The account in Irenæus (I. ii. 6) is
rather different: “The whole Pleroma of the Æons, with
one design and desire, and with the concurrence of the Christ and the
Holy Spirit, their Father also setting the seal of His approval on
their conduct, brought together whatever each one had in himself of the
greatest beauty and preciousness; and uniting all these contributions
so as skilfully to blend the whole, they produced, to the honour and
glory of Bythus, a being of most perfect beauty, the very star of the
Pleroma, and its perfect fruit, namely Jesus.”
Tertullian, Against the
Valentinians, chap. 12, gives a sarcastic description of this
strange doctrine, deriving his facts (chap. 5) from Justin, Miltiades,
“Irenæus, that very exact inquirer into all
doctrines,” and Proculus.