24. This [creation] is according to Aristotle, the “entelechy”[63] of the organic natural body, the soul activating the body, without which the body can effect nothing, a something greater and more manifest and wiser than the body. The theory therefore which Aristotle first taught regarding the soul and the body, Basilides explained as referring to the Great Ruler and his so-called son. For the Ruler according to Basilides begat a son; and Aristotle says that the soul is an entelechy, the work and result[64] of the organic natural body. As, then, the entelechy controls the body, so the son, according to Basilides, controls the more ineffable God of the Ineffables. All things soever then which are in the aether up to the Moon are foreseen and controlled by the majesty[65] of the Great Ruler; for here [i. e. at the Moon] the air is divided from the aether. Now when all aethereal things had been set in order, yet p. 356. another Ruler ascends from the Seed-Mass, greater than all the things which are below him, save only the Sonhood which is left behind, but much inferior to the first Ruler. And this one is called by them “able to be named.”[66] And his place is called Hebdomad, and he is the controller and Demiurge of all things lying below him, and he has created to himself from the Seed-Mass a Son who is more foreseeing and wiser than he in the same way as has been said about the first [Ruler]. And in this space,[67] he says, are the heap and the Seed-Mass, and events naturally happen as they were (ordained) to be produced in advance by Him who has calculated that which will come to pass and when and what and how it will be.[68] And of these there is no leader nor guardian nor demiurge. For that calculation which the Non-Existent One made when he created them suffices for them.
25. When, then, according to them, the whole cosmos and the hypercosmic things were completed, and nothing p. 357. was lacking, there still remained in the Seed-Mass the third Sonhood which had been left behind to give and receive benefits in the Seed. And the Sonhood left behind had to be revealed and again established on high above the Boundary Spirit in the presence of the subtler Sonhood and the one that resembles it and the Non-Existent One, as, says he, it is written, “All creation groans and is in travail in expectation of the revelation of the sons of God.”[69] We spiritual men, he say, left here below for the arrangement and perfect formation and rectification and completion of the souls which by nature have to remain in this [Middle] Space, are the “sons [of God].” “Now from Adam to Moses sin reigned”[70] as it is written. For the Great Ruler reigned who held sway up to the firmament, thinking that he alone was God, and that there was nothing higher than he. For all things were kept hidden in silence. This, says he, is the mystery which was not known to the earlier generations; but in those times the King and Lord, as it seemed to him, of the universals was p. 358. the Great Ruler, the Ogdoad. Yet of this [Middle] Space the Hebdomad was King and Lord, and the Ogdoad is ineffable but the Hebdomad may be named. This Ruler of the Hebdomad, says he, it was who spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the name of God was not made known to them:”[71] for thus they will have it to have been written—that is to say [the name] of the Ineffable Ogdoad, Ruler, God. All the prophets therefore who were before the Saviour, spoke from that place.[72] When then, he says, the sons of God had to be revealed to us, about whom, he says, creation groaned and travailed in expectation of the revelation, the Gospel came into the cosmos and passed through every Dominion[73] and Authority and Lordship and every name which is named. And it came indeed, although nothing descended from on high, nor did the Blessed Sonhood come forth from that Incomprehensible and Blessed God-who-was-Not. But as the Indian naphtha, when only kindled from afar off, takes fire, so from the Formlessness of the heap below do p. 359. the powers of the Sonhood extend upward. For as if he were something of naphtha, the son of the Great Ruler of the Ogdoad catches and receives the concepts from the Blessed Sonhood which is beyond the Holy Spirit. For the Power in the midst of the Holy Spirit in the Boundary of the Sonhood distributes the rushing and flowing concepts to the Son of the Great Ruler.[74]
26. Therefore the Gospel came first from the Sonhood, he says to the Ruler, through his Son who sits beside him, and the Ruler learned that he was not the God of the universals, but was a generated [being] and had above him the outstretched Treasure-house of the Ineffable and Unnameable God-who-was-Not and of the Sonhood.[75] And he was astounded and terrified when he perceived in what ignorance he had been, and this, says [Basilides] is the saying: “The fear of [the] Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”[76] For he began to be wise when instructed by the Christ seated beside him, and learned what was the Non-Existent One, what the Sonhood, what the Holy Spirit, and what was the constitution[77] of the universals and p. 360. how these will be restored.[78] This is the wisdom spoken of in mystery, as to which, says he, the Scripture declares: “Not in the words taught by human wisdom, but in the teachings of [the] Spirit.”[79] Then, says he, the Ruler when he had been instructed and made to fear, confessed thoroughly the sin he had committed in magnifying himself. This, says he, is the saying: “I acknowledge my sin and I know my transgression; upon this I will make full confession for ever.”[80]
Now when the Great Ruler had been instructed, and every creature of the Ogdoad had been taught and had learned, and the mystery had been made known to those above the heavens, it was still necessary that the Gospel should come to the Hebdomad also, so that the Ruler of the Hebdomad might be instructed in like manner and be evangelized.[81] The Son of the Great Ruler [therefore] enlightened the Son of the Ruler of the Hebdomad, having caught the light which he had from the Sonhood on high, and the Son of the Ruler of the Hebdomad was enlightened, and the Gospel was announced to the Ruler of the Hebdomad, and he in like manner as has been said was both terrified and made confession. When then all things in the p. 361. Hebdomad had been enlightened, and the Gospel had been announced to them—for according to them, the creatures belonging to these spaces are boundless and are Dominions and Powers and Authorities, concerning whom they have a very long story told by many [authors]. [And] they imagine that there are there 365 heavens, and Habrasax is their Great Ruler, because his name comprises the cipher 365, wherefore the year consists of that number of days[82]—but when, says he, these things had come to pass, it was still necessary that our Formlessness should be enlightened and that the mystery unknown to the earlier generations should be revealed to the Sonhood left behind in the Formlessness as if he were an abortion. As, says he, it is written: “By revelation was made known to me the mystery;”[83] and again, “I heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for man to utter.”[84] [Thus] the light came down from the p. 362. Hebdomad, which had come down from the Ogdoad on high to the Son of the Hebdomad, upon Jesus the son of Mary, and He, having caught it, was enlightened by the light shining upon Him.[85] This, says he, is the saying:—“The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee,” [that is], that which passed from the Sonhood through the Boundary Spirit into the Ogdoad and Hebdomad down to Mary, “and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee,”[86] [that is] the power of the unction[87] from the Height of the Demiurge on high unto the creation which is of the Son. But, he says, up till that [time] the cosmos was thus constituted, until [the time] when the whole Sonhood left behind in the Formlessness to benefit souls and [itself] to receive benefits should be transformed and follow Jesus, and should go on high and come forth purified, and should become most subtle as it might do by ascension like the First [Sonhood]. For it possesses all the power of attaching itself naturally to the light which shines downward from on high.
27. When therefore, he says, every Sonhood shall have come [forth] and shall be established above the Boundary p. 363. Spirit, the creation shall then receive pity. For up till now, he says it wails and is tortured and awaits the revelation of the sons of God, so that all the men of the Sonhood shall ascend from this place. When this shall have come to pass, he says, God shall bring upon the whole cosmos the Great Ignorance, so that all things shall remain as they are by nature, and none shall desire any of those things beyond [its] nature. For all the souls of this space which possess a nature enabling them to remain immortal in this [space] alone, will remain convinced that there is nothing different from nor better than this [space]. Nor will any tidings or knowledge of higher things abide in those below, so that the lower souls shall not be tormented by yearning after the impossible, as if a fish should desire to feed with the sheep on the hills. For, says he, such a desire should it happen to them[88] would be [their] destruction. Therefore, he says, all things which remain in their own place are imperishable; but perishable if they wish to overleap and rise above [the limits] of their nature. Thus the Ruler of the Hebdomad will know nothing of the things above him. For the Great p. 364. Ignorance will lay hold of him, so that grief and pain and sighing will stand off from him, for he will neither desire anything impossible nor will he grieve. And in like manner this Ignorance will lay hold of the Great Ruler of the Ogdoad, and similarly all the creatures subject to him, so that none of them shall grieve and mourn for anything outside his own nature. And this shall be the Restoration of all things established according to nature in the seed of the universals at the beginning, but they shall be restored [each] in their proper season. But [to prove] that everything has its proper season, it is enough to mention the saying of the Saviour:—“Mine hour is not yet come”[89] and the Magi observing the star. For, says [Basilides] He himself was foretold by the nativity[90] of the stars and of the return of the hours into the great heap. This is according to them, the spiritual inner man conceived in the natural man—which is the Sonhood who leaves the soul, not to die but to remain as it is by nature, just as the first Sonhood[91] p. 365. left the Holy Spirit which is the Boundary in its appropriate place and then did on his own special soul.[92]
In order that we may omit nothing of their [doctrines], I will set forth what they say also about (a) Gospel.[93] Gospel is according to them the knowledge of hypercosmic things, as has been made plain, which the Great Ruler[94] did not understand. When then there was manifested to him what are the Holy Spirit that is the Boundary, and the Sonhood and the God-who-is-Not the cause of all these, he rejoiced at the words and exulted,[95] and this according to them is the Gospel. But Jesus according to them was born as we have before said. And He having come into being by the Birth before explained, all those things likewise came to pass with regard to the Saviour as it is written in the Gospels. And these things came to pass [Basilides] says, so that Jesus might become the first-fruits of the sorting-out of the things of the Confusion.[96] For when the Cosmos was divided into an Ogdoad which is the head of the whole ordered world, [the head whereof is] the Great Ruler, and into a Hebdomad which is the head of the Hebdomad, the p. 366. Demiurge of the things below him, and into this space of ours, which is the Formlessness, it was necessary that the things of the Confusion should be sorted out by the discrimination of Jesus.
That which was His bodily part[97] which was from the Formlessness, therefore suffered[98] and returned to the Formlessness. And that which was His psychic part which was from the Hebdomad also returned to the Hebdomad. But that which was peculiar to the Height of the Great Ruler ascended and remained with the Great Ruler. And He bore aloft as far as the Boundary Spirit that which was from the Boundary Spirit and it remained with the Boundary Spirit. But the third Sonhood which had been left behind to give and receive benefits was purified by Him, and traversing all these places went on high to the Blessed Sonhood.[99] For this is the whole theory,[100] as it were a Confusion of the Seed-Mass and the discrimination [into classes] and the Restoration of the things confused into their proper places. Therefore Jesus became the first-fruits of the discrimination, and the Passion came to pass for no other reason than this discrimination.[101] For in this manner, he says, all the Sonhood left behind in the Formlessness to p. 367. give and receive benefits separated into its components in the same way as [the person] of Jesus was separated. This is what Basilides fables after having lingered in Egypt, and having learned from them [of Egypt] such great wisdom, he brought forth such fruits.[102]
2. Satornilus.[103]
28. And a certain Satornilus who flourished at the same time as Basilides, but passed his life in Antioch of Syria, taught the same things as Menander.[104] He says that one father exists unknown to all, who made Angels, Archangels, Powers [and] Authorities. And that from a certain seven angels the cosmos and all things therein came into being. And that man was [the] creation of angels, there having p. 368. appeared on high from the Absolute One[105] a shining image which they could not detain, says Saturnilus, because of its immediate return on high. [Wherefore] they exhorted one another, saying: “Let us make man according to image and resemblance.”[106] Which, he says, having come to pass, the image could not stand upright by reason of the lack of power among the angels, but grovelled like a worm. Then the Power on high having pity on it, because it had come into being in his likeness, sent forth a spark of life which raised up the man and made him live.[107] Therefore, says he, the spark of life returns at death to its own kindred and the rest of [man’s] compound parts is resolved into its original elements.[108] And he supposed the unknown Father[109] to be unbegotten, bodiless, and formless. But he says that He showed Himself as a phantom in human shape, and that the God of the Jews is one of the angels. And, because the Father wished to depose all the angels, Christ came for the putting-down of the God of the Jews and for the salvation of those who believe on him; and that these [believers] p. 369. have the spark of life within them. For he says that two races of men were formed by the angels, one bad and one good. And that since the demons help the bad, the Saviour came for the destruction of the bad men and demons, but for the salvation of the good. And he says that to marry and beget [children] is from Satan. Many of this man’s adherents abstain from things that have had life, through this pretended abstinence (leading astray many).[110] And they say that the Prophecies were uttered, some by the world-creators, some by Satan whom he supposes to be an angel who works against the world-creators and especially (against) the God of the Jews.[111] Thus then Satornilus.