藥箱（駁八十異端） 第 1 章 第 22/82 段

For if the powers had their origin from above, then, without the one power - which indeed they claim to be the Mother of all - the things done by the two powers would not have come to be nor have been done.

For it is found that there is one cause of the two powers, and that without it none of the things that came to be would have come to be.

And they will run back again to confessing that there is one Master of all things, and creator and maker of the universe, once a single origin has been shown.

But having said these things concerning this heresy also, and having exposed the venom of their serpentine offspring from the race of asps, let us go on again, beloved, to another heresy, in the same order of our undertaking.

Against the Archontics, [heresy] 20, but 40 in the overall series.

A certain sect of Archontics follows these, and it is not found current in many places, but only in the province of Palestine.

They have already carried their venom somewhere also into Greater Armenia, and indeed this weed has already been sown even in Lesser Armenia by a certain man who came to sojourn in the land of the Palestinians from Armenia, in the time of Constantius, around the time of his death - a man named Eutactus ('Orderly'), though disorderly in his manner - who learned this evil teaching, then returned to his own country and taught it.

And he received, as I said, in Palestine, venom as from an asp, from a certain old man named Peter - called Peter unworthily - who dwelt in the district between Eleutheropolis and Jerusalem, three miles beyond Hebron.

They call the village Capharbaricha.

This old man had at first an astonishing garb, full of hypocrisy;

for outwardly he was truly clothed in a sheep's fleece, but it went unnoticed that within he was a ravenous wolf.

For he seemed to be an anchorite, sitting in a certain cave, and he had supposedly gathered many together for renunciation, and was supposedly called 'father' because of his age and outward habit; he distributed his possessions to the poor and daily performed acts of almsgiving.

In his early years he was tested/tried in connection with many heresies; and having been accused before Aëtius the bishop and convicted, since at that time he was following the heresy of the Gnostics, he was deposed from the presbyterate — for he had once been appointed a presbyter. After the examination he was driven out of the place by Aëtius, and departing, he settled in Arabia, in Cocabe, where the roots of the Ebionites and Nazoraeans first began, as I have also indicated concerning this place in [the accounts of] many heresies.

He carried this venom within himself secretly, unknown to all, until at last, from words which he had whispered into the ears of certain persons, he was found out to be such a man; he was anathematized by us, and has been exposed through our humble effort.

And thereafter he remained sitting in the cave, loathed by all and isolated from the brotherhood and from most of those who take care for their own [spiritual] life.

The aforementioned Eutactus — if indeed he deserves the name Eutactus — came down to this old man while passing through from Egypt, and having partaken of the old man's evil teaching, took this poison as though it were a great commodity and carried it off to his own homeland;

for he hailed, as I said, from Lesser Armenia, from the region near Satala.

So then, having returned to his own homeland, he corrupted many people of that same Lesser Armenia, having ingratiated himself with certain wealthy men, a certain woman of senatorial rank, and other notable people, through whom — distinguished men — he destroyed many there.

But the Lord soon blotted him out from life — except that he had already sown his own tares.

And these men likewise forged for themselves certain apocryphal books, the names of which are these:

For one book they call the so-called 'Small Symphonia,' and the other the 'Great Symphonia.'

But they also heap up for themselves whatever other books they happen to come across, so that by [citing] many they may seem to confirm their own error, bringing them in as additional support.

They also already make use of the books called the 'Allogeneis' ('Strangers' / 'Foreigners').

For there are indeed books so called.

And they take their pretexts from the 'Ascension of Isaiah,' and moreover also from certain other apocryphal writings.

But the whole of it comes from the book called 'Symphonia,' in which they say there is a certain Ogdoad and Hebdomad of heavens, and that in each heaven there are rulers:

and that some of these belong to the seven heavens, one ruler for each heaven, and that each ruler has [his own] ranks, and that the luminous Mother is at the very top, in the eighth heaven, just as the other heresies also [teach].

And some of them, in their bodies, happen to be steeped in licentiousness, while others feign a pretended fasting and deceive the more simple-minded people, priding themselves on a certain renunciation under the guise of monks.

And they say that in each heaven, as I said before, there is a rule and an authority and certain angelic services, each ruler having begotten and made a service for himself:

and that there is no resurrection of the flesh, but only of the soul.

They anathematize the [baptismal] washing, even if some among them had previously been baptized before [joining].

And they reject participation in the mysteries and their goodness, as being something alien and instituted in the name of Sabaoth;

for, in agreement with certain other heresies, they wish him to be one who tyrannizes in the seventh heaven and dominates over the others.

And they say that the soul is food for the rulers and authorities, and that without it they cannot live, because it comes from the moisture from above and supplies them with power.

And [they say] that this [soul], having come to be in knowledge and having fled the baptism of the church and the name of Sabaoth who gave the Law, ascends through each heaven and gives an account to each authority, and thus passes beyond to the higher Mother and Father of all, whence indeed it had descended into this world.

I have already said that they anathematize baptism, being like dead flies that make putrid the preparation of perfumed oil, just as the proverb has been spoken by Ecclesiastes concerning these and those like them.

For they are truly like dead flies, bringing death and making putrid the perfumer's sweet-scented oil — that is, the holy mysteries of God granted to us in the washing for the forgiveness of sins.

One might marvel to find, even among the natural philosophers, things full of benefit, comparable to the understanding of the bee, which settles upon every plant, yet gathers together for itself only what is useful.

but rather she profits from every quarter, whereas the unwise will suffer loss — just as the holy prophet also says: 'Who is wise, that he may understand these things? And to whom belongs the word of the Lord, that he may know them? For the ways of the Lord are straight, but the ungodly will stumble in them.' For we have found — or rather, we ourselves observe — even among the so-called natural philosophers, that the race of beetles which some call 'byllaroi' has a habit of wallowing in stench and dung;

and this is both food and occupation for them, while for others this same muddy food is [a source of] disgust and foul odor;

and to bees this dung and stench is death, but to the byllaroi it is occupation and food and livelihood.

But for bees, on the contrary, sweet fragrance and flowers and perfumes are for refreshment, for gain and for food, for occupation and livelihood; whereas for the aforementioned beetles, or rather byllaroi, such things are the very opposite [i.e., deadly].

For whoever wishes to test them, as the natural philosophers say, taking some perfume — I mean balsam sap or nard — and bringing it near to the beetles, brings about their death;

for they die at once, unable to bear the sweet fragrance.

So also these men, longing for lust and fornication and wickedness, place their hope in evil things; but when they draw near to the holy washing and its sweet fragrance, they 'die,' blaspheming against God and rejecting his lordship.

But from one or two testimonies we shall overturn them.

For even if there are beings called 'rulers' and 'authorities,' these have not come into being apart from God, especially in the heavens.

For Scripture knows how to speak of angels and archangels, not as set in opposition [to God], but as ministering spirits sent out for service, for the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation.

For indeed, on earth too, in each kingdom there are many officials, but under one king.

For the authorities that exist have been ordained by God, as the apostle says:

So then, whoever resists the authority has resisted the ordinance of God.

For rulers are not against the good, but for the good; and they are not against the truth, but for the truth.

'Do you wish,' he says, 'not to be afraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from it.'

for it does not bear the sword in vain;

for he is a servant appointed by God for this very purpose, [to bring retribution] on the one who does evil.

And you see how this worldly authority has been ordained by God, and has received the authority of the sword;

not from anywhere else, but from God, for the purpose of retribution.

And we cannot say that, because there are rulers and authorities in the world, their king is therefore not king; rather, both the rulers and authorities exist, and their king also exists.

As, then, we see on earth — for it has been shown that the rulers are not opposed to the king, but are subordinate for the administration of the whole kingdom and for the good order of the earth, where there are murders and battles, ignorance and teaching, lawful order and lawlessness, and for this reason there are authorities, so that, for the well-ordered arrangement of the administration of the whole world, all things might be properly disposed and managed by God — so also in heaven, and especially, indeed pre-eminently, there, where there is no envy, no jealousy, no lawlessness, no opposition, no faction, no [false] oath, no plunder, nor any other such thing, authorities are appointed for another purpose.

And what purpose do I mean, but for the harmony of the hymn, for the pure doxology above, for the sake of which our bountiful God and King willed to grant to each of those brought into being by him a fitting glory, so that the brightness and incomprehensibility and astonishing wonder of his kingdom might forever be glorified.

Clearly, then, those men have gone astray, having failed to recognize the grace of God.

And these men say, as I have already indicated above, that the devil is the son of the seventh authority, that is, of Sabaoth.

and that Sabaoth is the god of the Jews, and the devil is his wicked son, and that, being on earth, he opposes his own father.

[They say] that his (the devil's) father is neither such a one [as that], nor again is he the incomprehensible God whom they call 'the Father,' but that he belongs to the 'left-hand' authority.

Again, such men tell another myth: that, he says, the devil came to Eve and united with her as a husband with a wife, and begot from her both Cain and Abel.

Therefore the one rose up against the other, because of the jealousy which they had toward one another — not because Abel had in some way pleased God well, as the truth holds — but, wandering [from the truth], they tell a different account:

since, he says, both of them were in love with their own sister, for this reason Cain rose up against Abel and killed him.

for they say that by nature these two had come into being from the seed of the devil, as I said before.

And they bring forward testimonies, whenever they wish to deceive certain people, from the divine books, as I have also stated in [the account of] another heresy: that the Savior said to the Jews, 'You are of Satan,' and, 'whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, because his father also was a liar.'

so that, supposedly, they might claim that Cain is from the devil — since it has been said that he 'was a murderer from the beginning' — and so that they might show that his (Cain's) father is the devil, while the father of the devil is the lying ruler, whom these fools, blaspheming to their own condemnation, say to be Sabaoth, imagining 'Sabaoth' to be the proper name of some god — just as I have already treated at length, in [the accounts of] earlier heresies, the interpretation of 'Sabaoth' and other names: 'Eli' and 'Elohim,' 'El' and 'Shaddai,' 'Elyon,' 'Rabbouni,' 'Ia,' 'Adonai,' and 'Iabe' — since all these names, when interpreted, are titles of praise, and are not, so to speak, proper names assigned to the deity; and these too shall here be carefully set down once interpreted:

'El' [means] God; 'Elohim' [means] God forever; 'Eli' [means] my God; 'Shaddai' [means] the All-Sufficient One; 'Rabbouni' [means] Lord; 'Ia' [means] Lord; 'Adonai' [means] the Lord who is; 'Iabe' [means] he who was and is, the ever-Existing One, as he explained to Moses: 'He who is has sent me; thus you shall say to them'; and 'Elyon' [means] Most High; and 'Sabaoth' is interpreted [as Lord] 'of hosts.'

'The Lord Sabaoth,' therefore, [means] 'the Lord of hosts.'

For everywhere 'Lord' is added wherever Scripture speaks the name 'Sabaoth':

for Scripture does not merely proclaim, saying:

'Sabaoth said to me' or 'Sabaoth spoke,' but immediately says 'the Lord Sabaoth.'

For thus the Hebrew [text] says 'Adonai Sabaoth,' which is interpreted 'Lord of hosts.'

And in vain, among them and those like them, on account of the blindness of their mind, are the things well said falsely slandered.

For the Savior's word to the Jews was not spoken concerning the devil, as is found clear to anyone who follows the truth, but he spoke this word to them because of Judas.

For they were not children of Abraham, who received him under the oak of Mamre before his coming in the flesh, but they condemned themselves to become sons of the treachery of Judas, who was named by the Lord 'Satan' and 'devil,' as he says, 'Did I not choose you twelve, and one of you is a devil?' And on this account the Lord, explaining his wicked character, said, 'When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own,' just as the Gospel also says elsewhere that 'he was a thief, and he himself held the money box.'

This one then, called the devil, Judas, had as his father Cain, who through a lie deceived his brother Abel and killed him, just as also, when asked by the Lord, 'Where is your brother Abel?' he lyingly said, 'I do not know.'

Fittingly, then, this one too, having imitated in his ways the one who is by nature the devil, has been rightly proclaimed by the Savior as his son according to merit.

For by whomever anyone is overcome, by that one he is also enslaved; and each of us also, whatever he accomplishes, will have as fathers those who first accomplished it, having imitated them.

—of the devil; and again, 'when he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own, because his father is a liar,' meaning Judas and Cain—

then also, 'for his father was a liar,' meaning the devil himself, because of the deeds similarly perpetrated by each of these.

For having breathed into the mouth of the serpent, the devil spoke all falsehoods, and thus at that time he deceived Eve.

And by these very words the erroneous myth-making is refuted, even though Scripture does say that Cain killed his brother because he was of the devil.

For it has been shown altogether that it was not because Eve conceived from the seed of the devil—as through conjugal union and bodily intercourse—that she bore Cain and Abel, as these people supposed, but because of his likeness in character and imitation of the devil's wicked ways, he was called his son.

Again the same people say that Adam, having united with Eve his own wife, begot Seth, by nature his own son.

And then they say that the power from above, together with the ministering angels of the good God, came down and snatched away this Seth, whom they also call Allogenes ('one of another race'), and carried him up somewhere above, and nourished him for a sufficient time, so that he might not be killed, and after a long time brought him down again into this world and made him both spiritual and (the text here is corrupt) bodily, so that neither the Creator nor the other powers and rulers of the world-making god might prevail against him.

And they say that he no longer worshiped the maker and creator, but came to know the unnameable power and the good God above, and worshiped this one, and revealed many things against the maker of the world and the rulers and authorities.

To whom indeed they also fashioned certain books written in the name of this Seth himself, saying that they were given by him, and others in the name of himself and his seven sons.

For they say that he begot seven sons called Allogeneis, as we have also said in other heresies, I mean of the Gnostics and the Sethians.

And these people also say that there are other prophets, a certain Martiades and Marsianus, who were caught up into the heavens and after three days came down.

And there are many things which, mythologizing falsely, they fabricate, forging blasphemies against the true God the Almighty, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as though he were a ruler and the inventor of wickedness—things by which they are convicted out of their own very words.

For if he is the inventor of wicked things and a doer of evil, how would he not immediately be found good, as we have also said in the other heresies, since he legislated against fornication and adultery and robbery and covetousness? For they themselves also call him the God of the Jews.

But to the Jews he gave the Law, in which he forbade all these things of which they say he is the inventor.

And how could he who exposed so many things against Satan be called Satan's father? And if he is a stranger to the God said by them to be above, and he himself is not the God Almighty, our King and Lord, who is proclaimed in the Law and in the Prophets and in the Gospels and the Apostles—he himself God the Lord, but the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—how does the Lord himself clearly teach us in the Gospel, saying, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,' so as to show that his own Father is the God of all?

And concerning the resurrection of the dead, hinting that it will be, again the Son who is from him says, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'

And by 'temple' he meant his own body, which was to be destroyed by the hands of men, that is, put to death.

But a body that does not exist, but only appears in semblance, as these people again say, could not have come into hands nor been raised on the third day, as he promised.

...there is a defense-speech for the soul, that it may speak to each authority—for this too is a fabrication, as has been said—but rather it is the Lord's beneficence, which is established through works and through faith, as the most holy Paul says, writing to Timothy in these words, that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth—which the many have abandoned and turned aside to myths and foolish talk, understanding neither what they say nor the things about which they make confident assertions.

Of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

But also in the second epistle he says that Hymenaeus and Philetus have missed the mark concerning the truth, who themselves also followed this heresy, proclaiming another god and endless genealogies, and sowing error among men, saying that the world was not made by God but by rulers and authorities, and that the resurrection has already taken place through the children born from each of those who beget them, but they say there will be no resurrection of the dead.

And see, brothers, the character of the truth and the refutation of the lawlessness of these people.

But I suppose that enough has been said also concerning these matters;

wherefore, having set this aside, I shall make my way onward to what follows, saying only this one thing, that this heresy appears altogether to resemble, through its multitude of Archontic names, the intricate malice of creeping things.

For in a certain way, this venomous brood has been gathered together out of the error of many creeping things mingled as one, possessing, as it were, the boldness of the dragon-serpent, the guile of the puff-adder, the counter-drawing breath of the baiton-snake, the arrogance of the dart-snake, the recklessness of the shell-snake.

Having trampled the head of all of these under the argument of the truth, let us pass on to the rest, beloved, endeavoring in God to uncover the error of each.

Against the Cerdonians, 21, but in the series 41.

A certain Cerdo succeeds these men and Heracleon, being of the same school, having taken his pretexts from Simon and Satornilus.

This man became an emigrant from Syria, and having come to Rome, proved to be a plague both to himself and to those who obeyed him, the most pitiable of men.

For pitiable is the nature of men, when, having forsaken the way of God, it wanders astray, and perishes, having separated itself from the calling of God.

For to such people applies the proverb of the dog, who, holding fast to what he held in his mouth, looking into the water, and thinking that the shadow in the water was greater than the food in his own mouth, opened his mouth and lost even what he had.

So also these people, having found the way, and wishing to gain possession of the shadow that arose in their own imagination, not only lost the sustenance that was, as it were, truly in their mouth, graciously given by God, but also drew destruction upon themselves.

This Cerdo, then, arose in the times of Hyginus the bishop, who held the ninth succession from the line of the apostles associated with James and Peter and Paul.

His teaching, though sharing in the nonsense of the aforementioned heresiarchs, seems to be the same, but has been altered by him, having it in this manner:

that Christ was not born of Mary, nor did he appear in the flesh, but existed in semblance and appeared in semblance, and in semblance made all things.

And that Christ came from the realms above, from the unknown Father, for the abolition of the rule and tyranny here, he says, of the world-maker and creator, just as indeed many of the heresies also have declared.

After a short time, this man, having come to Rome, transmitted his poison to Marcion;

wherefore Marcion succeeded him.

But since this heresy has likewise already been exposed, our account of it will be brief.

And we shall again begin the overthrow of him from the very things said by him.

For that it is impossible for two first principles to exist in the same respect is clear.

For either the two are from some one, or the one is second and the other is the cause and first principle of the second.

It will therefore be sought either what is the cause of the two, or which of these, as I have said, is the first principle of the other.

And thus, in every way, the mind must be led back to the one, which is found to be first, from which also the second, or indeed both, as has been shown, as I said.

But it is impossible for two first principles to exist in the same respect; nor indeed is it possible for the one to differ from the other.

For if they differ, they are two; but by being found in the number two, they have surpassed the number one—

and when the one and first number is sought, the two are subject to the one and higher number, which is the cause of the two.

For the two, which come after the one number or the one and first principle, cannot be causes of themselves, since the one and highest number is always the one being sought.

For if the two shall be found to be of one accord, rejoicing together and agreeing with each other—in that the one remains while the other approves, and the other rejoices in the union with the other—what quarrel is there between the two? But if they are at strife and both have equal power against each other, then Christ, who came for the abolition of the one, will no longer be able to destroy its tyranny, since it holds out and is able to contend against the invisible and unnameable one above, to resist, and can never be destroyed.

And the fool says that both the Law and the Prophets are of the evil and opposing principle, but Christ is of the good.

Whence then did the prophets foretell beforehand the things prefigured concerning Christ, unless it was one and the same power that spoke in the Law and in the Prophets and in the Gospels? Just as he who speaks in the prophets says, 'Behold, I am present,' and so forth.

And whence also did the Lord in the Gospel foretell, saying, 'If you believed Moses, you would also believe me'?

'For he wrote concerning me.'

And I have much to say concerning testimonies, as against him who, having gathered a school for himself, sprang up upon the world by an evil chance, and led astray those who were led astray by him.

But I shall pass over this one too, having made an end of it as though of a hornet and a wasp, painful pests sprung from winged creatures that dart forth all at once with a single sting—consuming it through the most manifest faith of God and the saving teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, 'See that you are not led astray;'

'for many false prophets will come'; and of the apostle, who spoke concerning these same false christs and false teachers and false brothers, and thereby secured us as well—

And proceeding in due order to what follows, I shall make my exposition of the others.

Against the Marcionists, 22, but in the series 42.

Marcion, from whom the Marcionists take their name, having received the pretext from this aforementioned Cerdo, himself also went forth into life as a great serpent, and having deceived a great multitude, still to this day has set up a school in many ways.

This heresy is still to be found even now, both in Rome and in Italy, in Egypt and in Palestine, in Arabia and in Syria, in Cyprus and the Thebaid, and moreover also in Persia and in other places.

For greatly did the evil one prevail in him to bring about deception.

This man was by race a Pontian, I mean from Helenopontus, from the city of Sinope, as much account is given concerning him.

His first manner of life he practiced, allegedly, as one of virginity;

for he was a monk, and the son of a bishop of our holy catholic church.

But as time went on, he corrupted a certain virgin, and having deceived the virgin, dragged both her and himself down from that hope, and having accomplished the corruption, was expelled from the church by his own father.

For his father, on account of his exceeding piety, was one of the distinguished men, greatly devoted to the affairs of the church, excelling in the ministry of the episcopate.

Now although Marcion, as the story goes, earnestly implored and asked many times to be granted repentance, he did not obtain it from his own father.

For sorrow gripped that worthy elder and bishop, not only because that man had fallen, but also because he had brought shame upon him as well.

Since, then, he did not obtain through flattery what he was asking for from him, unable to bear the mockery of the many, he fled his own city and went up to Rome itself, after Hyginus the bishop of Rome had died. This man was the ninth from the apostles Peter and Paul; and having met with the elders still surviving and with those who derived from the disciples of the apostles, he asked to be admitted to communion, and no one granted it to him.

Then, puffed up with jealousy, since he had not obtained the presidency and entry into the church, he devises [a scheme] for himself and takes refuge in the heresy of the deceiver Cerdo.

And he begins, so to speak, right from the very outset, as if from the doorway of disputed questions, to put forward to the elders of that time this question, saying: 'Tell me, what is this:'

'They do not put new wine into old wineskins, nor a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment;'

'otherwise, it tears away the full patch, and it will not match the old.'

'for a worse tear will result.'