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carrying this venomousness secretly within himself and unknown by all, until at last he was convicted of being such from the words he had whispered into the ears of certain people, and was anathematized by us and has been exposed by our humble selves. And he remained thereafter in the cave, detested by all and isolated from the brotherhood and from most of those who care for their own lives. To this old man the aforementioned Eutactus—if indeed Eutactus—was led, passing through from Egypt, and having partaken of the old man's evil teaching, as a great item of trade this poison 2.82 he took and brought away to his own country; for he came, as I said, from Lesser Armenia, from the regions near Satala. Returning, then, to his own country, he stained many in that same Lesser Armenia, having corrupted some wealthy people, a certain senatorial lady, and other distinguished persons, through whom, being prominent men, he destroyed many there. But the Lord quickly erased him from life, except that he had sown his own tares. 2. And these too likewise forged for themselves certain apocryphal books, whose names are these: for one they call the book, forsooth, the Lesser Symphony, and the other the Greater Symphony. But they also heap up for themselves certain other books * which, should they encounter them, are additionally brought in, so that they may seem to confirm their own error through many means. And now they also make use of those called Allogenes; for there are books so called. And they take pretexts from the Ascension of Isaiah, and also from certain other apocryphal writings. But the whole is from the book called Symphony *, in which they say there is a certain Ogdoad of heavens and a Hebdomad, and that in each heaven there are rulers; and that some are in the seven heavens, one ruler in each heaven, and that there are orders for each ruler, and that the luminous Mother is highest in the eighth, just as the other heresies. And some of them are stained in their bodies with licentiousness, while others, forsooth, feign a pretended fast and deceive the more simple people, priding themselves on a certain renunciation in the guise of monks. And they say that in each heaven there is, as I said before, a rule and an authority and certain angelic services, each ruler having begotten and made a service for himself; and that there is no resurrection of the flesh, but only of the soul. And they anathematize the bath, even if there are some among them who were previously received and baptized. And they reject the participation and goodness of the mysteries as being alien and unto 2.83 the name of Sabaoth having come into being; for they want him to be, according to some of the other heresies, the one ruling as a tyrant in the seventh heaven and prevailing over the others. And they say that the soul is food for rules and authorities, and that without it they cannot live, because it is from the moisture from above and provides them with power. And that this soul, having come into knowledge and fled the baptism of the church and the name of Sabaoth who gave the law, ascends through each heaven and gives a defense to each authority and thus passes beyond to the higher Mother and Father of all, from whence indeed it came down into this world. And I have already said that they anathematize baptism, as “dead flies that make the ointment of the apothecary to stink,” as the parable in Ecclesiastes was spoken concerning these and those like them. For they are truly dead flies, causing death and making putrid the perfumer's oil of sweet savor, the holy mysteries of God which are graciously given to us in the bath for the remission of sins. 3. But one might marvel, finding even among the natural philosophers things full of benefit, being compared to the wisdom of the bee, which settles upon all the plants, but gathers for itself the useful things. For the wise man is in no way harmed,

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φέρων ἑαυτῷ ταύτην τὴν ἰοβολίαν κρύβδην καὶ παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀγνοούμενος, ἕως ὅτε εἰς ἔσχατον ἀφ' ὧν εἰς ὦτά τινων ἐψιθύρισε ῥημάτων ἐλεγχθεὶς τοιοῦτος ὑφ' ἡμῶν ἀνεθεματίσθη καὶ ἐλήλεγκται διὰ τῆς ἡμῶν βραχύτητος. καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ λοιπόν, βδελυχθεὶς ὑπὸ πάντων καὶ μονωθεὶς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀδελφότητος καὶ ἀπὸ πλείστων τῶν τῆς ζωῆς ἑαυτῶν ἐπιμελομένων. πρὸς τοῦτον τὸν γέροντα καταχθεὶς ὁ προειρημένος Εὔτακτος, εἴ γε Εὔτακτος, ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγύπτου διερχόμενος καὶ μεταλαβὼν τῆς τοῦ γέροντος κακοδιδασκαλίας, ὡς μεγάλην ἐμπορίαν τὸ δηλητήριον τοῦτο 2.82 λαβὼν εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πατρίδα ἀπεκόμισεν· ἦν γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς μικρᾶς Ἀρμενίας ὡς ἔφην ὁρμώμενος, τῶν Σατάλης πλησίον τόπων. ἐπανελθὼν γοῦν εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πατρίδα πολλοὺς ἔχρανε τῆς αὐτῆς μικρᾶς Ἀρμενίας, προσφθαρείς τισι πλουσίοις συγκλητικῇ τέ τινι καὶ ἄλλοις περιβλέπτοις, δι' ὧν διαφανῶν ἀνδρῶν πολλοὺς ἐκεῖσε ἀπώλεσε. τάχιον δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ κύριος τοῦ βίου ἐξήλειψεν, πλὴν ὅτι ἔσπειρε τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ζιζάνιον. 2. Καὶ οὗτοι δὲ ὁμοίως βίβλους ἑαυτοῖς ἐπλαστογράφησάν τινας ἀποκρύφους, ὧν τὰ ὀνόματά ἐστι ταῦτα· τὸ μὲν γὰρ Συμφωνίαν μικρὰν δῆθεν βιβλίον καλοῦσι, τὸ δὲ μεγάλην Συμφωνίαν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλα τινὰ βιβλία ἑαυτοῖς ἐπισωρεύουσιν * οἷς ἐὰν συντύχωσιν, ἵνα δόξωσι τὴν ἑαυτῶν πλάνην διὰ πολλῶν βεβαιοῦν, ἐπισυνεισφέρεσθαι. ἤδη δὲ καὶ τοῖς Ἀλλογενέσι καλουμένοις κέχρηνται· βίβλοι γάρ εἰσιν οὕτω καλούμεναι. λαμβάνουσι δὲ λαβὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀναβατικοῦ Ἠσαΐα, ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν ἀποκρύφων. τὸ δὲ πᾶν ἐκ τοῦ Συμφωνία καλουμένου βιβλίου *, ἐν ᾧ ὀγδοάδα τινὰ λέγουσιν εἶναι οὐρανῶν καὶ ἑβδομάδα, εἶναι δὲ καθ' ἕκαστον οὐρανὸν ἄρχοντας· καὶ τοὺς μὲν εἶναι εἰς τοὺς ἑπτὰ οὐρανούς, καθ' ἕνα οὐρανὸν ἕνα ἄρχοντα, τάξεις δὲ εἶναι ἑκάστῳ ἄρχοντι, καὶ τὴν Μητέρα τὴν φωτεινὴν ἀνωτάτω ἐν τῷ ὀγδόῳ εἶναι, καθάπερ αἱ ἄλλαι αἱρέσεις. καὶ τινὲς μὲν αὐτῶν κατὰ τὰ σώματα κεχραμμένοι ἀσελγείᾳ τυγχάνουσιν, ἄλλοι δὲ δῆθεν προσποιητὴν νηστείαν ὑποκρίνονται ἀπατῶσί τε τοὺς ἀφελεστέρους ἀνθρώπους, προσχήματι μοναζόντων ἀποταξίαν τινὰ σεμνυνόμενοι. φασὶ δὲ εἶναι καθ' ἕκαστον οὐρανόν, ὡς προεῖπον, ἀρχὴν καὶ ἐξουσίαν καὶ ἀγγελικάς τινας ὑπηρεσίας, ἑκάστου ἄρχοντος ἑαυτῷ γεγεννηκότος καὶ πεποιηκότος ὑπηρεσίαν· μὴ εἶναι δὲ σαρκὸς ἀνάστασιν, ἀλλὰ μόνον ψυχῆς. ἀναθεματίζουσίν τε τὸ λουτρόν, κἄν τε εἶέν τινες ἐν αὐτοῖς προειλημμένοι καὶ βεβαπτισμένοι. τήν τε τῶν μυστηρίων μετοχὴν καὶ ἀγαθότητα ἀθετοῦσιν ὡς ἀλλοτρίαν οὖσαν καὶ εἰς 2.83 ὄνομα Σαβαὼθ γεγενημένην· αὐτὸν γὰρ θέλουσιν εἶναι κατά τινας τῶν ἄλλων αἱρέσεων ἐν τῷ ἑβδόμῳ οὐρανῷ τυραννοῦντα καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἄλλων κατισχύοντα. βρῶμα δὲ λέγουσιν εἶναι ἀρχῶν καὶ ἐξουσιῶν τὴν ψυχήν, ἄνευ δὲ αὐτῆς μὴ δύνασθαι αὐτοὺς ζῆν, διὰ τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς ἄνωθεν ἰκμάδος αὐτὴν εἶναι καὶ δύναμιν αὐτοῖς παρέχειν. ἐν γνώσει δὲ ταύτην γενομένην καὶ φυγοῦσαν τὸ βάπτισμα τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Σαβαὼθ τοῦ τὸν νόμον δεδωκότος ἀνιέναι καθ' ἕκαστον οὐρανὸν καὶ ἀπολογίαν διδόναι ἑκάστῃ ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ οὕτως ὑπερβαίνειν πρὸς τὴν ἀνωτέραν Μητέρα καὶ Πατέρα τῶν ὅλων, ὅθεν δὴ κατῆλθεν εἰς τόνδε τὸν κόσμον. ἤδη δὲ εἶπον ὡς ἀναθεματίζουσι τὸ βάπτισμα, ὡς «μυῖαι θανατοῦσαι σαπριοῦσαι σκευασίαν ἐλαίου ἡδύσματος», ὡς ἐπὶ τούτων καὶ τῶν ὁμοίων αὐτοῖς ἡ παραβολὴ τῷ Ἐκκλησιαστῇ εἴρηται. μυῖαι γάρ εἰσιν ὡς ἀληθῶς θανατοῦσαι καὶ θάνατον ἐμποιοῦσαι καὶ σαπρίζουσαι τὸ μυρεψικὸν ἔλαιον τοῦ ἡδύσματος, τὰ ἅγια τοῦ θεοῦ μυστήρια τὰ ἐν τῷ λουτρῷ ἡμῖν εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν κεχαρισμένα. 3. Θαυμάσειε δ' ἄν τις εὑρὼν καὶ παρὰ τοῖς φυσιολόγοις τινὰ ὠφελείας ἔμπλεα, ἀπεικασθεὶς τῇ τῆς μελίττης συνέσει, τῆς ἐφ' ἅπαντα μὲν τὰ βλαστήματα ἐφιζανούσης, τὰ χρήσιμα δὲ ἑαυτῇ ἐπισυναγούσης. ὁ γὰρ συνετὸς ἄνθρωπος οὐδαμόθεν ζημιοῦται,