Text
Hippolytus, Refutatio 5.7.6-9:
The Assyrians say that Oannes the fish-eater came from them, the Chaldeans speak (likewise) of Adam. And they say that he was the man whom the earth produced by herself; and he lay without breath, without motion, without a tremor, like a statue, being an image of that celestial being praised in song, the Man Adamas; and he was made by the many powers, who are severally described at length. Now in order that the great Man from on high should be completely held fast, “from whom,” as they (= Naassenes) say, “every family is named on earth and in heaven” originates, there was given to him also a soul, so that through his soul suffering and punishment in slavery might come upon the creation of that great and most noble and perfect Man; for that is what they call him. So they inquire again, what is the soul, and whence comes it, and what is its nature, that by coming into man and quickening him it should enslave and punish the creation of the perfect Man; and they make this inquiry, not from the scriptures, but once again from the secret writings. And they say that the soul is most hard to discover and hard to conceive, for it does not remain in the same form or shape all the time, or in one condition, so that one could describe its character or conceive its substance. These manifold alterations they have set down in the Gospel entitled According to the Egyptians. And they wonder, like all the other Gentiles, whether it comes from Pre-existent or from the Self-originate or from the outpoured chaos.
Source (list of abbreviations)
Hippolytus, Refutatio 5.7.6-9
Bibliography
| Foerster 1972 | Foerster, Werner. Gnosis. A Selection of Gnostic Texts. Vol. 1: Patristic texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1972. |
Amar Annus
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