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that beyond this again a Pleroma, then of thirty, but now of a † numberless tribe of Aeons, is falsely invented, as these teachers, truly devoid of divine understanding, say, since the entire existing church holds one and the same faith throughout the whole world, as we have said before. 32. Let us now see also their unstable opinion, how, though there are two or three of them, they do not say the same things about the same things, but declare things contrary in facts and in names. For the first, Valentinus, having adapted the principles from the so-called Gnostic heresy into the peculiar character of his school, propounded it thus, defining that there is a certain unnameable dyad, of which one part is called Unspeakable, and the other Silence; then from this dyad a second dyad was projected, of which he names one part Father, and the other Truth; and from this tetrad are brought forth Word and Life, Man and Church; and that this is the first Ogdoad. And he says that from Word and Life ten powers were projected, as we have said before; and from Man and the Church, twelve, one of whom, having apostatized and fallen short, created the rest of the business. And he supposed two Limits, one between the Abyss and the rest of the Pleroma, separating the generated Aeons from the ungenerated Father, and another separating their Mother from the Pleroma. And that Christ was not projected from the Aeons in the Pleroma but by the Mother who was outside, according to her memory of the better things, was brought forth with a certain shadow. And this one, being male, cut the shadow off from himself and ran up into the Pleroma, but the Mother, having been left behind with the shadow and emptied of her spiritual substance, brought forth another son, and that this is the Demiurge, whom he also calls the pantocrator of the things below. He also taught that 1.435 a left-hand ruler was co-projected with him, similarly to the falsely-named Gnostics who will be spoken of by us. And as for Jesus, he says he was projected at one time from that which was formed from their Mother and suffused through the whole, that is, from the Willed One, at another time from the one who ran up into the Pleroma, that is, Christ, and at another time from Man and the Church. And he says the Holy Spirit was projected by Truth for the examination and fructification of the Aeons, entering into them invisibly; through whom the Aeons bear fruit, the plants of truth. The account from Irenaeus against the Valentinians is complete. 33. And these and such things * the aforementioned man, the elder Irenaeus, who in all things was adorned by the holy spirit, put forth by the Lord as a noble athlete and anointed with the heavenly gifts according to true faith and knowledge, having wrestled down and overcome their whole foolish hypothesis, went through in detail the empty talk uttered by them. And he refuted them most excellently and more at length in his following second book and the others, wishing somehow to drag out the one thrown to the ground and turned to defeat, and to triumph over him before all and to expose the shameless and weak challenge of foolishness in him who was thrown down. But we, being content with the few things said by us and with the things said and composed by these writers of the truth, and seeing that others have labored, I mean Clement and Irenaeus and Hippolytus and many others, who have also wonderfully accomplished the refutation against them, we have not at all wished to add to the labor, as I said before, being satisfied with the aforementioned men and having considered this very thing, that to every 1.436 prudent person, even from their own teachings

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ὑπὲρ ταύτην πάλιν Πλήρωμα τότε μὲν τριάκοντα, νῦν δὲ † ἀνήριθμον φῦλον Αἰώνων ἐπιψεύδεσθαι, καθὼς λέγουσιν οὗτοι οἱ ἀληθῶς ἔρημοι θείας συνέσεως διδάσκαλοι, τῆς οὔσης ἐκκλησίας πάσης μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν πίστιν ἐχούσης εἰς πάντα τὸν κόσμον, καθὼς προέφαμεν. 32. Ἴδωμεν νῦν καὶ τὴν τούτων ἄστατον γνώμην, δύο που καὶ τριῶν ὄντων πῶς περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν οὐ τὰ αὐτὰ λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς πράγμασιν καὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασιν ἐναντία ἀποφαίνονται. ὁ μὲν γὰρ πρῶτος ἀπὸ τῆς λεγομένης Γνωστικῆς αἱρέσεως τὰς ἀρχὰς εἰς ἴδιον χαρακτῆρα διδασκαλείου μεθαρμόσας Οὐαλεντῖνος οὕτως ἐξεφόρησεν, ὁρισάμενος εἶναι δυάδα τινὰ ἀνονόμαστον, ἧς τὸ μέν τι καλεῖσθαι Ἄρρητον, τὸ δὲ Σιγήν· ἔπειτα ἐκ ταύτης τῆς δυάδος δευτέραν δυάδα προβεβλῆσθαι, ἧς τὸ μέν τι Πατέρα ὀνομάζει, τὸ δὲ Ἀλήθειαν· ἐκ δὲ τῆς τετράδος ταύτης καρποφορεῖσθαι Λόγον καὶ Ζωήν, Ἄνθρωπον καὶ Ἐκκλησίαν· εἶναί τε ταύτην Ὀγδοάδπρώτην. καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ Λόγου καὶ τῆς Ζωῆς δέκα δυνάμεις λέγει προβεβλῆσθαι, καθὼς προειρήκαμεν· ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας δώδεκα, ὧν μίαν ἀποστᾶσαν καὶ ὑστερήσασαν τὴν λοιπὴν πραγματείαν πεποιῆσθαι. Ὅρους τε δύο ὑπέθετο, ἕνα μὲν μεταξὺ τοῦ Βυθοῦ καὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ Πληρώματος, διορίζοντα τοὺς γεννητοὺς Αἰῶνας ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου Πατρός, ἕτερον δὲ τὸν ἀφορίζοντα αὐτῶν τὴν Μητέρα ἀπὸ τοῦ Πληρώματος. καὶ τὸν Χριστὸν δὲ οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τῷ Πληρώματι Αἰώνων προβεβλῆσθαι ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ τῆς Μητρὸς ἔξω γενομένης κατὰ τὴν μνήμην τῶν κρειττόνων ἀποκεκυῆσθαι μετὰ σκιᾶς τινος. καὶ τοῦτον μέν, ἅτε ἄρρενα ὑπάρχοντα, ἀποκόψαντα ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὴν σκιὰν ἀναδραμεῖν εἰς τὸ Πλήρωμα, τὴν δὲ Μητέρα ὑπολειφθεῖσαν μετὰ τῆς σκιᾶς κεκενωμένην τε τῆς πνευματικῆς ὑποστάσεως ἕτερον υἱὸν προενέγκασθαι, καὶ τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν ∆ημιουργόν, ὃν καὶ παντοκράτορα λέγει τῶν ὑποκειμένων. συμπροβεβλῆσθαι δὲ αὐτῷ 1.435 καὶ ἀριστερὸν ἄρχοντα ἐδογμάτισεν ὁμοίως τοῖς ῥηθησομένοις ὑφ' ἡμῶν ψευδωνύμοις Γνωστικοῖς. καὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν δὲ ποτὲ μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ συσταλέντος ἀπὸ τῆς Μητρὸς αὐτῶν συναναχυθέντος τε τοῖς ὅλοις προβεβλῆσθαί φησι, τουτέστιν ἀπὸ τοῦ Θελητοῦ, ποτὲ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναδραμόντος εἰς τὸ Πλήρωμα, τουτέστιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ποτὲ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα δὲ τὸ ἅγιον ὑπὸ τῆς Ἀληθείας φησὶ προβεβλῆσθαι εἰς ἀνάκρισιν καὶ καρποφορίαν τῶν Αἰώνων, ἀοράτως εἰς αὐτοὺς εἰσιόν· δι' οὗ τοὺς Αἰῶνας καρποφορεῖν τὰ φυτὰ τῆς ἀληθείας. Πεπλήρωται τὰ Εἰρηναίου κατὰ τῶν Οὐαλεντίνων. 33. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα * ὁ προειρημένος ἀνὴρ πρεσβύτης Εἰρηναῖος, ὁ κατὰ πάντα ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου κεκοσμημένος, ὡς γενναῖος ἀθλητὴς ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου προβεβλημένος καὶ ἐπαλειφθεὶς τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις χαρίσμασι τοῖς κατὰ τὴν ἀληθινὴν πίστιν καὶ γνῶσιν, καταπαλαίσας τε καὶ καταγωνισάμενος τὴν πᾶσαν αὐτῶν ληρώδη ὑπόθεσιν, διεξῆλθεν κατὰ λεπτὸν τὰ ὑπ' αὐτῶν κενοφωνούμενα. ἀκρότατα δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ ἑξῆς δευτέρῳ αὐτοῦ λόγῳ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις διήλεγξεν περιττοτέρως, βουλόμενός πως τὸν χαμαὶ ῥιφέντα καὶ εἰς ἧτταν τραπέντα σῦραι καὶ ἐνώπιον πάντων θριαμβεῦσαί τε καὶ φωρᾶσαι τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ῥιφέντι ἀναίσχυντόν τε καὶ ἀσθενῆ πρόκλησιν ματαιοφροσύνης. ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀρκεσθέντες τοῖς τε παρ' ἡμῶν λεχθεῖσιν ὀλίγοις καὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν τῆς ἀληθείας συγγραφέων τούτων λεχθεῖσίν τε καὶ συνταχθεῖσιν, καὶ ὁρῶντες ὅτι ἄλλοι πεπονήκασι, φημὶ δὲ Κλήμης καὶ Εἰρηναῖος καὶ Ἱππόλυτος καὶ ἄλλοι πλείους, οἳ καὶ θαυμαστῶς τὴν κατ' αὐτῶν πεποίηνται ἀνατροπήν, οὐ πάνυ τι τῷ καμάτῳ προσθεῖναι ὡς προεῖπον ἠθελήσαμεν, ἱκανωθέντες τοῖς προειρημένοις ἀνδράσιν καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο διανοηθέντες, ὅτι παντὶ 1.436 συνετῷ καὶ ἀπὸ αὐτῶν τῶν ἐν τοῖς διδάγμασιν