between the consonants and the vowels, partaking190 of the nature of both. The vowels,
again, are representative of Anthropos and Ecclesia, inasmuch as a voice proceeding from
Anthropos gave being to them all; for the sound of the voice imparted to them form. Thus,
then, Logos and Zoe possess eight [of these letters]; Anthropos and Ecclesia seven; and Pater
and Aletheia nine. But since the number allotted to each was unequal, He who existed in
the Father came down, having been specially sent by Him from whom He was separated,
for the rectification of what had taken place, that the unity of the Pleromas, being endowed
with equality, might develop in all that one power which flows from all. Thus that division
which had only seven letters, received the power of eight,191 and the three sets were rendered
alike in point of number, all becoming Ogdoads; which three, when brought together, con-
stitute the number four-and-twenty. The three elements, too (which he declares to exist in
conjunction with three powers,192 and thus form the six from which have flowed the twenty-
four letters), being quadrupled by the word of the ineffable Tetrad, give rise to the same
number with them; and these elements he maintains to belong to Him who cannot be named.
These, again, were endowed by the three powers with a resemblance to Him who is invisible.
338
And he says that those letters which we call double193 are the images of the images of these
elements; and if these be added to the four-and-twenty letters, by the force of analogy they
form the number thirty.
6. He asserts that the fruit of this arrangement and analogy has been manifested in the
likeness of an image, namely, Him who, after six days, ascended194 into the mountain along
with three others, and then became one of six (the sixth),195 in which character He descended
and was contained in the Hebdomad, since He was the illustrious Ogdoad,196 and contained
in Himself the entire number of the elements, which the descent of the dove (who is Alpha
and Omega) made clearly manifest, when He came to be baptized; for the number of the
dove is eight hundred and one.197 And for this reason did Moses declare that man was
190 It seems scarcely possible to give a more definite rendering of this clause: it may be literally translated
thus: “And because they receive the outflow of those above, but the turning back again of those below.”
191 The ninth letter being taken from the mutes and added to the semi-vowels, an equal division of the twenty-
four was thus secured.
192 Viz., Pater, Anthropos, and Logos.
193 Viz., ζ, ξ, ψ = δς, κς, πς.
194 Matt. xvii. 7; Mark ix. 2.
195 Moses and Elias being added to the company.
196 Referring to the word Χρειστός, according to Harvey, who remarks, that “generally the Ogdoad was the
receptacle of the spiritual seed.”
197 The Saviour, as Alpha and Omega, was symbolized by the dove, the sum of the Greek numerals, π, ε, ρ,
ι, σ, τ, ε, ρ, α (περιστερά, dove), being, like that of Α and Ω, 801.
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Chapter XIV.—The various hypotheses of Marcus and others. Theories respecting…