And the archons, whenever they see her adorned, are maddened with desire, and being unable to seize her, they burn terribly, their minds ravished by erotic longing.
So when, as they run after her, the virgin becomes invisible, then the great archon puts forth clouds from himself, so as to darken the world in his rage; and he, if he is greatly distressed, becomes exhausted, like a man sweating.
Therefore they must necessarily be transferred into grass, or beans, or barley, or an ear of grain, or vegetables, so that they too may be reaped and cut.
And again, if anyone is rich in this world, then when he departs from his tabernacle, he must necessarily be transferred into the body of a poor man, so that he must wander about begging, and after this go away into eternal punishment.
And since this body belongs to the archons and to matter, it is necessary that whoever plants a persea-tree pass through many bodies, until that persea-tree is felled.
And if anyone does not give devout offerings to his elect, he will be punished in the hells and will be transmigrated into the bodies of catechumens, until he gives many devout offerings.
I have eaten you without guilt.' And when he has said these things to himself, he says to the catechumen, 'I have prayed for you,' and thus that one departs.
1:7941
ὀπτήσαςἄρτονὀπτηθήσεται
烤餅的人,自己也要被烤。
He who has baked bread will himself be baked.
1:7942
καὶδιὰτοῦτοἀπείρηταιαὐτοῖςἔργονποιῆσαι
正因如此,他們被禁止從事這樣的勞作。
And for this reason it is forbidden them to do any such work.
And if anyone walks upon the ground, he harms the earth; and he who moves his hand harms the air, since the air is the soul of men, and of animals, and of birds, and of fish, and of reptiles, and of whatever is in the world;
And if the soul departs without having known the truth, it is handed over to the demons, that they may tame it in the hells of fire; and after this discipline it is transferred into other bodies, that it may be tamed, and thus it is cast into the great fire until the consummation.
1:7953
Περὶδὲτῶνπαρ'ὑμῖνπροφητῶνοὕτωςλέγει·
論到你們那裡的先知,他這樣說:
Concerning the prophets among you, he speaks thus:
that they are spirits of impiety, that is, of the lawlessness of the darkness that arose from the beginning, and that, being led astray by these, they did not speak in truth.
that the one who said, 'Come, let us make man according to our image and likeness,' or according to the form which we saw, is an archon, who said to the other archons, 'Come, give me from the light which we received, and let us make man according to the form of us archons, and according to what we saw' — that is, the first man.
And that God has no part with this world, nor does he rejoice in it, because from the beginning he was despoiled by the archons, and affliction came upon him.
For this reason he sends and takes back his own soul from them daily, through these two luminaries, sun and moon, by which the whole world and all creation is seized.
Therefore, all who hope in that god who spoke with Moses and the prophets must be bound together with him, because they did not hope in the God of truth.
1:7974
ἐκεῖνοςγὰρκατὰτὰςἐπιθυμίαςαὐτῶνἐλάλησεμετ'αὐτῶν
因為那一位是照著他們的情慾與他們說話的。
For that one spoke with them according to their own desires.
1:7975
μετὰδὲπάνταταῦταἐπὶτέλειλέγεικαθὼςαὐτὸςἔγραψεν·
在這一切之後,到了末了,他照著自己所寫的說:
And after all these things, at the end, he speaks, just as he himself wrote:
And all the emanations — Jesus who is in the small ship, and the Mother of Life, and the twelve helmsmen, and the Virgin of Light, and the third Elder who is in the great ship, and the Living Spirit, and the wall of the great fire, and the wall of the wind, and of the air, and of the water, and of the inner living fire — dwell together by the small luminary, until the fire consumes the whole world, in a certain number of years, the amount of which I have not learned.
And after these things there will be a restoration of the two natures, and the archons will dwell in their own lower regions, while the Father will dwell in the upper regions, having received back what is his own.
And even if the words are not scraped over for refutation, it will suffice for their shame merely to know that these things are held as law among them, being incoherent and having no force.
For at one time he wants the world to have come into being from God, and at another time from the archons — with God having no causal role at all in the world, but the world merely perishing; at one time he asserts that the firmament is the skins of the archons, at another time that they are crucified on high in the vault of heaven, running about and gathering into clouds and being roused with desire and driven wild with lust at the sight of the virgin and at the beauty of the youth.
For what is more wretched than this, more disgusting and more shameful, than that the Spirit of truth should fashion itself into a female form, and at another time appear to the archons in male form? For it is shameful, in drunken folly, for a man to be made effeminate and exist in the form of a woman;
And how is it not the case that, being a spirit of virtue and divine, it will rather be found insulted by this fabricator Mani? And how do the flayed ones feel lustful frenzy? Tell me, you there.
And how, after being crucified, were they flayed? And if they have indeed been crucified, how do they run about with a power that has vanished? And who will tolerate this blasphemer, who lays it down that we are nourished from the sweats of the archons, and that rain is sent down to us from an excretion of shamefulness? And from where does he himself drink his beverage, drawing it from the rains along with his own disciples? And how is he not ridiculous, being overcome by bodily necessity, drinking sweats? For indeed sin varies, but the punishment will not be as great for one who sins involuntarily as for one who commits the sin with deliberate intent.
1:7994
οἱμὲνγὰρἄλλοιἄνθρωποι, εἰκαὶοὕτωςἦνὅπερμὴγένοιτο·
至於其他人,即使真是如此——但願不然——
For other men, even if it were so — which God forbid —
For the madman imagines things, but they, not knowing that they are drawing water and drinking sweats and shameful excretions, are more excusable and rather obtain mercy than he who, with full knowledge, pricked in vain by his conscience, draws from the same drinks and from the other uses that belong to the flesh, because of the defeat of his own weakness.
We shall attempt to say something ridiculous, in keeping with his myth-making, in order to refute him: that if the grains of lentil and bean and chickpea and the rest happen to be souls, and the soul of an ox is the same, then according to his own reasoning meat-eaters would be more praiseworthy than those who practice the ascetic way of life.
Nevertheless, for the sake of refutation it must be said that the fifty or the hundred become guilty of a single soul, whereas he who eats the grains of seeds will rather, in a single mouthful, become guilty of thirty or forty souls.
For this barbarian who has come forth among us — a Persian, and a slave in disposition (for it did not distress him at all to be a slave in body) — says that all souls are equal, and that the one soul is present in all things: in men and cattle and wild beasts and birds and creeping things and both winged and marine animals, and monstrous creatures, and in the seeds of crops, and in trees, and in all other visible things.
For did he, when he came to save mankind, also concern himself with the healing and care of cattle, and gather up the fallen animals for resurrection? But it is not thus narrated, nor thus taught;
God forbid; rather, he knows how to save the souls of men, as he, comprehending it all in summary through the riddle, said, 'I came for nothing else but the lost sheep' — meaning thereby the whole of human nature.
They brought to him the blind, the deaf, the crippled, the paralytic, the maimed, and upon all of them he extended his beneficence and healing; but nowhere is it written that they brought animals to him.
Then again, when he came into the region of the Gergesthenes, as Mark says, or into the borders of the Gerasenes, as Luke says, or of the Gadarenes, as Matthew says, or of the Gergesenes, as some copies have it (for the place lay between the three territories) — and behold, two men possessed by demons, exceedingly fierce, came out from the tombs;
But Mark related also the exact number of the swine, saying that he came into the region of the Gergesthenes, and there met him a demoniac, who was bound with iron chains and would tear the bonds apart, and who dwelt among the tombs and cried out:
Having become man for our sake, did he not know the name of the demon before asking? But it is the custom of the divine to make the circumstances of each matter manifest from the mouth of those questioned.
So also here, in order to show the fearsomeness and the great number of the demons, he poses the question, so that the marvelous work might be shown forth from their own mouth.
For if the soul were the same, by what reasoning, wishing to cleanse one man, or to save a single soul — that of the demon-possessed man — did he not spare from destroying two thousand souls all at once? If it were the same soul, how does he cleanse the one, or save the one soul, while he permits the demons to enter into the other bodies, or rather souls? Are not the works of the light manifest? Have not these deeds been wrought in light? Is not the face of truth radiant? Are not all things smooth to those who understand, and straight to those who find knowledge? Who, hearing and comparing these things, would not convict Mani of stitching together things that ought not to be, so as to pervert the minds of men away from that which truly is? But once again these accursed men...
1:8035
ἀκήκοαγὰρκαίτινοςοὕτωδιαλεγομένου·
因為我也曾聽見有人這樣辯駁說:
For I have also heard someone arguing in this manner:
When this brutish man heard from us this argument, he turned and supposed that he might somehow have some power against the truth of God, and putting forward for himself words full of mockery, † he thought to contrive against the true things by means of falsehood, and he says:
1:8037
ἀλλὰδιενήνοχετοῖςχοίροιςτὸτεθνάναι·
『然而死對這些豬來說卻是有益的;』
'But death made a difference for the swine;'
1:8038
ἀπηλλάγησανγὰραἱψυχαὶἀπὸτῶνσωμάτωνκαὶἐσώθησαν
『因為牠們的靈魂脫離了身體,得了拯救。』
'for their souls were released from their bodies and were saved.'
Great indeed is the folly of those who do not see, and whose understanding is blinded, and who do not even take in with the sense of hearing the very things they themselves say.
For if he holds altogether that release of souls from the body is salvation, then the Savior ought rather to have killed the demon-possessed man, so that his soul might be saved by being released from a human body.
For by what reasoning did he not also permit the man, together with the swine, to be cast into the sea and to die, so as to cleanse and save the souls of both the man and the swine altogether? But we did not see it happen this way; rather, he calls Lazarus, four days in the tomb, and raises him and returns him to the world, doing him no evil nor working upon him anything foolish.
Him whom he loved, then, how could he cause to return into the flesh, if indeed the flesh is evil? And why did he not rather let the one who had already died and been saved from the body remain so? And let no one suppose that Lazarus died again immediately.
And having fallen asleep, he was laid to rest with an honorable name, just as all people are, until the hour of the resurrection, when the Only-Begotten, as he promised, is to restore the body to the soul and the soul to the body, and to render to each according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
For if there were no resurrection of bodies, whence would come the gnashing of teeth? But let not some again, out of their derangement of mind, say that...
...one should not eat after the resurrection of the dead? For if after the resurrection Jesus ate a second time — a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb — and dwelt together with his disciples for forty days, will there then be no eating? Concerning eating, indeed, it is clear that 'blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of heaven,' and it is the Lord's own promise that 'you shall sit at my Father's table, eating and drinking.'
And eating and drinking are known to him alone, since 'what eye has not seen and ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him.'
But since we have arrived at this point, expounding the differences of souls—and this from the truth itself and from an example that is complete—that the soul of man is one thing and that of a beast another, and he did not come to save the soul of the beast, but that of man, because beasts are not judged.
But what of those who scrutinize such questions? When they arrive at a passage and fail to grasp the clarity of its wording, they become vexed, devising objections against themselves rather than pursuing what is profitable for themselves—since Matthew speaks of two demoniacs, while Luke narrates concerning one.
For indeed one of the evangelists says that the robbers crucified with him reviled him, while the other does not, indicating that not only did both not revile him, but he even records the defense made by the one.
And besides this he cried out, saying, 'Remember me, Jesus, when you come into your kingdom'; and the Savior said to him, 'Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.'
1:8059
ἔοικεδὲταῦταὡςδιαφωνίανἔχονταἐντῇγραφῇ
這些事看似在經文中有所出入。
Now these things seem to contain a discrepancy in Scripture.
The Lord cleansed ten lepers, and the nine, having gone away, did not give glory to God, but the one, having turned back, remained—he who was also praised by the Lord, according as he said, 'Were not ten cleansed?'
'Why did not one of them turn back to give glory to God, but only this foreigner?' And you see that, because of his sensitivity and his deed of gratitude, Scripture makes mention of the one instead of the ten.
For we say, 'We have told you,' and 'We have seen you,' and 'We have come to you,' and it is not two who are speaking, but one who is present; and this one, according to customary usage, speaks in the plural in the person of many.
Thus the Gospel narrative has comprehended it in the plural, while the other evangelist relates that one was the blasphemer, and the other confessed and obtained salvation.
But in this very statement we ourselves agree, that the good offspring of a good Father—light from light, God from God, true God from true God—came to us, that he might save us;
1:8081
εἰςτὰἴδιαἦλθε, καὶοὐκεἰςτὰἀλλότρια·
他來到自己的地方,而非來到屬於別人的地方;
he came to his own, and not to what belonged to another;
for what were they before they were born in the flesh, or what can we be without flesh? But since the world came into being from God, and we, having been created, are born of flesh from fathers and mothers, the Lord came to beget us of Spirit and fire.
But as for the second birth, we have been born not of flesh nor of blood—that is, not by making abusive use of the flesh and of the blood, but by possessing flesh and soul in the Spirit, no longer fleshly, but blood and flesh and soul spiritually united together;
that is, he gave them power to become children of God—to those who change their purpose and, through flesh and blood and soul, have become well-pleasing to God.
'for he wrote concerning me; and Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad'; and thus your fathers did to the prophets; and 'blessed are you when they revile you and say all manner of evil against you falsely,'
'for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you'; and elsewhere, 'O Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often would I have gathered your children!'—and the word 'how often' shows that he, taking care through his prophets, sought earnestly to gather her.
which was shed between the temple and the altar. And having taken up everything, he overturned the tables of the money-changers, and said, 'Do not make my Father's house a house of merchandise'; and to those with Mary and Joseph he said, 'Why is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?' And immediately the Gospel adds, saying that when he said, 'Do not make my Father's house a house of merchandise,' as it states, his disciples remembered that it was written:
But that I may not prolong this discussion, I shall be content with these testimonies, and I shall proceed to the other matters, refuting the charlatan.
If the body belongs to one god, my good fellow, and the soul to another god, what fellowship is there between the two? And I am afraid at how vast a mass of depths of speculation the small mind of our littleness is attempting to peer into.