And let this be said by me about this heresy and about this myth. After this I will pass on to another heresy, for who will not see such a heresy of its own accord is a myth, as something like a horned serpent buried in the sand, and with its horn exposed to the air, and causing death to those who meet it. But the Lord also broke the horn of sinners, but only the horn of the righteous will be lifted up (Psalm 74:11), that is, faith in the truth. Wherefore, having crushed this heretic with the teaching of the truth, let us pass on to the following heresies, calling upon the help of God, to whom be glory and honor and worship forever and ever, Amen.

Against the Nicolaitanes, the fifth and twenty-fifth heresies

1. Nicholas was one of the seven deacons chosen by the apostles together with the saint and first martyr Stephen, with Prochorus, Parmenas and others. He, having come from Antioch, becomes a proselyte. And then, having received the word about the preaching of Christ, he himself was joined to the disciples, and had primacy among those who were preferred. Therefore he was numbered among those chosen at that time to care for widows. But afterwards the devil also entered into him and deceived his heart to be wounded by the same error with the ancients, of whom it was said before, even more than they. For, having a well-behaved wife and abstaining from communion with her, as if in imitation of those whom he saw cleaving to God, he remained in patience for a certain time. But he could not fully control his intemperance, but on the contrary, wishing, like a dog, to return to his vomit (2 Peter 2:22), catching for himself some unkind pretexts to justify his obscene passion, he invented what was more profitable for him. Then, not succeeding in his intention, he began to live carelessly with his wife. But being ashamed of this victory which he had ceded over himself, and fearing that the matter would be opened, he ventured to say that if one does not give himself up to lust every day, he cannot receive eternal life. For he passed from one pretext to another. And seeing that his concubine was remarkable in beauty and behaved humbly, he was jealous of her, and, judging others by his debauchery, at first began to treat his wife very badly, and in his speeches to raise certain slanders against her. And finally, he degraded himself not only to carnal deeds, which are not yet contrary to human nature, but also to blasphemous thoughts, to the corruption of morals and to slyly creeping errors.

2. And from this time on, the sowers of the falsely named gnosis, I mean the Gnostics (Γνωστικοί), and the Phibionites, and the so-called disciples of Epiphanes, the Stratiotics (Στρατιωτικοί), the Leviticians (Λευιτικοί), and many others, begin to appear for the evil of the world. Each of these heretics, reconciling his heresy with his passions, devised a thousand paths to vice. For some of them glorify a certain Barbelo (Βαρβηλώ), of whom it is said that she is on high in the eighth heaven. And it, according to them, was produced by the Father. It is said that she is the mother, according to some, of Yaldabaoth (Ἰαλδαβαώθ), and according to others, of Sabaoth (Σαβαώθ). Her son, with some audacity and violence, took possession of the seventh heaven. And he says of himself to his subordinates: "I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no other God." And Barbelo heard the word and began to cry. And it always appears to the princes in a good form, stealing from them in lust the seed that is poured out, apparently in order to regain its power scattered in various ones. And thus, on the basis of this assumption, Nicholas introduced into the world the mystery of his foul language. And some of those mentioned above, as I said, with great cunning in evil, taught, which is not permissible to say: to indulge in mingling with many women and to make them extremely shameful, as the most holy apostle says in one place: "What they do in secret is shameful even to speak" (Ephesians 5:12). But whoever wishes to see what the Holy Spirit opposes in refutation of the heresy of Nicholas, can learn this from the Revelation of St. John, who, writing in the presence of the Lord to one of the churches, that is, to the bishop there placed at the altar with the power of the holy angel, says: "But behold, it is good in thee, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitanes, and I also hate them" (Rev. 2:6).

3. Other heretics, like the Nicolaitanes, honoring a certain Prunik, again on the basis of this invention of shameful deeds, satisfying their passions, mythically say: the power of Prunicus (τῆς Προυνίκου τὴν δύναμιν) we gather from the bodies in the discharges, I mean in the seed and in the monthly purifications. Of these heretics a little later, when we begin to speak of them alone, I shall speak in more detail, not in order to defile the ears of my hearers or readers, but in order to arouse in those who are reasonable a great hatred of the teaching of the heretics, and a greater abhorrence of doing evil, not by slandering those who have gone astray, but by exposing to the truth what is going on among them. Others of those who have said before glorify Jaldabaoth, saying that he is, as has been said, the first son of Barbelo, and he ought to be honored, they say, because he has discovered many things. For this reason they issue certain books, composing them in the name of Yaldabaoth, and make up thousands of barbarous names for the principalities and powers, which in every heaven oppose the human soul. And in short, the great intrigues of the human race are arranged by the error of these heretics. Other heretics also glorify Kavlakava (Καυλακαῦ), thus naming a certain principle, and strengthening the imagination of the inexperienced to act with terrible names, and the barbarous composition of these names. Those who have experienced, who have received grace from God in every naming and assumption, seek the true knowledge of God, but do the teachings of mythological heretical delusion be exposed and resolved by themselves?

4. If Prunik is named, then all this is regurgitated by the voluptuousness of the heart. For every action called by the name of Prunicus (προυνικευόμενον) is co-called with lust and attempt at corruption. And whoever dishonored virginity, this Hellenic expression "ἐπρουνίκευσε τήνδε" is used, and therefore the deceivers of the Hellenes who described erotic deeds in myths, speaking of beauty, wrote thus: "the beauty of prunicus (κάλλος προύνικον)." And as for the word Kavlakab (Καυλακαῦ), who among those who know it will not laugh at the fact that the Hebrew sayings, well pronounced and well translated into the Hellenic language, which are still clear to those who know Hellenic and have nothing difficult in themselves, are turned by heretics into symbolic signs, into images, into realized principles, and, so to speak, into idols, while dreaming, instilling error in simple people, To dissipate through them his shameful and mythical art? For "kavlakab" is written in Isaiah in the twelfth vision, where the prophet says: "Sorrow for sorrow, hope for hope, wait a little, wait a little yet" (Isaiah 28:10). To these sayings I will add here the most Hebrew words, as it is written. For: σαυλασαῦ σαυλασαῦ translated sorrow into sorrow, καυλακαῦ καυλακαῦ — hope to hope, ζιηρσὰμ ζιηρσὰμ — still a little, still wait a little. So, where is the myth of the heretics? Where is this offspring of daydreaming? Where do the tares in the world come from? Who forced people to bring death on themselves? For if they, knowing them, turned names into a dream, then they obviously became the culprits of their own destruction. But if they did not know what they did not know, then there is nothing so pitiful as they are. For in fact this is not at all reasonable. And this can be seen by everyone who has come to understand from God. For heretics out of voluptuousness have destroyed and are destroying themselves and those who trust them. And this very horn is a likeness of the serpent in which the evil one spoke and deceived Eve. In the likeness of this image, this horn is also made for the deception of people. And look at the appearance of the horn player. Now he raises his head up, then lowers it down, like a serpent he inclines both to the right and to the left. The devil also takes upon himself these forms, in order to openly blaspheme the heavenly and to turn the earthly into nothing, to embrace the world and the right hand together, and to inflict it on those who have gone astray and have been deceived by it, as with the deceptive sounds of the instrument of music.

5. Others, some of the heretics, invent some empty names, saying that there were darkness, the deep, and water, and in the midst of them the spirit made a distinction between them. But the darkness was irritated against the spirit and hated it, and this darkness, running upward, was seized by the spirit. And she gave birth, they say, to a certain so-called Mithra (Μήτρα), who, having been born, had communion with the same spirit. From Mithras came four certain aeons, and from the four aeons another fourteen, and came into being the right hand (δεξιά) and the shuitsa (ἀριστερά), light (φῶς) and darkness (σκότος). Afterwards after all these there arose a certain shameful Aeon (τινα αἰσχρὸν αἰῶνα), and he mingled with the previously mentioned Mithras. From this shameful Aeon and from Mithras came the gods, angels, demons, and the seven spirits. But the ridiculous side of the heretics' error is revealed by itself. First naming and defining the one father, many gods were afterwards presented, showing that error itself arms against itself the lies it utters, and destroys itself, in proportion as the truth is constantly sought out in all parts.

6. Therefore, what shall I say to you, Nicholas? What shall I talk to you about? Whence dost thou bring us the shameful Aeon, the root of wickedness, the generative Mithra, and many gods and demons? The Apostle, having said: "If the verbemia is God" (1 Corinthians 8:5), gives them to see that they do not exist. For by the word of verbemia he showed that their existence is only in words, but hypostatically they do not exist, but exist only in the assumption of some. But to us, says the Apostle, who have evidently comprehended the knowledge of the truth, there is one God (1 Corinthians 8:6). And He called Him not the God who is spoken, but the God who truly exists. If we have one God, then there are not many gods. And the Lord in the Gospel says: "That they may know Thee the only true God" (John 17:3), in order to refute the opinion of those who divulge myths and allow polytheism. For we have one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three hypostases, one dominion, one Godhead, one doxology (εἷς γὰρ ἡμῶν ἐστιν ὁ θεός, πατὴρ καὶ υἱὸς καὶ Ἴαὶ �γιον πνεῦμα, τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις μία κυριότης μία θεότης μία δοξολογία), and not many gods. How is the saying of the Savior fulfilled in you, Nicholas: "There are eunuchs who have been castrated by men; and there are eunuchs who were born from their mother's womb in this way; and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19:12)? Therefore, if there are eunuchs for the sake of the Heavenly Kingdom, how did you deceive yourself and those who trusted you with lust and shameful deeds, keeping the truth of God and teaching it in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18)? As you fulfill this: "Concerning virginity I have not the command of the Lord, but I give advice, as one who has received mercy from the Lord, it is good for a man to remain so" (1 Corinthians 7:25-26); and again: the virgin "cares for the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord, that she may be holy, both in body and in spirit" (1 Corinthians 7:34)? And how much more can be said about purity, abstinence, and virginity? For with you all the filth of impurity is shamelessly determined. But let it be my purpose here to use these two or three sayings to refute the ridiculous heresy before the readers.

7. Proceeding further in order, I will show that the other heresy associated with this heresy is like a forest overgrown with grass, or bushes of thorns intertwined everywhere, or a dry multitude of trees and wood fragments in the field, prepared for burning, for it is corrupted by this heresy of the wretched Nicholas, just as some bodies are infected by malignant teals grafted onto them, or leprosy of other bodies. who in Nicholas and those who preceded him, I mean Simon and others, who have found pretexts for their teachings, are called Gnostics (Γνωστικοί), but are fully worthy of the name of condemned (κατάγνωστοι) for the worthlessness and shame of their unclean deeds. Wherefore also this one, who lived for a short time in abstinence, and then became an apostate of abstinence, like a creeping snake of water, which came out of the water to dry land and soon returned to the water, having struck and destroyed with the reed given into the hands of Christ, let us pass on to the next heresy.

Against the Gnostic-Borborites, the Sixth and Twenty-Sixth Heresies

1. And these Gnostics, people who were variously involved in the deception of Nicholas, grew up in the world as the fruits of sorrow (Hebrews 12:15), which is obvious and convenient for the investigation of the truth to everyone, I will say this not only about the faithful, but even about the unbelievers. For to speak of the womb (τὸ Μήτραν), of shame, and of other things, would it not seem ridiculous to every man, Hellenic and barbarian, wise and foolish? But it is a great misfortune and the greatest, so to speak, calamity, that these condemned and erring leaders of heresies rush and rise up against us, like a multitude of wild beasts, producing in us anxiety, stench, wounds and wrecks by their mythical error. They, who entered into an alliance with this Nicholas, from him, like from an empty serpent's egg scorpions, or the offspring of asps, bring to us certain empty ringing names and compose books, one of which they call Noria (Νωρίαν), and transforming the concepts of Hellenic superstition into a mythological tale and a work of imagination for the Hellenes themselves, thus intertwining falsehood with truth. For they say that this Noria is the wife of Noah; and they call her Noria, in order to translate what the Hellenes told in Hellenic into barbarous names, and to deceive those who are deceived by them, and to translate the name of Pyrrha by the name of Noria, for νοῦρα in Hebrew (not in the ancient language, however, but in the Syriac dialect) means "fire (πῦρ)." But the "fire" of the Jews in their ancient language is called ἡσάθ. Therefore, they accidentally, through ignorance and inexperience, used this name. For Noah's wife was not Pyrrha (Πύῤῥα), known among the Hellenes (the Greeks say that Pyrrha was the name of Deucalion's wife), nor Noria, invented by them, but Bartenos (Βαρθενώς). Then the reason for this, which again offers us the Philistine tales, is given, namely, that, having often expressed a desire to be with Noah in the ark, she did not receive permission to do so, since the prince, they say, who created the world, was pleased with all others to destroy her in the flood; and she sits down in the ark and lights it, not once or twice, but many times, and the first, and the second, and the third time. That is why the very structure of Noah's ark continued for many years, for it was repeatedly set on fire by it. For Noah, they say, was subject to the prince, and Noria revealed the higher powers, and one of the powers, Barbelo, opposed to the prince, as well as the other powers; And she asserted that what was stolen from the Mother on high by the prince who created the world, and by the other gods, angels, and demons with him, must be gathered from the power contained in the bodies by means of effluents (διὰ τῆς ἀποῤῥοίας), both male and female.

2. In a word, I am exhausted, showing all the impenetrability of their darkness, for I would spend a lot of time if I wanted to speak here in detail about the series of fictions they have composed on this subject, recounting separately the absurd propositions of their falsely named gnosis. Some of them, looking at the matter in different ways, striking the eyes of people and fooling themselves, introduce a certain prophet Barcabbah (Βαρκαββᾶν τινα προφήτην), worthy of their name, for καββᾶ in the Syriac dialect means "fornication (πορνεία)", and in the Hebrew – "bloodthirstiness (φονοκτονία)", and it also means the fourth part of the measure. This name is worthy of contempt and laughter, or rather indignation, for those who know its meaning in their own language. From this wonderful prophet they bring us a shameful tale in order to persuade us to have intimacy with corrupt bodies and to lose the heavenly hope, not being ashamed that again in the same words they recount the erotic fornications of Cypris. Others of them introduce a forged and enticing work, and give this work a name, calling it the gospel of fulfillment (εὐαγγέλιον τελειώσεως). But in reality it is not the gospel, but the sorrow of fulfillment (πένθος τῆς τελειώσεως), for the fullness of death lies in this sowing of the devil. Others are not ashamed to speak of the gospel of Eve (εὐαγγέλιον Εὔας); for the seed of the devil is offered under the name of Eve, as having received the word — gnosis from the revelation of the serpent who conversed with her. And just as in the case of the incompetent mind of one who is drunk and speaks, his speech is uneven, but one thing is uttered with laughter, and another is filled with sorrow, so the word of deceivers has become in all respects the sowing of vice.

3. And they begin with foolish testimonies and visions, and proclaim them in their gospel, for they say thus: "I stood on a high mountain, and saw a tall man, and another disfigured, and I heard as it were a voice of thunder, and I drew near, that I might hear more clearly, and he spoke to me, and said, I am you, and you are I, and wherever you are, there am I, scattered in all; and in whatever you will, you gather me, and when you gather me, you gather yourself." And here is the true sowing of the devil, to what extent it has seduced the mind in humanity! Into what foolishness and incongruity he was distracted from the word of truth! For one who has understanding, there is almost no need to refute this by Scripture, or by example, or by anything else, for to a sound mind both the work of their talk and the work of adulterers are obvious and obvious. By introducing this and similar things, under the pretext of gnosis, those who joined the heresy of Nicholas fell away from the truth, not only seducing the minds of those who believed them, but also enslaving their bodies and souls to fornication and mingling with many. For they also defile their very assembly with the shame of mingling with many, and touching human flesh and uncleanness, and eating them. Why do I not dare to say everything, unless I am in any way compelled to do so by the excessiveness of my heart's love for their foolish deeds; being amazed at the multitude and depth of evil into which the enemy of man leads those who submit to him, so that the mind, the heart, the hands, the lips, the bodies, and the souls of those who are caught by him in this great darkness are defiled. But I am afraid that if I discover this great poison in its entirety, like the face of a certain serpent of the basilisk, it will serve more to harm than to correct the readers. For indeed the ear is defiled by the blasphemous code of great insolence, and this collection and this description of shame, and this filthy (βορβορώδης) abominable defilement of vile deed; by this property some call them Borborites (Βορβοριανοί), and others call them Coddians (Κοδδιανοῦς) (and κοδδά in the Syriac dialect means "plate" or "dish"), because others cannot eat with them, but especially serve these dishes to the defiled. And since because of their filth no one can eat even bread with them, for this reason those who dwell in the same house with them, considering them excommunicated, called them Coddians. In Egypt they are also called stratiotics (Στρατιωτικοί) and phybionites (Φιβιωνῖται), as I have said in part above. And some call them Zacchaeus (Ζακχαίους), while others call them Barbelites (Βαρβηλίτας). However, since it will be impossible for me to keep silent about everything; then I am compelled to speak. For St. Moses, filled with the Holy Spirit, writes: "If anyone sees murder and does not report, let him be accursed." Why can't I, too, pass over this great murder, this great murderous deed, in silence and not fully discover it? For having shown this fall as a fount of perdition, I may perhaps produce fear and terror in the prudent, so that the prudent may not only flee, but stone this writhing serpent and basilisk in the abyss, and no one will even dare to approach it. And this, which has already been said about them, as a little of many, let it be a part of everything.

4. I will go to the very depths of the deadly story about them (for they have different teachings about their pleasure): first, they have their wives in common, and if a guest comes who adheres to the same dogma with them, then they have a sign from men to women, and women to men, namely, they stretch out their hand to shake and from below the palm they make a kind of tickle with a touch, letting them know that the newcomer was of the same confession as them. After this, already knowing each other, they immediately turn to the treat; and although they are poor, they offer abundant meat and wine; At the end of this feast, when the veins from satiety, so to speak, become full, they give themselves over to a frenzy of lust; A husband, departing from his wife, says to his wife the following words: arise, make love (τὴν ἀγάπην) with your brother. And the unfortunate copulate among themselves (μιγέντες ἀλλήλοις) and – oh, I am truly ashamed to speak of the debauchery committed among them, for, according to the words of the holy Apostle, it is "depraved even to speak of what comes from them" (Ephesians 5:12)! However, I will not be ashamed to say what they are not ashamed to do, in order to make those who hear by all means tremble in those who hear what shameful deeds are committed among them — after copulation in fornication, in addition to this, they extend their blasphemy to heaven: having received a woman, the discharge from the male organ on his own hand the husband puts in denial of heaven — having impurity on his hand, he prays thus. Irritating stratiotics and gnostics blow on this hand, making an offering to the Father and saying: "We offer you this offering, the body of Christ." And thus they eat it, having a share in the general ugliness, and saying: "This is the body of Christ, and this is the Passover, through the suffering of our bodies, and the passion of Christ (πάθος τοῦ Χριστοῦ) compels us to consent." It is the same with woman: when the time comes for the blood to be freed, the monthly blood of impurity is collected and, having thus been obtained, is eaten together. And "this, they say, is the blood of Christ."