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our life, begetting sons and daughters, as the same book of truth holds. 10. How then will Seth, who died then, whose sons also, living in succession, ceased from life, be found to be the Lord, the one born of Mary the ever-virgin, who was well-pleased for the life of men, the one begotten without time, the one who is with the Father always, the hypostatic God, the Word, who came in the last of days and having refashioned in himself 2.80 from a virgin's womb flesh and the human soul, having taken them, thus becoming man most perfectly, having preached to us the mysteries of life, and having appointed his disciples as workers of righteousness, and having taught the race of men his teaching both through himself and through them, not revealing the things of the Sethians nor calling himself Seth, as these men, talking nonsense and overcome by some drunkenness, have fallen away from the truth? But for now, since the * heresy is short-lived, not needing to extend the refutation against it, I am content with these present points alone. For their folly is vulnerable and able to both refute and expose itself, not only concerning the conduct of Christ and the slandered teaching of considering and affirming him to be Seth, but also concerning the hypothesis about the two men. For if the powers have their beginning from above, the things done by the two could not have come to be and been done without the one, whom they indeed say is the Mother of all. For the one is found to be the cause of the two powers, and without her nothing that has come into being has come into being. And they will run back again to confessing that there is one master of all and creator and founder of all things, once one beginning is shown. But having said these things about this heresy and having revealed the venom of their serpentine offspring from the race of asps, let us go on again to another, beloved, in the same sequence of the treatise.

Against the Archontics, 20, and in sequence, 40. 1. A certain heresy of the Archontics follows these, but this one is not found in many places except only in the province of Palestine; and they have already transported their venom somewhere, even into Greater Armenia, but also in Lesser Armenia this weed has already been sown by a certain man who visited the land of Palestine from Armenia in the time of Constantius, around the time of his death, Eutactus by name, but rather Atactus (disorderly) in character, who learned this evil teaching, 2.81 and then returned to his own country and taught it. He received, as I said, in Palestine venom as from an asp from a certain elder, Peter, unworthily called Peter, who lived in the territory of Eleutheropolis and Jerusalem, beyond Hebron by three milestones; they call the village Capharbaricha. This elder at first had astonishing garb, full of hypocrisy; for on the outside he was truly clothed in a sheep's fleece, but on the inside he was unknown to be a ravenous wolf. For he seemed to be a hermit, dwelling in a certain cave, who ostensibly gathered many into renunciation and was ostensibly called father because of both his old age and his habit, and he distributed his possessions to the poor and gave alms daily. But in his early life he was tried in many heresies, and having been accused and convicted in the time of bishop Aetius, when he was then following the heresy of the Gnostics, he was deposed from the presbyterate—for he had once been appointed a presbyter—and after the conviction he was driven from the place by Aetius and he went away and lived in Arabia in Cochaba, where the roots of the Ebionites and Nazoraeans began, as I have also indicated concerning this place in my accounts of many heresies. But later, as if he had been brought to his senses in his old age, he returned again,

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ἡμᾶς βίον, γεννήσας υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας, ὡς ἔχει ἡ αὐτὴ βίβλος τῆς ἀληθείας. 10. Πόθεν τοίνυν ὁ Σὴθ ὁ τότε τελευτήσας, οὗ καὶ υἱοὶ κατὰ διαδοχὴν βιώσαντες τοῦ βίου ἐπαύσαντο, εὑρεθήσεται κύριος ὁ ἀπὸ Μαρίας γεννηθεὶς τῆς ἀειπαρθένου εὐδοκήσας ἐπὶ ζωῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἀχρόνως, ὁ ὢν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἀεί, ἐνυπόστατος θεὸς λόγος, ἐλθὼν δὲ ἐπ' ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὸν 2.80 δὲ ἀναπλασάμενος ἀπὸ μήτρας παρθενικῆς σάρκα καὶ ψυχὴν τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν εἰληφὼς οὕτως ἐνανθρωπήσας τελειότατα, κηρύξας ἡμῖν ζωῆς τὰ μυστήρια, δικαιοσύνης τε ἐργάτας τοὺς αὐτοῦ μαθητὰς καταστήσας καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίαν δι' ἑαυτοῦ τε καὶ δι' αὐτῶν παιδεύσας τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὐ τὰ τῶν Σηθιανῶν ἀποκαλύψας οὐδὲ Σὴθ ἑαυτὸν ὀνομάσας, ὡς οὗτοι ληροῦντες καὶ μέθῃ τινὶ συνεχόμενοι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐκπεπτώκασι; Τὰ δὲ νῦν συντόμου οὔσης τῆς * αἱρέσεως, οὐκ ἐνδεηθεὶς ἐπεκτεῖναι τὸν κατ' αὐτῆς ἔλεγχον ἀρκοῦμαι τοῖς παροῦσι μόνοις. εὔτρωτος γὰρ ἡ τούτων ἄνοια καὶ ἑαυτὴν δυναμένη τε ἐλέγξαι καὶ φωρᾶσαι, οὐ μόνον περὶ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀγωγῆς καὶ σεσυκοφαντημένης διδασκαλίας τοῦ τὸν Σὴθ αὐτὸν νομίζειν τε καὶ διαβεβαιοῦσθαι εἶναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τὴν περὶ τῶν δύο ἀνθρώπων ὑπόθεσιν. εἰ γὰρ αἱ δυνάμεις ἄνωθεν ἐσχήκασι τὴν ἀρχήν, οὐκ ἂν ἄνευ τῆς μιᾶς, ἣν δὴ καὶ Μητέρα φάσκουσι τῶν ὅλων εἶναι, ἐγένετό τε καὶ ἐπράχθη τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν δύο πραχθέντα. εὑρίσκεται γὰρ ἡ μία αἰτία τῶν δύο δυνάμεων, καὶ ἄνευ αὐτῆς μηδὲν τῶν γενομένων γεγονέναι. καὶ ἀναδραμοῦνται πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸ ὁμολογεῖν ἕνα εἶναι δεσπότην τῶν πάντων καὶ δημιουργὸν καὶ κτιστὴν τῶν ὅλων, ἅπαξ μιᾶς δεικνυμένης ἀρχῆς. ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ ταύτης τῆς αἱρέσεως ταῦτα φήσαντες καὶ ἀποκαλύψαντες τὸν ἰὸν τῆς ἑρπετώδους αὐτῶν ἐκ γένους ἀσπίδων γονῆς, ἐφ' ἑτέραν πάλιν ἴωμεν, ἀγαπητοί, τῇ αὐτῇ ἀκολουθίᾳ τῆς πραγματείας.

Κατὰ Ἀρχοντικῶν ˉκ, τῆς δὲ ἀκολουθίας ˉμ. 1. Ἀρχοντικῶν τις αἵρεσις τούτοις ἕπεται, οὐκ ἐν πολλοῖς δὲ τόποις αὕτη φέρεται ἢ μόνον ἐν τῇ Παλαιστινῶν ἐπαρχίᾳ· μετήνεγκαν δὲ τὸν αὐτῶν ἰὸν ἤδη που καὶ εἰς τὴν μεγάλην Ἀρμενίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ μικρᾷ Ἀρμενίᾳ τοῦτο τὸ ζιζάνιον ἤδη ἔσπαρται ὑπὸ ἀνδρός τινος ἐπιδημήσαντος τῇ Παλαιστινῶν γῇ ἀπὸ Ἀρμενίας ἐν χρόνοις Κωνσταντίου περὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ τελευτήν, Εὐτάκτου ὀνόματι, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀτάκτου τὸν τρόπον καὶ μαθόντος τὴν κακοδιδασκαλίαν ταύτην, 2.81 εἶτα ἐπανελθόντος εἰς τὰ οἰκεῖα καὶ διδάξαντος. μετέλαβεν δέ, ὡς ἔφην, ἐν Παλαιστίνῃ ὡς ἀπὸ ἀσπίδος ἰὸν ἀπὸ Πέτρου τινὸς γέροντος, ἀναξίως Πέτρου καλουμένου, ὃς κατῴκει ἐν τῇ τῆς Ἐλευθεροπόλεως καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐνορίᾳ, ἐπέκεινα τῆς Χεβρὼν σημείοις τρισί· Καφαρβαριχὰ τὴν κώμην καλοῦσιν. οὗτος ὁ γέρων τὰ πρῶτα ἔνδυμα εἶχεν ἔκπληκτον, ὑποκρίσεως γέμον· ἔξωθεν μὲν γὰρ ἀληθῶς κώδιον προβάτου ἠμφίεστο, ἠγνοεῖτο δὲ ἔνδοθεν λύκος ὑπάρχων ἅρπαξ. ἀναχωρητὴς γὰρ ἐδόκει εἶναι, ἐν σπηλαίῳ τινὶ καθεζόμενος, ὃς πολλοὺς δῆθεν συνήγαγεν εἰς ἀπόταξιν καὶ πατὴρ δῆθεν διά τε τὸ γῆρας καὶ τὸ σχῆμα ἐκαλεῖτο, τά τε αὐτοῦ ὑπάρχοντα πτωχοῖς διένειμεν καὶ καθ' ἡμέραν ἐλεημοσύνας ἐποίει. ἐν δὲ τῇ πρώτῃ ἡλικίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἐν πολλαῖς αἱρέσεσιν ἐξητάσθη, ἐπὶ Ἀετίου δὲ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου κατηγορηθεὶς καὶ ἐλεγχθεὶς τότε τὴν τῶν Γνωστικῶν μετιὼν αἵρεσιν καθῃρέθη ἀπὸ τοῦ πρεσβυτερίου ἦν γὰρ κατασταθείς ποτε πρεσβύτερος, τοῦ τε τόπου μετὰ τὸν ἔλεγχον ὑπὸ Ἀετίου ἐδιώχθη καὶ ἀπελθὼν κατῴκησεν ἐν τῇ Ἀραβίᾳ ἐν Κωκάβῃ, ἔνθα αἱ τῶν Ἐβιωναίων τε καὶ Ναζωραίων ῥίζαι ἐνήρξαντο, ὡς καὶ ἐν πολλαῖς αἱρέσεσι περὶ τοῦ τόπου τούτου ἐσήμανα. ὕστερον δὲ ὡς σωφρονισθεὶς πρὸς τὸ γῆρας πάλιν ἐπανῆλθε,