He created also seven heavens, above which they say that he, the Demiurge, exists. And on
this account they term him Hebdomas, and his mother Achamoth Ogdoads, preserving the
number of the first-begotten and primary Ogdoad as the Pleroma. They affirm, moreover,
that these seven heavens are intelligent, and speak of them as being angels, while they refer
to the Demiurge himself as being an angel bearing a likeness to God; and in the same strain,
they declare that Paradise, situated above the third heaven, is a fourth angel possessed of
power, from whom Adam derived certain qualities while he conversed with him.
3. They go on to say that the Demiurge imagined that he created all these things of
himself, while he in reality made them in conjunction with the productive power of
Achamoth. He formed the heavens, yet was ignorant of the heavens; he fashioned man, yet
knew not man; he brought to light the earth, yet had no acquaintance with the earth; and,
in like manner, they declare that he was ignorant of the forms of all that he made, and knew
not even of the existence of his own mother, but imagined that he himself was all things.
323
They further affirm that his mother originated this opinion in his mind, because she desired
to bring him forth possessed of such a character that he should be the head and source of
his own essence, and the absolute ruler over every kind of operation [that was afterwards
attempted]. This mother they also call Ogdoad, Sophia, Terra, Jerusalem, Holy Spirit, and,
with a masculine reference, Lord.82 Her place of habitation is an intermediate one, above
the Demiurge indeed, but below and outside of the Pleroma, even to the end.83
4. As, then, they represent all material substance to be formed from three passions, viz.,
fear, grief, and perplexity, the account they give is as follows: Animal substances originated
from fear and from conversion; the Demiurge they also describe as owing his origin to
conversion; but the existence of all the other animal substances they ascribe to fear, such as
the souls of irrational animals, and of wild beasts, and men. And on this account, he (the
Demiurge), being incapable of recognising any spiritual essences, imagined himself to be
God alone, and declared through the prophets, “I am God, and besides me there is none
else.”84 They further teach that the spirits of wickedness derived their origin from grief.
Hence the devil, whom they also call Cosmocrator (the ruler of the world), and the demons,
and the angels, and every wicked spiritual being that exists, found the source of their exist-
ence. They represent the Demiurge as being the son of that mother of theirs (Achamoth),
and Cosmocrator as the creature of the Demiurge. Cosmocrator has knowledge of what is
above himself, because he is a spirit of wickedness; but the Demiurge is ignorant of such
82 “Achamoth by these names must be understood to have an intermediate position between the divine
prototypal idea and creation: she was the reflex of the one, and therefore masculo-feminine; she was the pattern
to be realized in the latter, and therefore was named Earth and Jerusalem.” —Harvey.
83 But after the consummation here referred to, Achamoth regained the Pleroma: see below, chap. vii. 1.
84 Isa. xlv. 5, 6, Isa. xlvi. 9.
860
Chapter V.—Formation of the Demiurge; description of him. He is the creator…