20. But Apelles, the disciple of [Marcion] displeased with what was said by his teacher, as we have before said, proposed by another theory that there are four Gods, declaring that one is (good) whom the Prophets knew not, but of whom Christ is the Son. And that another is the Demiurge of the All, whom he does not wish to be a god, and another a fiery one who is manifest, and yet another a wicked one: [all of] whom he calls angels. And adding Christ to these, he says that He is the fifth. But he gives heed to a book which he calls Manifestations of a certain Philumene whom he thinks a prophetess. And he says p. 503. that Christ did not receive the flesh from the Virgin, but from the adjacent substance of the cosmos. Thus he has written treatises[61] against the Law and the Prophets attempting to discredit them as false speakers and ignorant of God. And he says, like Marcion, that [all] flesh will be destroyed.[62]
13. Cerinthus.
21. But Cerinthus, who had been trained in Egypt, would have it that the cosmos did not come into being by the First God, but by a certain angelic power far removed and standing apart from the Authority [set] over the universals and ignorant of the God over all things. And he says that Jesus was not begotten from a Virgin, but was the son of Joseph and Mary in the same way as the rest of mankind, and that He excelled all other men in righteousness, moderation and intelligence. And that at the Baptism, there descended upon Him from the Authority over the universals, the Christ in the form of a dove, and that He then preached the unknown God and perfected his powers;[63] p. 504. but that at the end of the passion the Christ fell away from Jesus. And Jesus suffered, but the Christ remained passionless, being a spirit of [the] Lord.[64]
14. Ebionæi.
22. But the Ebionæi say that the cosmos came into being from the true God; but speak of the Christ as does Cerinthus. And they live in all things according to the Law of Moses, thus declaring themselves justified.[65]
15. Theodotus.
23. Theodotus the Byzantian brought in another heresy such as this, declaring that the universals came into being by the true God. But he says, like the Gnostics before described, that the Christ appeared in some such fashion [as this]. He said that the Christ was a man akin to all, but He differed [from others] in that He by the will of God was born from a Virgin who had been overshadowed by the p. 505. Holy Spirit. And that he was not incarnate in the Virgin, but at length at the Baptism the Christ descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove, whence they say He did not before then exercise powers. But he will not have the Christ to be God. And so Theodotus.[66]
16. Other Theodotians.
24. And others of them say all things like those aforesaid, altering one single thing only in that they accept Melchizedek as some very great power, declaring him to exist above every power. After whose likeness they will have the Christ to be.[67]