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perplexity that, as we said before, the corporeal elements of the world came into being from a more ecstatic state: earth according to the stasis of amazement, water according to the motion of fear, air according to the solidification of grief; and that fire is inherent in all of them as death and corruption, just as they teach that ignorance is hidden in the three passions. Having created the world, he also made the choic man, not from this dry earth, but from the invisible substance, having taken it from the fluid and flowing part of matter; and they specify that he breathed into him the psychic [man]. and that this is the one made in the image and likeness, and that the material one exists according to the image, similar, but not of the same substance as God; but the psychic one according to the likeness, whence his substance is also called the breath of life, being from a spiritual emanation. And they say that afterwards the tunic of skin was put on him; and they hold that this is the sensible flesh. But the offspring of their Mother Achamoth, which she brought forth in contemplation of the angels around the Savior, being spiritual and of the same substance as the Mother, 1.416 they say it too was unknown to the Demiurge and was secretly placed in him without his knowledge, so that through him it might be sown into the soul that came from him and into this material body, and being gestated in these and growing, it might become ready for the reception of the perfect Logos. Thus, as they say, the spiritual man, sown along with his inbreathing by Sophia by an ineffable power and providence, escaped the notice of the Demiurge. For just as he was ignorant of the Mother, so also of her seed; which they say is itself the Church, a counterpart of the Church above. And they claim this is the man within them; so that they have their soul from the Demiurge, their body from the dust, and the carnal part from matter, but the spiritual man from the Mother, Achamoth. 20. There being then three [kinds], they say that the material, which they also call "left," necessarily perishes, as it is unable to receive any breath of incorruptibility; but the psychic, which they also call "right," since it is in the middle of the spiritual and the material, goes to that place to which it inclines; and the spiritual was sent forth, so that here it might be formed, being yoked with the psychic, and trained along with it in its way of life. And they say this is the salt and the light of the world. For the psychic [man] also needed perceptible instruction; which is why they say the world was constructed. And that the Savior came for this psychic [man], since he has free will, in order that he might save him. For they declare that he took the first-fruits of those whom he was to save: from Achamoth the spiritual, from the Demiurge he put on the psychic Christ, and from the economy he was clothed with a body, which had a psychic substance, but fashioned by an ineffable art so as to become visible and tangible and capable of suffering. And they say that he took 1.417 nothing material whatsoever; for matter is not receptive of salvation. And the consummation will occur, when all that is spiritual has been formed and perfected by knowledge, that is, the spiritual men who have the perfect knowledge concerning God and have been initiated into the mysteries of Achamoth; and these they suppose to be themselves. And the psychic men have been instructed in psychic things, who are strengthened by works and by mere faith and do not have perfect knowledge; and they say that these are us from the Church. Therefore they declare that good action is necessary for us—for otherwise it is impossible to be saved—but they dogmatize that they themselves, not through action but because they are spiritual by nature, will in every way and entirely be saved. For just as it is impossible for the choic to partake of salvation—for they say it is not receptive of it—so again the spiritual, which they are

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ἀμηχανίας ὡς ἐκ τοῦ ἐκστασιμωτέρου τὰ σωματικὰ καθὼς προείπαμεν τοῦ κόσμου στοιχεῖα γεγονέναι· γῆν μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἐκπλήξεως στάσιν, ὕδωρ δὲ κατὰ τὴν φόβου κίνησιν, ἀέρα δὲ κατὰ τὴν λύπης πῆξιν· τὸ δὲ πῦρ ἅπασιν αὐτοῖς ἐμπεφυκέναι θάνατον καὶ φθοράν, ὡς καὶ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τοῖς τρισὶ πάθεσιν ἐγκεκρύφθαι διδάσκουσι. ∆ημιουργήσαντα δὴ τὸν κόσμον πεποιηκέναι καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν χοϊκόν, οὐκ ἀπὸ ταύτης δὲ τῆς ξηρᾶς γῆς, ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀοράτου οὐσίας, ἀπὸ τοῦ κεχυμένου καὶ ῥευστοῦ τῆς ὕλης λαβόντα· καὶ εἰς τοῦτον ἐμφυσῆσαι τὸν ψυχικὸν διορίζονται. καὶ τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν γεγονότα, καὶ κατ' εἰκόνα μὲν τὸν ὑλικὸν ὑπάρχειν, παραπλήσιον μέν, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁμοούσιον ὄντα τῷ θεῷ· καθ' ὁμοίωσιν δὲ τὸν ψυχικόν, ὅθεν καὶ πνεῦμα ζωῆς τὴν οὐσίαν αὐτοῦ εἰρῆσθαι, ἐκ πνευματικῆς ἀπορροίας οὖσαν. ὕστερον δὲ περιτεθεῖσθαι λέγουσιν αὐτῷ τὸν δερμάτινον χιτῶνα· τοῦτο δὲ τὸ αἰσθητὸν σαρκίον εἶναι θέλουσι. Τὸ δὲ κύημα τῆς Μητρὸς αὐτῶν τῆς Ἀχαμὼθ ὃ κατὰ τὴν θεωρίαν τῶν περὶ τὸν Σωτῆρα ἀγγέλων ἀπεκύησεν, ὁμοούσιον ὑπάρχον τῇ Μητρὶ 1.416 πνευματικόν, καὶ αὐτὸ ἠγνοηκέναι τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν λέγουσι καὶ λεληθότως κατατεθεῖσθαι εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ εἰδότος αὐτοῦ, ἵνα δι' αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ψυχὴν σπαρὲν καὶ εἰς τὸ ὑλικὸν τοῦτο σῶμα, κυοφορηθέν τε ἐν τούτοις καὶ αὐξηθὲν ἕτοιμον γένηται πρὸς ὑποδοχὴν τοῦ τελείου Λόγου. ἔλαθεν οὖν, ὥς φασι, τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν ὁ συγκατασπαρεὶς τῷ ἐμφυσήματι αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ τῆς Σοφίας πνευματικὸς ἄνθρωπος ἀρρήτῳ δυνάμει καὶ προνοίᾳ. ὡς γὰρ τὴν Μητέρα ἠγνοηκέναι, οὕτω καὶ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτῆς· ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸ Ἐκκλησίαν εἶναι λέγουσιν, ἀντίτυπον τῆς ἄνω Ἐκκλησίας. καὶ τοῦτο εἶναι τὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἄνθρωπον ἀξιοῦσιν· ὥστε ἔχειν αὐτοὺς τὴν μὲν ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ, τὸ δὲ σῶμα ἀπὸ τοῦ χοὸς καὶ τὸ σαρκικὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης, τὸν δὲ πνευματικὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀπὸ τῆς Μητρὸς τῆς Ἀχαμώθ. 20. Τριῶν οὖν ὄντων τὸ μὲν ὑλικόν, ὃ καὶ ἀριστερὸν καλοῦσι, κατὰ ἀνάγκην ἀπόλλυσθαι λέγουσιν, ἅτε μηδεμίαν ἐπιδέξασθαι πνοὴν ἀφθαρσίας δυνάμενον· τὸ δὲ ψυχικόν, ὃ καὶ δεξιὸν προσαγορεύουσιν, ἅτε μέσον ὂν τοῦ τε πνευματικοῦ καὶ τοῦ ὑλικοῦ, ἐκεῖσε χωρεῖν, ὅπου ἂν καὶ τὴν πρόσκλισιν ποιήσηται· τὸ δὲ πνευματικὸν ἐκπεπέμφθαι, ὅπως ἐνθάδε τῷ ψυχικῷ συζυγὲν μορφωθῇ, συμπαιδευθὲν αὐτῷ ἐν τῇ ἀναστροφῇ. καὶ τοῦτ' εἶναι λέγουσι τὸ ἅλας καὶ τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου. ἔδει γὰρ τῷ ψυχικῷ καὶ αἰσθητῶν παιδευμάτων· διὸ καὶ κόσμον κατεσκευάσθαι λέγουσι. καὶ τὸν σωτῆρα δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦτο παραγεγονέναι τὸ ψυχικόν, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτεξούσιόν ἐστιν, ὅπως αὐτὸ σώσῃ. ὧν γὰρ ἤμελλε σῴζειν, τὰς ἀπαρχὰς αὐτὸν εἰληφέναι φάσκουσιν, ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς Ἀχαμὼθ τὸ πνευματικόν, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ ἐνδεδύσθαι τὸν ψυχικὸν Χριστόν, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς οἰκονομίας περιτεθεῖσθαι σῶμα, ψυχικὴν ἔχον οὐσίαν, κατεσκευασμένον δὲ ἀρρήτῳ τέχνῃ πρὸς τὸ καὶ ὁρατὸν καὶ ψηλαφητὸν καὶ παθητὸν γενέσθαι. καὶ ὑλικὸν 1.417 δὲ οὐδ' ὁτιοῦν εἰληφέναι λέγουσιν αὐτόν· μὴ γὰρ εἶναι τὴν ὕλην δεκτικὴν σωτηρίας. τὴν δὲ συντέλειαν ἔσεσθαι, ὅταν μορφωθῇ καὶ τελειωθῇ γνώσει πᾶν τὸ πνευματικόν, τουτέστιν οἱ πνευματικοὶ ἄνθρωποι οἱ τὴν τελείαν γνῶσιν ἔχοντες περὶ θεοῦ καὶ τὰ τῆς Ἀχαμὼθ μεμυημένοι μυστήρια· εἶναι δὲ τούτους ἑαυτοὺς ὑποτίθενται. ἐπαιδεύθησαν δὲ τὰ ψυχικὰ οἱ ψυχικοὶ ἄνθρωποι, οἱ δι' ἔργων καὶ πίστεως ψιλῆς βεβαιούμενοι καὶ μὴ τὴν τελείαν γνῶσιν ἔχοντες· εἶναι δὲ τούτους ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἡμᾶς λέγουσι. διὸ καὶ ἡμῖν μὲν ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι τὴν ἀγαθὴν πρᾶξιν ἀποφαίνονται ἄλλως γὰρ ἀδύνατον σωθῆναι, αὐτοὺς δὲ μὴ διὰ πράξεως ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ φύσει πνευματικοὺς εἶναι πάντῃ τε καὶ πάντως σωθήσεσθαι δογματίζουσιν. ὡς γὰρ τὸ χοϊκὸν ἀδύνατον σωτηρίας μετασχεῖν οὐ γὰρ εἶναι δεκτικὸν αὐτῆς λέγουσιν αὐτό, οὕτως πάλιν τὸ πνευματικόν, ὃ αὐτοὶ εἶναι