Against Heresies: Book I

THIS MARCUS: claiming that he alone was the matrix and vessel of the Sige of Colorbasus, since he was only-begotten, has brought forth what was entrusted to him from the flawed Enthymesis in the following way. He claims that the infinitely exalted Tetrad descended upon him from invisible and indescribable realms in the form of a woman (because the world couldn't have borne it coming in its male form), and disclosed to him alone its own nature and the origin of all things, which it had never before revealed to anyone, neither gods nor men.

This was done in these terms: When the unoriginated, inconceivable Father, who is without material substance and neither male nor female, desired to bring forth what is ineffable to Him, and to give form to what is invisible, He opened His mouth and sent out the Word similar to Himself, who, standing nearby, showed Him what He Himself was, as He had been manifested in the form of what was invisible.

Moreover, the pronunciation of His name occurred as follows: He spoke the first word of it, which was the beginning of all the rest, and that utterance consisted of four letters.

He added the second, also consisting of four letters. Then He uttered the third, which included ten letters.

Finally, He spoke the fourth, composed of twelve letters.

Thus, the whole name was spoken, consisting of thirty letters and four distinct utterances. Each of these elements has its own unique letters, character, pronunciation, forms, and images, and none of them perceives the shape of that utterance of which it is an element. Nor does any one know itself, nor is it familiar with the pronunciation of its neighbor, but each one imagines that by its own utterance it names the whole.

For while each of them is a part of the whole, it imagines its own sound to be the whole name, and doesn't stop sounding until, by its own utterance, it reaches the last letter of each of the elements. This teacher claims that the restoration of all things will happen when all these, merging into one letter, shall utter the same sound. He believes the symbol of this utterance is found in Amen, which we pronounce together. The different sounds, he adds, are those which give form to that Æon who is without material substance and unbegotten, and these, again, are the forms which the Lord has called angels, who continually see the face of the Father.

THE ELEMENTS HE NAMES: which can be talked about and are common, he calls Æons, words, roots, seeds, fulnesses, and fruits. He claims that each of these, and everything unique to each of them, should be understood as included in the name Ecclesia. Among these elements, the last letter of the last one spoke, and this sound created its own elements in the likeness of the other elements. Through this process, he says, everything below was arranged in its current order, and those that came before were called into existence.

He also believes that the letter, whose sound followed the sound below, was taken back by its syllable to complete the whole.

However, the sound remained below as if cast out. The element from which the letter, with its distinct pronunciation, came down to the lower realm, he says, consists of thirty letters. Each of these letters, in turn, contains other letters within itself to express the name of the letter. In this way, more letters are named by other letters, and still others by more, expanding the multitude of letters infinitely.

You can understand this more clearly through the following example: The word Delta contains five letters: D, E, L, T, A. These letters are written by other letters, and those by still others. If analyzing the entire composition of the word Delta leads to infinity, with letters continually generating more letters in a constant sequence, imagine how much greater the entire ocean of letters must be! And if even one letter is infinite in this way, consider the vastness of the letters in the entire name.

The Sige of Marcus has taught us that the Propator is composed out of this. This is why the Father, aware of the incomprehensible nature of Himself, gave the elements, which He also calls Æons, the ability for each one to express its own message, as none of them could express the whole on its own.

3. Furthermore, the Tetrad, explaining these things to him more fully, said:—I wish to show you Aletheia (Truth) herself; for I have brought her down from the dwellings above, so you may see her unveiled and understand her beauty—so you may also hear her speak and admire her wisdom. Behold, then, her head on high, Alpha and Omega; her neck, Beta and Psi; her shoulders with her hands, Gamma and Chi; her chest, Delta and Phi; her diaphragm, Epsilon and Upsilon; her back, Zeta and Tau; her stomach, Eta and Sigma; her thighs, Theta and Rho; her knees, Iota and Pi; her legs, Kappa and Omicron; her ankles, Lambda and Xi; her feet, Mu and Nu. Such is the body of Truth, according to this magician, such the figure of the element, such the character of the letter. He calls this element Anthropos (Man), and says it is the source of all speech, the beginning of all sound, and the expression of all that is unspeakable, and the mouth of the silent Sige. Indeed, this is the body of Truth. But you, elevating the thoughts of your mind on high, listen from the mouth of Truth to the self-begotten Word, who is also the dispenser of the bounty of the Father.

When she (the Tetrad) had spoken these things, Aletheia looked at him, opened her mouth, and said a word. That word was a name, and the name was one that we know and speak of, namely, Christ Jesus. When she had said this name, she immediately became silent again. As Marcus waited, expecting her to say more, the Tetrad addressed him again and said: You have dismissed as unimportant the word you heard from the mouth of Aletheia. What you know and seem to hold is not an ancient name. You have only the sound of it, while you are unaware of its power. For Jesus is a name with symbolic arithmetic value, consisting of six letters and is known by all those who are called. But the one among the Æons of the Pleroma consists of many parts, and is of another form and shape, and is known by those angels who are connected with Him, and whose mightinesses are always present with Him.

KNOW: then, that the twenty-four letters you have are symbolic outflows of the three powers that hold the complete number of the elements above. For you are to understand it like this—the nine mute letters represent Pater and Aletheia, because they are without voice, meaning they cannot be spoken or pronounced.

But the semi-vowels represent Logos and Zoe, because they exist between the consonants and the vowels, having the nature of both. The vowels, again, represent Anthropos and Ecclesia, as a voice from Anthropos gave them all being; for the voice's sound gave them form.

Thus, Logos and Zoe have eight of these letters; Anthropos and Ecclesia have seven; and Pater and Aletheia have nine.

But since the number assigned to each was not equal, He who was in the Father came down, specially sent by Him from whom He was separated, for the correction of what had occurred, so the unity of the Pleroma, having equality, might grow in all that one power which flows from everything. Thus the division which had only seven letters received the power of eight, and the three sets were made equal in number, all becoming Ogdoads; which three, when combined, make the number twenty-four.

The three elements also (which are said to exist together with three powers, and thus create the six from which the twenty-four letters have come), being increased four times by the word of the ineffable Tetrad, produce the same number with them; and these elements belong to Him who cannot be named. These, again, were given resemblance by the three powers to Him who is invisible. And he says that those letters which we call double are the images of the images of these elements; and if these are added to the twenty-four letters, through the power of analogy they make the number thirty.

HE CLAIMS THAT THE OUTCOME OF THIS ARRANGEMENT AND ANALOGY HAS BEEN SHOWN IN THE FORM OF AN IMAGE: specifically Jesus, who, after six days, ascended into the mountain with three others and became one of six (the sixth). In this role, He descended and was included in the Hebdomad, as He was the distinguished Ogdoad, containing within Himself the complete number of the elements. This was clearly revealed by the descent of the dove (who is Alpha and Omega) when Jesus came to be baptized; the number of the dove is eight hundred and one. Therefore, Moses stated that man was formed on the sixth day; and again, in accordance with this arrangement, it was on the sixth day, known as the preparation day, that the last man appeared for the renewal of the first. Both the beginning and the end of this arrangement were formed at the sixth hour, the time when He was crucified. For that perfect being Nous, knowing that the number six possessed the power of both creation and renewal, revealed to the children of light the renewal accomplished by Him who appeared as the Episemon concerning that number. Consequently, he asserts that the double letters contain the Episemon number; for when joined to the twenty-four elements, this Episemon completed the name of thirty letters.

HE USED: as his instrument, as Marcus's Sige states, the power of seven letters, to reveal the fruit of Achamoth's independent will. "Consider this present Episemon," she says—"Him who was formed after the original Episemon, as if divided into two parts and remaining outside; who, by His own power and wisdom, through what He had created Himself, gave life to this world, made of seven powers, resembling the power of the Hebdomad, and so formed it that it is the soul of everything visible. And He indeed uses this work as if it were formed by His own free will; but the rest, being images of what cannot be fully imitated, serve the Enthymesis of the mother. The first heaven pronounces Alpha, the next Epsilon, the third Eta, the fourth, in the middle of the seven, utters Iota, the fifth Omicron, the sixth Upsilon, the seventh, also the fourth from the middle, speaks the elegant Omega,"—as the Sige of Marcus, speaking much nonsense but no truth, confidently claims. "And these powers," she adds, "all embracing each other at the same time, proclaim the glory of Him by whom they were created; and the glory of that proclamation rises upwards to the Propator." She further claims that "the sound of this praise, reaching the earth, has become the Framer and the Parent of earthly things."

HE USES AS EVIDENCE THE EXAMPLE OF NEWBORN INFANTS: whose cries, from the moment they leave the womb, resonate with the sound of each of these elements. Just as, he says, the seven powers glorify the Word, so does the crying soul of infants. This is why David said: “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings You have perfected praise;” and also: “The heavens declare the glory of God.” Thus, it happens that when the soul is beset by difficulties and distress, it cries out “Oh,” in connection with the letter in question, so that its related soul above may recognize its distress and send down relief.

THUS: in regard to the entire name, which consists of thirty letters, and Bythus, who gains his growth from the letters of this name, along with the body of Aletheia, composed of twelve parts, each containing two letters, and the voice she uttered without speaking, and in regard to the analysis of that name which cannot be expressed in words, and the soul of the world and of man, as they have that arrangement, which is in the image of things above, he has expressed his nonsensical opinions. It remains for me to explain how the Tetrad showed him a power from the names equal in number; so that nothing I have received as spoken by him may remain unknown to you, my friend, and so that your request, often made to me, may be fulfilled.