰ τὸ μὴ κεκοινωνῆσθαι τῷ Πατρὶ τῷ τελείῳ, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Νοῦς. τὸ δὲ πάθος εἶναι ζήτησιν τοῦ Πατρός· ἤθελε γάρ, ὡς λέγουσι, τὸ μέγεθος αὐτοῦ καταλαβεῖν. ἔπειτα μὴ δυνηθέντα διὰ τὸ ἀδυνάτῳ ἐπιβαλεῖν πράγματι καὶ ἐν πολλῷ πάνυ ἀγῶνι γενόμενον διά τε τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ βάθους καὶ τὸ ἀνεξιχνίαστον τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν στοργήν, ἐκτεινόμενον ἀεὶ ἐπὶ τὸ πρόσθεν ὑπὸ τῆς γλυκύτητος αὐτοῦ τελευταῖον ἂν καταπεπόσθαι καὶ ἀναλελύσθαι εἰς τὴν ὅλην οὐσίαν, εἰ μὴ τῇ στηριζούσῃ καὶ ἐκτὸς τοῦ ἀρρήτου μεγέθους φυλασσούσῃ τὰ ὅλα συνέτυχε δυνάμει. ταύτην δὲ τὴν δύναμιν καὶ Ὅρον καλοῦσιν, ὑφ' ἧς ἐπεσχῆσθαι καὶ ἐστηρίχθαι καὶ μόγις ἐπιστρέψαντα εἰς ἑαυτὸν καὶ πεισθέντα, ὅτι ἀκατάληπτός ἐστιν ὁ Πατήρ, ἀποθέσθαι τὴν προτέραν ἐνθύμησιν σὺν τῷ ἐπιγενομένῳ πάθει ἐκ τοῦ ἐκπλήκτου ἐκείνου θαύματος. 12. Ἔνιοι δὲ αὐτῶν οὕτως τὸ πάθος τῆς Σοφίας καὶ τὴν ἐπιστροφὴν μυθολογοῦσιν· ἀδυνάτῳ καὶ ἀκαταλήπτῳ πράγματι αὐτὴν ἐπι1.404 χειρήσασαν τεκεῖν οὐσίαν ἄμορφον, οἵαν φύσιν εἶχεν θήλεια τεκεῖν· ἣν καὶ κατανοήσασαν πρῶτον μὲν λυπηθῆναι διὰ τὸ ἀτελὲς τῆς γενέσεως, ἔπειτα φοβηθῆναι μήτι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ εἶναι τέλος ἔχῃ· εἶτα ἐκστῆναι καὶ ἀπορῆσαι, ζητοῦσαν τὴν αἰτίαν καὶ ὅντινα τρόπον ἀποκρύψῃ τὸ γεγονός. ἐγκαταγενομένην δὲ τοῖς πάθεσι λαβεῖν ἐπιστροφὴν καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Πατέρα ἀναδραμεῖν πειραθῆναι καὶ μέχρι τινὸς τολμήσασαν ἐξασθενῆσαι καὶ ἱκέτιν τοῦ Πατρὸς γενέσθαι. συνδεηθῆναι δὲ αὐτῇ καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς Αἰῶνας, μάλιστα δὲ τὸν Νοῦν. ἐντεῦθεν λέγουσι πρώτην ἀρχὴν ἐσχηκέναι τὴν οὐσίαν τῆς ὕλης, ἐκ τῆς ἀγνοίας καὶ τῆς λύπης καὶ τοῦ φόβου καὶ τῆς ἐκπλήξεως. Ὁ δὲ Πατὴρ τὸν προειρημένον Ὅρον ἐπὶ τούτοις διὰ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς προβάλλεται ἐν εἰκόνι ἰδίᾳ, ἀσύζυγον ἀθήλυντον· τὸν γὰρ Πατέρα ποτὲ μὲν μετὰ συζυγίας τῆς Σιγῆς, ποτὲ δὲ καὶ ὑπὲρ ἄρρεν καὶ ὑπὲρ θῆλυ εἶναι θέλουσι. τὸν δὲ Ὅρον τοῦτον καὶ Σταυρὸν καὶ Λυτρωτὴν καὶ Καρπιστὴν καὶ Ὁροθέτην καὶ Μεταγωγέα καλοῦσι. διὰ δὲ τοῦ Ὅρουτούτου φασὶ κεκαθάρθαι καὶ ἐστηρίχθαι τὴν Σοφίαν καὶ ἀποκατασταθῆναι τῇ συζυγίᾳ. χωρισθείσης γὰρ τῆς Ἐνθυμήσεως ἀπ' αὐτῆς