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to make the twelve buckets, in the form of a man and he appeared to men as a man,” and being ignorant even of the dispensation that has been from the beginning, he thinks he is saying something and like a blind man leading himself, he suggests to those blinded by him things that lead to lies. But with truth being present and clearly opening the eyes of the intelligent, it brings his nonsense to ridicule. For to what men did he appear, who did not exist? And how did he appear in the form of a man, not having taken a body? And if indeed in the incarnate presence he fulfilled this, appearing and not being, then the events were an illusion. Therefore, then, he has not appeared, nor has he come. For if, having come, he was not, then he did not come from the beginning. But if he was thought to be a man, but was not a man, what compelled the Word of God to appear as a man without being one? Unless perhaps, being dragged by creditors, he wished to fashion an appearance for himself, so that he might be able to escape the notice of those seeking him. But if he both appeared and was not, what sort of truth was this? For in truth there is no lie, as the only-begotten says about himself, that “I am the truth and the life.” And life does not have death, and truth would not endure alteration, lest by disturbing the truth it would no longer be truth. And his tragedy-making hypothesis has fallen apart from every argument. For neither were the stars created after the presence, nor were there men before the stars came to be. And from this and from that the deceiver Manichaeus is refuted, as has already been shown by me above. 52. And concerning the hypothesis of the moon, he claims that the disk is filled from souls. But before man died on the earth, from where was the disk filled? For after the nine hundred and thirtieth year of Adam's life, he being the first to die on the earth, how did the one soul fill the disk? Or how were the nine hundred and thirty years and the times called, if the moon did not fill and wane and complete the course appointed to it, not receiving its fullness from souls, but having the command from God of his wisdom? And all the animals, he says, are full of the same soul, so that he may equate the soul of a man and of a mouse and of a worm and of the other bodies of ignoble form. The rest of the nonsense, then, is that the virgin appears to the rulers, sometimes in the form of a man, sometimes in that of a female, perhaps envisioning the hermaphrodite of the same demon, he introduces his own passions of desire. Then he says, when the great ruler is plundered by the so-called virgin, he puts forth his clouds and makes a plague and begins to cut the roots and thus death occurs. And the beastly one did not see that what he censoriously calls death, he should rather have called life, because the souls are being released from bodies. But if the rulers consider the soul's being in a body to be a prison at all, the ruler never accomplishes this, so as to release from prison the soul held by him according to his word. And how much absurdity is there in this deceitful teaching? 53. And the other things are full of mockery, such as their so-called elect. And in fact they were chosen by the devil for condemnation, so that the saying might be fulfilled, “and his food is choice.” For they, sitting like drones and “working not at all, but are busybodies” and not even knowing * what the holy apostle proclaims against them, saying as if knowing by prophecy that they do not proceed from the teaching of God, but are certain idle and insolent people thunderstruck by the devil for evil things; for he says, “if any would not work, neither should he eat,” in order to discredit the premise of these idlers. Therefore they command their catechumens to feed them lavishly. And they offer every necessary thing to their own elect, so that, forsooth, the one who feeds the chosen souls may be seen as pious. But they, having received it, on the pretext of praying for those who brought it, as it is laughable to say,

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ποιῆσαι τοὺς δώδεκα κάδους, ἐν ἰδέᾳ ἀνθρώπου καὶ ἐφαίνετο τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὡς ἄνθρωπος», καὶ ἀγνοῶν κἂν τὴν ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς γεγενημένην οἰκονομίαν νομίζει τι λέγειν καὶ ὡς τυφλὸς ἑαυτὸν ὁδηγῶν τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τυφλωθεῖσι τὰ προχωροῦντα εἰς ψεύσματα ὑφηγεῖται. παρούσης δὲ τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ ἀνοιγούσης τὰ ὄμματα διαφανῶς τῶν συνετῶν εἰς γέλωτα φέρει τὴν αὐτοῦ ληρῳδίαν. ποίοις γὰρ ἀνθρώποις ἐφαίνετο τοῖς μὴ ὑπάρχουσι; πῶς δὲ ἐν ἀνθρώπου ἐφαίνετο ἰδέᾳ ὁ μὴ λαβὼν σῶμα; καὶ εἰ μὲν ἐν τῇ ἐνσάρκῳ παρουσίᾳ ἐπλήρου, τοῦτο φαινόμενος καὶ μὴ ὤν, δόκησις ἄρα ἦν τὰ πράγματα. ἄρα οὖν οὐ πέφηνεν οὐδὲ ἦλθεν. εἰ γὰρ ἐλθὼν οὐκ ἦν, οὐδὲ ἦλθεν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς. εἰ δὲ ἐνομίζετο μὲν ἄνθρωπος, οὐκ ἦν δὲ ἄνθρωπος, τί τὸ ἐπεῖξαν τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ Λόγον ἄνθρωπον φανῆναι μὴ ὄντα; εἰ μή τι ἀπὸ δανειστῶν ἑλκόμενος ἠβούλετο ἑαυτῷ σχηματοποιῆσαι ἰδέαν, ἵνα δυνηθῇ λαθεῖν τοὺς αὐτὸν ἐπιζητοῦντας. εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐφαίνετο καὶ οὐκ ἦν, ποία τις ἦν αὕτη ἡ ἀλήθεια; ἐν ἀληθείᾳ γὰρ οὐκ ἔνι ψεῦσμα, ὡς λέγει περὶ αὐτοῦ ὁ μονογενὴς ὅτι «ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή». ἡ δὲ ζωὴ θάνατον οὐκ ἔχει καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια οὐκ ἂν ἀλλοίωσιν ὑπομένοι, ἵνα μὴ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ταράξασα μηκέτι ἀλήθεια γένηται. καὶ διέπεσεν ἐκ παντὸς λόγου ἡ αὐτοῦ τραγῳδοποιὸς ὑπόθεσις. οὔτε γὰρ μετὰ τὴν παρουσίαν τὰ ἄστρα κέκτισται οὐδὲ πρὸ τοῦ γενέσθαι ἄστρα ἄνθρωποι ἦσαν. καὶ ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἐκεῖθεν ἐξελήλεγκται ὁ πλάνος Μανιχαῖος, ὡς ἤδη μοι ἄνω δεδήλωται. 52. Περὶ δὲ τῆς ὑποθέσεως τῆς σελήνης φάσκει ὅτι ἐκ τῶν ψυχῶν ὁ δίσκος ἐμπίπλαται. πρὶν δὲ τοῦ ἀποθανεῖν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, πόθεν ἐνεπίμπλατο ὁ δίσκος; μετὰ γὰρ ἐνακοσιοστὸν καὶ τριακοστὸν ἔτος τῆς τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ζωῆς πρῶτος ἀποθανὼν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἡ μία ψυχὴ πῶς ἐπλήρου 3.89 τὸν δίσκον; ἢ πῶς τὰ ἐνακόσια τριάκοντα ἔτη ἐκλήθη καὶ οἱ χρόνοι, εἰ μὴ ἡ σελήνη ἐπληροῦτο καὶ ἔφθινε καὶ τὸν αὐτῇ τεταγμένον δρόμον ἐτέλει, οὐκ ἀπὸ ψυχῶν λαμβάνουσα τὴν πλήμμυραν, ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἔχουσα τὸ πρόσταγμα τῆς αὐτοῦ σοφίας; πάντα δὲ τὰ ζῷα, φησί, γεμίζει τῆς αὐτῆς ψυχῆς, ἵνα ἐξισώσῃ ψυχὴν ἀνθρώπου καὶ μυὸς καὶ σκώληκος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων δυσγενῶν τῇ πλάσει σωμάτων. Τὰ δὲ ἄλλα λοιπὸν τῆς φλυαρίας, ὡς ἡ παρθένος φαίνεται τοῖς ἄρχουσι, ποτὲ μὲν εἰς ἀνδρὸς σχῆμα, ποτὲ δὲ εἰς θηλείας, τάχα τὸν ἑρμαφρόδιτον τοῦ αὐτοῦ δαίμονος ἰνδαλλόμενος τὰ ἑαυτοῦ πάθη εἰσηγεῖται τῆς ἐπιθυμίας. εἶτά φησιν, ὅταν ὁ ἄρχων ὁ μέγας συληθῇ ὑπὸ τῆς λεγομένης παρθένου, προβάλλει αὐτοῦ τὰς νεφέλας καὶ ποιεῖ λοιμὸν καὶ ἄρχεται τέμνειν τὰς ῥίζας καὶ οὕτω θάνατος γίνεται. καὶ οὐκ εἶδεν ὁ κτηνώδης ὅτι ὃν φάσκει θάνατον ψογίζων, μᾶλλον ζωὴν ὤφειλε καλεῖν, διὰ τὸ ἀπὸ σωμάτων ἀπαλλάττεσθαι τὰς ψυχάς. εἰ δὲ ὅλως τὸ εἶναι ἐν σώματι τὴν ψυχὴν φυλακὴν ἡγοῦνται οἱ ἄρχοντες, τοῦτο οὐδέποτε ἐπιτελεῖ ὁ ἄρχων, ἵνα ἀπαλλάξῃ ἀπὸ δεσμωτηρίου τὴν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ κατεχομένην ψυχὴν κατὰ τὸν αὐτοῦ λόγον. καὶ πόση τις ἀτοπία ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ κυβευτικῇ διδασκαλίᾳ; 53. Τὰ δὲ ἄλλα χλεύης ἔμπλεα, ὡς οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ αὐτῶν καλούμενοι. καὶ τῷ μὲν ὄντι ἐξελέγησαν ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου εἰς κατάκριμα, ὅπως πληρωθῇ τὸ εἰρημένον «καὶ τὰ βρώματα αὐτοῦ ἐκλεκτά». ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ καθεζόμενοι κηφῆνες καὶ «μηδὲν ἐργαζόμενοι, ἀλλὰ περιεργαζόμενοι» καὶ μηδὲ γινώσκοντες * οἷς ἐπικηρυκεύεται ὁ ἅγιος ἀπόστολος, λέγων ὡς κατὰ προφητείαν γινώσκων ὅτι οὐκ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ διδασκαλίας ἐπιφοιτῶσιν, ἀλλὰ ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐμβεβροντημένοι τινὲς ἀργοὶ καὶ αὐθάδεις κακῶν· φάσκει γὰρ λέγων «ὁ μὴ ἐργαζόμενος μηδὲ ἐσθιέτω», ἵνα παραχαράξῃ τὴν τῶν παρέργων τούτων ὑπόθεσιν. παρακελεύονται οὖν τοῖς αὐτῶν κατηχουμένοις τρέφειν αὐτοὺς δαψιλῶς. οἱ δὲ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ἀναγκαῖον προσφέρουσι τοῖς ἐκλεκτοῖς ἑαυτῶν, ἵνα δῆθεν εὐσεβὴς ὀφθείη ὁ τρέφων τὰς ψυχὰς τὰς ἐκλελεγμένας. οἱ δὲ λαβόντες, ὡς γέλοιόν ἐστιν εἰπεῖν, προφάσει τοῦ εὔξασθαι ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐνηνοχότων,