Hippolytus of Rome, The Refutation of All Heresies

The quaternion, then, advocated by Valentinus, is “a source of the everlasting nature having roots;”681 These words are a line out of Pythagoras’ Golden Verses:— Πηγή τις ἀενάου φύσεως ῥιζώματ᾽ ἔχουσα—(48). and Sophia (is the power) from whom the animal and material creation has derived its present condition. But Sophia is called “Spirit,” and the Demiurge “Soul,” and the Devil “the ruler of this world,” and Beelzebub “the (ruler) of demons.” These are the statements which they put forward. But further, in addition to these, rendering, as I have previously mentioned, their entire system of doctrine (akin to the) arithmetical (art), (they determine) that the thirty Æons within the Pleroma have again, in addition to these, projected other Æons, according to the (numerical) proportion (adopted by the Pythagoreans), in order that the Pleroma might be formed into an aggregate, according to a perfect number. For how the Pythagoreans divided (the celestial sphere) into twelve and thirty and sixty parts, and how they have minute parts of diminutive portions, has been made evident.

In this manner these (followers of Valentinus) subdivide the parts within the Pleroma. Now likewise the parts in the Ogdoad have been subdivided, and there has been projected Sophia, which is, according to them, mother of all living creatures, and the “Joint Fruit of the Pleroma,” (who is) the Logos,682 The Abbe Cruise thinks that a comparison of this passage with the corresponding one in Irenæus suggests the addition of οἱ δορυφόροι after Λόγος, i.e., the Logos and his satellites. [Vol. i. p. 381, this series.] (and other Æons,) who are celestial angels that have their citizenship in Jerusalem which is above, which is in heaven. For this Jerusalem is Sophia, she (that is) outside (the Pleroma), and her spouse is the “Joint Fruit of the Pleroma.” And the Demiurge projected souls; for this (Sophia) is the essence of souls. This (Demiurge), according to them, is Abraham, and these (souls) the children of Abraham. From the material and devilish essence the Demiurge fashioned bodies for the souls. This is what has been declared: “And God formed man, taking clay from the earth, and breathed upon his face the breath of life, and man was made into a living soul.”683 Gen. ii. 7. This, according to them, is the inner man, the natural (man), residing in the material body: Now a material (man) is perishable, incomplete, (and) formed out of the devilish essence. And this is the material man, as it were, according to them an inn,684 Or, “subterranean” (Cruice). or domicile, at one time of soul only, at another time of soul and demons, at another time of soul and Logoi.685 Epiphanius, Hær., xxxi. sec. 7. And these are the Logoi that have been dispersed from above, from the “Joint Fruit of the Pleroma” and (from) Sophia, into this world. And they dwell in an earthly body, with a soul, when demons do not take up their abode with that soul. This, he says, is what has been written in Scripture: “On this account I bend my knees to the God and Father and Lord of our Lord Jesus Christ, that God would grant you to have Christ dwelling in the inner man,”686 Eph. iii. 14–18.—that is, the natural (man), not the corporeal (one),—“that you may be able to understand what is the depth,” which is the Father of the universe, “and what is the breadth,” which is Staurus, the limit of the Pleroma, “or what is the length,” that is, the Pleroma of the Æons. Wherefore, he says, “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him;”687 1 Cor. ii. 14. but folly, he says, is the power of the Demiurge, for he was foolish and devoid of understanding, and imagined himself to be fabricating the world. He was, however, ignorant that Sophia, the Mother, the Ogdoad, was really the cause of all the operations performed by him who had no consciousness in reference to the creation of the world.

[34] Ἔστιν οὖν [ἡ] κατὰ Οὐαλεντῖνον τετρακτύς, πηγὴ [τῆς] ἀενάου φύσεως ῥιζώματ' ἔχουσα, καὶ ἡ Σοφία, ἀφ' ἧς ἡ κτίσις ἡ ψυχικὴ καὶ ὑλικὴ συνέστηκε νῦν. καλεῖται δὲ ἡ μὲν Σοφία πνεῦμα, ὁ δὲ δημιουργὸς ψυχή, ὁ διάβολος δὲ «ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου», Βεελζεβοὺλ [δὲ] «ὁ [ἄρχων] τῶν δαιμόνων». ταῦτά ἐστιν ἃ λέγουσιν. ἔτι [δὲ] πρὸς τούτοις, ἀριθμητικὴν ποιούμενοι τὴν πᾶσαν αὑτῶν διδασκαλίαν, ὡς προεῖπον, (τοὺ)ς ἐντὸς πληρώματος αἰῶνας τρι(ά)κοντα πάλιν ἐπιπροβεβ[λ]ηκέναι αὑτοῖς κα(τ)' ἀναλογίαν αἰῶνας ἄλλους [φασίν], ἵν' ᾖ τὸ πλήρωμα ἐν ἀριθμῷ τελείῳ συνηθροισμένον. ὡς γὰρ οἱ Πυθαγορικοὶ διεῖλον [τὸν κόσμον] εἰς [μοίρας] δώδεκα καὶ τριάκοντα καὶ ἑξήκοντα, καὶ λεπτὰ λεπτῶν εἰσιν ἐκείνοις, [ὡς] δεδήλωται, οὕτως οὗτοι τὰ ἐντὸς πληρώματος ὑποδιαιροῦσι(ν). ὑποδιῄρηται δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ Ὀγδοάδι, καὶ προβεβλήκασιν ἡ Σοφία, ἥτις ἐστὶ «μήτηρ πάντων τῶν ζώντων» κατ' αὐτούς, καὶ ὁ κοινὸς τοῦ πληρώματος Καρπὸς ἑβδομήκοντα λόγο[υ]ς, οἵτινές εἰσιν ἄγγελοι ἐπουράνιοι, πολιτευόμενοι ἐν «Ἱερουσαλὴμ τῇ ἄνω, τῇ ἐν οὐρανοῖς»: αὕτη γάρ ἐστι, [φησίν, ἡ] Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἡ ἔξω Σοφία, καὶ ὁ νυμφίος αὐτῆς ὁ κοινὸς τοῦ πληρώματος Καρπός. Προέβαλε [δὲ] καὶ ὁ δημιουργὸς ψυχάς: αὕτη γάρ [ἐστιν ἡ δύναμις] οὐσία ψυχῶν. οὗτός ἐστι κατ' αὐτοὺς Ἁβρα[ὰ]μ καὶ ταύτα[ς] τοῦ Ἁβραὰμ τὰ τέκνα. ἐκ τῆς ὑλικῆς οὐσίας οὖν καὶ διαβολικῆς ἐποίησεν ὁ δημιουργὸς ταῖς ψυχαῖς τὰ σώματα. τοῦτό ἐστι, [φησί,] τὸ εἰρημένον: «καὶ ἔπλασεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς λαβών, καὶ ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς: καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν». οὗτός ἐστι κατ' αὐτοὺς «ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος», ὁ ψυχικός, ἐν τῷ σώματι κατοικῶν τῷ χοϊκῷ, ὅ ἐστιν [ἄνθρωπος] ὑλικός, φθαρτός, τελείως ἐκ τῆς διαβολικῆς οὐσίας πεπλασμένος. ἔστι δὲ οὗτος ὁ ὑλικὸς ἄνθρωπος κατ' αὐτοὺς οἱονεὶ πανδοχεῖον ἢ κατοικητήριον ποτὲ μὲν ψυχῆς μόνης, ποτὲ δὲ ψυχῆς καὶ δαιμόνων, ποτὲ δὲ ψυχῆς καὶ λόγων: οἵτινες εἰσι λόγοι ἄνωθεν κατεσπαρμένο(ι) ὑπ(ὸ) τ(ο)ῦ κοινοῦ τοῦ πληρώματος Καρποῦ καὶ τῆς Σοφίας εἰς τοῦτον τὸν κόσμον, κατοικοῦντες ἐν (σώμα)τι χοϊκῷ μετὰ ψυχῆς, ὅταν δαίμονες μὴ συνοικῶσι τῇ ψυχῇ. Τοῦτό ἐστι, φησί, τὸ γεγραμμένον ἐν τῇ γραφῇ: «τούτου χάριν κάμπτω τὰ γόνατά μου πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ πατέρα καὶ κύριον τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ», «ἵνα δῴη ὑμῖν» ὁ θεὸς «κατοικῆσαι τὸν Χριστὸν» «εἰς τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον», τουτέστι τὸν ψυχικόν, οὐ τὸν σωματικόν, «ἵνα ἐξισχύσητε νοῆσαι» «τί τὸ βάθος», ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ Πατὴρ τῶν ὅλων, «καὶ τί τὸ πλάτος», ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ Σταυρός, ὁ Ὅρος τοῦ πληρώματος, «καὶ τί τὸ μῆκος», τουτέστι τὸ πλήρωμα τῶν αἰώνων. διὰ τοῦτο «ψυχικός», φησίν, «ἄνθρωπος οὐ δέχεται τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ θεοῦ: μωρία γὰρ αὐτῷ ἐστι». μωρία δέ, φησίν, ἐστὶν ἡ δύναμις τοῦ δημιουργοῦ: μωρὸς γὰρ ἦν καὶ ἄνους, καὶ ἐνόμιζεν αὐτὸς δημιουργεῖν τὸν κόσμον, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι πάντα ἡ Σοφία, ἡ Μήτηρ, ἡ Ὀγδοάς, ἐνήργει αὐτῷ πρὸς τὴν κτίσιν τοῦ κόσμου οὐδὲν εἰδότι.