Against Heresies 2.30.1–2.32.5

This being so, these senseless people say that they ascend above the Demiurge. In so far as they declare themselves better than that God who made and adorned the heavens, the earth, the seas, and all that is in them, and wish to be spiritual themselves, dishonoring him, though they are carnal because of their great impiety; and in saying that he who makes his angels spirits, who is clothed with light as with a garment, who holds as it were in his hand the circle of the earth, before whom its inhabitants are counted as locusts, the Demiurge and Lord of all spiritual substance, is animal: they show undoubtedly and truly their own madness, and, as if truly struck by thunder, more than the Giants told of in the fables, they raise their opinions against God, swollen with vain presumption and unstable glory — people for whom all the hellebore on earth would not suffice to purge them, so that they might vomit up their great folly.

For the better must be shown by works. From what, then, do they show themselves better than the Demiurge (that we too, from the necessity of the argument, may stoop to impiety by comparing God with madmen, and descending into their argumentation, often refuting them by their own doctrines — but may God be merciful to us, for we say these things not comparing them with him, but refuting and overturning their madness), they at whom many senseless people marvel, as though they could learn from them something more than the truth itself? And the saying that is written, “Seek, and you will find,” they interpret as said to this end, that they might find themselves above the Demiurge, calling themselves greater and better than God, themselves spiritual and the Demiurge animal; and for this reason they say that they ascend above God, and that they pass within the Pleroma while God remains in the place of the Middle. Let them show by works, then, that they are better than the Demiurge; for the better must be shown not by what is said but by what is.

What work, then, will they point to as made through them by the Savior or by their Mother, greater, more splendid, or more reasonable than the things made by him who arranged all these? What heavens have they established? What earth have they made firm? What stars have they sent forth? What luminaries have they made to shine? In what orbits have they bridled them? Or what rains, frosts, or snows, suited to each season and each region, have they brought upon the earth? And what heat and drought have they set against them in turn? What rivers have they made to overflow? What springs have they brought forth? With what flowers and trees have they adorned the world under heaven? Or what multitude of living creatures have they formed, some rational and some irrational, all adorned with beauty? And who could enumerate one by one all the other things established by the power of God and governed by his wisdom, or search out the greatness of the wisdom of God who made them? And what of the things above heaven, which do not pass away, how great they are: angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, powers without number? Against which one of these works, then, do they set themselves up? What such thing can they show done through themselves or by themselves, when they themselves are his work and formation? For whether it was the Savior or their Mother (to use their own terms, refuting them as liars by their own terms) who used him, as they say, to make an image of the things within the Pleroma and of the whole vision she saw around the Savior, she used him as better and more suited to accomplishing her will through him; for she did not fashion the images of such great things through an inferior but through a better one.

For they themselves, as they say, were then in existence as a spiritual conception after the vision of those who are set as attendants around Pandora. And they remained idle, the Mother accomplishing nothing through them — or, through the Savior, a useless conception, fit for nothing; for nothing appears to have been made through them. But the God who according to them was emitted, though inferior to them by their argument (for they will have him to be animal), was the worker of all things, effective and fit, so that the images of all things came to be through him; and not only these visible things but also the invisible ones, angels, archangels, dominions, powers, and virtues: all were made through him, evidently as through a better one, able to serve her will. But the Mother appears to have made nothing through them, as they themselves confess; so that one may justly consider them the miscarriage of their Mother, who gave birth badly. For no midwives delivered her, and therefore they were cast out like a miscarriage, useless for anything, made for no work of their Mother. And they call themselves better than him through whom so many and such great things were made and arranged, when even by their own argument they are found far inferior.

It is as if there were two working tools or two instruments, one of which the artist always has in his hands and in use, and through it makes whatever he wishes and displays his art and wisdom, while the other remains idle, unused, and without operation, the artist plainly making nothing at all through it and using it for no action; and then someone were to say that this useless, idle, unused one was better and of more worth than the one he uses in his work, through which the artist himself is glorified: such a person would justly be judged dull and not in his right mind. So too these people, who call themselves spiritual and better and the Demiurge animal, and say that for this reason they ascend and penetrate within the Pleroma to their husbands (for they are females, as they themselves confess), while God, being inferior, remains for this reason in the Middle — and who bring no proof of this, for he who is better is shown by works, and all the works were made by the Demiurge, while they can show nothing worthy of reason made through themselves — are mad with the utmost and incurable madness.

But if they insist on saying that whatever things are material, such as the heaven and the whole world contained beneath it, were made by the Demiurge, but whatever things are more spiritual than these, the things above heaven, such as principalities, powers, angels, archangels, dominions, and virtues, were made through the spiritual offspring, which they say they themselves are: first, we have shown from the Lord's Scriptures that all the things mentioned, visible and invisible, were made by one God. For these people are not more trustworthy than the Scriptures; nor ought we to abandon the oracles of the Lord, of Moses, and of the other prophets who proclaimed the truth, and believe these men, who say nothing sound but rave unstable things. Then, even if the things above the heavens were made through them, let them tell us what the nature of the invisible things is, recount the number of the angels and the order of the archangels, show the mysteries of the thrones, and teach the differences between dominions, principalities, powers, and virtues. But they cannot say; therefore these things were not made through them. But if these were made by the Demiurge, as indeed they were, and they are spiritual and holy, then he who made spiritual things is not animal, and their great blasphemy is undone.

For that there are spiritual creations in the heavens, all the Scriptures proclaim; and Paul too bears witness that there are spiritual things, indicating that he was caught up to the third heaven, and again that he was carried into paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not permitted for a man to speak. But what did it profit him, either his entrance into paradise or his being taken up to the third heaven, since all those things are under the power of the Demiurge, if he was beginning to become a beholder and hearer of the mysteries said to be above the Demiurge, as some dare to say? For if he was learning what is above the Demiurge, he would not have stayed in the regions of the Demiurge, and that without even surveying them wholly (for, by their account, the fourth heaven still remained for him, if he was to approach the Demiurge and see the sevenfold order beneath him); but he would perhaps have been received even as far as the Middle, that is, to the Mother, to learn from her the things within the Pleroma. For his inner man, which also spoke in him, being invisible, as they say, could have reached not only the third heaven but even their Mother. For if they say that they themselves, that is, their own man, at once pass beyond the Demiurge and go off to the Mother, much more would this have happened to the man of the Apostle; for the Demiurge would not have prevented him, since, as they say, he is himself already subject to the Savior. And if he had tried to prevent him, it would have been to no purpose; for he cannot be stronger than the providence of the Father, and that when the inner man is said to be invisible even to the Demiurge. But since the Apostle recounted his being taken up as far as the third heaven as something great and splendid, these people certainly do not ascend above the seventh heaven; for they are not better than the Apostle. If they say they are superior, they will be refuted by their works; for they have boasted of nothing of the kind. And for this reason he added, “Whether in the body or out of the body, God knows”: so that the body might not be thought to share in that vision, as if it too were to share in what he had seen and heard; nor again might anyone say that he was not taken up higher because of the weight of the body. Rather, so far it is permitted, even without the body, to behold spiritual mysteries, which are the works of God, who made the heavens and the earth, formed man, and placed him in paradise, so that those may become beholders of them who, like the Apostle, are very perfect in the love of God.

This one, therefore, also made the spiritual things, of which the Apostle became a beholder as far as the third heaven, and the unspeakable words which it is not permitted for a man to speak, since they are spiritual; and he himself grants them to the worthy as he wills, for paradise is his; and he is truly the Spirit of God, and not an animal Demiurge; otherwise he would never have made spiritual things. But if he is animal, let them tell us by whom the spiritual things were made. Nor can they show that anything was made through the offspring of their Mother, which they say they themselves are. For they cannot make not only anything spiritual, but not even a fly or a gnat or any such small and contemptible creature, except by the way in which, from the beginning, living creatures have been and are produced naturally by God through the sowing of seed in those of the same kind. Nor was anything made by the Mother alone; they say that this Demiurge was emitted by her and is Lord of all the work. And him who is Demiurge and Lord of all the work they call animal, but themselves spiritual — they who are makers or lords of no work, not only of things outside them but not even of their own bodies. Indeed, they often suffer many things in the body against their will, though they call themselves spiritual and better than the Demiurge.

Justly, then, are they refuted by us as having strayed far away from the truth. For if the Savior made through this one the things that were made, he is shown to be not inferior to them but better, since he is found to be the maker of these very people; for they too are among the things that were made. How, then, does it follow that they are spiritual, while he through whom they were made is animal? Or if (which alone is true, as we have shown by very many and very clear proofs) he of himself, freely and by his own power, made, arranged, and completed all things, and his will is the substance of all things, then he alone is found to be God, who made all things, alone almighty, and alone Father, founding and making all things, visible and invisible, perceptible and imperceptible, heavenly and earthly, by the Word of his power; and he fitted and arranged all things by his wisdom, and contains all things, but he alone can be contained by no one. He is the fashioner, he the founder, he the discoverer, he the maker, he the Lord of all; and there is none besides him or above him: neither the Mother whom they falsely ascribe to him, nor another God, whom Marcion invented, nor a Pleroma of thirty Aeons, which has been shown to be empty, nor Bythus, nor Proarche, nor their heavens, nor the virginal light, nor the unnameable Aeon, nor anything at all of the things raved about by these and by all the heretics. But there is one only God, the fashioner, he who is above every principality, power, dominion, and virtue: he is Father, he is God, he founder, he maker, he fashioner, who made these things by himself, that is, by his Word and his Wisdom, the heaven and the earth and the seas and all that is in them. He is just, he is good; he it is who formed man, planted paradise, fashioned the world, brought the flood, and saved Noah; he is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of the living, whom the law announces, the prophets proclaim, Christ reveals, the apostles hand down, and the church believes. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: through his Word, who is his Son, through him he is revealed and made manifest to all to whom he is revealed; for those know him to whom the Son has revealed him. And the Son, always coexisting with the Father, of old and from the beginning always reveals the Father to angels, archangels, powers, virtues, and all to whom God wills to reveal him.

So, with the followers of Valentinus destroyed, the whole multitude of heretics is overthrown. For all that we have said against their Pleroma and concerning the things outside it — showing that the Father of all would be enclosed and circumscribed by what is outside him (if indeed there is anything outside him); that there would then necessarily be many Fathers, many Pleromas, and many fabrications of worlds on every side, beginning from some and ending at others; that all of them, remaining in their own domains, would not concern themselves with the others, in whom they have no share or fellowship at all; and that none would be God of all, the title “Almighty” being a mere name — all this will likewise fit against the followers of Marcion, Simon, and Menander, or whoever else in the same way divides from the Father the creation to which we belong. And all that we said, again, against those who say that the Father of all contains all things, but that the creation to which we belong was made not by him but by some other Power, or by angels ignorant of the Propator, circumscribed like a center in the immense greatness of the universe, like a stain on a cloak — when we showed that it is not probable that anyone other than the Father of all made the creation to which we belong — the same will be said against the followers of Saturninus, Basilides, Carpocrates, and the rest of the Gnostics, who say the same things in a similar way. What has been said about the emissions, the Aeons, the diminution, and the instability of their Mother likewise overthrows Basilides and all who are falsely called Gnostics, who say the same things under other names, but even more than these transfer things foreign to the truth to the pattern of their own doctrine. And whatever we said about numbers will also be said against all who bend the things of the truth to such a form. And whatever has been said about the Demiurge, showing that he alone is God and Father of all, and whatever will yet be said in the following books, I say against all heretics. The milder and more humane among them you will turn back and put to shame, so that they no longer blaspheme their Founder, Maker, Nourisher, and Lord, nor invent his origin from defect and ignorance; but the fierce, frightful, and irrational you will drive far from you, so as no longer to endure their wordiness.

Moreover, the followers of Simon and Carpocrates are refuted by this, and any others who are said to work miracles: they do what they do not by the power of God, nor in truth, nor as benefits to people, but for ruin and error, through magical illusions and every kind of fraud, harming more than helping those who believe them, in that they lead them astray. For they cannot give sight to the blind or hearing to the deaf, nor drive out all demons — except those sent in by themselves, if they do even this — nor cure the weak, the lame, the paralyzed, or those afflicted in some other part of the body, as often happens through bodily infirmity, nor restore good health from infirmities that come from outside. And so far are they from raising the dead — as the Lord raised them, and the apostles by prayer, and as in the brotherhood very often, because of some necessity, when the whole church of the place asked with fasting and much supplication, the spirit of the dead man returned and the man was granted to the prayers of the saints — that they do not even believe this can happen at all, and hold that the resurrection from the dead is the knowledge of what they call the truth.

Since, then, among them there is error and seduction, and magical illusion is impiously practised before the eyes of men, but in the Church compassion, mercy, steadfastness, and truth for the help of people are practised not only without fee and freely, but we ourselves even spend our own means for people's salvation, and those who are cured, very often lacking what they need, receive it from us: truly by this mark too they are proved to be wholly strangers to the divine nature, to the kindness of God, and to spiritual power, but filled in every way with every kind of fraud, apostate inspiration, demonic working, and the phantasms of idolatry. They are the forerunners of that dragon who by such a phantasm will make a third part of the stars fall away with his tail and will cast them to the earth. We must shun them as we shun him; and the greater the phantasms by which they are said to work, the more closely we must watch them, as having received a greater spirit of wickedness. If anyone observes this prophecy and the daily practice of their way of life, he will find that their way of life is one and the same as that of the demons.

This impious opinion of theirs about conduct, which says that they must come to be in all works, even evil ones of any kind, is refuted by the teaching of the Lord. With him not only is the one who commits adultery cast out, but also the one who wishes to commit adultery; and not only will the one who kills be liable for the killing to condemnation, but also the one who is angry with his brother without cause. He commanded not only not to hate people but even to love enemies; and directed not only not to swear falsely but not even to swear; and not only not to speak evil of one's neighbors but not even to call anyone “Raca” and “fool,” otherwise such people are liable to the fire of Gehenna; and not only not to strike, but even when struck to offer the other cheek as well; and not only not to deny others what is theirs, but even if one's own things are taken away, not to demand them back; and not only not to harm one's neighbors or do them any evil, but even when ill-treated to be patient, to show kindness toward them, and to pray for them, so that by repenting they may be saved; so that we imitate in nothing the insolence, lust, and pride of others. Since, then, he whom these people boast of as their master, and of whom they say that he had a soul much better and stronger than the rest, commanded with great care that some things be done as good and excellent, and that one abstain from others, not only from the deeds but even from the thoughts that lead to the deeds, as evil, harmful, and wicked: how are they not put to shame, when they call such a master stronger and better than the rest, and then plainly prescribe things contrary to his teaching? And if there were nothing evil, or again good, but some things were thought unjust and others just by human opinion alone, he would certainly not have said in his teaching (dogmatizans, that is, teaching): “But the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father,” and that he will send the unrighteous, and those who do not do the works of righteousness, into eternal fire, where their worm will not die and the fire will not be quenched.

Again, they say that they must come to be in every work and every way of life, so that, if possible, accomplishing everything in one sojourn of life, they may pass over to perfection; yet they are nowhere found attempting to do the things that belong to virtue, which are laborious, glorious, and skilled, and which all approve as good. For if one must go through every work and every activity, they ought first of all to learn all the arts, whatever they are, whether carried out in reasoning or in works, whether taught through self-restraint or acquired by labor, practice, and perseverance: for example, every kind of music, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and all that are occupied with reasoning; further, all of medicine, the knowledge of herbs, and the skills developed for human health; painting, sculpture, bronze-work, marble-work, and the like; and besides these every kind of farming, veterinary skill, herding, and the crafts of artisans, which are said to run through all the arts; those concerned with the sea, those devoted to bodily training, hunting, the military and royal arts, and as many others as there are — of which they could not learn a tenth or a thousandth part even if they labored their whole life. Yet they try to learn none of these, they who say they must come to be in every work; but turning aside to pleasures, lust, and shameful deeds, they are judged by themselves according to their own doctrine; for since they lack all the things mentioned, they will go to the chastisement of fire. Imitating the philosophy of Epicurus and the indifference of the Cynics, they boast of Jesus as their master, who turned his disciples away not only from evil works but even from words and thoughts, as we have shown.

And though they say that they have souls from the same circuit as Jesus and are like him, and sometimes even better, brought forth for the works which he did for the benefit and strengthening of people, they are found to accomplish nothing of the kind, nothing similar, nothing that could in any respect come into comparison. And if they do anything, working by magic, as we said, they try to deceive the senseless fraudulently, bringing no fruit or benefit to those on whom they say they work miracles; but bringing in beardless boys, deluding the eyes, and showing phantasms that cease at once and do not last even a drop of time, they are shown to be like not Jesus our Lord but Simon the magician. And because it is certain that the Lord rose from the dead on the third day, showed himself to the disciples, and was received into heaven as they watched, they, who die and do not rise again nor show themselves to anyone, are proved to have souls in no way like that of Jesus.

But if they say that the Lord too did such things by phantasms, we shall bring them back to the prophetic writings and show from them that all things concerning him were both foretold in this way and done most surely, and that he alone is the Son of God. Therefore also in his name those who are truly his disciples, receiving grace from him, perform works for the benefit of other people, as each has received the gift from him. For some drive out demons surely and truly, so that very often those who have been cleansed from the wicked spirits themselves believe and are in the church; others have foreknowledge of things to come, visions, and prophetic utterances; others heal those who suffer from some sickness by the laying on of hands and restore them to health. Even, as we have said, dead people have been raised and have remained with us for many years. And what more? It is not possible to tell the number of the gifts which the church throughout the whole world receives from God in the name of Christ Jesus, crucified under Pontius Pilate, and exercises every day for the help of the nations, neither deceiving anyone nor taking money from him. For as she has received freely from God, so freely she also ministers.

Nor does she do anything by invocations of angels, nor by incantations, nor by any other wicked curiosity; but, directing her prayers cleanly, purely, and openly to the Lord who made all things, and calling on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, she has performed miracles for people's benefit and not for their deception. If, then, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ even now confers benefits, and heals most surely and truly all everywhere who believe in him — and not the name of Simon, or Menander, or Carpocrates, or of anyone else — it is plain that he, having become man, lived with his own handiwork and truly did all things by the power of God, according to the good pleasure of the Father of all, as the prophets foretold. What these things were will be told in the account of the proofs from the prophetic writings.