Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
NARRATIVE OF THE WHOLE ARGUMENT OF THE DISCIPLES OF VALENTINUS. 1. They say that there exists, in invisible and indescribable heights, a certain perfect Aeon who existed before all else. Him they call Proarche, and Propator, and Bythos; and they say he is invisible, and such that no thing can grasp him. Since he was grasped by none, and was invisible, eternal, and unbegotten, he remained in profound silence and quiet through immense ages. With him there also existed Ennoea, whom they also call Charis and Sige; and at length he willed to send forth from himself this Bythos as the beginning of all things — wishing this emission to go forth, as it were, as a seed — and he deposited it, as in a womb, in Sige who was with him. She received this seed, and having become pregnant, brought forth Nous, like and equal to him who had emitted him, and alone able to comprehend the Father's greatness. This Nous they also call the Only-begotten, and Father, and Beginning of all things. Together with him was emitted Aletheia (Truth), and this is the first and firstborn Pythagorean tetrad, which they also call the root of all things. For there is Bythos and Sige, then Nous and Aletheia. This Only-begotten, perceiving the purpose for which he had been brought forth, himself emitted Logos and Zoe (Word and Life), progenitor of every being that would follow in his train, and the source and pattern of the entire Pleroma. From Logos and Zoe, joined in marriage, sprang Anthropos and Ecclesia (Man and Church), and this makes up the firstborn Ogdoad, that deep-rooted foundation formed of Bythos, Nous, Logos, Anthropos in turn. Each of these pairs, they claim, is male-and-female at once, in this fashion: Only-begotten — namely Nous — is joined to Aletheia, that is Truth; Logos to Zoe, that is Life; Anthropos to Ecclesia.
These Aeons, brought forth as a tribute to the Father's honor, and desiring on their own account to add further glory to him out of what belonged to them, sent forth still more emissions in married pairs. Logos and Zoe, once Anthropos and Ecclesia had come forth, put out ten additional Aeons [the transmitted text of the names here is corrupt and partly illegible], ending in Macaria. These ten are said to have issued from Logos and Zoe. Anthropos himself, jointly with Ecclesia, likewise put forth twelve Aeons, bearing these names: Paracletus paired with Pistis, Patricos with Elpis, Metricos with Agape, Ainos with Synesis, Ecclesiasticos with Macariotes, Theletos with Sophia.
These are the thirty Aeons of their error, which are kept secret and not acknowledged. This invisible and spiritual Pleroma, according to them, falls into three groupings — an Ogdoad, a Decad, and a Duodecad, taken together. On that account, they claim, the Savior (for they will not call him Lord) revealed nothing of the mystery belonging to these Aeons throughout the thirty years he lived openly among men. And in their reading of the parable about laborers sent into the vineyard, they hold that these thirty Aeons are set forth quite openly: laborers are dispatched at the first hour, others at the third, others at the sixth, others at the ninth, others at the eleventh; sum those hours and the total comes to thirty, since one plus three plus six plus nine plus eleven equals thirty. Through these hours, then, they intend the Aeons to be signified; and they claim that these are the great and marvelous and hidden mysteries which they bring to fruit — and wherever they can adapt anything said in the Scriptures and make it resemble their invention, they do so.