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| Chapter VII.—The mother Achamoth, when all her seed are perfected, shall pass into the Pleroma, accompanied by those men who are spiritual; the Demiurge, with animal men, shall pass into the intermediate habitation; but all material men shall go into corruption. Their blasphemous opinions against the true incarnation of Christ by the Virgin Mary. Their views as to the prophecies. Stupid ignorance of the Demiurge.
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Chapter VII.—The mother Achamoth,
when all her seed are perfected, shall pass into the Pleroma, accompanied by
those men who are spiritual; the Demiurge, with animal men, shall pass into the
intermediate habitation; but all material men shall go into corruption. Their
blasphemous opinions against the true incarnation of Christ by the Virgin Mary.
Their views as to the prophecies. Stupid ignorance of the Demiurge.
1. When all the seed shall have
come to perfection, they state that then their mother Achamoth shall pass
from the intermediate place, and enter in within the Pleroma, and shall
receive as her spouse the Saviour, who sprang from all the Æons, that
thus a conjunction may be formed between the Saviour and Sophia, that is,
Achamoth. These, then, are the bridegroom and bride, while the nuptial
chamber is the full extent of the Pleroma. The spiritual seed, again,
being divested of their animal souls,2741
| 2741 Their spiritual substance was received from Achamoth;
their animal souls were created by the Demiurge. These are now separated;
the spirit enters the Pleroma, while the soul remains in heaven.
| and becoming intelligent spirits, shall in an irresistible and
invisible manner enter in within the Pleroma, and be bestowed as brides
on those angels who wait upon the Saviour. The Demiurge himself
will pass into the place of his mother Sophia;2742
that is, the
intermediate habitation. In this intermediate place, also, shall the
souls of the righteous repose; but nothing of an animal nature shall find
admittance to the Pleroma. When these things have taken place as
described, then shall that fire which lies hidden in the world blaze
forth and burn; and while destroying all matter, shall also be
extinguished along with it, and have no further existence. They affirm
that the Demiurge was acquainted with none of these things before the
advent of the Saviour.
2. There are also some who maintain
that he also produced Christ as his own proper son, but of an animal
nature, and that mention was2743
| 2743 A Syriac fragment here reads, “He spake by the
prophets through him.” | made of him by the prophets.
This Christ passed through Mary2744
| 2744 “Thus,” says Harvey, “we may trace
back to the Gnostic period the Apollinarian error, closely allied to the
Docetic, that the body of Christ was not derived from the blessed Virgin,
but that it was of heavenly substance, and was only brought forth into
the world through her instrumentality.” | just as water
flows through a tube; and there descended upon him in the form of a dove
at the time of his baptism, that Saviour who belonged to the Pleroma, and
was formed by the combined efforts of all its inhabitants. In him there
existed also that spiritual seed which proceeded from Achamoth. They
hold, accordingly, that our Lord, while preserving the type of the
first-begotten and primary tetrad, was compounded of these four
substances,—of that which is spiritual, in so far as He was from
Achamoth; of that which is animal, as being from the Demiurge by a
special dispensation, inasmuch as He was formed [corporeally] with
unspeakable skill; and of the Saviour, as respects that dove which
descended upon Him. He also continued free from all suffering, since
indeed it was not possible that He should suffer who was at once
incomprehensible and invisible. And for this reason the Spirit of Christ,
who had been placed within Him, was taken away when He was brought before
Pilate. They maintain, further, that not even the seed which He had
received from the mother [Achamoth] was subject to suffering; for it,
too, was impassible, as being spiritual, and invisible even to the
Demiurge himself. It follows, then, according to them, that the animal
Christ, and that which had been formed mysteriously by a special
dispensation, underwent suffering, that the mother might exhibit through
him a type of the Christ above, namely, of him who extended himself
through Stauros,2745
| 2745 By thus
extending himself through Stauros, who bounded the Pleroma, the Christ
above became the type of the Christ below, who was extended upon the
cross. | and imparted to Achamoth shape, so far as substance
was concerned. For they declare that all these transactions were
counterparts of what took place above.
3. They maintain, moreover, that those souls which
possess the seed of Achamoth are superior to the rest, and are more
dearly loved by the Demiurge than others, while he knows not the true
cause thereof, but imagines that they are what they are through his
favour towards them. Wherefore, also, they say he distributed them to
prophets, priests, and kings; and they declare that many things were
spoken2746
by this seed through
the prophets, inasmuch as it was endowed with a transcendently lofty
nature. The
mother also, they say, spake much about things
above, and that both through him and through the souls which were formed
by him. Then, again, they divide the prophecies [into different classes],
maintaining that one portion was uttered by the mother, a second by her
seed, and a third by the Demiurge. In like manner, they hold that Jesus
uttered some things under the influence of the Saviour, others under that
of the mother, and others still under that of the Demiurge, as we shall
show further on in our work.
4. The Demiurge, while ignorant of those things which
were higher than himself, was indeed excited by the announcements made
[through the prophets], but treated them with contempt, attributing them
sometimes to one cause and sometimes to another; either to the prophetic
spirit (which itself possesses the power of self-excitement), or to [mere
unassisted] man, or that it was simply a crafty device of the lower [and
baser order of men].2747
| 2747 Such
appears to be the meaning of this sentence, but the original is very
obscure. The writer seems to refer to the spiritual, the animal, and the
material classes of men, and to imply that the Demiurge supposed some
prophecies to be due to one of these classes, and some to the others.
| He remained thus ignorant until the appearing of the Lord. But they
relate that when the Saviour came, the Demiurge learned all things from
Him, and gladly with all, his power joined himself to Him. They
maintain that he is the centurion mentioned in the Gospel, who addressed
the Saviour in these words: “For I also am one having soldiers and
servants under my authority; and whatsoever I command they
do.”2748
They further hold that he will continue administering the affairs
of the world as long as that is fitting and needful, and specially that
he may exercise a care over the Church; while at the same time he is
influenced by the knowledge of the reward prepared for him, namely, that
he may attain to the habitation of his mother.
5. They conceive, then, of three kinds of men,
spiritual, material, and animal, represented by Cain, Abel, and Seth.
These three natures are no longer found in one person,2749
| 2749 As was the case at first, in Adam.
| but constitute various kinds [of men]. The
material goes, as a matter of course, into corruption. The animal, if it
make choice of the better part, finds repose in the intermediate place;
but if the worse, it too shall pass into destruction. But they assert
that the spiritual principles which have been sown by Achamoth, being
disciplined and nourished here from that time until now in righteous
souls (because when given forth by her they were yet but weak), at last
attaining to perfection, shall be given as brides to the angels of the
Saviour, while their animal souls of necessity rest for ever with the
Demiurge in the intermediate place. And again subdividing the animal
souls themselves, they say that some are by nature good, and others by
nature evil. The good are those who become capable of receiving the
[spiritual] seed; the evil by nature are those who are never able to
receive that seed.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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