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Philosophumena; Or, The Refutation Of All Heresies

Antipope Hippolytus

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1. The Text, its Discovery, Publication and Editions

1. The Text, its Discovery, Publication and Editions

The story of the discovery of the book here translated so resembles a romance as to appear like a flower in the dry and dusty field of patristic lore. A short treatise called Philosophumena , or “Philosophizings,” had long been known, four early copies of it being in existence in the Papal and other libraries of Rome, Florence and Turin. The superscriptions of these texts and a note in the margin of one of them caused the treatise to be attributed to Origen, and its Edito princeps is that publis

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2. The Authorship of the Work

2. The Authorship of the Work

Even before Mynas’ discovery, doubts had been cast on the attribution of the Philosophumena to Origen. The fact that the author in his Proæmium speaks of himself as a successor of the Apostles, a sharer in the grace of high priesthood, and a guardian of the Church, [12] had already led several learned writers in the eighteenth century to point out that Origen, who was never even a bishop, could not possibly be the author, and Epiphanius, Didymus of Alexandria, and Aetius were among the names to

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3. The Credibility of Hippolytus

3. The Credibility of Hippolytus

Assuming, then, that our author was Hippolytus, schismatic Bishop of Rome from about 218 to 235, we must next see what faith is to be attached to his statements. This question was first raised by the late Dr. George Salmon, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, who was throughout his life a zealous student of Gnosticism and of the history of the Church during the early centuries. While working through our text he was so struck by the repetition in the account of four different sects of the simile

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4. The Composition of the Work

4. The Composition of the Work

In these circumstances, and in view of the manifest discrepancies between statements in the earlier part of the text and what purports to be their repetition in the later, the question has naturally arisen as to whether the document before us was written for publication in its present form. It is never referred to or quoted by name by any later author, and although the argument from silence has generally proved a broken reed in such cases, there are here some circumstances which seem to give it

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5. The Style of the Work

5. The Style of the Work

Photius’ remark that Hippolytus did not keep to the Attic style is an understatement of the case with regard to our text. Jacobi, its first critic, was so struck by the number of “Latinisms” that he found in it as to conjecture that it is nothing but a Greek translation of a Latin original. [68] This is so unlikely as to be well-nigh impossible if Hippolytus were indeed the author; and no motive for such translation can be imagined unless it were made at a fairly late period. In that case, we sh

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6. The Value of the Work

6. The Value of the Work

What interest has a work such as this of Hippolytus for us at the present day? In the first place it preserves for us many precious relics of a literature which before its discovery seemed lost for ever. The pagan hymn to Attis and the Gnostic one on the Divine Mission of Jesus, both appearing in Book V, are finds of the highest value for the study of the religious beliefs of the early centuries of our Era, and with these go many fragments of hardly less importance, including the Pindaric ode in

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(PROÆMIUM)

(PROÆMIUM)

No fable made famous by the Greeks is to be neglected. For even those opinions of theirs which lack consistency are believed through the extravagant madness of the heretics, who, from hiding in silence their own unspeakable mysteries, are supposed by many to worship God. Whose opinions also we aforetime set forth within measure, not displaying them in detail but refuting them in the rough, [6] as we did not hold it fit to bring their unspeakable deeds p. 3. to light. This we did that, as we set

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1. Thales.

1. Thales.

It is said that Thales the Milesian, one of the seven sages, was the first to take in hand natural philosophy. [23] He said that the beginning and end of the universe was water; [24] for that from its solidification and redissolution all things have been constructed and that all are borne about by it. And that from it also come earthquakes and the turnings about of the stars and the motions of the winds. [25] And that all things are formed and flow in accordance with the nature of the first caus

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2. Pythagoras.

2. Pythagoras.

And not far from this time there flourished another philosophy founded by Pythagoras, who some say was a Samian. They call it the Italic because Pythagoras, fleeing from Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos, took up his abode in a city of Italy and there spent his life. Whose successors in the school did not differ much from him in judgment. And he, after having enquired into physics, combined with it astronomy, geometry and music. [28] And thus he showed that unity is God, [29] and after curiously s

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3. About Empedocles.

3. About Empedocles.

But Empedocles, born after these men, also said many things about the nature of demons, and how they being very many go about managing things upon the earth. He said that the beginning of the universe was Strife and Friendship and that the intellectual fire of the monad is God, and that all things were constructed from fire and will be resolved into fire. [48] In which opinion the Stoics also nearly agree, since they expect an ecpyrosis. But most of all he accepted the change into different bodi

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4. About Heraclitus.

4. About Heraclitus.

But Heraclitus of Ephesus, a physicist, bewailed all things, accusing the ignorance of all life and of all men, and pitying the life of mortals. For he claimed that he knew all things and other men nothing. [52] And he also made statements nearly in accord with Empedocles, as he said that Discord and Friendship were the beginning of all things, and that the intellectual fire was God and that all things were borne in upon one another and did not stand still. And like Empedocles he said that every

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5. About Anaximander.

5. About Anaximander.

Now Anaximander was a hearer of Thales. He was Anaximander of Miletus, son of Praxiades. [54] He said that the beginning of the things that are was a certain nature of the Boundless from which came into being the heavens and the ordered worlds [55] within them. And that this principle is eternal and grows not old and encompasses all the ordered worlds. And he says time is limited by birth, p. 17. substance, [56] and death. He said that the Boundless is a principle and element of the things that

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6. About Anaximenes.

6. About Anaximenes.

Anaximenes, who was also a Milesian, the son of Eurystratus, said that the beginning was a boundless air from which what was, is, and shall be and gods and divine things came into being, while the rest came from their descendants. But that the condition of the air is such that when it is all over alike [62] it is invisible to the eye, but it is made perceptible by cold and heat, by damp and by motion. And that it is ever-moving, for whatever is changeable [63] changes not unless it be moved. For

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7. About Anaxagoras.

7. About Anaxagoras.

After him was Anaxagoras of Clazomene, son of Hegesibulus. He said that the beginning of the universe was mind and matter, mind being the creator and matter that which came unto being. [70] For that when all things were together, mind came and arranged them. He says, however, that the material principles are boundless, even the smallest of them. And that all things partake of movement, being p. 21. moved by mind, and that like things come together. And that the things in heaven were set in order

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8. About Archelaus.

8. About Archelaus.

Archelaus was of Athenian race and the son of Apollodorus. He like Anaxagoras asserted the mixed nature of matter and agreed with him as to the beginning of things. But he said that a certain mixture [78] was directly inherent in mind, and that the source of movement is the separation from one another of heat and cold and that the p. 24. heat is moved and the cold remains undisturbed. Also that water when heated flows to the middle of the universe wherein heated air and earth are produced, of wh

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9. About Parmenides.

9. About Parmenides.

p. 26. For truly Parmenides also supposed the universe to be eternal and ungenerated and spherical in form. [84] Nor did he avoid the common opinion making fire and earth the principles of the universe, the earth as matter, but the fire as cause and creator. [He said that the ordered world would be destroyed, but in what way, he did not say.] [85] But he said that the universe was eternal and ungenerated and spherical in form and all over alike, bearing no impress and immoveable and with definit

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10. About Leucippus.

10. About Leucippus.

But Leucippus, a companion of Zeno, did not keep to the same opinion (as Parmenides), but says that all things are boundless and ever-moving and that birth and change are unceasing. And he says that fulness and the void are elements. And he says also that the ordered worlds came into being thus: when many bodies were crowded together p. 27. and flowed from the ambient [86] into a great void, on coming into contact with one another, those of like fashion and similar form coalesced, and from their

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11. About Democritus.

11. About Democritus.

But Democritus was an acquaintance of Leucippus. This was Democritus of Abdera, son of Damasippus, [87] who met with many Gymnosophists among the Indians and with priests and astrologers [88] in Egypt and with Magi in Babylon. But he speaks like Leucippus about elements, to wit, fulness and void, saying that the full is that which is but the void that which is not, and he said this because things are ever moving in the void. He said also that the ordered worlds are boundless and differ in size,

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12. About Xenophanes.

12. About Xenophanes.

But Xenophanes of Colophon was the son of Orthomenes. [90] He survived until the time of Cyrus. He first declared the incomprehensibility of all things, [91] saying thus: p. 29. But he says that nothing is generated, or perishes or is moved, and that the universe which is one is beyond change. But he says that God is eternal, and one and alike on every side, and finite and spherical in form, and conscious [93] in all His parts. And that the sun is born every day from the gathering together of sm

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13. About Ecphantus.

13. About Ecphantus.

A certain Ecphantus, a Syracusan, said that a true knowledge of the things that are could not be got. But he defines, as he thinks, that the first bodies are indivisible and that there are three differences [96] between them, to wit, size, shape and power. And the number of them is limited and not boundless; but that these bodies are moved neither by weight nor by impact, but by a divine power which he calls p. 31. Nous and Psyche. Now the pattern of this is the cosmos, wherefore it has become s

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14. About Hippo.

14. About Hippo.

But Hippo of Rhegium [98] said that the principles were cold, like water, and heat, like fire. And that the fire came from the water, and, overcoming the power of its parent, constructed the cosmos. But he said that the soul was sometimes brain and sometimes water; for the seed also seems to us to be from moisture and from it he says the soul is born. These things, then, we seem to have sufficiently set forth. Wherefore, as we have now separately run through the opinions of the physicists, it se

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15. About Socrates.

15. About Socrates.

Now Socrates became a hearer of Archelaus the physicist, and giving great honour to the maxim “Know thyself” and having established a large school, held Plato to be the most competent of all his disciples. He left no writings p. 32. behind him; but Plato being impressed with all his wisdom [99] established the teaching combining physics, ethics and dialectics. But what Plato laid down is this:—...

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16. About Plato.

16. About Plato.

Plato makes the principles of the universe to be God, matter and (the) model. He says that God is the maker and orderer of this universe and its Providence. [100] That matter is that which underlies all things, which matter he calls a recipient and a nurse. [101] From which, after it had been set in order, came the four elements of which the cosmos is constructed, to wit, fire, air, earth and water, [102] whence in turn all the other so-called compound things, viz., animals and plants have been

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17. About Aristotle.

17. About Aristotle.

Aristotle, who was a hearer of this last, turned philosophy into a science and reasoned more strictly, affirming that the elements of all things are substance and accident. [128] He said that there is one substance underlying all things, but nine accidents, which are Quantity, Quality, Relation, the Where, the When, Possession, Position, Action and Passion. And that therefore Substance was such as God, man and every one of the things which can fall under the like definition: but that as regards

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18. About the Stoics.

18. About the Stoics.

The Stoics themselves also added to philosophy by the increased use of syllogisms, [132] and included it nearly all in definitions, Chrysippus and Zeno being here agreed in opinion. Who also supposed that God was the beginning of all things, and was the purest body, and that His providence extends through all things. [133] They say positively, however, that existence is everywhere according to destiny using some such simile as this: viz. that, as a dog tied to a cart, if he wishes to follow it,

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19. About Epicurus.

19. About Epicurus.

p. 43. But Epicurus held an opinion almost the opposite of all others. He supposed that the beginnings of the universals were atoms and a void; that the void was as it were the place of the things that will be; but that the atoms were matter, from which all things are. And that from the concourse of the atoms both God and all the elements came into being and that in them were all animals and other things, so that nothing is produced or constructed unless it be from the atoms. And he said that th

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20. About (the) Academics.

20. About (the) Academics.

But another sect of philosophers was called Academic, p. 45. from their holding their discussions in the Academy, whose founder was Pyrrho, after whom they were called Pyrrhonian philosophers. He first introduced the dogma of the incomprehensibility of all things, so that he might argue on either side of the question, but assert nothing dogmatically. For he said that there is nothing grasped by the mind or perceived by the senses which is true, but that it only appears to men to be so. And that

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21. About (the) Brachmans among the Indians.

21. About (the) Brachmans among the Indians.

The Indians have also a sect of philosophizers in the Brachmans [144] who propose to themselves an independent life and abstain from all things which have had life and from p. 46. meats prepared by fire. They are content with fruits [145] but do not gather even these, but live on those fallen on the earth and drink the water of the river Tagabena. [146] But they spend their lives naked, saying that the body has been made by God as a garment to the soul. They say that God is light; not such light

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22. About the Druids among the Celts.

22. About the Druids among the Celts.

The Druids among the Celts enquired with the greatest minuteness into the Pythagorean philosophy, Zamolxis, Pythagoras’ slave, a Thracian by race, being for them the author of this discipline. He after Pythagoras’ death travelled into their country and became as far as they were concerned the founder of this philosophy. [153] The Celts glorify the Druids as prophets and as knowing the future because they foretell to them some things by the ciphers and numbers of the Pythagoric art. On the princi

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23. About Hesiod.

23. About Hesiod.

But Hesiod the poet says that he, too, heard thus from the Muses about Nature. The Muses, however, are the daughters of Zeus. For Zeus having from excess of desire companied with Mnemosyne for nine days and nights consecutively, she conceived these nine in her single womb, receiving one every night. Now Hesiod invokes the nine Muses from Pieria, that is from Olympus, and prays them to teach him: [155] And he enumerates all the other Giants descended from Kronos. But last he tells how Zeus was bo

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[1. About Astrologers.]

[1. About Astrologers.]

... (And they ( i. e. the Chaldæans) declare there are “terms” [2] of the stars in each zodiacal sign extending from one given part) [3] to [another given part in which some particular star has most power. About which there is no mere chance difference] among them [as appears from their tables]. But they say that the stars are guarded [4] [when they are midway between two other stars] in zodiacal succession. For instance, if [a certain star should occupy the first part] of a zodiacal sign and an

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2. Of Mathematicians.

2. Of Mathematicians.

Those then who fancy that they can divine by means of ciphers [73] and numbers, elements [74] and names, make the foundation of their attempted system to be this. They pretend that every number has a root:—in the thousands as many units as there are thousands. For example, the root of 6000 is 6 units, of 7000, 7 units, of 8000, 8 units, and with the rest in the same way. In the hundreds as many hundreds as there are, so the same number of units is the root of them. For example, in 700 there are

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3. Of Divination by Metoposcopy.

3. Of Divination by Metoposcopy.

1. But since there is another and more profound art among the all-wise investigators of the Greeks, whose disciples the heretics profess themselves because of the use they make of their opinions for their own designs, as we shall show before long, we shall not keep silence about this. This is the divination or rather madness by metoposcopy. p. 85. There are those who refer to the stars the forms of the types and patterns [90] and natures of men, summing them up by their births under certain star

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4. The Magicians.

4. The Magicians.

(The gap here caused by the mutilation of the MS. was probably filled by a description of the mode of divination by enquiry of a spirit or dæmon which was generally made in writing, as Lucian describes in his account of the imposture of Alexander of Abonoteichos. The MS. proceeds.) ... And he ( i. e. , the magician) taking some paper, orders the enquirer to write down what it is he wishes to enquire of the dæmons. [106] Then he having folded up the paper and given it to the boy, [107] sends it a

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5. Recapitulation.

5. Recapitulation.

1. Among all the philosophers and theologists [159] who are enquiring into the matter throughout the inhabited world, there is no agreement concerning God, as to what He is or whence (He came). [160] For some say that He is fire, some spirit, some water, others earth. But every one of these elements contains something inferior and some of them are defeated by the others. But this has happened to the world’s sages, which indeed is plain to those who think, p. 114. that in view of the greatness of

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6. Of the Divination by Astronomy.

6. Of the Divination by Astronomy.

We seem then to have set forth these things also sufficiently. But since I consider that not one tenet of this earthy and grovelling wisdom has been passed over, I perceive that our care with regard to the same things has not been useless. For we see that our discourse has been of great use not only for the refutation of heresies, but also against those who magnify these things. [175] Those who happen to notice the manifold care taken by us will both wonder at our zeal and will neither despise o

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7. Of the Arithmetical Art.

7. Of the Arithmetical Art.

Seeing, however, that nearly all heresy has discovered by the art of arithmetic measures of hebdomads and certain projections of Æons, each tearing the art to pieces in different ways and only changing the names,—but of these (men) Pythagoras came to be teacher who first transmitted to the Greeks such numbers from Egypt—it seems good not to pass over this, but after briefly pointing it out to proceed to the demonstration of the objects of our enquiries. These men were arithmeticians and geometri

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1. Naassenes.

1. Naassenes.

p. 138. 6. I consider that the tenets concerning the Divine and the fashioning of the cosmos (held by) all those who are deemed philosophers by Greeks and Barbarians have been very painfully set forth in the four books before this. Whose curious arts I have not neglected, so that I have undertaken for the readers no chance labour, exhorting many to love of learning and certainty of knowledge about the truth. Now therefore there remains to hasten on to the refutation of the heresies, with which i

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2. Peratæ.

2. Peratæ.

12. There is also indeed a certain other (heresy), the Peratic, the blasphemy of whose (followers) against Christ has for many years evaded (us). Whose secret mysteries it now seems fitting for us to bring into the open. They suppose the cosmos to be one, divided into three parts. But of this triple division, one part according to them is, as it were, a single principle like a great source [183] which may be p. 186. cut by the mind into boundless sections. And the first and chiefest section acco

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3. The Sethiani.

3. The Sethiani.

p. 209. 19. Let us see then what the Sethians say. [249] They are of opinion [250] that there are three definite principles of the universals, and that each of the principles contains boundless powers. But what they mean by powers let him judge who hears them speak thus: Everything which you understand by your mind or which you pass by unthought of, is formed by nature to become each of these principles, as in the soul of man every art which is taught. For example, he says, that a boy will becom

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4. Justinus.

4. Justinus.

23. Justinus, being utterly opposed to every teaching of the Holy Scriptures, and also to the writing or speech [281] of the blessed Evangelists, since the Word taught his disciples saying: “Go not into the way of the Gentiles” [282] —which is plainly: Give no heed to the vain teaching of the Gentiles—seeks to bring back his hearers to the marvel-mongering of the Greeks and what is taught by it. He sets out word for word and in detail the fabulous tales of the Greeks, but neither teaches first h

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PHILOSOPHUMENA; OR THE REFUTATION OF ALL HERESIES

PHILOSOPHUMENA; OR THE REFUTATION OF ALL HERESIES

p. 242 Cruice. 1. These are the contents of the 6th (book) of the Refutation of all Heresies . 2. What Simon has dared, and that his doctrine is confirmed (by quotations) from magicians and poets. 3. What Valentinus has laid down, and that his doctrine is not framed from the Scriptures, but from those of the Platonists and Pythagorists. 4. And what is thought by Secundus, Ptolemy and Heracleon, and how they have used as their own, but with different words, the thoughts of those whom the Greeks (

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1. About Simon.

1. About Simon.

7. It seems then right now to set forth also the (doings) of Simon, [4] the man of Gitto, [5] a village of Samaria, whereby we shall show that those also who followed (him) taking hints from other names have ventured upon like things. This Simon, being skilled in magic arts and having played upon many, sometimes by the Thrasymedean [6] process in the way we have set forth above, but sometimes working iniquity by means of devils, designed to deify himself, (although only) a human sorcerer filled

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2. Concerning Valentinus.

2. Concerning Valentinus.

p. 268. 21. The heresy of Valentinus, [78] then, exists, having a Pythagorean and Platonic foundation. For Plato in the Timæus modelled himself entirely on Pythagoras, as is seen also by his “Pythagorean stranger” being Timæus himself. Wherefore it seems fitting that we should begin by recalling to mind a few (points) of the theory of Pythagoras and Plato, and should then describe the (teaching) of Valentinus. For if the opinions of Pythagoras and Plato are also included in the (books) painfully

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3. About Secundus and Epiphanes.

3. About Secundus and Epiphanes.

p. 302. 38. A certain Secundus, who was born at the same time as Ptolemy, says that there exist a right hand and a left hand tetrad like light and darkness. And he says that the Power which fell away and is lacking [167] came into being not from the thirty Aeons, but from their fruits. But there is a certain Epiphanes, a teacher of theirs, who says: “The First Principle [168] was incomprehensible, ineffable and unnameable” which he calls Solitude [169] and that a Power of this co-exists with it

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4. About Ptolemy.

4. About Ptolemy.

p. 304. 39. But the adherents of Ptolemy say that he [Bythos] has two partners whom they call also (his) predispositions [176] ( i. e. ) Thought and Will. For he first had it in mind to project something, and then he willed (to do so). Wherefore from these two diatheses and powers, that is, from Ennoia and Thelesis as it were blending with one another, the projection of Monogenes and Aletheia as a pair came to pass. The which types and images of the two diatheses of the Father came forth visible

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5. About Marcus.

5. About Marcus.

40. And a certain other teacher of theirs, Marcus, an p. 305. expert in magic, depending now on trickery and now on demons, leads astray many. For he says that there is in him the greatest power from the invisible and unnameable places. And often he takes a cup, as if consecrating it, [180] and prolonging the words of consecration, causes the mixture to appear purple and sometimes red, so as to make his dupes think that a certain grace has come down, and has given a blood-like power [181] to the

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1. About Basilides.

1. About Basilides.

p. 335. 13. Seeing that the doctrines of the heretics are like a sea lashed into waves by the force of the winds, their hearers ought to sail through them in quest of the calm harbour. For such a sea is both wild and hard to overpass, as the Sicilian (sea) is said to be, wherein are fabled to be Cyclops and Charybdis and Scylla and ... the Sirens’ rock. [2] Which sea the Greek poets make out that Odysseus sailed through, skilfully availing himself of the terror of those fierce beasts: for their

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2. Satornilus.

2. Satornilus.

28. And a certain Satornilus who flourished at the same time as Basilides, but passed his life in Antioch of Syria, taught the same things as Menander. [104] He says that one father exists unknown to all, who made Angels, Archangels, Powers [and] Authorities. And that from a certain seven angels the cosmos and all things therein came into being. And that man was [the] creation of angels, there having p. 368. appeared on high from the Absolute One [105] a shining image which they could not detain

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3. Concerning Marcion.

3. Concerning Marcion.

p. 370. 29. Marcion of Pontus, much madder than these, passing over many opinions of the majority and pressing on to the more shameless, supposed that there were two principles of the All, [113] one good and the other bad. And he, thinking that he was bringing in some new [doctrine], manufactured a school filled with folly and of Cynic life, being himself a lewd one. [114] He thought that the multitude would not notice that he chanced to be a disciple not of Christ, but of Empedocles, who was ve

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4. Carpocrates.

4. Carpocrates.

32. Carpocrates says that the cosmos and the things which are therein, came into being by angels much below the unbegotten Father, but that Jesus was begotten by Joseph and was born like other men, though more just than the rest. And that His soul having been born strong and pure remembered what it had seen in the sphere of the unbegotten God; [165] and that therefore a power was sent down to it from that [Deity], so that by its means it might escape from the world-making angels. And that this [

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5. Cerinthus.

5. Cerinthus.

33. But a certain Cerinthus, having been trained in the schooling of the Egyptians, said that the cosmos did not come into being by the First God, but by a certain Power derived from the Authority set over the universals, which is yet ignorant of the God who is over all. And he supposed Jesus not to have been begotten from a virgin, but to have been born the son of Joseph and Mary like all other men, p. 389. and to have been more wise and just than they. And that, at the Baptism, the Christ in t

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6. Ebionæi.

6. Ebionæi.

34. But the Ebionæi admit that the cosmos came into being by the God who is; and concerning Christ they invent [179] the same things as Cerinthus and Carpocrates. They live according to Jewish customs, thinking that they will be justified by the Law and saying that Jesus was justified in practising [180] the Law. Wherefore He was named by God Christ and Jesus, since none of them has fulfilled p. 390. the Law. For if any other had practised the commandments which are in the Law, he would be the C

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7. Theodotus the Byzantian.

7. Theodotus the Byzantian.

35. But a certain Byzantine named Theodotus brought in a new heresy, asserting things about the beginning of the All which partly agree with [the account of] the True Church, since he admits that all things came into being by God. But having taken [182] his [idea of] Christ from the school of the Gnostics and from Cerinthus and Ebion, [183] he considers He appeared in some such fashion as this:—Jesus was a man begotten from a virgin according to the Father’s will, living the common life of all m

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8. Another Theodotus.

8. Another Theodotus.

36. But while different enquiries were taking place among them [185] a certain man who was also called Theodotus, a money-changer by trade, undertook to say that a certain Melchizedek was the greatest power, and that he was greater than Christ. After the image of whom they allege that Christ happened [to come]. And they like the Theodotians before mentioned say that Jesus was a man, and in the same words [declare] that the Christ descended upon Him. p. 392. But the opinions [186] of Gnostics are

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9. Cerdo and Lucian.

9. Cerdo and Lucian.

37. But a certain Cerdo taking in like manner his starting-point from these [heretics] and from Simon, says that the p. 393. God announced by Moses and [the] Prophets was not the Father of Jesus Christ. For that this God was known, but the Father of the Christ unknowable; and that the first-named was [only] just, but the other, good. The doctrine of this [Cerdo] Marcion confirmed when he took in hand the Antitheses [190] and everything which seemed to him to speak against the Demiurge of all thi

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10. Apelles.

10. Apelles.

38. Now Apelles who [sprang] from among these men, says thus:—There is a certain good God as Marcion supposed; but he who created all things is [only] just; and there is a third [God] who spoke to Moses, and yet a fourth, a cause of evil. And he names these angels and speaks ill of the Law and the Prophets, deeming the Scriptures of human authorship and false. And he picks out of the Gospels and Epistles the things favourable to him. Yet he clings to the discourses of a certain Philumena as the

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1. The Docetae.

1. The Docetae.

8. Since the many, making no use of the Lord’s counsel, while having the beam [4] in their eye, yet give out that they can see, it seems to us that we should not be silent as to their doctrines. So that they, being brought to shame by our forthcoming refutation, shall recognize how the Saviour counselled them to take away the beam from their own eye, and then to see clearly the straw which was in their brother’s eye. Now, therefore, having set forth sufficiently and adequately the opinions of mo

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2. Monoimus.

2. Monoimus.

12. Monoimus the Arab [46] was a long way off [47] the glory of the great-voiced poet; for he thinks that some such man as Oceanus existed, of whom the poet speaks somehow like this:— Turning this into other words, he says that a Man is the All which is the source of the universals, [being] unbegotten, incorruptible, and eternal; and that there is a Son of the aforesaid Man, who is begotten, and capable of suffering, being born in a timeless, unwilled, and previously undefined way. For such, say

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3. Tatian.

3. Tatian.

16. But Tatian, although himself a disciple of Justin Martyr, was not of like mind with his master, but attempted something new. He says that there were certain Aeons [about whom] he fables in the like way with the Valentinians. But in the same way as Marcion he says that marriage is destruction. And he asserts that Adam will not be saved, through his becoming a leader of rebellion. And thus Tatian. [68]...

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4. Hermogenes.

4. Hermogenes.

p. 417. 17. A certain Hermogenes [69] thinking also to devise something new, says that God created all things from co-existent and ungenerated matter. For he held it impossible that God should create the things that are from those that are not. And that God is ever Lord and Maker, but Matter ever a slave and [in process of] becoming. But yet not all [matter], for, as it was being borne about violently and disorderly, He set it in order in this manner. Beholding it boiling like a pot on the fire,

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5. About the Quartodecimans.

5. About the Quartodecimans.

18. But certain others, lovers of strife by nature, unskilled p. 419. in knowledge, very quarrelsome by habit, maintain that the Passover ought to be kept on the 14th day of the First Month, according to the ordinance of the Law, on whatever day [of the week] it may fall. They have regard [merely] to that which has been written in the Law: [that is] that he will be accursed who does not keep it as it is laid down. They pay no attention to the fact that it was enacted for the Jews, who were to ki

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6. Phrygians.

6. Phrygians.

19. But there are others also very heretical by nature, Phrygians by race, who have fallen away after being deceived p. 420. by certain women, Priscilla and Maximilla by name, whom they imagine to be prophetesses. Into these they say the Spirit Paraclete has entered and they likewise glorify [even] above these one Montanus as a prophet. Having endless books of their own, they are not judging what is said in them according to reason, nor giving heed to those capable of judgment; but, carried alon

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7. Encratites.

7. Encratites.

20. But others calling themselves Encratites [82] confess the [facts] about God and Christ in like manner with the Church. But with regard to the way of life, they having become puffed up, [83] have reverted [to earlier opinions]. They think themselves glorified through food by abstaining from things which have had life, drinking water, and forbidding marriage, and in the other things of life are austerely careful. Such as they are judged to be rather Cynics than Christians, seeing that they pay

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1. About Noetus.

1. About Noetus.

7. There was a certain man, Noetus [2] by name, by birth a Smyrnæan. He introduced a heresy from the opinions of Heraclitus. Of which [Noetus], a certain man named Epigonus becomes the minister and pupil, and on his arrival at Rome sowed broadcast the godless doctrine. Whose teaching Cleomenes, by life and manners alien to the Church, confirmed, when he had become his disciple. [3] p. 426. At that time Zephyrinus, an ignorant and greedy man, thought that he ruled the Church, and, persuaded by th

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2. About Callistus.

2. About Callistus.

11. To this heresy Callistus [32] gave strength—a man artful in evil and versatile in falsehood, who was seeking after the p. 435. bishop’s throne. And he led whither he liked Zephyrinus, [33] an ignorant man, unlearned and unskilled in the Church’s rules, whom [Callistus] persuaded by gifts and extravagant demands. [And as Zephyrinus] was a receiver of bribes and a money-lover, he induced him to be ever making faction between the brethren, while he himself by crafty words contrived that at the

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3. Concerning Elchesaites.

3. Concerning Elchesaites.

13. When the teaching of this [Callistus] had been dispersed p. 447. over the whole world, a certain man called Alcibiades dwelling at Apamea in Syria, who was crafty and full of impudence, and having looked into the matter, deemed himself more forcible and expert in tricks than Callistus, arrived in Rome bringing with him a book. [83] He pretended that a righteous man (called) Elchasai, had received the same from the Seres [84] of Parthia and gave it to one called Sobiae, [85] as having been re

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4. Jews.

4. Jews.

18. Originally there was one nation of Jews. For one teacher had been given them by God [namely] Moses, and through him was given one Law. And there was one desert and one mountain [namely] Sinai; for one God was their legislator. But after they had crossed the river Jordan and had divided by lot the land won by the spear, they rent asunder in different ways the Law of God, each understanding the precepts differently. And thus they set up teachers for themselves and found out heretical opinions

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1. Naassenes.

1. Naassenes.

9. But since this seems fitting, we will begin first with the ministers of the serpent. The Naassenes call the first principle of the universals a man and also Son of Man, [18] and him they divide into three. For part of him, they say, is intellectual, part psychic, and part earthly. And they call him Adamas and think the knowledge of him is the beginning of the power to know God. And they say that all these intellectual and psychic and earthly [parts] came into Jesus, and that the three substan

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2. Peratæ.

2. Peratæ.

10. But the Peratæ, Ademes the Carystian and Euphrates the Peratic [20] say that a certain cosmos—this is what they call it—is one divided into three. But of this threefold division of theirs, there is a single source, as it were a great fountain, capable of being cut by the reason into boundless sections. And the first and most excellent section is according to them the triad and the one part of it is called Perfect Good [and] Fatherly Greatness. But the second part of the Triad is, as it were

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3. The Sethiani.

3. The Sethiani.

11. But to the Sethians it appears that there are three definite principles of the universals. And that each of these principles (has boundless powers ... everything which you perceive by your mind or which you pass over for lack of thought) [23] is formed by nature to become [each of the principles] as in the human soul every art is to be learned. As if [they say] there should come to a boy spending some time with a pipe-player, the power of pipe-playing, or with a geometrician the power of mea

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4. Simon.

4. Simon.

12. And the all-wise Simon says thus. There is a boundless power and this is the root of the universals. The boundless power is, he says, fire. According to him, it is not simple, as the many say the four elements are simple and therefore think fire is simple; but [he says] that the nature of the fire is double, and of this double [nature] he calls one part hidden and the other manifest. And p. 488. that the hidden parts are concealed within the manifest parts of the fire, and the manifest parts

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5. Valentinus.

5. Valentinus.

13. But Valentinus and those from his school say the Source of the All is a Father and yet are carried into conflicting opinions [about him]. For some of them [think] that he is alone and capable of generation, while others hold that he is incapable of bringing forth without a female, and give him as a spouse Sigê, calling him Bythos. From whom and from his spouse some say that six projections came into being, [viz.] Nous and Aletheia, Logos and Zoë, Anthropos and Ecclesia, and that this is the

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6. Basilides.

6. Basilides.

14. But Basilides also says that there is a God-Who-Is-Not who, being non-existent [made] the created world out p. 491. of the things that are not. [He says] that a certain seed, like a grain of mustard-seed was cast down, which contained within itself the stem, the leaves, the branches [and] the fruit; or, like a peacock’s egg, contains within itself a varied multitude of colours, and they say that this is the seed of the cosmos, from which all things were produced. For [he says] the seed conta

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7. Justinus.

7. Justinus.

15. Justinus also daring to [advance] things like these, says thus: “There are three unbegotten principles of the universals, two male [and] one female.” Of the male, one is a certain principle called the Good, and is alone thus called, having foreknowledge of the universals. But the other [male] is the Father of all begotten ones, and has no foreknowledge and is unknown and unseen and is called, they say, Elohim. [But] the female is without foreknowledge, inclined to passion, double-minded, dou

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8. The Docetae.

8. The Docetae.

16. But the Docetae say things like this: That the first God is as the seed of the fig-tree from whom have come three Aeons, like the stem and the leaves and p. 497. the fruit. And that these have projected thirty Aeons, each of them (ten). But all are linked together in tens and only differ in arrangement by some being before others. [42] And they projected infinitely boundless Aeons and are all masculo-feminine. And having taken counsel they all came together into one and from this intermediat

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9. Monoimus.

9. Monoimus.

17. But the followers of Monoimus the Arab say that p. 499. the principle of the All is a First Man [51] and Son of Man, and that the things which have come to pass as Moses says, came into being not by the First Man but by the Son of Man, and not from the whole, but from part of him. And that the Son of Man is Iota, which is the Decad, a dominant number wherein is the substance of all number, whereby every number subsists, and is the birth of the All [viz.] Fire, Air, Water [and] Earth. But thi

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10. Tatian.

10. Tatian.

18. But Tatian, like Valentinus and the others, says that there are certain unseen Aeons, by one of whom below the cosmos and the things that are, were fashioned. And he practises a very cynical mode of life, and hardly differs from Marcion in his blasphemies and his rules about marriage. [55]...

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11. Marcion.

11. Marcion.

19. Marcion the Pontian, and Cerdo his teacher, also determined that there are three principles of the All, a Good One, a Just One, and Matter. But certain disciples of theirs add to this, saying that there are a Good One, a Just One, a Wicked One, and Matter. But all [agree] that the Good One created nothing wholly; [57] but they say that the Just One, whom some name the Wicked One, but others merely the Just, made all things out of the underlying Matter. For he made them not well but absurdly.

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12. Apelles.

12. Apelles.

20. But Apelles, the disciple of [Marcion] displeased with what was said by his teacher, as we have before said, proposed by another theory that there are four Gods, declaring that one is (good) whom the Prophets knew not, but of whom Christ is the Son. And that another is the Demiurge of the All, whom he does not wish to be a god, and another a fiery one who is manifest, and yet another a wicked one: [all of] whom he calls angels. And adding Christ to these, he says that He is the fifth. But he

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13. Cerinthus.

13. Cerinthus.

21. But Cerinthus, who had been trained in Egypt, would have it that the cosmos did not come into being by the First God, but by a certain angelic power far removed and standing apart from the Authority [set] over the universals and ignorant of the God over all things. And he says that Jesus was not begotten from a Virgin, but was the son of Joseph and Mary in the same way as the rest of mankind, and that He excelled all other men in righteousness, moderation and intelligence. And that at the Ba

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14. Ebionæi.

14. Ebionæi.

22. But the Ebionæi say that the cosmos came into being from the true God; but speak of the Christ as does Cerinthus. And they live in all things according to the Law of Moses, thus declaring themselves justified. [65]...

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15. Theodotus.

15. Theodotus.

23. Theodotus the Byzantian brought in another heresy such as this, declaring that the universals came into being by the true God. But he says, like the Gnostics before described, that the Christ appeared in some such fashion [as this]. He said that the Christ was a man akin to all, but He differed [from others] in that He by the will of God was born from a Virgin who had been overshadowed by the p. 505. Holy Spirit. And that he was not incarnate in the Virgin, but at length at the Baptism the C

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16. Other Theodotians.

16. Other Theodotians.

24. And others of them say all things like those aforesaid, altering one single thing only in that they accept Melchizedek as some very great power, declaring him to exist above every power. After whose likeness they will have the Christ to be. [67]...

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17. Phrygians.

17. Phrygians.

25. But the Phrygians take the beginnings of their heresy from one Montanus and Priscilla and Maximilla, thinking the wenches prophetesses and Montanus a prophet. But p. 506. they are considered to speak rightly in what they say about the beginning and the fashioning of the All, and they receive not otherwise the things about the Christ. But they stumble with those aforesaid to whose words they erringly give heed rather than to the Gospels, and they prescribe new and unusual fasts. 26. But other

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18. Noetus.

18. Noetus.

27. And in the same way Noetus, being a Smyrnæan by birth, a garrulous and versatile man, brought in this heresy, which from one Epigonus reached Cleomenes and has so remained with his successors until now. It says that the p. 507. Father and God of the universals is one and that He made all things, and became invisible to the things which are when He willed, and then appeared when he wished. And that He is invisible when He is not seen; but visible when He is seen; and unbegotten when He is not

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19. Hermogenes.

19. Hermogenes.

28. But one Hermogenes having also wished to say something [new] said that God made all things out of co-existent and underlying matter. For that it is impossible to hold that God created existing things from those which are not. [70]...

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20. Elchasaitae.

20. Elchasaitae.

29. But certain others, as if bringing in something new [and] collecting things from all heresies, prepared a foreign book bearing the name of one Elchasai. These in the same way [as their predecessors] confess that the principles of the All came into being by God, but do not confess Christ to be one. But they say that there is one on high p. 509. who is often transferred [71] into [many] bodies, and that he is now in Jesus. Likewise that at one time, this one was born from God, and at another b

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21. [Title lacking].

21. [Title lacking].

30. (Abraham being commanded) by God, migrates from Mesopotamia and the city of Harran to the part now called Palestine and Judæa but then Canaanitis, concerning which we have in part but not without care handed down the p. 510. account in other discourses. [75] Through this occurred the beginning of [the] increase [of population] in Judæa, which got the name from Judah the fourth son of Jacob, of whom it was also called the kingdom, through the royal race being from him. (Abraham) [76] migrates

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