Chapter XVI.—Apelles.

But Apelles, a disciple of this heretic, was displeased at the statements advanced by his preceptor, as we have previously declared, and by another theory supposed that there are four gods. And the first of these he alleges to be the “Good Being,” whom the prophets did not know, and Christ to be His Son. And the second God, he affirms to be the Creator of the universe, and Him he does not wish to be a God. And the third God, he states to be the fiery one that was manifested; and the fourth to be an evil one. And Apelles calls these angels; and by adding (to their number) Christ likewise, he will assert Him to be a fifth God. But this heretic is in the habit of devoting his attention to a book which he calls “Revelations” of a certain Philumene, whom he considers a prophetess. And he affirms that Christ did not receive his flesh from the Virgin, but from the adjacent substance of the world. In this manner he composed his treatises against the law and the prophets, and attempts to abolish them as if they had spoken falsehoods, and had not known God. And Apelles, similarly with Marcion, affirms that the different sorts of flesh are destroyed.

[20] Ἀπελλῆς δέ, ὁ τούτου μαθητ(ή)ς, ἀπαρεσθεὶς τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ διδασκάλου εἰρημένοις, καθὰ προείπομεν, ἄλλῳ λόγῳ ὑπέθετο τέσσαρας εἶναι θεούς, ὧν ἕνα φάσκει [ἀγαθόν]_ὃν οὔτε [ὁ νόμος οὔτε] οἱ προφ(ῆ)ται ἔγνωσαν: οὗ εἶναι υἱὸν τὸν Χριστόν_, ἕτερον δὲ τὸν δημιουργὸν τοῦ παντός_ὃν οὐ θεὸν [ἀλλὰ δύναμιν θεοῦ] εἶναι θέλει_, ἕτερον δὲ πύρινον_τὸν [Μωσεῖ] φανέντα_, ἕτερον δὲ πονηρόν: οὓς ἀγγέλους καλεῖ: προσθεὶς δὲ τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ πέμπτον ἐρεῖ. Προσέχει δὲ [ἐν] βίβλῳ, ἣ[ν] Φανερώσεις καλεῖ, Φιλουμένης τινὸς [λόγοις], ἣν προφῆτιν νομίζει. τὴν δὲ σάρκα τὸν Χριστὸν οὐκ ἐκ τῆς παρθένου λέγει προσειληφέναι, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς παρακειμένης τοῦ κόσμου οὐσίας. οὗτος κατὰ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν συντάγματα ἐποίησε, «καταλύειν αὐτοὺς» ἐπιχειρῶν ὡς ψευδῆ λελαληκότας καὶ θεὸν μὴ ἐγνωκότας. σάρκας δὲ ἀπόλ[λ]υσθαι ὁμοίως Μαρκίωνι λέγει.