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of her," and by Paul thus "but we speak wisdom among the perfect." And they claim that Paul spoke of the syzygies within the Pleroma, having shown it in one instance; for writing about the syzygy concerning life, he said, "This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and the church." 27. Furthermore, they teach that John, the disciple of the Lord, has revealed the first Ogdoad, saying in these very words as follows: John, the disciple of the Lord, wishing to declare the generation of all things, by which the Father projected all things, posits a certain beginning, that which was first begotten by God, which indeed he called both son and only-begotten God, in whom the Father projected all things seminally. And he says that by this one the Word was projected, and in him the whole substance of the Aeons, which the Word himself later formed. Since, therefore, he speaks of the first generation, he rightly makes his teaching begin from the beginning, that is, from the Son and the Word. And he speaks thus: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This one was in the beginning with God"; having first distinguished the three, God and Beginning and Word, he again unifies them, in order to show both the projection of each of them, both of the Son and of the Word, and at the same time their union with one another and with the Father. For in the Father and from the Father is the Beginning, and in the Beginning and from the Beginning is the Word. Rightly, therefore, did he say, "In the beginning was the Word," for it was in the Son. "and the Word was with God," for the Beginning also *. and "the Word was God," consistently; for that which is begotten of God is God. "This one was in the beginning with God" showed the order of projection. "All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being"; for the Word became the cause of form and generation for all the Aeons after him. But "what has come into being in him," he says, "is life." Here he also indicated a syzygy; for he said that all things came into being through him, but life in him. This life, therefore, which came into being in him is more intimately in him than the things which came into being through him; for it is with him and bears fruit through him. For since he adds, "and the life 1.427 was the light of men," having just now spoken of Man, he also indicated the Church homonymously with Man, so that through the one name he might declare the communion of the syzygy; for from the Word and Life come Man and Church. And he called Life the light of men because they have been enlightened by it, which is to say, they have been formed and manifested. And Paul also says this: "For everything that is made manifest is light." Since, therefore, Life manifested and begot both Man and the Church, it is called their light. Clearly, therefore, John has declared through these words the other things and the second tetrad: Word and Life, Man and Church. But indeed he also indicated the first tetrad. For, speaking about the savior and saying that all things outside the Pleroma were formed through him, he says that he is the fruit of the whole Pleroma. For he has also called him the light that shines in the darkness and was not comprehended by it, since, having set in order all things that came into being from the passion, he was not known by them. And he calls him son and truth and life and "word made flesh; whose glory we beheld," he says, "and his glory was as of the only-begotten, which was given to him by the Father, full of grace and truth." And he says thus: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth"; accurately, therefore, he indicated also the first tetrad, having spoken of Father and Grace and the Only-begotten and Truth. Thus John has spoken concerning the first Ogdoad, the mother of all the Aeons. For he has spoken of Father and Grace and Only-begotten and Truth and Word and Life and Man and Church.

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αὐτῆς», καὶ ὑπὸ Παύλου δὲ οὕτως «σοφίαν δὲ λαλοῦμεν ἐν τοῖς τελείοις». καὶ τὰς συζυγίας δὲ τὰς ἐντὸς Πληρώματος τὸν Παῦλον εἰρηκέναι φάσκουσιν ἐπὶ ἑνὸς δείξαντα· περὶ γὰρ τῆς περὶ τὸν βίον συζυγίας γράφων ἔφη «τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο μέγα ἐστίν, ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω εἰς Χριστὸν καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν». 27. Ἔτι δὲ Ἰωάννην τὸν μαθητὴν τοῦ κυρίου διδάσκουσι τὴν πρώτην Ὀγδοάδα μεμηνυκέναι, αὐταῖς λέξεσι λέγοντες οὕτως· Ἰωάννης, ὁ μαθητὴς τοῦ κυρίου, βουλόμενος εἰπεῖν τὴν τῶν ὅλων γένεσιν, καθ' ἣν τὰ πάντα προέβαλεν ὁ Πατήρ, ἀρχήν τινα ὑποτίθεται τὸ πρῶτον γεννηθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὃ δὴ καὶ υἱὸν καὶ μονογενῆ θεὸν κέκληκεν, ἐν ᾧ τὰ πάντα ὁ Πατὴρ προέβαλε σπερματικῶς. ὑπὸ δὲ τούτου φησὶ τὸν Λόγον προβεβλῆσθαι καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τὴν ὅλην τῶν Αἰώνων οὐσίαν, ἣν αὐτὸς ὕστερον ἐμόρφωσεν ὁ Λόγος. ἐπεὶ οὖν περὶ πρώτης γενέσεως λέγει, καλῶς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς τουτέστιν τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ Λόγου τὴν διδασκαλίαν ποιεῖται. λέγει δὲ οὕτως «ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν»· πρότερον διαστείλας τὰ τρία, θεὸν καὶ Ἀρχὴν καὶ Λόγον, πάλιν αὐτὰ ἑνοῖ, ἵνα καὶ τὴν προβολὴν ἑκατέρων αὐτῶν δείξῃ, τοῦ τε Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ Λόγου, καὶ τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἅμα καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα ἕνωσιν. ἐν γὰρ τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἡ Ἀρχή, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ἀρχῇ καὶ ἐκ τῆς Ἀρχῆς ὁ Λόγος. καλῶς οὖν εἶπεν «ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος»· ἦν γὰρ ἐν τῷ Υἱῷ. «καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν»· καὶ γὰρ ἡ Ἀρχὴ *. καὶ «θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος», ἀκολούθως· τὸ γὰρ ἐκ θεοῦ γεννηθὲν θεός ἐστιν. «οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν» ἔδειξε τὴν τῆς προβολῆς τάξιν. «πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν»· πᾶσι γὰρ τοῖς μετ' αὐτὸν Αἰῶσι μορφῆς καὶ γενέσεως αἴτιος ὁ Λόγος ἐγένετο. ἀλλ' «ὃ γέγονεν ἐν αὐτῷ, φησί, ζωή ἐστιν». ἐνθάδε καὶ συζυγίαν ἐμήνυσεν· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ὅλα ἔφη δι' αὐτοῦ γεγενῆσθαι, τὴν δὲ ζωὴν ἐν αὐτῷ. αὕτη οὖν ἡ ἐν αὐτῷ γενομένη οἰκειοτέρα ἐστὶν ἐν αὐτῷ τῶν δι' αὐτοῦ γενομένων· σύνεστι γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ καρποφορεῖ. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐπιφέρει «καὶ ἡ ζωὴ 1.427 ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων», Ἄνθρωπον εἰπὼν ἄρτι καὶ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ὁμωνύμως τῷ Ἀνθρώπῳ ἐμήνυσεν, ὅπως διὰ τοῦ ἑνὸς ὀνόματος δηλώσῃ τὴν τῆς συζυγίας κοινωνίαν· ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ Λόγου καὶ τῆς Ζωῆς Ἄνθρωπος γίνεται καὶ Ἐκκλησία. φῶς δὲ εἶπεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν Ζωὴν διὰ τὸ πεφωτίσθαι αὐτοὺς ὑπ' αὐτῆς, ὃ δή ἐστι μεμορφῶσθαι καὶ πεφανερῶσθαι. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος λέγει «πᾶν γὰρ τὸ φανερούμενον φῶς ἐστίν». ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ἡ Ζωὴ ἐφανέρωσε καὶ ἐγέννησε τόν τε Ἄνθρωπον καὶ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, φῶς εἴρηται αὐτῶν. σαφῶς οὖν δεδήλωκεν ὁ Ἰωάννης διὰ τῶν λόγων τούτων τά τε ἄλλα καὶ τὴν τετράδα τὴν δευτέραν· Λόγον καὶ Ζωήν, Ἄνθρωπον καὶ Ἐκκλησίαν. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὴν πρώτην ἐμήνυσε τετράδα. διηγούμενος γὰρ περὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος καὶ λέγων πάντα τὰ ἐκτὸς τοῦ Πληρώματος δι' αὐτοῦ μεμορφῶσθαι, καρπὸν εἶναί φησιν αὐτὸν παντὸς τοῦ Πληρώματος. καὶ γὰρ φῶς εἴρηκεν αὐτὸν τὸ ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαινόμενον καὶ μὴ καταληφθὲν ὑπ' αὐτῆς, ἐπειδὴ πάντα τὰ γενόμενα ἐκ τοῦ πάθους ἁρμόσας ἠγνοήθη ὑπ' αὐτῶν. καὶ υἱὸν δὲ καὶ ἀλήθειαν καὶ ζωὴν λέγει αὐτὸν καί «λόγον σάρκα γενόμενον· οὗ τὴν δόξαν ἐθεασάμεθα, φησί, καὶ ἦν ἡ δόξα αὐτοῦ οἵα ἦν ἡ τοῦ μονογενοῦς, ἡ ὑπὸ τοῦ Πατρὸς δοθεῖσα αὐτῷ, πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας». λέγει δὲ οὕτως «καὶ ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ Πατρός, πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας»· ἀκριβῶς οὖν καὶ τὴν πρώτην ἐμήνυσε τετράδα, Πατέρα εἰπὼν καὶ Χάριν καὶ τὸν Μονογενῆ καὶ Ἀλήθειαν. οὕτως ὁ Ἰωάννης περὶ τῆς πρώτης καὶ μητρὸς τῶν ὅλων Αἰώνων Ὀγδοάδος εἴρηκε. Πατέρα γὰρ εἴρηκε καὶ Χάριν καὶ Μονογενῆ καὶ Ἀλήθειαν καὶ Λόγον καὶ Ζωὴν καὶ Ἄνθρωπον καὶ Ἐκκλησίαν.