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| Chapter XIX.—Absurdities of the heretics as to their own origin: their opinions respecting the Demiurge shown to be equally untenable and ridiculous. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter XIX.—Absurdities of the
heretics as to their own origin: their opinions respecting the Demiurge shown
to be equally untenable and ridiculous.
1. But what
sort of talk also is this concerning their seed—that it was
conceived by the mother according to the configuration of those angels
who wait upon the Saviour,—shapeless, without form, and
imperfect; and that it was deposited in the Demiurge without his
knowledge, in order that through his instrumentality it might attain to
perfection and form in that soul which he had, [so to speak,] filled with
seed? This is to affirm, in the first place, that those angels who wait
upon their Saviour are imperfect, and without figure or form; if indeed
that which was conceived according to their appearance was generated any
such kind of being [as has been described].
2. Then, in the next place, as to their saying that the
Creator was ignorant of that deposit of seed which took place into him,
and again, of that impartation of seed which was made by him to man,
their words are futile and vain, and are in no way susceptible of proof.
For how could he have been ignorant of it, if that seed had possessed any
substance and peculiar properties? If, on the other hand, it was without
substance and without quality, and so was really nothing, then, as a
matter of course, he was ignorant of it. For those things which have a
certain motion of their own, and quality, either of heat, or swiftness,
or sweetness, or which differ from others in brilliance, do not escape
the notice even of men, since they mingle in the sphere of human action:
far less can they [be hidden from] God, the Maker of this universe. With
reason, however, [is it said, that] their seed was not known to Him,
since it is without any quality of general utility, and without the
substance requisite for any action, and is, in fact, a pure nonentity. It
really seems to me, that, with a view to such opinions, the Lord
expressed Himself thus: “For every idle word that men speak, they
shall give account on the day of judgment.”3088
3088 Matt. xii. 36. [The
serious spirit of this remark lends force to it as exposition.]
| For all teachers of a like character to these, who fill
men’s ears with idle talk, shall, when they stand at the throne of
judgment, render an account for those things which they have vainly
imagined and falsely uttered against the Lord, proceeding, as they have
done, to such a height of audacity as to declare of themselves that, on
account of the substance of their seed, they are acquainted with the
spiritual Pleroma, because that man who dwells within reveals to them the
true Father; for the animal nature required3089 to be
disciplined by means of the senses. But [they hold that] the Demiurge,
while receiving into himself the whole of this seed, through its being
deposited in him by the Mother, still remained utterly ignorant of all
things, and had no understanding of anything connected with the Pleroma.
3. And that they are the
truly “spiritual,” inasmuch as a certain particle of the
Father of the universe has been deposited in their souls, since,
according to their assertions, they have souls formed of the same
substance as the Demiurge himself, yet that he, although he received from
the Mother, once for all, the whole [of the divine] seed, and possessed
it in himself, still remained of an animal nature, and had not the
slightest understanding of those things which are above, which things
they boast that they themselves understand, while they are still on
earth;—does not this crown all possible absurdity? For to imagine
that the very same seed conveyed knowledge and perfection to the souls of
these men, while it only gave rise to ignorance in the God who made them,
is an opinion that can be held only by those utterly frantic, and totally
destitute of common sense.
4. Further, it is also a most absurd and groundless
thing for them to say that the seed was, by being thus deposited, reduced
to form and increased, and so was prepared for all the reception of
perfect rationality. For there will be in it an admixture of matter
—that substance which they hold to have been derived from
ignorance and defect; [and this will prove itself] more apt and useful
than was the light of their Father, if indeed, when born, according to
the contemplation of that [light], it was without form or figure, but
derived from this [matter], form, and appearance, and increase, and
perfection. For if that light which proceeds from the Pleroma was the
cause to a spiritual being that it possessed neither form, nor
appearance, nor its own special magnitude, while its descent to this
world added all these things to it, and brought it to perfection, then a
sojourn here (which they also term darkness) would seem much more
efficacious and useful than was the light of their Father. But how can it
be regarded as other than ridiculous, to affirm that their mother ran the
risk of being almost extinguished in matter, and was almost on the point
of being destroyed by it, had she not then with difficulty stretched
herself outwards, and leaped, [as it were,] out of herself, receiving
assistance from the Father; but that her seed increased in this same
matter, and received a form, and was made fit for the reception of
perfect rationality; and this, too, while “bubbling up” among
substances dissimilar and unfamiliar to itself, according to their own
declaration that the earthly is opposed to the spiritual, and the
spiritual to the earthly? How, then, could “a little
particle,”3090
3090
“Parvum emissum”—a small emission. |
as they say, increase, and receive shape, and reach perfection, in the
midst of substances contrary to and unfamiliar to itself?
5. But further, and in addition to what has been said,
the question occurs, Did their mother, when she beheld the angels, bring
forth the seed all at once, or only one by one [in succession]? If she
brought forth the whole simultaneously and at once, that which was thus
produced cannot now be of an infantile character: its descent, therefore,
into those men who now exist must be superfluous.3091
3091 That is, there could be no need for its
descending into them that it might increase, receive form, and thus be
prepared for the reception of perfect reason. | But if one by
one, then she did not form her conception according to the figure of
those angels whom she beheld; for, contemplating them all together, and
once for all, so as to conceive by them, she ought to have brought forth
once for all the offspring of those from whose forms she had once for all
conceived.
6. Why was it, too, that, beholding the angels along
with the Saviour, she did indeed conceive their images, but not
that of the Saviour, who is far more beautiful than they? Did He
not please her; and did she not, on that account, conceive after His
likeness?3092
3092 Or, “on
beholding Him.” | How was it, too, that the Demiurge,
whom they can call an animal being, having, as they maintain, his own
special magnitude and figure, was produced perfect as respects his
substance; while that which is spiritual, which also ought to be more
effective than that which is animal, was sent forth imperfect, and he
required to descend into a soul, that in it he might obtain form, and
thus becoming perfect, might be rendered fit for the reception of perfect
reason? If, then, he obtains form in mere earthly and animal men, he can
no longer be said to be after the likeness of angels whom they call
lights, but [after the likeness] of those men who are here below. For he
will not possess in that case the likeness and appearance of angels, but
of those souls in whom also he receives shape; just as water when poured
into a vessel takes the form of that vessel, and if on any occasion it
happens to congeal in it, it will acquire the form of the vessel in which
it has thus been frozen, since souls themselves possess the figure3093
3093 As Massuet here remarks, we
may infer from this passage that Irenæus believed souls to be corporeal,
as being possessed of a definite form,—an opinion entertained by
not a few of the ancients. [And, before we censure them, let us reflect
whether their perceptions of “the carnal mind” as differing
from the spirit of a man, may not account for it. 1 Thess. v.
23.] | of the body [in which they dwell]; for they
themselves have been adapted to the vessel [in which they exist], as I
have said before. If, then, that seed [referred to] is here solidified
and formed into a definite shape, it will possess the figure of a man.
and not the form of the angels. How is it possible, therefore, that that
seed should be after images of the angels, seeing it has obtained a form
after the likeness of men? Why, again, since it was of a spiritual
nature, had it any need of descending into flesh? For what is carnal
stands in need of that which is spiritual, if indeed
it is
to be saved, that in it it may be sanctified and cleared from all
impurity, and that what is mortal may be swallowed up by
immortality;3094
3094 Comp.
1 Cor. xv. 44; 2 Cor. v. 4. [As
a Catholic I cannot accept everything contained in the Biblical
Psychology of Dr. Delitzsch, but may I entreat the reader who has not
studied it to do so before dismissing the ideas of Irenæus on such
topics. A translation has been provided for English readers, by the
Messrs. T. & T. Clark of Edinburgh, 1867.] | but that which is
spiritual has no need whatever of those things which are here below. For
it is not we who benefit it, but it that improves us.
7. Still more manifestly is that talk of theirs
concerning their seed proved to be false, and that in a way which must be
evident to every one, by the fact that they declare those souls which
have received seed from the Mother to be superior to all others;
wherefore also they have been honoured by the Demiurge, and constituted
princes, and kings, and priests. For if this were true, the high priest
Caiaphas, and Annas, and the rest of the chief priests, and doctors of
the law, and rulers of the people, would have been the first to believe
in the Lord, agreeing as they did with respect3095
3095 The meaning apparently is, that by the
high position which all these in common occupied, they proved themselves,
on the principles of the heretics, to belong to the favoured
“seed,” and should therefore have eagerly have welcomed the
Lord. Or the meaning may be, “hurrying together to that
relationship,” that is, to the relationship secured by faith in
Christ. | to that relationship; and even before them should
have been Herod the king. But since neither he, nor the chief priests,
nor the rulers, nor the eminent of the people, turned to Him [in faith],
but, on the contrary, those who sat begging by the highway, the deaf, and
the blind, while He was rejected and despised by others, according to
what Paul declares, “For ye see your calling, brethren, that there
are not many wise men among you, not many noble, not many mighty; but
those things of the world which were despised hath God
chosen.”3096 Such souls, therefore, were not superior to others on account of
the seed deposited in them, nor on this account were they honoured by the
Demiurge.
8. As to the point, then, that their system is weak and
untenable as well as utterly chimerical, enough has been said. For it is
not needful, to use a common proverb, that one should drink up the ocean
who wishes to learn that its water is salt. But, just as in the case of a
statue which is made of clay, but coloured on the outside that it may be
thought to be of gold, while it really is of clay, any one who takes out
of it a small particle, and thus laying it open reveals the clay, will
set free those who seek the truth from a false opinion; in the same way
have I (by exposing not a small part only, but the several heads of their
system which are of the greatest importance) shown to as many as do not
wish wittingly to be led astray, what is wicked, deceitful, seductive,
and pernicious, connected with the school of the Valentinians, and all
those other heretics who promulgate3097
3097 “Male tractant;” literally, handle
badly. | wicked opinions respecting the Demiurge, that is,
the Fashioner and Former of this universe, and who is in fact the only
true God—exhibiting, [as I have done,] how easily their views are
overthrown.
9. For who that has any intelligence, and possesses
only a small proportion of truth, can tolerate them, when they affirm
that there is another god above the Creator; and that there is another
Monogenes as well as another Word of God, whom also they describe as
having been produced in [a state of] degeneracy; and another Christ, whom
they assert to have been formed, along with the Holy Spirit, later than
the rest of the Æons; and another Saviour, who, they say, did not
proceed from the Father of all, but was a kind of joint production of
those Æons who were formed in [a state of] degeneracy, and that He was
produced of necessity on account of this very degeneracy? It is thus
their opinion that, unless the Æons had been in a state of ignorance and
degeneracy, neither Christ, nor the Holy Spirit, nor Horos, nor the
Saviour, nor the angels, nor their Mother, nor her seed, nor the rest of
the fabric of the world, would have been produced at all; but the
universe would have been a desert, and destitute of the many good things
which exist in it. They are therefore not only chargeable with impiety
against the Creator, declaring Him the fruit of a defect, but also
against Christ and the Holy Spirit, affirming that they were produced on
account of that defect; and, in like manner, that the Saviour [was
produced] subsequently to [the existence of] that defect. And who will
tolerate the remainder of their vain talk, which they cunningly endeavour
to accommodate to the parables, and have in this way plunged both
themselves, and those who give credit to them, in the profoundest depths
of impiety? E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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