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| Chapter XV.—Sige relates to Marcus the generation of the twenty-four elements and of Jesus. Exposure of these absurdities.
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Chapter XV.—Sige relates to Marcus
the generation of the twenty-four elements and of Jesus. Exposure of these
absurdities.
1. The all-wise Sige
then announced the production of the four-and-twenty elements to him as
follows:—Along with Monotes there coexisted Henotes, from which
sprang two productions, as we have remarked above, Monas and Hen, which,
added to the other two, make four, for twice two are four. And again, two
and four, when added together, exhibit the number six. And further, these
six being quadrupled, give rise to the twenty-four forms. And the names
of the first Tetrad, which are understood to be most holy, and not
capable of being expressed in words, are known by the Son alone, while
the father also knows what they are. The other names which are to be
uttered with respect, and faith, and reverence, are, according to him,
Arrhetos and Sige, Pater and Aletheia. Now the entire number of this
Tetrad amounts to four-and-twenty letters; for the name Arrhetos contains
in itself seven letters, Seige2854
| 2854 Manifestly to be so spelt here, as in the sequel
Chreistus, for Christus. | five, Pater five, and
Aletheia seven. If all these be added together—twice five, and
twice seven—they complete the number twenty-four. In like manner,
also, the second Tetrad, Logos and Zoe, Anthropos and Ecclesia, reveal
the same number of elements. Moreover, that name of the Saviour which may
be pronounced, viz., Jesus [᾽Ιησοῦς], consists of
six letters, but His unutterable name comprises four-and-twenty letters.
The name Christ the Son2855
| 2855 The text is here altogether uncertain, and the meaning
obscure. | (υἱὸς Χρειστός) comprises
twelve letters, but that which is unpronounceable in Christ contains
thirty letters. And for this reason he declares that He is Alpha
and Omega, that he may indicate the dove, inasmuch as that bird
has this number [in its name].
2. But
Jesus, he affirms, has the following unspeakable origin. From the mother
of all things, that is, the first Tetrad, there came forth the second
Tetrad, after the manner of a daughter; and thus an Ogdoad was formed,
from which, again, a Decad proceeded: thus was produced a Decad and an
Ogdoad. The Decad, then, being joined with the Ogdoad, and multiplying it
ten times, gave rise to the number eighty; and, again, multiplying
eighty ten times, produced the number eight hundred. Thus, then,
the whole number of the letters proceeding from the Ogdoad [multiplied]
into the Decad, is eight hundred and eighty-eight.2856
| 2856 The reading is exceedingly doubtful: some
prefer the number eighty-eight. | This is the name of
Jesus; for this name, if you reckon up the numerical value of the
letters, amounts to eight hundred and eighty-eight. Thus, then, you have
a clear statement of their opinion as to the origin of the supercelestial
Jesus. Wherefore, also, the alphabet of the Greeks contains eight Monads,
eight Decads, and eight Hecatads2857
| 2857 There were, as Harvey observes, three extraneous
characters introduced into the Greek alphabet for the sake of numeration
—the three episema for 6, 90, and 900 respectively. The
true alphabet, then, as employed to denote number, included eight units,
eight tens, and eight hundreds. | , which present the number
eight hundred and eighty-eight, that is, Jesus, who is formed of
all numbers; and on this account He is called Alpha and
Omega, indicating His origin from all. And, again, they put the
matter thus: If the first Tetrad be added up according to the progression
of number, the number ten appears. For one, and two, and three, and four,
when added together, form ten; and this, as they will have it, is Jesus.
Moreover, Chreistus, he says, being a word of eight letters, indicates
the first Ogdoad, and this, when multiplied by ten, gives birth to Jesus
(888). And Christ the Son, he says, is also spoken of, that is, the
Duodecad. For the name Son, (υἰός) contains four
letters, and Christ (Chreistus) eight, which, being combined, point out
the greatness of the Duodecad. But, he alleges, before the
Episemon of this name appeared, that is Jesus the Son, mankind
were involved in great ignorance and error. But when this name of six
letters was manifested (the person bearing it clothing Himself in flesh,
that He might come under the apprehension of man’s senses, and
having in Himself these six and twenty-four letters), then, becoming
acquainted with Him, they ceased from their ignorance, and passed from
death unto life, this name serving as their guide to the Father of
truth.2858
For the Father of all had
resolved to put an end to ignorance, and to destroy death. But this
abolishing of ignorance was just the knowledge of Him. And therefore that
man (Anthropos) was chosen according to His will, having been formed
after the image of the [corresponding] power above.
3. As to the Æons, they proceeded from the Tetrad, and
in that Tetrad were Anthropos and Ecclesia, Logos and Zoe. The
powers, then, he declares, who emanated from these, generated that Jesus
who appeared upon the earth. The angel Gabriel took the place of Logos,
the Holy Spirit that of Zoe, the Power of the Highest that of Anthropos,
while the Virgin pointed out the place of Ecclesia. And thus, by a
special dispensation, there was generated by Him, through Mary, that man,
whom, as He passed through the womb, the Father of all chose to [obtain]
the knowledge of Himself by means of the Word. And on His coming to the
water [of baptism], there descended on Him, in the form of a dove,
that Being who had formerly ascended on high, and completed the
twelfth number, in whom there existed the seed of those who were produced
contemporaneously with Himself, and who descended and ascended along with
Him. Moreover, he maintains that power which descended was the seed of
the Father, which had in itself both the Father and the Son, as well as
that power of Sige which is known by means of them, but cannot be
expressed in language, and also all the Æons. And this was that Spirit
who spoke by the mouth of Jesus, and who confessed that He was the son of
Man as well as revealed the Father, and who, having descended into Jesus,
was made one with Him. And he says that the Saviour formed by special
dispensation did indeed destroy death, but that Christ made known the
Father.2859
| 2859 The text is here
uncertain: we follow that suggested by Grabe. | He maintains,
therefore, that Jesus is the name of that man formed by a special
dispensation, and that He was formed after the likeness and form of that
[heavenly] Anthropos, who was about to descend upon Him. After He had
received that Æon, He possessed Anthropos himself, and Logos himself,
and Pater, and Arrhetus, and Sige, and Aletheia, and Ecclesia, and
Zoe.
4. Such ravings, we may now well say, go beyond Iu,
Iu, Pheu, Pheu, and every kind of tragic exclamation or utterance of
misery.2860
| 2860 [Comp. cap. xi.
4, supra.] | For who would not detest one who is the
wretched contriver of such audacious falsehoods, when he perceives the
truth turned by Marcus into a mere image, and that punctured all over
with the letters of the alphabet? The Greeks confess that they first
received sixteen letters from Cadmus, and that but recently, as compared
with the beginning, [the vast antiquity of which is implied] in the
common proverb: “Yesterday and before;”2861
| 2861 Comp. Gen. xxxi. 2.
—We here follow the punctuation of Scaliger, now generally
accepted by the editors, though entirely different from the old
Latin. | and afterwards, in the course of time, they themselves
invented at one period the aspirates, and at another the double letters,
while, last of all, they say Palamedes added the long letters to the
former. Was it so, then, that until these things took place among the
Greeks, truth had no existence? For, according to thee, Marcus, the body
of truth is posterior to Cadmus and those who preceded him—
posterior also to those who added the rest of the letters—
posterior even to thyself! For thou alone hast formed that which is
called by thee the truth into an [outward, visible] image.
5. But who will tolerate thy nonsensical Sige, who
names Him that cannot be named, and expounds the nature of Him that is
unspeakable, and searches out Him that is unsearchable, and declares that
He whom thou maintainest to be destitute of body and form, opened His
mouth and sent forth the Word, as if He were included among organized
beings; and that His Word, while like to His Author, and bearing the
image of the invisible, nevertheless consisted of thirty elements and
four syllables? It will follow, then, according to thy theory, that the
Father of all, in accordance with the likeness of the Word, consists of
thirty elements and four syllables! Or, again, who will tolerate thee in
thy juggling with forms and numbers,—at one time thirty, at
another twenty-four, and at another, again, only six,—whilst thou
shuttest up [in these] the Word of God, the Founder, and Framer, and
Maker of all things; and then, again, cutting Him up piecemeal into four
syllables and thirty elements; and bringing down the Lord of all who
founded the heavens to the number eight hundred and eighty-eight, so that
He should be similar to the alphabet; and subdividing the Father, who
cannot be contained, but contains all things, into a Tetrad, and an
Ogdoad, and a Decad, and a Duodecad; and by such multiplications, setting
forth the unspeakable and inconceivable nature of the Father, as thou
thyself declarest it to be? And showing thyself a very Dædalus for evil
invention, and the wicked architect of the supreme power, thou dost
construct a nature and substance for Him whom thou callest incorporeal
and immaterial, out of a multitude of letters, generated the one by the
other. And that power whom thou affirmest to be indivisible, thou dost
nevertheless divide into consonants, and vowels, and semi-vowels; and,
falsely ascribing those letters which are mute to the Father of all
things, and to His Ennœa (thought), thou hast driven on all that place
confidence in thee to the highest point of blasphemy, and to the grossest
impiety.2862
| 2862 [Mosheim thinks
this Marcus was a lunatic.] |
6. With good reason, therefore, and very fittingly, in
reference to thy rash attempt, has that divine elder2863
| 2863 [Some think Pothinus.] | and
preacher of the truth burst forth in verse against thee as
follows:—
“Marcus, thou former of idols, inspector of
portents,
Skill’d in consulting the stars, and deep in the
black arts of magic,
Ever by tricks such as these confirming the
doctrines of error,
Furnishing signs unto those involved by thee in
deception,
Wonders of power that is utterly severed from God
and apostate,
Which Satan, thy true father, enables thee still
to accomplish,
By means of Azazel, that fallen and yet mighty
angel,—
Thus making thee the precursor of his own impious
actions.”
Such are the words of the saintly elder. And I shall
endeavour to state the remainder of their mystical system, which runs out
to great length, in brief compass, and to bring to the light what
has for a long time been concealed. For in this way such things
will become easily susceptible of exposure by all.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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