Panarion (Against Heresies) 1 part 14/82

And the Father, in response to these events, put forth the aforesaid Horos through the Only-begotten, in his own image, without consort and without a female counterpart;

for they hold that the Father is at times with Sige as consort, and at other times above both male and female.

And this Horos they also call Stauros (Cross), and Lytrotes (Redeemer), and Karpistes (Reaper), and Horothetes (Limit-setter), and Metagogeus (Conductor).

And they say that through this Horos, Sophia was purified and strengthened, and restored to her conjugal pair.

As for the passion that had arisen along with it: she herself remained within the Pleroma, but her intention, together with the passion, was separated off and crucified outside by Horos; and having come to be outside it, it was indeed a spiritual substance, being in a sense a natural impulse of an Aeon, but formless and shapeless because it had comprehended nothing.

And for this reason they call it a weak and female fruit.

After this had been separated off outside the Pleroma of the Aeons, her Mother was restored to her own conjugal pair; and the Only-begotten, in turn, put forth another conjugal pair according to the forethought of the Father, so that none of the Aeons should suffer in the same way as she had — namely, Christ and the Holy Spirit — for the establishing and strengthening of the Pleroma, by whom, they say, the Aeons were perfected.

For Christ taught them the nature of conjugal union, †...† that, knowing the comprehension of the Unbegotten, they might be able to proclaim among themselves the knowledge of the Father — that he is uncontainable and incomprehensible, and that it is not possible either to see or hear him, but that he is known only through the Only-begotten;

and that the cause of the eternal continuance of the rest is the Father's incomprehensibility, while the cause of their coming-to-be and their shaping is his comprehensible aspect, which is indeed the Son.

These things, then, the newly put-forth Christ wrought among them.

And the one Holy Spirit, when they had all been made equal, taught them to give thanks, and introduced true rest.

Thus, they say, the Aeons were made equal in form and in mind, all becoming Nous, and all Logos, and all Anthropos, and all Christ; and likewise the female ones all became Aletheia, and all Zoe, and Spirits, and Ekklesia.

And he says that, once all things had been thus established and had come to perfect rest, they hymned the Forefather with great joy, sharing in much gladness.

And in return for this benefit, with one will and one mind, the whole Pleroma of the Aeons — with the consent of Christ and the Spirit, and with their Father setting his seal upon it besides — each of the Aeons contributed and gathered together whatever was most beautiful and most flourishing within himself, and, weaving these things fittingly and uniting them harmoniously, put forth an emanation for the honor and glory of Bythos: a most perfect beauty and star of the Pleroma, the perfect Fruit, Jesus, who was also styled Savior, and Christ, and Logos after his father's name, and 'the All,' because he is from all;

and that, in his honor, angels of the same kind as themselves were put forth together [with him] as his bodyguard.

This, then, is the transaction said by them to have taken place within the Pleroma: the calamity of the Aeon who suffered and shortly afterward was nearly lost, as it were in much †matter†, on account of her seeking after the Father; and the constitution, out of struggle, of Horos and Stauros and Lytrotes and Karpistes and Horothetes and Metagogeus; and the later generation, subsequent to the [other] Aeons, of the first Christ together with the Holy Spirit, brought about by their Father out of repentance; and the composite construction, made from a collection [of contributed gifts], of the second Christ, whom they also call Savior.

And these things, they say, were not spoken openly, because not all could contain the knowledge of them, but were signified mysteriously by the Savior through parables, to those able to understand, as follows:

For the thirty Aeons, they say, were signified through the thirty years, as we said before, during which they claim the Savior did nothing openly, and also through the parable of the laborers in the vineyard.

And they say that Paul most plainly names these Aeons many times, and moreover has preserved their order, saying, 'unto all the generations of the age of ages.'

and that we too, when at the Eucharist we say 'unto the ages of the ages,' are signifying those same Aeons;

and the emanation of the Dodecad of Aeons, they say, is signified by the Lord's discoursing with the teachers of the Law when he was twelve years old, and by the choosing of the apostles;

and the remaining eighteen Aeons are made manifest, they say, by his having spent, after his resurrection from the dead, eighteen months with his disciples;

and, moreover, that the eighteen Aeons are clearly signified by the two letters at the beginning of his name, iota and eta.

And likewise they say that the ten Aeons are signified by the letter iota, which stands at the beginning of his name.

And for this reason, they say, the Savior said, 'One iota or one tittle shall in no wise pass away, till all things be fulfilled.'

And the passion that occurred concerning the twelfth Aeon, they say, is indicated by the apostasy of Judas, who was the twelfth of the apostles, and by the fact that he suffered in the twelfth month;

for they hold that he preached for one year after his baptism.

And moreover, they say, this is most clearly shown in the case of the woman with the issue of blood;

for she, having suffered twelve years, was healed by the presence of the Savior when she touched the hem of his garment; and for this reason the Savior said, 'Who touched me?' — teaching his disciples the mystery that had occurred among the Aeons, and the healing of the Aeon that had suffered.

For that power which had suffered for twelve years - since her substance, as they say, was being extended and flowing away into infinity - would have been dissolved into the whole of her own substance, had she not touched the son's garment, that is, of Truth, of the first Tetrad, which is signified by the fringe.

But she stood still and ceased from her suffering.

For the power that went forth - which belonged to the son, and which they wish to be [identified as] the Horos - healed her and separated the suffering from her.

They say that the Savior, who is composed of all things, is shown to be the All through the text 'every male that opens the womb.'

He, being the All, opened the womb of the Enthymesis of the Aeon who had suffered - and who had been banished outside the Pleroma, whom indeed they also call the second Ogdoad, concerning which we shall speak a little later.

And they say that for this reason it was clearly said also by Paul: 'and he himself is all things,' and again, 'all things are unto him, and from him are all things,' and again, 'in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.'

And 'to sum up all things in Christ through God' they likewise interpret as having been said [in this sense], and whatever other such texts there are.

Then, concerning their Horos - which indeed they also call by several names - they declare that it has two functions: the establishing one and the dividing one.

And insofar as it establishes and confirms, it is Cross; but insofar as it divides and delimits, it is Horos.

And they say that the Savior signified its functions in this way:

first the establishing function, in saying, 'Whoever does not bear his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple,' and again, 'Take up your cross and follow me.'

and its dividing function in saying, 'I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.'

And they say that John also signified this very thing, saying, 'the winnowing fork is in his hand,'

'he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.'

and by this he signified the function of the Horos.

For that winnowing fork they interpret to be the cross, which indeed consumes all material things as fire consumes chaff, but purifies those being saved, as the fork purifies the wheat.

And they say that the apostle Paul himself also recalled this cross, thus: 'For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God,' and again, 'But may it never be that I boast in anything, except in the cross of Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.'

This is what they say concerning their Pleroma and the fashioning of all things, forcibly applying the things well spoken to the things badly devised by them.

And they attempt to produce their proofs not only from the evangelical and apostolic writings, twisting the interpretations and doing violence to the explanations, but also from the Law and the Prophets, since many parables and allegories have been spoken which are capable of being drawn in many directions - the ambiguity arising through interpretation - applying them more cunningly and deceitfully to their own fabrication, and thus they take captive from the truth those who do not keep a firm faith in one God the Father Almighty and in one Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God.

The things said by them concerning what is outside the Pleroma are as follows:

They say that the Enthymesis of the Sophia above, whom they also call Achamoth, having been separated off from the Pleroma above together with her suffering, was of necessity cast forth into the places of shadow and emptiness.

For she came to be outside the light and the Pleroma, formless and shapeless like a miscarriage, because she had grasped nothing.

And the Christ above, having pitied her, and having stretched himself out through the Cross by his own power, gave her form - a form according to substance only, but not according to knowledge;

and having done this, he ran back up, drawing in his power, and left her, so that, perceiving the suffering that came upon her because of her separation from the Pleroma, she might yearn for the things that are superior, possessing a certain scent of incorruptibility left behind in her by Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Therefore she is also called by both names: Sophia, by her father's name (for her father is called Sophia), and Holy Spirit, from the spirit that is around Christ.

And she, having been given form and having become rational, but immediately having been emptied of the Word invisibly present with her - that is, of Christ - rushed out in search of the light that had left her, but was unable to attain it, because she was hindered by the Horos.

And at this point, the Horos, hindering her onward rush, said 'Iao';

whence they claim the name Iao came to be.

And being unable to pass through the Horos, because she had become entangled with her suffering, and having been left alone outside, she fell subject to every part of the suffering, since it was manifold and of many kinds, and suffered grief, because she had not attained the light, and fear, lest life should fail her just as the light had, and on top of these, also perplexity.

And unlike her mother, the first Sophia Aeon, who experienced alteration in her sufferings, she experienced outright opposition.

And another disposition also came upon her besides - that of turning back toward the one who had given her life.

They say that this became the composition and substance of matter, out of which this world was constituted.

For they say that from her tears came all the watery substance, from her laughter came the luminous substance, and from her grief and astonishment came the corporeal elements of the world.

For at one time, as they say, she wept and grieved because she had been left alone in darkness and emptiness; at another time, coming to a recollection of the light that had left her, she melted with joy and laughed; at yet another time again she was afraid, and at other times she was perplexed and beside herself.

And indeed, what more need be said? There was, then, much tragedy and fantasy here, with each one of them solemnly narrating, in one way or another, from what kind of suffering, from what element, the substance took its origin.

And these things, it seems to me, they reasonably do not wish to teach openly to everyone, but only to those who are able to pay great fees for mysteries of such magnitude.

He has said, 'Freely you received, freely give' - but they treat as hidden, monstrous, and profound mysteries which come, with much toil, to those who love falsehood.

For who would not spend all his possessions, in order to learn that from the tears of the Enthymesis of the suffering Aeon the seas and springs and rivers and every watery substance took their origin, and from her laughter came the light, and from her astonishment and helplessness came the corporeal elements of the world? I too wish to contribute something to their fruitfulness.

For since I observe that some waters are sweet, such as springs and rivers and rains and the like, while those in the seas are salty, I conceive that not all of them were put forth from her tears, because a tear is salty in quality.

It is clear, then, that these salty waters are the ones that come from the tears.

And it is likely that she, having been in much anguish and helplessness, also sweated.

From this, then, according to their hypothesis, one must suppose that springs and rivers, and whatever other waters are sweet, had their origin from nothing other than her sweat.

For it is implausible that, tears being of one quality, both salty and sweet waters should proceed from them.

This, then, is more plausible: that some waters are from the tears, and others from the sweat.

And since there are also some hot and pungent waters in the world, you ought to consider what she did, and from what part she sent these forth.

For such fruits are fitting to their hypothesis.

He, having gone back up into the Pleroma, likely himself shrank from coming down a second time, but sent forth the Paraclete to her, that is, the Savior, the Father having given over to him all power and having handed over everything under his authority, and likewise the Aeons too, so that in him all things might be created, the visible and the invisible, thrones, deities, dominions.

And he is sent forth to her together with his coevals, the angels.

And they say that Achamoth, feeling reverence before him, first put on a veil out of modesty, but afterward, seeing him together with the whole of his fruit, ran to him, having received power from his manifestation.

And he gave her a form according to knowledge, and effected a healing of her passions, separating them from her - yet not neglecting them, for it was not possible for them to be dissolved into nothing, as happened with those of the former Sophia, since they were already fixed and potent; but having set them apart by separation, he commingled and solidified them, and changed them from an incorporeal passion into incorporeal matter.

Then in this way he implanted in them an aptitude and a nature, so that they might come into compounds and bodies, resulting in two substances: the base one, from the passions, and the passible one, from the conversion.

And for this reason they claim that the Savior has performed the work of creation by power.

And they teach that Achamoth, having come to be outside her passion, and having conceived, with joy, from beholding the lights that were with him - that is, the angels who were with him - and having conceived a longing for them, brought forth fruits according to their image, a spiritual offspring that came to be in the likeness of the Savior's bodyguard.

Since, then, according to them, these three already lay at the foundation: the one from the passion, which was matter;

the one from the conversion, which was the psychic;

and the one which she brought forth, that is, the spiritual - she thus turned to the shaping of these.

But she was not able to give form to the spiritual, since it was of the same substance as herself.

So she turned to the shaping of the psychic substance that came from her conversion, and put forth the teachings she had received from the Savior.

For they claim that he shaped all the things after him, being moved imperceptibly by the Mother;

for they say that this Enthymesis, having willed to make all things in honor of the Aeons, made images of them - or rather, that it was the Savior who did so through her.

They say, then, that he became Father and God of the things outside the Pleroma, being the maker of all things, both psychic and material;

for, having separated the two substances that had been confused together, and having made bodies out of incorporeal things, he fashioned both the heavenly and the earthly things, and became the demiurge of material and psychic things, of right and left, of light and heavy, of things that tend upward and things that tend downward.

And for this reason they call him Hebdomad, and the Mother Achamoth they call Ogdoad, since she preserves the number of the primordial and first Ogdoad of the Pleroma.

For he made heaven without knowing heaven;

and he fashioned man, being ignorant of man;

and he brought forth earth, not understanding earth;

and in the case of all things they likewise say that he was ignorant of the forms of the things he made, and even of the Mother herself, but thought that he alone was all things.

And they claim that the Mother became the cause for him of this creative activity, she who so willed to bring him forth as the head and origin of her own substance, and lord of the whole undertaking.

And this Mother they call both Ogdoad and Sophia and Earth and Jerusalem and Holy Spirit, and, in the masculine, Lord.

Since, then, they say that the material substance was composed of three passions - fear, grief, and perplexity - the psychic things took their composition from fear and from the conversion;

And because of this, being too feeble to know spiritual things, he supposed himself to be the only God, and said through the prophets, 'I am God, and besides me there is none other.'

And they teach that the spiritual elements of wickedness arose out of grief;

and that, as we said before, the corporeal elements of the world arose out of helplessness, as being the most ecstatic of the passions;

earth from the standstill of astonishment, water from the movement of fear, and air from the congealing of grief;

and fire is innate in all of them, bringing death and corruption, just as they also teach that ignorance lies hidden within the three passions.

And they determine that it was into this material man that the psychic element was breathed.

And this, they say, is the one made 'according to image and likeness': the material man exists 'according to image,' being similar to God but not consubstantial with him;

while the psychic man exists 'according to likeness,' whence also his substance is called 'a breath of life,' being derived from a spiritual effluence.

And afterward, they say, the 'coat of skin' was put around him;

and this they hold to be the sensible flesh.

For just as the Mother was ignorant, so also was her seed;

and this seed itself, they say, is the Church, the antitype of the Church above.

And this, they maintain, is the true man within them.

There being, then, three elements, the material one—which they also call 'left'—necessarily perishes, they say, since it can receive no breath of incorruptibility;

while the psychic one—which they also call 'right'—being midway between the spiritual and the material, goes wherever it inclines;

and the spiritual element was sent forth so that, being here conjoined to the psychic, it might be formed, being trained together with it in its way of life.

And this, they say, is 'the salt' and 'the light of the world.'

For the psychic element also needed perceptible instruction;

wherefore, they say, the world too was constructed.

And they say that the Savior came for the sake of this psychic element—since it too has free will—in order to save it;

but of the material element, they say, he took nothing whatever;

for matter is not capable of receiving salvation.

And the consummation will come, they say, when the whole spiritual element has been formed and perfected in knowledge—that is, the spiritual men who possess perfect knowledge concerning God and have been initiated into the mysteries of Achamoth;

and they assume that these are themselves.

The psychic men, however, were instructed in psychic things—those who are confirmed by works and by bare faith alone, and who do not possess the perfect knowledge;

and they say that these are us, who belong to the church.

Wherefore they declare that for us good conduct is necessary—for otherwise it is impossible to be saved—but that they themselves will be saved not through conduct but because they are spiritual by nature, wholly and altogether so, as they dogmatically teach;

and they hold that it is impossible for them to incur corruption, no matter what deeds they engage in.

For just as gold, when laid in mud, does not lose its beauty but preserves its own nature, the mud being wholly unable to harm the gold, so too, they say of themselves, even if they engage in whatever material deeds, they are in no way harmed nor do they lose their spiritual substance.

Indeed, they eat food sacrificed to idols without discrimination, holding that they are defiled by none of it; and they are first to gather at every festive entertainment of the pagans held in honor of idols, so that some of them do not even abstain from the spectacle—hateful to both God and men—of beast-fighters and murderous single combat;

and others, being utterly enslaved to the pleasures of the flesh, say that fleshly things are to be rendered to the fleshly, and spiritual things to the spiritual.

And some of them secretly seduce the women whom they instruct in this teaching, as has often been confessed by women who, having been deceived by some of them, afterward returned to the church of God and confessed this along with the rest of their error;

while others, having lost all shame, openly carry off whatever women they have fallen in love with from their husbands, and take them as their own wives.

Others again, at first respectably pretending to cohabit as with 'sisters,' were in time exposed, when the sister was found pregnant by the brother.

And while committing many other abominable and godless acts, they run us down—we who, out of fear of God, guard ourselves even against sinning in thought and word—as though we were unlearned simpletons who know nothing, while they exalt themselves, calling themselves 'perfect' and 'seeds of election.'

For they say that we receive grace only as something on loan for use, wherefore it will also be taken away from us;

whereas they themselves possess grace as their own inalienable property, having come down from above out of the ineffable and unnameable syzygy, and therefore it will be added to them still further;

wherefore also they must, by every means, constantly practice the mystery of the syzygy.

And this they persuade the senseless of, speaking in these very words:

'Whoever, while in the world, has not loved a woman so as to be mastered by her, is not of the truth and will not come into the truth;

but he who is of the world, if he is not mastered by a woman, will not come into the truth, because he was mastered by desire for a woman.'

For this reason, then, for us—whom they call psychic and say are of the world—self-control and good conduct are necessary, so that through them we may come into the place of the Middle; but for them, who are called spiritual and perfect, they are in no way necessary.

For it is not conduct that leads into the Pleroma, but the seed, which was sent forth from there as an infant and is here brought to perfection.

And when all the seed has been perfected, they say that Achamoth their Mother will pass from the place of the Middle and enter within the Pleroma, and receive back her bridegroom the Savior—the one formed out of all the Aeons—so that a syzygy may come to be of the Savior and Sophia Achamoth;

and this is the bridegroom and the bride, while the bridal chamber is the whole Pleroma.

And the spiritual, having stripped off their souls and become intellectual spirits, will enter within the Pleroma imperceptibly and invisibly, and will be given as brides to the angels who attend the Savior;

and the souls of the righteous, too, will rest in the place of the Middle;

for nothing psychic can enter within the Pleroma.

And when these things have thus come to pass, they teach that the fire lying hidden within the world will blaze forth and be kindled, and, having consumed all matter, will be consumed together with it, and will pass into non-existence.

There are also some who say that he, the Demiurge, put forth Christ as well, his own son—but a psychic one—and that it was concerning him that he spoke through the prophets;

and that this is the one who passed through Mary as water passes through a pipe, and that it was into him, at the baptism, that the Savior from the Pleroma, formed out of all the Aeons, descended in the form of a dove;

and that the spiritual seed from Achamoth also came to exist within him;

and that this one remained impassible—for it was not possible for him to suffer, being uncontainable and invisible—and that for this reason, when he was brought before Pilate, the Spirit of Christ that had been placed within him was taken up;

but they say that not even the seed from the Mother suffered;

rather, what suffered was the psychic Christ, according to them, the one mysteriously constituted by the divine economy, so that through him the Mother might display the pattern of the Christ above—that one who was stretched out upon the cross and gave Achamoth her formation according to substance;

for they say that all these things are types of those heavenly realities.

And they say that the souls which have possessed the seed of Achamoth have become better than the rest;

wherefore also, they say, he appointed them as prophets, priests, and kings.

And they explain that many things were spoken by this seed through the prophets, since it is of a higher nature;

and they say that the Mother also spoke many things concerning the things above, both through him, the Demiurge, and through the souls that came into being through him;

and that thus he continued in ignorance until the coming of the Savior;

but when the Savior came, they say he learned everything from him and gladly went over to him with all his power, and that he is the centurion in the Gospel who says to the Savior, 'For I too have soldiers and servants under my own authority, and whatever I command, they do.'

And they say he will complete the administration pertaining to the world until the appointed time, especially for the sake of his care for the church, and because he knows the prize prepared for him—that he will pass into the place of the Mother.

And they posit three races of men—spiritual, earthy, and psychic—corresponding to Cain, Abel, and Seth, in order to show from these the three natures, no longer regarded individually but by race.

And the earthy race goes into corruption; and the psychic, if it chooses the better things, will rest in the place of the Middle;

but if it chooses the worse, it too will go to a like fate.

And subdividing the souls themselves still further, they say that some are good by nature and others evil by nature;

and that the good ones are those that become receptive of the seed, while those evil by nature could never receive that seed.

Such being their hypothesis—which neither the prophets proclaimed, nor the Lord taught, nor the apostles handed down, but which they boast, more than others, to have known, reading it out of unwritten sources and practicing what is called 'plaiting ropes of sand'—they try to fit, in a plausible-seeming way, either the Lord's parables, or prophetic sayings, or apostolic words, to the things they have asserted, so that their fabrication may not seem unattested, thereby overstepping the order and sequence of the Scriptures and, as far as lies in them, dismembering the limbs of the truth.

They transpose and reshape the texts, and by making one thing out of another, they deceive many through the ill-composed illusion of the dominical sayings they have thus applied.