that that girl of twelve years old, the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue,[1] to whom the Lord approached and raised her from the dead, was a type of Achamoth, to whom their Christ, by extending himself, imparted shape, and whom he led anew to the perception of that light which had forsaken her. And that the Saviour appeared to her when she lay outside of the Pleroma as a kind of abortion, they affirm Paul to have declared in his Epistle to the Corinthians [in these words], "And last of all, He appeared to me also, as to one born out of due time."[2] Again, the coming of the Saviour with His attendants to Achamoth is declared in like manner by him in the same epistle, when he says, "A woman ought to have a veil upon her head, because of the angels."[3] Now, that Achamoth, when the Saviour came to her, drew a veil over herself through modesty, Moses rendered manifest when he put a veil upon his face. Then, also, they say that the passions which she endured were indicated by the Lord upon the cross. Thus, when He said, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"[4] He simply showed that Sophia was deserted by the light, and was restrained by Horos from making any advance forward. Her anguish, again, was indicated when He said, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death;"[5] her fear by the words, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;"[6] and her perplexity, too, when He said, "And what I shall say, I know not."[7]
3. And they teach that He pointed out the three kinds of men as follows: the material, when He said to him that asked Him, "Shall I follow Thee?"[8] "The Son of man hath not where to lay His head;"—the animal, when He said to him that declared, "I will follow Thee, but suffer me first to bid them farewell that are in my house," "No man, put-
- ↑ Luke viii. 41.
- ↑ 1 Cor. xv. 8.
- ↑ 1 Cor. xi. 10. Irenæus here reads κάλυμμα, veil, instead of ἐξουσίαν, power, as in the received text.
- ↑ Matt. xxvii. 46.
- ↑ Matt. xxvi. 38.
- ↑ Matt. xxvi. 39.
- ↑ John xii. 27. The Valentinians seem, for their own purposes, to have added οὐκ οἶδα to this text.
- ↑ Luke ix. 57, 58.
