Against Heresies: Book II
Chapter 4: Demonstrating the Absurdity of the Alleged Void and Flaws of the Heretics
The reason for such an arrangement by God needs to be examined; however, the creation of the world should not be attributed to anyone else. All things should be understood as having been prepared by God in advance, so they came to be as they are. We should not imagine shadow and emptiness into being.
But where, I ask, did this emptiness come from? If it was indeed created by Him, who they claim is the Father and Author of all things, then it is both equal in honor and related to the rest of the Æons, possibly even older than they are.
Moreover, if it came from the same source as they did, it must be similar in nature to Him who produced it, as well as to those it was produced alongside.
Therefore, it would necessarily follow that the Bythus they speak of, along with Sige, are similar in nature to a void, meaning He would really be a void. Likewise, the rest of the Æons, since they are siblings of emptiness, should also lack substance. If, on the other hand, it was not created in this way, it must have emerged and been generated by itself, in which case it would be equal in age to that Bythus, who they say is the Father of all.
Thus, the emptiness would have the same nature and honor as Him, who they regard as the universal Father. It must necessarily have been either created by someone or generated by itself and come from itself.
But if indeed emptiness was created, then its creator, Valentinus, is also a void, as are his followers. If, on the other hand, it was not created, but generated by itself, then this true void is similar to and the sibling of, and shares the same honor as, that Father proclaimed by Valentinus; and it would be more ancient, originating much earlier and held in higher esteem than the remaining Æons of Ptolemy, Heracleon, and all the others who share these views.
But if, driven to despair about these points, they admit that the Father of all contains everything, and that there is nothing outside the Pleroma (because it is absolutely necessary that if there is anything outside, it should be bounded by something greater), and that they speak of what is inside and outside in terms of knowledge and ignorance, not physical distance; and that, in the Pleroma, or in what the Father contains, the whole creation we know to have been formed by the Demiurge or the angels is contained within the unspeakable greatness, like the center is in a circle, or a spot is in a garment—then, first of all, what kind of being must Bythus be, who allows a flaw to exist in His own domain and permits another to create or produce within His territory against His will? Such actions would truly bring a charge of degeneration upon the entire Pleroma, since it could have eliminated that defect and its emanations from the beginning, and not allowed creation to be formed in ignorance, passion, or defect.
For He who can later fix a defect and, as it were, wash away a stain, could have much earlier ensured that no such stain was ever found among His possessions. Or if He allowed things to be made as they are, since they could not be formed otherwise, then they must always remain the same. For how is it possible for things that cannot initially be corrected to later receive improvement? Or how can people say they are called to perfection when the very beings from which people originate—either the Demiurge himself or the angels—are said to exist in defect? And if, as claimed, the Supreme Being, being kind, eventually took pity on humans and gave them perfection, He should have first pitied those who created humans and granted them perfection.
This way, humans would truly have shared in His compassion, being made perfect by those who were perfect. For if He pitied the work of these beings, He should have long before pitied them and not allowed them to fall into such terrible blindness.
Their discussion about shadow and emptiness, by which they claim creation was made, will lose its foundation if these elements were created within the domain held by the Father. If they assert that the Father's light fills and illuminates everything within Him, how can any emptiness or shadow exist in the realm encompassed by the Pleroma and the Father's light? In that case, they must identify a space within the Propator or the Pleroma that is neither illuminated nor occupied, where either the angels or the Demiurge created as they wished. Moreover, this would require a considerable space for such a significant creation to have been formed. Therefore, there must logically be, within the Pleroma or the Father they speak of, some area that is void, formless, and dark, where these things were made. However, this assumption would cast a negative light on their Father's ability to illuminate and fill everything within Himself. Thus, when they claim these things are the result of defect and error, they effectively introduce defect and error into the Pleroma and the heart of the Father.