Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
The things they say occurred outside the Pleroma are as follows. They say that the Enthymesis of that higher Wisdom, whom they also call Achamoth, having been separated from the higher Pleroma along with her suffering, wasted away by necessity in the regions of shadow and emptiness: for she had been made outside the light and outside the Pleroma, shapeless and without form, like a miscarriage, because she had grasped nothing. And the higher Christ, taking pity on her, extended himself through the Cross and by his power gave her a form — but a form with respect to substance only, not with respect to true knowledge — and having done this he withdrew again, drawing back his power, and left her, so that, becoming aware of the suffering that had come upon her through her separation from the Pleroma, she might long for the things that are better, still retaining within herself a trace of imperishability that Christ and the Holy Spirit had implanted in her. On account of this she bears two names: Sophia, taken from her father (since her father is likewise named Sophia), and also Holy Spirit, drawn from the Spirit belonging to Christ. And having been given form and made capable of feeling, she was at once abandoned by the Word who had been invisibly with her — that is, by Christ — and she went out in search of that light which had left her, and she was unable to grasp it, because she was held back by Horos. And so Horos soon came to Achamoth — as the office of the anointed Jesus, so to speak — to her who was shapeless and without form, since she had grasped nothing, so that at least a substance might come to be in her, even if he bestowed on her no true knowledge (for this the Paraclete would accomplish, as we said above), restraining her so that she should not press forward any further, and saying to her "Iao" — whence, they say, the name Iao arose. And since she could not get past Horos, because she was gripped by suffering and had been left utterly alone outside, she succumbed to every part of that suffering in its manifold and varied forms; and she suffered grief, because she had not grasped what she sought; and fear, lest, just as the light had left her, so too life should leave her; and, in addition to these, bewilderment; and, over all, ignorance. And, unlike her mother, the first Sophia, an Aeon, she experienced in her sufferings not a change but rather a contrariety of feeling. And beyond these there befell her yet another affection: a turning toward him who had given her life.
They say that this collection was the substance of the matter out of which this world consists. For from her turning, they say, the Demiurge and the whole soul-nature received their origin; but from her fear and grief the rest of things took their beginning. For, they say, out of her tears arose the whole watery substance; out of her laughter, that which gives light; and out of her sorrow and dismay, the bodily elements composing the world. At certain moments, they say, she would weep and grieve, because she had been left alone in darkness and emptiness; and at times, coming to think of the light that had abandoned her, she would brighten and laugh; and at other times again she was afraid; and at other times she was struck with terror and fell into a kind of ecstasy. There is much theatrical invention here, and each of them imagines it a little differently, so that the substance is said to have come into being now one way, now another. And it seems fitting to me that these things are not meant to be taught openly to everyone, but only to those who are able to pay a great price for such mysteries. For they no longer speak in keeping with what our Lord said: "Freely you have received, freely give"; instead they hand out things set apart and strange, and lofty mysteries obtained by their dupes only through great labor. For who would not spend everything he has to learn that from her tears the springs and rivers and the whole moist substance of matter came into being; and from her laughter, light; and from her terror and instability, the corporeal elements of the world?
I too wish to contribute something to their fruitfulness. Since I observe that some waters are sweet, such as springs, rivers, and rain, and so on, while those in the sea are salty, I find it is not the case that all of it came forth from her tears, since tears are salty in quality. It is clear, then, that these salty waters come from her tears. But I suppose that she, being in agony and in great instability, also sweated. Hence, following their own line of argument, one ought to suppose that the springs and rivers, and whatever other fresh waters there are, took their origin from her sweat. For it is not credible that, tears being all of one quality, some waters should be salty and others fresh, the ones coming from tears and the others from sweat. And since there are also some waters in the world that are warm and bitter, you ought to understand — on their own reasoning — what she was doing, and from what member she emitted these. Fruits of this sort suit their argument well.
When, then, their Mother had passed through the whole of this suffering, and had scarcely been raised up out of it, she turned in supplication to that light which had abandoned her — that is, to Christ, they say — who, having returned into the Pleroma, was himself, it seems, reluctant to descend a second time; but he sent the Paraclete to her instead, that is, the Savior, the Father having granted him all power and delivered all things under his authority, and the Aeons likewise granting that in him all things should be created, visible and invisible, thrones, deities, dominions. And he was sent to her together with his angel-companions of the same age. And they say that Achamoth, filled with reverence for him, at first put on a veil out of respect; but afterward, when she saw him together with the whole fruit that accompanied him, she ran to him, gaining strength from the sight of him. And he gave her that formation which is according to true knowledge, and effected the healing of her sufferings, separating them from her — not as before, in the sense that they had already become manageable and possible to deal with — but setting them apart, mixing and consolidating them, and transferring them from being an incorporeal suffering into incorporeal matter; and thus he gave them a fitness and a nature so that they could pass into combinations and bodies, so that two substances should come to be — one bad, arising from the sufferings, and the other capable of turning back — and it was for this reason, they say, that the Savior fashioned things by his power. And they teach that Achamoth, now set free from suffering, conceived, out of joy at the sight of the lights that accompanied him, that is, of the angels who were with him, and, delighting in their presence, brought forth fruits after their image — a spiritual offspring, made in the likeness of the attendants of the Savior.