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he says of himself that he is neither male nor female, but from him is the Mother of all things, whom he also names Silence and Truth. From her comes the second Mother who came to be in forgetfulness, whom he also calls Achamoth. from whom, then, all things were established in deficiency. And this man also wants to say more than those before him, which is as follows: those of them who are dying and reaching the very point of departure, taking his pretexts from the aforementioned Marcus, he no longer redeems according to that man's method, but handles it differently, supposedly redeeming at the point of death those who have been deceived by him. For sometimes some of them mix oil with water and pour it on the head of the departed, while others use the myrrh called opobalsam and water, 2.46 yet having the invocation in common, just as Marcus before him also did, with the addition of certain names. And the invocation is this: Messia oupharegna mempsai men chal daian mosome daea akphar nepseu oua Iesou Nazaria. And they do this so that, supposedly, those who receive these invocations at their departure, mixed with water and oil or myrrh, may become unrestrainable and invisible to the principalities and powers above, so that their inner man, they say, may invisibly pass beyond, as these bodies are left behind in creation, while their soul is presented to the Demiurge above who came to be in Deficiency, so that it remains there with him, but the inner man, as I said, the one more inward than soul and body, ascends beyond; which they wish to say has come down from the Pleroma above. 3. And they command those who have been so mocked among them that, he says, if you come to the principalities and powers, remember to say these things after your death here: "I am a son from the Father, the pre-existing Father, and a son in the present; and I have come to see all things, both my own and those of others, and yet they are not entirely others', but belong to Achamoth, who is female and made these things for herself. I derive my race from the pre-existent one and I am going back to my own, from where I have come." And having said these things, he escapes the powers, and comes to those around the Demiurge above around the first ogdoad; for they too wish there to be a hebdomad below after the Demiurge, and for him to be in the seventh heaven as the eighth, in deficiency and in ignorance; and for the one who has departed this life to say to those around the Demiurge: "I am a vessel more honorable 2.47 than the female who made you. If your Mother is ignorant of her own root, I know myself and I know from where I am, and I call upon the incorruptible Sophia, who is in the Father, and who is the mother of your Mother who has no father, nor a male consort; but a female produced by a female, she made you, being ignorant both of her own mother and thinking herself to be alone. But I call upon her mother." And upon hearing these things, those around the Demiurge are greatly disturbed and condemn the root of their Mother and their race, while he proceeds to his own things, having cast off his bond and his angel, that is, the soul. For they think that besides body and soul there is also something else in man. And concerning the redemption, these are the things that have come to us. 4. But the prudent, having heard their excessive mockery, would laugh at their buffoonery, as each of them legislates differently from the other as he wishes and is not checked in his own audacity, but each invents as much as he can. And of those still being born and sprouting up among them to this day, who every day find something new to say and to fantasize for those they lead on, it is difficult to investigate or to relate all of their * Therefore I shall be content again with having shown what has been said about this heresy, things that have also come to us. And to whom would not such a teaching be clear as

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αὐτὸς αὐτὸν λέγειν μήτε ἄρρεν μήτε θῆλυ, ἐξ αὐτοῦ δὲ εἶναι τὴν τῶν ὅλων Μητέρα, ἣν καὶ Σιγὴν ὀνομάζει καὶ Ἀλήθειαν. ἀπ' αὐτῆς δὲ εἶναι τὴν δευτέραν Μητέρα τὴν ἐν λήθῃ γενομένην, ἣν καὶ Ἀχαμὼθ καὶ αὐτὸς καλεῖ. ἐξ ἧς λοιπὸν τὰ πάντα ἐν ὑστερήματι κατέστη. βούλεται δὲ πλείονα τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ καὶ οὗτος λέγειν, ἅτινά ἐστι τάδε· τοὺς τελευτῶντας ἀπ' αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπὶ αὐτὴν τὴν ἔξοδον φθάνοντας, ἀπὸ τοῦ προειρημένου Μάρκου τὰς προφάσεις εἰληφὼς οὐκέτι κατ' ἐκεῖνον λυτροῦται, ἀλλὰ ἄλλως οὗτος μεταχειρίζεται, λυτρούμενος δῆθεν πρὸς τῇ τελευτῇ τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἀπατηθέντας. ποτὲ γάρ τινες ἐξ αὐτῶν ἔλαιον ὕδατι μίξαντες ἐπιβάλλουσι τῇ κεφαλῇ τοῦ ἐξελθόντος, οἱ δὲ μύρον τὸ λεγόμενον ὀποβάλσαμον καὶ ὕδωρ, 2.46 τὴν μέντοι ἐπίκλησιν κοινὴν ἔχοντες, ὡς δὴ καὶ ὁ πρὸ αὐτοῦ Μάρκος ἐποιεῖτο, μετὰ προσθήκης τινῶν ὀνομάτων. ἡ δὲ ἐπίκλησίς ἐστιν αὕτη· Μεσσία οὐφαρέγνα μεμψαὶ μεν χαλ δαίαν μοσομὴ δαέα ἀκφαρ νεψευ ουα Ἰησοῦ Ναζαρία. τοῦτο δὲ ποιοῦσιν, ἵνα δῆθεν οἱ λαμβάνοντες ἐπὶ τῇ ἐξόδῳ ταύτας τὰς ἐπικλήσεις τὰς μετὰ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ ἐλαίου ἤτοι μύρου ἀναμεμιγμένων ἀκράτητοι γένωνται καὶ ἀόρατοι ταῖς ἄνω ἀρχαῖς καὶ ἐξουσίαις, εἰς τὸ ὑπερβῆναι ἀοράτως τὸν ἔσω αὐτῶν ἄνθρωπον, φασίν, ὡς τῶν σωμάτων τούτων ἐν τῇ κτίσει καταλιμπανομένων, τῆς δὲ ψυχῆς αὐτῶν παρισταμένης τῷ ∆ημιουργῷ ἄνω τῷ ἐν Ὑστερήματι γεγονότι, ὥστε καὶ ἐκεῖσε καταμένειν παρ' αὐτῷ, ὑπεραναβαίνειν δέ, ὡς ἔφην, τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον, τὸν ἐσώτερον ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος· ὃν δὴ θέλουσι λέγειν ἐκ τοῦ ἄνωθεν Πληρώματος κατεληλυθέναι. 3. Ἐγκελεύονται δὲ τοῖς οὕτω παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐμπεπαιγμένοις, ὅτι, φησίν, ἐὰν ἔλθῃς ἐπὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ ἐξουσίας, ἔχε ἐν μνήμῃ τάδε εἰπεῖν μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν τελευτήν «ἐγὼ υἱὸς ἀπὸ Πατρός, Πατρὸς προόντος, υἱὸς δὲ ἐν τῷ παρόντι· ἦλθον δὲ πάντα ἰδεῖν τὰ ἴδια καὶ τὰ ἀλλότρια, καὶ οὐκ ἀλλότρια δὲ παντελῶς, ἀλλὰ τῆς Ἀχαμώθ, ἥτις ἐστὶν θήλεια καὶ ταῦτα ἑαυτῇ ἐποίησεν. κατάγω δὲ τὸ γένος ἐκ τοῦ προόντος καὶ πορεύομαι πάλιν εἰς τὰ ἴδια, ὅθεν ἐλήλυθα». καὶ ταῦτα εἰπόντα διαφεύγειν τὰς ἐξουσίας, ἔρχεσθαι δὲ ἐπὶ τοὺς περὶ τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν ἄνω περὶ τὴν πρώτην ὀγδοάδα· βούλονται γὰρ καὶ αὐτοὶ μετὰ τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν κάτω εἶναι ἑβδομάδα, αὐτὸν δὲ εἶναι ἐν τῷ ἑβδόμῳ οὐρανῷ ὄγδοον, ἐν ὑστερήματι δὲ καὶ ἐν ἀγνωσίᾳ· καὶ λέγειν τὸν ἐκ τοῦ βίου ἐξελθόντα τοῖς περὶ τὸν ∆ημιουργόν «σκεῦός εἰμι ἔντιμον 2.47 μᾶλλον παρὰ τὴν θήλειαν τὴν ποιήσασαν ὑμᾶς. εἰ ἡ Μήτηρ ὑμῶν ἀγνοεῖ τὴν ἑαυτῆς ῥίζαν, ἐγὼ οἶδα ἐμαυτὸν καὶ γινώσκω ὅθεν εἰμὶ καὶ ἐπικαλοῦμαι τὴν ἄφθαρτον Σοφίαν, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἐν τῷ Πατρί, μήτηρ δὲ τῆς Μητρὸς ὑμῶν τῆς μὴ ἐχούσης πατέρα, ἀλλ' οὔτε σύζυγον ἄρρενα· θήλεια δὲ ὑπὸ θηλείας γενομένη ἐποίησεν ὑμᾶς, ἀγνοοῦσα καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτῆς καὶ δοκοῦσα ἑαυτὴν εἶναι μόνην. ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπικαλοῦμαι αὐτῆς τὴν μητέρα». ταῦτα δὲ τοὺς περὶ τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν ἀκούσαντας σφόδρα ταραχθῆναι καὶ καταγνῶναι αὐτῶν τῆς ῥίζης καὶ τοῦ γένους τῆς Μητρός, αὐτὸν δὲ πορευθῆναι εἰς τὰ ἴδια ῥίψαντα τὸν δεσμὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν ἄγγελον τουτέστιν τὴν ψυχήν. οἴονται μὲν γὰρ μετὰ σῶμα καὶ ψυχὴν εἶναί τι καὶ ἕτερον ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῆς ἀπολυτρώσεως ταῦτά ἐστιν ὅσα εἰς ἡμᾶς συνελήλυθεν. 4. Οἱ δὲ συνετοὶ κατακούσαντες τῆς περισσοτέρας αὐτῶν χλεύης καταγελάσαιεν τῆς μιμολογίας, ὡς ἕκαστος αὐτῶν ἕτερα παρὰ τὸν ἕτερον νομοθετεῖ ὡς βούλεται καὶ τῆς τόλμης ἑαυτοῦ οὐκ ἀνακόπτεται, ἀλλὰ ὅσαπερ δύναται ἕκαστος ἐπινοεῖ. καὶ τῶν ἔτι εἰς δεῦρο γεννωμένων παρ' αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐπιφυομένων, οἳ καθ' ἡμέραν εὑρίσκουσίν τι καινὸν εἰπεῖν καὶ φαντάσαι τοὺς ἐπαγομένους, χαλεπόν ἐστι πάντα τὰ τούτων * ζητῆσαι ἢ ἐξειπεῖν. ὅθεν ἀρκεσθήσομαι πάλιν τοῖς καὶ περὶ ταύτης τῆς αἱρέσεως εἰρημένοις, ἅτινα καὶ εἰς ἡμᾶς ἦλθεν ὑποδείξας. ἡ δὲ τοιαύτη διδασκαλία τίνι οὐκ ἂν σαφὴς εἴη ὡς