Chapter VI.—Monoïmus’ “Iota;” His Notion of the “Son of Man.”

The monad, (that is,) the one tittle, is913    The iota with a little mark placed above, signifies ten; thus, ι = 10. therefore, he says, also a decade.  For by the actual power of this one tittle, are produced duad, and triad, and tetrad, and pentad, and hexad, and heptad, and ogdoad, and ennead, up to ten. For these numbers, he says, are capable of many divisions, and they reside in that simple and uncompounded single tittle of the iota. And this is what has been declared:  “It pleased (God) that all fulness should dwell in the Son of man bodily.”914    Col. i. 19. For such compositions of numbers out of the simple and uncompounded one tittle of the iota become, he says, corporeal realities. The Son of man, therefore, he says, has been generated from the perfect man, whom no one knew; every creature who is ignorant of the Son, however, forms an idea of Him as the offspring of a woman. And certain very obscure rays of this Son which approach this world, check and control alteration (and) generation. And the beauty of that Son of man is up to the present incomprehensible to all men, as many as are deceived in reference to the offspring of the woman. Therefore nothing, he says, of the things that are in our quarter of creation has been produced by that man, nor will aught (of these) ever be (generated from him). All things, however, have been produced, not from the entirety, but from some part of that Son of man. For he says the Son of man is a jot in one tittle, which proceeds from above, is full, and completely replenishes all (rays flowing down from above).  And it comprises in itself whatever things the man also possesses (who is) the Father of the Son of man.

[13] Ἔστιν οὖν, φησίν, ἡ [μία] μονάς, ἡ μία κεραία, καὶ δεκάς: δύναμις γὰρ αὕτη το[ῦ] ἰῶτα, τῆς μιᾶς κεραίας, [ἐν ᾗ ἐστιν ἡ παντὸς ἀριθμοῦ ὑπόστασις: μονὰς] καὶ δυὰς καὶ τριὰς καὶ τετρὰς καὶ πεντὰς καὶ ἑξὰς καὶ ἑπτὰς (καὶ) ὀγδοὰς καὶ ἐν[νε]ὰς μέχρι τῶν δέκα: οὗτοι γάρ, φησίν, εἰσὶν οἱ πολυσχιδεῖς ἀριθμοὶ [οἱ] ἐν ἐκείνῃ κατοικοῦντες τῇ ἁπλῇ καὶ ἀσυνθέτῳ τοῦ ἰῶτα κεραίᾳ μιᾷ. καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι, [φησί,] τὸ εἰρημένον: «ὅτι πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα ηὐδόκησε κατοικῆσαι» ἐπὶ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου «σωματικῶς»: αἱ γὰρ τοσαῦται τῶν ἀριθμῶν συνθέσεις ἐξ ἁπλῆς καὶ ἀσυνθέτου τῆς μιᾶς κεραίας τοῦ ἰῶτα σωματικαὶ γεγόνασι, φησίν, ὑποστάσεις. Γέγονεν οὖν, φησίν, ἀπὸ τοῦ τελείου ἀνθρώπου ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, «ὃν ἔγνωκεν οὐδείς»: φαντάζεται γὰρ [αὐτόν], φησίν, ὡς γέν[ν]ημα [τῆς] θηλείας ἡ κτίσις πᾶσα, τὸν υἱὸν ἀγνοοῦσα. οὗ υἱοῦ [δὲ] ἀκτῖνες ἀμυδραὶ πάνυ, ἐμπελάζουσαι τῷδε τῷ κόσμῳ, συνέχουσι, [φησί,] καὶ συγκρατοῦσι τὴν μεταβολήν, [τουτέστι] τὴν γένεσιν. τὸ δὲ κάλλος ἐκείνου τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου μέχρι νῦν, [φησί,] πᾶσίν ἐστιν ἀκατάληπτον ἀνθρώποις, ὅσοι περὶ τὸ γέν[ν]ημα τῆς θηλείας εἰσὶ πεπλανημένοι. γέγονεν οὖν, φησίν, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐκείνου οὐδὲν τῶν ἐνθάδε, οὐδ' ἔσται πώποτε: τὰ δὲ γεγονότα πάντα οὐκ ἀπὸ ὅλου, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ μέρους τινὸς γέγονε τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. ἔστι γάρ, φησίν, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἰῶτα ἕν, μία κεραία, ῥυεῖσα ἄνωθεν, πλήρης ἀποπληροῦσα, πάντα ἔχουσα ἐν ἑαυτῇ, ὅσα καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἔχει, ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.