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."

5. For this reason, when they read in the Apocrypha: "I saw a tree bearing twelve fruits every year, and said to me, This is the tree of life," they see in this an allegory about the monthly purification of women.

In mutual copulation with one another, procreation is forbidden, for corruption is permitted among them, not for the sake of childbearing, but for pleasure. The devil's laughter at such and mockery of God's erring creation! But they make pleasures by receiving from each other the impurity of their sperm – they do not drop them on childbirth, but they eat them ugly. And if one of them gives himself over to sow a natural creature by eruption, and a woman conceives, then let us dare to say that which is terrible to hear. For at the same time, pulling the embryo down, they take this embryo to be eaten in one circle, and, having gathered all the swine and dog, they mix honey, pepper and other aromas and colors, so that they do not vomit, and each adherent has a finger from the tormented child. And in this way, having committed cannibalism, they finally pray to God and say that they are not distracted by the prince's desires, but drive away the sin of their brother. This, in fact, is what the Easter feast is like.

But how frightening it is for these brave souls, for they make themselves unaware, mixing with their hands the ugliness of the eruption and with their hands awakening the desire to possess each other, they pray completely naked in body, seeking revelation from God through such an occupation. Both men and women dress their bodies day and night, anointing them with ointments, washing, nourishing, spending time on beds and in drunkenness. And they curse the fasting one, saying that one should not fast, for fasting is the work of this prince who has seduced the world. It is necessary to be satisfied, so that the bodies may be strong and may bear fruit in the time of it.

6. And they make use of both the Old and New Testaments, although they deny Him who spoke in the Old Testament. And when they find any utterance that may have a contrary meaning, then they say that it was said by the spirit of this world. And if any word can be represented as having a resemblance to their desire, not because it is really such a saying, but because their deceived minds understand it, then, having perverted it according to their own desire, they say that it was spoken by the spirit of truth. This includes, they say, that the Lord said of John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? Is it a reed shaken by the wind?" (Matthew 11:7), because, they note, John was not perfect. For like a reed moved by every wind, He acted under the inspiration of many spirits; and when the spirit of the prince descended upon him, he preached Judaism, and when the Holy Spirit descended upon him, he spoke of Christ. To this also belongs, they say: "The least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" (Matt. 11:11). This, according to them, is said of us, namely, that the least of us is greater than John.

7. And immediately the mouths of such are blocked by the truth itself, for from what is connected with each utterance, the truth will be revealed, and the true meaning of the expression will be revealed. If John had dressed in soft garments and dwelt in the royal houses, then this saying would have clearly applied to him and clearly served to rebuke him. But if it is said: "What then did you go to see? Is it a man dressed in soft clothes?" (Matt. 11:8), but in fact it was not so, then the accusation expressed in the word should no longer be laid on John, who did not wear soft clothes, but on those who thought that John would be found like this, and often for hypocrisy they were caressed by those who lived in the royal houses. For they, going out into the wilderness, thought to hear from John praise and blessedness for all the daily sins that befell them. And because they did not hear this, the Saviour said to them in humiliation: "What did they think to find?" Is it a man who is carried away by the same passions as you, like those who wear a soft one? No, John is not a reed shaken by people's opinions; is not shaken like a reed by all human hypocrisy and deceit. But since He said: "Of those born of women there arose no greater than John the Baptist" (Matt. 11:11), so that others do not think that John is greater than the Saviour himself, because the Saviour Himself was born of a woman, the ever-virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit (ἀπὸ γυναικὸς ἐγεννήθη τῆς Μαρίας τῆς ἀειπαρθένου διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου), in our warning He added: "He who is least of him (that is, according to the time of his coming in the flesh) is greater than Him in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matt. 11:11). For the Saviour, although He was born six months after the birth of John, is obviously greater than John, since He has always been and is. To whom is this not obvious? Is it not in vain that heretics remake everything, turning from good into unworthy?

8. And they have a lot of books. They set forth some "Questions of Mary" (ἐρωτήσεις Μαρίας). Others write many books about the previously mentioned Yaldabaoth under the name of Set; others call them revelations to Adam, and they have dared to write the Gospels under the name of disciples. Of our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ Himself, they are not ashamed to say that He showed depraved perversions (αἰσχρουργίαν); for in the "Questions of Mary," which are called "Great" (they also composed others, "Lesser"), there is a revelation given to her by Him on the mountain: He prayed, and took the woman on the side, and began to copulate with her (ἀρξάμενον αὐτῇ ἐγκαταμίγνυσθαι), and in acting in this way He intercepted His vomited seed, in order to show that "we are compelled to do these things in order to live"; And when Mary fell to the ground in confusion, He brought her to consciousness, and said to her, Why do you doubt, O woman of little faith? And He said that this is a weave of the Gospel, and that if the things of the earth have spoken unto you, and have not believed, how shall ye believe the things which are in heaven? who received the fate from whence it came. And as for what was said, "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood," and the disciples who were troubled and said, "Who can hear this?" (John 6:53-60), they say that there was a word about ugliness. Wherefore they were troubled, and went back, for they were not, they say, yet in the fullness of the foundation. And what David said, "He shall be like a tree planted at the end of the waters, which bears its fruit in its season" (Psalm 1:3), they say, it is said about the ugliness of men: "at the end of the waters" and "he will give his fruit," it is said, they say, about the pleasure of eruption; and "the leaf does not wither" (Psalm 1:3) [mean] that we do not admit that, they say, the earth itself will be lost, but they themselves will be.

9. And in order not to do more harm than good in presenting their testimonies, I myself will keep silent about many things, for if I were to set forth here all that is said by them that is evil, I would become a disseminator of it. For it is believed that the scarlet robe of Rahab was not on the door (Joshua 2), but they say that the scarlet robe is menstrual blood, and the saying "drink water from the vessels of life" speaks of this. They say that the flesh perishes and does not rise again, and it belongs to the prince. But of the power contained in menstrual blood and in semen, it is asserted: it is the soul, and we gather it and eat it. And whatever meat, or vegetables, or bread, or anything else we eat, we do mercy to creatures, gathering the soul of all and carrying it with us to heaven. Therefore they eat all kinds of meat, saying, "We do this out of pity for our race." And it is said that one and the same soul is sown in animals, in wild beasts, in fish, in snakes, in men, in vegetables, in trees, and in fruits. Thus the Phibionites, who are called among them, their shameful sacrifices of debauchery, which we have mentioned here before, offer to the names of three hundred and sixty-five names of princes invented by themselves, amusing themselves with women and saying, "Mate with me, that you may be exalted from the prince." In copulation, however, they invoke the name of a certain Barbaron (βάρβαρον) and pray, saying, "I offer you what is due, that I may bring you what is due." And so they offer: they immediately copulate, placing themselves in a different way, so that the other does not rise until he descends to three hundred and sixty-five forms of coition (τῆς λαγνείας); In doing so, each of the names is invoked. And the princes descend back down through them, this is the perfect and playful shame of deception. But when the burden of falls, shameful copulations and invocations of names, reaches the number of seven hundred and thirty, then such a [fallen] one finally comes to the audacity that he says: I am the Christ since I came down from above through the names of <365> princes.