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| Another Account of the Strange Aberrations of Sophia, and the Restraining Services of Horus. Sophia Was Not Herself, After All, Ejected from the Pleroma, But Only Her Enthymesis.
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Chapter
X.—Another Account of the Strange Aberrations of Sophia, and the
Restraining Services of Horus. Sophia Was Not Herself, After All,
Ejected from the Pleroma, But Only Her Enthymesis.
But some dreamers have given another account of
the aberration6723
and recovery
of Sophia. After her
vain endeavours, and the disappointment of her hope, she was, I
suppose, disfigured with paleness and emaciation, and that neglect of
her beauty which was natural to one who6724
was deploring the denial of the Father,—an affliction which was
no less painful than his loss. Then, in the midst of all this sorrow,
she by herself alone, without any conjugal help, conceived and bare a
female offspring. Does this excite your surprise? Well, even the hen
has the power of being able to bring forth by her own energy.6725
| 6725 Comp. Aristotle,
Hist. Anim. vi. 2; Pliny, H. N. x. 58,
60. | They say, too, that among vultures there are
only females, which become parents alone. At any rate, she was
another without aid from a male, and she began at last to be afraid
that her end was even at hand. She was all in doubt about the
treatment6726
of her case, and
took pains at self-concealment. Remedies could nowhere be
found. For where, then, should we have tragedies and comedies, from
which to borrow the process of exposing what has been born without
connubial modesty? While the thing is in this evil plight, she raises
her eyes, and turns them to the Father. Having, however, striven in
vain, as her strength was failing her, she falls to praying. Her entire
kindred also supplicates in her behalf, and especially Nus. Why not?
What was the cause of so vast an evil? Yet not a single
casualty6727
befell Sophia
without its effect. All her sorrows operate. Inasmuch as all that
conflict of hers contributes to the origin of Matter. Her
ignorance, her fear, her distress, become substances.
Hereupon the Father by and by, being moved, produces in his own image,
with a view to these circumstances6728
| 6728 In hæc: in
relation to the case of Sophia. |
the Horos whom we have mentioned above; (and this he does) by means of
Monogenes Nus, a male-female (Æon), because there is this
variation of statement about the Father’s6729
| 6729 Above, in chap. viii.
we were told that Nus, who was so much like the Father, was himself
called “Father.” |
sex. They also go on to tell us that Horos is likewise called
Metagogius, that is, “a conductor about,” as well as
Horothetes (Setter of Limits). By his assistance they declare
that Sophia was checked in her illicit courses, and purified from all
evils, and henceforth strengthened (in virtue), and restored to the
conjugal state: (they add) that she indeed remained within the
bounds6730
of the Pleroma, but
that her Enthymesis, with the accruing6731
Passion, was banished by Horos, and crucified and cast out from the
Pleroma,—even as they say, Malum foras!
(Evil, avaunt!) Still, that was a spiritual essence, as being the
natural impulse of an Æon, although without form or shape,
inasmuch as it had apprehended nothing, and therefore was pronounced to
be an infirm and feminine fruit.6732
| 6732 Literally,
“infirm fruit and a female,” i.e. “had not
shared in any male influence, but was a purely female
production.” See our Irenæus, i. 4. [Vol. I. p.
321.] | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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