Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
HOW MUCH THEY SAY AND DO CONCERNING THEIR "REDEMPTION." Now their teaching about redemption turns out to be as invisible and incomprehensible as their mother [Achamoth] herself is [said to be] of things incomprehensible and invisible. And because it is unstable, it cannot be reported simply, or in a single account, since every one of them transmits it exactly as suits his own fancy. For there are as many "redemptions" as there are mystic priests of this kind of teaching. And since this form of teaching amounts to a denial of the baptism which is unto regeneration in God, and to the destruction of the whole of the faith — a thing remitted [in effect] by Satan — we shall refute them and treat of it in a more suitable place.
They say that this redemption is necessary for those who have received the perfect knowledge, so that they may be regenerated into that power which is above all things. For otherwise, they say, it is impossible for us to enter within the Pleroma, since this is what leads down into the depth of Bythos. And they hold that the baptism of the visible Jesus served to release sin, but that the redemption brought by the Christ who came down upon him leads unto perfection; the one, they say, is animal (psychic), the other spiritual. And the baptism proclaimed by John was unto repentance, but the redemption of the Christ who is in him was appointed unto perfection; and this is what he means when he says, "I have another baptism to be baptized with, and I am greatly pressed until it is accomplished." They also say that the Lord applied this "redemption" to Zebedee's two sons, at the moment their mother requested seats for them, one at his right and one at his left within his kingdom, saying to them, "Are you able to undergo the same baptism I myself must undergo?" And they say that Paul very often plainly showed forth this redemption which is in Christ Jesus; and that this is the one which is handed down among them in various and inconsistent ways. [The text here becomes badly garbled in the source and cannot be reliably reconstructed; a passage concerning the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by John, and his being redeemed by the Spirit descending on him like a dove, is indicated but not translatable with confidence.] CONCERNING THEIR RITES OF REDEMPTION AMONG THEM. Some of them prepare a kind of bridal chamber, and perform a mystic rite with certain set formulas over those who are being initiated, and call what is done by them "spiritual marriage," after the likeness of the unions above. Others bring the candidates to water, and baptizing them, say: "In the name of the Father unknown to all, in Truth who is mother of all, in him who came down upon Jesus, unto union, fellowship, and the powers." Others again pronounce certain Hebrew names over them, so as to astonish or terrify those being initiated, in words such as: [Hebrew-sounding formula, garbled beyond safe translation] — the sense of which is: "I call upon what stands above all the power belonging to the Father, that which bears the name light, spirit, and life, for you have held sway within the body." Others again pronounce the redemption thus: "The name that is hidden from every deity and lordship and truth, which Jesus of Nazareth put on in the zones of light, Christ, Lord of the living, through the Holy Spirit, unto the redemption of the angels." [A further name is given, badly corrupted in the source; it cannot be safely reconstructed.] They and those who stand by then pronounce over the one being initiated: "May peace rest on everyone bearing this name." Following this they anoint the initiate with the oil called opobalsam, for they say this ointment is a type of that sweet savor which is above all things. Some of them again say that bringing candidates to water is superfluous; instead, mixing oil and water together, along with certain profane formulas like those mentioned, they pour it over the heads of those being initiated, and this, they hold, is the redemption. These too anoint with opobalsam. But others reject all of this, saying that the rite of the ineffable and unseen power ought not to be carried out through visible, perishable, created matter, nor things that cannot be conceived by the mind, and are incorporeal and imperceptible, be effected through things perceptible and corporeal. Rather, they say, the perfect redemption is simply the knowledge itself of the unspeakable Greatness; for since all things — the defect and the passion — arose from ignorance, the whole condition that sprang from ignorance is dissolved through knowledge; and so this knowledge redeems the man within. And this redemption is neither bodily, since the body is corruptible, nor animal (psychic), since the soul too arises from the defect and is only, as it were, a dwelling place for the spirit: redemption, therefore, must be spiritual. For the inner, spiritual man is redeemed through knowledge, and the knowledge of the universe is sufficient for them; and this is the true redemption. HOW THEY INSTRUCT THOSE WHO BELIEVE THEM, AND WHAT WORDS THEY USE. There are others who "redeem" the dying at the very point of death, pouring oil and water, or the aforesaid ointment mixed with water, upon their heads, together with the invocations already mentioned, so that they may pass beyond the grasp and sight of the ruling princes and powers, and so their inner self may rise above the unseen realms — as their body remains behind within the created order, while the soul is delivered over to the Demiurge. And they instruct them to say this to the powers, once they have died: "I belong to the Father as offspring — the Father who existed beforehand — and I am a child within him who existed beforehand. I have come to see all things, both my own and those foreign to me — not wholly foreign, however, for they belong to Achamoth, who is female, and who made these things for herself, deriving her race from him who pre-existed, and returning again into that from which I came." And by saying this, they claim, the soul escapes and evades the powers. Then it comes to those who are about the Demiurge, and says to them: "I am a costly vessel, costlier than the female who fashioned you. Your mother does not perceive the root she springs from, but I, for my part, know who I am, and I know my origin, and I appeal to the imperishable Sophia dwelling within the Father, who is mother to your mother — one who has no father and takes no male partner; rather a female born of a female shaped you, unaware of her own mother, supposing herself solitary — but I appeal to her mother." And they say that those who are about the Demiurge, hearing this, are thrown into great confusion, and reproach their own root and the race of their mother, while the soul itself strips off its bonds, that is, [escapes] into its own things. Such, then, is what has come to us concerning their "redemption." But since they disagree with one another both in doctrine and in tradition, and since the more recent among them are known to strive, day after day, to invent something new, and to bring forth what has never before crossed anyone's mind, it is a hard task to set out all of their opinions.