Chapter 30

§ 1.

But others again utter prodigious things, that there is a kind of first Light in the Power of the Deep, blessed, and incorruptible, and without limit: and that this is the Father of all, and is called the First Man. And his thought coming forth they call the Son of him who sends it forth: and say that this is the Son of Man, the Second Man. And that beneath these is the Holy Spirit; and under the Superior Spirit are the separated elements, water, darkness, the Abyss, Chaos; over which they say the Spirit is borne, calling It the First woman. Afterwards they say the First Man with his Son rejoicing in the beauty of the Spirit, i.e., the woman, and enlightening it, he produced therefrom Light Incorruptible, a third male Being, whom they call Christ, the Son of the first and second man, and of the Holy Spirit, the first woman.

§ 2.

But in this union of the father and son with the woman whom also they call the mother of all living, she not being able to bear nor to comprehend the greatness of the lights, was overfull and boiled over, they say, towards the left side: and so their only Son Christ indeed, as being on the right hand, and capable of elevation to the higher places, was straightway caught up with his mother to the incorruptible Æon. And that this moreover is the true and holy Church, viz., the summoning which took place, and meeting, and uniting of the father of all the first man, and the son the second man, and Christ their son and the aforesaid woman.

§ 3.

But that the virtue which overflowed from the woman, imbued as it were with light, fell downwards from its authors, having moreover by its own will the light which imbued it: which also they denominate The Left and Prunicos, and Wisdom, and both male and female. And coming down just as it was upon the waters, they being immoveable, it moved them also, dealing wantonly even unto the lowest depths; and took a body from them. For that to the light imbuing it all things flowed together, and cleaved to it, and hemmed it in: if it had not had this, it would perhaps have been all swallowed up and drowned by the Matter. She thus being bound down by a material body, and depressed greatly, repented after a while, and endeavoured to escape the waters, and ascend to her mother; but could not because of the weight of the surrounding body. And being in great distress, she devised to hide the light which was from above, fearing lest it also should be damaged by the inferior Elements, as she herself was. And having received power, from the imbuing of light which was with her, she leaped upward, and was lifted on high: and being on high spread out, and drew as a curtain, and framed this heaven which is seen, out of her body: and abode under the heaven which she made, yet having the outline of the body which was made in the waters. Having acquired a longing for the higher light, and won power throughout, she laid aside her body, they say, and was delivered from it. And this body which they say she put off, was named woman from that other woman.

§ 4.

Her son too they say had for his part a sort of panting after incorruption left in him by his mother, whereby he works, and having become mighty, he also produced, as they say, a son out of the waters without a mother: for they allow not that he knew his mother. And that his son, in imitation of his father, produced another son. This third also generated a fourth, and the fourth also himself generated a son; of the fifth a sixth son they say was generated, and of the sixth a seventh. Thus with them too the Hebdomad was complete, the Mother having the eighth place: and as in birth, so also in worth and power they are said to precede each other.

§ 5.

Names too they have assigned to their lie, as follows: that he who comes first from the Mother is called Ialdabaoth, and the next to him, Iao, and the next, the great Sabaoth; the fourth Adoneus, and the fifth Eloeus, and the sixth Horeus, and the seventh and last of all Astapheus. And these, whether Heavens, or Excellencies, or Virtues, or Angels, or Creators, they add, sit in order in Heaven, according to their birth, unseen, and govern things in heaven and in earth: the first of them, Ialdabaoth, despising his mother, in that he formed sons and grandsons without leave from any one: moreover also Angels and Archangels and Virtues and Powers and Dominations. Which being done, his sons, they say, turned to quarrel and contend with him for the chief place; upon which Ialdabaoth in grief and despondency looked upon the dregs of matter lying beneath, and fixed his desire thereon: whence they say a son was born (which was Mind itself twisted into the form of a serpent): and afterwards spirit, and the soul, and all worldly things: whence were generated all oblivion, and wickedness, and jealousy, and envy, and death. And this serpentlike and crooked Mind they say did yet more overthrow their father by his crooked ways, being with their Father in Heaven and in Paradise.

§ 6.

Whereupon Ialdabaoth, exulting, boasted of all that he had under him, and said, I am Father and God and none is above me. But his mother hearing cried against him, “Lie not, Ialdabaoth; for there is above thee the father of all the first man, and Man the Son of Man.” And all being troubled at the new voice, and unimaginable name, and inquiring whence the cry came, Ialdabaoth, they say, said, Come let us make man after our image. And the six virtues hearing this, their mother giving them the idea of man, that by him she might clear them quite of him who was their ruling Power, met and formed a man of immense breadth and length; and when he did but creep on the ground, they brought him to their father, Wisdom also bringing this to pass, that she might empty him also of the light wherewith he was imbued, that he might not, having Power, be able to lift up himself against those who are on high. And he, breathing into man the breath of life, was they say unawares emptied of his Power; and that man thenceforth had Mind and Conception (and these, they say, are the things which are saved); and presently he gives thanks to the First Man, deserting his makers.

§ 7.

And that Ialdabaoth in envy wanted to invent a way of spoiling the man by means of a woman: and that out of his own Conception he brought a woman, whom that Prunicos receiving invisibly despoiled of all virtue. And that the rest coming and admiring her beauty, called her Eve, and desiring her, had sons by her, who also they say are Angels. And their mother compounded a plan by a serpent to seduce Eve and Adam to transgress the command of Ialdabaoth. And Eve as being told this by the Son of God easily believed it, and persuaded Adam to eat of the tree, of which God had said he should not eat. And they say that they eating knew the virtue which is above all, and departed from those who had made them. And that Prunicos seeing that they are overcome even by their own work, uttered great joy, and again cried out, that whereas the Father was incorruptible, this one did of old lie in calling himself the Father, and that there being of old a man and the first woman, she too sinned in adultery.

§ 8.

And that Ialdabaoth because of the obliviousness which surrounded him, not even regarding all this, cast Adam and Eve out of Paradise, because they had transgressed his command. For that he wanted children to be born to him of Eve, and obtained it not, because his mother in all things opposed him: secretly even exhausting Adam and Eve of the Light wherewith they were imbued, so that the Spirit which came from the highest quarter might not share in any curse or reproach. They moreover, being thus emptied of the divine substance, were cursed by him, and cast down from heaven into this world, as these teach. Yea, and the serpent too, working against the Father, was cast down by him into a lower world: but that bringing into his own power the Angels which are here, he too begat six sons, himself being the seventh, in imitation of the Hebdomad which is about the Father. And these they say are seven worldly dæmons, always opposing and thwarting the race of man, because on their account their father was cast down

§ 9.

And that Adam and Eve had, at first, light and transparent bodies, and in a manner spiritual, as also they were formed; but that coming hither they degenerated into somewhat darker and grosser and more sluggish; yea, and that their soul was relaxed and languid, as having from its Maker an inspiration merely of this world: until Prunicos pitying them, restored the sweet odour of the Light which imbued them, whereby they came to recollect themselves, and knew themselves to be naked, and what was the matter of their body: and knew that they carry death about with them: and they were patient, knowing that their body is put on them for a time: and that they found also food, wisdom shewing them the way, and being satisfied had knowledge of each other, and begat Cain: whom the outcast serpent with his sons straightway took hold of, and subverted, and filled earthly things with oblivion, plunging them in folly and boldness: so that he by killing even his brother Abel, first exhibited jealousy and death. After whom by the providence of Prunicos they say Seth was begotten: after him Norea; of whom they say sprang the remaining multitude of men, which was also plunged by that inferior set of Seven into all kind of wickedness, and apostasy from the Superior holy seven, and into idolatry, and all other kinds of despight: the Mother always invisibly opposing them, and preserving what was her own, viz., the imbuing light. And the holy seven they will have to be the seven stars which men call Planets; and the outcast serpent they say has two names, Michael and Samael.

§ 10.

And that Ialdabaoth being angry with men for not worshipping him and honouring him as Father and God, brought the deluge on them to destroy them all at once. But Wisdom here too resisting him, Noe and his family were saved in the ark, through that imbuing light which they had from her, by which the world was replenished with men: of whom the said Ialdabaoth selected one Abraham, and made a covenant with him, if his seed would persevere in his service, to give him the inheritance of the earth. Afterwards by Moses he brought them out of Egypt, i.e., Abraham’s progeny, and gave them a law, and made them Jews; from among whom the seven Days [or Lights] (whom also they call the holy week) chose out, even each one of them, his own herald to glorify him, and to declare him as God: that the rest also hearing their praises might themselves serve those who were declared gods by the Prophets.

§ 11.

And the Prophets they thus distribute: to the said Ialdabaoth Moses belonged, and Jesus the son of Nave, and Amos, and Abacuc: to the next, Iao, Samuel and Nathan, and Jonah and Micha: and to the next, Sabaoth, Elias and Joel and Zacharia: and to the next, Adoneus, Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Daniel: and to the next Eloeus, Tobias and Haggai; and to the next, Horeus, Micha and Nahum; and to the next, Astaphæus, Esdras and Zephaniah. Of these then every one is glorifying his own father and God. And that wisdom too herself spake much by them of the first man and of the incorruptible Æon, and of that Christ which is on high, forewarning and reminding men of the incorruptible Light, and of the first man, and of the descent of Christ: whereupon those Princes being alarmed, and wondering at the new things which were declared by the Prophets, Prunicos brought it about by means of Ialdabaoth, who knew not what he was doing, that two productions of men took place, the one of the barren Elizabeth, the other of the Virgin Mary.

§ 12.

And because the said Wisdom had no rest, neither in heaven nor in earth, in her grief she called her mother to her aid. And her Mother, the First woman, had compassion on the penitence of her daughter, and requested of the first man that Christ should be sent for a help to her: who accordingly was sent out and descended to his own sister, and to the imbuing Light. And that the Wisdom which is below knowing that her brother is coming down, both announced his coming by John, and prepared the baptism of repentance, and provided Jesus beforehand: that Christ descending might find a clean vessel, and that by her son Ialdabaoth she might be declared as a woman to Christ. And that he descended through the seven heavens, likening himself to their sons; and gradually drained them of their Power. For to him they say flowed together all the imbuing Light: and that Christ coming down into this world, clothed first his sister Wisdom, and both rejoiced, consoled by one another: and this they define to be the meaning of the Bridegroom and Bride. And that Jesus as being born of a Virgin by the working of God, was wiser, and purer, and more righteous than all men: that Christ conjoined with Wisdom descended, and so was made Jesus Christ.

§ 13.

Many therefore of His disciples, they say, knew not of Christ’s descending on him; but that when Christ descended on Jesus, then he began to do mighty works, and to heal, and to proclaim the unknown Father, and to profess himself openly the son of the first man. Whereupon the Princes being angry, and the Father of Jesus, took measures to slay him: and at the very point of his being brought before them, Christ himself, with Wisdom, they say, departed to the incorruptible Æon, but Jesus was crucified: that Christ however did not forget his own, but sent from above a certain Power into him, which raised him up in the body; which body even they call animal and spiritual: for that he left worldly things behind in the world. And the disciples seeing that he had risen again, knew him not: nay, nor that Jesus himself, on whose account he rose from the dead. And they say there was this very great error among His disciples, that they thought he had risen in His earthly Body,¹ not knowing that flesh and blood layeth not hold of the Kingdom of God.

§ 14.

And they would fain prove the descent and ascension of Christ by this, that neither before His Baptism nor after His Resurrection from the dead do the Disciples say that Jesus did any great work, not knowing that Jesus was united to Christ, and the incorruptible Æon to that which was part of the Seven, and the earthly and animal body. And that he delayed after His Resurrection eighteen months, and when the spiritual faculty came down upon him he learnt that which is revealed, and that a few of His disciples, whom He knew to be capable of so great mysteries, were taught these things by Him; and so He was received into Heaven; Christ sitting at the right hand of his father Ialdabaoth, in order that he may receive to Himself the souls of those who have known them, after their putting off their worldly flesh, enriching himself, his father not knowing, nay not even seeing him: so that in such measure as Jesus enriches himself with holy souls, in the same his father is made a loser and degraded, his power being drawn away from him by those souls. For that now he will no longer have holy souls, to send back again into the low world, but only those which are of his subtance, that is, of his breathing into men. And that the consummation will be when the whole of the spirit of light with which things are imbued is gathered in and caught away into the Incorruptible Æon.

§ 15.

Such are the opinions which they maintain: from which, as from the Lernæan Hydra, a many headed wild beast has been generated out of the School of Valentinus. For some say that Wisdom herself was made a serpent; and was therefore contrary to the maker of Adam, and introduced knowledge among men; and that therefore the serpent is called wiser than all. As also because of the arrangement of our entrails, through which food is introduced; they having that kind of figure to indicate a hidden substance in us, apt to produce the form of a serpent.