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being of his perdition, they remained in his evil teaching. And thus the most godless heresy of the Simonians was first introduced in Rome, and the devil was at work through the other false apostles. For all of these equally, the aim of their godlessness was one and the same: to blaspheme God the Almighty, to glorify him as unknown and not the Father of Christ nor the creator of the world, but as unutterable, ineffable, unnameable, self-begotten; not to use the Law and the Prophets, for there to be no providence, not to believe in the resurrection, for there to be no judgment and retribution, for the soul not to be immortal, to rejoice in pleasure alone, and to incline indifferently to every religion. For some say there are many gods, others three without beginning, others two unbegotten, others infinite aeons; and some of them teach celibacy and abstinence from meat and wine, saying that marriage and the generation of children and the partaking of foods are abominable, so that as if they were august, they might cause their wicked opinion to be accepted as trustworthy; but some of them legislate to abstain from meat not as from irrational animals, but as having a rational soul and that those who dare to slaughter them are about to be punished for murder. Still others of them said that one must abstain from pork alone, but eat the things that are clean according to the law and be circumcised according to the law, but to believe in Jesus as a holy man and prophet; others taught to fornicate shamelessly and abuse the flesh and to go through every unholy practice, so that thus and only thus the soul might escape the cosmic rulers. All these are instruments of the devil and sons of wrath. But we, children of God and sons of peace, preaching the sacred and upright word of piety, proclaim one only God, Lord of the law and the prophets, creator of all things that are, Father of Christ, not the cause of himself and self-begotten, as they think, but eternal and without beginning and dwelling in unapproachable light, not being a second or a third or one of many, but alone eternally, not unknown or unutterable, but proclaimed through the Law and the Prophets, almighty, all-ruling, all-powerful; God and Father of the only-begotten and firstborn of all creation, one God the Father of one Son, not of many, maker of one paraclete through Christ and of the other orders; one creator, maker of a diverse creation through Christ, the same provider, lawgiver through him, the cause of the resurrection and

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τῆς ἀπωλείας αὐτοῦ ὄντες παρέμειναν αὐτοῦ τῇ μοχθηρᾷ διδασκαλίᾳ. Καὶ οὕτως πρώτη ἐπάγη ἡ τῶν Σιμωνιανῶν ἀθεωτάτη αἵρεσις ἐν Ῥώμῃ, καὶ διὰ τῶν λοιπῶν ψευδα ποστόλων ἐνήργει ὁ διάβολος. Τούτοις δὲ πᾶσιν ἐπίσης σκοπὸς ἦν εἷς καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς ἀθεότητος, τὸν μὲν παντοκράτορα Θεὸν βλασφημεῖν, ἄγνωστον δοξάζειν καὶ μὴ εἶναι Πατέρα τοῦ Χριστοῦ μηδὲ τοῦ κόσμου δημιουργόν, ἀλλ' ἄλεκτον, ἄρρητον, ἀκατονό μαστον, αὐτογένεθλον· Νόμῳ καὶ Προφήταις μὴ χρᾶσθαι, πρόνοιαν μὴ εἶναι, ἀνάστασιν μὴ πιστεύειν, κρίσιν μὴ εἶναι καὶ ἀνταπόδοσιν, ψυχὴν ἀθάνατον μὴ ὑπάρχειν, ἡδονῇ χαίρειν μόνῃ καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν θρησκείαν ἀδιαφόρως ἐκκλίνειν. Oἱ μὲν γὰρ πλείους θεοὺς εἶναι λέγουσιν, οἱ δὲ τρεῖς ἀνάρχους, οἱ δὲ δύο ἀγεννήτους, οἱ δὲ αἰῶνας ἀπείρους· καὶ οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν ἀγαμίαν διδάσκουσιν καὶ κρεῶν ἀποχὴν καὶ οἴνου, βδελυκτὰ λέγοντες εἶναι καὶ γάμον καὶ παίδων γένεσιν καὶ βρωμάτων μετάληψιν, ἵν' ὡς σεμνοί τινες τὴν πονηρὰν αὐτῶν γνώμην ὡς ἀξιόπιστον παραδεχθῆναι ποιήσωσιν· τινὲς δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν νομοθετοῦσι κρεῶν ἀπέχεσθαι οὐχ ὡς ἀλόγων ζóων, ἀλλ' ὡς λογικὴν ἐχόντων ψυχὴν καὶ φόνου δίκην εἰσπράσσεσθαι μελλόντων τῶν ταῦτα κατατολμώντων σφάζειν. Ἕτεροι δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἔλεγον μόνου δεῖν χοιρείου ἀπέχεσθαι, τὰ δὲ κατὰ νόμον καθαρὰ ἐσθίειν καὶ περιτέμνεσθαι νομίμως, πιστεύειν δὲ εἰς Ἰησοῦν ὡς εἰς ὅσιον ἄνδρα καὶ προφήτην· ἄλλοι δὲ ἀναίδην ἐκπορνεύειν καὶ παραχρᾶσθαι τῇ σαρκὶ ἐδίδασκον καὶ διὰ πάσης ἀνοσιουργίας ἰέναι, ὡς οὕτως καὶ μόνως ἐκφεύξεσθαι τὴν ψυχὴν τοὺς κοσμικοὺς ἄρχοντας. Oὗτοι δὲ πάντες τοῦ διαβόλου τυγχάνουσιν ὄργανα καὶ υἱοὶ ὀργῆς. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τέκνα Θεοῦ καὶ υἱοὶ εἰρήνης, τὸν ἱερὸν καὶ εὐθῆ λόγον κηρύσσοντες τῆς εὐσεβείας, ἕνα μόνον Θεὸν καταγγέλλομεν, νόμου καὶ προφητῶν Κύριον, τῶν ὄντων δημιουργόν, τοῦ Χριστοῦ Πατέρα, οὐκ αὐταίτιον καὶ αὐτο γένεθλον, ὡς ἐκεῖνοι οἴονται, ἀλλ' ἀΐδιον καὶ ἄναρχον καὶ φῶς οἰκοῦντα ἀπρόσιτον, οὐ δεύτερον ὄντα ἢ τρίτον ἢ πολλοστόν, ἀλλὰ μόνον ἀϊδίως, οὐκ ἄγνωστον ἢ ἄλεκτον, ἀλλὰ διὰ Νόμου καὶ Προφητῶν κηρυσσόμενον, παντοκρά τορα, παντάρχην, παντεξούσιον· Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα τοῦ μονογενοῦς καὶ πρωτοτόκου πάσης δημιουργίας, ἕνα Θεὸν ἑνὸς Υἱοῦ Πατέρα, οὐ πλειόνων, ἑνὸς παρακλήτου διὰ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ταγμάτων ποιητήν· ἕνα δημιουρ γὸν διαφόρου κτίσεως διὰ Χριστοῦ ποιητήν, τὸν αὐτὸν προνοητήν, νομοθέτην δι' αὐτοῦ, ἀναστάσεως αἴτιον καὶ