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| Chapter XX.—Futility of the arguments adduced to demonstrate the sufferings of the twelfth Æon, from the parables, the treachery of Judas, and the passion of our Saviour.
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Chapter XX.—Futility of the arguments
adduced to demonstrate the sufferings of the twelfth Æon, from the parables,
the treachery of Judas, and the passion of our Saviour.
1. That they improperly and illogically apply both the
parables and the actions of the Lord to their falsely-devised system, I
prove as follows: They endeavour, for instance,
to demonstrate that passion which, they say, happened in the case of the
twelfth Æon, from this fact, that the passion of the Saviour was brought
about by the twelfth apostle, and happened in the twelfth month. For they
hold that He preached [only] for one year after His baptism. They
maintain also that the same thing was clearly set forth in the case of
her who suffered from the issue of blood. For the woman suffered during
twelve years, and
through touching the hem of the
Saviour’s garment she was made whole by that power which went forth
from the Saviour, and which, they affirm, had a previous existence. For
that Power who suffered was stretching herself outwards and flowing into
immensity, so that she was in danger of being dissolved into the general
substance [of the Æons]; but then, touching the primary Tetrad, which is
typified by the hem of the garment, she was arrested, and ceased from her
passion.
2. Then, again, as to
their assertion that the passion of the twelfth Æon was proved through
the conduct of Judas, how is it possible that Judas can be compared [with
this Æon] as being an emblem of her—he who was expelled from the
number of the twelve,3098
| 3098
Or, “from the twelfth number”—the twelfth position
among the apostles. | and never restored to his place? For that
Æon, whose type they declare Judas to be, after being separated from her
Enthymesis, was restored or recalled [to her former position]; but Judas
was deprived [of his office], and cast out, while Matthias was ordained
in his place, according to what is written, “And his bishopric let
another take.”3099
They ought therefore to maintain that the
twelfth Æon was cast out of the Pleroma, and that another was produced,
or sent forth to fill her place; if, that is to say, she is pointed at in
Judas. Moreover, they tell us that it was the Æon herself who suffered,
but Judas was the betrayer, [and not the sufferer.] Even they themselves
acknowledge that it was the suffering Christ, and not Judas, who came to
[the endurance of] passion. How, then, could Judas, the betrayer of Him
who had to suffer for our salvation, be the type and image of that Æon
who suffered?
3. But, in truth, the passion of Christ was neither
similar to the passion of the Æon, nor did it take place in similar
circumstances. For the Æon underwent a passion of dissolution and
destruction, so that she who suffered was in danger also of being
destroyed. But the Lord, our Christ, underwent a valid, and not a
merely3100
| 3100 The text is here
uncertain. Most editions read “et quæ non cederet,” but
Harvey prefers “quæ non accederet” (for
“accideret”), and remarks that the corresponding Greek would
be
καὶ οὐ τυχόν, which we have
translated as above. | accidental passion; not only was He
Himself not in danger of being destroyed, but He also established fallen
man3101
| 3101 “Corruptum
hominem.” | by His own strength, and recalled him to
incorruption. The Æon, again, underwent passion while she was seeking
after the Father, and was not able to find Him; but the Lord suffered
that He might bring those who have wandered from the Father, back to
knowledge and to His fellowship. The search into the greatness of the
Father became to her a passion leading to destruction; but the Lord,
having suffered, and bestowing the knowledge of the Father, conferred on
us salvation. Her passion, as they declare, gave origin to a female
offspring, weak, infirm, unformed, and ineffective; but His passion gave
rise to strength and power. For the Lord, through means of suffering,
“ascending into the lofty place, led captivity captive, gave gifts
to men,”3102
and conferred on those that believe in Him the power “to
tread upon serpents and scorpions, and on all the power of the
enemy,”3103
that is, of the leader of apostasy. Our Lord
also by His passion destroyed death, and dispersed error, and put an end
to corruption, and destroyed ignorance, while He manifested life and
revealed truth, and bestowed the gift of incorruption. But their Æon,
when she had suffered, established3104
| 3104 Though the reading “substituit” is found in
all the mss. and editions,
it has been deemed corrupt, and “sustinuit” has been proposed
instead of it. Harvey supposes it the equivalent of ὑπέστησε, and then
somewhat strangely adds “for ἀπέστησε.”
There seems to us no difficulty in the word, and consequently no
necessity for change. | ignorance, and brought forth a
substance without shape, out of which all material works have been
produced—death, corruption, error, and such like.
4. Judas, then, the twelfth in order of the disciples,
was not a type of the suffering Æon, nor, again, was the passion of the
Lord; for these two things have been shown to be in every respect
mutually dissimilar and inharmonious. This is the case not only as
respects the points which I have already mentioned, but with regard to
the very number. For that Judas the traitor is the twelfth in order, is
agreed upon by all, there being twelve apostles mentioned by name in the
Gospel. But this Æon is not the twelfth, but the
thirtieth; for, according to the views under consideration, there
were not twelve Æons only produced by the will of the Father, nor was
she sent forth the twelfth in order: they reckon her, [on the contrary,]
as having been produced in the thirtieth place. How, then, can Judas, the
twelfth in order, be the type and image of that Æon who occupies the
thirtieth place?
5. But if they say that Judas in perishing was the
image of her Enthymesis, neither in this way will the image bear any
analogy to that truth which [by hypothesis] corresponds to it. For the
Enthymesis having been separated from the Æon, and itself afterwards
receiving a shape from Christ,3105
| 3105 Compare, in illustration of this sentence, book i. 4, 1,
and i. 4, 5. | then being made a partaker of intelligence by
the Saviour, and having formed all things which are outside of the
Pleroma, after the image of those which are within the Pleroma, is said
at last to have been received by them into the Pleroma, and, according to
[the principle of] conjunction, to have been united to that Saviour who
was formed out of all. But Judas having been once for all cast away,
never returns
into the number of the disciples; otherwise a
different person would not have been chosen to fill his place. Besides,
the Lord also declared regarding him, “Woe to the man by whom the
Son of man shall be betrayed;”3106
and,
“It were better for him if he had never been born;”3107
and he was called the “son of
perdition”3108
by Him. If, however, they
say that Judas was a type of the Enthymesis, not as separated from the
Æon, but of the passion entwined with her, neither in this way can the
number twelve be regarded as a [fitting] type of the number three. For in
the one case Judas was cast away, and Matthias was ordained instead of
him; but in the other case the Æon is said to have been in danger of
dissolution and destruction, and [there are also] her Enthymesis and
passion: for they markedly distinguish Enthymesis from the passion; and
they represent the Æon as being restored, and Enthymesis as acquiring
form, but the passion, when separated from these, as becoming matter.
Since, therefore, there are thus these three, the Æon, her Enthymesis,
and her passion, Judas and Matthias, being only two, cannot be the types
of them.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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