(NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was
not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all mistakes found.)
Transliteration of Greek words: All phonetical except: w = omega; h serves
three puposes: 1. = Eta; 2. = rough breathing, when appearing intially
before a vowel; 3. = in the aspirated letters theta = th, phi = ph, chi =
ch. Accents are given immediately after their corresponding vowels: acute =
' , grave = `, circumflex = ^. The character ' doubles as an apostrophe,
when necessary.
TERTULLIAN.
APPENDIX to HIS ANTI-HERETICAL WRITINGS.
AGAINST ALL HERESIES.[1]
[Spurious]
[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. S. THELWALL.]
CHAP. I.--EARLIEST HERETICS:[2] SIMON MAGUS, MENANDER, SATURNINUS,
BASILIDES, NICOLAUS. [THE WORK BEGINS AS A FRAGMENT.]
Of which heretics I will (to pass by a good deal) summarize some few
particulars. For of Judaism's heretics I am silent--Dositheus the
Samaritan, I mean, who was the first who had the hardihood to repudiate the
prophets, on the ground that they had not spoken under inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. Of the Sadducees I am silent, who, springing from the root of
this error, had the hardihood to adjoin to this heresy the denial likewise
of the resurrection of the flesh.[3] The Pharisees I pretermit, who were
"divided" from the Jews by their superimposing of certain additaments to
the law, which fact likewise made them worthy of receiving this very
name;[4] and, together with them, the Herodians likewise, who said that
Herod was Christ. To those I betake myself who have chosen to make the
gospel the starting-point of their heresies.
Of these the first of all is Simon Magus, who in the Acts of the
Apostles earned a condign and just sentence from the Apostle Peter.[5] He
had the hardihood to call himself the Supreme Virtue,[6] that is, the
Supreme God; and moreover, (to assert) that the universe[7] had been
originated by his angels; that he had descended in quest of an erring
daemon,[8] which was Wisdom; that, in a phantasmal semblance of God, he had
not suffered among the Jews, but was as if he had suffered.[9]
After him Menander, his disciple (likewise a magician[10]), saying the
same as Simon. Whatever Simon had affirmed himself to be, this did Menander
equally affirm himself to be, asserting that none could possibly have
salvation without being baptized in his name.
Afterwards, again, followed Saturninus: he, too, affirming that the
innascible[11] Virtue, that is God, abides in the highest regions, and that
those regions are infinite, and in the regions immediately above us; but
that angels far removed from Him made the lower world;[12] and that,
because light from above had flashed refulgently in the lower regions, the
angels had carefully tried to form man after the similitude of that light;
that man lay crawling on the surface of the earth; that this light and this
higher virtue was, thanks to mercy, the salvable spark in man, while all
the rest of him perishes;[13] that Christ had not existed in a bodily
substance, and had endured a quasi-passion in a phantasmal shape merely;
that a resurrection of the flesh there will by no means be.
Afterwards broke out the heretic Basilides. He affirms that there is a
supreme Deity, by name Abraxas,[14] by whom was created Mind, which in
Greek he calls Nou^s; that thence sprang the Word; that of Him issued
Providence, Virtue,[15] and Wisdom; that out of these subsequently were
made Principalities, powers,[1] and Angels; that there ensued infinite
issues and processions of angels; that by these angels 365 heavens were
formed, and the world,[2] in honour of Abraxas, whose name, if computed,
has in itself this number. Now, among the last of the angels, those who
made this world,[2] he places the God of the Jews latest, that is, the God
of the Law and of the Prophets, whom he denies to be a God, but affirms to
be an angel. To him, he says, was allotted the seed of Abraham, and
accordingly he it was who transferred the sons of Israel from the land of
Egypt into the land of Canaan; affirming him to be turbulent above the
other angels, and accordingly given to the frequent arousing of seditions
and wars, yes, and the shedding of human blood. Christ, moreover, he
affirms to have been sent, not by this maker of the world,[3] but by the
above-named Abraxas; and to have come in a phantasm, and been destitute of
the substance of flesh: that it was not He who suffered among the Jews, but
that Simon[4] was crucified in His stead: whence, again, there must be no
believing on him who was crucified, lest one confess to having believed on
Simon. Martyrdoms, he says, are not to be endured. The resurrection of the
flesh he strenuously impugns, affirming that salvation has not been
promised to bodies.
A brother heretic[5] emerged in Nicolaus. He was one of the seven
deacons who were appointed in the Acts of the Apostles.[6] He affirms that
Darkness was seized with a concupiscence--and, indeed, a foul and obscene
one--after Light: out of this permixture it is a shame to say what fetid
and unclean (combinations arose). The rest (of his tenets), too, are
obscene. For he tells of certain Aeons, sons of turpitude, and of
conjunctions of execrable and obscene embraces and per-mixtures,[7] and
certain yet baser outcomes of these. He teaches that there were born,
moreover, daemons, and gods, and spirits seven, and other things
sufficiently sacrilegious. alike and foul, which we blush to recount, and
at once pass them by. Enough it is for us that this heresy of the
Nicolaitans has been condemned by the Apocalypse of the Lord with the
weightiest authority attaching to a sentence, in saying "Because this thou
holdest, thou hatest the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I too hate."[8]
CHAP. II.--OPHITES, CAINITES, SETHITES.
To these are added those heretics likewise who are called Ophites:[9]
for they magnify the serpent to such a degree, that they prefer him even to
Christ Himself; for it was he, they say, who gave us the origin of the
knowledge of good and of evil.[10] His power and majesty (they say) Moses
perceiving, set up the brazen serpent; and whoever gazed upon him obtained
health.[11] Christ Himself (they say further) in His gospel imitates Moses'
serpent's sacred power, in saying: "And as Moses upreared the serpent in
the desert, so it behoveth the Son of man to be upreared."[12] Him they
introduce to bless their eucharistic (elements).[13] Now the whole parade
and doctrine of this error flowed from the following source. They say that
from the supreme primary Aeon whom then speak of[14] there emanated several
other inferior Aeons. To all these, however, there opposed himself an Aeon
who name is Ialdabaoth.[15] He had been conceived by the permixture of a
second Aeon with inferior Aeons; and afterwards, when he[16] had been
desirous of forcing his way into the higher regions, had been disabled by
the permixture of the gravity of matter with himself to arrive at the
higher regions; had been left in the midst, and had extended himself to his
full dimensions, and thus had made the sky.[17] Ialdabaoth, however, had
descended lower, and had made him seven sons, and had shut from their view
the upper regions by self-distension, in order that, since (these) angels
could not know what was above,[18] they might think him the sole God. These
inferior Virtues and angels, therefore, had made man; and, because he had
been originated by weaker and mediocre powers, he lay crawling, worm-like.
That Aeon, however, out of which Ialdaboath had proceeded, moved to the
heart with envy, had injected into man as he lay a certain spark; excited
whereby, he was through prudence to grow wise, and be able to understand
the things above. So, again, the Ialdaboath aforesaid, turning indignant,
had emitted out of himself the Virtue and similitude of the serpent; and
this had been the Virtue in paradise--that is, this had been the serpent--
whom Eve had believed as if he had been God the Son.[1] He[2] plucked, say
they, from the fruit of the tree, and thus conferred on mankind the
knowledge of things good and evil.[3] Christ, moreover, existed not in
substance of flesh: salvation of the flesh is not to be hoped for at all.
Moreover, also, there has broken out another heresy also, which is
called that of the Cainites.[4] And the reason is, that they magnify Cain
as if he had been conceived of some. potent Virtue which operated in him;
for Abel had been procreated after being conceived of an inferior Virtue,
and accordingly had been found inferior. They who assert this likewise
defend the traitor Judas, telling us that he is admirable and great,
because of the advantages he is vaunted to have conferred on mankind; for
some of them think that thanksgiving is to be rendered to Judas on this
account: viz., Judas, they say, observing that Christ wished to subvert the
truth, betrayed Him, in order that there might be no possibility of truth's
being subverted. And others thus dispute against them, and say: Because the
powers of this world[5] were unwilling that Christ should suffer, lest
through His death salvation should be prepared for mankind, he, consulting
for the salvation of mankind, betrayed Christ, in order that there might be
no possibility at all of the salvation being impeded, which was being
impeded through the Virtues which were opposing Christ's passion; and thus,
through the passion of Christ, there might be no possibility of the
salvation of mankind being retarded.
But, again, the heresy has started forth which is called that of the
Sethites.[6] The doctrine of this perversity is as follows. Two human
beings were formed by the angels--Cain and Abel. On their account arose
great contentions and discords among the angels; for this reason, that
Virtue which was above all the Virtues--which they style the Mother--when
they said[7] that Abel had been slain, willed this Seth of theirs to be
conceived and born in place of Abel, in order that those angels might be
escheated who had created those two former human beings, while this pure
seed rises and is born. For they say that there had been iniquitous
permixtures of two angels and human beings; for which reason that Virtue
which (as we have said) they style the Mother brought on the deluge even,
for the purpose of vengeance, in order that that seed of permixture might
be swept away, and this only seed which was pure be kept entire. But (in
vain): for they who had originated those of the former seed sent into the
ark (secretly and stealthily, and unknown to that Mother-Virtue), together
with those "eight souls,"[8] the seed likewise of Ham, in order that the
seed of evil should not perish, but should, together with the rest, be
preserved, and after the deluge be restored to the earth, and, by example
of the rest, should grow up and diffuse itself, and fill and occupy the
whole orb.[9] Of Christ, moreover, their sentiments are such that they call
Him merely Seth, and say that He was instead of the actual Seth.
CHAP. III.--CARPOCRATES, CERINTHUS, EBION.
Carpocrates, futhermore, introduced the following sect. He affirms that
there is one Virtue, the chief among the upper (regions): that out of this
were produced angels and Virtues, which, being far distant from the upper
Virtues, created this world[10] in the lower regions: that Christ was not
born of the Virgin Mary, but was generated--a mere human being--of the seed
of Joseph, superior (they admit) above all others in the practice of
righteousness and in integrity of life; that He suffered among the Jews;
and that His soul alone was received in heaven as having been more firm and
hardy than all others: whence he would infer, retaining only the salvation
of souls, that there are no resurrections of the body.
After him brake out the heretic Cerinthus, teaching similarly. For he,
too, says that the world[10] was originated by those angels;[11] and sets
forth Christ as born of the seed of Joseph, contending that He was merely
human, without divinity; affirming also that the Law was given by
angels;[12] representing the God of the Jews as not the Lord, but an angel.
His successor was Ebion,[13] not agreeing with Cerinthus in every
point; in that he affirms the world[13] to have been made by God, not by
angels; and because it is written, "No disciple above his master, nor
servant above his lord, "[14] sets forth likewise the law as binding,[1] of
course for the purpose of excluding the gospel and vindicating Judaism.
CHAP. IV.--VALENTINUS, PTOLEMY AND SECUNDUS, HERACLEON.
Valentinus the heretic, moreover, introduced many fables. These I will
retrench and briefly summarize. For he introduces the Pleroma and the
thirty Aeons. These Aeons, moreover, he explains in the way of syzygies,
that is, conjugal unions[2] of some kind. For among the first,[3] he says,
were Depth[4] and Silence; of these proceeded Mind and Truth; out of whom
burst the Word and Life; from whom, again, were created Man[5] and the
Church. But (these are not all); for of these last also proceeded twelve
Aeons; from Speech,[6] moreover, and Life proceeded other ten Aeons: such
is the Triacontad of Aeons, which is made up in the Pleroma of an ogdoad, a
decad, and a duodecad. The thirtieth Aeon, moreover, willed to see the
great Bythus; and, to see him, had the hardihood to ascend into the upper
regions; and not being capable of seeing his magnitude, desponded,[7] and
almost suffered dissolution, had not some one,--he whom he calls Horos, to
wit,--sent to invigorate him, strengthened him by pronouncing the word
"Iao."[8] This Aeon, moreover, which was thus reduced to despondency, he
calls Achamoth, (and says) that he was seized with certain regretful
passions, and out of his passions gave birth to material essences.[9] For
he was panic-stricken, he says, and terror-stricken, and overcome with
sadness; and of these passions he conceived and bare. Hence he made the
heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and whatever is in them: for which
cause all things made by him are infirm, and frail, and capable of falling,
and mortal, inasmuch as he himself was conceived and produced from
despondency. He, however, originated this world[10] out of those material
essences which Achamoth, by his panic, or terror, or sadness, or sweat, had
supplied. For of his panic, he says, was made darkness; of his fear and
ignorance, the spirits of wickedness and malignity; of his sadness and
tears, the humidities of founts, the material essence of floods and sea.
Christ, moreover, was sent by that First-Father who is Bythus. He,
moreover, was not in the substance of our flesh; but, bringing down from
heaven some spiritual body or other, passed through the Virgin Mary as
water through a pipe, neither receiving nor borrowing aught thence. The
resurrection of our present flesh he denies, but (maintains that) of some
sister-flesh.[11] Of the Law and the prophets some parts he approves, some
he disapproves; that is, he disapproves all in reprobating some. A Gospel
of his own he likewise has, beside these of ours.
After him arose the heretics Ptolemy and Secundus, who agree throughout
with Valentinus, differing only in the following point: viz., whereas
Valentinus had reigned but thirty Aeons, they have added several more; for
they first added four, and subsequently four more. And Valentine's
assertion, that it was the thirtieth Aeon which strayed out from the
Pleroma, (as falling into despondency,) they deny; for the one which
desponded on account of disappointed yearning to see the First-Father was
not of the original triacontad, they say.
There arose, besides, Heracleon, a brother[12]-heretic, whose
sentiments pair with Valentine's; but, by some novelty of terminology, he
is desirous of seeming to differ in sentiment. For he introduces the notion
that there existed first what he terms (a Monad);[13] and then out of that
Monad (arose) two, and then the
rest of the Aeons. Then he introduces the whole system of Valentine.
CHAP. V.--MARCUS AND COLARBASUS.
After these there were not wanting a Marcus and a Colarbasus, composing
a novel heresy out of the Greek alphabet. For they affirm that without
those letters truth cannot be found; nay more, that in those letters the
whole plenitude and perfection of truth is comprised; for this was why
Christ said, "I am the Alpha and the Omega."[1] In fact, they say that
Jesus Christ descended,[2] that is, that the dove came down on Jesus;[3]
and, since the dove is styled by the Greek name peristera'--(peristera), it
has in itself this number DCCCI.[4] These men run through their W, PS, PH,
U, T--through the whole alphabet, indeed, up to A and B--and compute
ogdoads and decads. So we may grant it useless and idle to recount all
their trifles. What, however, must be allowed not merely vain, but likewise
dangerous, is this: they feign a second God, beside the Creator; they
affirm that Christ was not in the substance of flesh; they say there is to
be no resurrection of the flesh.
CHAP. VI.--CERDO, MARCION, LUGAN, APELLES.
To this is added one Cerdo. He introduces two first causes,[5] that is,
two Gods--one good, the other cruel:[6] the good being the superior; the
latter, the cruel one, being the creator of the world.[7] He repudiates the
prophecies and the Law; renounces God the Creator; maintains that Christ
who came was the Son of the superior God; affirms that He was not in the
substance of flesh; states Him to have been only in a phantasmal shape, to
have not really suffered,but undergone a quasipassion, and not to have been
born of a virgin, nay, really not to have been born at all. A resurrection
of the soul merely does he approve, denying that of the body. The Gospel of
Luke alone, and that not entire, does he receive. Of the Apostle Paul he
takes neither all the epistles, nor in their integrity. The Acts of the
Apostles and the Apocalypse he rejects as false.
After him emerged a disciple of his, one Marcion by name, a native of
Pontus,[8] son of a bishop, excommunicated because of a rape committed on a
certain virgin.[9] He, starting from the fact that it is said, "Every good
tree beareth good fruit, but an evil evil,"[10] attempted to approve the
heresy of Cerdo; so that his assertions are identical with those of the
former heretic before him.
After him arose one Lucan by name, a follower and disciple of Marcion.
He, too, wading through the same kinds of blasphemy, teaches the same as
Marcion and Cerdo had taught.
Close on their heels follows Apelles, a disciple of Marcion, who after
lapsing, into his own carnality,[11] was severed from Marcion. He
introduces one God in the infinite upper regions, and states that He made
many powers and angels; beside Him, withal, another Virtue, which he
affirms to be called Lord, but represents as an angel. By him he will have
it appear that the world[12]. was originated in imitation of a superior
world.[13] With this lower world he mingled throughout (a principle of)
repentance, because he had not made it so perfectly as that superior world
had been originated. The Law and the prophets he repudiates. Christ he
neither, like Marcion, affirms to have been in a phantasmal shape, nor yet
in substance of a true body, as the Gospel teaches; but says, because He
descended from the upper regions, that in the course of His descent He wove
together for Himself a starry and airy[14] flesh; and, in His resurrection,
restored, in the course of His ascent, to the several individual elements
whatever had been borrowed in His descent: and thus--the several parts of
His body dispersed--He reinstated in heaven His spirit only. This man
denies the resurrection of the flesh. He uses, too, one only apostle; but
that is Marcion's, that is, a mutilated one. He teaches the salvation of
souls alone. He has, besides, private but extraordinary lections of his
own, which he calls "Manifestations,[1] of one Philumene,[2] a girl whom he
follows as a prophetess. He has, besides, his own books, which he has
entitled books of Syllogisms, in which he seeks to prove that whatever
Moses has written about God is not true, but is false.
CHAP. VII.--TATIAN, CATAPHRYGIANS, CATAPROCLANS, CATHESCHINETANS.
To all these heretics is added one Tatian, a brother-heretic. This man
was Justin Martyr's disciple. After Justin's death he began to cherish
different opinions from his. For he wholly savours of Valentinus; adding
this, that Adam cannot even attain salvation: as if, when the branches
become salvable,[3] the root were not!
Other heretics swell the list who are called Cataphrygians, but their
teaching is not uniform. For there are (of them) same who are called
Cataproclans;[4] there are others who are termed Cataeschinetans.[5] These
have a blasphemy common, and a blasphemy not common, but peculiar and
special. The common blasphemy lies in their saying that the Holy Spirit was
in the apostles indeed, the Paraclete was not; and in their saying that the
Paraclete has spoken in Montanus more things than Christ brought forward
into (the compass of) the Gospel, and not merely more, but likewise better
and greater. But the particular one they who follow Aeschines have; this,
namely, whereby they add this, that they affirm Christ to be Himself Son
and Father.
CHAP. VIII.--BLASTUS, TWO THEODOTI, PRAXEAS.
In addition to all these, there is likewise Blastus, who would
latently introduce Judaism. For he says the passover is not to be kept
otherwise than according to the law of Moses, on the fourteenth of the
month. But who would fail to see that evangelical grace is escheated if he
recalls Christ to the Law?
Add to these Theodotus the Byzantine, who, after being apprehended for
Christ's Name, and apostatizing,[6] ceased not to blaspheme against Christ.
For he introduced a doctrine by which to affirm that Christ was merely a
human being, but deny His deity; teaching that He was born of the Holy
Spirit indeed of a virgin, but was a solitary and bare human being,[7] with
no pre-eminence above the rest (of mankind), but only that of
righteousness.
After him brake out a second heretical Theodotus, who again himself
introduced a sister-sect, and says that the human being Christ Himself[8]
was merely conceived alike, and born, of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin
Mary, but that He was inferior to Melchizedek; because it is said of
Christ, "Thou art a priest unto eternity, after the order of
Melchizedek."[9] For that Melchizedek, he says, was a heavenly Virtue of
pre-eminent grace; in that Christ acts for human beings, being made their
Deprecator and Advocate: Melchizedek does so[10] for heavenly angels and
Virtues. For to such a degree, he says, is he better than Christ, that he
is apa'twr (fatherless), amh'twr (motherless), genealoghtos (without
genealogy), of whom neither the beginning nor the end has been
comprehended, nor can be comprehended.[11]
But after all these, again, one Praxeas introduced a heresy which
Victorinus[22] was careful to corroborate. He asserts that Jesus Christ is
God the Father Almighty. Him he contends to have been crucified, and
suffered, and died; beside which, with a profane and sacrilegious temerity,
he maintains the proposition that He is Himself sitting at His own right
hand.[13]
Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland beginning in
1867. (ANF 3, Roberts and Donaldson.) The original digital version was by
The Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-
WORD.
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