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Against the Valentinians

Tertullian

Chapter 23

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Chapter XXIII.—The Relative Positions of the Pleroma. The Region of Achamoth, and the Creation of the Demiurge. The Addition of Fire to the Various Elements and Bodies of Nature.

Their most eminent powers, moreover, they confine within

‹ Chapter 22 Chapter 24 ›

the

following

limits

,

as

in

a

citadel

.

In

the

most

elevated

of

all

summits

presides

the

tricenary

Pleroma

,

Horos

marking

off

its

boundary

line

.

Beneath

it

,

Achamoth

occupies

the

intermediate

space

for

her

abode

,

treading

down

her

son

.

For

under

her

comes

the

Demiurge

in

his

own

Hebdomad

,

or

rather

the

Devil

,

sojourning

in

this

world

in

common

with

ourselves

,

formed

,

as

has

been

said

above

,

of

the

same

elements

and

the

same

body

,

out

of

the

most

profitable

calamities

of

Sophia

;

inasmuch

as

,

(

if

it

had

not

been

for

these

,

)

our

spirit

would

have

had

no

space

for

inhaling

and

ejecting

air

—

that

delicate

vest

of

all

corporeal

creatures

,

that

revealer

of

all

colours

,

that

instrument

of

the

seasons

—

if

the

sadness

of

Sophia

had

not

filtered

it

,

just

as

her

fear

did

the

animal

existence

,

and

her

conversion

the

Demiurge

himself

.

Into

all

these

elements

and

bodies

fire

was

fanned

.

Now

,

since

they

have

not

as

yet

explained

to

us

the

original

sensation

of

this

in

Sophia

,

I

will

on

my

own

responsibility

conjecture

that

its

spark

was

struck

out

of

the

delicate

emotions

of

her

(

feverish

grief

)

.

For

you

may

be

quite

sure

that

,

amidst

all

her

vexations

,

she

must

have

had

a

good

deal

of

fever

.

Notes

1
Above, in chap. viii., he has mentioned the Pleroma as “the fulness of the thirtyfold divinity.”
2
Metatur.
3
Reciprocandi.
4
Fire.
5
Ego.
6
Motiunculis.
7
Febricitasse.