1.
Such, then, is the account they give of what took place within the Pleroma; such the calamities that flowed from the passion which seized upon the Aeon who has been named, and who was within a little of perishing by being absorbed in the universal substance, through her inquisitive searching after the Father; such the consolidation 1
[of that Aeon] from her condition of agony by Horos, and Stauros, and Lytrotes, and Carpistes, and Horothetes, and Metagoges. 2 Such also is the account of the generation of the later Aeons, namely of the first Christ and of the Holy Spirit, both of whom were produced by the Father after the repentance 3 [of Sophia], and of the second 4 Christ (whom they also style Saviour), who owed his being to the joint contributions [of the Aeons]. They tell us, however, that this knowledge has not been openly divulged, because all are not capable of receiving it, but has been mystically revealed by the Saviour through means of parables to those qualified for understanding it. This has been done as follows. The thirty Aeons are indicated (as we have already remarked) by the thirty years during which they say the Saviour performed no public act, and by the parable of the labourers in the vineyard. Paul also, they affirm, very clearly and frequently names these Aeons, and even goes so far as to preserve their order, when he says, "To all the generations of the Aeons of the Aeon." 5 Nay, we ourselves, when at the giving 6 of thanks we pronounce the words, "To Aeons of Aeons" (for ever and ever), do set forth these Aeons. And, in fine, wherever the words Aeon or Aeons occur, they at once refer them to these beings.
The reading is here very doubtful. We have followed the text of Grabe (approved by Harvey), ex agonos sumpexis. ↩
These are all names of the same person: see above, ii. 4. Hence some have proposed the reading hexaionios instead of ex agonos, alluding to the sixfold appellation of the Aeon Horos. ↩
Billius renders, "from the repentance of the Father," but the above seems preferable. ↩
Harvey remarks, "Even in their Christology the Valentinians must have their part and counterpart." ↩
Or, "to all the generations of the ages of the age." See Eph. iii. 21. The apostle, of course, simply uses these words as a strong expression to denote "for ever." ↩
Literally, "at the thanksgiving," or "eucharist." Massuet, the Benedictine editor, refers this to the Lord's Supper, and hence concludes that some of the ancient liturgies still extant must even then have been in use. Harvey and others, however, deny that there is any necessity for supposing the Holy Eucharist to be referred to; the ancient Latin version translates in the plural, "in gratiarum actionibus." ↩
