He ascended to heaven with the same body and soul and mind, uniting them into one unity and into one spiritual spirit, and having accomplished their deification, He sat down at the right hand of the Father. He sent Simon Peter, Andrew his brother, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, whom he had long chosen, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, Judas and Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who had become a traitor to Him, as well as seventy-two others, of whom seven were appointed to take care of widows: Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas. In addition to them, Matthias, instead of the last Judas, was numbered among the twelve apostles; and after all these Mark, Luke, Justus, Barnabas, and Apelles, Rufus, Niger, and the rest of the seventy-two. And after all these, Paul, the most holy apostle, having chosen with His own voice from heaven, sent him as an apostle and at the same time a preacher of the pagans and a celebrant of the apostolic ministry. Paul meets Luke, one of the seventy-two scattered, and makes him his companion and co-worker in evangelizing. Thus the work of evangelism has been accomplished even up to this time. With this may I conclude my discourse on the twenty heresies and on the Gospel enlightenment of the world, which has been set forth in order in the abbreviation, accomplished through Christ and His disciples. It would be possible to collect something similar to this, and to apply the prophecies and prophecies from the law and the Psalms, and other books, to discern all the consistency and connection, and to understand precisely that the coming of Christ and the teaching of the Gospel are not false, but true and foretold throughout the Old Testament, and beyond doubt. But in order that something too extensive may not come out of this work, I will be satisfied with what I have done so far.

Going further, I will also describe the opinions that have appeared in the world for an evil purpose.

This is what is contained in the second part of the first book, in which the thirteen heresies are examined. Of these, the first heresy is that of Simon the sorcerer, who appeared soon after Christ, when the apostles were still preaching, and from whom those who adhered to his heresy were called Simonians. He went out of Samaria, out of the village of Gittha, and took upon himself the name of Christ. He taught adultery, abominable copulation, without distinguishing between wives. He rejected the resurrection of the body and said that the world is not from God. He gave the image of himself and the prostitute Helen, who was with him, as it were Zeus and Athena, to his disciples for worship. He called himself Father to the Samaritans, and Christ to the Jews.

The Menandrians were descended from a certain Menander, who differed in some way from the Simonians and said that the world was created by angels.

The Satornilians have intensified the practice of the Simonians in Syria, but to their great amazement they preach something different against the Simonians; they originated from Satornil, who himself, like Menander, affirmed that the world was brought into existence by angels, but only by the family, contrary to the will of the Most High Father.

The Basilidians are also consecrated by Basilides, who, together with Satornilus, studied with the Simonians and Menandrians, adheres to the same way of thinking with them, but in some ways differs from them. He says that the heavens are three hundred and sixty-five, and gives them angelic names. Wherefore, he says, a year consists of so many days, and the name, Abrahams, also contains the number 365, and is a sacred name.

The Nicolaitans are from Nicholas, who was ordained by the apostles under the widows. Out of jealousy for his wife, he, together with others, taught his followers to perform a criminal deed and introduced into use the names: Kavlach, Prunik and other barbarian names.

The Gnostics, who have accepted the same heresies, are themselves most furiously given over to shame; in Egypt they are called Stratiotics and Thebionites, in the upper parts of Egypt they are called Secundians, and in other parts they are called Socrates, and in others they are called Zacchaeus; others call them Coddians, others call them Vorvorites.

The Carpocratians from some Asiatic Carpocrates, who taught to perform every act of sorrow and every sinful deed. If anyone, he said, does not pass through everything, and does not fulfill the will of all demons and angels, then he cannot ascend to heaven and surpass principalities and powers. He also said that Jesus took upon Himself a rational soul, knew and proclaimed here more highly; and if anyone is able to walk like Jesus, he is not inferior to him. And the law, together with the resurrection of the dead, was denied by Carpocrates, as well as by the heretics descended from Simon. His follower in Rome was Marcellina. Secretly making images of Jesus, Paul, Homer, and Pythagoras, Carpocrates burned incense and worshipped them.

The Cerinthians and Merinthians, descended from Cerinthus and Merinthus, were Jews, who boasted of circumcision and said that the world was brought into being by angels, and Jesus was called Christ because of his predence.

The Nazarites confess Jesus to be the Son of God, but in all things they live according to the law of Moses.

The Ebionites are close to the Cerinthians and Nazarites mentioned above; they are joined in some ways by the heresies of the Sampseans and Elkeshites. They say that Christ and His Holy Spirit were created in heaven, that Christ came to earth first in Adam, and from time to time He cast off this Adam and put on him again. This, they say, He did at His coming in the flesh. Being Jews, they nevertheless use the Gospels. They abhor meat-eating. Water is revered as God, and of Christ, as I have said, it is asserted that in His bodily coming He clothed Himself with man. They often wash in the waters, in summer and winter, precisely for sanctification, like the Samaritans.

The Valentinians deny the resurrection of the flesh, reject the Old Testament and the prophets, although they read it, and what can be interpreted in accordance with their heresy, they accept. But they introduce some other fables, inventing the names of the thirty aeons of both sexes, brought into existence by the Father of all things, and they are revered both as gods and as aeons. And they say of Christ that He brought a body from heaven and passed through Mary as through a trumpet.

The Secundians, with whom Epiphanes and Isidore are connected, admit the same couples, philosophizing like Valentinus, and interpreting others somewhat differently from him. In addition, they also teach studding. They also deny the Incarnation.