On Heresies 1 part 1/3

Concerning a hundred heresies, in summary: whence they began and from what source they arose.

Of all the heresies there are four mothers and prototypes:

namely, (1) Barbarism, (2) Scythism, (3) Hellenism, (4) Judaism, from which all the others sprang forth.

Barbarism, which existed on its own, lasting from the days of Adam for ten generations down to Noah.

It is called Barbarism because the men of that time had no ruler nor any single common accord, but each followed his own course, and each became a law unto himself according to the preference of his own will.

Scythism, from the days of Noah and thereafter, until the building of the tower and of Babylon, and after the time of the tower for a few more years, that is, until Phalek and Ragau, who, having turned toward the region of Europe, attached themselves to the part of Scythia and to their own nations, from the age of Thara onward — from which time the Thracians arose.

Hellenism, which took its beginning of idolatry from the times of Seruch: at that time each man followed a kind of superstition, chiefly in a more civic fashion, and according to customs and institutions; and the races of men, having begun to be marshalled around idols, deified those whom they then followed, depicting the origin by means of colors and portraying those then honored among them — sorcerers, or persons who had done something in life deemed worthy of remembrance for valor or bodily strength. Then afterward, from the times of Thara, the father of Abraham, they introduced the error of idolatry by means of statues, honoring their own forefathers through likenesses, and fashioning those who had died before them, at first by the art of pottery, and then, imitating this in each craft: builders carving stone, and silversmiths and goldsmiths working from their own material, and so too carpenters and the rest.

The Egyptians, together with the Babylonians, Phrygians, and Phoenicians, were the first introducers of this religion, by the making of statues and by mysteries;

from them it was first transmitted to the Greeks, from the age of Cecrops onward, and afterward, much later, they proclaimed as gods Cronus and Rhea, Zeus and the rest, and Apollo.

The Greeks are so called from a certain man, Hellen, one of those who dwelt in Hellas;

but as others say, from the olive tree in Athens.

The Ionians became the leaders of these, as the precise account has it, from Ioüan, one of the men who built the tower, when the languages of all were divided; for which reason they are all also called Meropes, on account of the divided speech.

Later, in more recent times, Hellenism divided into sects — I mean those of the Pythagoreans, the Stoics, the Platonists, and the Epicureans;

and besides, there also existed the character of true worship of God, together with the natural law by which men lived, distinguishing itself from these nations, from the foundation of the world until now, standing midway between Barbarism, Scythism, and Hellenism, until the piety of Abraham was joined to it.

And afterward, Judaism, which received its distinguishing mark through circumcision from the times of Abraham, and was inscribed in Moses, the seventh from Abraham, through the law given by God; and from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob who was surnamed Israel; and through David the prophet, who reigned, being of that same tribe of Judah, it received as its inheritance the full and perfect name of Judaism.

Concerning these four sects the Apostle spoke plainly, setting them apart, when he said:

"Barbarian, Scythian, Greek, Jew — none of these, but a new creation." The distinctions among the Greeks:

The Pythagoreans, or Peripatetics: Pythagoras taught as doctrine the Monad and Providence, and that one should refrain from sacrificing to the so-called gods, and that one should not partake of anything ensouled, and that one should abstain from wine.

He also made a distinction, saying that the things from the moon and above are immortal, but that those below are mortal;

and he taught the transmigration of souls from bodies into bodies, even into animals and beasts, and taught that silence should be practiced for a period of five years; and at the end he named himself a god.

The Platonists [taught] that God, matter, and form exist, and that the world is generated and perishable, but that the soul is ungenerated, immortal, and divine.

And they hold that it has three parts: the rational, the spirited, and the appetitive;

and that women should be held in common by all, and that no one should have a wife of his own, but that men who wished should consort with women who were willing.

He likewise taught as doctrine the transmigration of souls into bodies, even into beasts, and also taught that many gods proceed from the One.

The Stoics teach as doctrine that the universe is corporeal, and hold this sensible world to be god; and some of them declared that it has its nature from the substance of fire.

And they define God as mind, and as it were the soul of the whole existing mass of heaven and earth;

and his body is the universe, as I said, and the heavenly lights are his eyes; and they teach that the flesh perishes, but that the soul of all is transmigrated from body to body.

The Epicureans posited that the first principle consists of atoms and indivisible bodies, of like parts and infinite in number, and taught as doctrine that pleasure is the end of happiness, and that neither God nor Providence governs the affairs of the world.

Samaritanism, and the Samaritans who derive from it.

This sect derives from the Jews — arising before sects were established among the Greeks and before their doctrines were formed, yet after the religion of the Greeks already existed — and, standing in the midst of Judaism, it took its occasion from the times of Nebuchadnezzar and the captivity of the Jews;

for they, being settlers transplanted from the Assyrians into Judea, received the Pentateuch of Moses, which the king sent to them from Babylon through a priest called Ezra; and they hold all things as the Jews do, except that they abhor the [Gentile] nations and do not so much as touch anything of theirs, and except that they deny the resurrection of the dead and the other prophecies that came after Moses.

The Gorothenes, who celebrate the feasts at different times than the Jebusites.

The Jebusites, who for this same reason concerning the feasts differ from the Gorothenes.

The Essenes, who oppose neither party, but keep festival indiscriminately with whichever of them they happen to be with.

The Dositheans, who conduct their life by the same customs as the Samaritans, practicing circumcision and the Sabbath and the other observances, and [using] the Pentateuch;

but more than the others they keep the practice of abstaining from anything ensouled, and likewise in other matters, and they live in almost continual fasting.

They also practice virginity, and some of them observe continence;

and others of them believe in the resurrection of the dead, which is foreign to the Samaritans.

The Scribes, who were experts in the Law and repeaters of the traditions of their elders, keeping, out of an excessive self-devised religiosity, customs which they had not learned from the Law but had themselves fashioned as objects of reverence, [claiming them] to be requirements of the legislation.

The Pharisees, whose name is interpreted "the separated ones";

they live according to the strictest standard, and are supposedly more approved than the others; among them, as also among the Scribes, is [the belief in] the resurrection of the dead, and the acknowledgment that angels and the Holy Spirit exist;

their manner of life is distinctive, involving continence and virginity for a period of time, and fasting twice a week.

the purification of vessels, and of plates and cups, as also the Scribes [practice]; tithing, and firstfruits, and continual prayers, and self-devised religious forms of dress — the mantle, and the dalmatic-like garments, that is, the sleeveless tunics, and the broadening of the phylacteries, that is, marks of purple, and fringes, and little pomegranate-tassels upon the edges of the mantle — these being, among them, signs of their temporary continence;

and they also introduced [the practice of] astrology and fate.

The Sadducees, whose name is interpreted "most righteous," who were of the race of the Samaritans, and also of a priest named Sadoc, denying the resurrection of the dead and not admitting angel nor spirit, though in all other things they are Jews.

The Hemerobaptists, who were Jews in all respects, but asserted that no one could attain eternal life unless he were baptized every day.

The Ossenes, whose name is interpreted "the most impetuous."

These performed all things according to the Law, and they also made use of other writings besides the Law, but they rejected most of the later prophets.

The Nasaraeans, whose name is interpreted "the recalcitrant," who forbid all eating of flesh, and do not partake at all of anything ensouled, but make use of, and believe in, the holy names of the patriarchs found in the Pentateuch, down to Moses and Joshua son of Nun — namely Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and those before them, and Moses himself, and Aaron, and Joshua.

But they teach as doctrine that the writings of the Pentateuch are not [truly] of Moses, and they affirm other writings apart from these.

The Herodians were Jews in all respects, but they expected Herod to be the Christ, and rendered to him the honor and the name of the Christ.

This is the first volume, containing [an account] against these twenty heresies;

and in it also is the matter concerning the coming of Christ, and the confession of the truth.

The following are contained in the second volume of the first book, in which, concerning thirteen heresies, are the heresies found among Christians.

The Simonians, [named] from Simon the magician, [who lived] in the time of Peter the Apostle, from the village of Gitthon in Samaria.

This man came from the Samaritans, and merely assumed the name of Christ.

He taught a shameful, defiling promiscuity, an indiscriminate [sharing] of bodies.

He rejects the resurrection, and asserts that the world is not [the work] of God.

He handed over to his own disciples for worship an image of himself as Zeus, and of the harlot who was with him, named Helen, in the likeness of Athena.

He said that he was, to the Samaritans, the Father, but to the Jews, the Christ.

The Menandrians, who took their beginning from this Simon through a certain Menander, differing from the Simonians in some respect; they said that the world came into being from angels.

The Saturnilians, who strengthened in Syria the shameful practice of the Simonians, preaching things beyond the Simonians for even greater astonishment; they took their origin from Saturnilus, and they too, like Menander, asserted that the world came into being by angels — seven only — through the will of the Father.

The Basilidians, practitioners of the same shameful conduct, [named] from Basilides, who was a fellow disciple together with Saturnilus, and of the Simonians and Menandrians, and who held similar views, but differed in some respect;

for he says that there are 365 heavens, and he assigns to these angelic names.

For this reason also the year consists of that many days; and the name Abrasax has [the numerical value of] 365, and he says that this is a holy name.

The Nicolaitans, [named] from Nicolaus, who was appointed by the Apostles over the [charitable] needs — that is, as one of the deacons — who, out of jealousy over his own wife, [taught] to perform the shameful practice together with the others —

— this he taught to his own disciples; and he introduced into the world [teachings] concerning Caulacau and Protonicus and other barbarous names.

The Gnostics, who succeeded to these heresies, practicing shameful conduct more frantically than all these; in Egypt they are called Stratiotics and Phibionites, in the upper regions Socratites, and among others, Zacchaeans.

Others call them Coddians, and others call them Borborites.

These boast of Barbelo and Baro.

Carpocratians, [named] from a certain Carpocrates, one of those in Asia.

This man taught that one should perform every shameful act and every practice of sin.

And unless one, he says, passes through all things and carries out the will of all the demons and angels, he will not be able to rise above the highest heaven, nor pass by the principalities nor the powers.

He said that Jesus had received a rational soul, and that, knowing the things above, he proclaimed them here below; and that if anyone should do the like of Jesus, he would be his equal. He also rejected the Law together with the resurrection of the dead, as do the heresies from Simon down to the present.

A disciple of his, Marcellina, arose in Rome.

Having secretly made an image of Jesus, and of Paul, and of Homer, and of Pythagoras, she used to burn incense to them and worship them.

Cerinthians, who are also [called] Merinthians.

These, [named] from Cerinthus and Merinthus, are certain Jews who boast in circumcision; and they said that the world came into being through angels, and that Jesus was called Christ on account of moral advancement.

Nazoraeans, who confess Christ Jesus to be the Son of God, but who conduct themselves in all things according to the Law.

Ebionites, similar to the aforementioned Cerinthians and Nazoraeans; and joined to them in a certain respect is the heresy of the Sampsaeans and Elkesaites, who say that Christ was created in heaven, and likewise the Holy Spirit; and they say that Christ, having taken up dwelling in Adam, and [from time to time putting off Adam himself and] again from time to time putting him on, accomplished this same thing in his incarnate coming.

Though being Jews, they make use of the Gospels, but they abhor the eating of meat; they hold water in the place of God; and they say that Christ, in his incarnate coming, put on a man, as I have said.

They are continually baptized in the waters, both summer and winter, supposedly for purification, just like the Samaritans.

Valentinians, who reject the resurrection of the flesh and repudiate the Old Testament, yet who read the prophets, and accept whatever else can, by figurative interpretation, be made to conform to their own heresy.

They introduce certain other myths, speaking of the names of thirty Aeons, saying they are male-female together, having come into being from the Father of all, whom they reckon to be both gods and Aeons.

They say that Christ brought his flesh down from heaven and passed through Mary as through a channel.

Secundians, to whom Epiphanes and Isidore are joined, these making use of the same pairings [syzygies], holding the same views as Valentinus, but relating certain other things somewhat different from him.

They further add teachings of shameful practice.

And they too reject the flesh.

Ptolemaeans, who are themselves also disciples of Valentinus, to whom Flora is joined.

These too say the same things about the pairings as do the Valentinians and Secundians, but in a certain respect they too differ.

This is the summary of the second tome of the first book, of the thirteen heresies.

The following are also contained in the third tome of the first book, in which there are thirteen heresies.

A certain Marcus arose, a fellow-student of Colorbasus, [teaching] two principles and—

He rejects the resurrection of the dead, and by means of cups, through incantation, producing certain illusions by changing [their contents] into a dark-blue and purple color, he used to initiate into his mysteries the women who were being deceived.

And he too holds that all things are governed by the twenty-four elements, just as Valentinus does.

And this Colorbasus, likewise relating the same things, but differing in a certain respect from the other heresies—I mean those of Marcus and Valentinus—taught the emanations and the Ogdoads differently.

And these too appear to follow the mythology of the Ogdoads, but differently from Marcus and Ptolemaeus and Valentinus and the others.

Moreover, at the point of death, they — in the same manner as Marcus — “redeem” those among them who are dying, by means of oil, balsam-juice, and water, pronouncing over the head of the one supposedly being redeemed certain invocations in Hebrew words.

Ophites, who glorify the serpent and consider it to be Christ, and who keep an actual serpent, the reptile, in a certain chest.

The Cainites, together with the other heresies that likewise reject the Law, hold the same opinion also concerning him who spoke in the Law.

Denying the resurrection of the flesh, they glorify Cain, saying that he is of the stronger power.

At the same time they also deify Judas, and together with him those associated with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and even the Sodomites themselves.

These again glorify Seth, asserting that he came into being from the mother above, who repented of those associated with Cain whom she had brought forth; and then, after Cain was cast out and Abel was killed, she, having united with the Father above, produced Seth as a pure seed, from whom, in turn, the whole race of mankind was descended.

And they too [teach] principalities and powers, and whatever else the others teach as doctrine.

These again attribute everything to many rulers, and say that the things that come to be have come to be from these.

And they are also caught in a certain shameful practice.

They reject the resurrection of the flesh and repudiate the Old Testament.

Yet they make use of the Old and New Testament, twisting every word to suit their own understanding.

Cerdonians, [named] from Cerdo, who succeeded Heracleon in his share of error, and who added [further things] to the deceit.

This man, having moved from Syria to Rome, set forth his own preaching in the days of Hyginus the bishop.

This man preaches two principles contrary to one another, and [holds] that Christ is not begotten.

Likewise he rejects the resurrection of the dead and the Old Testament.

Marcion, hailing from Pontus, was the son of a bishop; having seduced a virgin, he fled, because he had been driven out of the church by his own father.

This man, having gone up to Rome, then having asked repentance of those who at that time were leading the church, and not having obtained it, was roused up against the faith, and taught as doctrine three principles — the good, the just, and the evil — holding also that the New Testament is alien to the Old and to him who spoke in it.

Both he and the Marcionites who derive from him reject the resurrection of the flesh; they administer baptism not only once, but even twice and three times after a lapse into sin; and among them others are baptized on behalf of the dead and of catechumens.

And among them women too are permitted, without restraint, to administer the washing.

A certain Lucian — not the one who lived recently in the times of Constantine, but an earlier one — taught as doctrine all things according to Marcion, and in addition to these he also, it is said, taught certain other things beyond Marcion.

And this man, Apelles, [taught] things similar to Marcion and Lucian.

… as doctrine; he vilifies the whole of creation and the one who made it.

But unlike these, he did not set forth three principles; rather, [he taught] that there is one principle and one God, the highest and unnameable, and that this One made another.

And this one, he says, having come into being and being found evil, made the world by his own wickedness.

A certain Severus again, following upon Apelles, rejects wine and the vine, mythologizing that it sprang from the dragon-shaped Satan and the earth, when they came together with one another.

And he rejects woman, alleging that she belongs to the left-hand power.

And he brings forward certain names of rulers and apocryphal books.

Like the others, he rejects the resurrection of the flesh and the Old Testament.

This Tatian flourished together with Justin, the most holy martyr and philosopher; but after the death of the holy Justin he was corrupted by the doctrines of Marcion and taught the same things as he did, adding also certain other things beyond him.

He was said to hail from Mesopotamia.

These are the chapters of the three tomes of the first book, concerning the forty-six heresies.

Summary of the fourth tome of the second book, in which there are eighteen heresies.

Encratites, who, being an offshoot of Tatian, reject marriage, alleging that it belongs to Satan, and who forbid entirely the eating of anything possessing a soul.

[The heresy] of the Cataphrygians and Montanists and Ascodrugitae, who accept the Old and New Testament, but introduce other prophets, boasting of a certain Montanus and Priscilla.

Pepuzians, who are also [called] Quintillians, to whom are joined the Artotyrites — two heresies.

They are of the Cataphrygians themselves, but they teach certain other things beyond them, deifying a certain deserted city, Pepuza, between Galatia and Cappadocia and Phrygia, and indeed regarding it as Jerusalem — there is also another Pepuza — and assigning to women the right to rule and to hold the priesthood.

And they perform a certain initiation, piercing a young child with bronze needles, as do the Cataphrygians, and kneading flour with his blood and making it into bread, they partake of it as an offering.

And indeed they relate as myth that Christ was revealed there in Pepuza to Quintilla, or Priscilla, in the form of a woman.

And likewise they make use of the Old and New Testament, remaking them according to their own understanding.

These celebrate the Pascha on a single day of the year, on whatever day the fourteenth [day] of the moon should fall, whether on the Sabbath or on the Lord’s Day; and they keep the feast by fasting on that day and keeping vigil at the same time.

Alogi, so named by us, who reject the Gospel according to John and his Apocalypse, because they refuse ever to accept that he who came from the Father is God the Word, existing eternally.

Adamians, [named] from a certain man, still living, called Adam, hold a doctrine [fit] for mockery rather than for truth.

Men and women gather together naked, as from their mother’s womb, and thus perform the readings and the prayers and everything whatsoever; supposedly living as solitaries and practicing continence and not accepting marriage, they consider their own church to be Paradise.

The Sampsaeans and the Elkesaites, who to this day dwell in Arabia, in the region lying above the Dead Sea;

who were deceived by a certain false prophet Elxai, of whose family there survived to this day Marthus and Marthina, women worshipped by the sect as goddesses — holding, in all else, much the same doctrines as the Ebionites.

The Theodotians, from Theodotus the leather-worker of Byzantium.

This man, having attained the height of Greek learning, alone apostatized — together with others, in the days of the persecution then raging — while those others bore witness to death for God's sake.

Since, then, he had fled and was reproached for it, he contrived to say that Christ was a mere man, on account of the charge that he had denied God.

These honor Melchizedek, declaring him to be a certain power and not a mere man, and have dared to refer and ascribe all things to his name.

This Bardesanes came from Mesopotamia;

at first he belonged to the true faith and was distinguished in philosophy, but having turned aside from the truth, he taught doctrines much like those of Valentinus, except for certain points in which he differs from Valentinus.

This Noetus was from Smyrna in Asia.

Carried away, as it were on a chariot, together with others, he says that Christ is Son-Father;

he taught that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one and the same.

And he said that he himself was Moses, and his own brother was Aaron.

These, as we have understood, are they who dwell in Bacatha, a mother-village of Arabian Philadelphia, who castrate those who happen upon them and those who lodge among them as guests;

and the majority even among themselves are eunuchs, having been castrated.

They also teach certain other things full of heresy, rebelling against the Law and the Prophets, and introducing certain other shameful practices.

The Cathari — these, joined together with Novatus the Roman, utterly reject those who have married twice, and do not admit repentance.

These have entirely vanished — they who boasted of holding an angelic rank, either because they were named after angels.

The Apostolici, who are also called Apotactici.

And these are found around Pisidia, admitting only those who have renounced [their possessions].

They resemble the Encratites, but hold certain other views apart from them.

The Sabellians, who hold opinions similar to Noetus, except that they do not say the Father suffered, saying instead that the Word is 'uttered' and again 'poured back' [into its source].

The Origenians, from a certain Origen;

these are workers of shameful deeds, committing unspeakable acts and delivering their own bodies over to corruption.

Other Origenians, followers of the Origen also called Adamantius, the writer, who reject the resurrection of the dead, introduce the teaching that Christ and the Holy Spirit are creatures, allegorize paradise and the heavens and everything else, babble nonsense that Christ's kingdom will at some point cease and that the angels will cease along with it, and monstrously assert that Christ will be brought under a common rule together with the devil, and that Christ was crucified even for the demons.

These are the heresies of the fourth tome, and of the second book: eighteen.

The following are contained in the fifth tome, of the second book: five heresies.

The Paulianists, from Paul of Samosata.

This Paul all but affirms that Christ had no [real, prior] existence, having fashioned him as an 'uttered word,' and asserting that he exists only from Mary onward; the things said of him beforehand in the divine Scriptures were spoken in a predictive manner — of one who, in the prophecy, is spoken of as existing, yet does not [actually] exist — but that it is only from Mary onward, from his incarnate coming, that he has his existence.

The Manichaeans, who are also called Aconitae.

These, disciples of Mani the Persian, say that Christ [appeared] only in outward form, worship the sun and moon, pray to stars and powers and demons, and introduce two eternally-existing first principles, one evil and one good;

[they hold] that Christ appeared and suffered only in seeming, blaspheming the Old Testament and the God who spoke in it, and defining that the world was made from God not in its entirety, but only in part.

These, from Hierax of Leontopolis in Egypt, a certain commentator, reject the resurrection of the flesh, though making use of the Old and New Testament; they forbid marriage altogether, admitting only monks and virgins and those who practice continence, and widows, saying that children who have not yet come of age do not partake of the kingdom, because they have not yet contended [as in a contest].

The Meletians, who are a schism in Egypt, not a heresy — they do not pray together with those who lapsed during the persecutions, but are now joined with the Arians.

The Arians, who are also called Areiomanitae and Diatomitae, who say that the Son of God is a creature, and the Holy Spirit a creature of a creature, affirming that the Savior took only flesh from Mary, and not also a soul.

These are the heresies of the fifth tome, of the second book: five.

The following are contained in the first tome of the third book: seven heresies.

The Audians — a schism and an act of rebellion, but not a heresy.

These possess a well-ordered manner of life and conduct, and hold the faith in every respect as the catholic Church does; most of them dwell in monasteries and do not pray together with everyone.

And they especially make use of the apocryphal [writings], excessively censuring the bishops among us who are wealthy, and other bishops for other [faults].

They keep the Pascha separately, together with the Jews.

They also hold a certain peculiar and contentious view, interpreting 'according to the image' [Gen 1:26] in the most crude, literalistic manner.

This Photinus, coming from Sirmium, held views similar to Paul of Samosata, though he differed from him in some respect.

And this one also affirms that Christ [exists only] from Mary onward.

The Marcellians, from Marcellus of Ancyra in Galatia.

This man was reported at first to hold views similar to Sabellius;

but having come many times to make his defense, and having defended himself in writing, he was nonetheless accused by others of persisting in the same [errors].

But perhaps, having changed his mind, he corrected himself — or perhaps it was his disciples [who did so].

On behalf of his statements, certain orthodox men of a middle position made vigorous defense.

who confess Christ to be a creature, yet say 'creature' of him ironically, not as one of the [ordinary] creatures.

'But,' they say, 'we call him Son; yet, so as not to attach passibility to the Father through his having begotten [him], we call him created.'

Likewise, concerning the Holy Spirit also, they define him entirely as a creature, rejecting the term 'consubstantial' for the Son, and wishing instead to say 'of like substance.'

But others among them rejected even the term 'of like substance.'