Against Heresies: Book II

THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE TEACHINGS OF VALENTINUS HAVE BEEN OVERRULED: and in turn, the entire group of heretics has also been undermined. All the arguments I have presented against their concept of Pleroma, regarding the things beyond it—showing how the Father of all is enclosed and limited by what is beyond Him (if there is indeed anything beyond Him)—and how their theory requires the necessity of imagining many Fathers, many Pleromas, and many creations of worlds, each beginning and ending, existing everywhere; and how all these beings remain within their own realms and do not interfere with others since no shared interest or fellowship exists between them; and that there is no other God of all, but that name belongs only to the Almighty;—these arguments apply equally to those who follow Marcion, Simon, Meander, or others like them who disconnect the creation we are part of from the Father.

The arguments I have also used against those who claim that the Father of all contains everything, but that the creation we belong to was not formed by Him, but by another power or by angels unaware of the Propator, who is surrounded at the center by the vastness of the universe, like a stain by a cloak; when I showed that it is unlikely for any being other than the Father of all to have formed our creation—these same arguments apply to the followers of Saturninus, Basilides, Carpocrates, and other Gnostics expressing similar ideas.

The statements made about the emanations, Æons, the supposed state of degeneration, and the inconsistent nature of their Mother also undermine Basilides and all who are falsely called Gnostics. They merely repeat the same views under different names but transfer more elements outside of the truth into their doctrine. The remarks I have made about numbers also apply to those who misuse truths to support their systems. All that has been said about the Creator (Demiurge), showing that He alone is God and Father of all, and anything else I may say in the following books, applies against heretics in general.

You will convert and convince the more moderate and reasonable among them, preventing them from blaspheming their Creator, Maker, Sustainer, and Lord, or attributing His origin to defect and ignorance.

But the fierce, terrible, and irrational ones you will drive far from you, so you no longer have to endure their meaningless chatter.

FURTHERMORE: those who belong to Simon and Carpocrates, or any others said to perform miracles, will also be refuted. They do not perform their acts through the power of God, in connection with the truth, or for the well-being of people, but rather to destroy and mislead humanity through magical deceptions and universal deceit. They cause more harm than good to those who believe them, especially regarding the points on which they lead them astray. They cannot restore sight to the blind or hearing to the deaf, nor can they chase away all sorts of demons, except perhaps those they have sent into others themselves, if they can even do that. They cannot heal the weak, lame, paralytic, or those suffering in any other part of the body, as has often been done with bodily infirmity. Nor can they provide effective remedies for external accidents. They are far from being able to raise the dead, as the Lord and the apostles did through prayer, which has also been frequently done in the community out of necessity. The entire Church in that area earnestly prayed and fasted, and the spirit of the dead has returned in response to the prayers of the saints. They do not even believe this is possible, considering the resurrection from the dead to be just an understanding of the truth they proclaim.

SINCE THERE ARE ERRORS AND MISLEADING INFLUENCES AMONG THEM: and magical illusions are impiously performed before people, but in the Church, sympathy, compassion, steadfastness, and truth are offered for the aid and encouragement of humanity without charge, and we even provide for others' needs with our own resources; and since those who are healed often lack what they need, they receive these from us—this clearly shows that these men are entirely disconnected from the divine nature, the beneficence of God, and all spiritual excellence. Instead, they are completely full of deceit, apostate inspiration, demonic work, and phantoms of idolatry, and are actually the precursors of that dragon who, through similar deception, will cause a third of the stars to fall from the sky with his tail and will cast them to the earth. We must avoid them just as we would avoid him; and the more spectacular their claimed marvels, the more carefully we should watch them, as they possess a greater spirit of wickedness. If anyone considers the prophecy mentioned and the daily actions of these men, they will find that their behavior is identical to that of demons.