Chapter 1

§ 1.

They affirm that there is in certain high places unseen and unnamed, I know not what perfect Æon; existing before all; whom they call sometimes Proarche, the First Beginning, sometimes Propator, the First Father, sometimes Bythos, that is, the Deep; that he is likewise invisible and incomprehensible; and that being incomprehensible and invisible, eternal also and unbegotten, he abode in great tranquillity and calm through boundless ages:

That there exists with him also, Thought, the same whom they likewise denominate Grace and Silence; and that at some unknown time it occurred to the said Bythos to put forth from himself what should be a beginning of all things; and that this which he was minded to put forth, being as it were seed, he deposited, as in a womb, with the partner of his being, Silence:

That she, having received this seed, and become pregnant, brought forth Mind, who is similar to him that begat him, and alone comprehendeth the greatness of his Father; to which Mind they also give the name of Only-begotten, and Father, and principle of all things: and that there was produced together with him, Truth: and that this is the first and aboriginal quaternion of Pythagoras, which also they style the root of all things; namely, the Deep, and Silence, and, after them, Mind and Truth.

Further, that the Only Begotten, having become aware of the purposes for which he was produced, did himself also produce the Word, and the Life; thus becoming the Father of all who should be after him, and the principle and formative power, of the whole Pleroma: next, that from the Word and the Life were produced, as in marriage, the Man and the Church; and that this was the aboriginal Ogdoas or Eight, the root and substance of all things; having according to them, four names, the Deep, the Mind, the Word, and the Man: each of these being both male and female; as follows:—First, the Great Father they said, was united as in marriage to his own Thought; next the Only-begotten, that is, the Mind, to the Truth; afterwards the Word to the Life; and the Man to the Church:

§ 2.

Moreover, that these Æons, as they were produced for the Father’s glory, so wishing also themselves to glorify the Father by something of their own, produced offspring as in marriage: first, that the Word and the Life, after the Man and the Church, brought into being other ten Æons, whose names they say are these:—the Profound, and Commixture; the Undecaying, and Union; the Self-originated, and Pleasure; the Unmoved, and Incorporation; the Only-begotten, and the Blessed One. These are the ten additional Æons, who they say were produced by the Word and Life. They add that the Man also for his part with the Church produced twelve Æons, on whom they bestow these names:—the Comforter, and Faith; the Paternal One, and Hope; the Maternal One, and Love; the Ever-Intelligent, and Understanding; the Ecclesiastical One, and Blessedness; the Desired, and Wisdom.

§ 3.

These are the 30 Æons of their false doctrine, kept hitherto in silence, and unknown. This is the invisible and spiritual Fulness they talk of, with its threefold division into sets respectively of eight, and ten, and twelve beings. And they affirm this to have been the reason why the Saviour, (for they are not willing to call Him Lord), for 30 years did nothing openly; declaring this mystery of the Æons. Yea, and in the parable of the labourers which were sent into the vineyard they say it is most evident that these 30 Æons are indicated; in that some are sent about the first hour, some about the third, others about the sixth, others again the ninth, and a further set about the eleventh. Now the aforesaid hours, being added together, make up the number thirty. For 1 + 3 + 6 + 9 + 11 = 30. And the Hours, they affirm, signify the Æons. And these, they add, are the great and wonderful and unutterable mysteries, the fruit of which themselves only bear; as also of any among the many sayings of Scripture, which one haply may be able to accommodate, and cause to appear like their invention.¹