[69]. Witness the confusion between Ennoia and Epinoia in Chapter VI, vol. I. p. 180, n. 4, supra, and between Saturnilus and Saturninus in this chapter, p. 9. So Irenaeus and others record the opinions of an associate of Marcus whom they call “Colarbasus,” a name which modern criticism has shown to be a mistake for קול ארבע Kol-arba, “The Voice of the Four” or the Supreme Tetrad. See Renan, Mare Aurèle, p. 129; Hort in Dict. Christian Biog. s.h.v. So Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. c. II. mistakes Evoe, the mystic cry of the Bacchantes, for the Eve of Genesis.
[70]. Renan, L’Église Chrétienne, p. 140.
[71]. Hippolytus, op. cit. Bk V. c. 9, p. 177, Cruice.
[72]. As in the case of Clement of Alexandria, who seems to have been initiated into most of the heathen mysteries then current. It is to be noted, too, that Origen, although he speaks of the Ophites as an insignificant sect (see [Chapter VIII], infra), yet professes to know all about their secret opinions.
[73]. Renan, Marc Aurèle, p. 139.
[74]. Thus Ambrose of Milan had been before his conversion a Valentinian, Epiphanius a Nicolaitan. See Eusebius, H.E. Bk VI. c. 18; Epiph. Haer. XXVI. c. 17, p. 198, Oehler.
[75]. It could be even self-administered, as in the Acts of Paul and Thekla, where Thekla baptizes herself in the arena. See Tischendorf’s text. The Clementine Homilies (Bk XIV. c. 1) show that it could be immediately followed by the Eucharist without any intermediate rite or preparation. Contrast with this the elaborate ceremonies described by Cyril of Jerusalem, where the white-robed band of converts after a long catechumenate, including fasting and the communication of secret doctrines and passwords, approach on Easter Eve the doors of the church where the lights turned darkness into day. See Hatch, H. L. pp. 297, 299.
[76]. Duchesne, Hist. Christian Ch. p. 32; Harnack, What is Christianity? Eng. ed. p. 210.
[77]. As Hatch, H. L. pp. 274-279, has pointed out, the term όμοοὐσιος, which led to so much shedding of Christian blood, first occurs among the post-Christian Gnostics, and led in turn to most of the wranglings about “substance,” “person,” and the other metaphysical distinctions and their result in “strife and murder, the devastation of fair fields, the flame of fire and sword” (ibid. p. 279). For the possibilities of Greek science, had it not been opposed by the Church, see ibid. p. 26.
[78]. See the edict of Constantine, which Eusebius (Vit. Constantini, cc. LXIV., LXV.) quotes with unholy glee, prohibiting the Gnostics from presuming to assemble together either publicly or privately, and commanding that their “houses of prayer” should be confiscated and handed over to the Catholic Church. Eusebius (ibid. c. LXVI.) says that the result of this was that the “savage beasts crept secretly into the Church,” and continued to disseminate their doctrines by stealth. Perhaps such a result was to be expected.