141

Thus: they say that man was formed on the eighth day; for sometimes they will have it that he came into being on the sixth, and sometimes on the eighth, unless, perhaps, they will say that the earthly man was formed on the sixth day, but the fleshy 2.31 man on the eighth; for these things are distinguished among them. And some will have it that the man made male-female in the image and likeness of God is another, and that this is the spiritual man, and another is the one formed from the earth. And the economy of the ark in the flood, in which eight people were saved, they say most clearly signifies the saving Ogdoad. and that David, being the eighth of his brothers by birth, signifies the same thing. Moreover, also that circumcision, being performed on the eighth day, signifies the circumcision of the upper Ogdoad. and, in short, whatever is found in the Scriptures that can be brought under the number eight, they say fulfills the mystery of the Ogdoad. But they also say that the Decad is signified by the ten nations, which God promised to give to Abraham for a possession. And that the economy concerning Sarah, that after ten years she gives him her own handmaid Hagar, so that he might beget children from her, declares the same thing. And the servant sent by Abraham to Rebecca, giving her ten golden bracelets at the well, and her brothers keeping her for ten days, and also Rehoboam who receives the ten sceptres and the ten curtains of the tabernacle and the pillars of ten cubits and the ten sons of Jacob sent for the first time into Egypt to buy grain and the ten apostles to whom the Lord appears after the resurrection, when Thomas was not present, according to them, prefigured the invisible Decad. 17. And the Dodecad, concerning which also the mystery of the passion of the Hysterema came to pass, from which passion they will have it that visible things were made, they say is conspicuously and manifestly set forth everywhere, as the twelve sons of Jacob, from whom also came the twelve tribes, and the embroidered breastplate having twelve stones and the twelve bells and the twelve stones placed by Moses at the foot of the mountain, likewise also those by Joshua 2.32 in the river and others on the other side, and those who carried the ark of the covenant and those placed by Elijah at the holocaust of the calf and the number of the apostles and, in short, all things that preserve the number twelve, they say characterize their Dodecad. And the union of all these, called the Triacontad, through the thirty cubits of height of Noah's ark and through Samuel making Saul recline first among the thirty invited guests and through David, when for thirty days he hid in the field, and through the thirty who entered with him into the cave and through the length of the holy tabernacle being thirty cubits, and if they find any other things equal in number to these, they contentiously strive to show their Triacontad through such things. 18. And I have thought it necessary to add to these also what things they attempt to persuade by selecting from the scriptures concerning their Forefather, who was unknown to all before the coming of Christ, in order that they may show that our Lord proclaimed another father besides the maker of this universe, whom, as we have said before, they impiously say is the fruit of Hysterema. Accordingly, the prophet Isaiah saying, "But Israel did not know me, and the people did not understand me," they transfer to mean the ignorance of the invisible Depth. And that which was said through Hosea, "there is no truth in them nor knowledge of God," they force to contribute to the same thing, and "there is none who understands or seeks God; they have all turned aside, together they have become worthless" they apply to the ignorance of the Depth. And that which was said through Moses, "no one will see God and live," they persuade refers to him

141

οὕτως· ἐν τῇ ὀγδόῃ τῶν ἡμερῶν πεπλάσθαι λέγουσι τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν τῇ ἕκτῃ βούλονται γεγονέναι, ποτὲ δὲ ἐν τῇ ὀγδόῃ, εἰ μή τι τὸν μὲν χοϊκὸν ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐροῦσι πεπλάσθαι, τὸν δὲ σαρ2.31 κικὸν ἐν τῇ ὀγδόῃ· διέσταλται γὰρ ταῦτα παρ' αὐτοῖς. ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ ἄλλον εἶναι θέλουσι τὸν κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν θεοῦ γεγονότα ἀρσενόθηλυν ἄνθρωπον καὶ τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν πνευματικόν, ἄλλον δὲ τὸν ἐκ τῆς γῆς πλασθέντα. Καὶ τὴν τῆς κιβωτοῦ δὲ οἰκονομίαν ἐν τῷ κατακλυσμῷ, ἐν ᾗ ὀκτὼ ἄνθρωποι διεσώθησαν, φανερώτατά φασι τὴν σωτήριον ὀγδοάδα μηνύειν. τὸ αὐτὸ δὲ καὶ τὸν ∆αυίδ, ὄγδοον ὄντα τῇ γενέσει τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ, σημαίνειν. ἔτι μὴν καὶ τὴν περιτομήν, ὀκταήμερον γινομένην, τὸ περίτμημα τῆς ἄνω ὀγδοάδος δηλοῦν. καὶ ἁπλῶς ὅσα εὑρίσκεται ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς ὑπάγεσθαι δυνάμενα εἰς τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν ὀκτὼ τὸ μυστήριον τῆς ὀγδοάδος ἐκπληροῦν λέγουσιν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν δεκάδα σημαίνεσθαι διὰ τῶν δέκα ἐθνῶν, ὧν ἐπηγγείλατο ὁ θεὸς τῷ Ἀβραὰμ εἰς κατάσχεσιν δοῦναι, λέγουσι. καὶ τὴν κατὰ Σάρραν δὲ οἰκονομίαν, ὡς μετὰ ἔτη δέκα δίδωσιν αὐτῷ τὴν ἑαυτῆς δούλην Ἄγαρ, ἵνα ἐξ αὐτῆς τεκνοποιήσηται, τὸ αὐτὸ δηλοῦν. καὶ ὁ δοῦλος δὲ ὁ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ πεμφθεὶς ἐπὶ Ῥεβέκκαν καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ φρέατι διδοὺς αὐτῇ ψέλια χρυσῶν δέκα, καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτῆς κατέχοντες αὐτὴν ἐπὶ δέκα ἡμέρας, ἔτι τε Ῥοβοὰμ ὁ τὰ δέκα σκῆπτρα λαμβάνων καὶ τῆς σκηνῆς αἱ δέκα αὐλαὶ καὶ οἱ στῦλοι οἱ δεκαπήχεις καὶ οἱ δέκα υἱοὶ Ἰακὼβ ἐπὶ τὴν ὠνὴν τοῦ σίτου τὸ πρῶτον εἰς Αἴγυπτον πεμφθέντες καὶ οἱ δέκα ἀπόστολοι, οἷς φανεροῦται μετὰ τὴν ἔγερσιν ὁ κύριος, τοῦ Θωμᾶ μὴ παρόντος, τὴν ἀόρατον διετύπουν κατ' αὐτοὺς δεκάδα. 17. Τὴν δωδεκάδα δέ, περὶ ἣν καὶ τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ πάθους τοῦ Ὑστερήματος γεγονέναι, ἐξ οὗ πάθους τὰ βλεπόμενα κατεσκευάσθαι θέλουσιν, ἐπισήμως καὶ φανερῶς πανταχῇ κεῖσθαι λέγουσιν, ὡς τοὺς δώδεκα υἱοὺς τοῦ Ἰακώβ, ἐξ ὧν καὶ αἱ δώδεκα φυλαί, καὶ τὸ λόγιον τὸ ποικιλτὸν δώδεκα ἔχον λίθους καὶ τοὺς δώδεκα κώδωνας καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ Μωυσέως τεθέντας ὑπὸ τὸ ὄρος δώδεκα λίθους, ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ Ἰησοῦ 2.32 ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ καὶ ἄλλους εἰς τὸ πέραν, καὶ τοὺς βαστάζοντας τὴν κιβωτὸν τῆς διαθήκης καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ Ἠλία τεθειμένους ἐν τῇ ὁλοκαυτώσει τοῦ μόσχου καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν δὲ τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ πάντα ἁπλῶς ὅσα τὸν δωδέκατον ἀριθμὸν διασῴζει τὴν δωδεκάδα αὐτῶν χαρακτηρίζειν λέγουσι. τὴν δὲ τούτων πάντων ἕνωσιν ὀνομαζομένην τριακοντάδα διὰ τῆς τριάκοντα πηχῶν τὸ ὕψος ἐπὶ Νῶε κιβωτοῦ καὶ διὰ Σαμουὴλ κατακλίναντος τὸν Σαοὺλ ἐν τοῖς τριάκοντα κλητοῖς πρῶτον καὶ διὰ ∆αυίδ, ὅτε ἐπὶ τριάκοντα ἡμέραις ἐκρύβετο ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ, καὶ διὰ τῶν συνεισελθόντων αὐτῷ εἰς τὸ σπήλαιον ˉλ καὶ διὰ τοῦ τὸ μῆκος γίνεσθαι τῆς ἁγίας σκηνῆς τριάκοντα πηχῶν, καὶ εἴ τινα ἄλλα ἰσάριθμα τούτοις εὑρίσκουσι, τὴν τριακοντάδα αὐτῶν διὰ τῶν τοιούτων ἐπιδεικνύναι φιλεριστοῦσιν. 18. Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ ἡγησάμην προσθεῖναι τούτοις καὶ ὅσα περὶ τοῦ Προπάτορος αὐτῶν, ὃς ἄγνωστος ἦν τοῖς πᾶσι πρὸ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας, ἐκλέγοντες ἐκ τῶν γραφῶν πείθειν ἐπιχειροῦσιν, ἵν' ἐπιδείξωσι τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν ἄλλον καταγγέλλοντα πατέρα παρὰ τὸν ποιητὴν τοῦδε τοῦ παντός, ὃν καθὼς προέφαμεν ἀσεβοῦντες Ὑστερήματος καρπὸν εἶναι λέγουσι. τὸν γοῦν προφήτην Ἠσαΐαν εἰπόντα «Ἰσραὴλ δέ με οὐκ ἔγνω καὶ ὁ λαός με οὐ συνῆκεν», τὴν τοῦ ἀοράτου Βυθοῦ ἀγνωσίαν εἰρηκέναι μεθαρμόζουσι. καὶ διὰ Ὠσηὲ τὸ εἰρημένον «οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀλήθεια οὐδὲ ἐπίγνωσις θεοῦ» εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ συντείνειν βιάζονται, καὶ τό «οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ συνιῶν ἢ ἐκζητῶν τὸν θεόν· πάντες ἐξέκλιναν, ἅμα ἠχρειώθησαν» ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ Βυθοῦ ἀγνωσίας τάττουσι. καὶ τὸ διὰ Μωυσέως δὲ εἰρημένον «οὐδεὶς ὄψεται τὸν θεὸν καὶ ζήσεται» εἰς ἐκεῖνον ἔχειν πείθουσι