Panarion (Medicine Chest Against Heresies), Haer. 1-64

Contents

Translation in progress. Only Haer. 1-64 (Holl's GCS 25, 1915, and GCS 31, 1922) are staged; Haer. 65-80 and De Fide, printed in Holl's third volume (GCS 37, 1933), are withheld pending a copyright decision.

Reading pages: 1.1.1–8.3.6 · 8.4.1–12.1.2 · 13.1.1–19.4.6 · 19.5.1–23.3.5 · 23.4.1–25.1.6 · 25.2.1–26.8.7 · 26.9.1–27.1.2 · 27.2.1–28.6.8 · 28.7.1–30.3.9 · 30.4.1–30.15.4 · 30.16.1–30.26.10 · 30.27.1–31.1.6 · 31.2.1–31.11.6 · 31.12.1–31.20.9 · 31.21.1–31.30.8 · 31.31.1–32.7.9 · 33.1.1–33.10.8 · 33.11.1–34.8.8 · 34.9.1–34.18.17 · 34.19.1–36.6.8 · 37.1.1–38.3.9 · 38.4.1–39.10.7 · 40.1.1–42.1.8 · 42.2.1–42.11.5 · 42.11.6–42.11.16 · 42.11.17 · 42.12.1–42.12.2 · 42.12.3 · 42.13.1–44.6.5 · 44.7.1–48.2.9 · 48.3.1–48.14.6 · 48.15.1–51.7.9 · 51.8.1–51.16.9 · 51.17.1–51.22.24 · 51.23.1–51.34.8 · 51.35.1–55.2.7 · 55.3.1–57.1.12 · 57.2.1–58.3.6 · 58.4.1–59.11.6 · 59.12.1–62.3.8 · 62.4.1–64.3.13 · 64.4.1–64.16.7 · 64.17.1–64.26.9 · 64.27.1–64.38.6 · 64.39.1–64.48.12 · 64.49.1–64.57.9 · 64.58.1–64.65.28 · 64.66.1–64.71.24 · 64.72.1–64.72.9

1. 1.1.1Adam, created on the sixth day, bore no name of any party or opinion; Eve is formed from him.
2. 1.1.2Adam has sons and daughters and dies at 930.
3. 1.1.3From Seth to Jared, and wickedness spreading from Adam's disobedience and Cain's fratricide.
4. 1.1.4Humanity then had one language and no divided opinions.
5. 1.1.5Enoch is taken by God; the line runs on to Noah.
6. 1.1.6God sends the flood but preserves Noah and his family in the ark.
7. 1.1.7Eight people and pairs or sevens of the animals survive the flood.
8. 1.1.8Ten generations and 2,262 years end with Noah's family as the world's remnant.
9. 1.1.9The age before the flood is called Barbarism, a name taken from Paul's list.
10. 2.1.1The ark rests on Mount Lubar in Ararat, where Noah settles and plants a vineyard.
11. 2.1.2Noah's descendants multiply; the line of Shem runs to Peleg.
12. 2.1.3Before any sects there was only piety and impiety; the church's faith existed from the beginning.
13. 2.1.4Adam, neither circumcised nor an idolater, knew Father, Son, and Spirit as a prophet.
14. 2.1.5Adam was neither Jew nor idolater but displayed the character of Christianity.
15. 2.1.6The same holds for the patriarchs down to Abraham.
16. 2.1.7Faith and unbelief were the only divisions in that age.
17. 2.1.8Noah's descendants grow to seventy-two chiefs.
18. 2.1.9Humanity moves from Ararat to the plain of Shinar.
19. 2.1.10At Shinar they plan a tower and city and are called Scythians.
20. 2.1.11God confuses the builders' language into seventy-two tongues and winds overthrow the tower.
21. 2.1.12The nations scatter over the earth.
22. 2.1.13The sons of Ham receive their lands in Africa.
23. 3.1.1At the tower of Babel Nimrod becomes the first king.
24. 3.1.2Nimrod's kingdom and cities; the Greeks identify him with Zoroaster.
25. 3.1.3Astrology and magic are ascribed to Nimrod-Zoroaster, though the two lived at different times.
26. 3.1.4Idolatry and Hellenism begin with Serug, first through paintings.
27. 3.1.5Terah introduces statues made of clay.
28. 3.1.6Until then no son had died before his father.
29. 3.1.7Terah is punished for his idol-making through his son's death.
30. 3.1.8Scripture notes that Haran died before his father Terah.
31. 3.1.9Idolatry begins with the deification of tyrants and sorcerers.
32. 3.1.10The Greek gods and the deified founders of peoples.
33. 3.1.11Writers borrowed Egyptian myth, the source of sorcery and magic.
34. 3.1.12Idolatry passes to the Greeks in the age of Cecrops, when Ninus and Semiramis ruled Assyria.
35. 4.1.1Abraham, chosen in uncircumcision, bore the character of the church.
36. 4.1.2Abraham left his kin at God's call like the first apostles.
37. 4.1.3Abraham's circumcision at ninety-nine begins Judaism.
38. 4.1.4The periods of Scythism and Hellenism, and Abraham's descendants called Abrahamites.
39. 4.1.5Of Abraham's eight sons Isaac alone is heir.
40. 4.1.6Ishmael and the six sons of Keturah settle in Arabia.
41. 4.1.7Ishmael settles in Paran and fathers the Saracen tribes.
42. 4.1.8Esau settles Seir and builds Edom, also called Petra.
43. 4.1.9Esau's sons rule Edom; Job is fifth in line.
44. 4.1.10Job descends from Esau and was first called Jobab.
45. 4.1.11Jacob flees to Mesopotamia, marries four wives, and fathers the twelve patriarchs.
46. 4.1.12Returning to Canaan, Jacob sees camps of angels.
47. 4.1.13Jacob wrestles with an angel and is named Israel.
48. 4.1.14From Jacob's new name his descendants are called Israelites.
49. 4.2.1Israel goes down to Egypt with seventy souls.
50. 4.2.2Five generations in Egypt, from Levi to Moses and from Judah to Nahshon.
51. 4.2.3Israel leaves Egypt through the Red Sea and camps at Sinai.
52. 4.2.4Moses numbers the fighting men of Israel.
53. 4.2.5Inachus and his daughter Io, worshipped in Egypt as Isis.
54. 4.2.6The Greek mysteries came from Egypt through Cadmus and Inachus.
55. 4.2.7The mysteries grew into the philosophical sects down to Alexander's time.
56. 4.2.8Greek philosophy and its schools arose in this period.
57. 4.2.9The philosophical schools agree in error yet quarrel with one another.
58. 5.1.1The Stoics call God the mind of the visible universe.
59. 5.1.2The Stoics divide the deity among the heavenly bodies and elements.
60. 5.1.3The Stoics teach reincarnation and that the soul is part of God.
61. 5.1.4Accounts of Zeno, founder of the Stoa.
62. 5.1.5Zeno holds matter coeval with God and teaches fate.
63. 5.1.6Epiphanius will answer Zeno briefly.
64. 5.2.1Epiphanius challenges Zeno's claim that matter and God are coeval.
65. 5.2.2If matter were eternal, God would not be its creator.
66. 5.2.3A creator dependent on pre-existing matter would be powerless.
67. 5.2.4Reincarnation would place a part of God in the bodies of beasts.
68. 5.3.1If fate governs all, laws and punishment are pointless.
69. 5.3.2If fate made people learned, teaching would be useless.
70. 6.1.1Plato shares Stoic errors but differs on matter.
71. 6.1.2Plato's first, second, and third causes: God, the powers, and matter.
72. 6.1.3Plato said heaven came into being with time.
73. 7.1.1Pythagoras teaches one God but also reincarnation.
74. 7.1.2Pythagoras calls God a body, the heaven.
75. 8.1.1Epicurus denies providence and teaches that all is made of atoms by chance.
76. 8.1.2The universe was once an egg encircled by a serpent-like spirit.
77. 8.1.3The serpent-spirit squeezed the egg and split it into two hemispheres.
78. 8.1.4Light elements rose and heavy elements sank.
79. 8.1.5The four philosophical sects are to be refuted in the same brief way.
80. 8.2.1Writers and astronomers darkened humanity with idolatry.
81. 8.2.2The world was divided into Hellenism and Judaism, though Judaism was not yet so named.
82. 8.2.3From Nahshon to David, the first king from Judah.
83. 8.2.4Saul reigned first, but the kingdom passed to David and Judah.
84. 8.2.5The name “Jews” comes from Judah, Jacob's fourth son.
85. 8.3.1The four ages of mankind are summarized.
86. 8.3.2Barbarism, Scythism, Hellenism, and Judaism in sequence.
87. 8.3.3Paul's words confirm the four names that preceded Christianity.
88. 8.3.4Paul's being a debtor to Greeks and barbarians is cited.
89. 8.3.5From David's time all Israel were called both Israelites and Jews.
90. 8.3.6Epiphanius will describe Judaism only briefly.
91. 8.4.1Circumcision was given to Abraham's seed as a reminder to remain faithful.
92. 8.4.2Isaac's circumcision was commanded by God but was a type.
93. 8.4.3Abraham's descendants kept circumcision in Canaan and Egypt.
94. 8.4.4Jacob goes to Egypt, where Joseph, sold by his brothers, already reigns.
95. 8.4.5Jacob's family enters Egypt with seventy-five souls.
96. 8.4.6Israel remained five generations in Egypt, counted through Levi and Judah.
97. 8.4.7Moses, descendant of Levi, leads Israel out of Egypt.
98. 8.5.1Little is known of Israel's way of life in Egypt beyond piety and circumcision.
99. 8.5.2Dietary and other laws had not yet been given.
100. 8.5.3The law was given through Moses after the exodus.
101. 8.5.4The law, a tutor, taught circumcision, sabbath, tithes, and worship of one God.
102. 8.5.5Within Israel's monotheism the prophets knew the Trinity; they worshipped at the tabernacle.
103. 8.5.6Israel received prophecies of the coming Christ, prophet and God.
104. 8.6.1The books the Jews held up to the return from Babylon.
105. 8.6.2Epiphanius lists twenty-seven books of the Jewish Scriptures.
106. 8.6.3The twenty-seven books are counted as twenty-two, like the Hebrew alphabet.
107. 8.6.4Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon are disputed books among the Jews.
108. 8.6.5These books taught the law until Christ came.
109. 8.6.6Had the Jews received Christ, they would have seen the law fulfilled, not abolished.
110. 8.6.7Circumcision foreshadowed baptism.
111. 8.6.8The sabbath foreshadowed rest in Christ.
112. 8.6.9The sacrificial lamb foreshadowed Christ.
113. 8.6.10The tithe points to iota, ten, the first letter of Jesus' name.
114. 8.7.1Epiphanius holds that the Jews were cast out and can be saved only through the gospel.
115. 8.7.2Deuteronomy's warning about the prophet is cited against those who reject Christ.
116. 8.7.3Keeping the law without Christ cannot save.
117. 8.7.4Epiphanius concludes his brief account of Judaism.
118. 8.7.5The origin of the names God-fearing and Israelites.
119. 8.7.6From David to Rehoboam all twelve tribes bore both names.
120. 8.7.7The kingdom splits under Rehoboam and Jeroboam.
121. 8.7.8The northern tribes are called Israel, the southern Jews.
122. 8.7.9The kings of Judah from Rehoboam to Hezekiah, and the northern captivity.
123. 8.7.10The kings from Manasseh to the two Jeconiahs.
124. 8.8.1Epiphanius defends a verse of Matthew's genealogy that some had removed.
125. 8.8.2Matthew's first two groups of fourteen generations are complete.
126. 8.8.3The third group seems to have only thirteen because two Jeconiahs were thought a duplication.
127. 8.8.4Removing one Jeconiah spoiled Matthew's count.
128. 8.8.5During the exile the elders ask Nebuchadnezzar to send settlers to Israel.
129. 8.8.6Four peoples are settled in Samaria with their idols.
130. 8.8.7Attacked by wild beasts, the settlers appeal to Babylon.
131. 8.8.8The king asks the Jewish elders how they escaped the beasts.
132. 8.8.9The elders explain that the land requires keeping the law of Moses.
133. 8.8.10Ezra is sent with the law to teach the settlers of Samaria.
134. 8.8.11The Samaritans receive the law; forty years later the exiles return.
135. 8.9.1Four Samaritan sects arose, corresponding to the four nations.
136. 8.9.2As the nations divided and warred, so opinions divided.
137. 8.9.3When the law passed to the Samaritans, opinions divided.
138. 8.9.4Error spread from the one piety into many opinions.
139. 9.1.1The Samaritans are the first sect based on Scripture.
140. 9.1.2The name Samaritans is explained as “guards.”
141. 9.1.3The mountain of Samaria is named after one Someron.
142. 9.1.4Someron descended from the Canaanites who seized Shem's land.
143. 9.1.5Four explanations of the name Samaritans.
144. 9.2.1The Samaritans accept only the five books of Moses.
145. 9.2.2The Pentateuch hints at resurrection and the Trinity within monotheism.
146. 9.2.3The Samaritans deny the resurrection and the Holy Spirit.
147. 9.2.4Epiphanius claims the Samaritans unknowingly worship idols hidden on Gerizim.
148. 9.2.5Epiphanius places the true Gerizim and Ebal near Jericho.
149. 9.2.6Their prayer toward Gerizim is called idolatry, citing 2 Kings.
150. 9.3.1Abel's blood crying out shows the hope of bodily resurrection.
151. 9.3.2Enoch and Sarah point to resurrection.
152. 9.3.3Jacob's and Joseph's care for their bones points to resurrection.
153. 9.3.4Aaron's budding rod and Moses' rod signify resurrection.
154. 9.3.5Moses' blessing of Reuben shows life after death and judgment.
155. 9.3.6Epiphanius mocks the Samaritans' purification customs.
156. 9.4.1The law's rule about corpses was a figure, not a literal abhorrence.
157. 9.4.2Joseph's coffin was carried through the camp without defiling anyone.
158. 9.4.3The law about touching the dead points to Christ's death.
159. 9.4.4The definite article marks a specific person.
160. 9.4.5An example: “king” versus “the king.”
161. 9.4.6The article distinguishes the true God from any god.
162. 9.4.7“The dead man” refers specifically to Christ.
163. 9.4.8Those who crucified Christ needed the cleansing of baptism.
164. 9.4.9Peter's call to repentance and baptism at Pentecost.
165. 9.4.10A command about shutting windows against the dead is read as guarding the senses.
166. 9.4.11The senses are the windows through which death enters.
167. 9.4.12Joseph kissed his dead father without washing afterward.
168. 9.4.13Angels buried Moses and were not defiled.
169. 9.5.1Epiphanius cuts his argument short.
170. 9.5.2The Pentateuch speaks of the Holy Spirit given to the seventy elders.
171. 9.5.3Genesis reveals the Son alongside the Father.
172. 9.5.4The Samaritans reject the prophets by ancestral tradition.
173. 9.5.5End of the section on the Samaritans.
174. 10.1.1The four Samaritan sects agree on the law but differ slightly.
175. 10.1.2The Samaritan Essenes kept the original practice; a dispute divided the others.
176. 10.1.3The dispute concerned the three pilgrimage feasts.
177. 10.1.4Jewish pilgrims had to pass through Samaria.
178. 10.1.5Clashes at festivals and the rebuff of the Samaritans' offer to help rebuild.
179. 11.1.1The Sebuaeans changed the festival dates out of anger.
180. 11.1.2The Sebuaeans place Unleavened Bread after the autumn new year.
181. 11.1.3The Sebuaeans reverse the festival calendar; the other sects do not follow them.
182. 12.1.1The Gorothenes and Dositheans quarrel with the Sebuaeans.
183. 12.1.2The Gorothenes and Dositheans keep the feasts with the Jews.
184. 13.1.1The Dositheans affirm the resurrection and practice abstinence and virginity.
185. 13.1.2The Dositheans keep circumcision, sabbath, fasts, and avoid touching others.
186. 13.1.3Dositheus, a disappointed Jew, joined the Samaritans and founded the sect.
187. 13.1.4Epiphanius reports that Dositheus died from fasting in a cave.
188. 13.2.1Summary of the four Samaritan sects.
189. 13.2.2Transition from the Samaritans to the seven Jewish sects.
190. 14.1.1Seven Jewish sects existed before Christ.
191. 14.2.1The Sadducees, an offshoot of Dositheus, take their name from “righteousness.”
192. 14.2.2The Sadducees deny resurrection, angels, and the Spirit.
193. 14.2.3The Sadducees were Jews, not Samaritans.
194. 14.3.1The Sadducees' question to Jesus about the woman with seven husbands.
195. 14.3.2Jesus refutes the Sadducees from Exodus.
196. 15.1.1The Scribes taught the law as a kind of grammar.
197. 15.1.2The Scribes practiced extra washings of vessels and hands.
198. 15.1.3The Scribes wore fringes and phylacteries for show.
199. 15.1.4Phylacteries in the Gospel are not amulets.
200. 15.1.5The Lord used the Scribes' own term for purple stripes.
201. 15.1.6Fringes are tassels and phylacteries purple stripes.
202. 15.1.7Tassels on their cloaks signaled vows of continence.
203. 15.2.1The Scribes had four bodies of tradition.
204. 15.2.2The traditions are boasted of as superior teaching.
205. 16.1.1The Pharisees share the Scribes' views.
206. 16.1.2Some Pharisees practiced long periods of continence.
207. 16.1.3Some slept on narrow planks to stay awake for prayer.
208. 16.1.4Others slept on pebbles or thorns.
209. 16.1.5The Pharisees fasted twice weekly and tithed scrupulously.
210. 16.1.6The Pharisees' dress.
211. 16.1.7The name Pharisee means “separated.”
212. 16.2.1The Pharisees affirm resurrection and angels but not the Son of God.
213. 16.2.2The Pharisees used astrology with Hebrew names.
214. 16.2.3Hebrew names of the sun, moon, and planets.
215. 16.2.4Hebrew names of the zodiac signs.
216. 16.2.5The zodiac signs matched with their Hebrew names.
217. 16.3.1Epiphanius lists the names not to endorse astrology.
218. 16.3.2The names are given to show the accusation is accurate.
219. 16.3.3Belief in fate contradicts belief in judgment.
220. 16.3.4If fate exists, judgment is impossible.
221. 16.3.5If judgment exists, fate has no standing.
222. 16.4.1Freedom to sin or not grounds reward and punishment.
223. 16.4.2Isaiah's words show that human beings choose.
224. 16.4.3God gave human beings free will.
225. 16.4.4Jesus' woes against the Scribes and Pharisees.
226. 16.4.5Jesus' rebuke of their rules on oaths.
227. 16.4.6Jesus' rebuke about Korban.
228. 16.4.7Jesus' rebuke about making proselytes.
229. 16.4.8The Savior's words suffice against the Pharisees.
230. 17.1.1The Hemerobaptists resemble the Scribes and Pharisees.
231. 17.1.2The Hemerobaptists bathe every day.
232. 17.1.3They hold that daily washing is necessary for life.
233. 17.2.1Daily washing shows lack of faith in the previous washing.
234. 17.2.2Their repeated washing implies each baptism dies.
235. 17.2.3Water cannot cleanse those who keep sinning.
236. 17.2.4Only repentance and the one baptism cleanse sins.
237. 17.2.5Epiphanius concludes on the Hemerobaptists.
238. 18.1.1The Nasaraeans are Jews from beyond the Jordan.
239. 18.1.2The Nasaraeans keep circumcision, sabbath, and festivals.
240. 18.1.3The Nasaraeans honor the patriarchs but reject the Pentateuch as we have it.
241. 18.1.4The Nasaraeans reject sacrifice and meat, calling the books forged.
242. 18.1.5The Nasaraeans' distinctive position is easily refuted.
243. 18.2.1They know the patriarchs only from the Pentateuch they reject.
244. 18.2.2Scripture cannot be partly true and partly false.
245. 18.2.3Jesus' saying about the good and rotten tree.
246. 18.2.4The holy places still show the Pentateuch is true.
247. 18.2.5Abraham served meat to the angels at Mamre.
248. 18.3.1The Egyptians preserve a memory of the Passover lamb.
249. 18.3.2Egyptians smear red ochre on sheep and trees at Passover time.
250. 18.3.3Remains of Noah's ark are still shown.
251. 18.3.4Noah's altar and God's permission to eat meat refute the Nasaraeans.
252. 18.3.5End of the section on the Nasaraeans.
253. 19.1.1The Ossaeans are introduced.
254. 19.1.2The Ossaeans came from lands beyond the Dead Sea.
255. 19.1.3Ossaeans means “sturdy race.”
256. 19.1.4Elxai, a false prophet under Trajan, joined the Ossaeans and wrote a book.
257. 19.1.5Elxai, a Jew who did not keep the law, founded his own sect.
258. 19.1.6Elxai prescribed oaths by salt, water, earth, and other elements.
259. 19.1.7Elxai opposed virginity and required marriage.
260. 19.1.8Elxai permitted outward idolatry in persecution.
261. 19.1.9Elxai cited a priest Phinehas who worshipped Artemis to escape death.
262. 19.2.1Elxai's followers survive as the Sampsaeans; his name means “hidden power.”
263. 19.2.2Elxai's practice has been exposed, yet persists to the present.
264. 19.2.3Two sisters descended from Elxai were venerated as goddesses.
265. 19.2.4Their followers used the sisters' spittle as a remedy.
266. 19.3.1Epiphanius turns to Elxai's teachings.
267. 19.3.2Elxai taught that denying the faith outwardly is no sin.
268. 19.3.3Paul teaches confession with the mouth as well as belief in the heart.
269. 19.3.4It is unclear whether Elxai's “Christ” means Jesus.
270. 19.3.5Elxai required prayer facing Jerusalem, not the east.
271. 19.3.6Elxai rejects sacrifices yet prays toward Jerusalem.
272. 19.3.7Elxai calls water favorable and fire alien.
273. 19.4.1Elxai describes Christ as a gigantic power with measurements.
274. 19.4.2Elxai describes the Holy Spirit as female.
275. 19.4.3Elxai's secret prayer formula is given.
276. 19.4.4Epiphanius's interpretation of the formula.
277. 19.4.5The formula is interpreted word by word.
278. 19.4.6The word-by-word gloss concluded.
279. 19.5.1The Ossaeans keep the law but, like the Nasaraeans, reject the books of Moses.
280. 19.5.2Jesus' saying about priests profaning the sabbath refutes them.
281. 19.5.3Temple sacrifice on the sabbath shows sacrifice was legitimate.
282. 19.5.4Elxai also influenced the Ebionites and Nazoraeans.
283. 19.5.5Four sects used Elxai's book.
284. 19.5.6The Jewish sects lasted until the fall of Jerusalem.
285. 19.5.7After 70 the sects gradually disappeared.
286. 19.6.1Their own words provide the antidote.
287. 19.6.2Scripture forbids other gods and oaths.
288. 19.6.3The one who inspired Elxai's oaths is the evil one.
289. 19.6.4Two sayings of Scripture suffice against Elxai's oaths.
290. 19.6.5Transition to the seventh Jewish sect.
291. 20.1.1The Herodians thought Herod was the Christ.
292. 20.1.2The Herodians applied Jacob's prophecy to Herod.
293. 20.1.3Herod's ancestry from Ascalon and Idumaea.
294. 20.1.4Why Herod's family is called Idumaean or Ascalonite.
295. 20.1.5Antipater became procurator and a proselyte; Herod became king under Augustus.
296. 20.1.6Herod's foreign kingship made the error plausible.
297. 20.1.7The Herodians' reading of Gen 49:10.
298. 20.2.1The rest of Jacob's prophecy cannot apply to Herod.
299. 20.2.2Only Christ washed his robe in his own blood.
300. 20.2.3Christ came to purify those defiled by sacrifice.
301. 20.2.4Epiphanius cuts short his refutation.
302. 20.3.1Most of the Jewish and Samaritan sects have died out.
303. 20.3.2Remnants of the Nasaraeans and Ossaeans survive, now joined to the Ebionites.
304. 20.3.3These remnants are like a two-headed snake cut from Judaism.
305. 20.3.4Summary of which sects survive.
306. 21.1.1Simon Magus founded the first sect after Christ.
307. 21.1.2Simon, a sorcerer from Gitta, deceived the Samaritans.
308. 21.1.3Simon claimed to be the great power of God, Father and Son.
309. 21.1.4Simon was baptized by Philip; the apostles' hands gave the Spirit to the others.
310. 21.1.5Simon offered Peter money for the power to give the Spirit.
311. 21.2.1Simon used Christ's name to spread deadly error.
312. 21.2.2Simon took a woman named Helen from Tyre.
313. 21.2.3Simon called Helen the Holy Spirit.
314. 21.2.4Simon claims to have descended in disguise to rescue Ennoia, identified with Helen of Troy.
315. 21.2.5The power from above drove the world-ruling angels to war over her beauty.
316. 21.2.6The rulers imprisoned her and she passed through many bodies.
317. 21.3.1Simon's account of Helen continues.
318. 21.3.2Simon reads Homer's Helen as his Ennoia.
319. 21.3.3Simon allegorizes the Trojan horse as ignorance.
320. 21.3.4Simon turns Paul's armor of God into an image of Athena.
321. 21.3.5Simon calls Helen the lost sheep of the Gospel.
322. 21.3.6Simon's followers worship images of him as Zeus and Helen as Athena.
323. 21.4.1Epiphanius charges that Simon's mysteries used semen and menstrual blood.
324. 21.4.2Simon called these rites mysteries of life.
325. 21.4.3Simon taught salvation through secret names of heavenly powers.
326. 21.4.4Simon denied the resurrection of the flesh; the Gnostics begin with him.
327. 21.4.5Simon ascribed the law and prophets to inferior powers.
328. 21.5.1Epiphanius begins his refutation of Simon.
329. 21.5.2Simon died by falling in Rome.
330. 21.5.3Peter declared Simon had no part in the faith.
331. 21.5.4The world is the good God's.
332. 21.5.5The law and prophets foretold Christ and forbid evil.
333. 21.5.6The same God and Spirit speak in both Testaments.
334. 21.5.7Christ commends continence for the kingdom, against Simon's obscene rites.
335. 21.5.8Christ upholds marriage, which Simon corrupts.
336. 21.6.1Simon contradicts himself by fearing the angels he made.
337. 21.6.2Scripture affirms that God made heaven and earth.
338. 21.6.3God the Father is the creator, so Simon's teaching is vain.
339. 21.7.1Conclusion against Simon.
340. 21.7.2Simon's sect is like vipers' eggs.
341. 21.7.3Transition to the next sect.
342. 22.1.1Menander, Simon's disciple, taught that angels made the world.
343. 22.1.2Menander claimed to save his initiates from the world-making angels.
344. 22.1.3Menander claimed to be greater than Simon.
345. 22.2.1Menander's sect has largely died out.
346. 22.2.2A story of asps sealed in a jar devouring one another.
347. 22.2.3The surviving asp devoured itself.
348. 22.2.4Menander's sect, like the self-devouring asp, has vanished.
349. 23.1.1Satornilus of Antioch followed Menander.
350. 23.1.2Satornilus and Basilides were fellow students; Satornilus taught that angels made the world.
351. 23.1.3Satornilus: an unknown Father, and seven angels who made and divided the world.
352. 23.1.4The angels made man in imitation of a luminous image from above.
353. 23.1.5Longing for the heavenly light moved the angels to form man.
354. 23.1.6The angels said, “Let us make man in image and likeness.”
355. 23.1.7Satornilus omitted “our” from Gen 1:26.
356. 23.1.8Man crawled like a worm until the power above sent a spark to raise him.
357. 23.1.9Only the spark is saved; the body perishes.
358. 23.1.10Satornilus taught that Christ only appeared to be human.
359. 23.2.1The knowledge falsely so called grows with Satornilus.
360. 23.2.2Satornilus: the God of the Jews is one of the angels; the Savior came to destroy him.
361. 23.2.3Satornilus: two races of humanity, good and evil.
362. 23.2.4The Savior came to help the good against the demons.
363. 23.2.5Satornilus called marriage and procreation Satanic.
364. 23.2.6Satornilus ascribed the prophecies to angels and Satan.
365. 23.3.1If the higher power made the angels, it is the true cause of man.
366. 23.3.2The tool is not the cause; the user is.
367. 23.3.3Further examples of instrument and agent.
368. 23.3.4The maker of the angels is the cause.
369. 23.3.5Either the higher power was ignorant or it willed man's creation.
370. 23.4.1If the higher power knew, why did it not prevent the angels?
371. 23.4.2Either answer makes the higher power blameworthy.
372. 23.4.3A higher power weaker than its creatures is absurd.
373. 23.4.4Creating under necessity leaves the higher power imperfect.
374. 23.4.5Epiphanius mocks Satornilus's claim to know the angels' work.
375. 23.4.6Satornilus claims the angels acted against the higher power.
376. 23.4.7Satornilus's view makes the creatures wiser than their maker.
377. 23.4.8All must be traced to the one Creator.
378. 23.5.1God, not angels, made man in “our” image.
379. 23.5.2The Father created man with the Son.
380. 23.5.3The Holy Spirit also shared in creation.
381. 23.5.4Satornilus must admit one God, Creator of all.
382. 23.5.5Christ affirms that he spoke in the prophets and works with the Father.
383. 23.5.6Jesus' teaching on divorce shows the Creator is his Father.
384. 23.5.7Marriage is from God, as Christ and Paul teach.
385. 23.6.1Christ's words show the prophets spoke of him.
386. 23.6.2The Transfiguration with Moses and Elijah refutes Satornilus.
387. 23.6.3The New Testament affirms the Old as from the same God.
388. 23.6.4Christ cites the Psalms about himself.
389. 23.6.5The risen Christ explained the prophets on the road to Emmaus.
390. 23.7.1Conclusion on Satornilus.
391. 23.7.2Transition to Basilides, Satornilus's fellow student.
392. 23.7.3Epiphanius moves on to Basilides.
393. 24.1.1Basilides taught in Egypt, around Alexandria and the Delta nomes.
394. 24.1.2An aside on the word “nome.”
395. 24.1.3In Isaiah “nome” means a city's district.
396. 24.1.4Basilides' sect still flourishes in Egypt.
397. 24.1.5Basilides tried to outdo Satornilus.
398. 24.1.6Basilides' myths are borrowed from Satornilus and Simon.
399. 24.1.7Basilides' chain of emanations from the Unbegotten.
400. 24.1.8The powers produce successive heavens and angels.
401. 24.1.9Basilides counted 365 heavens.
402. 24.2.1Basilides' account is easily refuted.
403. 24.2.2Basilides invented names for the rulers of the heavens.
404. 24.2.3Basilides made the God of the Jews one of the lower angels.
405. 24.2.5Basilides: the God of the Jews is the most arrogant of the angels.
406. 24.2.6Basilides blasphemes the God of Israel as warlike.
407. 24.2.7Basilides explains Israel's wars by the jealousy of the other angels.
408. 24.3.1Basilides taught that Simon of Cyrene was crucified in place of Jesus.
409. 24.3.3Jesus and Simon exchanged forms.
410. 24.3.4Jesus stood by laughing, then ascended.
411. 24.3.5Jesus passed through the powers back to the Father.
412. 24.3.6Basilides: the Son came to reveal the truth to his sect alone.
413. 24.3.7Epiphanius charges that Basilides permitted promiscuity.
414. 24.3.8Many join the sect for license to indulge themselves.
415. 24.4.1Basilides taught that martyrdom was pointless.
416. 24.4.2Basilides counseled denial rather than martyrdom.
417. 24.5.1Christ's warning against denial condemns Basilides.
418. 24.5.2Basilides' followers call outsiders pigs and dogs.
419. 24.5.3They reinterpret “before men” to mean only among themselves.
420. 24.5.4Basilides enjoined secrecy about his mystery.
421. 24.5.5Basilidians claim to be neither Jews nor Christians and keep their faith hidden.
422. 24.6.1Basilides' error began with the question of the origin of evil.
423. 24.6.2Evil has no substance; it exists only in those who do it.
424. 24.6.3God made all things very good; evil began with human choice.
425. 24.6.4Evil depends on choice and has no root of its own.
426. 24.7.1Basilides' emanations repeated.
427. 24.7.2Abrasax's name totals 365, the number of heavens.
428. 24.7.3Basilides borrowed astrological schemes.
429. 24.7.4They link Abrasax with the 365-day year.
430. 24.7.5The year is longer than 365 days.
431. 24.7.6Basilides' 365 members of the body are refuted.
432. 24.8.1Irenaeus refuted Basilides.
433. 24.8.2Epiphanius mocks Basilides' claim to heavenly knowledge.
434. 24.8.3By his own logic Abrasax is the maker of all.
435. 24.8.4The world's “deficiency” must also derive from the first cause.
436. 24.8.5Why multiply beings instead of confessing one God?
437. 24.8.6If Simon died, salvation would come through a mere man.
438. 24.8.7Basilides' view makes God guilty of deceit and murder.
439. 24.8.8Such trickery is unworthy of the Lord.
440. 24.9.1Christ willingly took flesh and suffered.
441. 24.9.2The eternal Son was truly born of a virgin to die for his sheep.
442. 24.9.3Jesus foretold his own death.
443. 24.9.4Peter testifies that Christ suffered in the flesh.
444. 24.9.5John, Paul, and Moses attest Christ's death in the flesh.
445. 24.9.6Christ's death conquered death and emptied Hades.
446. 24.10.1Christ could have escaped if he had not willed to die.
447. 24.10.2The one who is the truth cannot deceive.
448. 24.10.3Truth does not work by deception.
449. 24.10.4Woe to those who cause others to stumble.
450. 24.10.5Conclusion on Basilides.
451. 24.10.6The sect is like a horned viper hidden in sand.
452. 24.10.7God breaks the horn of the wicked.
453. 24.10.8Doxology and transition.
454. 25.1.1Nicolaus was one of the seven deacons.
455. 25.1.2Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch, was chosen to care for the widows.
456. 25.1.3Epiphanius says the devil later deceived Nicolaus.
457. 25.1.4Nicolaus practiced continence in marriage but gave it up.
458. 25.1.5Nicolaus claimed that daily intercourse is necessary for salvation.
459. 25.1.6Jealous of his wife, Nicolaus fell into blasphemous teaching.
460. 25.2.1The Gnostic sects spring from Nicolaus.
461. 25.2.2Some Gnostics honor Barbelo, mother of Ialdabaoth or Sabaoth.
462. 25.2.3Barbelo's son claims to be the only God.
463. 25.2.4Barbelo seduces the rulers to recover her scattered power.
464. 25.2.5From this myth came obscene practices.
465. 25.3.1Revelation condemns the Nicolaitans.
466. 25.3.2Others claim to gather the power of Prunicus from bodily fluids.
467. 25.3.3Epiphanius promises a fuller account, to warn readers.
468. 25.3.4Others honor Ialdabaoth.
469. 25.3.5They compose books in Ialdabaoth's name.
470. 25.3.6Others honor a ruler called Caulacau.
471. 25.4.1The name Prunicus signifies lust.
472. 25.4.2The Greek usage of “prunicus.”
473. 25.4.3Caulacau is a misused Hebrew word.
474. 25.4.4Caulacau comes from Isaiah 28.
475. 25.4.5The Hebrew of Isa 28:10 explained.
476. 25.4.6Who compelled these people to destroy themselves?
477. 25.4.7Knowing or ignorant, they are to blame.
478. 25.4.8They destroy themselves and others for pleasure.
479. 25.4.9Error is like the serpent's breath in a flute.
480. 25.4.10The piper's movements imitate the serpent.
481. 25.4.11The devil uses the same postures to deceive.
482. 25.5.1Another Gnostic myth: darkness embraces the spirit and begets the Womb.
483. 25.5.2The Womb emits aeons.
484. 25.5.3A shameful aeon and the Womb produce gods, angels, and demons.
485. 25.5.4Their myth contradicts itself.
486. 25.6.1Epiphanius addresses Nicolaus directly.
487. 25.6.2Paul's “so-called gods” do not truly exist.
488. 25.6.3For Christians there is one God.
489. 25.6.4The one God is Father, Son, and Spirit, three hypostases.
490. 25.6.5Christ's saying on eunuchs for the kingdom.
491. 25.6.6Nicolaus suppresses the truth by lust.
492. 25.6.7Paul's teaching on virginity.
493. 25.6.8A few texts suffice against Nicolaus.
494. 25.7.1Transition to the sect joined to Nicolaus.
495. 25.7.2The Gnostics spring from Nicolaus and Simon.
496. 26.1.1The Gnostics' teaching is absurd to all.
497. 26.1.2The sects swarm like vermin.
498. 26.1.3The Gnostics wrote a book called Noria.
499. 26.1.4They identify Noria, Noah's wife, with Pyrrha.
500. 26.1.5Noria is explained from the Syriac word for fire.
501. 26.1.6Noah's wife was Barthenos.
502. 26.1.7In their myth Noria is refused entry to the ark by the world-creator.
503. 26.1.8Noria burned the ark repeatedly.
504. 26.1.9Noria taught gathering the stolen power through bodily emissions.
505. 26.2.1Epiphanius will not detail every doctrine.
506. 26.2.2Some Gnostics revere a prophet Barcabbas.
507. 26.2.3The name Barcabbas is given unflattering meanings.
508. 26.2.4The prophecy of Barcabbas is called obscene.
509. 26.2.5Some use a “Gospel of Perfection.”
510. 26.2.6Others use a “Gospel of Eve.”
511. 26.3.1A quotation from the Gospel of Eve.
512. 26.3.2Their teaching needs little refutation.
513. 26.3.3Epiphanius charges the Gnostics with promiscuity and eating human flesh and bodily fluids.
514. 26.3.4Epiphanius hesitates to describe their practices fully.
515. 26.3.5Describing the sect risks harming readers.
516. 26.3.6They are called Borborians and Coddians.
517. 26.3.7Other names of the sect.
518. 26.3.8Epiphanius feels bound to report the sect's practices.
519. 26.3.9Exposure will make readers flee the sect.
520. 26.4.1Epiphanius says the sect holds wives in common.
521. 26.4.2Members recognize one another by a secret handshake.
522. 26.4.3They feast lavishly.
523. 26.4.4Husbands give their wives to other members.
524. 26.4.5They collect semen in their hands and pray.
525. 26.4.6They offer the semen as the body of Christ.
526. 26.4.7They eat it as a parody of the eucharist.
527. 26.4.8They consume menstrual blood as the blood of Christ.
528. 26.5.1They read an apocryphal “tree of life” as menstruation.
529. 26.5.2They forbid procreation and seek only pleasure.
530. 26.5.3They consume the semen rather than conceive.
531. 26.5.4What they do if a pregnancy occurs.
532. 26.5.5Epiphanius accuses them of aborting and eating the fetus.
533. 26.5.6They call this the perfect Passover.
534. 26.5.7They pray naked with defiled hands.
535. 26.5.8They pamper their bodies and condemn fasting.
536. 26.6.1They reject Scripture texts against them as from the worldly spirit.
537. 26.6.2Texts they can bend they ascribe to the Spirit of truth.
538. 26.6.3They claim John the Baptist was imperfect, moved by many spirits.
539. 26.6.4They apply “the least in the kingdom” to themselves.
540. 26.7.1The context refutes their reading.
541. 26.7.2The rebuke is aimed at the crowds, not at John.
542. 26.7.3The crowds expected John to flatter them.
543. 26.7.4Jesus' words defend John's steadfastness.
544. 26.7.5“The least” in Matt 11:11 is Christ, younger than John.
545. 26.7.6Christ, born after John, is greater because eternal.
546. 26.8.1The Gnostics' books: Questions of Mary, books of Seth, Revelations of Adam, gospels.
547. 26.8.2The Great Questions of Mary contain an obscene revelation scene.
548. 26.8.3Mary falls in dismay.
549. 26.8.4They twist Gospel sayings to support their rite.
550. 26.8.5They apply John 6 to their obscene rite.
551. 26.8.6The disciples who left were not yet “in the fullness.”
552. 26.8.7They read Psalm 1 obscenely.
553. 26.9.1They read Rahab's scarlet cord and Proverbs obscenely.
554. 26.9.3They deny the resurrection of the flesh.
555. 26.9.4They claim to rescue the soul scattered in all food.
556. 26.9.5One soul is scattered in all living things.
557. 26.9.6The Phibionites' rite with 365 names of rulers.
558. 26.9.7Each act is offered to a named ruler.
559. 26.9.8They ascend and descend through 365 acts.
560. 26.9.9After 730 acts a man claims to be Christ.
561. 26.10.1The names of the rulers of the heavens.
562. 26.10.2Rulers of the fifth and sixth heavens.
563. 26.10.3The ruler of the seventh heaven.
564. 26.10.4The eighth heaven holds Barbelo, the Father, and Christ.
565. 26.10.5They deny that Christ took flesh from Mary.
566. 26.10.6They say Sabaoth has the form of an ass or pig.
567. 26.10.7Only souls with this knowledge pass the rulers.
568. 26.10.8The serpent-ruler swallows ignorant souls and returns them to animal bodies.
569. 26.10.9Their rite lets the soul pass the rulers.
570. 26.10.10The saved soul treads on Sabaoth's head.
571. 26.10.11Sabaoth is a divine title, not a ruler.
572. 26.10.12Sabaoth means “Lord of hosts.”
573. 26.10.13They seek a false god and lose the true one.
574. 26.11.1Some practice masturbation and consume the semen.
575. 26.11.2They misuse Paul's sayings about working with one's hands.
576. 26.11.3Jude's letter describes such people.
577. 26.11.4Epiphanius compares them to animals.
578. 26.11.5Jude's words fit them exactly.
579. 26.11.6They blaspheme the holy mysteries.
580. 26.11.7Paul was slandered with similar charges.
581. 26.11.8Epiphanius charges them with same-sex intercourse.
582. 26.11.9They call corrupted women virgins.
583. 26.11.10Their “virgins” avoid conception by withdrawal.
584. 26.11.11Their practice is compared to Onan's sin.
585. 26.11.12They blaspheme the patriarchs, prophets, and God.
586. 26.12.1The Gnostics have a book called the Birth of Mary.
587. 26.12.2In their book Zechariah sees an ass-shaped figure in the temple.
588. 26.12.3Zechariah is killed for revealing the vision.
589. 26.12.4They explain the high priest's bells as a warning to the ass-shaped god.
590. 26.12.5A visible god could not hide.
591. 26.12.6A spirit need not hide from sight.
592. 26.12.7Their account collapses in every way.
593. 26.12.8Zechariah lived to prophesy after John's birth.
594. 26.12.9Zechariah's prophecy refutes their story.
595. 26.13.1The “Levites” of the sect practice same-sex intercourse and mock virginity.
596. 26.13.2A quotation from a Gospel of Philip.
597. 26.13.3A soul that bore children is held back.
598. 26.13.4They claim Elijah was cast back to earth.
599. 26.13.5Their story of a demon who bore children from Elijah's nocturnal emissions.
600. 26.13.6A spirit cannot conceive from bodies.
601. 26.13.7Jude's “dreamers” are false teachers, not sleepers.
602. 26.13.8Isaiah and Jude use “dreaming” of false teachers.
603. 26.14.1Epiphanius prays that no one fall into the sect.
604. 26.14.2Paul commands younger widows to marry and bear children.
605. 26.14.3Refusing childbearing contradicts Paul.
606. 26.14.4Such things ought to be buried, not written.
607. 26.14.5Epiphanius explains why he describes the sect.
608. 26.14.6Their deeds are the devil's inventions.
609. 26.15.1Psalm 1 speaks of delight in God's law.
610. 26.15.2They deny the law, judgment, and resurrection.
611. 26.15.3They are refuted on every side.
612. 26.15.4John and Jesus refute them.
613. 26.15.6Christ's “Do not touch me” shows purity.
614. 26.15.7Wisdom blesses the undefiled barren woman and eunuch.
615. 26.16.1Paul praises both virginity and honorable marriage.
616. 26.16.2Paul's condemnation in Romans 1 applies to them.
617. 26.16.3Paul's warnings to Timothy apply to them.
618. 26.16.4They forbid chaste marriage and childbearing.
619. 26.16.5Their rite is the serpent's flesh, foretold in the Psalms.
620. 26.16.6Their rite is traced to Zeus.
621. 26.16.7All sects draw on Greek myth.
622. 26.16.8Clement explained the myth of Zeus swallowing Metis obscenely.
623. 26.17.1Epiphanius hesitates before a personal account.
624. 26.17.2May readers be kept innocent of the devil's schemes.
625. 26.17.3He will not recount everything.
626. 26.17.4Epiphanius recounts that Gnostic women tried to seduce him in his youth.
627. 26.17.5God rescued him as he rescued Joseph.
628. 26.17.6The women mocked one another for failing to “save” him.
629. 26.17.7The attractive women claimed to “save” men by seduction.
630. 26.17.8God kept him from being deceived after reading their books.
631. 26.17.9He reported about eighty members to the bishops, who expelled them.
632. 26.18.1Epiphanius knew this sect at first hand.
633. 26.18.2He knows the sect from those who failed to win him.
634. 26.18.3Epiphanius urges the reader to shun the sect.
635. 26.18.5Answer the sect with the cross of Christ.
636. 26.18.6Christ had real flesh and was truly crucified.
637. 26.19.1Flee by the narrow way.
638. 26.19.2The sect is like a certain viper.
639. 26.19.3Their practice resembles the viper's nature.
640. 26.19.4The natural-history story of the viper's mating.
641. 26.19.5The young viper kills its mother at birth.
642. 26.19.6Conclusion of the refutation of the Gnostics.
643. 27.1.1Carpocrates founded a school worse than all others.
644. 27.1.2The Gnostics grew from all these teachers.
645. 27.2.1Carpocrates: an unknown Father and world-making angels.
646. 27.2.2Carpocrates taught that Jesus was Joseph's son, distinguished only by virtue.
647. 27.2.3Jesus' soul remembered what it had seen above and received powers.
648. 27.2.4The soul escapes by passing through every deed.
649. 27.2.5Freed, Jesus' soul returns to the unknown Father.
650. 27.2.6Souls like Jesus' are likewise freed.
651. 27.2.7Jesus' soul despised Jewish customs and received power to pass the world-makers.
652. 27.2.8Any soul can do what Jesus' did.
653. 27.2.9Some Carpocratians rank themselves above Jesus.
654. 27.2.10Others rank themselves above the apostles or equal to Christ.
655. 27.2.11All souls share Jesus' power; whoever despises more surpasses him.
656. 27.3.1The Carpocratians practice magic and love charms.
657. 27.3.2They think such deeds free the soul.
658. 27.3.3The sect brings reproach on the church by calling itself Christian.
659. 27.3.4Pagans judge all Christians by them.
660. 27.3.5Pagans avoid Christians because of them.
661. 27.4.1They share only the name Christian.
662. 27.4.2Their condemnation is just.
663. 27.4.3They teach that nothing is evil by nature.
664. 27.4.4They believe that doing every deed in one life frees the soul from reincarnation.
665. 27.4.6Epiphanius charges them with every sexual vice.
666. 27.4.7They call these deeds a payment of the body's debts.
667. 27.5.1Their writings astonish the reader.
668. 27.5.2Every deed must be done to avoid rebirth.
669. 27.5.3They reinterpret the parable of the adversary.
670. 27.5.5The officer and adversary are angels of the world-maker.
671. 27.5.6The prison is the body, the last penny reincarnation.
672. 27.5.7The deeds may be done in one life or over several.
673. 27.5.8They teach initiates to do seeming evils.
674. 27.5.9They brand the right ear of their initiates.
675. 27.6.1Marcellina brought the teaching to Rome under Anicetus.
676. 27.6.2The first bishops of Rome.
677. 27.6.3Why Clement followed Linus and Cletus.
678. 27.6.4Clement may have declined the episcopate at first.
679. 27.6.5Rome needed bishops while the apostles traveled.
680. 27.6.6Epiphanius conjectures how Clement came to be bishop.
681. 27.6.7The list of Roman bishops to Anicetus.
682. 27.6.8Marcellina spread Carpocrates' teaching in Rome.
683. 27.6.9They keep portraits of Jesus said to be made under Pilate.
684. 27.6.10They venerate images of Jesus beside philosophers.
685. 27.6.11The Carpocratians deny the salvation of the body.
686. 27.7.1Even foolish teachings must be refuted, since they can mislead.
687. 27.7.2If the high Power made the angels, it either did not foresee their revolt or is itself responsible for it.
688. 27.7.3Why would God make angels to do what he did not wish?
689. 27.7.4If God meant the angels to create, he cannot fairly condemn their work.
690. 27.7.5If God reclaims the angels' creatures against their will, that is greed and weakness.
691. 27.7.6The system makes the highest God weaker than his creatures.
692. 27.7.7If any part of creation is saved, neither it nor its makers are evil.
693. 27.7.8A saved soul made by angels would clear the angels too.
694. 27.8.1The Carpocratian system is folly.
695. 27.8.2Their denial of the virgin birth contradicts their own system.
696. 27.8.4Epiphanius closes his refutation of the Carpocratians and moves on.
697. 28.1.1Cerinthus, founder of the Cerinthians, follows Carpocrates.
698. 28.1.2Cerinthus held that Christ was Joseph's son and that angels made the world.
699. 28.1.3Cerinthus kept part of Judaism but ascribed the law to an angel.
700. 28.1.4Cerinthus taught in Asia.
701. 28.1.5Cerinthus taught that the Christ descended on the man Jesus at his baptism.
702. 28.1.6According to Cerinthus the Christ left Jesus before the passion.
703. 28.1.7Cerinthus separated Jesus from the impassible Christ.
704. 28.2.1Cerinthus calls the lawgiver not good yet keeps his law.
705. 28.2.2A good law cannot come from an evil giver.
706. 28.2.3Epiphanius identifies Cerinthus with the troublers named in the Jerusalem letter.
707. 28.2.4Cerinthus is said to have opposed Peter over Cornelius.
708. 28.2.5Cerinthus incited the circumcision party against Peter.
709. 28.2.6Cerinthus used circumcision against Gentile believers.
710. 28.3.1Peter's own account refutes Cerinthus.
711. 28.3.2Peter's account of the vision at Joppa.
712. 28.3.3Peter understood the vision only when the Lord made it clear.
713. 28.3.4The Spirit falls on Cornelius and Peter permits baptism.
714. 28.3.5God himself showed that the Gentiles are to be received.
715. 28.4.1Cerinthus is blamed for the uproar against Paul in Jerusalem.
716. 28.4.2Paul's refusal to circumcise Titus.
717. 28.4.3Circumcision served until the washing of regeneration replaced it.
718. 28.4.4The heresy reflects the troublers of the apostolic age.
719. 28.4.5The false apostles demanded circumcision of Gentile believers.
720. 28.4.6These are Paul's false apostles.
721. 28.5.1The Cerinthians use part of Matthew's Gospel.
722. 28.5.2They argue for circumcision from Christ's own circumcision.
723. 28.5.3The Cerinthians reject Paul.
724. 28.6.1Cerinthus is said to deny that Christ has yet been raised.
725. 28.6.2Paul answered those who denied the resurrection.
726. 28.6.3Paul's argument that Christ's resurrection guarantees the resurrection of the dead.
727. 28.6.4The Cerinthians practised baptism on behalf of the dead.
728. 28.6.5Two explanations of baptism on behalf of the dead.
729. 28.6.6Two errors about the resurrection.
730. 28.6.7Paul's chapter on the resurrection refutes all these errors.
731. 28.6.8Paul refutes both errors on the resurrection.
732. 28.7.1Scripture exposes Cerinthus on every point.
733. 28.7.2Isaiah's sign of the virgin refutes the claim that Christ was Joseph's son.
734. 28.7.3The annunciation shows that the conception was not by a man.
735. 28.7.4Matthew says Mary conceived before she and Joseph came together.
736. 28.7.5Christ's entrusting Mary to John shows that she remained a virgin.
737. 28.7.6Jesus' brothers were Joseph's sons by another wife.
738. 28.7.7Epiphanius defers fuller treatment of Mary's virginity to another work.
739. 28.7.8The Cerinthian teaching stands condemned.
740. 28.8.1Whether Merinthus was another name for Cerinthus is uncertain.
741. 28.8.2Whoever Merinthus was, the sect is the same.
742. 28.8.3Epiphanius gives thanks and prays before moving on.
743. 28.8.4The Cerinthians are compared to a two-headed snake and the sepedon viper.
744. 28.8.5The Cerinthians misuse both covenants; Epiphanius moves on.
745. 29.1.1The Nazoraeans were contemporaries of the Cerinthians.
746. 29.1.2The Nazoraeans did not take their name from Christ.
747. 29.1.3All Christians were once called Nazoraeans, and briefly Jessaeans.
748. 29.1.4The name Jessaeans probably comes from Jesse, David's father.
749. 29.2.1Epiphanius worries about digressing.
750. 29.2.2God's oath to David is unchangeable.
751. 29.2.3God's oath means only firm confirmation.
752. 29.2.4The apostles testify that Christ is of David's line.
753. 29.2.5An objection: why did Christ not sit on David's throne?
754. 29.2.6Epiphanius will explain how the promise of David's throne was fulfilled.
755. 29.3.1David's throne is now the priesthood of the church.
756. 29.3.2Rulers from Judah lasted until Christ came.
757. 29.3.3The line of rulers from Judah ended at Christ's birth.
758. 29.3.4Alexander, a priest-king, took the diadem.
759. 29.3.5Kings and priests came from the united royal and priestly lines.
760. 29.3.6Herod, a foreigner, ended the line.
761. 29.3.7The royal dignity passed in Christ to the church.
762. 29.3.8Christ is king by descent and by Godhead, and high priest.
763. 29.3.9James, the Lord's brother, was the first bishop.
764. 29.4.1James was Joseph's son by an earlier wife.
765. 29.4.2James was of David's line, a Nazirite, and a priest.
766. 29.4.3James is said to have entered the Holy of Holies.
767. 29.4.4James is said to have worn the high priest's gold plate.
768. 29.4.5Christ is priest after Melchizedek and king.
769. 29.4.6Christ's kingdom is eternal and not of this world.
770. 29.4.7Christ gave his kingship to those he appointed.
771. 29.4.8David's throne is given to the bishops of the catholic church.
772. 29.4.9The name Jessaeans may come from Jesse or from Jesus.
773. 29.4.10The name Christian began at Antioch.
774. 29.5.1Epiphanius claims that Philo's ascetics were Christians.
775. 29.5.2Philo visited the ascetics of Mareotis.
776. 29.5.3Philo described their fasting at the Pascha.
777. 29.5.4The Nazoraeans arose among Jewish followers of the apostles.
778. 29.5.5The Nazoraeans imitated what they did not understand.
779. 29.5.6They took the name Nazoraean from Jesus of Nazareth.
780. 29.5.7Nazirites were those consecrated to God, like Samson and John.
781. 29.6.1They are distinct from the pre-Christian Nasaraeans.
782. 29.6.2Paul's accusers called Christians Nazoraeans.
783. 29.6.3Paul accepted the name for Christ's sake.
784. 29.6.4Paul's defence before Felix.
785. 29.6.5Christians were then called Nazoraeans after Nazareth.
786. 29.6.6Heretics too are loosely called Christians.
787. 29.6.7The disciples accepted the name because Jesus was called the Nazoraean.
788. 29.6.8Jesus was born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth.
789. 29.7.1The Nazoraeans are in all respects Jews.
790. 29.7.2The Nazoraeans accept both covenants and hold Jewish belief.
791. 29.7.3They confess the resurrection, one God, and his Son.
792. 29.7.4They read the Scriptures in Hebrew.
793. 29.7.5They differ from Jews by faith in Christ and from Christians by keeping the law.
794. 29.7.6Epiphanius does not know their view of Christ's birth.
795. 29.7.7Where the Nazoraeans live.
796. 29.7.8The sect began among believers who fled Jerusalem to Pella.
797. 29.8.1Keeping the law is now impossible, so its observers are under a curse.
798. 29.8.2Christ came to fulfil the law and remove its curse.
799. 29.8.3Moses closed the law with a curse.
800. 29.8.4Christ replaced the unfulfillable law with greater gifts.
801. 29.8.5The point has been made in earlier chapters.
802. 29.8.6The apostles laid only necessary things on Gentile believers.
803. 29.8.7Paul warns that law-keepers fall from grace.
804. 29.9.1The Nazoraeans are easily refuted.
805. 29.9.2The Jews curse the Nazoraeans in their daily prayers.
806. 29.9.3The reason for the hostility.
807. 29.9.4They keep a Hebrew Gospel of Matthew.
808. 29.9.5Epiphanius closes his treatment of the Nazoraeans.
809. 30.1.1Ebion, founder of the Ebionites, came from the same school.
810. 30.1.2Ebion combined the worst of every heresy.
811. 30.1.3The Ebionites share traits of many sects.
812. 30.1.4Ebion stands between church and synagogue.
813. 30.1.5Ebion is neither Samaritan nor Jew.
814. 30.2.1Ebion came from the Nazoraeans.
815. 30.2.2Ebion held that Christ was Joseph's son and kept the Jewish law.
816. 30.2.3Ebion avoided contact with Gentiles.
817. 30.2.4Ebionites washed after intercourse.
818. 30.2.5They repeated their washings after any contact.
819. 30.2.6The Ebionites once honoured virginity but now forbid it.
820. 30.2.7The Ebionites arose among the refugees at Pella.
821. 30.2.8Ebion lived at Kokabe in Bashan.
822. 30.2.9The Ebionites and Nazoraeans influenced each other.
823. 30.3.1Later Ebionites disagree about Christ.
824. 30.3.2Elxai's influence changed Ebionite teaching.
825. 30.3.3Some Ebionites identify Christ with Adam.
826. 30.3.4Others call Christ a created spirit above the angels.
827. 30.3.5Some Ebionites say Christ came repeatedly, finally in Adam's body.
828. 30.3.6Other Ebionites say the Spirit-Christ came upon Jesus.
829. 30.3.7The Ebionites use only Matthew, which they call the Gospel according to the Hebrews.
830. 30.3.8A Hebrew version of John is said to be stored at Tiberias.
831. 30.3.9A Hebrew Acts is said to be there too.
832. 30.4.1The story of Josephus, a Jewish convert made count by Constantine.
833. 30.4.2Josephus was one of the patriarch's councillors.
834. 30.4.3The patriarch was Ellel (Hillel), of Gamaliel's family.
835. 30.4.4The family is traced to Gamaliel of Acts 5.
836. 30.4.5The dying patriarch secretly received baptism.
837. 30.4.6The patriarch asked for “the seal in Christ.”
838. 30.4.7He was baptized and received communion in secret.
839. 30.5.1Epiphanius heard the story from Josephus himself.
840. 30.5.2Epiphanius met Josephus while visiting Eusebius of Vercelli in exile.
841. 30.5.3Epiphanius questioned Josephus about his conversion.
842. 30.5.4The story is told for the edification of believers.
843. 30.5.5Josephus opposed the Arians of Scythopolis.
844. 30.5.6His rank protected him from the Arian bishop Patrophilus.
845. 30.5.7Another Jewish Christian visited them secretly.
846. 30.5.8Josephus remarried to avoid ordination by the Arians.
847. 30.6.1Epiphanius resumes Josephus's story.
848. 30.6.2Josephus watched the baptism through the door.
849. 30.6.3The patriarch gave gold for an offering on his behalf.
850. 30.6.4The patriarch said he was very well after the “remedy.”
851. 30.6.5The patriarch died, leaving his young son to Josephus and another.
852. 30.6.6Josephus and another acted as regents.
853. 30.6.7Josephus was troubled and found a sealed treasury.
854. 30.6.8He opened it and found books.
855. 30.6.9The books unsettled Josephus, but he hardened his heart.
856. 30.7.1The young patriarch grew up.
857. 30.7.2The young patriarch, perhaps Judas, was corrupted by companions.
858. 30.7.3They used magic to help him seduce women.
859. 30.7.4Josephus and the other guardian tried to restrain the young patriarch.
860. 30.7.5The young patriarch went to the hot springs at Gadara, where men and women bathed together.
861. 30.7.6The young patriarch accosted a woman at the baths.
862. 30.7.7The woman, a Christian, signed herself with the cross.
863. 30.7.8She refused his advances and gifts.
864. 30.8.1His companions prepared stronger magic.
865. 30.8.2They took him to the rock-cut tombs.
866. 30.8.3Sorcerers performed rites in the tombs.
867. 30.8.4The other guardian discovered the sorcery.
868. 30.8.5He led Josephus to the tombs.
869. 30.8.6They overheard the rites from outside.
870. 30.8.7Josephus defiled the magical objects left behind.
871. 30.8.8They watched to see if the magic worked.
872. 30.8.9The sign of Christ protected the woman and the magic failed.
873. 30.8.10The failed sorcery was a third lesson to Josephus.
874. 30.9.1Christ appeared to Josephus in dreams; healed, he still did not believe.
875. 30.9.2Near death he heard a secret custom of the Jews.
876. 30.9.3A dying Jew is said to have been told secretly to believe in Jesus.
877. 30.9.4Another Jew confirmed the same custom to Epiphanius.
878. 30.9.5He too had heard the whispered confession.
879. 30.9.6Epiphanius vouches for his sources.
880. 30.10.1Healed again, Josephus still did not believe.
881. 30.10.2Christ promised Josephus a miracle in his name.
882. 30.10.3A naked madman roamed Tiberias.
883. 30.10.4Josephus exorcized the madman in Jesus' name.
884. 30.10.5The man fell as if dead.
885. 30.10.6The man came to himself and covered his nakedness.
886. 30.10.7Healed, the man spread the news in Tiberias.
887. 30.10.8People said Josephus worked signs by God's name from the treasury.
888. 30.10.9Josephus remained hardened, but God kept providing occasions.
889. 30.11.1The patriarch made Josephus an apostle (tax-collector).
890. 30.11.2Josephus collected dues in Cilicia.
891. 30.11.3In Cilicia Josephus befriended a bishop and read the Gospels.
892. 30.11.4His strictness as “apostle” made him enemies.
893. 30.11.5Caught reading the Gospels, Josephus was flogged in the synagogue.
894. 30.11.6Later they threw him into the Cydnus.
895. 30.11.7Josephus was baptized and told his story to Constantine.
896. 30.11.8Constantine honoured Josephus.
897. 30.11.9Josephus asked leave to build churches in Jewish towns.
898. 30.11.10Some Galilean towns admitted no Gentiles.
899. 30.12.1Josephus began building at Tiberias.
900. 30.12.2An unfinished Hadrianeum stood in Tiberias.
901. 30.12.3He began converting it into a church.
902. 30.12.4The Jews tried to bind the kiln fires by magic.
903. 30.12.5The fire would not burn.
904. 30.12.6Josephus blessed water with the sign of the cross before the crowd.
905. 30.12.7His prayer over the water.
906. 30.12.8The fire blazed up and the crowd acknowledged God.
907. 30.12.9He finished a small church at Tiberias and moved to Scythopolis.
908. 30.12.10Epiphanius ends the digression on Josephus.
909. 30.13.1Epiphanius returns to the Ebionites.
910. 30.13.2Epiphanius begins quoting the Ebionites' gospel.
911. 30.13.3The Ebionite gospel's call of the apostles.
912. 30.13.4In the Ebionite gospel John eats honey cakes, not locusts.
913. 30.13.5Epiphanius accuses them of changing “locusts” to “cake.”
914. 30.13.6The opening of the Ebionite gospel.
915. 30.13.7The Ebionite account of Jesus' baptism.
916. 30.13.8John asks Jesus to baptize him.
917. 30.14.1Their teaching is crooked throughout.
918. 30.14.2Unlike the Cerinthians, the Ebionites cut out the genealogy.
919. 30.14.3Their gospel begins with John the Baptist.
920. 30.14.4The Ebionites hold that Christ descended on the man Jesus.
921. 30.14.5They cite “Who is my mother?” to deny that Christ was a man.
922. 30.14.6Ebion's teaching is a many-shaped monster.
923. 30.15.1The Ebionites use a falsified version of the Circuits of Peter.
924. 30.15.2Clement's genuine letters contradict the Ebionite forgeries.
925. 30.15.3They make Peter a vegetarian who bathed daily.
926. 30.15.4They avoid meat because it comes from intercourse.
927. 30.16.1They celebrate a yearly eucharist with unleavened bread and water.
928. 30.16.2They teach two appointed rulers, Christ of the age to come and the devil of this age.
929. 30.16.3Jesus became Son of God by election.
930. 30.16.4They call Christ a created archangel-like being.
931. 30.16.5Their gospel makes Jesus abolish sacrifice.
932. 30.16.6They use other Acts of the Apostles.
933. 30.16.7They use the Ascents of James.
934. 30.16.8They slander Paul as a Greek from Tarsus.
935. 30.16.9Their story that Paul turned against the law after a failed marriage suit.
936. 30.17.1Ebion's name means “poor,” as his faith is.
937. 30.17.2They claim the name “poor” from the apostolic community of goods.
938. 30.17.3Epiphanius insists Ebion was a real person's name.
939. 30.17.4In sickness they invoke Elxai's elements in water.
940. 30.17.5Later Ebionites combined Ebion's customs with Elxai's fantasies.
941. 30.17.6Elxai's giant male Christ and female Spirit.
942. 30.17.7Elxai measured them by the mountains.
943. 30.17.8Elxai was treated earlier under the Ossaeans (Panarion 19).
944. 30.18.1Where the Ebionites are found.
945. 30.18.2They marry off the young early; they call their church a synagogue.
946. 30.18.3Epiphanius says the Ebionites permit divorce and repeated remarriage.
947. 30.18.4They reject the prophets after Moses.
948. 30.18.5Christ is the true prophet; the others are prophets of understanding only.
949. 30.18.6They make Christ a man who became Son of God by virtue.
950. 30.18.7They reject parts of the Pentateuch that contradict their diet.
951. 30.18.8Epiphanius's rejoinder.
952. 30.18.9They claim revelation from Christ and reject the prophets.
953. 30.19.1Christ's own eating refutes the Ebionite diet.
954. 30.19.2The saying does not mean Christ ate forbidden food.
955. 30.19.3Jesus ate meat and drank wine; John did not.
956. 30.19.4The risen Christ ate fish.
957. 30.19.5Epiphanius turns to refute them point by point.
958. 30.20.1Christ is not a mere man, as Isaiah's sign shows.
959. 30.20.2Only a woman who conceived without a man is properly a virgin.
960. 30.20.3Isaiah foretells a birth without labour pains.
961. 30.20.4The painless virgin birth is unique, unlike John's.
962. 30.20.5Jeremiah's “who shall know him?” shows he is more than a man.
963. 30.20.6A mere man would be known to all around him.
964. 30.20.7Christ is man from Mary and God the Word from the Father.
965. 30.20.8The Ebionites abandon the prophets for Ebion.
966. 30.20.9The annunciation shows both the flesh from Mary and the Word from above.
967. 30.20.11Epiphanius keeps his treatment brief.
968. 30.21.1They claim Peter bathed daily before eating.
969. 30.21.2Epiphanius says their washings cover their own impurity.
970. 30.21.3The foot-washing refutes their daily immersions.
971. 30.21.4One who has bathed once needs no further washing.
972. 30.21.5Christ condemned human ritual commandments.
973. 30.21.6Christ taught that unwashed hands do not defile.
974. 30.22.1Christ ate the Passover lamb.
975. 30.22.2The preparation of the Passover.
976. 30.22.3Christ desired to eat “this Passover.”
977. 30.22.4The Ebionite gospel alters Luke 22:15 to reject meat.
978. 30.22.5Epiphanius shows the added “not” and “meat.”
979. 30.22.6Peter's vision permits all foods.
980. 30.22.7Peter's former life shows he had eaten clean meat.
981. 30.22.8Peter, a married Jew, ate meat before meeting Jesus.
982. 30.22.9Peter meant only what the law called unclean.
983. 30.22.10God declared all foods clean to the church.
984. 30.22.11The vision concerns both the Gentiles and the food laws.
985. 30.23.1They forge books under the apostles' names.
986. 30.23.2John's Gospel refutes them.
987. 30.23.3John cites the prophets the Ebionites reject.
988. 30.23.4John the Baptist quotes Isaiah.
989. 30.23.5John's Gospel quotes David and Isaiah.
990. 30.24.1John, who never bathed, was led by the Spirit to a bathhouse.
991. 30.24.2John asked who was inside.
992. 30.24.3He was told that Ebion was inside.
993. 30.24.4John understood the Spirit's purpose.
994. 30.24.5John fled the bathhouse where Ebion was.
995. 30.24.6John lived until Trajan's reign.
996. 30.24.7All the apostles rejected Ebion's faith.
997. 30.25.1They claim Paul was a Gentile proselyte.
998. 30.25.2Paul calls himself a Hebrew of Hebrews.
999. 30.25.3Paul affirms his Jewish descent.
1000. 30.25.4Peter's testimony to Paul outweighs Ebion's.
1001. 30.25.5Paul and the pillars acknowledged each other.
1002. 30.25.6Barnabas was a Levite from Cyprus; so Paul was an Israelite from Tarsus.
1003. 30.25.7Many Jews were dispersed by war.
1004. 30.25.8The prophet foretold flight to Kittim.
1005. 30.25.9Kittim is Cyprus, and Alexander came from its stock.
1006. 30.25.10Many Israelites lived abroad.
1007. 30.25.11Jethro's daughters and Moses.
1008. 30.25.12They called Moses an Egyptian.
1009. 30.25.13Moses was an Israelite though called an Egyptian.
1010. 30.25.14The Ebionites have strayed from the right road.
1011. 30.26.1They boast of circumcision as the patriarchs' seal.
1012. 30.26.2They argue from Christ's circumcision.
1013. 30.26.3Like the sea, error is broken on its own limits.
1014. 30.26.4Error destroys itself.
1015. 30.26.5Like a snake that eats itself.
1016. 30.26.6A naturalists' tale of a self-devouring asp.
1017. 30.26.7The Ebionites refute themselves.
1018. 30.26.8Christ did not circumcise himself.
1019. 30.26.9If Christ was a mere infant, his circumcision was not his own act.
1020. 30.26.10Infants are not responsible for their circumcision.
1021. 30.27.1God the Word truly took flesh and was truly circumcised.
1022. 30.27.2Christ fulfilled the law, turning its figures into truth.
1023. 30.27.3Zipporah's words foreshadow the end of circumcision in Christ.
1024. 30.27.4The angel withdrew at a word pointing to the coming child.
1025. 30.27.5The child is the one foretold by Isaiah.
1026. 30.27.6“Child born” and “Son given” show Christ as man and God.
1027. 30.27.7Greeks come to see Jesus.
1028. 30.27.8Christ's glory brings the spiritual circumcision of the Gentiles.
1029. 30.28.1Why Christ was circumcised.
1030. 30.28.2Circumcision proves a real body against the Manichaeans.
1031. 30.28.3Against Apollinaris and Valentinus.
1032. 30.28.4Christ's circumcision leaves the Jews no excuse.
1033. 30.28.5Christ confirmed the sign he gave Abraham.
1034. 30.28.6Circumcision was given because of Abraham's doubt.
1035. 30.28.7Circumcision guarded Israel from forgetting God in Egypt.
1036. 30.28.8God the Word became truly man without laying aside the Godhead.
1037. 30.28.9Christ was circumcised in order to abolish circumcision.
1038. 30.29.1The Magi show Christ was God from birth.
1039. 30.29.2The Magi worshipped the child.
1040. 30.29.3Worshipped from birth, Christ was God from birth.
1041. 30.29.4The angels proclaim Christ the Lord at his birth.
1042. 30.29.5At twelve Jesus amazed the teachers.
1043. 30.29.6This was before the baptism.
1044. 30.29.7Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.
1045. 30.29.8Mary finds Jesus; Joseph was not his father by nature.
1046. 30.29.9Jesus calls the temple his Father's house.
1047. 30.29.10Jesus knew his Father from childhood.
1048. 30.29.11“As was supposed” shows Joseph was not his father.
1049. 30.30.1There is much more to say.
1050. 30.30.2Isaiah says “the virgin,” not “the woman.”
1051. 30.30.3A prophecy of a heifer that bears yet has not borne.
1052. 30.30.4The red heifer is a figure of the Virgin.
1053. 30.30.5The unyoked heifer signifies Mary's virginity.
1054. 30.30.6Isaiah's “volume” is a figure of the Virgin.
1055. 30.30.7Christ's birth was from a woman but not from seed.
1056. 30.30.8The book is a figure of the womb.
1057. 30.30.9God knew David before he was formed.
1058. 30.31.1The Hebrew word golem means unformed meal.
1059. 30.31.2The unformed seed and the book both point to the womb.
1060. 30.31.3Each word of Isa 8:1 is read of the virgin birth.
1061. 30.31.4Mary is “great” because she contained the uncontainable.
1062. 30.31.5“A man's pen,” not “a man,” excludes a human father.
1063. 30.31.6Isaiah wrote centuries before the birth.
1064. 30.31.7The Spirit who spoke in Isaiah effected the conception.
1065. 30.31.8Christ is man from Mary, God from above.
1066. 30.31.9The prophetess is Mary, not Ahaz's wife.
1067. 30.31.10Hezekiah was already born when Isaiah prophesied.
1068. 30.31.11The prophecy cannot refer to Hezekiah.
1069. 30.31.12Mary is the prophetess who bore Christ by the Spirit.
1070. 30.32.1Christ healed on the sabbath.
1071. 30.32.2Healings on the sabbath.
1072. 30.32.3The disciples plucked grain on the sabbath.
1073. 30.32.4The law had several kinds of sabbath.
1074. 30.32.5Feast days counted as sabbaths.
1075. 30.32.6The “second-first” sabbath followed the day of unleavened bread.
1076. 30.32.7Christ is the great Sabbath, foreshadowed by Noah.
1077. 30.32.8Noah and sabbath both mean rest.
1078. 30.32.9The weekly sabbath prefigured Christ, the eternal rest.
1079. 30.32.10Temple service and circumcision already broke the sabbath.
1080. 30.32.12Either way, the law is broken.
1081. 30.33.1Circumcision was a sign and figure, not perfection.
1082. 30.33.2Holy women were saved without circumcision.
1083. 30.33.3Many peoples practise circumcision.
1084. 30.33.4Ebion misuses “the disciple like the teacher.”
1085. 30.33.5The saying did not concern circumcision.
1086. 30.33.6The saying concerns sharing Christ's persecution.
1087. 30.33.7Disciples must be ready for persecution like their teacher.
1088. 30.33.8Paul's imitation of Christ was fitting and humble.
1089. 30.34.1Imitating Christ in circumcision profits nothing.
1090. 30.34.2Christ's seal, given to men and women alike, is the perfect circumcision.
1091. 30.34.3Let Ebion imitate Christ's miracles if he can.
1092. 30.34.4Ebion cannot work signs in Christ's name.
1093. 30.34.5A healed man would reject Ebion's sabbath-keeping.
1094. 30.34.6Summary of the Ebionites' conflicting views of Christ.
1095. 30.34.7Epiphanius compares the heresy to a shore of venomous fish.
1096. 30.34.8Epiphanius gives thanks for refuting the Ebionites.
1097. 30.34.9Epiphanius moves on with a prayer.
1098. 31.1.1Epiphanius turns from the Ebionites to the Valentinians, who also call themselves Gnostics.
1099. 31.1.2Epiphanius explains that he now arranges the sects by progression rather than strict chronology.
1100. 31.1.3The Gnostic sects arose together like mushrooms, as Irenaeus had already said.
1101. 31.1.4The Gnostic teachers borrowed from one another and each added a new invention.
1102. 31.1.5All these teachers called themselves Gnostics.
1103. 31.1.6Epiphanius turns to Valentinus, punning on 'Gnostic' and 'condemnable'.
1104. 31.2.1Valentinus came after Basilides, Saturnilus, Ebion and Cerinthus, who were roughly contemporary.
1105. 31.2.2Valentinus's birthplace is unknown to most, but Epiphanius will report a rumour about it.
1106. 31.2.3Valentinus was said to be from the Egyptian coast and educated at Alexandria.
1107. 31.2.4Valentinus modelled his system on Hesiod's Theogony, changing only the names.
1108. 31.2.5Valentinus's first aeon, Depth, corresponds to Hesiod's Chaos.
1109. 31.2.6Valentinus posits thirty aeons, fifteen male and fifteen female.
1110. 31.2.7The aeons form fifteen male-female pairs, listed next.
1111. 31.2.8Epiphanius lists the barbarous names of the thirty aeons in pairs.
1112. 31.2.9The same names are given in order of succession.
1113. 31.2.10The aeon names are translated into Greek: Depth and Silence, Mind and Truth, and so on.
1114. 31.2.11The thirty aeons are listed in order from Depth to Pleasure.
1115. 31.3.1Epiphanius calls the thirty-aeon system a tragedy and empty talk.
1116. 31.3.2Compared with Hesiod and Stesichorus, the Valentinian system is the same myth.
1117. 31.3.3The heretics merely copied Greek myth with new barbarous names.
1118. 31.3.4Epiphanius lists Hesiod's primeval deities for comparison.
1119. 31.3.5The poets' deities can also be paired like the Valentinian aeons.
1120. 31.3.6In the poets, primal beings pair and produce Earth, Heaven and their offspring.
1121. 31.3.7The poets' deities are set out in pairs like the aeons.
1122. 31.3.8Close study shows how much the Valentinians borrowed from the poets.
1123. 31.4.1The Valentinians invented a 'Deficiency', whom they call the Demiurge.
1124. 31.4.2From the Demiurge came a lower Ogdoad and seven heavens.
1125. 31.4.3An aeon came from the Pleroma, called Saviour, Limit, Cross and Jesus, who passed through Mary like water through a pipe.
1126. 31.4.4This saviour takes his names from the higher Light, Christ and Word.
1127. 31.4.5The saviour rises above the Demiurge and lifts his followers to the Pleroma.
1128. 31.4.6Epiphanius will show how they joined their fables to the poets'.
1129. 31.4.7Epiphanius lists poetic names that correspond to the lower Ogdoad.
1130. 31.4.8The poets' many deities could supply the 365 of other heresies.
1131. 31.4.9The poets go on to the Olympian gods and countless others.
1132. 31.4.10Such fancies are ridiculous to those enlightened by God.
1133. 31.4.11Epiphanius introduces a verbatim extract from a Valentinian book.
1134. 31.5.1The Valentinian letter opens with its greeting.
1135. 31.5.2The writer claims to reveal ineffable mysteries known only to the Unchangeable's thought.
1136. 31.5.3In the beginning the Self-Father contained all things, and his Thought willed.
1137. 31.5.4The Thought is also called Silence.
1138. 31.5.5Thought united with the Greatness and brought forth the Father of Truth, called Man.
1139. 31.5.6Silence and Man brought forth Truth, like her mother.
1140. 31.5.7Truth and the Father produce a second tetrad: Man, Church, Word, Life.
1141. 31.5.8Man and Church produce a group of twelve aeons.
1142. 31.5.9Word and Life produce a group of ten aeons.
1143. 31.6.1The thirty aeons are complete and are listed again.
1144. 31.6.2A second Ogdoad of numbers replaces the first.
1145. 31.6.3The substitute Ogdoad joins the lights and completes the thirty.
1146. 31.6.4The aeons of the Triacontad unite in pairs in spiritual union.
1147. 31.6.5The union produced formless lights called children of the Middle.
1148. 31.6.6Countless further beings came into being, each with its own name.
1149. 31.6.7Silence joined the second Ogdoad through her will, the Holy Spirit.
1150. 31.6.8The members of the second Ogdoad are paired.
1151. 31.6.9The Ogdoad produced five male beings, the sons of the Middle.
1152. 31.6.10The letter ends with the barbarous names; Epiphanius closes the extract.
1153. 31.7.1Valentinus preached in Egypt, where his followers remain, and in Rome.
1154. 31.7.2In Cyprus Valentinus fell from the faith into full impiety.
1155. 31.7.3The Valentinians give Christ several titles, including Cross and Limit.
1156. 31.7.4They say Christ's body came from heaven and took nothing from Mary.
1157. 31.7.5The saviour is distinct from the higher Word and Christ and came to save the spiritual race.
1158. 31.7.6The Valentinians deny the resurrection of the body and say only spiritual and righteous psychic people are saved.
1159. 31.7.7Each kind of substance returns to its source.
1160. 31.7.8The Valentinians claim to be the spiritual order, saved by knowledge whatever they do.
1161. 31.7.9Psychics may be saved by effort; the material perish body and soul.
1162. 31.7.10The spirituals are saved in an inner 'spiritual body'.
1163. 31.7.11Righteous psychic souls, without bodies, become brides of Christ's angels.
1164. 31.8.1Epiphanius has reported only what he thought necessary.
1165. 31.8.2He has covered Valentinus's origin, date, sources and part of his teaching.
1166. 31.8.3Epiphanius will now quote Irenaeus's treatise against the Valentinians in full.
1167. 31.9.1Irenaeus begins: some bring in false words and endless genealogies and mislead the simple.
1168. 31.9.2The heretics lead people away from the Creator under pretext of knowledge.
1169. 31.9.3They destroy the simple by teaching blasphemy against the Creator.
1170. 31.9.4Error disguises itself to seem truer than truth.
1171. 31.9.5Like glass imitating an emerald, error deceives those who cannot test it.
1172. 31.9.6Irenaeus writes, having read and met the Valentinians, to warn his friend.
1173. 31.9.7Irenaeus wants his reader to warn others against the Valentinian mysteries.
1174. 31.9.8Irenaeus will briefly set out the teaching of Ptolemy's school and give means to refute it.
1175. 31.9.9Love moves Irenaeus to reveal the hidden teachings, for nothing hidden will stay unknown.
1176. 31.10.1Irenaeus, living among the Celts, apologizes for his plain style.
1177. 31.10.2The reader, more capable, should develop what Irenaeus writes.
1178. 31.10.3The reader will expand Irenaeus's brief account for others.
1179. 31.10.4Irenaeus asks his reader to help others resist the Valentinians' persuasive talk.
1180. 31.10.5The Valentinians teach a perfect pre-existent Aeon, Depth, with his consort Thought or Silence.
1181. 31.10.6Depth deposited a seed of emission in Silence.
1182. 31.10.7Silence bore Mind, the Only-begotten.
1183. 31.10.8With Mind came Truth, forming the first tetrad.
1184. 31.10.9Mind emitted Word and Life, and they emitted Man and Church.
1185. 31.10.10The first eight aeons form the Ogdoad of four pairs.
1186. 31.10.11Word and Life emitted ten more aeons.
1187. 31.10.12Man and Church emitted twelve aeons.
1188. 31.10.13The thirty aeons make up the Pleroma of eight, ten and twelve.
1189. 31.10.14The Saviour's thirty hidden years are said to signify the thirty aeons.
1190. 31.10.15The hours in the parable of the labourers add up to thirty, for the thirty aeons.
1191. 31.10.16They adapt scattered Scripture texts to their fiction.
1192. 31.11.1Only Mind knows the Forefather.
1193. 31.11.2Mind wanted to reveal the Father, but Silence restrained him.
1194. 31.11.3The other aeons longed to see their source.
1195. 31.11.4Wisdom, the youngest aeon, leapt forward in a passion to seek the Father.
1196. 31.11.5Wisdom would have been dissolved had a supporting power not stopped her.
1197. 31.11.6Limit restrained Wisdom, who then set aside her passion.
1198. 31.12.1Another version: Wisdom bore a formless substance.
1199. 31.12.2Wisdom grieved, feared and was at a loss over her formless offspring.
1200. 31.12.3Wisdom turned back and supplicated the Father.
1201. 31.12.4Matter originated from Wisdom's ignorance, grief, fear and astonishment.
1202. 31.12.5The Father emits Limit, without consort.
1203. 31.12.6Limit, also called Cross, purified Wisdom and restored her.
1204. 31.12.7Wisdom's Intention was cast out of the Pleroma as a formless spiritual substance.
1205. 31.13.1The Only-begotten emitted Christ and the Holy Spirit to stabilize the Pleroma.
1206. 31.13.2Christ taught the aeons that the Father is known only through the Only-begotten.
1207. 31.13.3The Father's incomprehensibility sustains the aeons; the Son is what can be known of him.
1208. 31.13.4The Holy Spirit made the aeons equal and taught them to give thanks.
1209. 31.13.5The aeons, at rest, praised the Forefather with joy.
1210. 31.13.6All the aeons contributed their best to produce a new being in honour of Depth.
1211. 31.13.7The joint product was Jesus, the Fruit of the Pleroma, with attendant angels.
1212. 31.14.1Irenaeus summarizes the Valentinian account of events inside the Pleroma.
1213. 31.14.2They claim the Saviour revealed this system secretly in parables.
1214. 31.14.3The thirty aeons are signified by Jesus's thirty hidden years and the parable of the labourers.
1215. 31.14.4They claim Paul names the aeons in Ephesians.
1216. 31.14.5They read every liturgical 'for ever and ever' as a reference to their aeons.
1217. 31.14.6The twelve aeons are signified by Jesus at twelve and the twelve apostles.
1218. 31.14.7The eighteen aeons are found in eighteen months after the resurrection and in the letters of Jesus's name.
1219. 31.14.8The ten aeons are found in the iota of Jesus's name.
1220. 31.14.9Wisdom's passion is signified by Judas, the twelfth apostle, and by a one-year ministry.
1221. 31.14.10The woman healed after twelve years is read as the suffering twelfth aeon.
1222. 31.14.11Touching the garment signifies how Limit healed the suffering aeon.
1223. 31.14.12'Every male that opens the womb' is read of the Saviour as the All.
1224. 31.14.13They apply Paul's statements about 'all things' and 'fullness' to their system.
1225. 31.15.1Limit has two functions: as Cross he supports, as Limit he divides.
1226. 31.15.2They read Jesus's saying about carrying the cross as the supporting function of Limit.
1227. 31.15.3The sword and the winnowing fork are read as the dividing function of Limit.
1228. 31.15.4The winnowing fork is read as the Cross, which purifies the saved.
1229. 31.15.5They claim Paul's words on the cross refer to their Limit.
1230. 31.15.6They force the Gospels and apostles to fit their fiction.
1231. 31.15.7They also twist the Law and Prophets and lead astray those without firm faith in one God and one Lord.
1232. 31.16.1Achamoth, cast out of the Pleroma, was formless like an untimely birth.
1233. 31.16.2Christ gave Achamoth form in substance, then left her longing for higher things.
1234. 31.16.3Achamoth is called both Wisdom and Holy Spirit.
1235. 31.16.4Achamoth sought the departed light; Limit stopped her with the word 'Iao'.
1236. 31.16.5Achamoth, left outside, suffered grief, fear and perplexity.
1237. 31.16.6Achamoth also turned back towards the one who gave her life.
1238. 31.16.7The world's substances came from Achamoth's passions: water from her tears, light from her laughter.
1239. 31.16.8Achamoth alternated between weeping, laughing, fear and perplexity.
1240. 31.17.1Irenaeus mocks the Valentinians' varying accounts of the origin of substance.
1241. 31.17.2They teach these mysteries only to those who can pay large fees.
1242. 31.17.3Unlike Christ's free gift, their mysteries are sold.
1243. 31.17.4Irenaeus ironically asks who would not pay to learn such things.
1244. 31.17.5Irenaeus ironically adds his own contribution: not all waters can come from salty tears.
1245. 31.17.6Sweet waters, Irenaeus jokes, must come from her sweat.
1246. 31.17.7The irony continues: salt water from tears, fresh from sweat.
1247. 31.17.8Irenaeus asks mockingly where hot and acrid waters came from.
1248. 31.17.9Achamoth prayed to Christ, who sent the Saviour to her.
1249. 31.17.10The Saviour received all power from the Father and the aeons.
1250. 31.17.11Achamoth first veiled herself, then ran to the Saviour.
1251. 31.17.12The Saviour healed Achamoth and turned her passions into matter.
1252. 31.17.13Two substances arose from the passions; the Saviour is thus the creator in potency.
1253. 31.17.14Achamoth bore spiritual offspring in the image of the Saviour's angels.
1254. 31.18.1With matter, the psychic and the spiritual in existence, Achamoth began to form them.
1255. 31.18.2Achamoth formed the psychic substance.
1256. 31.18.3From psychic substance Achamoth formed the Demiurge, king of right and left.
1257. 31.18.4The Demiurge, moved secretly by the Mother, has several titles.
1258. 31.18.5The lower beings are images of the aeons: Achamoth of the Father, the Demiurge of the Son.
1259. 31.18.6The Demiurge separated the substances and made heaven and earth.
1260. 31.18.7The Demiurge made seven heavens and is called the Hebdomad; Achamoth is the Ogdoad.
1261. 31.18.8The seven heavens and paradise are angels; the Demiurge is an angel like God.
1262. 31.18.9The Demiurge created without knowing what he made.
1263. 31.18.10The Demiurge thought he alone existed.
1264. 31.18.11The Mother made the Demiurge head of his own substance.
1265. 31.18.12Achamoth, called by many names, dwells in the Middle until the end.
1266. 31.19.1Psychic things arose from fear and from turning back.
1267. 31.19.2The Demiurge came from turning back, other souls from fear.
1268. 31.19.3The Demiurge, ignorant of higher things, declared himself the only God.
1269. 31.19.4The devil and demons came from Achamoth's grief.
1270. 31.19.5The World-ruler, a spirit, knows what the psychic Demiurge does not.
1271. 31.19.6The Mother, the Demiurge and the World-ruler dwell at three levels.
1272. 31.19.7Earth, water, air and fire correspond to Achamoth's passions.
1273. 31.19.8The Demiurge made the earthly man from fluid matter and breathed into him the psychic man.
1274. 31.19.9Image and likeness are read as the material and the psychic man.
1275. 31.19.10The 'garments of skin' are the fleshly body.
1276. 31.19.11Achamoth's spiritual seed was secretly sown through the Demiurge into humans.
1277. 31.19.12The spiritual seed, the Church, escaped the Demiurge's notice.
1278. 31.19.13Humans have soul, body, flesh and spirit from different sources.
1279. 31.20.1The material perishes; the psychic goes where it inclines.
1280. 31.20.2The spiritual seed is 'the salt and light of the world' and is trained alongside the psychic.
1281. 31.20.3The Saviour came to save the psychic element, which has free will.
1282. 31.20.4The Saviour took spiritual, psychic and a special body, but nothing material.
1283. 31.20.5The end comes when all spiritual people are perfected in knowledge.
1284. 31.20.6Church members are merely psychic, relying on works and bare faith.
1285. 31.20.7They say Church members need good works, but they are saved by nature.
1286. 31.20.8They claim the spiritual cannot be corrupted by any deed.
1287. 31.20.9Like gold in mud, they say, they are unharmed by what they do.
1288. 31.21.1Their 'perfect' do forbidden things without fear.
1289. 31.21.2They eat idol sacrifices and attend pagan festivals and gladiator shows.
1290. 31.21.3Some indulge the flesh, saying the flesh gets its due.
1291. 31.21.4Some secretly seduce the women they teach, as returning women have confessed.
1292. 31.21.5Others openly take other men's wives.
1293. 31.21.6Others who claimed to live with women as sisters were exposed by pregnancies.
1294. 31.21.7They despise Church members as ignorant and call themselves the elect.
1295. 31.21.8They claim to own grace and say they must always practise 'the mystery of the pair'.
1296. 31.21.9They teach a saying that spirituals must love a woman, while worldly people are ruined by it.
1297. 31.21.10Self-control is needed for Church members but not, they say, for the spiritual.
1298. 31.21.11At the end Achamoth enters the Pleroma as the Saviour's bride.
1299. 31.21.12The spiritual become brides of the Saviour's angels.
1300. 31.21.13The Demiurge and righteous souls rest in the Middle.
1301. 31.21.14A fire will then consume all matter and itself.
1302. 31.22.1Some say the Demiurge's psychic Christ passed through Mary, and the Saviour descended on him at baptism.
1303. 31.22.2They say the Lord was composed of four elements.
1304. 31.22.3They say the Saviour and the spiritual seed did not suffer.
1305. 31.22.4Only the psychic Christ suffered, as a type of the higher Christ.
1306. 31.22.5Souls with the spiritual seed were favoured by the Demiurge.
1307. 31.22.6The prophets' words came variously from the seed, the Mother and the Demiurge.
1308. 31.22.7They divide the prophecies among three sources.
1309. 31.22.8They divide Jesus's sayings among the same sources.
1310. 31.22.9The Demiurge, ignorant, misattributed the prophecies.
1311. 31.22.10At the Saviour's coming the Demiurge learned the truth and joined him.
1312. 31.22.11They identify the Demiurge with the centurion of the Gospel.
1313. 31.22.12The Demiurge governs the world until the end, expecting his reward.
1314. 31.23.1They see three human kinds typified by Cain, Abel and Seth.
1315. 31.23.2The earthly perish; the psychic's fate depends on their choice.
1316. 31.23.3The spiritual seeds become brides of the angels; their souls stay in the Middle.
1317. 31.23.4Souls are good or evil by nature; only good ones receive the seed.
1318. 31.24.1Their system has no basis in prophets, Lord or apostles.
1319. 31.24.2They fit Scripture passages to their fiction, ignoring their context.
1320. 31.24.3They are like someone who rearranges a mosaic of a king into a fox.
1321. 31.24.4The forger claims his fox is the king's image, deceiving the ignorant.
1322. 31.24.5So the heretics fit God's words to their old wives' tales.
1323. 31.25.1Irenaeus turns to their Scripture proofs for things outside the Pleroma.
1324. 31.25.2The Lord's passion at the end of time signifies the passion of the last aeon.
1325. 31.25.3Jairus's daughter is read as a type of Achamoth.
1326. 31.25.4Paul's 'untimely born' is applied to Achamoth.
1327. 31.25.5The veils of 1 Corinthians and of Moses are read as Achamoth's modesty.
1328. 31.25.6Jesus's words in the passion are read as Achamoth's passions.
1329. 31.25.7Jesus's replies to would-be disciples are read as the material and psychic kinds.
1330. 31.25.8The rich young man is also classed as psychic.
1331. 31.25.9Other sayings, including to Zacchaeus, are read as the spiritual kind.
1332. 31.25.10The parable of the leaven is read as Wisdom and the three kinds.
1333. 31.25.11They read Paul's earthly, psychic and spiritual man as their three kinds.
1334. 31.25.12The 'firstfruits and lump' are read as the spiritual and the psychic church.
1335. 31.26.1The lost sheep is read as Achamoth.
1336. 31.26.2The straying of the sheep is Achamoth's time outside the Pleroma.
1337. 31.26.3The woman with the lost coin is read as higher Wisdom recovering her Intention.
1338. 31.26.4Simeon is read as a type of the Demiurge.
1339. 31.26.5Anna the prophetess is read as a type of Achamoth.
1340. 31.26.6Texts about 'wisdom' are read as references to Achamoth.
1341. 31.26.7They read Paul's 'great mystery' of marriage as the Pleroma's pairs.
1342. 31.27.1They claim John's prologue reveals the first Ogdoad.
1343. 31.27.2The commentary says John posits a Beginning, the Son, in whom all was emitted.
1344. 31.27.3From the Beginning came the Word, who formed the aeons.
1345. 31.27.4The commentary quotes John 1:1.
1346. 31.27.5John 1:2 is read as distinguishing and uniting God, Beginning and Word.
1347. 31.27.6The commentary explains each clause of John 1:1–2 by its system.
1348. 31.27.7The commentary reads John 1:3–4 as revealing the pair Word and Life.
1349. 31.27.8Life, being 'in' the Word, is more his own than what came 'through' him.
1350. 31.27.9'Light of men' is read as revealing Man and Church.
1351. 31.27.10Life is the 'light' that manifested Man and Church.
1352. 31.27.11John's prologue is said to show the second tetrad and then the first.
1353. 31.27.12The Saviour is the fruit of the whole Pleroma.
1354. 31.27.13'The light shines in darkness' is read of the unrecognized Saviour.
1355. 31.27.14The Saviour is called Son, Truth, Life and incarnate Word.
1356. 31.27.15John 1:14 is read as naming the first tetrad.
1357. 31.27.16The commentary concludes that John named the whole first Ogdoad.
1358. 31.28.1Irenaeus points out their deceptive method of using Scripture.
1359. 31.28.2If John meant their Ogdoad, he would have named it in order.
1360. 31.28.3John does not name the Church or the consorts consistently, so he did not mean their pairs.
1361. 31.28.4John proclaims one God and one Christ, the same who became flesh.
1362. 31.28.5The heretics divide Only-begotten, Saviour, Word and Christ into different beings.
1363. 31.28.6Their reading leaves John saying nothing about Christ.
1364. 31.28.7On their reading John spoke of an Ogdoad in which Christ has no place.
1365. 31.28.8John himself shows he spoke of Jesus Christ, the Word.
1366. 31.28.9John 1:14 says the Word became flesh, which their system denies.
1367. 31.29.1Jesus who suffered for us is himself the Word of God.
1368. 31.29.2They deny that the Word truly became flesh.
1369. 31.29.3The Word truly became the flesh God formed from dust.
1370. 31.29.4Since all the titles belong to one Christ, their Ogdoad and system collapse.
1371. 31.29.5They are like those who build a new poem from scattered Homeric lines.
1372. 31.29.6The unwary think Homer wrote such patchwork poems.
1373. 31.29.7Irenaeus introduces a Homeric cento about Heracles.
1374. 31.29.8The cento assembles Homeric lines into a story of Heracles.
1375. 31.29.9The simple would believe Homer wrote the cento.
1376. 31.29.10One who knows Homer recognizes the lines and restores each to its place.
1377. 31.29.11One who holds the rule of truth received at baptism recognizes Scripture but not the heresy.
1378. 31.29.12Restoring each text to its place exposes the heresy.
1379. 31.30.1Irenaeus will first show how the Valentinian teachers disagree among themselves.
1380. 31.30.2Their disagreements show the Church's truth is firm.
1381. 31.30.3The Church everywhere received from the apostles faith in one God the Father, Creator.
1382. 31.30.4And in one Christ Jesus, Son of God, incarnate for our salvation.
1383. 31.30.5And in the Holy Spirit, who foretold Christ's birth, passion, resurrection, ascension and return.
1384. 31.30.6Every knee will bow to Christ, who will judge all justly.
1385. 31.30.7The wicked spirits and wicked people will be sent into eternal fire.
1386. 31.30.8The righteous and the repentant will receive life, incorruption and glory.
1387. 31.31.1The scattered Church keeps this faith as one household with one voice.
1388. 31.31.2Churches in every region believe and hand down the same tradition.
1389. 31.31.3The preaching of truth shines everywhere like the sun.
1390. 31.31.4No church leader, eloquent or not, adds to or diminishes the one faith.
1391. 31.31.5Greater understanding does not mean inventing another God or Christ.
1392. 31.31.6True understanding explains parables and God's dealings within the faith.
1393. 31.31.7It explains creation, God's appearances to prophets, and the covenants.
1394. 31.31.8It explores God's mercy, the incarnation and the timing of Christ's coming.
1395. 31.31.9It unfolds Scripture on the end and the inclusion of the Gentiles.
1396. 31.31.10It proclaims the resurrection and God's call of those who were not his people.
1397. 31.31.11Paul marvelled at God's depth, not at invented beings above the Creator.
1398. 31.31.12Nor in inventing a Pleroma of aeons; the Church has one faith everywhere.
1399. 31.32.1Irenaeus shows how the Valentinian teachers contradict each other.
1400. 31.32.2Valentinus himself adapted the Gnostic principles into his own school.
1401. 31.32.3Valentinus's version: Ineffable and Silence, Father and Truth, then the rest of the Ogdoad.
1402. 31.32.4One of the twelve aeons fell, causing the rest.
1403. 31.32.5Valentinus posited two Limits.
1404. 31.32.6In Valentinus's version Christ was born of the Mother outside the Pleroma.
1405. 31.32.7Christ rose to the Pleroma; the Mother then bore the Demiurge and a left-hand ruler.
1406. 31.32.8Valentinus gave inconsistent accounts of Jesus's origin.
1407. 31.32.9The Holy Spirit was emitted by Truth; the Irenaeus extract ends.
1408. 31.33.1Epiphanius praises Irenaeus for refuting the Valentinians in detail.
1409. 31.33.2Irenaeus refuted them further in his later books.
1410. 31.33.3Epiphanius relies on Clement, Irenaeus and Hippolytus, and adds only a little.
1411. 31.34.1Their myths contradict each other and have no basis in Law, prophets, Gospels or apostles.
1412. 31.34.2If these things were true, the Lord, prophets and apostles would have taught them.
1413. 31.34.3Jesus himself said he explains his parables to his disciples.
1414. 31.34.4Christ explained his parables, such as the mustard seed and the sower.
1415. 31.34.5Paul foretold those who would follow myths and demonic teachings.
1416. 31.34.6James contrasts earthly and heavenly wisdom; the heretics show none of the latter's fruits.
1417. 31.34.7Among the heretics there is disorder and division, not peace or purity.
1418. 31.35.1Epiphanius adds a brief refutation of his own.
1419. 31.35.2They say the twelfth aeon fell out of the twelve.
1420. 31.35.3They cite Judas, the woman with the flow of blood and the lost coin.
1421. 31.35.4Judas perished, but their twelfth aeon was restored, so the comparison fails.
1422. 31.35.5The woman was healed after twelve years of illness, which does not fit their scheme.
1423. 31.35.6The woman found her lost coin, so it cannot signify a lost aeon.
1424. 31.36.1A few arguments expose their fictions to the Church's children.
1425. 31.36.2Epiphanius will not prolong the treatise.
1426. 31.36.3He moves on, praying for God's help.
1427. 31.36.4Valentinus linked his followers like a chain of scorpions.
1428. 31.36.5Each Gnostic teacher added to his predecessor's error.
1429. 31.36.6The Gnostics split into many successive heresies.
1430. 31.36.7Epiphanius closes the Valentinians and moves on.
1431. 32.1.1Epiphanius turns to the offshoots of Valentinus.
1432. 32.1.2He asks the Holy Spirit's help to heal those infected.
1433. 32.1.3He will treat Valentinus's successors in order.
1434. 32.1.4Secundus followed Valentinus but added more.
1435. 32.1.5Secundus divided the first Ogdoad into a right tetrad of light and a left tetrad of darkness.
1436. 32.1.6Secundus placed the fallen power outside the thirty aeons.
1437. 32.1.7Otherwise Secundus follows Valentinus.
1438. 32.1.8Epiphanius will say a little against Secundus.
1439. 32.1.9Right and left imply a middle.
1440. 32.1.10Left and right exist only relative to something in the middle.
1441. 32.1.11Left and right lead back to one God above all.
1442. 32.1.13There is one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with no deficiency; all else is his good creation.
1443. 32.2.1Epiphanius asks where the heretic gets a fixed right and left.
1444. 32.2.2Right and left are fixed only for the limbs of a body.
1445. 32.2.3Outside the body, right and left depend on which way one faces.
1446. 32.2.4Turning around reverses right and left.
1447. 32.2.5Such geometry cannot apply to God.
1448. 32.2.6Epiphanius challenges Secundus's account of the deficiency.
1449. 32.2.7If the deficiency sprang from the higher beings, Secundus refutes himself.
1450. 32.2.8Then the deficiency would share the Pleroma's gifts and not differ from it.
1451. 32.2.9Secundus's error comes from a demon.
1452. 32.3.1Epiphanius will describe others within this sect.
1453. 32.3.2Epiphanes, son of Carpocrates, joined Secundus's heresy.
1454. 32.3.3The heretics differ widely among themselves.
1455. 32.3.4Epiphanes, from Cephallenia, died at seventeen.
1456. 32.3.5His followers continued after his death.
1457. 32.3.6Epiphanes was worshipped as a god at Same in Cephallenia.
1458. 32.3.7The Cephallenians sacrifice and sing hymns to Epiphanes.
1459. 32.3.8His learning enabled both the heresy and the local cult.
1460. 32.3.9Epiphanes copied Secundus's teaching.
1461. 32.4.1Isidore's role is unclear, but all these share the same teaching.
1462. 32.4.2Epiphanes taught that wives should be held in common, citing Plato's Republic.
1463. 32.4.3Isidore starts from Jesus's saying about three kinds of eunuchs.
1464. 32.4.4Those who renounce marriage do so to avoid its cares.
1465. 32.4.5Isidore reads 'better to marry than to burn' as advice not to struggle endlessly against desire.
1466. 32.4.6Isidore's Ethics advises marriage when prayer turns into a struggle against desire.
1467. 32.4.7One who is weak but will not marry should stay close to his brother.
1468. 32.4.8Isidore advises one tempted to ask a brother to lay hands on him.
1469. 32.4.9Isidore distinguishes needs that are natural and necessary from those only natural, like sex.
1470. 32.5.1Clement quoted these sayings to refute those who live badly.
1471. 32.5.2These teachers borrowed from each other and form one heresy.
1472. 32.5.3They claimed freedom to sin because of their perfection or election.
1473. 32.5.4Epiphanes' system begins with Oneness and Unity.
1474. 32.5.5Oneness and Unity emitted the Monad.
1475. 32.5.6These four powers emitted the other aeons.
1476. 32.6.1Clement refuted them in his writings.
1477. 32.6.2Irenaeus mocked them with a tragic cry.
1478. 32.6.3Irenaeus laments the shameless invention of names.
1479. 32.6.4'I call' shows the names are his own invention.
1480. 32.6.5Without him, Irenaeus jokes, the truth would have had no name.
1481. 32.6.6Anyone could invent names the same way.
1482. 32.6.7Irenaeus parodied them with a system of melons, cucumbers and gourds.
1483. 32.7.1Others name the first Ogdoad differently.
1484. 32.7.2Each of the four emitted a further power, completing the Ogdoad.
1485. 32.7.3They put these powers before Depth to seem more perfect than the Gnostics.
1486. 32.7.4They disagree even about Depth.
1487. 32.7.5Others give Depth a consort, Silence.
1488. 32.7.6Their system is babbling dreams.
1489. 32.7.7Their system is already refuted.
1490. 32.7.8Epiphanius moves on, praying for safe passage.
1491. 32.7.9Having crushed this heresy, he moves on.
1492. 33.1.1Ptolemy, a Valentinian, succeeded Secundus and Epiphanes.
1493. 33.1.2Ptolemy added to his teachers' doctrine.
1494. 33.1.3Ptolemy gave Depth two consorts, Thought and Will.
1495. 33.1.4Thought always coexisted with Depth; Will came after.
1496. 33.1.5From Thought and Will came the Only-begotten and Truth.
1497. 33.1.6Mind images the Father's Will, Truth his Thought.
1498. 33.1.7Thought could emit only when Will was added.
1499. 33.2.1Epiphanius says such a notion is unworthy even of a man, let alone God.
1500. 33.2.2Even Homer's picture of Zeus planning is wiser than Ptolemy's.
1501. 33.2.3Ptolemy's Depth is no better than Homer's Zeus.
1502. 33.2.4God, unlike Ptolemy's Depth, wills and thinks at once.
1503. 33.2.5God is wholly mind and light, free of passion, unlike Depth or Zeus.
1504. 33.2.6Epiphanius introduces Ptolemy's Letter to Flora.
1505. 33.3.1Ptolemy writes to Flora about how the Mosaic Law is misunderstood.
1506. 33.3.2Some ascribe the Law to God the Father, others to the devil.
1507. 33.3.3Both views miss the truth.
1508. 33.3.4The Law cannot be from the perfect God, being imperfect.
1509. 33.3.5Nor can the Law be from the devil, since it forbids injustice.
1510. 33.3.6The world was made through the Saviour, by a just God, not a corrupt one.
1511. 33.3.7One group ignores the God of justice, the other the Father revealed by the Saviour.
1512. 33.3.8Ptolemy will explain the Law and its giver from the Saviour's words.
1513. 33.4.1The Pentateuch's law has three sources, as the Saviour shows.
1514. 33.4.2The three parts are from God, from Moses, and from the elders.
1515. 33.4.3Ptolemy will show this from the Saviour's words.
1516. 33.4.4Jesus said Moses permitted divorce because of hardness of heart, but God joined marriage.
1517. 33.4.5God's law forbids divorce; Moses' law allows it.
1518. 33.4.6Moses legislated against God's will, but out of necessity.
1519. 33.4.7Unhappy marriages risked leading the people into sin.
1520. 33.4.8Moses gave the divorce law as the lesser evil.
1521. 33.4.9The divorce law kept them from worse sin.
1522. 33.4.10So Moses' own law is distinct from God's.
1523. 33.4.11Jesus shows that the elders' traditions are mixed into the Law.
1524. 33.4.12The elders' 'gift to God' rule voided God's law.
1525. 33.4.13Isaiah foretold worship by human commandments.
1526. 33.4.14The Law is thus shown to have three parts.
1527. 33.5.1God's part of the Law is itself threefold: pure law, law mixed with injustice, and symbolic law.
1528. 33.5.2The symbolic law was transferred by the Saviour to the spiritual level.
1529. 33.5.3The pure law is the Ten Commandments, which the Saviour fulfilled.
1530. 33.5.4The law of retaliation is interwoven with injustice.
1531. 33.5.5Retaliation was just but a concession, foreign to the Father's goodness.
1532. 33.5.6Commanding the death of murderers compelled a second killing.
1533. 33.5.7The Son abolished retaliation, though he admitted it came from God.
1534. 33.5.8The symbolic law covers offerings, circumcision, sabbath, fasting and Passover.
1535. 33.5.9The symbols were abolished outwardly but kept spiritually.
1536. 33.5.10Christians offer spiritual sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving and generosity.
1537. 33.5.11Circumcision is of the heart, and the sabbath is kept spiritually.
1538. 33.5.13True fasting is abstaining from evil, though outward fasting done thoughtfully can help the soul.
1539. 33.5.14Outward fasting reminds people of the true fast.
1540. 33.5.15Paul shows that Passover and unleavened bread were images.
1541. 33.6.1The Saviour fulfilled the pure commands by forbidding anger, lust and oaths.
1542. 33.6.2Retaliation was abolished by the Saviour.
1543. 33.6.3Jesus's command not to resist evil cancels retaliation.
1544. 33.6.4The symbolic law was transferred to the spiritual.
1545. 33.6.5Now that the truth is present, the images give way.
1546. 33.6.6Paul confirms each of the three parts.
1547. 33.7.1Ptolemy has shown the human additions and the threefold law of God.
1548. 33.7.2It remains to identify the lawgiver.
1549. 33.7.3The lawgiver is neither the perfect God nor the devil.
1550. 33.7.4The lawgiver is the Demiurge, who stands in the middle.
1551. 33.7.5Between the good God and the evil adversary stands the just Demiurge.
1552. 33.7.6The Demiurge is below the perfect God but above the devil.
1553. 33.7.7The three beings have three different substances.
1554. 33.7.8Ptolemy defers the question how one good principle produced unlike natures.
1555. 33.7.9Ptolemy promises further teaching from 'apostolic tradition'.
1556. 33.7.10Ptolemy closes, hoping Flora will bear fruit like good soil.
1557. 33.8.1Epiphanius denounces Ptolemy's letter.
1558. 33.8.2No playwright or storyteller invented such falsehood.
1559. 33.8.3They lead their followers into foolish questions and endless genealogies.
1560. 33.8.4They claim to measure heavenly things that do not exist.
1561. 33.8.5The foolish are easily drawn in, like birds of a feather.
1562. 33.8.6The intelligent see that their system refutes itself.
1563. 33.8.7Epiphanius asks where they learned these secrets.
1564. 33.8.8They speak as if they had seen heavenly things.
1565. 33.8.9Their knowledge comes not from Scripture but from pagan poets.
1566. 33.8.10The poets' myths led to polytheism and idolatry.
1567. 33.8.11Epiphanius ends his treatment of Ptolemy and moves on.
1568. 33.9.1Epiphanius begins his refutation of the Letter to Flora.
1569. 33.9.2He restates Ptolemy's threefold division of the Law.
1570. 33.9.3The elders' traditions are not in the Law at all.
1571. 33.9.4The Jewish 'deuteroses' are four collections of tradition, outside the Law.
1572. 33.9.5The 'Corban' rule is nowhere in the Pentateuch.
1573. 33.9.6Ptolemy's argument fails.
1574. 33.9.7Moses' laws were given by God through Moses, as Christ's words show.
1575. 33.9.8Moses' divorce law was given by the Holy Spirit, not against God's will.
1576. 33.9.9Christ cites Genesis to show how God joined marriage.
1577. 33.9.10God himself did not speak the words about one flesh at creation.
1578. 33.9.11Adam spoke the words about leaving father and mother.
1579. 33.9.12As Adam's words were God's, so Moses' law was God's; two of Ptolemy's claims fall.
1580. 33.9.13God's laws served for their time, as types, or as revelations fulfilled in Christ.
1581. 33.10.1He turns to Ptolemy's three gods.
1582. 33.10.2Epiphanius challenges the idea of a middle 'just' god.
1583. 33.10.3Justice and goodness are inseparable.
1584. 33.10.4Christ honoured the Law's righteous, who came from the Father's goodness.
1585. 33.10.5Christ pairs 'good' with 'just', showing they are one.
1586. 33.10.6Ptolemy slanders the law of retaliation.
1587. 33.10.7The law of retaliation aims at the same end as Christ's command.
1588. 33.10.8Retaliation deterred violence, as turning the cheek does.
1589. 33.11.1A father trains children differently at each age.
1590. 33.11.2So God gave each generation laws suited to it.
1591. 33.11.3Early generations were restrained by fear; the mature receive fuller teaching.
1592. 33.11.4The disciples too understood only later.
1593. 33.11.5Paul shows commands are adapted to maturity.
1594. 33.11.6The law threatened the offender, so people refrained from striking.
1595. 33.11.7The same ethic was kept then by compulsion, now by free choice.
1596. 33.11.8Christ himself speaks of severe punishment at the judgement.
1597. 33.11.9Ptolemy's logic would make Christ merely 'just' and not good.
1598. 33.11.10Such division would separate the Son from the Father.
1599. 33.11.11Ptolemy's truth about types serves to deceive.
1600. 33.11.12Paul confirms the Law's things were types for us.
1601. 33.11.13Epiphanius wishes Ptolemy had not invented a third god.
1602. 33.12.1Epiphanius concludes against Ptolemy.
1603. 33.12.2Ptolemy deceived Flora like a lamprey luring a viper.
1604. 33.12.3He has caught Ptolemy in the Gospel net like a bad fish.
1605. 33.12.4Epiphanius gives thanks and moves on.
1606. 34.1.1Marcus, founder of the Marcosians, succeeded the earlier Valentinians.
1607. 34.1.2Marcus, a skilled magician, attracted men and women.
1608. 34.1.3Marcus claimed great power and was a forerunner of Antichrist.
1609. 34.1.4Marcus used conjuring tricks and magic.
1610. 34.1.5Onlookers think his tricks are miracles.
1611. 34.1.6His followers cannot see that it is magic.
1612. 34.1.7In his 'eucharist', cups of white wine seem to turn red, purple and blue.
1613. 34.1.8Epiphanius will quote Irenaeus's account of Marcus word for word.
1614. 34.2.1Marcus makes wine appear to turn to the blood of 'Grace'.
1615. 34.2.2Marcus has women give thanks over cups, then pours into a larger cup.
1616. 34.2.3Marcus's formula over the cup.
1617. 34.2.4The larger cup overflows, and Marcus seems a wonder-worker.
1618. 34.2.5Marcus is said to have a familiar spirit and to make women prophesy.
1619. 34.2.6Marcus flatters rich women, offering them his 'Grace'.
1620. 34.2.7Marcus's words of initiation, ending 'open your mouth and prophesy'.
1621. 34.2.8When a woman says she cannot prophesy, he tells her to say anything.
1622. 34.2.9Excited, the woman speaks nonsense.
1623. 34.2.10Her 'prophecy' comes from an empty spirit.
1624. 34.2.11The woman repays Marcus with money and her body.
1625. 34.2.12Faithful women rejected and cursed Marcus.
1626. 34.2.13True prophecy is given by God, not commanded by Marcus.
1627. 34.2.14A man cannot command the prophetic Spirit.
1628. 34.2.15Such spirits are Satan's, deceiving those weak in the Church's faith.
1629. 34.3.1Women who returned to the Church confessed that Marcus used love charms on them.
1630. 34.3.2A deacon's wife in Asia was seduced by Marcus.
1631. 34.3.3Brought back, she spent her life in penitence.
1632. 34.3.4Marcus's disciples claim to be perfect, above the apostles.
1633. 34.3.5They claim superior knowledge above every power.
1634. 34.3.6Through their 'redemption' they claim immunity and recite a formula before the judge.
1635. 34.3.8The formula asks the Mother to plead their case.
1636. 34.3.9The Mother makes them invisible and brings them to the bridal chamber.
1637. 34.3.10In the Rhône region many women were deceived; some confessed, others withdrew.
1638. 34.4.1Marcus claimed to be the sole receptacle of Silence.
1639. 34.4.2Marcus claimed the Tetrad appeared to him as a woman and revealed the origin of all.
1640. 34.4.3The Father spoke a word that showed his form.
1641. 34.4.4The Father's name had four syllables and thirty letters.
1642. 34.4.5Each letter knows only its own sound and thinks it names the whole.
1643. 34.4.6Each element sounds on as if it were the whole.
1644. 34.4.7The final restoration is like the congregation's joint Amen.
1645. 34.4.8Marcus's terms for the elements and their hidden names.
1646. 34.4.9The last letter's sound produced the elements of this world.
1647. 34.4.10The letter returned above while its sound stayed below.
1648. 34.4.11Each letter contains further letters.
1649. 34.4.12The letters multiply to infinity.
1650. 34.5.1The letter 'delta' is spelled with five letters, each spelled with more.
1651. 34.5.2The sea of letters is endless.
1652. 34.5.3The whole name is an infinite depth of letters.
1653. 34.5.4Each aeon utters only its own sound.
1654. 34.5.5The Tetractys promises to show Marcus Truth herself.
1655. 34.5.6Truth's body is made of paired letters from alpha-omega to mu-nu.
1656. 34.5.7This element is called Man, source of all speech.
1657. 34.5.8Marcus is told to hear the Word from Truth's mouth.
1658. 34.6.1Truth spoke the name 'Christ Jesus' and fell silent.
1659. 34.6.2The Tetractys speaks again.
1660. 34.6.3The name 'Jesus' has a hidden power Marcus does not know.
1661. 34.6.4The six-letter name 'Jesus' differs from the aeonic name.
1662. 34.6.5The twenty-four letters image the three higher powers.
1663. 34.6.6The nine mute consonants belong to Father and Truth.
1664. 34.6.7The eight semivowels belong to Word and Life.
1665. 34.6.8The seven vowels belong to Man and Church.
1666. 34.6.9The letters are divided 8, 7 and 9 among the pairs.
1667. 34.6.10One was sent down to correct the deficient number.
1668. 34.6.11Three groups of eight make twenty-four.
1669. 34.6.12Six times four gives twenty-four.
1670. 34.6.13The double letters bring the number to thirty.
1671. 34.7.1The Transfiguration is read numerically.
1672. 34.7.2The dove at the baptism has the number 801, omega and alpha.
1673. 34.7.3Man's creation and Christ's crucifixion on the sixth day and hour are linked.
1674. 34.7.4The number six signifies creation and regeneration.
1675. 34.7.5The number seven ensouls the world.
1676. 34.7.6The lower beings are imitations of the Mother's Intention.
1677. 34.7.7The seven heavens each sound a vowel.
1678. 34.7.8The heavens' praise, reaching earth, fashions earthly things.
1679. 34.7.9Newborn cries are said to echo the heavenly vowels.
1680. 34.7.10He applies psalms about infants' praise and the heavens to his system.
1681. 34.8.1Irenaeus sums up Marcus's teaching on the name and Truth's body.
1682. 34.8.2Irenaeus will next report Marcus's number-mysticism of names.
1683. 34.8.3Marcus derives the numbers from Oneness and Unity.
1684. 34.8.4Two and four make six; six times four make twenty-four.
1685. 34.8.5The first tetrad's utterable names are Ineffable, Silence, Father and Truth.
1686. 34.8.6The Greek names of the first tetrad have 24 letters in all.
1687. 34.8.7The second tetrad's names also total 24 letters.
1688. 34.8.8Numbers are drawn from the names Jesus, Son and Christ.
1689. 34.9.1Jesus's 'ineffable origin' is traced through tetrads, ogdoad and decad.
1690. 34.9.2Eight, eighty and eight hundred make 888, the number of 'Jesus'.
1691. 34.9.3The letters of 'Jesus' add up to 888.
1692. 34.9.4The Greek alphabet's structure is said to show 888.
1693. 34.9.5One plus two plus three plus four makes ten, iota, the initial of Jesus.
1694. 34.9.6'Christ' with eight letters signifies the first ogdoad.
1695. 34.9.7'Son Christ' makes twelve letters.
1696. 34.9.8Before the name appeared, people were in ignorance.
1697. 34.9.9The revealed name led people from ignorance and death to life.
1698. 34.9.10The Father willed to end ignorance through knowledge of himself.
1699. 34.10.1Powers from the tetrad generated the earthly Jesus.
1700. 34.10.2The annunciation figures are matched with the tetrad.
1701. 34.10.3The man of the dispensation was born through Mary and chosen by the Father.
1702. 34.10.4At the baptism a higher power descended on Jesus like a dove.
1703. 34.10.5The descending power contains Father, Son, Silence and all the aeons.
1704. 34.10.6The Spirit in Jesus revealed the Father; 'Jesus' names the man of the dispensation.
1705. 34.10.7Receiving the Man, Jesus contained the whole Ogdoad.
1706. 34.11.1Irenaeus denounces Marcus for turning Truth into an idol of letters.
1707. 34.11.2The Greek alphabet is recent and man-made.
1708. 34.11.3Marcus's Truth, made of letters, is younger than the alphabet.
1709. 34.11.4Marcus's Silence contradicts itself by naming the unnameable.
1710. 34.11.5By Marcus's logic the Father too would be made of letters.
1711. 34.11.6Marcus reduces the Creator Word to syllables and numbers.
1712. 34.11.7He divides the uncontainable Father into numbers.
1713. 34.11.8Marcus builds the bodiless God out of letters.
1714. 34.11.9Marcus's divisions lead his followers into blasphemy.
1715. 34.11.10Irenaeus introduces an elder's verses against Marcus.
1716. 34.11.11The elder's verses call Marcus a magician serving Satan.
1717. 34.11.12Irenaeus will briefly expose the rest of their teaching.
1718. 34.12.1The Marcosians explain the Aeons and the lost sheep by numbers.
1719. 34.12.2Adding numbers yields the ten and twelve Aeons.
1720. 34.12.3Counting by twos to ten yields thirty.
1721. 34.12.4The fallen twelfth Aeon is the straying sheep.
1722. 34.12.5The lost power is the woman's lost coin.
1723. 34.12.6The remaining numbers multiply to ninety-nine, the value of 'Amen'.
1724. 34.12.7The letter eta is made to yield eight and thirty.
1725. 34.12.8Adding the letters from alpha to eta gives thirty.
1726. 34.12.9The sums show the Ogdoad to be mother of the thirty Aeons.
1727. 34.12.10More arithmetic derives ninety-nine from the Ogdoad.
1728. 34.12.11The letter lambda, eleventh letter, is made a figure of the eleven Aeons left above.
1729. 34.12.12Lambda seeks its like to complete the twelve.
1730. 34.12.13Mu, made of two lambdas, fills the twelfth place.
1731. 34.12.14The Gnostic passes from ninety-nine (left hand) to one hundred (right hand).
1732. 34.13.1Irenaeus says such number-play deserves both laughter and grief.
1733. 34.13.2Those who leave the church for these fables are self-condemned.
1734. 34.13.3John forbids even greeting heretics.
1735. 34.13.4Making the Creator the product of a triple Deficiency is utter impiety.
1736. 34.13.5Their confidence shows they are driven by evil spirits.
1737. 34.13.6Like the delirious, their apparent strength is sickness.
1738. 34.13.7The parable of the returning unclean spirit is applied to them.
1739. 34.14.1Irenaeus turns to their account of creation as an image of the Aeons.
1740. 34.14.2The four elements and their qualities image the tetrad and ogdoad.
1741. 34.14.3The heavens, sun, and moon image the decad.
1742. 34.14.4The zodiac images the dodecad.
1743. 34.14.5The slow outer heaven images Limit.
1744. 34.14.6The moon's thirty days image the thirty Aeons.
1745. 34.14.7The sun's months and the day's hours image the dodecad.
1746. 34.14.8The hour's thirty parts image the triacontad.
1747. 34.14.9The zodiac's degrees join twelve and thirty.
1748. 34.14.10The earth's twelve zones image the dodecad.
1749. 34.14.11The Demiurge imitates eternity with time.
1750. 34.14.12The Demiurge's work will end in dissolution.
1751. 34.15.1Each of them invents new doctrines daily.
1752. 34.15.2They read their system into Genesis 1:1.
1753. 34.15.3Genesis 1:1–2 is made to show the tetrad.
1754. 34.15.4The second tetrad is found in Genesis 1:2.
1755. 34.15.5Ten items in Genesis 1 are made the decad.
1756. 34.15.6Twelve more items make the dodecad, so Moses taught the thirty.
1757. 34.15.7The senses of the body image the tetrad.
1758. 34.15.8The paired senses make the ogdoad.
1759. 34.15.9The whole human body images the thirty.
1760. 34.16.1The sun's creation on day four points to the tetrad.
1761. 34.16.2The four colors of the tabernacle curtains image the tetrad.
1762. 34.16.3Every fourfold thing in Scripture is referred to their tetrad.
1763. 34.16.4They place man's formation on the eighth day to find the ogdoad.
1764. 34.16.5Some distinguish the spiritual man of Gen 1 from the earthly man of Gen 2.
1765. 34.16.6The ark's eight, David, and eighth-day circumcision are made signs of the ogdoad.
1766. 34.16.7Every eight in Scripture becomes the ogdoad.
1767. 34.16.8Ten nations and Sarah's ten years point to the decad.
1768. 34.16.9Many tens in Scripture are made types of the decad.
1769. 34.17.1They claim the dodecad appears everywhere.
1770. 34.17.2Twelves in Scripture are made types of the dodecad.
1771. 34.17.3Thirties in Scripture are made types of the triacontad.
1772. 34.18.1Irenaeus turns to their proofs of an unknown Father.
1773. 34.18.2Isaiah 1:3 is applied to the unknown Depth.
1774. 34.18.3Hosea and the Psalm are applied to ignorance of Depth.
1775. 34.18.4Exodus 33:20 is applied to their unseen Greatness.
1776. 34.18.5Irenaeus replies that the verse refers to the Creator himself.
1777. 34.18.6They apply Daniel's sealed words to themselves as the enlightened.
1778. 34.18.7They also use forged apocryphal writings.
1779. 34.18.8They tell the story of the child Jesus and his teacher.
1780. 34.18.9The child Jesus's reply is made to reveal the Unknown.
1781. 34.18.10Luke 2:49 is made to proclaim an unknown Father.
1782. 34.18.11The answer to the rich man is applied to their good God.
1783. 34.18.12Jesus's refusal to answer is taken to show the ineffable Father.
1784. 34.18.13An unwritten saying is applied to the one unknown God.
1785. 34.18.14Luke 19:42 is applied to the hidden Depth.
1786. 34.18.15Matthew 11:28–29 is made a promise to teach the unknown Father.
1787. 34.18.16Matthew 11:25–27 is their chief proof-text.
1788. 34.18.17They argue the verse shows the Father was unknown before Christ.
1789. 34.19.1Their 'redemption' rite takes as many forms as they have teachers.
1790. 34.19.2Irenaeus calls the rite a satanic denial of baptism.
1791. 34.19.3They hold the 'redemption' necessary to enter the Pleroma.
1792. 34.19.4They rank their redemption above baptism.
1793. 34.19.5Gospel sayings about another baptism are applied to their rite.
1794. 34.19.6They claim Paul's 'redemption' for their rite.
1795. 34.20.1Some perform a bridal-chamber rite.
1796. 34.20.2Others baptize with a Gnostic formula.
1797. 34.20.3Others use a formula in pseudo-Hebrew words.
1798. 34.20.4Another formula invokes a hidden name.
1799. 34.20.5The formula and its supposed meaning.
1800. 34.20.6The initiate's response.
1801. 34.20.7The rite ends with anointing with balsam.
1802. 34.20.8Some replace water baptism with pouring oil and water.
1803. 34.20.9Others reject all outward rites.
1804. 34.20.10For them knowledge itself is redemption.
1805. 34.20.11Redemption is neither bodily nor psychic.
1806. 34.20.12Knowledge redeems the inner man; the Irenaeus excerpt ends.
1807. 34.21.1Epiphanius explains why he copied Irenaeus word for word.
1808. 34.21.2Epiphanius begins his own statement of the church's faith against Marcus.
1809. 34.21.3The church confesses one uncreated Trinity and a creation from nothing.
1810. 34.21.4No trickery can stand against the truth confessed by prophets and apostles.
1811. 34.21.5Marcus is exposed as a charlatan.
1812. 34.22.1Epiphanius moves on, writing to warn readers.
1813. 34.22.2Readers should learn of the heresies in order to avoid them.
1814. 34.22.3The dipsas snake poisons water that seems to refresh.
1815. 34.22.4The dipsas's bite causes burning thirst.
1816. 34.22.5The victim drinks himself to death.
1817. 34.22.6Marcus's teaching is a deadly drink; Epiphanius moves on.
1818. 35.1.1Colorbasus follows Marcus and Ptolemy.
1819. 35.1.2Colorbasus split off from Marcus.
1820. 35.1.3Colorbasus has the Aeons emitted all at once and reverses their order.
1821. 35.1.4Another account of the first Ogdoad.
1822. 35.1.5They disagree about the Savior's origin.
1823. 35.1.6Further views of the Savior's origin.
1824. 35.1.7Some call the supreme God 'Man', hence 'Son of Man'.
1825. 35.2.1Ambition drives each of these teachers.
1826. 35.2.2Their teachings have no basis in prophecy or Gospel.
1827. 35.2.3The refutation of Valentinus applies to them all.
1828. 35.2.4Colorbasus calls the Father 'Man' to twist 'Son of Man'.
1829. 35.2.5Epiphanius grants the premise for the sake of argument.
1830. 35.2.6Jesus calls himself a man, distinct from his Father.
1831. 35.2.7Christ's humanity, not the Father's, explains the word 'man'.
1832. 35.2.8Acts 2:22 calls Jesus a man.
1833. 35.2.9Epiphanius challenges Colorbasus directly.
1834. 35.2.10The word 'man' (male) cannot apply to the Father.
1835. 35.2.11'Human being' covers both sexes; 'male' does not.
1836. 35.2.12Epiphanius explains the difference between 'man' and 'human being'.
1837. 35.3.1Readers should laugh at Colorbasus and mourn his followers.
1838. 35.3.2Simple truth overturns elaborate error.
1839. 35.3.3Isaiah contrasts the quiet water of Siloam with the flood.
1840. 35.3.4Siloam ('sent') is Christ; his quiet teaching and his bride, the dove.
1841. 35.3.5The heresies are the concubines and queens of the Song.
1842. 35.3.6The one dove of the Song is the catholic church.
1843. 35.3.7Christ's teaching is quiet and plain.
1844. 35.3.8The church is harmless, unlike the venomous heretics.
1845. 35.3.9Colorbasus is crushed like a spider or a severed snake's head.
1846. 35.3.10Epiphanius prays for help with the next heresies.
1847. 36.1.1Heracleon follows Colorbasus.
1848. 36.1.2Heracleon adds to his predecessors to win followers.
1849. 36.1.3The heretics resemble the many-headed giants of myth.
1850. 36.1.4Epiphanius recounts the myths of the giants and Argus.
1851. 36.1.5Each heretic makes himself a head of a new sect.
1852. 36.2.1Heracleon shares the Valentinian system of Ogdoads and Aeons.
1853. 36.2.2Heracleon's supreme Father and the first Mother.
1854. 36.2.3The second Mother, Achamoth, and the world of Deficiency.
1855. 36.2.4Heracleon's followers perform a 'redemption' for the dying.
1856. 36.2.5They anoint the dying with oil or balsam and water.
1857. 36.2.6The garbled formula of invocation.
1858. 36.2.7The rite is meant to make the dying invisible to the powers.
1859. 36.2.8Body stays, soul goes to the Demiurge, the spirit rises higher.
1860. 36.3.1The dying are taught a password for the powers.
1861. 36.3.2The password claims descent from the Pre-existent.
1862. 36.3.3The soul then reaches the Demiurge's realm.
1863. 36.3.4The dying claims to be a vessel above the Demiurge's mother.
1864. 36.3.5The password claims knowledge the Demiurge's mother lacks.
1865. 36.3.6The spirit casts off the soul and returns to its own.
1866. 36.4.1Each teacher invents new laws of his own.
1867. 36.4.2Their inventions are too many to list.
1868. 36.4.3Epiphanius asks where body, soul, and spirit come from.
1869. 36.4.4Epiphanius asks how spirit, soul, and matter could be joined.
1870. 36.4.5The Heracleonite system is incoherent.
1871. 36.4.6Matter is either his own or not his to use.
1872. 36.4.7Hatred or ignorance: both are absurd.
1873. 36.4.8In Scripture the evil 'matter' is sinful thought, not the body.
1874. 36.4.9Psalm 69's 'mire' is the 'matter' of sin.
1875. 36.5.1Why would the Demiurge mix soul with matter?
1876. 36.5.2No maker works in ignorance of what he makes.
1877. 36.5.3Heracleon misuses God-given understanding.
1878. 36.5.4How is the spiritual joined to soul and body?
1879. 36.5.5If the Father willed it, creation is not alien to him.
1880. 36.5.6Whoever desires the good cannot be ignorant of it.
1881. 36.6.1God's goodness and power overturn Heracleon.
1882. 36.6.2Only sin exists apart from God, and it has no root.
1883. 36.6.3One God the Father, one Son, one Spirit.
1884. 36.6.4The consubstantial Trinity created all things good from nothing.
1885. 36.6.5A Trinitarian doxology.
1886. 36.6.6Epiphanius moves on.
1887. 36.6.7Heracleon is like the seps, whose spittle poisons food.
1888. 36.6.8Epiphanius moves on to the next heresy.
1889. 37.1.1Epiphanius introduces the Ophites.
1890. 37.1.2The Ophites are named for the snake they honor.
1891. 37.1.3The same serpent that deceived Eve deceives them.
1892. 37.1.4The serpent still tempts with false promises.
1893. 37.1.5The serpent brought in idolatry.
1894. 37.1.6The devil spoke through the snake.
1895. 37.1.7The tree was not evil in itself.
1896. 37.1.8Death came from disobedience, not knowledge.
1897. 37.1.9The expulsion was a caring punishment.
1898. 37.1.10God, like a potter, remakes the cracked vessel.
1899. 37.1.11The resurrection restores the vessel.
1900. 37.1.12The repentant rise in bodies remade from the earth.
1901. 37.2.1Human nature is easily led by empty promises.
1902. 37.2.2After Christ came, the serpent sought worship as God.
1903. 37.2.3Scripture calls the devil a snake because of his crookedness.
1904. 37.2.4The devil works on weak, 'female' ignorance, not firm reason.
1905. 37.2.5The devil exploits pleasure and desire.
1906. 37.2.6Their snake is proclaimed as Christ by the devil's prompting.
1907. 37.2.7God set enmity between snake and humanity as a warning.
1908. 37.3.1The Ophites credit the snake with bringing knowledge.
1909. 37.3.2Ialdabaoth arose from the ignorance of his mother Prunicus.
1910. 37.3.3Prunicus was trapped in the waters and matter.
1911. 37.3.4Prunicus stretched out became the heaven.
1912. 37.3.5She could go neither up nor down.
1913. 37.3.6Ialdabaoth, with seven sons and heavens, is their 'God of the Jews'.
1914. 37.3.7The one God is God of Jews and Christians alike.
1915. 37.4.1The seven angels formed man as a crawling worm.
1916. 37.4.2Prunicus had Ialdabaoth breathe his spark into man.
1917. 37.4.3Man rose and praised the higher Father.
1918. 37.4.4Ialdabaoth begot a snake-shaped son.
1919. 37.4.5The snake-son deceived Eve.
1920. 37.5.1They point to snake-shaped entrails as evidence.
1921. 37.5.2They honor the snake as the source of knowledge.
1922. 37.5.3The snake taught Adam and Eve the higher mysteries.
1923. 37.5.4Ialdabaoth cast the snake out of heaven.
1924. 37.5.5They call the snake a heavenly king and offer bread.
1925. 37.5.6In their rite a live snake coils over the bread.
1926. 37.5.7They share the bread and kiss the snake.
1927. 37.5.8They call this rite their eucharist.
1928. 37.6.1The very name Prunicus ('lewd') shows the absurdity.
1929. 37.6.3The spark story is myth.
1930. 37.6.4It is absurd that the creature knows more than its makers.
1931. 37.6.5They both praise the snake and call it a deceiver.
1932. 37.6.6They make the snake both Christ and Ialdabaoth's son.
1933. 37.6.7Knowledge given by deceit is ignorance.
1934. 37.7.1They cite the bronze serpent of Numbers 21.
1935. 37.7.2The healing came from God, not from the snake's nature.
1936. 37.7.3Healing by like means does not make creation evil.
1937. 37.7.4The bronze serpent prefigured the cross.
1938. 37.7.5The cross heals the bites of sin.
1939. 37.7.6They twist John 3:14 and Matt 10:16.
1940. 37.8.1Christ, the eternal Word, came against the snake.
1941. 37.8.2Why Christ used the snake and dove as examples.
1942. 37.8.3The snake protects its head at all costs.
1943. 37.8.4In persecution, guard your 'head': do not deny Christ.
1944. 37.8.5The snake leaves its venom behind to drink.
1945. 37.8.6Leave malice behind when coming to church and the sacraments.
1946. 37.8.7The dove is imitated only in its innocence.
1947. 37.8.8The dove has faults too.
1948. 37.8.9We imitate the dove's innocence and the Spirit's will.
1949. 37.8.10Paul ascribes cunning to the snake and the devil.
1950. 37.8.11Paul shows the snake's deed was wholly evil.
1951. 37.9.1The Ophites' folly is plain.
1952. 37.9.2Epiphanius moves on, using a sea-voyage image.
1953. 37.9.3Epiphanius prays to pass the 'sea monsters' of heresy unharmed.
1954. 37.9.4Epiphanius applies Psalm 107 to his voyage and moves on.
1955. 38.1.1The Cainites, named for Cain, are one more thorn from the same thicket.
1956. 38.1.2They trace Cain, Esau, Korah, and Sodom to the stronger power.
1957. 38.1.3They claim kinship with the Bible's villains.
1958. 38.1.4The Creator could not harm them, for Wisdom rescued them.
1959. 38.1.5They honor Judas and use a 'Gospel of Judas'.
1960. 38.1.6They write against the 'Womb' and teach salvation through experiencing everything.
1961. 38.2.1They commit sins in the name of angels.
1962. 38.2.2Their formula when sinning.
1963. 38.2.3Their 'perfect knowledge' derives from earlier sects.
1964. 38.2.4A Cainite book reinterprets Moses and Korah.
1965. 38.2.5They use a forged 'Ascent of Paul'.
1966. 38.2.6Two powers fathered Cain and Abel on Eve.
1967. 38.2.7Cain's murder of Abel is the victory of the stronger power.
1968. 38.3.1They urge choosing the stronger power and rejecting the Creator.
1969. 38.3.2Christ came so the strong power might defeat the weaker.
1970. 38.3.3Some say Judas betrayed Christ as an evil-doer.
1971. 38.3.4Others say Judas betrayed Christ to defeat the archons.
1972. 38.3.5They praise Judas for bringing about salvation.
1973. 38.3.6Their views are the devil's sowing.
1974. 38.3.7Isaiah's woe on those who invert good and evil.
1975. 38.3.8Scripture condemns Cain, yet they love him.
1976. 38.3.9They teach that good and evil are by nature, not choice.
1977. 38.4.1Genesis curses Cain.
1978. 38.4.2Jesus calls his opponents children of a liar and murderer.
1979. 38.4.3Other heresies build a genealogy of the devil from John 8:44.
1980. 38.4.4They wrongly make the lawgiver God the devil's grandfather.
1981. 38.4.5Epiphanius identifies the 'devil' of John 8:44 as Judas.
1982. 38.4.6Jesus called Judas a devil by choice.
1983. 38.4.7Judas is the 'son of perdition'.
1984. 38.4.8Jesus pronounces woe on his betrayer.
1985. 38.4.9One whom a person obeys becomes his 'father'.
1986. 38.4.10They followed Judas as Eve followed the snake.
1987. 38.4.11Judas was a thief entrusted with the money-box.
1988. 38.4.12Cain, the liar, is Judas's 'father'.
1989. 38.4.13Judas's kiss mirrors Cain's false friendship.
1990. 38.5.1Judas is a son of Cain and of the devil by imitation.
1991. 38.5.2Cain answered God as the devil did in Job.
1992. 38.5.3Cain imitated the serpent's false friendliness.
1993. 38.5.41 John traces hatred to Cain.
1994. 38.5.5Jesus calls Abel righteous.
1995. 38.6.1Neither Judas nor the crucifiers earned credit for salvation.
1996. 38.6.2Judas acted from greed and jealousy.
1997. 38.6.3Prophecy of a sin is no excuse for it.
1998. 38.6.4Scripture foretells because God foreknows; it does not cause.
1999. 38.6.5God's wrath is not a passion.
2000. 38.6.6Prophecy warns us to repent and escape judgment.
2001. 38.7.1Scripture foretold the betrayal because it would happen.
2002. 38.7.2Judas did not know his betrayal would bring salvation.
2003. 38.7.3Jesus's words about Judas show he was no benefactor.
2004. 38.7.4Judas's remorse shows he knew he had done evil.
2005. 38.7.5Christ gave himself up for our salvation.
2006. 38.7.6Thanks belong to Christ, not Judas.
2007. 38.7.7Judas's repentance was foretold by the prophets.
2008. 38.7.8Zechariah foretold the thirty pieces.
2009. 38.8.1Salvation comes from Christ's free self-offering.
2010. 38.8.2The Psalms foretold Judas's replacement.
2011. 38.8.3Judas's end shows he lost his salvation.
2012. 38.8.4Matthias replaced Judas, who went 'to his own place'.
2013. 38.8.5Judas's 'own place' is perdition.
2014. 38.8.6Epiphanius moves on to the next heresy.
2015. 38.8.7Having crushed the 'beetle', Epiphanius prays for help.
2016. 39.1.1The Sethians, like the Cainites, have nearly died out.
2017. 39.1.2Epiphanius knows the Sethians firsthand and from books.
2018. 39.1.3The Sethians honor Seth and identify him with Christ.
2019. 39.1.4Angels, not the highest power, made the world.
2020. 39.2.1Angels warred over Cain and Abel.
2021. 39.2.2Two angelic parties fathered Cain and Abel.
2022. 39.2.3The heavenly Mother prevailed.
2023. 39.2.4The Mother put the heavenly seed into Seth.
2024. 39.2.5Seth's race is chosen to overthrow the angels.
2025. 39.2.6Seth's race is an elect race.
2026. 39.2.7The Mother chose Seth as the pure seed.
2027. 39.3.1The Mother sent the flood to keep Seth's race pure.
2028. 39.3.2The angels smuggled Ham into the ark.
2029. 39.3.3Ham preserved the angels' race.
2030. 39.3.4Evil returned to the world through Ham.
2031. 39.3.5They make Christ a reappearance of Seth.
2032. 39.4.1Epiphanius dismisses their account.
2033. 39.4.2All humanity comes from one man, Adam.
2034. 39.4.3After the flood all descend from Noah, Seth's descendant.
2035. 39.4.4Noah's family descends from Seth, including Ham.
2036. 39.5.1The Sethians use books ascribed to Seth, Abraham, Moses, and others.
2037. 39.5.2They give Seth a wife named Horaia.
2038. 39.5.3Others make Horaia a heavenly power.
2039. 39.5.4Seth was an ordinary human brother of Cain and Abel.
2040. 39.5.5Genesis records Cain's birth.
2041. 39.5.6Genesis records Abel's birth.
2042. 39.5.7Genesis records Seth's birth to the same parents.
2043. 39.5.8God is the giver of Adam's children.
2044. 39.5.9Cain and Seth married; Abel did not.
2045. 39.6.1Jubilees names the wives of Cain and Seth.
2046. 39.6.2Adam's children necessarily married their sisters.
2047. 39.6.3Even Adam's union with Eve was of one flesh.
2048. 39.6.4Cain married Saue and Seth married Azura.
2049. 39.6.5Jubilees gives Adam twelve sons and two daughters.
2050. 39.6.6Genesis mentions Adam's other children.
2051. 39.7.1Marriage rules grew stricter as humanity grew.
2052. 39.7.2Later they married cousins, not sisters.
2053. 39.7.3The lines of Cain and Seth intermarried.
2054. 39.7.4Noah alone was saved as righteous.
2055. 39.7.5Noah's family of eight was saved in the ark.
2056. 39.7.6Humanity continued from Noah.
2057. 39.8.1Babylon and its tower were built.
2058. 39.8.2Seventy-two leaders of the nations built Babel.
2059. 39.8.3At Babel the builders received different languages.
2060. 39.8.4Each language has a founder from Genesis 10.
2061. 39.8.5Epiphanius lists founders of languages.
2062. 39.9.1Their myths are the devil's doing.
2063. 39.9.2Before Christ the devil never openly blasphemed God.
2064. 39.9.3The devil quoted Psalm 91 at Christ's temptation.
2065. 39.9.4The devil hoped for mercy at Christ's coming.
2066. 39.9.5Rejected, the devil turned to blasphemy and heresy.
2067. 39.9.6Seth died at 912 years; he was not Christ.
2068. 39.9.7Seth's son Enosh also died.
2069. 39.10.1Seth cannot be the eternal Word born of Mary.
2070. 39.10.2The Word took flesh and a human soul from the Virgin.
2071. 39.10.3Christ never called himself Seth.
2072. 39.10.4The heresy refutes itself.
2073. 39.10.5Their own system requires a single first cause.
2074. 39.10.6One principle means one Creator.
2075. 39.10.7Epiphanius moves on to the next heresy.
2076. 40.1.1The Archontics are found in Palestine and Armenia.
2077. 40.1.2Eutactus brought it to Armenia under Constantius.
2078. 40.1.3Eutactus learned it from the hermit Peter near Hebron.
2079. 40.1.4Peter posed as a holy hermit.
2080. 40.1.5Peter, a deposed presbyter, had lived at Kokaba.
2081. 40.1.6Epiphanius himself exposed and anathematized Peter.
2082. 40.1.7Peter was shunned thereafter.
2083. 40.1.8Eutactus took the teaching home to Lesser Armenia.
2084. 40.1.9Eutactus spread it among the wealthy and soon died.
2085. 40.2.1The Archontics use books called the Symphonia.
2086. 40.2.2They also use Allogenes and the Ascension of Isaiah.
2087. 40.2.3Their system has seven heavens with rulers and the Mother above.
2088. 40.2.4Some are licentious, others feign asceticism.
2089. 40.2.5They deny the resurrection of the flesh.
2090. 40.2.6They reject baptism and the sacraments as belonging to Sabaoth.
2091. 40.2.7They teach that souls feed the archons.
2092. 40.2.8The knowing soul ascends past the archons.
2093. 40.2.9Rejecting baptism, they are flies that spoil the ointment.
2094. 40.3.1Like the bee, the wise draw profit from everything.
2095. 40.3.2Hosea: the wise understand, the ungodly stumble.
2096. 40.3.3Dung beetles live on filth.
2097. 40.3.4What feeds bees kills beetles, and the reverse.
2098. 40.3.5Perfume kills dung beetles.
2099. 40.3.6The Archontics, like beetles, cannot bear the fragrance of baptism.
2100. 40.4.1All powers were made by God.
2101. 40.4.2Angels are God's ministering spirits.
2102. 40.4.3Earthly authorities show one ordering God.
2103. 40.4.4Paul says rulers serve God against evil.
2104. 40.4.5Many rulers do not deny one king.
2105. 40.4.6Earthly rulers serve the king's good order.
2106. 40.4.7Heavenly powers have a different, peaceful purpose.
2107. 40.4.8Heavenly powers exist to praise God.
2108. 40.5.1They make the devil the son of Sabaoth.
2109. 40.5.2Sabaoth belongs to the 'left-hand' power.
2110. 40.5.3They say the devil fathered Cain and Abel.
2111. 40.5.4They explain Abel's murder as rivalry over a sister.
2112. 40.5.5They misuse John 8:44.
2113. 40.5.6They read Cain into 'murderer from the beginning'.
2114. 40.5.7They call Sabaoth the devil's father.
2115. 40.5.8Sabaoth is not the name of a separate god.
2116. 40.5.9The Hebrew divine names are titles of praise.
2117. 40.5.10Epiphanius explains the Hebrew names of God.
2118. 40.5.11Sabaoth always accompanies 'Lord' in Scripture.
2119. 40.6.1They distort Scripture through blindness.
2120. 40.6.2John 8:44 refers to Judas.
2121. 40.6.3They became sons of Judas, whom Jesus called a devil.
2122. 40.6.4Judas was the liar and thief.
2123. 40.6.5Cain the liar is Judas's 'father'.
2124. 40.6.6One becomes a son of whom one imitates.
2125. 40.6.7John 8:44 means Judas and Cain.
2126. 40.6.8The ultimate 'liar' is the devil who deceived Eve.
2127. 40.6.9Cain was the devil's son by imitation, not by birth.
2128. 40.7.1They say Seth was carried off by heavenly powers.
2129. 40.7.2Seth was reared above and sent back as a spiritual man.
2130. 40.7.3Books were written in the name of Seth and his seven sons.
2131. 40.7.5Seth's seven sons are the 'Strangers'.
2132. 40.7.6They honor two 'prophets' who ascended to heaven.
2133. 40.7.7They blaspheme the Father as an evil ruler.
2134. 40.7.8The God who forbade sin cannot be its author.
2135. 40.7.9Jesus calls his Father Lord of heaven and earth.
2136. 40.8.1John 2:19 shows the bodily resurrection.
2137. 40.8.2A phantom body could not be killed and raised.
2138. 40.8.3Salvation needs no passwords, only the Lord's grace, works, and faith.
2139. 40.8.4Paul warns Timothy of those who turned to myths.
2140. 40.8.5Hymenaeus and Philetus held similar views.
2141. 40.8.6Truth refutes them.
2142. 40.8.7The Archontics resemble a tangle of reptiles.
2143. 40.8.8Their venom combines many snakes' traits.
2144. 40.8.9Epiphanius moves on.
2145. 41.1.1Cerdo came from Syria to Rome.
2146. 41.1.2Leaving God's way brings ruin.
2147. 41.1.3Like the dog and its reflection, heretics lose what they had.
2148. 41.1.4Heretics lose the truth for a shadow.
2149. 41.1.5Cerdo taught at Rome under Bishop Hyginus.
2150. 41.1.6Cerdo taught two gods: the good unknown Father and the evil Creator.
2151. 41.1.7Cerdo denied Christ's flesh, the resurrection, and the Old Testament.
2152. 41.1.8Cerdo's Christ came to overthrow the Creator.
2153. 41.1.9Cerdo passed his teaching to Marcion.
2154. 41.2.1Epiphanius begins a short refutation.
2155. 41.2.2Two first principles cannot coexist.
2156. 41.2.3Reason leads back to one first principle.
2157. 41.2.4Two presupposes a prior one.
2158. 41.2.5Only the one can be the cause.
2159. 41.2.6If the two agree, there is no conflict to explain.
2160. 41.2.7If they are equal, Christ could not defeat the evil god.
2161. 41.3.1Cerdo assigns the law and prophets to the evil god.
2162. 41.3.2The same God speaks in prophets and Gospel.
2163. 41.3.3Jesus says Moses wrote of him.
2164. 41.3.4Much more could be said against Cerdo.
2165. 41.3.5Epiphanius dismisses Cerdo like a stinging insect.
2166. 41.3.6Christ and the apostle warned of false teachers.
2167. 42.1.1Epiphanius introduces Marcion as a follower of Cerdo who deceived many.
2168. 42.1.2Marcion's sect still survives in many regions of the empire and beyond.
2169. 42.1.3Marcion came from Sinope in Pontus.
2170. 42.1.4Epiphanius reports that Marcion, a bishop's son, seduced a virgin and was excommunicated by his father.
2171. 42.1.5Marcion's father was a pious and eminent bishop.
2172. 42.1.6Marcion's father refused to readmit him to penance.
2173. 42.1.7Marcion went to Rome after Hyginus's death and was refused communion by the presbyters.
2174. 42.1.8Resentful at his exclusion, Marcion joined Cerdo's sect.
2175. 42.2.1Marcion challenged the Roman presbyters with the saying about new wine and old wineskins.
2176. 42.2.2The presbyters answered Marcion gently with the sense of the passage.
2177. 42.2.3The presbyters explain the old wineskins as the hearts of the Pharisees and scribes.
2178. 42.2.4The old garment is compared to Judas, grown old in greed.
2179. 42.2.5The presbyters say Judas caused the greater tear himself through love of earthly things.
2180. 42.2.6Marcion rejected the presbyters' interpretation and demanded to know why they refused him.
2181. 42.2.7The presbyters reply that they cannot receive him without his father's permission.
2182. 42.2.8Refused, Marcion vowed to divide the church, but divided only himself and his followers.
2183. 42.3.1Marcion teaches three principles, the first being the invisible good God who created nothing.
2184. 42.3.2The second principle is the visible creator God of the Jews, a judge; the third is the devil.
2185. 42.3.3Marcion preaches virginity and sabbath fasting and celebrates his mysteries before catechumens, using water.
2186. 42.3.4Marcion fasts on the sabbath to avoid honouring the creator's day of rest.
2187. 42.3.5Marcion denies bodily resurrection and teaches the salvation of the soul only.
2188. 42.3.6Marcionites allow repeated baptisms, up to three or more.
2189. 42.3.7Epiphanius explains repeated baptism as Marcion's answer to ridicule over his own sin.
2190. 42.3.8Marcion invented a second and third baptism for those who sin after baptism.
2191. 42.3.9Marcion cites Scripture falsely to show he was cleansed after his fall.
2192. 42.3.10Marcion bases repeated baptism on Jesus' sayings about a baptism and a cup still to come.
2193. 42.4.1Marcion rejects the Law and the prophets as inspired by the world's maker.
2194. 42.4.2Marcion's Christ descends from the unknown Father to save souls and expose the God of the Jews.
2195. 42.4.3Marcion teaches that Christ in Hades saved Cain, Korah, Esau and the nations.
2196. 42.4.4Marcion teaches that the righteous of Israel were left in Hades because they served the creator.
2197. 42.4.5Marcionites let women baptize and celebrate the mysteries before catechumens.
2198. 42.4.6Marcion teaches salvation of souls only and the transmigration of souls.
2199. 42.5.1Epiphanius argues that resurrection applies to what has fallen, not to the soul.
2200. 42.5.2The body, called a 'fallen thing', is what falls and rises.
2201. 42.5.3Bodies, not souls, are buried with the hope of resurrection, like seed.
2202. 42.5.4Paul and Jesus both use the grain of wheat as an image of resurrection.
2203. 42.5.5Paul calls the doubter of the resurrection a fool, since a seed must die to live.
2204. 42.5.6Scripture shows that resurrection is of the buried body.
2205. 42.5.7Since soul and body act together, justice requires that both be judged and raised.
2206. 42.6.1Epiphanius begins to refute Marcion's three principles.
2207. 42.6.2If the world is not the good God's, his saving it makes him covetous or poor.
2208. 42.6.3If the creator judges the good God's people, he is stronger than the good God.
2209. 42.6.4Epiphanius argues that the just and the good are the same.
2210. 42.6.5A just judge rewards good and punishes evil, and so is good.
2211. 42.6.6God's goodness does not reward the unrepentant at the end, though he gives sun and rain to all now.
2212. 42.6.7A just and good God cannot reward the wicked with salvation.
2213. 42.6.8If Marcion's evil principle can seize what belongs to the other two, it is the strongest.
2214. 42.6.9The two gods would then be shown powerless against the evil one.
2215. 42.7.1An evil principle that desires the good would no longer be simply evil.
2216. 42.7.2An evil principle that punishes wrongdoing would be just, so Marcion's system refutes itself.
2217. 42.7.3If the three principles are bounded by places, the boundaries are greater than they.
2218. 42.7.4If the principles keep peacefully to their own places, none is evil or opposed.
2219. 42.7.5A good God who invades the evil one's domain to take what is not his would be a tyrant.
2220. 42.7.6A boundary between the principles would require a fourth, wiser arbiter.
2221. 42.7.7Such an arbiter would himself need a place, and the argument regresses.
2222. 42.7.8If the other two act within the creator's domain, the creator is either good or powerless.
2223. 42.7.9A weaker creator could not preserve his creation from both rivals.
2224. 42.7.10If the good God could end the creation's misery, his delay makes him responsible for the harm.
2225. 42.8.1Marcion argues from Gal 3:13 that Christ bought us because we belonged to another.
2226. 42.8.2Marcion claims we were another's creatures, purchased by Christ.
2227. 42.8.3Epiphanius explains that Christ did not become a curse but undid the curse.
2228. 42.8.4Paul says 'redeemed', not 'bought', so Christ did not purchase what was foreign to him.
2229. 42.8.5Buying would imply that our owner sold us out of need, which is not what Paul says.
2230. 42.8.6Paul's 'redeeming the time' shows that 'redeem' does not mean a purchase.
2231. 42.8.7Christ's 'redemption' means his willing incarnation and cross, not a purchase from another god.
2232. 42.8.8Many other arguments could be brought against Marcion.
2233. 42.9.1Marcion uses only a mutilated Gospel of Luke, lacking the birth narratives.
2234. 42.9.2Marcion cut and added material throughout his Luke.
2235. 42.9.3Marcion also uses ten Pauline letters, altered, and wrote his own treatises.
2236. 42.9.4Epiphanius lists Marcion's ten Pauline letters in Marcion's order, plus parts of 'Laodiceans'.
2237. 42.9.5Epiphanius will refute Marcion from Marcion's own texts.
2238. 42.9.6Marcion's own texts show Christ is not foreign to the Old Testament.
2239. 42.9.7They also show the resurrection of the flesh and the salvation of the patriarchs.
2240. 42.10.1Epiphanius introduces an earlier treatise he wrote against Marcion.
2241. 42.10.2Epiphanius explains how he excerpted and numbered passages from Marcion's Gospel and Apostolikon.
2242. 42.10.3The passages Marcion kept tell against him.
2243. 42.10.4Some passages Marcion altered.
2244. 42.10.5Other passages he left unchanged, and they show the two covenants agree.
2245. 42.10.6Some passages show Christ's true incarnation.
2246. 42.10.7Others confess the resurrection and the one Creator God.
2247. 42.10.8Epiphanius introduces the preface of his earlier treatise.
2248. 42.11.1Preface: readers who want to know Marcion's inventions should read this collection.
2249. 42.11.2The excerpts from Marcion's gospel are given for refuting him.
2250. 42.11.3Marcion's gospel resembles Luke but is mutilated like a moth-eaten garment.
2251. 42.11.4Marcion omitted Luke's prologue, infancy narratives, genealogy and baptism.
2252. 42.11.5Marcion's gospel began with Luke 3:1.
2253. 42.11.6Epiphanius lists 78 passages from Marcion's gospel, noting what Marcion cut, added and changed from Luke.
2254. 42.11.7Epiphanius introduces his excerpts from Marcion's Apostolikon.
2255. 42.11.8Epiphanius lists 40 excerpts from Marcion's Apostolikon, with Marcion's changes, arranged by letter.
2256. 42.11.9Epiphanius sums up Marcion's compilation.
2257. 42.11.10Marcion's Apostolikon contains only some of Paul's letters.
2258. 42.11.11Epiphanius notes the letters lacking or defective in Marcion's collection.
2259. 42.11.12The compilation is tampered with and contains harmful additions.
2260. 42.11.13Epiphanius explains the purpose of his excerpts.
2261. 42.11.14Omitted passages were removed because they contradicted Marcion's views.
2262. 42.11.15Epiphanius states that he will also collect passages showing the incarnation and the unity of the covenants.
2263. 42.11.16Epiphanius describes his compilation as brief scholia made from Marcion's own copies.
2264. 42.11.17Epiphanius repeats each of his 78 excerpts from Marcion's gospel and refutes Marcion from it, chiefly on Christ's real flesh, the unity of God, and the Old Testament.
2265. 42.12.1Epiphanius concludes his refutation from Marcion's gospel.
2266. 42.12.2Epiphanius turns to the excerpts from Marcion's Apostolikon, beginning with Galatians.
2267. 42.12.3Epiphanius repeats each of his 40 excerpts from Marcion's Pauline letters and refutes Marcion from them, arguing that Paul upholds the Law, the prophets, the one Creator and the resurrection of the body.
2268. 42.13.1Epiphanius reflects on his compilation of excerpts from Marcion's own Scripture.
2269. 42.13.2Epiphanius counts 78 testimonies from Marcion's gospel and 40 from his Apostolikon.
2270. 42.13.3The 118 testimonies all contradict Marcion; Epiphanius finds meaning in the numbers 18 and 100.
2271. 42.13.4One further testimony comes from Marcion's 'Laodiceans', which is not in the church's Pauline collection.
2272. 42.13.5Marcion fails to see that the texts he keeps refute him.
2273. 42.13.6Claiming to use the gospel, Marcion had to keep some of its words.
2274. 42.13.7All of Scripture is alive; no part of it could serve Marcion's falsehood.
2275. 42.13.8Even the parts Marcion kept remain alive and speak against him.
2276. 42.14.1Some Marcionites blaspheme the origin of the Lord himself.
2277. 42.14.2Some Marcionites call Christ the son of the evil one, others the son of the creator.
2278. 42.14.3They say Christ abandoned his own father and joined the good God above.
2279. 42.14.4In this view Christ came to undo the laws of his own natural father.
2280. 42.15.1Such teaching is plainly from an unclean spirit.
2281. 42.15.2Intelligent readers will see through this blasphemy.
2282. 42.15.3Epiphanius will nonetheless briefly refute this view with the sword of the word.
2283. 42.16.1If a good son came from an evil father, the evil principle could also change.
2284. 42.16.2Christ came to save sinners because he is good and merciful.
2285. 42.16.3A good son would first have converted his own father.
2286. 42.16.4A son who deserted one father would not be trusted by another.
2287. 42.16.5Disloyalty to his own father would make him untrustworthy.
2288. 42.16.6Marcion's account implies the good God had no envoy of his own.
2289. 42.16.7On Marcion's view the good God depended on a quarrel between Christ and his father.
2290. 42.16.8A son opposed to the creator's work would have destroyed the creation.
2291. 42.16.9Or he should first have healed and converted his own father.
2292. 42.16.10There are not three principles, and Christ has no other father.
2293. 42.16.11Christ's words 'I am in the Father' exclude a false father.
2294. 42.16.12Christ teaches that his true Father is the good Creator and warns those who dishonour the Son.
2295. 42.16.13The one God, the Father, eternally begets a Son who is good, love, life, truth and light like him.
2296. 42.16.14Having crushed Marcion's sect, Epiphanius moves on to the next.
2297. 43.1.1Epiphanius distinguishes the ancient Lucian, a Marcionite, from the later Lucian claimed by the Arians.
2298. 43.1.2Lucian broke from Marcion and founded his own sect.
2299. 43.1.3Little is known of Lucian, whose sect died out early.
2300. 43.1.4Lucian holds three principles and cites prophetic texts in his favour.
2301. 43.1.5Lucian rejects marriage so as not to increase the creator's world by childbearing.
2302. 43.1.6Lucian is refuted by the same arguments used against Marcion.
2303. 43.1.7John 1:1–3 shows that the Word made all things.
2304. 43.2.1Rejecting marriage to avoid the creator's work is irrational.
2305. 43.2.2Lucian cannot avoid using the creator's food and clothing.
2306. 43.2.3God, the creator, provides for all, good and wicked alike.
2307. 43.2.4God's patience now gives room for repentance before the judgment.
2308. 43.2.5Those who persist in error face judgment after death, though God does not judge in anger.
2309. 43.2.6Each person causes his own condemnation; God is not to blame.
2310. 43.2.7Lucian is exposed as one of the 'children of perdition'.
2311. 43.2.8Having dispatched Lucian briefly, Epiphanius moves on.
2312. 44.1.1Apelles, a disciple of Marcion and fellow student of Lucian, founded the Apelleans.
2313. 44.1.2Apelles departed from Marcion to found his own school.
2314. 44.1.3Apelles says Marcion was mistaken; error refutes itself while truth stands firm.
2315. 44.1.4Apelles teaches one good God who does not care for this world.
2316. 44.1.5The good God made another god, who created the world.
2317. 44.1.6The world's maker proved bad and made the world badly.
2318. 44.1.7Apelles' teaching is absurd and fails in two ways.
2319. 44.1.8Either the good God did not foresee the maker's badness, or he made him deliberately.
2320. 44.1.9Either way, the God above becomes responsible for creation.
2321. 44.2.1Apelles teaches that Christ, Son of the good God, came to save those who know him.
2322. 44.2.2Apelles says Christ had real flesh, but not from Mary.
2323. 44.2.3Christ's body was gathered from the four elements as he descended.
2324. 44.2.4Epiphanius links Apelles' view to Greek poetic ideas.
2325. 44.2.5Apelles' Christ formed his body from the four elemental qualities.
2326. 44.2.6Apelles cites the saying 'Be approved money-changers' to justify selecting from Scripture.
2327. 44.2.7Apelles holds that Christ truly suffered, died and rose in that body.
2328. 44.2.8Apelles says Christ returned his body to the elements before ascending.
2329. 44.3.1Epiphanius mocks Apelles' account as theatre.
2330. 44.3.2Why make a body only to dissolve it?
2331. 44.3.3If the body was only for temporary use, it should have been left on earth.
2332. 44.3.4Apelles makes Christ's resurrection pointless labour.
2333. 44.3.5The body's solid remains would have been visible to the apostles.
2334. 44.3.7At his burial Joseph of Arimathea wrapped and laid his body in a tomb.
2335. 44.3.8The women would have known where to honour such remains.
2336. 44.3.9The apostles saw Christ ascend and no remains were left.
2337. 44.4.1Like Marcion, Apelles denies the resurrection of the dead.
2338. 44.4.2Falsehood cannot stand against the truth.
2339. 44.4.3Scripture teaches that God made man in his image.
2340. 44.4.4Genesis 1:26 lights the way from Apelles' error to the truth.
2341. 44.4.5'Let us make' shows the Father speaking with the Son and the Spirit.
2342. 44.4.6Christ would not have taken on the creator's image if the creator were a different god.
2343. 44.4.7The Son is the maker of man, to whom the Father spoke.
2344. 44.4.8The same one formed Adam from earth.
2345. 44.4.9John 1:1–3 confirms the Word as creator.
2346. 44.4.10The Word who formed Adam took a body from Mary.
2347. 44.4.11Christ could not take the work of an evil maker without sharing its evil.
2348. 44.4.12Christ took a human soul as well as flesh.
2349. 44.4.13Christ assumed the whole human being in body and soul.
2350. 44.4.14Apelles' position falls without a foundation.
2351. 44.5.1Apelles sets himself up as a judge over Scripture.
2352. 44.5.2If Christ came to save men, they were his own.
2353. 44.5.3Otherwise Christ would be a flatterer or vainglorious.
2354. 44.5.4Or Christ would be a poor god plundering another's creation.
2355. 44.5.5If souls came from the good God, they were sent into a good world.
2356. 44.5.6If souls failed their purpose, their sender lacked foreknowledge.
2357. 44.5.7If souls were stolen, the maker is stronger than the good God.
2358. 44.5.8Christ's own soul shows souls are not foreign to him.
2359. 44.5.9A good being would not wear a body made by an evil maker.
2360. 44.5.10Why raise the body only to dissolve it again?
2361. 44.5.11Christ raised his body and took it with him wholly.
2362. 44.5.12Christ ascended bodily and will return in the same way.
2363. 44.6.1Stephen saw the Son of Man in heaven long after the ascension.
2364. 44.6.2Christ's risen body was made spiritual and united to his Godhead.
2365. 44.6.3Christ is seated in his body at the Father's right hand.
2366. 44.6.4Paul teaches that the mortal body will put on immortality.
2367. 44.6.5Christ's death and resurrection in the body are our pledge of resurrection.
2368. 44.7.1Apelles' sect, like a small wasp, has lost its sting.
2369. 44.7.2Epiphanius describes the zopyrus wasp.
2370. 44.7.3When its nest is disturbed, the wasp comes out angry.
2371. 44.7.4The wasp harmlessly strikes a rock in its anger.
2372. 44.7.5The wasp loses its sting on the rock and dies.
2373. 44.7.6Apelles' sect, like the wasp, is undone by the rock of truth.
2374. 44.7.7Epiphanius moves on to the next sect.
2375. 45.1.1Epiphanius introduces Severus, of uncertain date.
2376. 45.1.2Severus founded the Severians after Apelles.
2377. 45.1.3Severus attributes creation to powers and places a good God in the highest heaven.
2378. 45.1.4Severus makes the devil a serpent, son of the ruler Ialdabaoth or Sabaoth.
2379. 45.1.5Severus says the vine sprang from the serpent-devil's seed in the earth.
2380. 45.1.6The vine's twisting shape is taken as proof of its serpent origin.
2381. 45.1.7Grapes are said to be drops of venom.
2382. 45.1.8Severians abstain from wine as the dragon's venom.
2383. 45.2.1Severians call woman and marriage the work of Satan.
2384. 45.2.2Severus divides the human body between God and the devil at the navel.
2385. 45.2.3Desire is attributed to the lower, devilish half of the body.
2386. 45.3.1Severus is easily refuted like the other sects.
2387. 45.3.2The body's God-given appetites, including sexual desire, are not evil in themselves.
2388. 45.3.3Sexual desire is given for procreation, as God commanded.
2389. 45.4.1Severians use apocrypha and select words from the canonical books.
2390. 45.4.2Christ's words at the Supper show the vine is not the devil's.
2391. 45.4.3Scripture foresaw and refuted such errors in advance.
2392. 45.4.4Christ calls himself the true vine.
2393. 45.4.5The apostolic 'Ordinance' calls the church God's vineyard.
2394. 45.4.6Christ's parable of the vineyard and the tenants.
2395. 45.4.7Christ's parable of the workers in the vineyard.
2396. 45.4.8Even a small light of truth dispels this darkness.
2397. 45.4.9Epiphanius treats the Severians briefly since few if any remain.
2398. 45.4.10Epiphanius moves on to the next sect, asking God's help.
2399. 46.1.1Epiphanius introduces Tatian.
2400. 46.1.2Tatian was at first associated with Justin Martyr.
2401. 46.1.3Epiphanius gives an account of Justin's martyrdom at Rome under Rusticus.
2402. 46.1.4While Justin lived, Tatian remained sound in faith.
2403. 46.1.5After Justin's death Tatian fell away like a blind man without a guide.
2404. 46.1.6Tatian, a Syrian, founded his school in Mesopotamia about AD 150.
2405. 46.1.7In the East Tatian adopted Valentinian-style aeons and emanations.
2406. 46.1.8Tatian's teaching spread from Antioch to Cilicia and Pisidia; the Encratites derive from him.
2407. 46.1.9Tatian is credited with the Diatessaron.
2408. 46.2.1Tatian denies Adam's salvation and equates marriage with sexual immorality.
2409. 46.2.2Epiphanius accuses Tatian of hypocritical asceticism.
2410. 46.2.3Tatian's followers use only water in their Eucharist.
2411. 46.2.4Tatian's school has probably died out.
2412. 46.2.5Many first principles are impossible.
2413. 46.2.6All things trace back to one first cause.
2414. 46.2.7If Adam is not saved, none of his descendants can be.
2415. 46.3.1Tatian condemns marriage though he himself was born of it.
2416. 46.3.2Marriage produces those who are saved, so it is not an abomination.
2417. 46.3.3Adam, not born of marriage but formed by God, would on Tatian's view be saved first.
2418. 46.3.4Christ's raisings of the dead show his power to save Adam.
2419. 46.3.5Christ's healing with clay recalls his forming of Adam.
2420. 46.3.6By supplying the missing part with clay, Christ shows he is the creator.
2421. 46.3.7It is absurd that Christ would save Adam's descendants but not Adam.
2422. 46.3.8Tatian's view makes Christ too weak to save the repentant Adam.
2423. 46.3.9Christ's descent to the dead shows his will to save them.
2424. 46.3.10If the lump is holy, so are its branches; and Eve is saved through childbearing.
2425. 46.4.1Tatian's blasphemy is plain to the intelligent.
2426. 46.4.2The Lord's teaching heals those harmed by Tatian.
2427. 46.4.3Epiphanius reads the parables of the lost sheep and the Good Samaritan as about Adam.
2428. 46.4.4Adam is saved; Christ came to grant amnesty to the living by repentance and to the dead in Hades by mercy.
2429. 46.5.1Epiphanius turns to the tradition about Golgotha.
2430. 46.5.2Epiphanius reports that Adam was buried at Golgotha.
2431. 46.5.3Golgotha, 'Place of the Skull', does not look like a skull.
2432. 46.5.4Golgotha is not on a hilltop.
2433. 46.5.5Other nearby heights are higher than Golgotha.
2434. 46.5.6The name comes from Adam's skull buried there.
2435. 46.5.7The water and blood from Christ's side sprinkled Adam's remains beneath the cross.
2436. 46.5.8This sprinkling signifies the cleansing of Adam's descendants.
2437. 46.5.9Eph 5:14 was fulfilled first in Adam at Golgotha.
2438. 46.5.10The saints' bodies, not only souls, rose at Christ's death.
2439. 46.5.11Epiphanius moves on from Tatian.
2440. 47.1.1The Encratites follow Tatian but go further.
2441. 47.1.2Encratites are numerous in Pisidia and 'Burnt Phrygia'.
2442. 47.1.3Encratites are also found in Asia, Isauria, Pamphylia and near Antioch.
2443. 47.1.4Encratites hold that the devil is an independent power opposed to God.
2444. 47.1.5Encratites use the apocryphal Acts of Andrew, John and Thomas.
2445. 47.1.6Encratites call marriage devilish and abstain from meat out of fear.
2446. 47.1.7Encratites use water in their mysteries and reject wine.
2447. 47.1.9The Encratites' teachings are incoherent.
2448. 47.2.1Both covenants proclaim one God, which excludes several principles.
2449. 47.2.2Scripture shows marriage is from God and honourable.
2450. 47.2.3Encratites cite Noah's drunkenness against wine.
2451. 47.2.4They also cite Lot's incest and Prov 23:29–30.
2452. 47.2.5Only excess, not wine itself, is forbidden.
2453. 47.2.6Scripture warns against all excess, not against food and drink as such.
2454. 47.2.7Paul warns against gluttony.
2455. 47.2.8Esau lost his birthright through a stew, which Epiphanius explains.
2456. 47.2.9Greed harmed Esau more than wine harmed Noah.
2457. 47.3.1Epiphanius accuses the Encratites of hypocrisy with women.
2458. 47.3.2Their water-only mysteries are false imitations.
2459. 47.3.3Christ's words about the fruit of the vine refute them.
2460. 47.3.4Epiphanius prays for guidance before the next sect.
2461. 47.3.5Epiphanius hopes to provide an antidote to heresy for all readers.
2462. 48.1.1Epiphanius introduces the Phrygians (Montanists).
2463. 48.1.2The Phrygians arose about AD 156–157.
2464. 48.1.3The Phrygians accept Scripture and the resurrection but follow Montanus, Priscilla and Maximilla as prophets.
2465. 48.1.4The Phrygians are orthodox on the Trinity but split off over prophetic gifts.
2466. 48.1.5The church receives the true, tested spiritual gifts.
2467. 48.1.6John commands believers to test the spirits.
2468. 48.1.7The Phrygians left the church through contentiousness.
2469. 48.2.1If prophecy must continue, why have the Phrygians no prophets after their founders?
2470. 48.2.2If prophecy ceased, Priscilla and Maximilla came too late.
2471. 48.2.3Either they have prophets after Maximilla or she was a false prophet.
2472. 48.2.4Maximilla prophesied that after her would come the end.
2473. 48.2.5True prophecy is fulfilled.
2474. 48.2.6Maximilla's prophecy of the end has failed.
2475. 48.2.7Some 290 years have passed without the end Maximilla foretold.
2476. 48.2.8Those who leave the truth are like sheep outside the fold.
2477. 48.2.9Maximilla's own oracle undermines Montanist claims to continuing prophecy.
2478. 48.3.1True prophets prophesied with sound minds according to the measure of faith.
2479. 48.3.2The Montanists are the false prophets Christ warned of.
2480. 48.3.3Epiphanius proposes to compare Montanist prophecy with biblical prophecy.
2481. 48.3.4Biblical prophets spoke with sound minds.
2482. 48.3.5Isaiah saw, heard and then delivered God's message consciously.
2483. 48.3.6Isaiah prophesied fully aware.
2484. 48.3.7Ezekiel answered God with a clear mind.
2485. 48.3.8True prophets keep a sound mind and can even reply to God.
2486. 48.3.9Daniel interpreted dreams with full understanding.
2487. 48.3.10Daniel's wisdom came from the Holy Spirit.
2488. 48.3.11Montanist prophecies are incoherent.
2489. 48.4.1Montanus's oracle compares the prophet to a lyre played by the Spirit.
2490. 48.4.2Montanus's words are unlike those of true prophets.
2491. 48.4.3Montanus's oracle reveals ecstasy, not the Holy Spirit.
2492. 48.4.4Montanists cite Adam's 'ecstasy' in Gen 2:21 in their defence.
2493. 48.4.5The case of Adam is not comparable.
2494. 48.4.6Adam's ecstasy was sleep; the word has several senses.
2495. 48.4.7Adam's ecstasy was natural deep sleep.
2496. 48.5.1In sleep the senses 'stand outside' their activity.
2497. 48.5.2Smell too is suspended in sleep.
2498. 48.5.3Taste is suspended in sleep.
2499. 48.5.4Hearing is suspended in sleep.
2500. 48.5.5Touch is suspended in sleep.
2501. 48.5.6In sleep the body rests but the soul keeps its reason.
2502. 48.5.7The soul remains active in dreams.
2503. 48.5.8Sleep differs from the madness of the ecstatic.
2504. 48.6.1Epiphanius explains why he has discussed kinds of ecstasy.
2505. 48.6.2Sleep is God's merciful gift of rest.
2506. 48.6.3God put Adam into deep sleep so he would feel no pain.
2507. 48.6.4Adam awoke with full understanding and recognized Eve.
2508. 48.6.5Adam knew past and present and foretold the future, so he was not out of his mind.
2509. 48.6.6Adam's prophecy about marriage came from a sound mind, not from ecstasy.
2510. 48.7.1The Psalmist's 'ecstasy' does not mean madness.
2511. 48.7.2The prophets' ecstasy was wonder, not loss of reason.
2512. 48.7.3Peter's ecstasy was a vision, not madness.
2513. 48.7.4Peter saw the sheet let down from heaven.
2514. 48.7.5Peter's reasoned objection shows he kept his mind.
2515. 48.7.6David spoke in his own person about human falsehood.
2516. 48.7.7David's saying expresses wonder at God's mercy and ascribes truth to God alone.
2517. 48.7.8Abraham's and Moses' visions came with fear, not madness.
2518. 48.7.9Abraham understood God's prophecy of Israel's sojourn.
2519. 48.7.10The prophets spoke with sound minds.
2520. 48.8.1Epiphanius denies that later prophetic gifts differ in kind from earlier ones.
2521. 48.8.2The witnesses of the ascension heard the angels with sound minds.
2522. 48.8.3Peter remained steady in mind during his vision.
2523. 48.8.4Agabus prophesied Paul's arrest with a symbolic act.
2524. 48.8.5The Antioch prophets' prediction of famine came true.
2525. 48.8.6Paul prophesied about the last days.
2526. 48.8.7Paul foretold teachers who would forbid marriage and foods.
2527. 48.8.8Epiphanius sees Paul's prophecy fulfilled in heresies that forbid marriage and foods.
2528. 48.9.1The church honors virginity, widowhood, and marriage, and forbids sexual sin.
2529. 48.9.2The church's balance shows its true character over against the heresies.
2530. 48.9.3Paul's warning distinguishes the church from heresies that forbid marriage.
2531. 48.9.4Christ commends virginity and continence but honors marriage.
2532. 48.9.5Priesthood is given chiefly to the once-married living in continence and to virgins.
2533. 48.9.6A layman may remarry after his wife's death.
2534. 48.9.7The Montanists expel those who remarry.
2535. 48.9.8The church encourages but does not compel abstention from second marriage.
2536. 48.9.9Paul bears with the weak, as his counsel on younger widows shows.
2537. 48.9.10Only widows who broke a vow are condemned for remarrying; Paul permits others to marry.
2538. 48.10.1True prophets, including John, speak knowingly.
2539. 48.10.2Prophetic formulas show the prophets' clear minds.
2540. 48.10.3Montanus promised that the saved would outshine sun and moon a hundredfold.
2541. 48.10.4Christ alone gives glory to the saints' faces and raises their bodies.
2542. 48.10.5The same bodies will be raised and glorified by Christ.
2543. 48.10.6Christ promised faces shining like the sun, not Montanus's hundredfold.
2544. 48.10.7Montanus's promise resembles the serpent's promise to Adam.
2545. 48.11.1Montanus claimed to be the Lord God Almighty dwelling in a man.
2546. 48.11.2Scripture teaches us to recognize false spirits.
2547. 48.11.3Montanus's claim recalls Christ's warning about one who comes in his own name.
2548. 48.11.4Montanus and his sect are alien to the catholic church.
2549. 48.11.5The true Paraclete glorifies Christ; Montanus glorifies himself.
2550. 48.11.6Christ glorified the Father and the Spirit; Montanus glorifies only himself.
2551. 48.11.7All fullness dwells in Christ, and the prophets received from him.
2552. 48.11.8The prophets and apostles glorified Christ; Montanus puts himself forward.
2553. 48.11.9Montanus claimed to be God the Father come in person.
2554. 48.11.10Montanus is cut off from Christ, the head, and calls himself the Father.
2555. 48.12.1Epiphanius rejects the Montanists' claim that they left the church for the sake of spiritual gifts.
2556. 48.12.2Montanist prophecy does not match the gifts Christ promised.
2557. 48.12.3Epiphanius mocks the strange names of the Montanist prophets.
2558. 48.12.4Maximilla told her hearers not to listen to her but to Christ.
2559. 48.12.5The apostles invited hearing and imitation of themselves in Christ, unlike Maximilla.
2560. 48.12.6Like unclean spirits, Maximilla unwillingly spoke the truth.
2561. 48.12.7Maximilla's saying is like the forced confessions of demons.
2562. 48.12.8Her followers contradict her own instruction by listening to her.
2563. 48.12.9A self-contradicting prophet shows which spirit speaks in her.
2564. 48.12.10If she spoke as a human being, she was not in the Holy Spirit.
2565. 48.12.11The Holy Spirit speaks in Scripture in the persons of Father, Son, and Spirit, never against itself.
2566. 48.12.12The Holy Spirit would not disown its own words.
2567. 48.12.13The Spirit of the Father and the Son would not say 'Do not listen to me.'
2568. 48.12.14Father, Son, and Spirit act and speak in harmony.
2569. 48.12.15Those who leave Christ's way are refuted.
2570. 48.13.1Maximilla claimed to be sent under compulsion to teach the knowledge of God.
2571. 48.13.2Believers should not be tripped up by the adversary's words.
2572. 48.13.3Christ came freely, not under compulsion, unlike the spirit in Maximilla.
2573. 48.13.4Christ calls people freely, without compulsion.
2574. 48.13.5Scripture's invitations show that God calls the willing.
2575. 48.13.6The Montanists disagree with Scripture at every point.
2576. 48.13.7Maximilla's claim to compel all to know God is shown false.
2577. 48.13.8Most of the world has never heard of Maximilla.
2578. 48.14.1The Montanists revere Pepuza, where they expect the heavenly Jerusalem to descend.
2579. 48.14.2Montanist rites at Pepuza and the spread of the sect.
2580. 48.14.3Epiphanius introduces the name Tascodrugites.
2581. 48.14.4The name Tascodrugites comes from a gesture used in prayer.
2582. 48.14.5Epiphanius reports a rumored crime among the Montanists or Quintillians.
2583. 48.14.6The rumored crime: drawing a child's blood with needles for a rite.
2584. 48.15.1Epiphanius explains the sources of his reports.
2585. 48.15.2Epiphanius claims to report only what he knows, not inventions.
2586. 48.15.3His refutations are meant as medicine.
2587. 48.15.4The medicine both cures and protects.
2588. 48.15.5Sharing the truth makes us disciples of the apostles and of Christ.
2589. 48.15.6Epiphanius likens the heresy to a viper whose bite draws out the blood.
2590. 48.15.7The rumored blood rite of the Quintillians is repeated.
2591. 48.15.8Epiphanius prays for help as he moves on.
2592. 49.1.1The Quintillians are a branch of the Montanists.
2593. 49.1.2The Quintillians claim Christ visited one of their prophetesses at Pepuza.
2594. 49.1.3The prophetess said Christ appeared to her as a woman and revealed Pepuza as holy.
2595. 49.1.4Men and women are still initiated at Pepuza.
2596. 49.1.5Women among them are called prophetesses.
2597. 49.2.1The Quintillians accept both Testaments and the resurrection.
2598. 49.2.2The sect appeals to Eve, Miriam, and Philip's daughters to justify women clergy.
2599. 49.2.3Seven virgins in white come in with lamps to prophesy.
2600. 49.2.4The virgins move the people to tears with their display.
2601. 49.2.5The sect has women bishops and presbyters, citing Galatians.
2602. 49.2.6The name Artotyrites comes from their use of bread and cheese in their rites.
2603. 49.3.1Leaving the true faith leads to frenzy.
2604. 49.3.2Epiphanius answers the appeal to Eve with Genesis 3:16.
2605. 49.3.3Paul's teaching is cited against women holding church office.
2606. 49.3.4Epiphanius dismisses the heresy and moves on.
2607. 50.1.1The Quartodecimans are introduced.
2608. 50.1.2The Quartodecimans are orthodox except in following Jewish customs.
2609. 50.1.3They keep Easter on one fixed day but are otherwise orthodox.
2610. 50.1.4They rely on a supposed curse in the Law.
2611. 50.1.5Some Quartodecimans date the passion from the Acts of Pilate to 25 March.
2612. 50.1.6Some keep the 14th of the moon, the Cappadocians 25 March.
2613. 50.1.7The Quartodecimans disagree among themselves.
2614. 50.1.8Epiphanius dates the passion to 20 March against other dates.
2615. 50.1.9Epiphanius will keep his account short.
2616. 50.2.1Deuteronomy's curses cover many commands, not only the Passover.
2617. 50.2.2By keeping one law they incur the curses of all the others.
2618. 50.2.3Ecclesiastes describes how people seek many crooked ways.
2619. 50.2.4The Law requires the lamb from the tenth day, so their one-day fast fails.
2620. 50.2.5Their reckoning of a one-day fast is inconsistent.
2621. 50.2.6Christ's sacrifice on the fourteenth fulfilled the Law's type.
2622. 50.2.7The waning moon pictures the synagogue's eclipse by the gospel.
2623. 50.2.8At Jericho the manna ceased after the Passover.
2624. 50.2.9The end of the manna foreshadows the end of the Law's gifts at the passion.
2625. 50.3.1The church keeps the true reckoning of Easter.
2626. 50.3.2The church also follows the weekly cycle so Easter falls on the day of resurrection.
2627. 50.3.3The church also follows the solar year.
2628. 50.3.4The church observes the fourteenth, the equinox, and Sunday, and sees Jesus in the tenth day.
2629. 50.3.5Epiphanius moves on from the Quartodecimans.
2630. 51.1.1A new heresy arose, like a weak snake repelled by strong scents.
2631. 51.1.2Dittany, which aids childbirth, pictures the eternally begotten Word.
2632. 51.1.3The heretics hate the firm teaching of the faith.
2633. 51.1.4The heretics fear the voice of the Lord that empowers the apostles against serpents.
2634. 51.1.5John above all refuted the serpent-like heretics.
2635. 51.2.1Noah's ark sealed with pitch pictures the church repelling heresy.
2636. 51.2.2The church's fragrant herbs drive the serpents away.
2637. 51.2.3John's Gospel arose in Asia against those who called Christ a mere man.
2638. 51.2.4In old age John was moved by the Spirit to preach against error in Asia.
2639. 51.2.5Where true teaching grows, false teaching cannot stay.
2640. 51.3.1Epiphanius names the sect 'Alogi'.
2641. 51.3.2They are called Alogi because they reject John's writings about the Word.
2642. 51.3.3The Alogi reject both John's Gospel and Revelation.
2643. 51.3.4Rejecting only Revelation might be excused as caution.
2644. 51.3.5Rejecting all of John's books marks them as the antichrists John foretold.
2645. 51.3.6The Alogi ascribe John's writings to Cerinthus.
2646. 51.4.1Books that oppose Cerinthus cannot be his.
2647. 51.4.2Cerinthus calls Christ a mere man; John proclaims the eternal Word made flesh.
2648. 51.4.3Though seemingly orthodox, the Alogi oppose John's secure teaching.
2649. 51.4.4The church accepts the Spirit's teachings in John.
2650. 51.4.5The Alogi claim John's books disagree with the other apostles.
2651. 51.4.6The Alogi's objection begins by citing John's prologue.
2652. 51.4.7The objection continues through John 1.
2653. 51.4.8The objection cites Jesus' call of Philip the next day.
2654. 51.4.9The objection cites the wedding at Cana three days later.
2655. 51.4.10The Alogi set John's chronology against the Synoptic temptation account.
2656. 51.4.11Each evangelist agrees with the others and supplies what they omitted, under the Spirit's guidance.
2657. 51.4.12The Synoptic Gospels also begin at different points.
2658. 51.5.1Matthew, the converted tax collector, fittingly wrote the first Gospel.
2659. 51.5.2Matthew received powers to confirm his preaching by deeds.
2660. 51.5.3Matthew wrote in Hebrew and began with the genealogy from Abraham.
2661. 51.5.4Matthew opens with Christ's genealogy and virginal conception.
2662. 51.5.5The angel tells Joseph not to put Mary away.
2663. 51.5.6Matthew cites Isaiah's prophecy of the virgin birth.
2664. 51.5.7Joseph takes Mary as his wife.
2665. 51.5.8Matthew tells of the magi.
2666. 51.5.9Matthew omits Luke's account of Zechariah.
2667. 51.5.10Matthew also omits the Annunciation in Luke.
2668. 51.6.1Omissions do not make Matthew or Luke untrue.
2669. 51.6.2God assigned each evangelist his share, with common and distinct material.
2670. 51.6.3Matthew records the birth at Bethlehem and the genealogies.
2671. 51.6.4Mark begins his Gospel at the Jordan.
2672. 51.6.5John wrote what the others had left for him.
2673. 51.6.6Some misread Matthew's genealogy and fell into error.
2674. 51.6.7Cerinthus, Ebion, and others made Christ a mere man.
2675. 51.6.8These heretics misused the genealogy against the apostles.
2676. 51.6.9John and his companions opposed them, but they persisted.
2677. 51.6.10Mark wrote the second Gospel in Rome as Peter's follower.
2678. 51.6.11Epiphanius says Mark was one of the seventy-two who left at the hard saying but returned through Peter.
2679. 51.6.12Mark begins thirty years after Matthew's opening events.
2680. 51.6.13Mark's less explicit account led the heretics further astray.
2681. 51.6.14The heretics argued from Mark that Christ became Son at his baptism.
2682. 51.7.1The Spirit moved Luke to supply what the others left out.
2683. 51.7.2Luke traces the account back to its beginnings.
2684. 51.7.3Luke's prologue contrasts eyewitnesses with those who merely undertook to write.
2685. 51.7.4Luke writes so that Theophilus may know the certainty of what he was taught.
2686. 51.7.5Theophilus had been taught but lacked certainty.
2687. 51.7.6Luke begins with Zechariah and Elizabeth.
2688. 51.7.7Each evangelist begins at a different point in time.
2689. 51.7.8Luke's narrative covers a little more than thirty-one years.
2690. 51.7.9Luke alone narrates the shepherds, circumcision, presentation, and childhood.
2691. 51.8.1Pagan critics attacked the evangelists over supposed contradictions.
2692. 51.8.2The critics object that Luke's timeline conflicts with Matthew's.
2693. 51.8.3The critics say the flight to Egypt came the night of the birth.
2694. 51.8.4The critics accuse Luke of lying about the circumcision and presentation.
2695. 51.9.1Matthew skips from the birth to the coming of the magi two years later.
2696. 51.9.2Herod's inquiry shows the magi came two years after the birth.
2697. 51.9.3Luke and Matthew cover different periods.
2698. 51.9.4Herod planned to kill the child among many others.
2699. 51.9.5Herod's order proves the child was two years old when the magi came.
2700. 51.9.6Luke places the newborn in a manger.
2701. 51.9.7Bethlehem was small and depopulated at the time of the census.
2702. 51.9.8The census crowds left no room in the inn.
2703. 51.9.9After the census the crowds left.
2704. 51.9.10Two years later Joseph and Mary returned to Bethlehem.
2705. 51.9.11The magi found the family in a house, not in the cave of the birth.
2706. 51.9.12The house in Matthew shows the two-year interval.
2707. 51.9.13The flight to Egypt came two years after the birth and lasted two years.
2708. 51.10.1Epiphanius dates the nativity, the magi, and Herod's death.
2709. 51.10.2The family settled in Nazareth and went yearly to Jerusalem.
2710. 51.10.3The Gospels are exact; their critics speak from ignorance.
2711. 51.10.4Luke tells of Jesus at twelve against those who said he appeared fully grown.
2712. 51.10.5Heretics disagree about Christ's origin.
2713. 51.10.6Luke says Jesus was 'supposed' to be Joseph's son.
2714. 51.10.7Joseph was Jesus' father only in name, an elderly widower with sons.
2715. 51.10.8Joseph could not be the father without union.
2716. 51.11.1Under the Law a betrothed woman is already called a wife.
2717. 51.11.2The Gospel mystery is clear only to those taught by the Spirit.
2718. 51.11.3Luke traces the genealogy back to Adam.
2719. 51.11.4Luke ends the genealogy with God.
2720. 51.11.5Luke shows Christ as Son of God and son of Adam, yet the heretics resisted.
2721. 51.11.6Epiphanius says Luke, like Mark, was one of the seventy-two, restored through Paul.
2722. 51.11.7Luke preached first in Gaul, as 2 Timothy's reference to Crescens shows.
2723. 51.12.1Even Luke's genealogy did not correct the heretics.
2724. 51.12.2John wrote his Gospel in old age after returning from Patmos.
2725. 51.12.3John wrote to call the heretics back to the right road.
2726. 51.12.4John affirms the incarnation but denies that Christ began at his birth.
2727. 51.12.5The Word did not begin with any ancestor or day of creation.
2728. 51.12.6John begins with the eternal Word.
2729. 51.12.7John's prologue introduces the Baptist and the true light.
2730. 51.12.8John proclaims the Word made flesh and the Baptist's witness.
2731. 51.13.1Epiphanius notes the variant Bethabara/Bethany in John 1:28.
2732. 51.13.2John's disciples stay with Jesus for a day.
2733. 51.13.3Andrew brings Simon to Jesus.
2734. 51.13.4Jesus calls Philip, who finds Nathanael.
2735. 51.13.5Nathanael confesses Jesus as Son of God.
2736. 51.13.6Jesus promises Nathanael greater things.
2737. 51.13.7John's account shows Jesus returned to the Jordan after the temptation.
2738. 51.13.8The Baptist's later testimonies point back to the baptism.
2739. 51.13.9John's past tense shows the baptism had already happened.
2740. 51.13.10Jesus went to Galilee before returning to John.
2741. 51.14.1Andrew's call began the calling of Peter and the others.
2742. 51.14.2Andrew brought Simon the same day.
2743. 51.14.3Jesus calls Philip on the next day.
2744. 51.14.4Only one of the two disciples is named.
2745. 51.14.5The unnamed disciple was probably John or James.
2746. 51.14.6The Gospel lists put the fishermen before Philip.
2747. 51.15.1After their first day with Jesus, the disciples returned to fishing.
2748. 51.15.2The Cana wedding follows immediately.
2749. 51.15.3Other disciples, not Andrew's group, went with Jesus to Cana.
2750. 51.15.4After Cana Jesus worked other signs at Capernaum.
2751. 51.15.5Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law at Capernaum.
2752. 51.15.6At Nazareth Jesus referred to his earlier signs at Capernaum.
2753. 51.15.7Jesus called the fishermen definitively by the sea.
2754. 51.15.8Luke shows the fishermen already knew Jesus when he entered their boat.
2755. 51.15.9Peter called Jesus 'Master' because of John's testimony.
2756. 51.15.10Peter's confession of sin at the great catch.
2757. 51.15.11Jesus reassures Peter that his call stands.
2758. 51.15.12The partners suggest the unnamed disciple was a son of Zebedee.
2759. 51.15.13The four fishermen left everything to follow Jesus.
2760. 51.15.14The Gospels do not contradict one another.
2761. 51.15.15Epiphanius prepares to set out the full chronology.
2762. 51.16.1Christ was baptized on 8 November, sixty days before his birthday on 6 January.
2763. 51.16.2Jesus was twenty-nine years and ten months old at his baptism.
2764. 51.16.3The chronology continues with the temptation and the return to John.
2765. 51.16.4John points out Jesus two days running.
2766. 51.16.5The eighteenth day after the temptation: Andrew and Simon come to Jesus.
2767. 51.16.6The nineteenth day: the call of Philip and Nathanael.
2768. 51.16.7Cana came exactly at the end of Christ's thirtieth year.
2769. 51.16.8The first sign at Cana ended Christ's thirtieth year.
2770. 51.16.9From Cana on, Jesus worked signs and preached.
2771. 51.17.1The chronology leaves the objectors no room.
2772. 51.17.2John omits the temptation because the other three had recorded it.
2773. 51.17.3The Gospels complement one another and together show one truth.
2774. 51.17.4After the temptation Jesus went to Nazareth, then to John, where the first disciples were called.
2775. 51.17.5Andrew's meeting Jesus first should trouble no one.
2776. 51.17.6Andrew met Jesus first, but Christ chose Peter as leader of the disciples.
2777. 51.17.7Nathanael, Philip, and others, not the fishermen, were with Jesus at Cana.
2778. 51.17.8Jesus read Isaiah at Nazareth some days after the Epiphany.
2779. 51.17.9The full call of the disciples came after John's arrest.
2780. 51.17.10The heresy is rightly called 'without the Word'.
2781. 51.17.11The Alogi cite the Synoptic sequence against John.
2782. 51.18.1The Alogi claim John's Gospel lies about the chronology.
2783. 51.18.2John does record Christ's coming to the Baptist.
2784. 51.18.3John records the Baptist's testimony to the baptism.
2785. 51.18.4John omitted what Matthew had told, to refute those who called Christ a mere man promoted to Sonship.
2786. 51.18.5John focuses on the heavenly origin of Christ.
2787. 51.18.6The Alogi reject John because it omits the temptation.
2788. 51.19.1John, called early but writing last, supplied what the others omitted.
2789. 51.19.2Each Synoptic Gospel begins at a different point.
2790. 51.19.3John's Gospel is spiritual, since the others had covered the fleshly things.
2791. 51.19.4John tells of the gift from the Father given through the Virgin.
2792. 51.19.5The four Gospels together teach both Christ's flesh and his Godhead.
2793. 51.20.1The Cana sign came twenty days after the temptation.
2794. 51.20.2Christ worked no sign before his preaching, apart from reported childhood deeds.
2795. 51.20.3Childhood signs refute the claim that 'Christ' was the dove descending at the Jordan.
2796. 51.20.4Luke tells of Jesus at twelve in the temple.
2797. 51.20.5Jesus' words at twelve show he was Son of God before his baptism.
2798. 51.20.6The Spirit's descent identified the Son and foreshadowed Christian baptism.
2799. 51.21.1Jesus' signs began only after his baptism.
2800. 51.21.2Cana followed the two days spent with John's disciples.
2801. 51.21.3Jesus called Philip on leaving for Galilee.
2802. 51.21.4Jesus attended the Cana wedding to honor and bless marriage.
2803. 51.21.5The Cana wedding.
2804. 51.21.6Mary tells Jesus the wine has run out.
2805. 51.21.7The temptation ended on a high mountain, said to be Tabor.
2806. 51.21.8Matthew places the move to Galilee after John's arrest.
2807. 51.21.9Luke and Matthew agree on the return to Galilee.
2808. 51.21.10Epiphanius reconstructs Jesus' movements before his preaching.
2809. 51.21.11After two days Jesus went to Galilee and Cana.
2810. 51.21.12The Baptist speaks of the baptism as already past.
2811. 51.21.13The dove was the Father's sign to John.
2812. 51.21.14The agreement of the four Gospels refutes the Alogi.
2813. 51.21.15The Alogi say John lies by omitting the temptation.
2814. 51.21.16The objectors misunderstand the Gospels' exactness.
2815. 51.21.17John's account falls before the Baptist's arrest.
2816. 51.21.18The Synoptics narrate the period after John's arrest; all four agree.
2817. 51.21.19John's sequence fits the Synoptic one.
2818. 51.21.20Epiphanius lists the events after the Epiphany.
2819. 51.21.21Jesus' first stay at Capernaum was brief.
2820. 51.21.22Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the Passover.
2821. 51.21.23The cleansing of the temple and Nicodemus's visit.
2822. 51.21.24John notes that the Baptist was not yet in prison.
2823. 51.21.25Jesus left Judea for Galilee after the Baptist's testimony.
2824. 51.21.26Jesus in Samaria.
2825. 51.21.27The healing of the official's son is John's second sign.
2826. 51.21.28Jesus heals the paralytic at the pool in Jerusalem.
2827. 51.21.29Opposition to Jesus began after the sabbath healing.
2828. 51.21.30John 5:18 refutes those who make the Son inferior to the Father.
2829. 51.21.31Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee before the Passover.
2830. 51.21.32John agrees with the other Gospels about the move to Capernaum.
2831. 51.22.1The Alogi object that John has two Passovers, the others one.
2832. 51.22.2The Gospels attest three Passovers in Jesus' ministry.
2833. 51.22.3Christ was born in Augustus's forty-second year.
2834. 51.22.4The birth fell on 6 January, thirteen days after the solstice.
2835. 51.22.5Pagans celebrate the solstice on 25 December.
2836. 51.22.6From solstice to Christ's birthday are thirteen days of growing light.
2837. 51.22.7Ephrem saw the thirteen days as a type of Christ and the Twelve.
2838. 51.22.8Pagans hold a great festival on the night of the Epiphany.
2839. 51.22.9At Alexandria the festival is held in the temple of Kore.
2840. 51.22.10The Alexandrian rite celebrating Kore's birth of the Aeon.
2841. 51.22.11Similar rites are held at Petra and Elusa.
2842. 51.22.12The Epiphany is the feast of Christ's birth.
2843. 51.22.13The star appeared to the magi on the night of the birth.
2844. 51.22.14Herod understood the magi's question concerned more than an earthly king.
2845. 51.22.15No previous king's birth was marked by a star, so Herod recognized a divine sign.
2846. 51.22.16Herod learned the place from the scribes and the time from the magi.
2847. 51.22.17The magi arrived on the Epiphany two years later.
2848. 51.22.18Epiphanius repeats the date of the nativity.
2849. 51.22.19The birth fell twenty-nine years after Augustus's pact with the Jews.
2850. 51.22.20Judea gradually became subject to Rome under Herod.
2851. 51.22.21Christ came when rule from Judah had ceased, fulfilling Jacob's prophecy.
2852. 51.22.22Epiphanius sets out the chronology of Antipater and Herod.
2853. 51.22.23The chronology leading to the birth in Herod's thirty-third year.
2854. 51.22.24Epiphanius lists thirty consulships from Christ's birth.
2855. 51.23.1The consular list confirms the thirty years.
2856. 51.23.2The consular list refutes claims of chronological contradiction.
2857. 51.23.3The Valentinians linked their thirty aeons to Christ's thirty years.
2858. 51.23.4Christ suffered in his thirty-third year.
2859. 51.23.5Christ suffered on 20 March in the eighteenth year of Tiberius.
2860. 51.23.6The Gospels record three Passovers.
2861. 51.24.1The birth date is given in various calendars.
2862. 51.24.2Epiphanius sees a prophecy fulfilled in the date.
2863. 51.24.3Several calendars reflect the 'fifth' of the prophecy.
2864. 51.24.4Jesus was baptized on 8 November in his thirtieth year.
2865. 51.24.5The baptism date is given in various calendars.
2866. 51.24.6Luke 3:23 supports the dating.
2867. 51.24.7From his baptism Jesus proclaimed the acceptable year of the Lord.
2868. 51.25.1Jesus' first year of preaching met no opposition.
2869. 51.25.2In the first year Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2870. 51.25.3Jesus' travels and preaching in the first year.
2871. 51.25.4In the second year the authorities sought to seize Jesus.
2872. 51.25.5Jesus teaches openly at the feast.
2873. 51.25.6'I am not going up' meant not yet to the cross and to heaven.
2874. 51.25.7The passion came in Christ's thirty-third year.
2875. 51.25.8In March the impassible Word suffered in the flesh.
2876. 51.26.1Christ suffered on 20 March.
2877. 51.26.2Epiphanius holds that the Jews ate the Passover two days early.
2878. 51.26.3Epiphanius gives a day-by-day scheme of Passion week.
2879. 51.26.4The resurrection fell on the equinox, 22 March.
2880. 51.26.5The Jewish calendar drifts by a day every three years.
2881. 51.26.6The lunar year is corrected by added hours.
2882. 51.26.7Epiphanius explains the Jewish intercalary months.
2883. 51.26.8The intercalation cycle of eighty-five years.
2884. 51.27.1The Jewish miscalculation served God's saving plan.
2885. 51.27.2Jesus ate the Passover eagerly and went to the Mount of Olives.
2886. 51.27.3Jesus kept the Passover to fulfill the Law.
2887. 51.27.4Christ's ministry: an acceptable year, a contested year, and part of a third.
2888. 51.27.5From his birth to the passion were thirty-two years and seventy-four days.
2889. 51.27.6The resurrection fell on 26 Phamenoth, the equinox.
2890. 51.28.1Valentinus based his thirty aeons on Christ's thirty years.
2891. 51.28.2Christ's ministry lasted beyond thirty years.
2892. 51.28.3The total of thirty-two years refutes Valentinus.
2893. 51.28.4The Alogi, who reject John, are also refuted.
2894. 51.28.5Every line of evidence refutes them.
2895. 51.28.6Christ's ministry spanned nearly three years.
2896. 51.28.7The Alogi's argument collapses.
2897. 51.29.1A text dating the birth to Augustus's fortieth year arose from a lost numeral.
2898. 51.29.2The same text dates the conception to June or May.
2899. 51.29.3The date reflects a tradition of a seven-month pregnancy.
2900. 51.29.4The interval from that date to 6 January is about seven months.
2901. 51.29.5Christ's birth is certainly on 11 Tybi.
2902. 51.29.6Some reckon a ten-month pregnancy, following Wisdom.
2903. 51.29.7Cana fell on the anniversary of the birth.
2904. 51.30.1Springs said to turn to wine commemorate Cana.
2905. 51.30.2Epiphanius says he drank from the spring at Cibyra.
2906. 51.30.3In Egypt water is drawn on 11 Tybi.
2907. 51.30.4Epiphanius recounts the days between the baptism and Cana.
2908. 51.30.5Sixty days separate the baptism from Cana.
2909. 51.30.6The Nazareth sermon followed signs at Capernaum.
2910. 51.30.7The definitive call of Peter came later at Gennesaret.
2911. 51.30.8The sequence of days is recounted again.
2912. 51.30.9The wedding at Cana symbolizes the church.
2913. 51.30.10Cana on the third day prefigures the resurrection and Christ's marriage to the church.
2914. 51.30.11Cana means 'she who acquired', the church as heiress.
2915. 51.30.12Christ attended Cana to sanctify marriage and give gladness.
2916. 51.30.13The miracle shows Christ is God, who turns water into wine in every vine.
2917. 51.30.14Two Passovers followed by the third of the passion; the Gospels agree.
2918. 51.31.1Luke's 'second-first sabbath' distinguishes the weekly sabbath from the Passover sabbath.
2919. 51.31.2The Passover lamb and the feast of unleavened bread.
2920. 51.31.3The Passover day is a 'second sabbath'.
2921. 51.31.4Luke too implies several Passovers.
2922. 51.31.5The Law counts seven weeks to Pentecost.
2923. 51.31.6The firstfruits sheaf prefigures the resurrection.
2924. 51.31.7Christ raised his body and bore it to the Father.
2925. 51.31.8Christ's humanity is the firstfruits from Mary.
2926. 51.31.9Christ's sacrifice is not repeated.
2927. 51.31.10The Law prefigured what the gospel fulfilled.
2928. 51.31.11The grainfield episode falls after the temptation.
2929. 51.32.1The Alogi attack John's writings.
2930. 51.32.2The Alogi mock the trumpets of Revelation.
2931. 51.32.3Revelation's visions are useful for sound teaching.
2932. 51.32.4Revelation makes plain what the Law and Prophets hid.
2933. 51.32.5The skin tabernacle foreshadowed Christ's perfect tabernacle.
2934. 51.32.6Holy bodies are God's dwelling.
2935. 51.32.7Revelation's trumpets are to be read spiritually.
2936. 51.32.8The trumpets signify the church's preaching.
2937. 51.32.9The prophets were trumpets; the gospel is the great trumpet.
2938. 51.32.10Paul too speaks of the last trumpet.
2939. 51.32.11Paul's agreement with John refutes the objection.
2940. 51.33.1The Alogi object that there was no church in Thyatira.
2941. 51.33.2Their objection proves John's prophecy.
2942. 51.33.3The Montanists took over Thyatira.
2943. 51.33.4The church in Thyatira has since revived.
2944. 51.33.5The Spirit foretold the Montanist takeover of Thyatira.
2945. 51.33.6The letter to Thyatira.
2946. 51.33.7The rebuke of Jezebel, the self-styled prophetess.
2947. 51.33.8Epiphanius applies Jezebel to the Montanist prophetesses.
2948. 51.33.9John foretold it from Patmos.
2949. 51.33.10Revelation is shown to be true prophecy.
2950. 51.34.1The Alogi object to Revelation's angels at the Euphrates.
2951. 51.34.2The objection cites Revelation 9.
2952. 51.34.3The four angels stand for the four nations on the Euphrates.
2953. 51.34.4Daniel's four kingdoms.
2954. 51.34.5Deuteronomy shows the nations are set under angels.
2955. 51.34.6The angels restrain the nations until God's judgment.
2956. 51.34.7The angels will be released for judgment.
2957. 51.34.8The breastplates' colors describe the clothing of those nations.
2958. 51.35.1The Alogi lack the Spirit and so misjudge the Spirit's words.
2959. 51.35.2John's Gospel, Epistles, and Revelation come from the same Spirit.
2960. 51.35.3Rejecting the Spirit's words is blasphemy against the Spirit.
2961. 51.35.4Epiphanius concludes his refutation of the Alogi.
2962. 52.1.1Epiphanius describes the blind mole.
2963. 52.1.2The mole destroys crops from below.
2964. 52.1.3A captured mole is laughable.
2965. 52.1.4The heresy is like the mole: blind and destructive.
2966. 52.1.5The heresy, when exposed, is ridiculous.
2967. 52.1.6The Adamians, known to Epiphanius only by report.
2968. 52.1.7The sect is hidden like the mole.
2969. 52.1.8Epiphanius includes the sect for completeness.
2970. 52.1.9The sect is both laughable and lamentable; it may no longer exist.
2971. 52.2.1The Adamians are said to meet in heated buildings.
2972. 52.2.2The Adamians are said to worship naked.
2973. 52.2.3They claim continence and virginity.
2974. 52.2.4They regard their church as paradise and expel sinners.
2975. 52.2.5Their heated buildings contradict their claim to be Adam.
2976. 52.2.6Paradise had a perfect climate, unlike the Adamians' heated halls.
2977. 52.3.1Adam and Eve were always naked and unashamed; the Adamians are not.
2978. 52.3.2The Adamians have lost modesty.
2979. 52.3.3Adam and Eve received clothing only gradually.
2980. 52.3.4Their claim to be Adam is both false and ironically true.
2981. 52.3.5They are deceived by the serpent, like Adam.
2982. 52.3.6The sect needs little refutation.
2983. 52.3.7Like the mole, the sect perishes when exposed.
2984. 52.3.8Epiphanius prays before continuing.
2985. 53.1.1The Sampsaeans, or Elkesaites, live east of the Dead Sea.
2986. 53.1.2Two women of Elxai's family are revered as goddesses.
2987. 53.1.3The Sampsaeans use the book of Elxai and are neither Christian nor Jewish nor pagan.
2988. 53.1.4They worship one God with repeated washings.
2989. 53.1.5Epiphanius reports on Elxai's living descendants.
2990. 53.1.6Followers used the women's dust and spittle as amulets.
2991. 53.1.7They reject prophets and apostles and revere water.
2992. 53.1.8They make Christ a created being who repeatedly appears.
2993. 53.1.9They describe Christ and the Spirit as gigantic figures.
2994. 53.2.1Epiphanius has refuted Elxai elsewhere.
2995. 53.2.2The Sampsaeans' name means 'Sun-people'.
2996. 53.2.3The heresy is worse than the sun-lizard, which at least regains its sight.
2997. 53.2.4Epiphanius dismisses the Sampsaeans.
2998. 54.1.1Theodotus, an offshoot of the Alogi, is introduced.
2999. 54.1.2Epiphanius knows the Theodotians from written sources.
3000. 54.1.3Theodotus was a learned leatherworker from Byzantium.
3001. 54.1.4Theodotus was arrested in a persecution with others who were martyred.
3002. 54.1.5Theodotus denied Christ and fled to Rome.
3003. 54.1.6In Rome Theodotus was reproached for his apostasy.
3004. 54.1.7Theodotus excused his denial by calling Christ a mere man.
3005. 54.1.8The Theodotians teach that Christ was a mere man.
3006. 54.1.9Theodotus cited John 8:40 to prove Christ a mere man.
3007. 54.2.1The same verse names God as Christ's Father.
3008. 54.2.2Christ is God begotten of the Father, made man and killed in the flesh.
3009. 54.2.3Theodotus argued that denying the Son of Man is forgivable.
3010. 54.2.4Christ's saying safeguards the salvation of repentant blasphemers.
3011. 54.2.5Christ foresaw those who would call the Spirit a creature.
3012. 54.2.6The saying shows Christ's mercy, not approval of blasphemy.
3013. 54.2.7Christ warns that those who deny him will be denied.
3014. 54.3.1Theodotus cited Deuteronomy 18:15 to show Christ was a man like Moses.
3015. 54.3.2Each phrase of Scripture has its own safeguard.
3016. 54.3.3Isaiah's prophecy shows the virgin-born Son is 'God with us'.
3017. 54.3.4Christ is God from the Father and man from Mary.
3018. 54.3.5Theodotus argues from the wording of the Annunciation.
3019. 54.3.6The Annunciation's wording safeguards the unity of the Trinity.
3020. 54.3.7The angel's words to Mary.
3021. 54.3.8'Therefore also' shows the Word himself took flesh.
3022. 54.3.9The wording prevents confusing the Spirit with the incarnate Son.
3023. 54.3.10John confirms the Word came from above.
3024. 54.3.11John says the Word, not the Spirit, became flesh.
3025. 54.3.12Scripture teaches Christ as both God and man.
3026. 54.4.1Theodotus cites Jeremiah 17:9 (LXX).
3027. 54.4.2An ordinary man is known by many.
3028. 54.4.3'Who will know him?' points to Christ's incomprehensible Godhead.
3029. 54.4.4Only the Son reveals the Father and himself.
3030. 54.4.5Through the Spirit Christ reveals his divinity and incarnation.
3031. 54.5.1Theodotus cites Isaiah 53 for Christ's humanity.
3032. 54.5.2Isaiah continues with the silent lamb.
3033. 54.5.3Christ's life was taken from men, not from himself.
3034. 54.5.4The Word is life in himself.
3035. 54.5.5Christ's generation is indescribable because he existed before Abraham.
3036. 54.5.6Christ declared that he existed before Abraham.
3037. 54.5.7Christ is before all creation and time.
3038. 54.5.8Isaiah calls his generation indescribable.
3039. 54.5.9Theodotus cites Acts 2:22.
3040. 54.5.10Stephen's vision shows the Son of Man exalted in heaven.
3041. 54.6.1Theodotus cites 1 Timothy 2:5.
3042. 54.6.2Paul also calls Christ Son of God in power.
3043. 54.6.3Paul confesses one God and one Lord Jesus Christ.
3044. 54.6.4Creation through Christ disproves that he is a mere man.
3045. 54.6.5Epiphanius concludes his account of Theodotus.
3046. 55.1.1The Melchizedekians are introduced as a probable offshoot of the Theodotians.
3047. 55.1.2The Melchizedekians hold that Melchizedek is a heavenly power greater than Christ.
3048. 55.1.3They argue from Ps 110:4 that Christ is inferior to Melchizedek.
3049. 55.1.4They cite Hebrews for Melchizedek being without father or mother.
3050. 55.1.5The sect uses forged books.
3051. 55.1.6Ps 110 itself makes Christ the priest, which refutes them.
3052. 55.1.7Melchizedek is only made like the Son, so not equal to him.
3053. 55.1.8Melchizedek was a man; “without father” means his parents are not recorded.
3054. 55.1.9Scripture’s depths mislead some, as when people at Petra worshiped an image of Moses.
3055. 55.1.10At Sebaste Jephthah’s daughter is honored as a goddess.
3056. 55.1.11The Melchizedekians likewise turned Scripture into myths.
3057. 55.2.1Traditions give Melchizedek’s parents as Heraclas and Astarth, natives of the plain of Save.
3058. 55.2.2Salem is identified either with Jerusalem or with a Salem near Shechem.
3059. 55.2.3Melchizedek brought bread and wine, blessed Abraham, and received a tithe.
3060. 55.2.4Abraham honored an uncircumcised priest, humbling the later circumcised priesthood.
3061. 55.2.5The church’s priesthood has baptism, the greater circumcision.
3062. 55.2.6David’s oracle, spoken long after Aaron, shows the priesthood would pass from the old order.
3063. 55.2.7The Melchizedek priesthood now exists in the church, chosen by virtue, not descent.
3064. 55.3.1Abel and Noah were priests in uncircumcision.
3065. 55.3.2Melchizedek, the third, has a genealogy, though not from Israel.
3066. 55.3.3Many biblical figures, like Daniel and Elijah, have no recorded parents.
3067. 55.3.4Tradition names Daniel’s father and gives Elijah’s ancestry.
3068. 55.3.5A traditional priestly genealogy of Elijah back to Abraham.
3069. 55.3.6No source gives the fathers of the three youths.
3070. 55.3.7Missing parents do not make the three youths superhuman.
3071. 55.3.8Apostolic tradition, Scripture, and the succession of teachers guard the truth.
3072. 55.4.1Melchizedek was a holy priest-king, but not a heavenly being.
3073. 55.4.2Only the Son of Man came down from heaven.
3074. 55.4.3Melchizedek’s order shows the priesthood transferred from Israel to the church.
3075. 55.4.4Melchizedek had no successor, a type of Christ’s unending priesthood.
3076. 55.4.5The eternal Word, made man from Mary, became priest for us.
3077. 55.4.6Christ offered himself on the cross, ending the old sacrifices.
3078. 55.4.7Christ is priest, victim, altar, God and man, and founds an unchangeable priesthood.
3079. 55.5.1Others misread Hebrews on Melchizedek.
3080. 55.5.2Hieracas interprets Heb 7:3.
3081. 55.5.3Hieracas identifies Melchizedek with the interceding Holy Spirit.
3082. 55.5.4The Spirit never took flesh, so could not be Melchizedek.
3083. 55.5.5Hieracas will be answered at length later.
3084. 55.6.1The Samaritans identify Melchizedek with Shem.
3085. 55.6.2Scripture’s chronology refutes the Samaritans.
3086. 55.6.3Melchizedek’s bread and wine prefigured the mysteries.
3087. 55.6.4The bread and wine were antitypes of Christ’s body and blood.
3088. 55.6.5A running count of years back from Abraham begins.
3089. 55.6.6The count continues through Reu, Peleg, and Eber.
3090. 55.6.7The count reaches Arphaxad.
3091. 55.6.8From Shem’s fathering Arphaxad to Abraham’s meeting is 1,241 years.
3092. 55.6.9Shem lived 500 years after Arphaxad’s birth and died.
3093. 55.6.10Shem died long before Abraham, so he cannot be Melchizedek.
3094. 55.6.11Even by other copies’ figures Shem could not reach Abraham’s time.
3095. 55.7.1Jewish tradition says Melchizedek was a prostitute’s son.
3096. 55.7.2Scripture records sinners by name, so that cannot explain the silence.
3097. 55.7.3Some in the church think Melchizedek was the Son of God appearing.
3098. 55.7.4One cannot be “made like” oneself, so he is not the Son.
3099. 55.7.5Melchizedek had a genealogy, just not from Israel.
3100. 55.7.6The digression on Melchizedek views ends.
3101. 55.8.1The sect offers through Melchizedek as a heavenly mediator.
3102. 55.8.2They seek life through offerings to Melchizedek.
3103. 55.8.3They say Christ only led them to the knowledge of Melchizedek.
3104. 55.8.4They cite Hebrews on the lesser blessed by the greater.
3105. 55.8.5They claim to be initiates of Melchizedek.
3106. 55.9.1The Melchizedekians deny Christ, who did not begin at Mary.
3107. 55.9.2The Father spoke “Let us make man” to the eternal Word, not Melchizedek.
3108. 55.9.3Melchizedek did not come from heaven.
3109. 55.9.4“Brought out,” not “brought down,” shows he was earthly.
3110. 55.9.5Melchizedek blessed Abraham for his righteousness after he rescued Lot.
3111. 55.9.6John 1:1 speaks of the Word, not Melchizedek.
3112. 55.9.7Genesis and Paul show Father and Son together.
3113. 55.9.8Paul’s silence about the Spirit in 1 Cor 8:6 does not diminish the Trinity.
3114. 55.9.9Baptism in the triune name and Paul show the Spirit’s place.
3115. 55.9.10Scripture never counts Melchizedek among the Trinity; the heresy comes from the devil.
3116. 55.9.11Some identify Melchizedek with the Father of Christ.
3117. 55.9.12Hebrews’ exalted language misled them into blasphemy.
3118. 55.9.13They likened Melchizedek to the Father because of Heb 7:3.
3119. 55.9.14A priest of the Most High cannot himself be the Most High.
3120. 55.9.15Hebrews speaks of flesh and prayer, which cannot apply to the Father.
3121. 55.9.16The heresy is compared to the shrew-mouse, whose bite harms slowly.
3122. 55.9.17Like the shrew’s bite, the heresy seems harmless but slowly harms.
3123. 55.9.18The comparison with the nocturnal shrew is apt.
3124. 55.9.19Epiphanius moves to the next heresy.
3125. 56.1.1Bardesanes of Edessa is introduced.
3126. 56.1.2Bardesanes was at first an orthodox, bilingual writer.
3127. 56.1.3He was a friend of King Abgar and lived into the reign of Antoninus Verus.
3128. 56.1.4He wrote against fate and for the faith.
3129. 56.1.5Bardesanes nearly became a confessor before Apollonius.
3130. 56.1.6His fall is likened to a fine ship wrecked in harbor.
3131. 56.2.1Bardesanes adopted Valentinian emanations and denied the resurrection.
3132. 56.2.2He used both Testaments and some apocrypha.
3133. 56.2.3Bardesanes will be refuted like the rest.
3134. 56.2.4A brief defense of the resurrection begins.
3135. 56.2.5Accepting both Testaments convicts him.
3136. 56.2.6Christ died and rose as the pledge of our resurrection.
3137. 56.2.7Christ’s burial proves his death was real.
3138. 56.2.8The angels testify to the resurrection.
3139. 56.2.9The eternal Son suffered in the flesh and rose.
3140. 56.2.10Paul, Isaiah, and the Lord teach bodily resurrection.
3141. 56.2.11Abel’s blood crying out shows the body matters.
3142. 56.2.12Bardesanes’ denial is refuted.
3143. 56.3.1Against many principles, 1 Cor 8:6 is cited.
3144. 56.3.2One Maker excludes many gods or aeons.
3145. 56.3.3“So-called gods” are not real gods.
3146. 56.3.4Sound faith easily overturns the heresies.
3147. 56.3.5Isaiah promises the church’s strength against every opponent.
3148. 56.3.6The church is built on the rock; a doxology closes.
3149. 56.3.7Epiphanius closes the section on Bardesanes.
3150. 57.1.1Noetus of Asia is introduced.
3151. 57.1.2Noetus taught that the Father suffered.
3152. 57.1.3Noetus called himself Moses and his brother Aaron.
3153. 57.1.4The presbyters examined Noetus.
3154. 57.1.5Noetus at first denied his teaching.
3155. 57.1.6With ten followers, he taught openly.
3156. 57.1.7The presbyters questioned him again.
3157. 57.1.8Noetus defended himself as glorifying one God who suffered.
3158. 57.1.9Noetus was expelled and died without honorable burial.
3159. 57.1.10His followers continued his doctrine.
3160. 57.1.11The presbyters answered that they too worship one God, rightly.
3161. 57.1.12The presbyters confess the rule of faith about Christ.
3162. 57.2.1The Noetians cite texts about the one God.
3163. 57.2.2Noetians identify the Father and the Son.
3164. 57.2.3They cite Baruch 3 on God appearing on earth.
3165. 57.2.4They claim Scripture teaches one God who appeared.
3166. 57.2.5They cite Isaiah 45:14–15.
3167. 57.2.6They say Scripture proclaims one God made manifest.
3168. 57.2.7The Noetian confession makes the one God Father and suffering Son.
3169. 57.2.8They cite Rom 9:5.
3170. 57.2.9Noetus and Theodotus err at opposite extremes.
3171. 57.2.10Both Theodotians and Noetians are refuted by Scripture.
3172. 57.3.1Their argument is easily refuted.
3173. 57.3.2Identifying Father, Son, and sufferer is audacious and blind.
3174. 57.3.3A son must be son of someone else.
3175. 57.3.4No one begets himself; the Son is begotten of the Father.
3176. 57.3.5Isaiah shows the Father speaking of his Son and Spirit.
3177. 57.3.6The Father’s voice points to a real Son.
3178. 57.3.7The Son prays to the Father, so he is not the Father.
3179. 57.3.8The voice at the Transfiguration distinguishes Father and Son.
3180. 57.3.9The plural “are” in John 10:30 marks two persons.
3181. 57.4.1“I go, he comes” shows Son and Spirit are distinct.
3182. 57.4.2The Spirit proceeds from the Father and receives from the Son.
3183. 57.4.3At Christ’s baptism the three appear distinctly.
3184. 57.4.4The dove shows the Spirit distinct from the Son.
3185. 57.4.5If Noetus were right, Scripture would have to be rejected.
3186. 57.4.6Worship of the Trinity is not polytheism.
3187. 57.4.7One God the Father, from whom the Son is eternally begotten.
3188. 57.4.8Father and Son share one Godhead, will, and lordship.
3189. 57.4.9The Spirit proceeds from the Father and is the Spirit of Christ.
3190. 57.4.10The church confesses one Godhead in three perfect subsistences.
3191. 57.4.11Scripture proclaims one God as a consubstantial Trinity.
3192. 57.4.12Noetus’s proof-texts will now be examined.
3193. 57.5.11 Cor 8:6 signifies one principle, not polytheism.
3194. 57.5.2Paul knows the Son as both Lord and God.
3195. 57.5.3Paul distinguishes Father and Son.
3196. 57.5.4Calling the Son “Lord” implies he is God.
3197. 57.5.5Paul speaks in the Spirit, so the Trinity is not omitted.
3198. 57.5.6Neither title excludes the other.
3199. 57.5.7Each title implies the other for Father and Son.
3200. 57.5.8The Spirit does not commend itself, as an example for us.
3201. 57.5.9One God, one Lord, and one subsistent Holy Spirit.
3202. 57.6.1Noetus’s use of Isa 45:14–15 is taken up.
3203. 57.6.2Noetus cuts Scripture out of context.
3204. 57.6.3Like names that mean the opposite, “Noetus” hides senselessness.
3205. 57.6.4Noetus and his followers fulfill 1 Tim 1:7.
3206. 57.7.1Isaiah 45 is read from its beginning.
3207. 57.7.2God says he raised up a righteous king.
3208. 57.7.3The disputed verse follows in context.
3209. 57.7.4God is “in” the Son, in whom the Father is known.
3210. 57.7.5The Father raised up the Son as king.
3211. 57.7.6The Father raised Christ, as Paul says.
3212. 57.7.7Prophet and apostle agree on the Father raising the Son.
3213. 57.7.8“God is in you” foretells the Godhead dwelling in flesh.
3214. 57.7.9The Word dwells in his flesh as in a temple.
3215. 57.7.10The Word, born of the Virgin, is one in flesh and spirit.
3216. 57.8.1The Word came down from heaven and was made flesh.
3217. 57.8.2The incarnate Word ascends in full Godhead.
3218. 57.8.3The Word, not flesh before, became flesh from the Virgin.
3219. 57.8.4The same unchangeable Word is in heaven and on earth.
3220. 57.8.5The Son of God took the name Son of Man.
3221. 57.8.6Daniel called him Son of Man before the incarnation.
3222. 57.8.7The prophet named the Word by his future title.
3223. 57.8.8John 3:13 names the Word by his later title.
3224. 57.9.1Baruch 3 and Rom 9:5 speak rightly of Christ as God.
3225. 57.9.2Christ is God over all because all was given him by the Father.
3226. 57.9.3John’s letter and Revelation testify to Christ.
3227. 57.9.4“Handed over by my Father” presupposes the Father.
3228. 57.9.5“I go to the Father” refutes Noetus.
3229. 57.10.1Scripture guides to the middle way between extremes.
3230. 57.10.2Against Arius, John 10:30 affirms unity.
3231. 57.10.3Against Noetus, John 17 compares the unity to the disciples’ unity.
3232. 57.10.4Unity is of Godhead and will, not merging of persons.
3233. 57.10.5Jesus told Philip he who sees him sees the Father, not that he is the Father.
3234. 57.10.6“Me” and “the Father” are distinct.
3235. 57.10.7The Son is not the Father, yet not alien from him.
3236. 57.10.8Noetus is set aside like a serpent that cannot turn.
3237. 57.10.9Epiphanius moves on.
3238. 58.1.1Little is known of Vales, founder of the Valesians.
3239. 58.1.2They are thought to live near Philadelphia beyond the Jordan.
3240. 58.1.3They are not Gnostics.
3241. 58.1.4The Valesians, mostly castrated, were expelled from the church.
3242. 58.1.5Castrated disciples may eat anything; others abstain from animal food.
3243. 58.1.6Rumor says they castrate guests too.
3244. 58.1.7Guests are said to be castrated by force.
3245. 58.1.8Epiphanius identifies them tentatively.
3246. 58.2.1Mutilation cannot fit the perfect kingdom.
3247. 58.2.2In the resurrection all members rise.
3248. 58.2.3If the offending member stayed behind, none would rise.
3249. 58.2.4Sin comes from the heart, which no one can cut out.
3250. 58.2.5Without bodily resurrection their act is pointless.
3251. 58.2.6Maimed bodies would be unfit for the kingdom’s glory.
3252. 58.2.7The severed member, having not sinned, would deserve to rise first.
3253. 58.3.1The castrated are neither men nor women.
3254. 58.3.2They fit none of the Lord’s three kinds of eunuchs.
3255. 58.3.3Eunuchs from birth have neither sin nor praise.
3256. 58.3.4They have no reward, having had no struggle.
3257. 58.3.5Inability to sin earns no reward.
3258. 58.3.6The Valesians are not eunuchs from birth.
3259. 58.4.1The second kind are made eunuchs for royal service.
3260. 58.4.2Kings castrate boys to guard their wives.
3261. 58.4.3A proposed etymology of “eunuch.”
3262. 58.4.4These are not eunuchs for the kingdom.
3263. 58.4.5Eunuchs for the kingdom are the apostles, virgins, and monks.
3264. 58.4.6John and James kept virginity by inner struggle.
3265. 58.4.7Countless monks have kept continence.
3266. 58.4.8Paul commends remaining as he was.
3267. 58.4.9Paul’s counsel concerns self-control, not castration.
3268. 58.4.10Self-castration makes them eunuchs “by men.”
3269. 58.4.11Either way, castration is done by men, not for the kingdom.
3270. 58.4.12The castrated lose the reward of continence.
3271. 58.4.13Self-mutilation is an offense against the Creator.
3272. 58.4.14Sirach shows the eunuch still has desire.
3273. 58.4.15An exclamation at human vanity.
3274. 58.4.16The account of the Valesians closes.
3275. 58.4.17The Valesians are trampled like a scorpion.
3276. 59.1.1The Cathari derive from Novatus at Rome.
3277. 59.1.2Novatus denied restoration to those who fell after baptism.
3278. 59.1.3The church too confesses one baptismal repentance but keeps God’s mercy.
3279. 59.1.4Human weakness calls for mercy, since no one is sinless.
3280. 59.1.5The church offers a way back after a fall.
3281. 59.1.6Cain, the paralytic, and Peter show God restores sinners.
3282. 59.2.1The Novatians rely on Heb 6:4–6.
3283. 59.2.2The quotation continues with Heb 6:7–8.
3284. 59.2.3Hebrews means baptism cannot be repeated.
3285. 59.2.4Hebrews at once adds hope of salvation.
3286. 59.2.5No second baptism, but penitents are not cut off from salvation.
3287. 59.2.6The church always accepts repentance with discernment.
3288. 59.2.7Like lost virginity, baptismal innocence cannot be regained.
3289. 59.2.8Repentance after baptism is a second, lesser, but saving remedy.
3290. 59.3.1The Novatians exclude the twice-married after baptism.
3291. 59.3.2A comparison: an unskilled man imitating a swimmer drowns.
3292. 59.3.3Another comparison: assuming all offenses get the same penalty.
3293. 59.3.4A third comparison: a private man usurping a judge’s sword.
3294. 59.3.5He is punished for his misunderstanding.
3295. 59.3.6The Novatians confuse rules meant for different orders.
3296. 59.4.1Rules for clergy were wrongly applied to all.
3297. 59.4.2The twice-married are not admitted to the priesthood.
3298. 59.4.3Clergy must be continent or widowed where the canons are strict.
3299. 59.4.4Married clergy begetting children is a lapse, not the canon.
3300. 59.4.5The church wants undistracted service for God.
3301. 59.4.6Clergy must be free for sudden ministry.
3302. 59.4.7If laity abstain for prayer, how much more priests.
3303. 59.4.8Laity may remarry after a spouse’s death.
3304. 59.4.9Epiphanius says the church bears with those who remarry after death or separation.
3305. 59.4.10Not bigamy, but a lawful second marriage after separation, is tolerated.
3306. 59.4.11Paul allows widows to remarry and restores the repentant sinner.
3307. 59.4.12Paul grants repentance after a fall.
3308. 59.5.1The Lord commands mutual forgiveness.
3309. 59.5.2Those who fall and repent are admitted.
3310. 59.5.3Baptismal repentance is not repeated.
3311. 59.5.4One baptism, one cross; so guard against falling.
3312. 59.5.5The fallen are to be restored gently.
3313. 59.5.6God accepts repentance after baptism.
3314. 59.5.7Judgment awaits the Lord’s coming.
3315. 59.6.1The church neither promises impunity nor denies hope.
3316. 59.6.2God is merciful to those who repent wholeheartedly.
3317. 59.6.3A lawful second marriage is borne with; Paul allows a widow to remarry “in the Lord.”
3318. 59.6.5Remarriage after a spouse’s death is “in the Lord.”
3319. 59.6.6“In the Lord” means an honorable marriage and a godly life.
3320. 59.6.7Such virtues prepare for the Lord’s coming.
3321. 59.6.8Strictness for clergy, leniency for laity.
3322. 59.6.9Only God is pure; he saves by mercy.
3323. 59.6.10Claiming purity proves impurity.
3324. 59.7.1One rule does not make a whole people pure.
3325. 59.7.2Virtue requires many commandments, not one.
3326. 59.7.3Sirach on sin in buying and selling.
3327. 59.7.4The Novatians too have sinners among them.
3328. 59.7.5They misapply the rule on second marriage.
3329. 59.7.6The lapsed who repent can find mercy.
3330. 59.7.7Manasseh and Peter show repentance is accepted.
3331. 59.7.8Peter is a rock founding the faith.
3332. 59.7.9Peter’s confession of the Son is the rock of the church.
3333. 59.8.1Peter shows the Spirit is God.
3334. 59.8.2Peter was restored after denial.
3335. 59.8.3Peter’s restoration shows repentance is open in this life.
3336. 59.9.1Song of Songs 2 is applied to the call to repentance.
3337. 59.9.2The quotation continues with spring imagery.
3338. 59.9.3The past has gone and spring has come.
3339. 59.9.4The images are read as the gospel and repentance.
3340. 59.9.5“Arise, come” is a call from sin to repentance.
3341. 59.9.6A second call answers sins after the first.
3342. 59.9.7The second call differs from the first.
3343. 59.9.8The second call extends the first mercy.
3344. 59.9.9The rock’s shelter is Christ’s mercy.
3345. 59.9.10Repentance is possible only before death.
3346. 59.10.1After death there is no repentance or merit.
3347. 59.10.2After harvest nothing changes.
3348. 59.10.3The heavenly storehouse is safe, but no repentance after death.
3349. 59.10.4The parable of Lazarus shows no change after death.
3350. 59.10.5After death the contest is over.
3351. 59.10.6In this life there is hope after a fall.
3352. 59.11.1Heretics are like people who wear clothing on the wrong members.
3353. 59.11.2The comparison continues.
3354. 59.11.3They extend clerical rules to all and make God harsh.
3355. 59.11.4They boast of one sleeve while naked.
3356. 59.11.5They pride themselves on one rule.
3357. 59.11.6Keeping one rule, they neglect all the others.
3358. 59.12.1Small pretexts lead heresies far astray.
3359. 59.12.2A traveler leaves the road through a gap in a fence.
3360. 59.12.3He can return only by the way he came.
3361. 59.12.4Each heresy’s shortcut becomes a wall of error.
3362. 59.12.5Heresies must return to the royal road.
3363. 59.12.6Moses asks Edom for passage.
3364. 59.12.7Israel promises to keep to the royal road.
3365. 59.12.8The royal road is the church; heresies stray without limit.
3366. 59.13.1The faithful should not be drawn away by heretical voices.
3367. 59.13.2Heretics promise freedom while enslaved to sin.
3368. 59.13.3The account of the Cathari concludes.
3369. 59.13.4The heresy is struck like a basilisk.
3370. 59.13.5A prayer for help to speak the truth.
3371. 59.13.6The Donatists are refuted like the Novatians.
3372. 59.13.7The Donatists are grouped with the Novatians.
3373. 59.13.8The Donatists are also said to be Arian.
3374. 60.1.1The Angelics are known only by name.
3375. 60.1.2Three possible reasons for the name are offered.
3376. 60.2.1Epiphanius explains why some heresies are only named.
3377. 60.2.2Only this heresy has been left unexplained.
3378. 60.2.3It was short-lived.
3379. 60.2.4Epiphanius passes on.
3380. 60.2.5A prayer for accurate knowledge.
3381. 60.2.6The aim is correction and firmness in the good.
3382. 61.1.1The Apostolics or Apotactics renounce property.
3383. 61.1.2They reject marriage and alter the sacraments.
3384. 61.1.3Their poverty is pride and divides the church.
3385. 61.1.4They do not readmit the fallen.
3386. 61.1.5They rely on the apocryphal Acts of Andrew and Thomas.
3387. 61.1.6If marriage were abominable, all born of it would be impure.
3388. 61.1.7Rejecting marriage condemns themselves.
3389. 61.1.8Forced separation is human; chosen continence is God’s work.
3390. 61.1.9Godliness is by choice, not compulsion.
3391. 61.1.10The necessary commandments are listed.
3392. 61.1.11Marriage in good order is permitted by God.
3393. 61.2.1The Apostolics live in Phrygia, Cilicia, and Pamphylia.
3394. 61.2.2A small sect cannot be the worldwide church.
3395. 61.2.3If marriage were profane, so would they be.
3396. 61.2.4Marriage is not profane.
3397. 61.2.5Human error takes many pretexts.
3398. 61.3.1The church has renunciation without despising marriage or property.
3399. 61.3.2Those who abstain do not judge those who eat.
3400. 61.3.3The church has one faith with different callings.
3401. 61.3.4The church is like a ship made of many timbers.
3402. 61.3.5The church honors marriage.
3403. 61.3.6The church praises continence, virginity, and renunciation.
3404. 61.3.7The apostles and the Savior owned nothing.
3405. 61.3.8Women supported Jesus from their means.
3406. 61.4.1Works of mercy require possessions.
3407. 61.4.2Charity comes from honest property.
3408. 61.4.3Renouncers within the church are acceptable.
3409. 61.4.4Renouncing marriage is praiseworthy if marriage is not despised.
3410. 61.4.5God’s ship takes all but robbers.
3411. 61.4.6The church rejects immorality, adultery, and apostasy.
3412. 61.4.7The church receives members of differing gifts and means.
3413. 61.4.8Even Caesar’s household had believers.
3414. 61.4.9Paul permits marriage for a virgin.
3415. 61.4.10Sinlessness comes through baptism.
3416. 61.4.11Baptism is for virgins and non-virgins alike.
3417. 61.5.1Paul does not permit a vowed virgin to marry.
3418. 61.5.2The passage concerns older unmarried girls without suitors.
3419. 61.5.3The apostles kept the Law’s ordinances at first.
3420. 61.5.4Believers were to marry daughters only to Christians.
3421. 61.5.5Unmarried daughters sometimes fell into immorality.
3422. 61.5.6Paul allowed fathers to give daughters in marriage.
3423. 61.5.7Either reading of “his virgin” is possible.
3424. 61.5.8Paul permits marriage without sin.
3425. 61.6.1Paul commends remaining unmarried.
3426. 61.6.2Paul and the Lord seem to conflict on leaving a wife.
3427. 61.6.3The same Scripture commands honoring parents and marriage.
3428. 61.6.4Scripture needs discernment, not constant allegory.
3429. 61.6.5The apostles handed down both Scripture and tradition.
3430. 61.6.6Tradition forbids a vowed virgin to marry, yet Paul says a virgin who marries does not sin.
3431. 61.6.7Paul means a virgin who had made no vow.
3432. 61.6.8Widows who break their pledge incur judgment.
3433. 61.6.9A vowed virgin who marries is more culpable.
3434. 61.6.10Breaking a vow of virginity incurs judgment.
3435. 61.7.1Paul’s moderate word rejects both rigorists and the lax.
3436. 61.7.2Breaking a vow brings judgment, but not condemnation.
3437. 61.7.3Some hide immorality under a show of virginity.
3438. 61.7.4Their profession is before God, who sees in secret.
3439. 61.7.5Open lawful marriage and repentance are better than secret sin.
3440. 61.8.1The church’s teaching is healing medicine and holy oil.
3441. 61.8.2God gathers varied materials into one tabernacle.
3442. 61.8.3Even goats’ hair has a place.
3443. 61.8.4The church replaces the tabernacle; heresy should cease.
3444. 61.8.5The Apostolics are dismissed like minor snakes.
3445. 62.1.1Sabellius is introduced as recent.
3446. 62.1.2Sabellius resembles Noetus.
3447. 62.1.3Sabellians exist in Mesopotamia and around Rome.
3448. 62.1.4Sabellians hold three names in one hypostasis.
3449. 62.1.5They compare the Trinity to body, soul, and spirit.
3450. 62.1.6They also compare the Trinity to the sun.
3451. 62.1.7Heat is the Spirit, light the Son, form the Father.
3452. 62.1.8The Son is like a ray sent and withdrawn.
3453. 62.1.9The Spirit warms each worthy person.
3454. 62.2.1They select certain texts.
3455. 62.2.2They cite texts on God’s oneness.
3456. 62.2.3They also cite John on unity.
3457. 62.2.4Their main source is the Gospel of the Egyptians.
3458. 62.2.5That gospel makes the Savior teach Sabellian views.
3459. 62.2.6They frighten the simple with a question.
3460. 62.2.7The simple are misled into denying Son and Spirit.
3461. 62.3.1The devil inspires all these errors.
3462. 62.3.2The church confesses one God, a monarchy.
3463. 62.3.3Monarchy includes the Trinity.
3464. 62.3.4The three are not interchangeable.
3465. 62.3.5Against both Sabellius and Arius.
3466. 62.3.6The Trinity is eternal, with three perfect hypostases.
3467. 62.3.7Father and Son are eternally what they are.
3468. 62.3.8The Son is God from God, begotten not made, yet not the Father.
3469. 62.4.1The Spirit proceeds from the Father and shares the same essence.
3470. 62.4.2The Spirit is equal in Godhead, the bond of the Trinity.
3471. 62.4.3John 10:30 shows two persons.
3472. 62.4.4The baptismal formula distinguishes the three.
3473. 62.4.5One name refutes Arius; “and” refutes Sabellius.
3474. 62.4.6The Son glorifies the Father without being lesser.
3475. 62.4.7Scripture teaches the Son’s equality with the Father.
3476. 62.5.1Sabellius is invited to the Jordan.
3477. 62.5.2John the Baptist is presented as witness.
3478. 62.5.3John recognized his Master even in the womb.
3479. 62.5.4John recognized Jesus at his baptism.
3480. 62.5.5John testifies to the Spirit and the Father’s voice.
3481. 62.5.6The Father speaking from above refutes Sabellius.
3482. 62.5.7Only the Son took a body.
3483. 62.5.8The Word took a full human nature, not merely dwelling in a man.
3484. 62.6.1The dove shows the Spirit is distinct.
3485. 62.6.2Three subsistent persons, one undivided Godhead.
3486. 62.6.3The Trinity is counted at the baptism.
3487. 62.6.4Isaiah 42 as cited in Matthew names Father, Servant, and Spirit.
3488. 62.6.5The Father cannot be speaking of himself.
3489. 62.6.6Ps 110:1 distinguishes two Lords.
3490. 62.6.7Christ sits at the Father’s right hand.
3491. 62.6.8The angels at the ascension speak of Jesus returning.
3492. 62.6.9Stephen saw the Son at the Father’s right hand.
3493. 62.7.1Isaiah’s “I am the first” is taken up.
3494. 62.7.2The one God is Father, Son, and Spirit.
3495. 62.7.3The text also speaks in Christ’s person.
3496. 62.7.4It warned Israel against Canaanite idols.
3497. 62.7.5Israel worshiped foreign gods, so God declared he alone is God.
3498. 62.7.6Christ is “first” in his coming and “after” in judgment.
3499. 62.7.7Scripture guards against polytheism.
3500. 62.7.8Christ is Alpha and Omega, who descended and ascended.
3501. 62.7.9Scripture also guards against denying Son and Spirit.
3502. 62.7.10“Only true God” unites the Trinity, not denying the Son.
3503. 62.8.1The Son is called “true light,” refuting Arius.
3504. 62.8.2“True” is shared between Father and Son.
3505. 62.8.3“God” and “light” show equal genuineness.
3506. 62.8.4A doxology to the Trinity.
3507. 62.8.5Sabellianism is set aside as a harmless-looking snake.
3508. 63.1.1A sect called Origenists is introduced.
3509. 63.1.2The origin of the name is uncertain.
3510. 63.1.3The sect rejects marriage yet is licentious.
3511. 63.1.4They are accused of practicing the sin of Onan.
3512. 63.1.5Their practice is compared to Onan’s.
3513. 63.1.6Their chastity is a pretense to avoid detection.
3514. 63.1.7Others defile themselves by their own hands.
3515. 63.1.8They claim to protect their seed from demons.
3516. 63.2.1They use the Acts of Andrew and boast of their practice.
3517. 63.2.2They accuse church members with spiritual companions of the same.
3518. 63.2.3Rumors were told about the dead.
3519. 63.2.4A confessor-bishop was accused.
3520. 63.2.5Epiphanius doubts the rumor about the bishop.
3521. 63.2.6The charge came from a man caught in sin.
3522. 63.3.1Their practice is diabolical.
3523. 63.3.2Their proof-texts are not repeated.
3524. 63.3.3A brief refutation follows.
3525. 63.3.4Their teaching is demonic.
3526. 63.3.5If conception were evil, so would be intercourse.
3527. 63.3.6If union is not evil, neither is its fruit.
3528. 63.3.7Noah planted to harvest fruit.
3529. 63.3.8Noah’s drunkenness is excused.
3530. 63.3.9Ham’s mockery brought a curse.
3531. 63.4.1Marriage is honorable, though virginity is higher.
3532. 63.4.2Paul praises true virginity.
3533. 63.4.3The patriarchs begot children in honorable marriage.
3534. 63.4.4The chaste among them kept the contest honestly.
3535. 63.4.5Elijah, Elisha, and John lived as eunuchs for the kingdom.
3536. 63.4.6A few arguments suffice.
3537. 63.4.7Their practice comes from demons.
3538. 63.4.8The sect is crushed like a viper.
3539. 64.1.1Origen, son of the martyr Leonides, is introduced.
3540. 64.1.2Origen was an Egyptian of Alexandria.
3541. 64.1.3Origen suffered much for Christ.
3542. 64.1.4Pagans forced Origen to hand out palms at the Serapeum.
3543. 64.1.5Origen boldly offered the branch of Christ.
3544. 64.2.1Origen’s learning drew envy.
3545. 64.2.2Persecutors threatened Origen with sexual abuse.
3546. 64.2.3Origen chose to sacrifice rather than be abused.
3547. 64.2.4Incense was put in his hands and cast on the altar.
3548. 64.2.5Origen was expelled from the church.
3549. 64.2.6Origen withdrew to Palestine.
3550. 64.2.7In Jerusalem he was asked to preach.
3551. 64.2.8Origen read one verse of Psalm 49 (50).
3552. 64.2.9He read Ps 50:16 and sat down weeping.
3553. 64.3.1Origen converted Ambrose from heresy.
3554. 64.3.2Ambrose asked Origen to explain Scripture.
3555. 64.3.3Origen expounded Scripture at Tyre for 28 years.
3556. 64.3.4Ambrose funded Origen’s scribes and materials.
3557. 64.3.5Origen collected the Greek translations of the Old Testament.
3558. 64.3.6He set out Hebrew and transliterated columns beside the Greek.
3559. 64.3.7The Hexapla contained the whole Old Testament.
3560. 64.3.8Origen’s fame did not last.
3561. 64.3.9His wish to explain everything led him into error.
3562. 64.3.10These Origenists differ from the earlier sect.
3563. 64.3.11Reports that Origen mutilated himself.
3564. 64.3.12Other rumors about Origen are reported.
3565. 64.3.13Epiphanius doubts the extravagant rumors.
3566. 64.4.1Origenism is now found among monks.
3567. 64.4.2Origen’s teaching gave pretexts to Arius.
3568. 64.4.3Origen allegedly said the Son cannot see the Father.
3569. 64.4.4Origen is charged with making the Son a creature.
3570. 64.4.5Origen taught the pre-existence of souls.
3571. 64.4.6He derived “body” and “soul” from binding and cooling.
3572. 64.4.7He read Ps 119:67 of the soul’s fall.
3573. 64.4.8He read Ps 116:7 of the soul’s return.
3574. 64.4.9He said Adam lost the image and the coats of skin are bodies.
3575. 64.4.10Origen is charged with wavering on the resurrection.
3576. 64.4.11He allegorized paradise and the waters.
3577. 64.5.1Origen will be refuted from his own words.
3578. 64.5.2His later absurdities were great.
3579. 64.5.3Epiphanius will quote Origen on Psalm 1.
3580. 64.5.5Origen’s vast output contains errors.
3581. 64.5.6His moral and natural expositions are often graceful.
3582. 64.5.7His doctrines are most absurd.
3583. 64.5.8Origen’s asceticism damaged his health.
3584. 64.5.9Origen’s own words will be quoted.
3585. 64.5.10Excerpts from the Psalm 1 commentary will show his errors.
3586. 64.5.11Origen is said to call the Son a creature.
3587. 64.5.12The quotation of Origen begins.
3588. 64.6.1Origen: Scripture is shut and sealed.
3589. 64.6.2Origen cites Rev 3:7–8.
3590. 64.6.3Origen cites Rev 5:1–2.
3591. 64.6.4Origen cites Rev 5:3–4.
3592. 64.6.5Origen cites Rev 5:5.
3593. 64.6.6Origen cites Isa 29:11–12.
3594. 64.6.7Origen: all Scripture is full of enigmas.
3595. 64.6.8Origen cites Luke 11:52.
3596. 64.7.1Origen addresses Ambrose in his preface.
3597. 64.7.2Origen writes reluctantly, at Ambrose’s urging.
3598. 64.7.3Origen acknowledges the danger of speaking about God.
3599. 64.7.4Origen asks for prayer; he calls the Savior a “generated God.”
3600. 64.8.1Epiphanius attacks the phrase “generated God.”
3601. 64.8.2Words often share forms.
3602. 64.8.3In Origen “generated” means “created.”
3603. 64.8.4Genētos differs from gennētos.
3604. 64.8.5A created God could not be worshiped.
3605. 64.8.6Worship belongs to the Creator, not a creature.
3606. 64.8.7Origen cannot prove a worshiped creature.
3607. 64.8.8If one creature is worshiped, all could be.
3608. 64.9.1The gospels never call the Son created.
3609. 64.9.2Testimonies have been given elsewhere.
3610. 64.9.3John 14 and 10 refute a created Son.
3611. 64.9.4The Son shares the Father’s honor.
3612. 64.9.5Origen’s view on the resurrection will be examined.
3613. 64.9.6The refutation will use his Psalm 1 comments.
3614. 64.10.1Origen comments on Ps 1:5.
3615. 64.10.2Origen criticizes simple believers’ view of resurrection.
3616. 64.10.3Origen says believers cannot explain the resurrection consistently.
3617. 64.10.4Believers say the present bodies rise.
3618. 64.10.5Origen presses questions about blood, flesh, and hair.
3619. 64.10.6Believers appeal to God’s will or to the last state.
3620. 64.10.7Some say the body at death rises.
3621. 64.11.1Epiphanius explains why he quoted Origen.
3622. 64.11.2Origen mocks those who hold a firm resurrection hope.
3623. 64.11.3He argued from nature against the resurrection.
3624. 64.11.4Epiphanius will quote Methodius’s On the Resurrection.
3625. 64.12.1Methodius quotes Origen on simple believers.
3626. 64.12.2Origen’s argument, as excerpted by Methodius.
3627. 64.12.3Believers say the whole present body rises.
3628. 64.12.4Origen raises questions about lost blood and hair.
3629. 64.12.5Some appeal to God’s power; others to the final body.
3630. 64.12.6Bodies constantly change through food.
3631. 64.12.7Bodies pass into animals and back.
3632. 64.12.8Origen: whose body will a shared body be?
3633. 64.13.1Believers appeal to God’s omnipotence and to Scripture.
3634. 64.13.2They cite Ezekiel’s valley of bones.
3635. 64.13.3The quotation of Ezekiel 37 continues.
3636. 64.13.4God promises to reclothe the bones.
3637. 64.13.5They also cite gospel texts and Rom 8:11.
3638. 64.14.1Origen proposes a better account of the resurrection.
3639. 64.14.2Living bodies never keep the same matter.
3640. 64.14.3The body is like a river, yet its form stays the same.
3641. 64.14.4Bodily features persist through change.
3642. 64.14.5The bodily form, not its matter, rises.
3643. 64.14.6The present and future form are the same.
3644. 64.14.7Souls need bodies fit for their places.
3645. 64.14.8Heirs of heaven need spiritual bodies.
3646. 64.14.9The transfiguration shows form preserved in glory.
3647. 64.15.1Matter changes even now, so this is no objection.
3648. 64.15.2What is sown differs from what is raised.
3649. 64.15.3Paul contrasts natural and spiritual bodies.
3650. 64.15.4The saint’s risen body is spiritual, not flesh.
3651. 64.15.5Taken literally, Ezekiel would raise only bones and skin.
3652. 64.15.6“Bones” in Scripture are often figurative.
3653. 64.15.7The dry bones speak, so they are figurative.
3654. 64.15.8Ezekiel speaks of Israel’s restoration from exile.
3655. 64.15.9Sinners are tombs that God opens.
3656. 64.16.1Origen questions literal teeth in Gehenna.
3657. 64.16.2Scripture’s “teeth” are figurative.
3658. 64.16.3Gnashing of teeth belongs to the soul.
3659. 64.16.4Matt 10:28 implies punishment with a body.
3660. 64.16.5The mortal form is made spiritual by the Spirit.
3661. 64.16.61 Cor 15:35 shows the matter itself will not rise.
3662. 64.16.7The seed’s principle transforms matter into a greater ear.
3663. 64.17.1Proclus summarizes Origen’s view.
3664. 64.17.2Scriptural testimonies will complete the argument.
3665. 64.17.3Proclus: the resurrection is of a spiritual body keeping the same form.
3666. 64.17.4Only the form will be preserved.
3667. 64.17.5Proclus will clarify Origen.
3668. 64.17.6A waterskin keeps its shape as water flows.
3669. 64.17.7Added water takes the same shape.
3670. 64.17.8Food takes the shape of the body’s form.
3671. 64.17.9Identity lies in the form, not the flesh.
3672. 64.17.10The form will be glorified as at the transfiguration.
3673. 64.18.1Proclus ends his summary of Origen.
3674. 64.18.2An objection from Christ’s bodily resurrection is raised.
3675. 64.18.3Proclus: Christ’s body differs from ours in origin.
3676. 64.18.4Sirach and the Psalm are cited against bodily resurrection.
3677. 64.18.5Proclus concludes.
3678. 64.19.1Methodius, the narrator, turns to Auxentius after Proclus’s speech.
3679. 64.19.2Methodius asks Auxentius to join him, quoting Homer.
3680. 64.19.3Aglaophon, Proclus, and Origen are the opponents.
3681. 64.19.4Their arguments are specious sophistry.
3682. 64.19.5Teachers now seek applause, not truth.
3683. 64.19.6Everyone now interprets Scripture with conceit.
3684. 64.19.7Words should serve deeds, as in medicine.
3685. 64.19.8Righteousness must be real, not a show.
3686. 64.20.1Adorned words deceive like painted women.
3687. 64.20.2Beware deceivers like the Sirens.
3688. 64.20.3Auxentius agrees.
3689. 64.20.4Heretical sophists are like painters of ships.
3690. 64.20.5Stripping the colors shows the illusion.
3691. 64.20.6Without Scripture’s words, their views would be exposed.
3692. 64.20.7Methodius is to lead the reply.
3693. 64.21.1Methodius restates Aglaophon’s thesis.
3694. 64.21.2Aglaophon held the coats of skin are bodies.
3695. 64.21.3Aglaophon confirms.
3696. 64.21.4Aglaophon blamed the body for sin.
3697. 64.21.5He said the soul must be freed from the body.
3698. 64.21.6Without a body the soul cannot sin.
3699. 64.21.7Aglaophon asks why this matters.
3700. 64.21.8Self-contradiction is not right reasoning.
3701. 64.21.9Aglaophon rejects discordant reasoning.
3702. 64.21.10Aglaophon contradicted himself about the soul’s sin.
3703. 64.21.11He now blames the body for the soul’s sin.
3704. 64.21.12He had earlier said the soul sinned before the body.
3705. 64.21.13Both claims cannot stand together.
3706. 64.21.14The coats came after the sin, to cover nakedness.
3707. 64.21.15Methodius presses Aglaophon.
3708. 64.21.16Aglaophon admits the inconsistency.
3709. 64.21.17The soul, not the body, is the cause of sin.
3710. 64.21.18The argument against bodily resurrection fails.
3711. 64.21.19Aglaophon concedes the coats of skin are not bodies.
3712. 64.22.1Methodius questions the body as the soul’s prison.
3713. 64.22.2Aglaophon hesitates.
3714. 64.22.3Methodius urges Aglaophon to continue.
3715. 64.22.4False beliefs about essentials do great harm.
3716. 64.22.5Being refuted is better than refuting.
3717. 64.22.6The positions are compared.
3718. 64.22.7Aglaophon called the body a prison and tomb.
3719. 64.22.8He blamed the body for the passions.
3720. 64.22.9He said the senses deceive.
3721. 64.22.10Aglaophon praises Eubulius (Methodius).
3722. 64.23.1A bond restrains; it does not cause sin.
3723. 64.23.2The sick go to physicians.
3724. 64.23.3Just judgment is good and beneficial.
3725. 64.23.4Punishment heals the soul.
3726. 64.23.5Punishment is proportioned to offense.
3727. 64.23.6Penalties match deeds.
3728. 64.23.7Punishment aims at amendment.
3729. 64.23.8Punishment looks to the future.
3730. 64.23.9A bond prevents wrongdoing.
3731. 64.23.10Bonds teach self-control.
3732. 64.23.11A bond is a harsh remedy.
3733. 64.23.12Aglaophon reaffirms the body is a bond.
3734. 64.23.13The soul sins through the body.
3735. 64.23.14A prisoner cannot do wrong.
3736. 64.23.15We sin in the flesh.
3737. 64.23.16The bound cannot sin.
3738. 64.23.17The body helps sin; a bond prevents it.
3739. 64.23.18The body is the soul’s helper, not its prison.
3740. 64.24.1Aglaophon’s positions do not agree.
3741. 64.24.2A bond cannot also be an accomplice.
3742. 64.24.3Instruments of punishment restrain wrongdoing.
3743. 64.24.4Bonds are given to stop wrongdoing.
3744. 64.24.5Only the free can do evil.
3745. 64.24.6History of sin shows the body is no restraining bond.
3746. 64.24.7Scripture addresses man as free.
3747. 64.24.8The body is not a prison.
3748. 64.24.9It is absurd to exclude the body from eternal life.
3749. 64.24.10Their conclusion falls with their premise.
3750. 64.25.1Their contentiousness can be refuted in many ways.
3751. 64.25.2The texts about prisoners will be explained later.
3752. 64.25.3Methodius, addressing Theophilus, moves to the next point.
3753. 64.26.1God made man last, as the crown of creation.
3754. 64.26.2Man is God’s image in the world.
3755. 64.26.3What God makes by his hand is immortal.
3756. 64.26.4A thing’s maker determines its nature.
3757. 64.26.5The product resembles its maker.
3758. 64.26.6Man, God’s own work, is immortal.
3759. 64.26.7Man is the union of soul and body, made immortal.
3760. 64.26.8Other creatures were brought forth by the elements.
3761. 64.26.9Man alone was made by God’s own counsel and hand.
3762. 64.27.1Man differs from the animals and is immortal.
3763. 64.27.2Man’s life comes from God’s breath.
3764. 64.27.3Animals serve; man rules.
3765. 64.27.4Man bears the image of the Only-begotten.
3766. 64.27.5God cares for his image’s permanence.
3767. 64.27.6Sculptors try to make their works last.
3768. 64.27.7Phidias preserved his Zeus at Olympia with oil.
3769. 64.27.8God surely made his own image immortal.
3770. 64.28.1An objection: how could an immortal become mortal?
3771. 64.28.2The devil envied free man.
3772. 64.28.3Wisdom says death came through the devil’s envy.
3773. 64.28.4The objector asks where envy came from.
3774. 64.28.5Is God responsible for the devil?
3775. 64.28.6The devil cannot be ungenerated, since he is punished.
3776. 64.28.7God alone is ungenerated and the only maker.
3777. 64.28.8Nothing happens against God’s will.
3778. 64.28.9Nothing can exist against God.
3779. 64.29.1The devil is an angel set over matter.
3780. 64.29.2Angels exercise particular providence under God.
3781. 64.29.3The devil fell through envy, like the angels of Genesis 6.
3782. 64.29.4Angels too have free will.
3783. 64.29.5The devil was the fallen morning star.
3784. 64.29.6Verses against the serpent and Error.
3785. 64.30.1Death is a corrective, the separation of soul and body.
3786. 64.30.2God is not the cause of death.
3787. 64.30.3Bodily death is a good correction.
3788. 64.30.4Man, free, received the commandment.
3789. 64.30.5Man disobeyed, lured by the devil.
3790. 64.30.6Evil is the misuse of free will, not God’s work.
3791. 64.30.7God saw that sin might become immortal in man.
3792. 64.30.8The coats of skin are mortality, to let sin die.
3793. 64.31.1The coats are not the bodies.
3794. 64.31.2Adam had flesh and bones before the coats.
3795. 64.31.3Allegorizing Adam’s flesh is rejected.
3796. 64.31.4Christ took Genesis 2 literally in the divorce question.
3797. 64.31.5These texts must refer to the body.
3798. 64.31.6Man had a body before the coats of skin.
3799. 64.31.7Adam was expelled so that sin might not become immortal.
3800. 64.31.9Christ’s coming shows God wills life.
3801. 64.31.10God does not repent; he foreknows.
3802. 64.31.11Death destroys sin so man may rise pure.
3803. 64.32.1Denying the flesh immortality is foolish.
3804. 64.32.2The prohibition shows embodied immortality was possible.
3805. 64.32.3Genesis 3:21–24 is quoted.
3806. 64.32.4The body dies so sin dies with it.
3807. 64.32.5God made man mortal to end sin.
3808. 64.32.6Death uproots sin entirely.
3809. 64.33.1A fig tree in a temple must be uprooted.
3810. 64.33.2The temple is rebuilt without the tree.
3811. 64.33.3God dissolves the body so it may rise free of sin.
3812. 64.33.4Sin’s roots remain while the body lives.
3813. 64.33.5Even the baptized still sin.
3814. 64.33.6Faith restrains sin but does not uproot it.
3815. 64.33.7Now we prune sin; then it will vanish.
3816. 64.34.1Paul testifies that sin still dwells in the flesh.
3817. 64.34.2Paul describes the law of sin in his members.
3818. 64.34.3Sin will perish with the body’s death.
3819. 64.34.4Death is God’s remedy against everlasting sin.
3820. 64.34.5Death purifies soul and body.
3821. 64.35.1An illustration is introduced.
3822. 64.35.2A craftsman recasts a damaged statue.
3823. 64.35.4Mere repair would spoil the statue.
3824. 64.35.5Recasting removes all damage.
3825. 64.35.6The statue is restored; the damage is lost.
3826. 64.35.7God dissolves man to remold him without blemish.
3827. 64.35.8Death is recasting; resurrection is reshaping.
3828. 64.35.9Jeremiah’s potter illustrates the resurrection.
3829. 64.36.1God’s hand remolds its damaged work.
3830. 64.36.2Rom 9:21 is read of the resurrection to honor or dishonor.
3831. 64.36.3Daniel foretells the resurrection of all.
3832. 64.36.4We restrain sin; God uproots it at death.
3833. 64.36.5Those who nurture sin are justly punished.
3834. 64.37.1No one may blame God for just judgment.
3835. 64.37.2The sinner chose evil freely.
3836. 64.37.3Paul’s compressed words are deep but orthodox.
3837. 64.37.4Careful readers find Paul consistent.
3838. 64.37.5Methodius returns to the main question.
3839. 64.37.6Death serves good; now the resurrection is considered.
3840. 64.37.7Death is a bitter but helpful medicine.
3841. 64.37.8The Song of Moses will confirm the argument.
3842. 64.38.1Deut 32:39 teaches death and resurrection.
3843. 64.38.2The body is broken to be remade whole.
3844. 64.38.3Nothing can snatch us from God’s hand to destruction.
3845. 64.38.4Nothing separates us from Christ’s love.
3846. 64.38.5We die to sin to live to God.
3847. 64.38.6Transition.
3848. 64.39.1The opponent argues that the born cannot be immortal.
3849. 64.39.2By this logic angels and souls would perish too.
3850. 64.39.3Created beings can be immortal by God’s will.
3851. 64.39.4The world will be purified by fire, not destroyed.
3852. 64.39.5God made the world to last.
3853. 64.39.6Wisdom 1:14 says God made all to exist.
3854. 64.39.7Creation will be freed from corruption.
3855. 64.39.8“Creation” means the visible world.
3856. 64.39.9Renewed creation will rejoice at the resurrection.
3857. 64.39.10Creation will be freed when we are.
3858. 64.39.11Creation and believers await redemption.
3859. 64.39.12Isaiah foretells a lasting new creation.
3860. 64.39.13Earth and heaven will exist after the conflagration.
3861. 64.39.14The universe will be neither dissolved nor destroyed.
3862. 64.40.1An objection from texts about heaven passing away.
3863. 64.40.2Scripture calls transformation “destruction.”
3864. 64.40.3The form, not the world, passes away.
3865. 64.40.4Paul’s image of growing up.
3866. 64.40.5The world will be renewed, not destroyed.
3867. 64.40.6The renewed earth will have immortal inhabitants.
3868. 64.40.7The objection about the environment fails.
3869. 64.41.1Another error of Aglaophon is examined.
3870. 64.41.2Aglaophon inferred bodiless resurrection from being like angels.
3871. 64.41.3Immortal beings are of many kinds.
3872. 64.41.4Each kind of immortal keeps its nature.
3873. 64.41.5Man will remain man.
3874. 64.41.6Christ restores man’s original nature.
3875. 64.41.7Each order has its place; the world belongs to men.
3876. 64.41.8Such transformations would have no end.
3877. 64.42.1God did not fail in making man.
3878. 64.42.2God is not unable.
3879. 64.42.3God neither fails nor delays.
3880. 64.42.4Man will always be soul and body.
3881. 64.42.5The body does not perish, since man is soul and body.
3882. 64.43.1The Sadducees denied the resurrection of the flesh.
3883. 64.43.2Christ rejected the Sadducees’ denial.
3884. 64.43.3Being like angels means not marrying, not lacking flesh.
3885. 64.43.4“As angels” means close to angels.
3886. 64.43.5“As” marks likeness, not identity.
3887. 64.43.6“As gold” is not gold.
3888. 64.43.7The saints will be near to angels.
3889. 64.43.8“Resurrection” itself implies bodies rising.
3890. 64.43.9Only what has fallen can rise.
3891. 64.43.10Denying the flesh’s resurrection denies resurrection.
3892. 64.44.1The Lord taught the soul’s immortality.
3893. 64.44.2Wisdom 3 on the souls of the righteous.
3894. 64.44.3Resurrection is of the body, since the soul does not die.
3895. 64.44.4A resurrection of the soul would require its death first.
3896. 64.44.5Either Christ spoke truly of the soul’s immortality or falsely.
3897. 64.44.6The transfiguration shows souls are immortal.
3898. 64.45.1The flesh, David’s fallen tent, will be raised.
3899. 64.45.2The tabernacle is the flesh, not a building.
3900. 64.45.3Sleep and waking image death and resurrection.
3901. 64.45.4Life follows death as waking follows sleep.
3902. 64.45.5Resurrection follows naturally from death.
3903. 64.45.6Seeds show the resurrection.
3904. 64.46.1Methodius moves to the next point.
3905. 64.46.2Aglaophon read Ps 66:11 of souls trapped in flesh.
3906. 64.46.3Souls had bodies before the fall.
3907. 64.46.4Aglaophon’s claims contradict.
3908. 64.46.5Sin through the body means the body existed first.
3909. 64.46.6If the body is a snare, the soul alone sinned.
3910. 64.46.7The body cannot be a bond.
3911. 64.46.8Either we sinned with a body from the start or the body is blameless.
3912. 64.46.9The first sin presupposes an embodied soul; the body is not a punitive fetter.
3913. 64.46.11God did not cast souls from the third heaven into the body as a snare.
3914. 64.46.12Methodius will quote the psalm to expose their fanciful exegesis.
3915. 64.46.13The psalm the Origenists appeal to.
3916. 64.46.14The Origenist reading of the psalm as souls falling from heaven.
3917. 64.46.15Methodius challenges Aglaophon to answer for them.
3918. 64.47.1Paradise is on earth, as its rivers show.
3919. 64.47.2The rivers do not fall from heaven.
3920. 64.47.3Paul distinguishes the third heaven from paradise.
3921. 64.47.4Paul was taken up twice: first to the third heaven.
3922. 64.47.5The second rapture was into paradise.
3923. 64.47.6The fall of souls through fire and water is bombast.
3924. 64.47.7Adam fell from an earthly paradise, after the soul was joined to the body.
3925. 64.47.8Origen interpreted the psalm by false opinions.
3926. 64.48.1Methodius turns to the true sense of the psalm.
3927. 64.48.2The psalm is the martyrs’ thanksgiving for their testing.
3928. 64.48.3Solomon also speaks of the testing of martyrs.
3929. 64.48.4Wisdom’s words on the tested righteous.
3930. 64.48.5Psalm 124 is also sung by the martyrs.
3931. 64.48.6The martyrs of both covenants sing the psalm antiphonally.
3932. 64.48.7Another psalm on testing.
3933. 64.48.8Abraham could sing the psalm.
3934. 64.48.9Job could sing of testing.
3935. 64.48.10The three youths could sing the psalm.
3936. 64.48.11Methodius prays to pass unharmed through the fire of the last day.
3937. 64.48.12God’s promise of protection through water and fire.
3938. 64.49.1The Origenists misread Romans 7 as the soul’s life before the body.
3939. 64.49.2Their claim that only a fleshly soul can be mastered by sin.
3940. 64.49.3Their error now appears as blasphemy.
3941. 64.49.4The Origenists contradict themselves about sinless disembodied souls.
3942. 64.49.5If the disembodied soul cannot sin, it did not sin before the body.
3943. 64.49.6A soul that sinned without a body can sin again without one.
3944. 64.49.7The body does not function as a punishment.
3945. 64.49.8Free will operates in this life.
3946. 64.49.9Their view makes the future judgment superfluous.
3947. 64.49.10The body is not the soul’s prison.
3948. 64.50.1Methodius will only answer their arguments in summary.
3949. 64.50.2Rom 7:9 does not refer to the soul’s pre-bodily life.
3950. 64.50.3Origen mutilated the sequence of Scripture.
3951. 64.50.4“Without law” means without sin, not without body.
3952. 64.50.5Adam and Eve lived briefly without sin, in bodies.
3953. 64.50.6An objection from Rom 7:5 against the flesh.
3954. 64.50.7Further texts from Romans 8 cited against the flesh.
3955. 64.50.8Paul wrote while still in the flesh.
3956. 64.50.9“In the flesh” cannot mean simply having a body.
3957. 64.50.10“Fleshly” describes a way of life.
3958. 64.50.11By their logic the soul could not be saved either.
3959. 64.50.12Paul condemns the fleshly way of life, not the flesh.
3960. 64.50.13Paul’s readers are “not in the flesh” though embodied.
3961. 64.50.14The Spirit gives life to mortal bodies; only the body’s evil impulses die.
3962. 64.51.1An objection from Rom 8:7.
3963. 64.51.2The “mind of the flesh” is not the flesh itself.
3964. 64.51.3Analogy of silver and dross.
3965. 64.51.4It is the dross, not the silver, that resists.
3966. 64.51.5The mind of the flesh is the impulse to sin, called old leaven and a warring law.
3967. 64.51.6If the flesh cannot obey, sins of the body would be blameless.
3968. 64.51.7Otherwise virginity and continence would be impossible.
3969. 64.51.8Continence shows that the body can obey God.
3970. 64.51.9The apostles and Paul’s exhortation show the body can serve righteousness.
3971. 64.51.10Paul urges presenting bodily members to righteousness.
3972. 64.52.1The body can be directed toward the good.
3973. 64.52.2Righteousness requires subjecting the body’s members.
3974. 64.52.3Paul’s list of those excluded from the kingdom.
3975. 64.52.4Mastering these sins shows the body can obey God’s law.
3976. 64.52.5Paul targets the flesh’s impulse, including gluttony.
3977. 64.52.7The body is for the Lord.
3978. 64.52.8Paul’s teaching on the body as Christ’s members and the Spirit’s temple.
3979. 64.53.1The body, kept pure, can receive immortality.
3980. 64.53.2It is the visible body that is joined to a prostitute.
3981. 64.53.3Sexual immorality is sin against one’s own body.
3982. 64.53.4Sins of soul and of body both exclude from the kingdom.
3983. 64.53.5The sanctified body can inherit the kingdom.
3984. 64.53.6God will give life to mortal bodies.
3985. 64.53.7Paul speaks of this mortal body.
3986. 64.54.1Scripture and philosophers alike call the visible flesh “body.”
3987. 64.54.2Flesh is a part; the whole visible frame is body.
3988. 64.54.3Plato uses “body” for the visible body.
3989. 64.54.4Moses calls the visible body “body.”
3990. 64.54.5Job calls his decaying frame “body.”
3991. 64.54.6Wisdom, Daniel, and the Gospel speak of the body.
3992. 64.54.7Jesus contrasts soul and body.
3993. 64.54.8Paul’s uses of “body.”
3994. 64.54.9More Pauline texts using “body.”
3995. 64.54.10Further Pauline texts using “body.”
3996. 64.54.11The Origenists make Paul contradict himself.
3997. 64.55.1Methodius will show Paul consistent with the resurrection of the flesh.
3998. 64.55.2Rom 7:9 refers to embodied life in paradise before the commandment.
3999. 64.55.3Man was formed with a body and lived without desire before the commandment.
4000. 64.55.4Without a commandment there is no culpable desire.
4001. 64.55.5Desire arises only for what is forbidden.
4002. 64.55.6The command in Eden awakened desire.
4003. 64.55.7The Eden command gave sin its occasion.
4004. 64.56.1The devil used the commandment to work desire.
4005. 64.56.2Before the commandment sin was inactive.
4006. 64.56.3The commandment became an occasion for death.
4007. 64.56.4God’s precept was meant for life.
4008. 64.56.5“Sin” in Romans 7 is the devil, who deceived and killed.
4009. 64.56.6The law is holy and given to save.
4010. 64.56.7The devil, not the commandment, caused death.
4011. 64.56.8The law is spiritual; man is fleshly.
4012. 64.56.9Man freely chose the serpent’s counsel and was sold to the devil.
4013. 64.56.10Evil settled in the flesh like a drone in a honeycomb.
4014. 64.56.11“I do what I hate” refers to unwanted thoughts, not deeds.
4015. 64.57.1We cannot stop thoughts, but can refuse to act on them.
4016. 64.57.2Paul speaks of alien, unwanted thoughts.
4017. 64.57.3Such thoughts must be suppressed.
4018. 64.57.4Perfect good refrains even from evil thoughts.
4019. 64.57.5Unwanted thoughts invade the heart.
4020. 64.57.6We can will not to think, but cannot abolish thoughts.
4021. 64.57.7Rom 7:19 refers to involuntary thoughts.
4022. 64.57.8David prayed to be cleansed of hidden and alien thoughts.
4023. 64.57.9Paul on taking thoughts captive.
4024. 64.58.1An objection: Paul means evil deeds too.
4025. 64.58.2Methodius asks what evil deeds Paul did.
4026. 64.58.3Did Paul commit idolatry or licentiousness?
4027. 64.58.4The absurdity of making Paul a doer of evil.
4028. 64.58.5Paul warns against sin and approving of sin.
4029. 64.58.6Paul’s warning against the sins excluding from the kingdom.
4030. 64.58.7Paul did not mean committing such sins.
4031. 64.58.8Unwanted thoughts swarm like flies and must be driven off.
4032. 64.58.9Troubling thoughts test us for the kingdom.
4033. 64.58.10Resist evil thoughts like brave soldiers.
4034. 64.58.11The devil sends thoughts to test us.
4035. 64.59.1The soul must not yield, for it has no ransom.
4036. 64.59.2Since temptation is unavoidable, we must not yield.
4037. 64.59.3The armour of God against the evil one.
4038. 64.59.4Paul’s letter is orthodox throughout.
4039. 64.59.5Paul on the sin dwelling in the flesh.
4040. 64.59.6Methodius apologizes for the length of his discussion.
4041. 64.60.1Sin entered man through disobedience.
4042. 64.60.2At the fall, God’s breath was exchanged for desire.
4043. 64.60.3Death was given to destroy sin.
4044. 64.60.4Two kinds of thoughts: from desire and from the natural law.
4045. 64.60.6The inner man delights in God’s law; another law wars in the flesh.
4046. 64.61.1Paul posits three laws: first the law of the mind, second the evil one’s assault.
4047. 64.61.2The third law is the law of sin in the members.
4048. 64.61.3The evil one’s law is strengthened by the law of desire.
4049. 64.61.4The better and the worse contend within us.
4050. 64.62.1Paul, like David, prays for deliverance from inner sin.
4051. 64.62.2Paul’s cry for deliverance.
4052. 64.62.3“Death” is the law of sin, not the body.
4053. 64.62.4Christ does not deliver from the body, which death already does.
4054. 64.62.5Death came to all even before Christ.
4055. 64.62.6All souls leave the body at death.
4056. 64.62.7Paul would not pray for what befalls everyone.
4057. 64.62.8“Death” is indwelling sin, from which Christ delivers.
4058. 64.62.9The Spirit frees from sin and will give life to mortal bodies.
4059. 64.62.10Sin condemned in the flesh so that the natural law might be fulfilled.
4060. 64.62.11God sent his Son in real flesh to strengthen the natural law.
4061. 64.62.12The natural law is fulfilled in those who walk by the Spirit.
4062. 64.62.13The gospel, the law of the Spirit, frees from sin and death.
4063. 64.62.14Methodius finishes with Paul and turns to other points.
4064. 64.62.15The remaining arguments are hard to refute.
4065. 64.63.1Epiphanius concludes his extracts from Methodius.
4066. 64.63.2Methodius wrote much more on the subject.
4067. 64.63.3Epiphanius limits his extract.
4068. 64.63.4Epiphanius adds his own refutation.
4069. 64.63.5Origen’s claim that the “tunics of skin” are bodies.
4070. 64.63.6Origen follows the serpent that deceived Eve.
4071. 64.63.7Epiphanius tests Origen’s claims.
4072. 64.63.8Origen’s six thousand books were wasted effort.
4073. 64.63.9Without bodily resurrection faith and hope are empty.
4074. 64.63.10A soul, which does not fall, cannot “rise again.”
4075. 64.63.11Resurrection means the rising of the buried body.
4076. 64.63.12Resurrection belongs to buried bodies.
4077. 64.63.13The body cannot rise only in part.
4078. 64.63.14The natural and spiritual body are the same body.
4079. 64.63.15In this life our bodies are “natural.”
4080. 64.63.16The raised body follows the Spirit.
4081. 64.63.17In the resurrection there is no marriage.
4082. 64.64.1Enoch was taken up bodily without seeing death.
4083. 64.64.2Elijah lives in spiritual flesh, fed by God.
4084. 64.64.3Christ rose in the same body, made spiritual.
4085. 64.64.4Our bodies now cannot pass through doors.
4086. 64.64.5The body that passed through doors was the crucified one.
4087. 64.64.6Christ showed Thomas his wounds.
4088. 64.64.7The risen body had flesh and bones.
4089. 64.64.8The risen body is spiritual yet truly a body.
4090. 64.64.9The risen body is united with the Godhead for ever.
4091. 64.64.10Christ, the firstfruits, dies no more.
4092. 64.65.1Others rose before Christ.
4093. 64.65.2Christ is firstfruits because he dies no more.
4094. 64.65.3Christ’s whole humanity rose, as the psalm foretold.
4095. 64.65.4Neither soul nor body of Christ was left to death.
4096. 64.65.5Origen’s reading of the tunics comes from Greek teaching.
4097. 64.65.6The natural man cannot receive spiritual things.
4098. 64.65.7Eve was formed from Adam’s body, before any tunics.
4099. 64.65.8Flesh existed before the tunics of skin.
4100. 64.65.9Man was formed from dust.
4101. 64.65.10Adam recognized Eve as bone and flesh.
4102. 64.65.11Adam and Eve had bodies before the tunics.
4103. 64.65.12The fall and Adam’s hiding.
4104. 64.65.13Nakedness and fig leaves concern the body.
4105. 64.65.14Eve came from Adam’s body before the tunics.
4106. 64.65.15The punishments after the fall.
4107. 64.65.16God bars Adam from the tree of life.
4108. 64.65.17“Like one of us” is ironic reproof.
4109. 64.65.18Adam was expelled out of care, not envy.
4110. 64.65.19God, like a potter, will remould man at the resurrection.
4111. 64.65.20The tree of life was meant to be given in due time.
4112. 64.65.21An objection from Gen 2:17.
4113. 64.65.22God foreknew the transgression and its penalty.
4114. 64.65.23Heretics accuse the God of the law of envy.
4115. 64.65.24God had permitted the tree of life from the start.
4116. 64.65.25Adam broke the one prohibition.
4117. 64.65.26God returns man to earth to remake him at the regeneration.
4118. 64.65.27God’s sentence speaks of earth, not death.
4119. 64.65.28The tunics came long after the first bodies.
4120. 64.66.1God’s works are all wonders.
4121. 64.66.2Creation out of nothing is itself wonderful.
4122. 64.66.3Rhetorical questions on creation.
4123. 64.66.4The wonders of Moses.
4124. 64.66.5God made the tunics by his will, as he made the world.
4125. 64.66.6The obstinate are like a deaf asp.
4126. 64.67.1Origen’s discussion of the resurrection on Psalm 1.
4127. 64.67.2Truth compels Origen to praise the simple.
4128. 64.67.3Simplicity is praised by the Saviour.
4129. 64.67.4The simple believe the whole body rises.
4130. 64.67.5Origen’s argument from bodily flux; Methodius refuted it.
4131. 64.67.6What is sought is the pure, not the waste.
4132. 64.67.7Analogy of a garment cleaned by a fuller.
4133. 64.67.8The cleaned garment is the same, without its dirt.
4134. 64.67.9A second analogy from bodily discharges.
4135. 64.67.10Lice grow from the body yet are not part of it.
4136. 64.67.11No one misses such discharges.
4137. 64.67.12God will restore the body whole, without its waste.
4138. 64.67.13Christ did not raise only part of himself.
4139. 64.67.14The parable of the grain of wheat.
4140. 64.67.15Christ is the grain of wheat.
4141. 64.67.16The falling of the grain is the three-day death of Christ’s body.
4142. 64.67.17The same body buried by Joseph rose.
4143. 64.67.18The empty tomb shows the whole body rose.
4144. 64.67.19The same wounded body rose.
4145. 64.68.1As Christ rose bodily, so will we.
4146. 64.68.2Paul grounds our hope in Christ’s resurrection.
4147. 64.68.3“This” perishable body will put on imperishability.
4148. 64.68.4The whole grain rose.
4149. 64.68.5Two grains in Scripture.
4150. 64.68.6Christ’s grain is the prototype of resurrection.
4151. 64.68.7Christ confirmed his word by rising.
4152. 64.68.8Paul uses the grain for the saints’ glory.
4153. 64.68.9Paul calls the doubter a fool.
4154. 64.68.10The seed analogy of 1 Corinthians 15.
4155. 64.68.11What is sown is what rises.
4156. 64.68.12In plants, what remains in the earth is useless.
4157. 64.68.13The tiny grain produces a whole plant.
4158. 64.69.1The wonders of Moses at God’s command.
4159. 64.69.2More plagues of Egypt.
4160. 64.69.3The exodus wonders.
4161. 64.69.4Moses on Sinai and his shining face.
4162. 64.69.5Moses’s hand and the earth swallowing Korah.
4163. 64.69.6Moses’s death and hidden burial.
4164. 64.69.7Moses’s body foreshadowed the spiritual body.
4165. 64.69.8Sown in weakness, raised in power.
4166. 64.69.9The buried body is weak and dishonoured.
4167. 64.69.10The glory of the raised body.
4168. 64.69.11All will rise, to life or to judgment.
4169. 64.70.1Epiphanius silences the confusion of heresy.
4170. 64.70.2The deliverer will come and the dead will rise.
4171. 64.70.3The living and the raised share one hope in the same body.
4172. 64.70.4The living and the dead will rise together in body.
4173. 64.70.5Epiphanius introduces the Apocryphon of Ezekiel.
4174. 64.70.6The parable of the lame and the blind man begins.
4175. 64.70.7The two excluded men plot against the king.
4176. 64.70.8The blind man proposes revenge.
4177. 64.70.9The two plan to ruin the king’s garden.
4178. 64.70.10The lame man rides on the blind man.
4179. 64.70.11They enter the garden and leave footprints.
4180. 64.70.12The footprints are reported to the king.
4181. 64.70.13The king questions the blind man.
4182. 64.70.14The lame man pleads his incapacity.
4183. 64.70.15The king sets one on the other and they are convicted.
4184. 64.70.16Each accuses the other.
4185. 64.70.17Soul and body will be judged together.
4186. 64.70.18Opponents of truth bring injustice on themselves.
4187. 64.70.19The heretic falls into his own pit.
4188. 64.70.20God’s unsearchable wisdom raises the dead.
4189. 64.70.21God renews and raises what was sown.
4190. 64.71.1Psalm 30 foretells the resurrection of the body.
4191. 64.71.2Proverbs urges preparation for the “field.”
4192. 64.71.3The “field” is the grave for all.
4193. 64.71.4“Rebuild your house” points to resurrection.
4194. 64.71.5Christ, Wisdom, will rebuild scattered bodies.
4195. 64.71.6God, who created from nothing, can restore the body.
4196. 64.71.7If only the soul is rewarded, bodily asceticism is pointless.
4197. 64.71.8God will reward the body that toiled with the soul.
4198. 64.71.9A soul judged alone could blame the body.
4199. 64.71.10Ezekiel’s dry bones show God can assemble bodies.
4200. 64.71.11God could move a body without a soul, like Abel’s blood.
4201. 64.71.12A body judged alone could blame the soul.
4202. 64.71.13God raises body and soul together for judgment.
4203. 64.71.14Christ confirmed the resurrection against unbelief.
4204. 64.71.15Many bodies of the saints rose with Christ.
4205. 64.71.16Scripture says “bodies” of the saints rose.
4206. 64.71.17The raised saints fulfilled Psalm 68.
4207. 64.71.18“Those who dwell in tombs” are the raised bodies.
4208. 64.71.19The raised appeared in the city; Adam buried at Golgotha.
4209. 64.71.20Relatives recognize the raised.
4210. 64.71.21The raised ask about the earthquake.
4211. 64.71.22The raised confess Christ; Scripture is fulfilled.
4212. 64.71.23The people were embittered at the witness.
4213. 64.71.24Epiphanius urges the Origenists to believe.
4214. 64.72.1Epiphanius concludes against Origen.
4215. 64.72.2Epiphanius moves on, citing Isaiah.
4216. 64.72.3The Panarion is an antidote to heresies.
4217. 64.72.4The Lord’s resurrection counters Origenist venom.
4218. 64.72.5Origen, harmed by pagan learning, harmed others.
4219. 64.72.6The dormouse and the viper.
4220. 64.72.7The viper blinds the young dormice.
4221. 64.72.8Those who eat the blinded dormice are poisoned.
4222. 64.72.9Origen, blinded by Greek education, poisoned his followers.