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Against the Valentinians

Tertullian

Chapter 16

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Chapter XVI.—Achamoth Purified from All Impurities of Her Passion by the Paraclete, Acting Through Soter, Who Out of the Above-Mentioned Impurities Arranges Matter, Separating Its Evil from the Better Qualities.

She, too, resorts to prayers, after the manner

‹ Chapter 15 Chapter 17 ›

of

her

mother

.

But

Christ

,

Who

now

felt

a

dislike

to

quit

the

Pleroma

,

appoints

the

Paraclete

as

his

deputy

.

To

her

,

therefore

,

he

despatches

Soter

,

(

who

must

be

the

same

as

Jesus

,

to

whom

the

Father

imparted

the

supreme

power

over

the

whole

body

of

the

Æons

,

by

subjecting

them

all

to

him

,

so

that

“

by

him

,

”

as

the

apostle

says

,

“

all

things

were

created

”

)

,

with

a

retinue

and

cortege

of

contemporary

angels

,

and

(

as

one

may

suppose

)

with

the

dozen

fasces

.

Hereupon

Achamoth

,

being

quite

struck

with

the

pomp

of

his

approach

,

immediately

covered

herself

with

a

veil

,

moved

at

first

with

a

dutiful

feeling

of

veneration

and

modesty

;

but

afterwards

she

surveys

him

calmly

,

and

his

prolific

equipage

.

With

such

energies

as

she

had

derived

from

the

contemplation

,

she

meets

him

with

the

salutation

,

Κύριε

,

χαῖρε

(

“

Hail

,

Lord

”

)

!

Upon

this

,

I

suppose

,

he

receives

her

,

confirms

and

conforms

her

in

knowledge

,

as

well

as

cleanses

her

from

all

the

outrages

of

Passion

,

without

,

however

,

utterly

severing

them

,

with

an

indiscriminateness

like

that

which

had

happened

in

the

casualties

which

befell

her

mother

.

For

such

vices

as

had

become

inveterate

and

confirmed

by

practice

he

throws

together

;

and

when

he

had

consolidated

them

in

one

mass

,

he

fixes

them

in

a

separate

body

,

so

as

to

compose

the

corporeal

condition

of

Matter

,

extracting

out

of

her

inherent

,

incorporeal

passion

such

an

aptitude

of

nature

as

might

qualify

it

to

attain

to

a

reciprocity

of

bodily

substances

,

which

should

emulate

one

another

,

so

that

a

twofold

condition

of

the

substances

might

be

arranged

;

one

full

of

evil

through

its

faults

,

the

other

susceptible

of

passion

from

conversion

.

This

will

prove

to

be

Matter

,

which

has

set

us

in

battle

array

against

Hermogenes

,

and

all

others

who

presume

to

teach

that

God

made

all

things

out

of

Matter

,

not

out

of

nothing

.

Notes

1
Saviour: another title of their Paraclete.
2
Col. i. 16.
3
Fructiferumque suggestum.
4
Expumicat.
5
Habilitatem atque naturam. We have treated this as a “hendiadys.”
6
Æquiparantias corpulentiarum.