Chapter VI.—The Peratæ.

The Peratæ, however, viz., Ademes the Carystian, and Euphrates the Peratic, say that there is some one world,—this is the denomination they use,—and affirming that it is divided into three parts. But of the threefold division, according to them, there is one principle, just like an immense fountain, capable of being by reason divided into infinite segments. And the first segment, and the one of more proximity, according to them, is the triad, and is called a perfect good, and a paternal magnitude. But the second portion of the triad is a certain multitude of, as it were, infinite powers. The third part, however, is formal. And the first is unbegotten;1025    Cruice supplies from Theodoret: “and the second which is good is self-begotten, and the third is generated.” whence they expressly affirm that there are three Gods, three Logoi, three minds, (and) three men. For when the division has been accomplished, to each part of the world they assign both Gods, and Logoi, and men, and the rest. But from above, from uncreatedness and the first segment of the world, when afterwards the world had attained to its consummation, the Peratic affirms that there came down, in the times of Herod, a certain man with a threefold nature, and a threefold body, and a threefold power, named Christ, and that He possesses from the three parts of the world in Himself all the concretions and capacities of the world. And they are disposed to think that this is what has been declared, “in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”1026    Col. ii. 9. And they assert that from the two worlds situated above—namely, both the unbegotten one and self-begotten one—there were borne down into this world in which we are, germs of all sorts of powers.  And (they say) that Christ came down from above from uncreatedness, in order that, by His descent, all things that have been divided into three parts may be saved. For, says the Peratic, the things that have been borne down from above will ascend through Him; and the things that have plotted against those that have been borne down are heedlessly rejected,1027    ἀφίεται εἰκῇ: Bernays proposes ὀφιοειδῆ, i.e., being of the form of the serpent. and sent away to be punished. And the Peratic states that there are two parts which are saved—that is, those that are situated above—by having been separated from corruption, and that the third is destroyed, which he calls a formal world. These also are the tenets of the Peratæ.

[10] Οἱ δὲ Περάται, Ἀδέμης ὁ Καρύστιος καὶ Ε[ὐ]φράτης [ὁ] Περατικός, λέγουσιν ἕνα εἶναι κόσμον τινά_οὕτως καλοῦντες τοῦτον_, τρ(ι)χῇ διῃρημένον. ἔστι δὲ [τῆς] τριχῇ διαιρέ(σ)εως παρ' αὐ(τ)οῖς [τὸ μὲν ἓν μέρος] οἱονεὶ μία ἀρχ(ή), καθαπερ(εὶ) πηγὴ μεγάλη, εἰς ἀπείρους τομὰς τῷ (λ)όγῳ τμηθῆναι δυναμένη. ἡ δὲ πρώτη τομὴ καὶ προσεχεστέρα κατ' αὐτούς ἐστιν ἡ τριάς: καὶ [τὸ μὲν ἓν μέρος] καλεῖται ἀγαθὸν τέλειον, μέγεθος πατρικόν: τὸ δὲ δεύτερον μέρος τῆς τριάδος [αὐτῶν] οἱονεὶ δυνάμεων ἄπει(ρ)όν τι πλῆθος, [ἐξ αὑτῶν γεγενημένων: τὸ δὲ] τρίτον ἰδικόν. καὶ ἔστι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀγέννητον, [ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἀγαθὸν τέλειον: τὸ δὲ δεύτερον αὐτογενές: τὸ δὲ τρίτον γεννητόν.] ὅθεν διαρρήδην λέγουσι τρεῖς θεούς, τρεῖς λόγους, τρεῖς νοῦς, τρεῖς ἀνθρώπους: ἑκάστῳ γὰρ μέρει τοῦ κόσμου, τῆς διαιρέσεως διακεκριμένης, διδόασι καὶ θεοὺς καὶ λόγους [καὶ νοῦς] καὶ ἀνθρώπους καὶ τὰ λοιπά. Ἄνωθεν δέ, ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγεννησίας καὶ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου πρώτης τομῆς, ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ λοιπὸν τοῦ κόσμου καθεστηκότος, κατεληλυθέναι ἐν τοῖς Ἡρώδου χρόνοις τριφυῆ τινα ἄνθρωπον καὶ τρισώματον καὶ τριδύναμον, καλούμενον Χριστόν, ἀπὸ τῶν τριῶν ἔχοντα τοῦ κόσμου μερῶν ἐν αὑτῷ πάντα τὰ [τοῦ κόσμου] συγκρίματα καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις. καὶ τοῦτο εἶναι θέλουσι τὸ εἰρημένον: «ἐν ᾧ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματι[κῶς]». κατενεχθῆναι γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν ὑπερκειμένων κόσμων δύο, τοῦ τε ἀγεννήτου καὶ τοῦ αὐτογεννήτου, εἰς τοῦτον τὸν κόσμον ἐν ᾧ ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς παντοίων δυνάμεων σπέρματα. κατεληλυθέναι δὲ τὸν Χριστὸν ἄνωθεν, ἀπὸ [τῆς] ἀγεννησίας, ἵνα διὰ τῆς καταβάσεως αὐτοῦ πάντα σωθῇ τὰ τριχῇ διῃρημένα: ἃ μὲν γάρ, φησίν, ἐστὶν ἄνωθεν κατενηνεγμένα, ἀνελεύσεται δι' αὐτοῦ, τὰ δὲ ἐπιβουλεύσαντα τοῖς κατενηνεγμένοις [ἄνωθεν] ἀφίε[τα]ι εἰκῇ καὶ κολασθέντα ἀποπέμπεται. δύο δὲ εἶναι μέρη ἃ σῳζόμενα λέγει, τὰ ὑπερκείμενα [καὶ] ἀπαλλαγέντα τῆς φθορᾶς: τὸ δὲ τρίτον ἀπόλ[λ]υσθαι, ὃ κόσμον ἰδι[κ]ὸν καλεῖ. ταῦτα [τοίνυν] καὶ οἱ Περάται.