The Library

Theodore bar Konai
Book of the Scholion 11
792 CE

translated by Jason Colavito
​2025

​NOTE

Theodore bar Konai was an eighth-century apologist who wrote a lengthy ten-book collection of scholia on the Bible. Most of this text is pedantic and uninteresting outside of the history of eastern Christianity, though it contains what many believe to be the last ancient notice of Gilgamesh, whose name seemingly appears twice in a garbled form in a somewhat confused list of kings who reigned in Mesopotamia in the aftermath of the Food. In Book 1, chapter 120, Theodore writes:

He reigned after the Flood, in the days of Peleg—the one in whose days the languages were divided into seventy-two—Nimrod, chief of the heroes. After him reigned Halbator, in whose days Re’u was born. The third to reign was Samgar. The fourth was Abil, and in his days Serug was born. The fifth to reign was Asalmon. The sixth, Ahlimon, and in his days Nahor was born in the land of the Chaldeans. The seventh was Samiron. The eighth, Saltir, and in his days Terah was born. The ninth to reign was another Ablimon. The tenth, Gamigos. The eleventh, Ogar. The twelfth, Ganmagos, and in his days Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldeans.

However, in a supplemental eleventh book, Theodore provides a catalog of heresies which also serves as one the most useful contemporary guides to the diversity of religious beliefs in Late Antiquity. While most of the entries are derived from a poor Syriac abridgment and translation of Epiphanius’ Panarion, Theodore preserves material about the Manicheans, Mandeans, Kantheans, and select other groups that survives in no other source. Often cited by scholars, only a few selections have ever been translated into English.
 
In 1898, the French archaeologist Henri Pognon translated most of eleventh book as an appendix to a largely unrelated work about Mandean inscriptions. Pognon focused on eastern heresies and omitted many pages giving accounts of Greek philosophy, which Theodore took from standard sources and are of no special interest. The complete Book of the Scholion was only translated into a European language (French) in 1984, by Robert Hespel and René Draguet. The complete text has never been translated into English.
 
For this translation, I have used Pognon’s public domain text. Places where he omitted text are indicated with bracketed ellipses, and his occasional notes that I found useful enough to include appear in italics within brackets. I confess that being neither able to read Syriac nor familiar with all of the heresies listed in the text, I cannot always be sure of the current conventional spelling of some of the place-names, ancient names, and heresies. The reader is advised to consult the standard edition of Hespel and Draguet.

EXCERPTS FROM
​THE BOOK OF THE SCHOLION.
BY THEODORE BAR KONAI.

From the Introduction by Henri Pognon

As I have already said, I have never had in my hands a complete manuscript of the Book of the Scholion, a work which, moreover, appears to be of little interest. I possess only four copies of the 11th book, made from different manuscripts; however, according to information recently given to me, the following sentence is found in a Mosul manuscript inserted in the middle of the ninth book: “With the help of Our Lord, this book, called the Book of the Scholion, composed by Theodore, doctor of the country of Kashkar in the year 1103 of Alexander, is completed.” It is unusual that such a sentence is inserted in the middle of the ninth book, before the end of the work, and I would have liked to be able to verify whether this sentence is found in other manuscripts, unfortunately there are none, to my knowledge, in the region of Aleppo. It is possible, moreover, that Theodore bar Konai completed a first edition of the Book of the Scholion in the year 1103 of the Greeks, that is to say, between October 1, 791 and September 30, 792, and that, a few years later, he produced a sequel to this work. Not having been able to examine the manuscripts, I am unable to explain why this sentence was inserted in the ninth book.
 
I have said that Theodore often copied Epiphanius’ Panarion; I should have said that he copied the Anacephalaeosis, for he seems to have known only the summaries placed at the beginning of each of the books of the Panarion, summaries which form a small treatise called Anacephalaeosis. It is certain, moreover, that Theodore did not know Greek and had in his hands not Epiphanius’ text, but a Syriac translation which even appears to have been very poor. Here is proof: In the paragraph relating to Simon Magus, Theodore says that this person was called by the Syriac name we would render as Simeon and that the Apostles called him Simon; he was therefore unaware that Simon is simply the Greek form of the name. Theodore knew perfectly well Cerinthus, since he devoted a paragraph to him at the end of the 11th book, and yet we find at the beginning of this same book another paragraph which is a very poor translation of the passage from the Anacephalaeosis relating to the Cerinthians and the Merinthians and where all the proper names are distorted; we must therefore conclude that this paragraph was borrowed from a translation by Epiphanius in which the proper names written without vowels were so distorted that Theodore did not even suspect that the Cerinthians were being referred to. Finally, in the paragraph relating to Basilides, Theodore says that he gave God a new name composed of 365 letters and called him Ibrasakis. It is known that the total of the numerical values of the letters of the word ΑΒΡΑΞΑΣ is 365, and this word could not have been transcribed into Syriac by someone who, knowing this fact, wanted to form a word composed of Syriac letters having a numerical value whose total would also be 365.
 
However, Theodore was completely unaware of this detail, since, instead of stating that the total numerical values of the letters in the word Ibrasakis are 365, he claims that Basilides gave God a name composed of 365 letters. We must therefore conclude that it was not he who rendered the Greek in to Syriac and that he borrowed what he said about Basilides not from the Greek text of Epiphanius, but from a Syriac translation that must have been obscure and even faulty, since he did not understand the Greek author’s meaning. What Theodore bar Konai says about the ancient sects is generally taken from Epiphanius and is of little interest, but the information he gives us about the Manicheans, the Kantheans, the Mandaeans, and other Eastern sects is valuable. His style is unfortunately rather obscure, sometimes even incorrect, and Theodore bar Konaii can be criticized for often seeking to ridicule the sects he spoke of by quoting obscure or absurd passages from their sacred books, instead of clearly explaining their dogmas to the reader.
 
Perhaps I should have limited myself to publishing Theodore’s passages relating to the Kantheans and the Mandaeans, but I could not bring myself to omit what this author says about the Manicheans, John of Apamea, and many other sects as well. I will therefore publish most of the eleventh book, and I hope that the reader will forgive me for the length of this appendix.

TRANSLATION.

In the ten books preceding this one, we have formed the structure of this work and have successively added its various parts to its body, some of which we have borrowed from the Fathers, others coming from our sinful self. Now it seems useful, to complete this work, to add this eleventh book, containing in summary the enumeration of all the sects that have appeared at different times. This subject is not part of the body of this book itself, but it is appropriate to address it in certain respects. Although these sects have been enumerated by many doctors and refuted by them, I do not promise to comment on and refute them. What is the point? They have been exposed by many authors in many passages; perhaps even the elements of their refutation are found here and there in this work. I have thought it appropriate to indicate here only their time and the names of those who gave rise to them, firstly because the order of this work requires it, and secondly because it will be easy to answer anyone who is questioned about each of these sects and asked when it appeared and who was its author. He will, in fact, be spared from touching the table of the books of the Fathers, since he will find close at hand the image of their ugliness. We will say first that all sects, in general, are divided into two categories: those who do not recognize the existence of God, and those who do recognize it, but who do not hold orthodox opinions about God.
 
WHEN THE WORD PAGANISM BEGAN TO BE USED AND FROM WHOM IT CAME.
[....]
 
THOSE WHO WERE CALLED SCYTHIANS.
[...]
 
A SECT OF THE CHALDEANS AND THEIR ORIGIN.
[...]
 
ABSURD OPINIONS OF THE GREEKS
[...]
 
CONCERNING KRONUS AND RHEA.
[...]
 
HOW THEY CHANGED AND ALLEGORICALLY INTERPRETED THEIR LAMENTABLE REVERIES.
[...]
 
ON HOMER, HESIOD, AND ORPHEUS, FAMOUS FIGURES AMONG THE GREEKS.
[...]
 
ON THE TEACHINGS OF PYTHAGORAS.
[...]
 
ON THE TEACHINGS OF PLATO, FAMOUS AMONG THE GREEKS.
[...]
 
ON THE TEACHINGS OF ARISTOTLE.
[…]
 
ON THE TEACHINGS OF THE STOICS.
[…]
 
ON THE TEACHINGS OF EPICURUS AND DEMOCRITUS (?).
[…]
 
ON THE TEACHINGS OF THE PHYSICISTS.
[…]
 
ON THE MAGISTER ZOROASTER.
There are different opinions about this impure personage. Some say that he was of the Persian race; they claim that he and his companions, Turkish magi, practiced the cult of the Magi in a deserted place located in the forest of Mabog and that, in this solitude, there was an impure spirit which harmed travelers. Others have affirmed that he was a Jew of the priestly race, that he lived in Samaria and was first called Azaziel; that, when the inhabitants of Samaria were led into captivity by the Assyrians, he was also taken; that maddened by his passion for women, he fled from Nineveh and went to Sedjestan, to the city of Zarig, to Khudos (Hutaosa), wife of King Goštāsp (Vishtaspa); that there he satisfied his desires and finally that he attracted many people to him, because he was a magician. The truth is that he was of Jewish descent, but he wrote his teachings in seven languages: Greek, Hebrew, Gurzanian, Marvian, the language of Zarang, Persian, and that of Sedjestan. This teaching is evil and perverse, and he was delirious in every way regarding religion. He first recognized four principles as the four elements: Ashuqar, Parsuqar, Zaruqar, and Zarwan, and said that Zurwan was the father of Ormazd (Ahura Mazda). This is what he recounted about the conception of Ormazd and Ahriman: When nothing yet existed but darkness, Zarwan poured libations for a thousand years, and because he doubted that he would have a son, Satan was conceived at the same time as Ormazd. When he learned of Ahriman’s conception, he said, “Whoever comes to me first, I will make him king.” Ormazd knew his father’s thoughts and revealed them to Satan. Satan, having learned of them, ripped open his mother’s womb, fell from her navel, and went to Zarwan.
 
Zarwan said to him: “Who are you? He replied: “I am your son.” Zarwan said to him: You are not my son, for you are dark and hateful.” When he had said this, Ormazd was born fragrant and radiating light. Zarwan said: “This is my son Ormazd.” He gave him the rods he was holding and said to him: “Until now I have poured out libations to you, pour some out to me in return.” Things being thus, Satan said to Zarwan: “Listen, did you not make this promise: whoever comes to me first, I will give him the kingdom?” Zarwan said to him: “Go away, Satan! I shall make you king for nine thousand years and I will make Ormazd rule over you. After this term (?), Ormazd will reign and will rule everything according to his good pleasure.” Satan went away and did everything that pleased him. When Ormazd created the righteous, Satan created the demons; the former created wealth, the latter poverty. When Ormazd gave women to the righteous, they fled and went to Satan; when Ormazd gave the righteous peace and happiness, Satan also gave happiness to the women. Satan having allowed the women to ask for whatever they wanted, Ormazd feared that they would ask to have relations with the righteous and that this would result in punishment for them. He sought an expedient and created the god Narsa, a person five hundred years old. He placed him naked behind Satan so that the women could see him, desire him, and ask Satan for him. The women raised their hands to Satan and said to him, “Satan, our father, give us the god Narsa as a gift!”
 
In another passage, he says that the earth was a young virgin who had become betrothed to Parisag. He said that fire was endowed with reason and walked with Gunrap, the damp of the woods! He said of Parisag that he was sometimes a dove, an ant, an old dog; of Kum, that he was a dolphin and a rooster and that he swallowed Parisag; of Kaikavuz, that he was a mountain ram and struck the firmament with his horns; of the earth as a spider which threatened to swallow the heavens.
 
Zoroaster’s followers condemned women’s menstruation and leprosy, which they considered impure from the point of view of religious law. He taught them to honor fire and regarded the days of the month as gods.
 
According to the testimony of his disciples, this impostor was devoured by wolves because, when he tried to flee from them, they took away his sight. There are those who claim that he originally gave them true teachings, but that when he wanted to leave, they did not allow him and blinded him, and that he then changed his ways and gave them perverse teachings. From Zoroaster to the appearance of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 628 years and seven months passed.

SECTS AFTER THE MESSIAH

THE FIRST OF WHICH WAS THAT OF SIMON MAGUS.
This magician was first called Simeon, and the apostles later called him Simon. He was of Samaritan descent, as Justin wrote in his Apology for the teaching of the faith addressed to Antoninus: “After our Lord had ascended into heaven, the demons raised up men who gave themselves out as gods, and not only did you not persecute them, but you even judged them worthy of being honored. Indeed, of the Samaritan Simon, from the village called Gethsemane, who, in the time of Claudius Caesar, performed magical miracles in Rome, your capital, by the work of demons, a statue was erected to him as to a god in the river called Tiber, between the two bridges, and also to a woman named Helena who wandered with him and previously gave herself over to prostitution at Bostra in Phoenicia.”
 
Simon does not admit Creation and denies the Resurrection; he considers marriage impure. He received baptism from Peter, as Luke teaches us in the Acts of the Apostles. He fled to Rome, Peter followed him there, and he was unmasked in the following circumstances: He had promised to raise a dead man, and as people passed by carrying a corpse, Simon Peter said to him: “Raise him up.” He could not do it; Simon Peter then said to the corpse: “In the name of Jesus Christ, arise!” and immediately he rose. When they wanted to stone Simon, the demons began to lift him up into the air; but they were stopped by the prayers of the chief of the Apostles, they let go, he fell to the ground, and all his limbs were broken. Such was the end of this impious man. As for Peter, he founded a church in Rome, exercised the episcopate for twenty-five years, and was succeeded by Linus.
 
ON THE EGYPTIAN.
Luke mentions him in the Acts of the Apostles. He took the name of prophet and gathered about thirty thousand men; leading them through the desert, he led them to the mountain called Mount of Olives in order to enter Jerusalem by force. When he had captured the garrison composed of Romans and local men, he tyrannized the soldiers who were with him. Felix, accompanied by Roman troops, went to meet him; many men were killed or fled. He was taken prisoner with some others and, in the end, he was put to death.
 
ON MENANDER.
He too was a Samaritan and shared Simon’s opinions. He presented himself as a redeemer sent from the invisible worlds for the redemption of mankind. He said that no one could triumph over the angels who created this world unless they had first been instructed in magic. To those he baptized, he taught that he could grant eternal life in this world. May he inherit the torments of hell with Simon! He was from the village of Kfar Apna.
 
ON SATURNILIUS.
This Saturnilius agreed with Simon in his practices and with Menander in his teaching. He taught that the world was established by seven angels, according to the will of God the Father.
 
ON BASILIDES.
This Basilides also agreed on many things with his predecessors. He said that there are 365 heavens, as many as there are days in the year, and gave them the names of angels. He gave God a new name composed of 365 letters; he called it Ibrasakis and claimed that this word was the holy name of God.
 
SECT OF THE BORBORIANS.
They are called Gnostics (?). They agree in every way with their heretical predecessors, and even more than them, they consider impure customs and many categories of sins lawful.
 
ON THE NICOLAITES.
Nicholas was one of the seven deacons ordained by the Apostles. Having, it is said, repudiated his wife and even forbidden her to remarry, he resolved to live a holy life after receiving ordination. Others founded a sect in his name and claimed that he had taught that a man can indulge his desires as much as he pleases. They consider obscene acts and impure fornications lawful.
 
ON CARPOCRATES.
This Carpocrates was from Asia. He recommended impure and corrupt practices and said that unless a man complies with the will of all the demons and evil angels, unless he commits every kind of sin, it is impossible for him to traverse the Aeons and the heavenly Powers that are in the higher parts of the upper heaven. He claimed that our Savior did not know the things above because he was God, but that he knew them and had revealed them to the inhabitants of the earth because he had an intelligent soul; that if, therefore, a man were like him, he would be as learned as he was. He rejected the law of Moses and denied the resurrection of the body. He had four images of Peter, Paul, Homer, and Pythagoras, which he worshipped and to which he offered perfumes with Marcellina, his wife, who was a magician.

ON THE EBIONITES.
[…]
 
ON THE KARITIANS.
These Karitians, one was from Kurtos and the other from Karitos (?). They were of the Jewish race and prescribed circumcision. They said that the world came from angels and that Jesus was the Messiah, thanks to his education and the excellence of his deeds.
 
ON VALENTINE.
Bardesanes was Valentinus’s disciple, for both deny the resurrection of the body and admit neither the Law nor the prophets, while using various passages from the Bible which, in their opinion, confirm their theories. They admit apocalyptic books filled with absurd fables, say that there are three hundred male and female worlds born from the universal father, and also call them gods. They claim that the body of the Messiah came from heaven and passed through Mary like a tube.
 
SECT OF THE NAZARENES.
They confess that the Messiah is the Son of God, but behave in everything like the Jews.
 
SECT OF THE SECUNDIANS.
Secundus, Epiphanius, and Isidore agree with Valentinus on some points, but not on others. They deny the resurrection and are filthy in their actions.
 
ON THE PTOLEMYS.
They were disciples of the Valentinians. Like them, they accept the abolition of marriage, but they disagree with them on other points.
 
SECT OF COLORBASSUS
He held the same teachings as them, but separated from Valentinus’ followers on the question of the Ogdoad.
 
ON THE MARCOSIANS.
They come from Marcos and teach the existence of two principles, like Colorbassos; They deny the resurrection of the dead, use clothes (?) and amulets and say that everything grows and subsists by twenty-four elements
 
ON THE HERACLEONITES.
Their beliefs resemble those of Marcus and Valentinus. They accept the fables of the Ogdoad, recite incantations consisting of Hebrew words over the heads of the dying, and cast upon them, for their redemption, the oil they call Opobalsamon.
 
SECT OF THE OPHITES, WHO ARE THE FOLLOWERS OF THE SERPENT.
They take their name from the serpent, worship the serpent, and praise it as the Messiah. They have a living serpent in a box and worship it.
 
ON THE CAINITES.
They take their name from Cain. They reject the law of Moses and blaspheme the one who speaks on the Law. They deny the resurrection of the body, praise Cain, the first murderer, and claim that he is a mighty force. They also praise the traitor Judas and the followers of Korah, Dathan, and Abirom, as well as the inhabitants of Sodom.
 
ON THE SETHIANS.
As they recognize the family of Seth, they were called by his name. They say, in fact, that after the mother of the living had given birth to the family of Cain and Cain, the murderer of Abel, had been reprobate, she repented, united herself again with the heavenly Father, and gave birth to Seth, the pure seed from whom all men descended. They may mention of leaders and princes, like the other sectarians.
 
ON THE CERDONIANS.
They came from Cerdon, who was a disciple of Heracleon; they went from Syria to Rome in the time of Hyginus, Bishop of Rome, and preached the doctrine of two principles opposed to each other in all things; they said that the Messiah had not been begotten. They reject the Old Testament and deny the resurrection of the body.
 
ON THE ARCHONTICS.
They attribute everything to the government of the Archons, that is, to Aeons and celestial Powers. They are filthy in their conduct, deny the resurrection of the body, vilify the Old Testament, and deface its text as well as that of the New; they admit or reject passages as they please.
 
ON THE MARCIONITES.
They come from Marcion. This Marcion was from Pontus and the son of a bishop of that province. He was expelled by his father for having debauched a virgin consecrated to the Messiah, fled, and came to Rome. He asked the Bishop of Rome, whose name was Anicetus, and other bishops to be admitted to penance, but they did not admire him because his repentance was insufficient. He placed himself above the laws of the church and created a schism in the faith. He admitted three principles in his teaching: good, just, and evil, separated the Old Testament from the New, and said that they were not given by the same god. He also denied the resurrection of the dead and authorized two and three baptisms according to the number of sins committed. For those who died without having received baptism, he ordered that others be baptized and permitted women to baptize. He lived during the reign of Antoninus Pius, who reigned after Hadrian. One day, he met Polycarp of Smyrna and said to him, “Do you know us?” The saint replied, “I recognize you as the eldest son of Satan.”
 
SECT OF THE LUCIANITES.
This Lucian held Marcion’s opinions but added other theories of his own.
 
ON THE SEVERIANS.
This Severian, a supporter of Apelles, rejected wine and the vine, which he claimed were born from the union of Satan, in the form of a dragon, and the earth. He rejected the woman, whom he called a corrupting force, and also named her as Asarqiton. He composed secret books that were not shown to all, denied the resurrection of the body, like his colleagues, and rejected the Old and New Testaments.
 
[The translator of Epiphanius used by Theodore did not understand the phrase “ὀνομασίας δὲ τινὰς ἀρχόντων καὶ βιβλία” τινὰ ἀπόκρυφα παρεισάγει” (“the names of some rulers and books of some apocrypha”). He probably read it as “the name,” and combined it with the last two letters of “some rulers” and read “ASARCHONTON”; considering this barbarism as a proper name, he transcribed it in Syriac and the copyists then changed it.]
 
ON TATIAN.
Tatian was the pupil and disciple of Justin, philosopher and martyr. After Justin's death, he leaned toward the religious opinions of Marcion and added theories of his own. He altered and confused the books of the Evangelists; Using phrases borrowed from the four evangelists, he composed a book to which he gave his name. He was from Mesopotamia.
 
ON THE MONTANISTS AND THE TASCODRUGITES.
While accepting the Old and New Testaments, they admit false prophets who have no value. They pride themselves on Montanus and a woman named Priscilla and present them as prophets. The Tascodrugites have exactly the same dogmas as them, but they also have easy and loose morals; they indulge in good cheer, impure unions, and shameful practices.
 
ON THE PEPUZIANS.
These PEPUZIANS, as well as the Priscillians and Quintilians, whom the Artotyrites from Phrygia followed, hold other opinions: they say that Pepuza, a deserted city between Galatia and Cappadocia, is Jerusalem and speak of it in a spiritual sense; they give the priesthood and government of the church to women, not to men, and celebrate their impure mysteries in the following manner: They prick (children) with needles and, with the blood that flows from them, they receive communion. They claim that the Messiah appeared in the form of a woman to Quintilla and Priscilla, in the city of Pepuza. They explain the words of the Old and New Testaments in accordance with their opinions.
 
ON THE ALOGITES, A WORD THAT MEANS THOSE WHO DO NOT ADMIT THE WORD.
They reject the Gospel of John and deny the one who taught us that the Word was generated without beginning from the Father, who is God. Nor do they accept the so-called Apocalypse of John.
 
SECT OF THE FOUR-DECEMBERS.
They celebrate Passover once a year, on the day the 14th falls, whether it be a Saturday or a Sunday, and on that date they fast and keep vigil for a day.
 
ON THE ADAMITES.
They take their name from Adam. They gather naked in church, both men and women, offer prayers and read the holy books as if they were impervious to passion. For this reason, they also reject marriage and call their church Paradise.
 
ON THE SAMPSEANS.
These Sampseans, their name also means churches. They live in Arabia on the shores of the Red Sea; they were led astray by a false prophet called Elxe. Two women of his family, Martos and Martana, were honored and worshipped by them as goddesses. They had absolutely the same opinions as the Ebionites.
 
ON THE MELCHIZEDEKIANS.
They were called by the name of Melchizedek and say that Melchizedek was a great force and not a mere man. They teach and do everything in his name as in that of the Messiah.
 
SECT OF THE THEODOTIANS.
This Theodotus was from Byzantium, also called Constantinople. He was learned in secular literature and, during a time of persecution, was arrested with many others, but he alone apostatized, while all his companions suffered martyrdom. Despised by all for this reason, he said that the Messiah was only a man, so as not to have committed the sin of denying God.
​
ON THE BARDESANITES.
Some have said that Bardesan was originally from Mabog, others that he was from Arbeles in Adiabene, and still others that he was the son of pagan priests. His parents having come to Edessa, he was born on the banks of the river called Daisan. After being raised in Edessa, receiving baptism and being instructed in the holy books, he was ordained a priest; but, since he desired the episcopate and it was not granted to him, he distanced himself from the Church and joined the sect of Valentinus, whose impieties he revived in all their forms. Wishing to be the head of a sect and for Valentinus’s teachings to be called by his own name, he removed and added several unimportant things. We will recount some of his blasphemous opinions to demonstrate the blindness of his heart.
 
He said that there are five substances existing by themselves from all eternity, that they were empty (?) and wandering, but that in the end they began to move by some chance. The wind blew in its violence, each substance (?) crept and reached another, fire lit in the forest, a dark smoke that was not the child of fire coagulated, and the pure air was disturbed. They mingled with each other, their pure principle (?) burst forth, and they began to bite each other like harmful animals. Then their master sent a word of reconciliation (?) upon them: he ordered the wind to calm down, and the wind made its breath return to him; The wind from the heights blew, the turmoil was subdued by force and cast into its depths, the air rejoiced in it (?); calm and tranquility were established, the Lord was glorified in his wisdom, and thanksgiving rose up to his mercy. From the mixture and amalgamation of substances that remained, he made all creatures, both higher and lower. Behold, all natures and creatures run to purify and take what has been mixed with the evil nature.
 
Such are the impieties that Bardesanes has sewn together.
 
ON ANTONINIUS.
This Antoninus was from Smyrna in Asia. As a result of a decline [missing word] which afflicted him, he fell into pride like many others. He took the name Moses and called a brother he had Aaron. He taught the same theories as Basilides and claimed that the Messiah was simultaneously the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
 
ON THE CATHARS ALSO CALLED NOVATIANS.
Novatus was from Rome. He aspired to the episcopate, but was not deemed worthy of it, and for this reason separated from the Church. The Cathars do not allow penance and deprive God of mercy. They do not admit into their church under any circumstances anyone who contracts a second marriage.
 
SECT OF THE VALESIANS.
They inhabit a town called Bakath, located in the Arabian province of Philadelphia. They castrate all strangers who visit them, and for this reason, many people believed in them. They admit into their beliefs many things unknown to the Church and alter many passages in the Law of Moses and the Prophets; they have ignoble morals.
 
ON THE ANGELIQOU, A WORD WHICH SIGNIFIES THE ANGELICS.
They claimed to belong to the order of angels, because they all inclined to worship angels and honored them secretly. They have completely disappeared.
 
ON THE APOSTOLICS, ALSO CALLED APOTACTICS, A WORD WHICH SIGNIFIES THE SANCTIFIED APOSTLES.
They were so called because they admitted only the sanctified. When they pray in private, they resemble the Encratites, that is, the ascetics, having absolutely no opinions of their own.
 
ON THE SABELLIANS.
[…]
 
HERESY OF PAUL OF SAMOSATA.
[…]
 
ON THE ORIGENIANS, ALSO CALLED ADAMANTIANS.
They come from Origen, the author of numerous books, which Eusebius cites with pride and admiration in his Ecclesiastical History; it even seems that Eusebius shared his opinions. This Origen altered and falsified the text of the sacred books and interpreted them in an allegorical sense. He denied the resurrection of the body, taught that the Holy Spirit had been created, and blasphemed the Son. He explained Paradise and the waters above the sky in an absurd manner. He was from a family originally from Alexandria and, after being censured, he went to live in Caesarea. He castrated himself.
 
SECT OF THE MANICHAEANS.
Many stories have been told about the impious Mani. Some say that his name was Qurqabyos and that he had first studied the dogmas of the sect of the Pure, because they had purchased him, that the town where he was born was called Abrumia, that his father was called Patiq and that the Pure, who are so-called from their white garments, having been unable to bear him, excluded him from their sect and called him “vessel of evil”; for which reason he was called Mani.
 
Others say that he was the freedman of the wife of Bados. This Bados had been the disciple of a certain Squntianos (Scythianus) who had adopted the doctrines of certain Egyptian philosophers, because he had gone to Egypt and, for this reason, had frequented the wise men who lived then in that country and had studied the Egyptian and Greek literature, as well as the books of Pythagoras and [Empedocles]. It is said that he introduced pagan doctrines into Christianity and taught the theory of two principles, one good, the other evil, like Proclus; he assigned victory to the evil principle and to the good he gave desire and love.
 
This Scythianus had as a disciple Bados, of whom we have spoken above; the latter, who was formerly called Tribinthos (Terebinthus), composed, according to the theories he received from Scythianus, four books which he entitled as follows: the first The Book of Mysteries, the second The Gospel, the third The Book of Treasures, and the fourth The Book of Kephalaia. After composing these works, he went to Babylon where he misled many people. While he was performing mysterious magical practices, he was struck by the spirit and died. The woman who lived with him buried him. She took everything that Bados had left and bought a little slave about seven years old named Qurqabyos. After freeing him, she taught him to read and write and made him study the books of Bados. When his mistress died and he had become a man, he went to the countries where Bados had taught his doctrines, there changed his name to Mani, claimed that the four books of Bados were his and attributed their doctrines to himself.
 
He employed the art of medicine at the same time as magic, and, although he had pagan opinions on everything, he wanted to use the name of the Messiah in order to be able, by this means, to mislead many people. He taught them to honor demons as gods and to worship the sun, the moon, and the stars; he also admitted omens and the horoscope, denied the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the God who gave the Law. Concerning our Savior, he said that he was only seemingly born and had suffered, but that he had not really been a man as he had appeared. He says that bodies come from the evil principle, denies the resurrection, claims that one part of the world comes from God and the other from matter, and he forbids eating anything that has had life. All those who belong to his religion are wicked, they slaughter men in diabolical mysteries, prostitute themselves without shame, have no pity ,and are devoid of hope.
 
As for Mani, King Shapur flayed him, filled his skin with straw and fixed it before the gate of Beth-Lapetus, a city of the Elamites.
 
ON HIS IMPURE TEACHING.
We must give in this book a sample of the absurd teaching and blasphemous opinions of the impious Mani, to the great shame of the Manicheans. He says that before heaven and earth existed, as well as everything in them, there were two principles, one good, the other evil. The good one dwelt in the land of light and he calls it the Father of Greatness. The Manicheans say that outside of him reside his five “shekinas” (abodes of the divine): intelligence, science, thought, reflection, and feeling. He calls the evil one the King of Darkness and says that he resides in his dark land, in its five worlds: the world of smoke, the world of fire, the world of wind, the world of water, and the world of darkness. He adds that when the King of Darkness planned to ascend to the land of light, these five abodes were afraid. He adds that then the Father of Greatness reflected and said: “I will not send any of these five abodes which are my worlds to war, because they were created by me for tranquility and peace, but I myself will go and fight against him.”
 
He says that the Father of Greatness evoked the Mother of Life, that the Mother of Life evoked the Primeval Man and that the Primeval Man evoked his five sons, like a man who puts on his weapons for combat. He also says that an angel called Nahachbat came out in front of him, holding in his hand the crown of victory, that the primitive Man extended the light before him and that, seeing him, the King of Darkness reflected and said: “What I sought far away, I have found near me.” Then the primitive Man gave himself as food, with his five sons, to the five sons of darkness, like a man who, having an enemy, mixes a deadly poison in a cake and gives it to him.
 
He adds that, when the sons of darkness had eaten them, intelligence was taken from the five luminous gods and that they became, because of the poison of the sons of the Darkness, like a man bitten by a rabid dog and by a serpent. He adds that the primitive Man recovered intelligence and addressed a prayer seven different times to the Father of Greatness. The latter created, as a second creation, the Friend of Lights; The Friend of Lights created the great Ban; the great Ban created the Living Spirit, and the Living Spirit created his five sons: the Ornament of the Light of his intelligence, the Great King of Honor of his science, Adamos-Light of his reasoning, the King of Glory of his thought and the Bearer of his reflection. They went to the land of darkness and found the Primitive Man absorbed by darkness, him and his five sons. Then the Living Spirit spoke a word, and the word of the Living Spirit took the appearance of a sharp sword. He made appear the image of the Primitive Man and said to him: “Hail to you, good being in the midst of the wicked, luminous being in the midst of darkness, god who resides in the midst of the wrathful animals who do not know (his) glory!” The Primitive Man answered him: “Come into the peace of the dead, come treasure (?) of tranquility and peace!” He said to him again: “How are our fathers, the sons of light, in their city?” The Caller replied to him: “They are well.” The Living Spirit, the Caller, and the Responder gathered together and ascended to the Mother of Life and to the Living Spirit. The Living Spirit clothed the Caller, and the Mother of Life clothed the Responder, her beloved son. They descended to the land of darkness to the place where the Primeval Man and his sons were.
 
Then the Spirit ordered his three sons that each should kill and flay the Archons, sons of the Darkness, and bring them to the Mother of Life. The Mother of Life stretched the sky with their skins; she made eleven heavens, and they threw their bodies onto the Land of Darkness. They made eight earths, and the five sons of the Living Spirit each completed the task. It was the Ornament of Light that held the five luminous gods by their loins, and below their loins the heavens were stretched out. It was the Bearer who, kneeling on one knee, carried the earths. When the heavens and the earths had been made, the Great King of Honor sat in the middle of heaven and stood guard to guard them all.
 
Then the Living Spirit revealed his forms to the sons of darkness. He strained out a certain quantity of the light which they had absorbed, taking it away from those five luminous gods, and made the sun, the moon, and from the light which remained from making these vessels, he made the wheels of the wind, the water, the fire. He descended and formed them below, near the Bearer. The King of Glory created and established a covering over them so that they would ascend on these Archons subjected on the earth, so that they would serve the five luminous gods, lest they burn with the poison of the Archons.
 
Mani says that the Mother of Life, the Primeval Man and the Living Spirit began to pray and implored the Father of Greatness. The Father of Greatness heard them and created as a third creation the Messenger. The Messenger evoked the twelve virgins in their clothes, crowns and habits. The first was Majesty, the second Wisdom, the third Victory, the fourth Persuasion, the fifth Purity, the sixth Truth, the seventh Faith, the eighth Patience, the ninth Uprightness, the tenth Goodness, the eleventh Righteousness, the twelfth Light. When the Messenger came to these ships, he charged three servants to make them move; he charged the Great Ban to build a new earth and the three wheels for the vessels to ascend. When the ships moved and arrived in the middle of the sky, the Messenger made his forms appear, both the male form and the female form, and he was seen by all the Archons, sons of darkness male and female. At the sight of the Messenger who was beautiful in his forms, all the Archons were filled with desire: the males desired the female form and the females the male form, and they began, in their desire, to return that light which they had absorbed by taking it away from the five luminous gods. Then the sin which had been enclosed in them hatched a plan to mix itself with the light which came out of the Archons in like a portion (of yeast) into bread dough. It wanted to enter into it (the light), but the Messenger hid his forms and cut off the light of the five luminous gods as well as the sin which was with them. The sin that came out of the Archons fell upon them, but they did not receive it, like a man who abhors his own spit. Then this sin fell to the earth, half in the wet part, half in the dry part. It was transformed into a horrible beast like the King of Darkness. The Adamus of Light was sent against it, gave battle to it and defeated it. He turned it on its back, struck it in the aorta of its heart, pushed his shield over its mouth, placed one of his feet on its thighs and the other on its chest. The sin that had fallen on the dry part began to sprout in the form of five trees.
 
Mani says that these daughters of the Darkness were previously pregnant by their own nature. As a result of the beauty of the forms of the Messenger that they had seen, they miscarried, their fetuses fell to the earth and ate the buds of the trees. The abortions took counsel together and remembered the form of the Messenger which they had seen. They said: “Where is the form which we saw?” Ashaqlun, son of the King of Darkness, said to the abortions: “Give me your sons and your daughters and I will make you a form like the one you saw.” They brought them to him and gave them to him, but he ate the males and gave the females to [Namrael], his companion. Namrael and Ashaqlun came together, Namrael conceived and bore a son to Ashaqlun, whom she named Adam; she conceived and bore a daughter whom she named Eve.
 
Mani also says that Jesus the luminous approached the ignorant Adam and woke him from a sleep of death, so that he might be delivered from many spirits (?). Like a righteous man who finds a man possessed by a fearsome demon and soothes him with his art, so was Adam, since the Beloved One found him in a deep sleep, woke him up, set him in motion, roused him from sleep, drove the seducing demon from him, and bound the numerous company of Archons far from him. Then Adam examined himself and knew who he was. Jesus showed him the Fathers who reside on high, and his own person, exposed to everything, to the teeth of the panther, to the teeth of the elephant, absorbed by the voracious, swallowed by the gulping ones, eaten by dogs, mixed and imprisoned in all that exists, bound in the stench of Darkness. Mani adds that he (Jesus) raised him (Adam) up made him taste of the tree of life. Then Adam looked and wept. He raised his voice loudly like a roaring lion tearing at its pray. He cast himself down, beat his chest, and said: “Woe, woe to the creator of my body, to the one who bound my soul, and to the rebels who enslaved me!”
 
SECT OF THE HIERACITES.
It was established by a certain Iditon of Leontopolis in Egypt, who was regarded as an interpreter of the Holy Scriptures. The Hieracites also deny the resurrection, reject marriage, and accept only solitary women, virgins, ascetics, and sanctified people. They believe in both the Old Testament and the New. As for children, they say they cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven because they have not been justified by their deeds.
 
SECT OF THE MELETIANS.
Meletius conceived his impious theories in Egypt, rejecting the communion of those who had abjured during the persecution. When Alexander and Athanasius, the chief bishops, declared themselves his opponents, he went over to the Arians and lived in communion with them.
 
ON THE ARIANS.
Arius was a priest in the clergy of the city of Alexandria. Jealous of Alexander, his bishop, he rebelled against true doctrine and said that the Son was a creation, as was the Holy Spirit. The Arians define each of them by saying that they are not only distinct in person, but even in nature. Regarding the incarnation of our Savior, they claim that He has no human soul, in order to have the means to falsely maintain that the Son is a creation, that He is distinct from and not of the same essence as the Father. Arius was also a teacher at the school that existed from the time of the Apostles until his time, and many people attended it. His impiety was exposed at the council of 318 bishops during the reign of Emperor Constantine. He suffered the condemnation his rebellion deserved.
 
ON THE AUDIANS.
Audi was the chief deacon of the church of Edessa, the one who is usually called archdeacon. The Council of Nicaea having decreed that the faithful should not celebrate Easter with the Jews, Audi followed in the footsteps of the ancients, claimed that we should preserve their custom, separated from the Church, and formed a dissenting church with his adherents. Seeing that many people criticized him for rebelling against a decree of the council, he devised another grievance that seemed to have some weight and said: “Because of the loose morals of the faithful, the clergy lend at interest, live with women, commit adultery, and fornicate; for this reason, I separated from them.” "However, it was known that he was not only a rebel, but also a proud man; a rebel because he transgressed a decree that should be carried out by all, and a proud man because he had been afflicted with the disease of vanity, which is a special disease, and believed himself more righteous than ordinary men. He accepted apocryphal books along with the books of the Old and New Testaments. He claimed that light and darkness were not created by God and taught that God is composed of limbs and has the appearance of a man in all things. He concluded this from the passage: “We will create man in our image and likeness,” and from the fact that the holy books use anthropomorphic words to designate God when they wish to make known his appearances and deeds.
 
Let us expose some of Audi’s impious opinions. He writes in his apocalypse, which bears the name of Abraham, by having one of the creators say: “The world and creation were made by the Darkness and six other powers.” He also says: “They saw by how many gods the soul is purified and by how many gods the body is created.” He says again: “They asked who forced the Angels and the Powers to create the body.” In the Apocalypse which bears the name of John, he says: “These Aeons whom I saw, it is from them that my body comes.” He lists the names of these holy creators in the following sentence: “My wisdom made the flesh, the egg made the skin, Elohim made the bones, my kingship made the blood, Adonai made the sinews, zeal made the flesh, and thought made the marrow.” He borrowed all this from the Chaldeans.
 
HOW HE OUTRAGED GOD BY ATTRIBUTING TO HIM A RELATIONSHIP WITH EVE.
He says in the Book of Strangers, having God speak: “God said to Eve: ‘Become pregnant by me, so that the creators of Adam will not come to you.’” Having the Aeons speak, he says in the Book of Questions: “Come, let us rest on Eve so that what is born will belong to us.” He says again: “The Aeons led Eve and rested on her so that she would not come to Adam.” In his Apocalypse of the Strangers, he says, making the Aeons speak: “Come, let us cast our seed into her and take care of her (?) first so that what will be born of her may be in our power.” He also says: “They led Eve away from the face of this Adam and knew her.” Such were the impurities and impieties that the perverse Audi imagined against God, against the angels, against the world!
 
SECT OF THE EUNOMIANS AND WHAT CAUSE SEPARATED THEM FROM THE ARIANS, THOUGH THEIR ERROR WAS THE SAME.
When the wicked partisans of Eusebius expelled Saint Eusthathius, they replaced him with Eulalius, then Euphronius, then Placitus (?) who [it is likely the text is corrupt here] was very much in Arianism, then Stephanus, who was crueller than him and was deposed following the intrigue he had engaged in against the bishops Euphratas and Vincentius, then Leontius, who castrated himself because he had been covered with disgrace because of a woman. Because of the weakness of his belief, Leontius greatly honored those who held to Arianism, and for this reason he admitted to the diaconate Aetius, who was famous for the faults he had committed; but Saint Flavian and Saint Diodorus blamed him. He was afraid of them and deprived Aetius of the diaconate. This Aetius was the teacher of Eunomius, and Eunomius was Aetius’s secretary. After the death of Leontius, Eudoxius, who was bishop of Marache, seized the see of Antioch, then Eustathius was deposed from the see of Constantinople, and Eudoxius seized it, abandoning that of Antioch; Eleusius was expelled from Cyzicus, and Eunomius was placed in his church in his place.
 
Aetius, Eunomius’s master, was expelled by order and by letters from Constantine. As for Eunomius, he went to Cyzicus and, seeing the orthodoxy of the people, he at first concealed his opinions, but, later, they were divulged; he was accused before the Emperor Constantine and the latter ordered Eudoxius to depose him. Eudoxius, having the same opinions as him, postponed the matter, then, frightened by a threat from the Emperor, he deposed him against his will. Eunomius reproached Eudoxius and said to him: “You have acted badly towards me and towards Aetius.” These sectarians then abandoned Eudoxius, rallied to Eunomius, blaming Eudoxius as if he were guilty of treason, and gathered together. They were called Eunomians, and Eunomius was, from that time on, the leader of the sect. He increased the evil that Arius had done.
 
SECT OF THE PHOTINIANS.
It originated with a certain Photinus, who was from the city of Sirmium. He taught that the Messiah existed neither in nature nor in person before his incarnation and that he had only begun in the womb of the Virgin, that he was a just man and endowed with spiritual gifts.
 
ON THE MARCELLIANS.
Marcellus was Bishop of Ancyra in Galatia. Many people thought that he held the opinions of Sabellius and believed that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one person. As he often defended himself and anathematized this opinion in a book, some of those who knew him believed him, others thought that he had never held this opinion, others thought that he had anathematized it because he had repented, and still others that he had done so only in appearance and without sincerity, so as not to be rejected by the orthodox as well as by the Arians.
 
ON THE SEMI-ARIANS.
Their name means “half Arian,” but upon closer examination, we see that they were true Arians. Constantius, son of the great Constantine, belonged to this sect. By order of this Constantius, bishops gathered at Seleucia in Isauria. They promulgated a new profession of faith and taught that it was appropriate to call the Messiah neither a created being nor consubstantial with the Father, but only the Son of God. To justify not calling Him consubstantial with the Father, they said: “Let us not attribute suffering to the Father by making Him play the role of the Son.” The author of this detestable belief was Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine. He had admitted at Nicaea the expression “begotten and not created” and homoousion, that is, the expression “of the same essence,” and had subscribed with the other bishops; but, as the Arians blamed him for having subscribed against his conscience (they knew in fact that he shared their opinions absolutely, for Arius had written to him, from the beginning, as to an adherent), anxious to appease the Arians and not to upset the orthodox, he addressed to the inhabitants of his city a letter written with art and full of cunning, in which he taught how he understood these words and explained that, before being begotten, the Son did not exist and that he had been taken from nothing. Some bishops who were adherents of Arius having admitted this interpretation, but fearing to move the mass of the faithful and being ashamed of the ugliness of blasphemy, created and propagated the heresy of the Semi-Arians, in order to say openly neither that the Son is created, nor that he is of the same essence as the Father, but to say only that he is of a similar essence. When they arrived at the reign of Valens who inclined to Arianism, they refused even to recognize that he is of a similar essence to the Father and called him a created being, because if the Son is not recognized as of the same nature as the Father, this last qualification is admitted without dispute, since there is no way to say that there exists something which is neither created nor existing by itself. From this heresy sprang that of the Macedonians.
 
ON THE PNEUMATOMACHS, THOSE WHO FIGHT AGAINST THE SPIRIT, ALSO CALLED MACEDONIANS.
Macedonius was Bishop of Constantinople after Saint Alexander, for Alexander, before his death, had chosen Peter and Macedonius so that one of them would be bishop after him. Since Macedonius’s mind was misguided, while he saw fit to say that the Son is not a created being, he refused to acknowledge that He is of the same essence as the Father, and he openly blasphemed the Holy Spirit by claiming that He is like one of these sanctifying powers, but that He is somewhat superior to them, so that He is venerated. As for its adherents, the Macedonians, in a letter which they once wrote to Liberius, Bishop of Rome, they said that the Son is of the same essence as the Father; but when Valentinian the younger issued a decree allowing everyone to believe what they wanted about religion, they separated again from those whose belief was orthodox and adhered to the Creed drawn up at Antioch and sent to Seleucia of Isauria which openly taught that the Word is neither a created being nor of the same essence as the Father. It is thought that they had an orthodox opinion about the Son and that they only blasphemed against the Holy Spirit by openly saying that he is a created being and a power established by God to sanctify, as the sun was established to give light and fire to heat.
 
ON AERIUS.
This Aerius was from Pontus and a priest of Eustathius, who was also an Arian. Not having been deemed worthy of the episcopate he coveted, he introduced unfortunate innovations into the orthodox belief of the Church and, besides holding the same opinions as Eustathius on the profession of faith, he added certain peculiar theories. He said that it was not proper to offer the holy sacrifice for the dead, that one should fast only on Wednesdays and Fridays; He absolutely prohibits the Lenten fast, rejects participation, recognizes sanctification (?), permits all kinds of fatty foods, good food, and revelry and claims that if anyone wants to fast, he is not obliged to fast on the days appointed for the faithful, but on the days he pleases, because those who have become free in the Messiah are not subject to the Law. Not having been able to be a bishop, he taught that there was absolutely no difference between a bishop and a priest, so that a council was convened at Gangres because of his innovations and the affairs of Eustathius who had made him a priest. He excommunicated them and promulgated twenty canons.
 
ON AETIUS.
In addition to what we have briefly related above, we will discuss here what concerns Aetius and Eunomius. Aetius was from Cilicia and was made a deacon by George the Arian (1) who was in Alexandria. Constantius ordered that the two expressions “of the same essence” and “created being” should no longer be used, because one worried the orthodox and the other the heretics. But the Eunomians, who, as we have said above, were also Arians, considered the Son to be completely alien to the Father and said that He is not even like Him in any way. They thought the same thing about the Holy Spirit and, for this reason, were called “those who do not admit of resemblance.” While declaring themselves Christians and obeying, they said, the holy books, they delved into religious matters through geometry, the speculations of secular philosophers, and those of the personage called Aristotle by the Greeks. They declared and maintained that it is impossible for the begotten Son to be of the same essence as the unbegotten Father, and rebaptized those who joined them, whether Arians or Orthodox, by placing their heads downwards and their legs in the air. They added that it is enough for man to possess righteousness to be absolved of all sin and all fault, which we admit as they do.
 
ON APOLLINAIRE.
[…]
 
SECT OF THE ANTIDICOMARIANITES.
Their name means the opponents of Mary. They say that after the birth of our Savior, she did not remain a virgin, had intercourse with Joseph, and bore him sons and daughters. They say that James and Joses, the sons Joseph had by his first wife, were the sons of Mary.
 
SECT OF THE COLLYRIDIANS.
Every year, on a fixed day, they offer a kind of cake in the name of Mary, and because of this practice, they have been called Collyridians.
 
HERESY OF THE MASSALIANS.
This sect arose as follows: Near the city of Edessa, at one time, there lived monks named Sava, Dado, Dalaf (?), Hermias, Simon (2), and others. It is said that at first they conducted themselves admirably and emulated the blessed Anthony, Macarius, and the aged Julian, whose residence was not far from theirs and who was very famous. But, while faithful to their promise to live according to the teachings of the saints, they were strangers in their actions, like Judah and Gehazi, and their knowledge of those rules by which one attains good morals being insufficient, Satan instilled in them a violent and pernicious desire: they wanted to have revelations and be worthy of spiritual sight. As soon as he had established this thought in them, Satan appeared to them through the senses and made them believe that his apparition was that of the Paraclete whom our Redeemer sent and who rested on the apostles in the upper room. Whenever they had such a hallucination, they rushed towards it with disordered and violent movements according to the custom of the priests of the demons who became agitated by every extraordinary thing that appeared to them, just as, in the story of Elijah, the Bible says of the priests and prophets of Baal who fought according to their custom. Like them, these unfortunates did not know the Massalians and also the Possessed. Anyone who has had an apparition like the one I have spoken of is, according to them, perfect and arrived at incorruptibility; he has received the Holy Spirit and, consequently, the desire for sin no longer enters into him. Also such a man despises fasting, the ascetic life and wakefulness, he keeps away from the painful practices of holiness and even abstains from manual work as a shameful act; he remains idle and given to sleep, persuaded that the dreams which come to him from the demons are revelations. These hallucinations which the agitated demons give to the Massalians, it is said that they also offered to holy men who dwelt in solitude to tempt them; they told them sometimes that they were the Messiah, sometimes that they were the Holy Spirit, sometimes that they were one of the holy angels, as it is told of a certain saint who, having seen Satan in the form of a light, answered him: “I do not ask to see the Messiah with the senses of the body,” and of another who, seeing the devils in the form of lights and fires, closed his eyes so as not to see them. They wanted, in fact, to become worthy of seeing the light of the Messiah only by thought alone. It is because the ignorant Massalians did not understand this that the demons, faithful to their habit of deceiving, played with them. Instead of showing them the light, Satan showed them darkness; they received him as the Messiah and addressed prayers to him as to the Redeemer. It is said that they also profess this opinion, that each man receives, as by a legacy of nature, a demon with whom he remains for the duration of his life, but by which he is tormented only during prayer, that is to say, during those disordered movements which they call perfection. They claim that baptism brings nothing to the one who has received it, neither the grace of the Holy Spirit which is acquired by means of baptism nor the holy mysteries have any use for the one who receives them, and that one finds help only in that prayer which they offer to the devil who appears to them. Those who were afflicted with this disease were monks who, driven from the places where they lived near Edessa and the provinces of the East, went to Lycaonia. They do not separate from the faithful for communion. since, according to them, the fact of participating in the life-giving mysteries or of abstaining from them does them neither good nor harm.
 
SECT OF THE LAMPETIANS.
This Lampetus was originally from Cappadocia; he lived for a long time in the Egyptian desert and then came to Constantinople. He claimed to have become worthy of receiving revelations and to have attained the incorruptibility and degree of perfection that belongs to the new man, and consequently desire and sin no longer existed in him. Countless times he removed his garments and stood naked before those present; and this conduct, which resulted from his foolishness and weakness of mind, he attributed to his purity and incorruptibility. He explained the sacred books allegorically according to the opinions of Origen and claimed to have been instructed by revelation and not by study and reading. He taught to despise fasting, vigil, the ascetic life, virginity, and bodily purity, and claimed that one who has become worthy of incorruptibility does not need to be justified by such practices. He mocked monks and ascetics, saying that a person is not justified by an ascetic life, but must eat, drink, and be merry. He made it a law for people to eat meat, especially pork, praised clothing made of sumptuous, white fabrics, proscribed the clothing of monks, and said that they were in error in dressing in black. Those who despised his teaching he called weak and imperfect. He also loved gold and urged his disciples to pool their possessions. Having collected a great deal of gold, he sent to build, in the mountains between Cilicia and Isauria, convents which resembled brothels because of the frequent debauchery which took place there, for he did not forbid women to live in common with men in his convents.
 
JOHN’S HERESY.
This heresy arose as follows: a certain John, a native of Apamea, went to Alexandria and encountered some magicians there. Having learned some medicine from them and also having instructed himself in the art of speaking, he returned to the district of Apamea, wearing secular clothing. He entered the convent of Saint Simon, resided there, and learned the psalms. A man from the convent became attached to him and led him into error. He believes in one self-existent God, the cause of all things, and calls Him the unbegotten Father who has no equal. This god begat, when he pleased, seven sons, and these begat many others, for all the thoughts and ideas that come to this god are sons having a personality, and his sons beget like him, so that, in the universe, there is no first, second or third person, for no one is the father of the others. These seven primitives united collectively form a glorification which is called that of Melchizedek the chief priest, because one thing is the collective glorification of these seven, and another thing is the glorification which each of them raises to the Father. Now Abraham was one of the seven and, having wanted to raise a glorification, he did not think of confessing the Father, but fell into unseemly suspicions from which came all the hostile powers which the Bible calls devils and demons; The further his thoughts departed from proper glorification, the more demons he engendered, each more wicked than the last, until he reached the end. He says that Melchizedek prayed to the Father of greatness who sent grace to Abraham and made his thoughts return to good. He began to repent and went back up to the place from which he had descended and, just as in his descent he had engendered demons, so in his ascent he engendered angels. He claims that in the higher worlds of light there is no useless meditation, no vain thought, no idea, no emotion that is not beings endowed with reason, either Praises or Confessions. As for the angels, he sometimes calls them Words, some of them he calls Praises of praises, others, Glorifications of glorifications, Natures, Gods. Those who come from Abraham, he names Memory, Opinion, Error, Return, Right, Left. He says that this world was born from a foolish and uncertain thought of Adam and that, for this reason, it is open (?) and bad, that the prophets and the righteous who lived among the people of Israel came from powers that Abraham engendered, from the Memory and the Right, that the one who led Adam astray was an evil being whom he calls the serpent; but he claims that he did not speak by through a visible serpent and that he was born after Abraham. He denies the resurrection of the body, because he maintains that the body is born of doubt like the demons. He says that Our Lord did not take a body and was seen only as the phantoms shown by demons and angels, and wherever he heard the words body and blood applied to Our Lord, he explained them: the body by truth, the blood by science. Some monks adopted his errors; their names were John, Zacchaeus, Zoura and Habib. This impostor composed a book which he called The Foundations.
 
ON THE KOUKÉENS.
They say that God was born from the sea located in the land of light, which they call the Awakened Sea, and that the Sea of Light and the earth are older than God; that when God was born from the Awakened Sea, he sat upon the waters, looked at them, and saw his own image there; that he stretched out his hand, took it, made it his companion, had intercourse with it, and engendered from it a host of gods and goddesses. They call her the Mother of Life and say that she made seventy worlds and twelve Aeons. They add that there was, at a certain distance from this god who was born from the awakened Sea, a sort of dead image, a statue without movement, without life, without thought or intelligence; that God, having found it hateful, ugly and repulsive to see before him, thought of removing it from there and throwing it far from his face. Then he said to himself: “Since it has neither life, nor intelligence, nor thought to make war on me, and since I have found in it no cause of fault, it is not right that I remove it from there, but I will give it of my own strength, of my own movement, and of my own intelligence, and it will declare war on me.” They claim that God gave an order to his worlds which began to boil in their heat, made a part of their life overflow and poured it into this wicked statue; that it applied all its soul and all its intelligence to waging war against them, that the beings of the good side engaged it in forty-two battles, and that the more numerous the wars, the more carnal forces, that is, the animals, beasts, and reptiles of the earth, were born.
 
One day, they say, the Mother of Life descended to her accompanied by seven virgins; when she arrived at her, she stood up and breathed on the Mother of Life. Her breath reached her genitals, the Mother of Life was defiled, did not go to the abode of her companion gods, was in a state of impurity for seven days, and threw the seven virgins who were with her into the mouth of this great Guhra. He absorbed them during the seven days of defilement of the Mother of Life, for she threw one to him every day, so that the gods were forced to come and save these seven virgins that the Mother of Life had thrown into the mouth of this great Guhra. They say that the beings of the evil party make a feast from time to time, that they bring out these virgins, give them to their sons and adorn themselves with the light that comes from them, that the beings of the good party, their fiancés, come down on the day of the feast and that each of them carries off his fiancée. They also say that the coming of Our Lord into this world had no other motive than the abduction of his fiancée who was here below; that he took her, went up the Jordan and saw that the daughter of the Mother of Life … [The scribes must have omitted a verb; perhaps they even omitted an entire sentence.] of Egypt. They claim that the other virgins are one at Hetre, another at Mabog, another at Harran; that their fiancés watch and, when the time is right, take them away.
 
SECT OF THE OPHITES (?).
They say that before these arrangements existed, there was a single god who first created a servant specially charged with honoring him, the angel Michael, so that he might glorify him. After him, he created three others, and these four beings are called: the first Michael, the second Amin, also called the “Holy Seal,” the third “the great Yah,” the fourth Gabriel. These four Aeons are, according to them, prior to all the gods and all the celestial powers. They say that Michael, too, wished to create worlds that would glorify supreme greatness, and that he created seventy-two of them, as well as ten heavens, each of which has a particular angel. In the first heaven, which is the lower heaven, there is, according to them, a blind angel named Samiel, who has the form of a pig, and all the angels who are with him have the same form. This blind Samiel, they say, is wicked and satanic; repentance is unknown to him, it is he who sends thunder, lightning, and disorderly trembling to men, and those who do not eat pork fear him. In the heaven placed above there is, they say, the angel Pharaoh; he has the form of a lion. In the third heaven is Michael the lesser, who has the form of a panther; in the fourth heaven, the angel Elchaddai, who has the form of a camel; in the fifth heaven, a hermaphrodite named Babylon, who has the form of a weasel; in the sixth heaven, Elohim, who has the form of a goat. In the seventh heaven, an angel named Jerusalem and also called Gabriel, who has the form of a dog; in the eighth heaven, the angel Itaoth who resembles a hare; in the ninth heaven, the angel Itoaoth also called Death, because it is he who causes death; in the tenth heaven, lahoh. They claim that the god who gave the Mosaic law was one of these angels, Elchaddai, who had been sent to the children of Israel by the god placed above him; they say that he did not carry out the orders he had received, but led them into error and said: “I am God, there is no other god besides me.” They thus take for an imposter and a simple angel the one who is the master of the angels! As for the Messiah, they say that he had a father named Naor whose wife was called Mary, and that it was from them that he was born. They give the Messiah several names: Abel, Manasseh, Pharaoh, Zerubbabel, and claim that he unites with the hermaphrodite whom they call Babylon. That is why they call him Zerubbabel, because he sowed Babylon. They say that at the ends of the earth is a church in which the Messiah is with his father Naor and his mother Mary, that he must come after the arrival of the false Messiah and will kill the Jews as well as all men. It is by such abominations that the knowledge of rational beings is led astray!
 
HERESY OF CERENTHUS.
He says that after the resurrection, the Messiah’s reign will take place on earth and that we will indulge in the pleasures of the flesh in Jerusalem; his supporters claim that the feast will last a thousand years (?). According to what Irenaeus reports, who received it from Polycarp, the apostle John once entered a bathhouse; upon learning that Cerinthus was there, he hastily left his place and sat at the door, unable to bear being under the same roof as Cerinthus. He said to those who were with him: “Let us flee, lest the bathhouse in which the enemy of the truth is located collapse.” Cerinthus belonged to a Jewish family and lived in Corinth. He taught that circumcision is obligatory, that the world came from angels, and that Jesus was the Messiah. thanks to his education and his good qualities.
 
CYRILLIAN HERESY.
This Cyril was Bishop of Alexandria, after his paternal uncle, Theophilus, and, as a result of his arrogance and pride, he fell prey to the heresy of the Apollinarians. The reason he reached this point was, besides his weakness of learning, his zeal against the blessed Nestorius, bishop of the capital. Finally, the following motive led him to declare war on his adversary: Some of his clergy, oppressed and stricken by him, had gone to complain to the Emperor Theodosius. The emperor had sent them before Nestorius to examine their case, and Cyril, knowing that in the furnace of Nestorius’s just judgment his money would appear impure and of bad quality, sent some of his friends from his city to the capital, so that they could learn what sentence would be passed in the case of these clerics. When they arrived and learned that he had been condemned as an iniquitous man, they sent to him saying: “Nestorius has accepted your enemies and their accusations against you.” He then wrote two letters, one to Nestorius, the other to his friends. In the one addressed to Nestorius, he expressed himself thus: “I hear people who, in their desire to harm, speak ill of your orthodoxy.” In the one he addressed to his friends, he wrote: “If you see Nestorius in any other mood, write to me and let me know, for we are beginning a dispute against him on a question of faith.” Cyril's friends wrote a libel and sent it to him, so that, if he would allow it, they might accuse Nestorius before the Emperor. He wrote to them to wait a little, and here is the text of his letter: “Let the petition which you sent me as being to be delivered to the Emperor not be delivered without my consent; I have received it and read it, but since it contains many insults against the one over there, whether I call him brother or designate him in some other way, I have kept it for a certain time, lest he behave arrogantly towards you and say: ‘You accused me of heresy before the Emperor!’ We have written it in other words, because we have not accepted his judgment and we have also exposed the nature of his enmity, in order to have the judgment transferred to great people other than him, if these people persist in their plans against us. Therefore, when you read this letter, deliver the request to the Emperor if the matter requires it. Finally, if you see that he persists in harming us and is really hostile to us in every way, let me know promptly. I will choose pious men, bishops and monks, and send them by sea as soon as possible, for, as it is written, ‘I will not let my eyes sleep, I will not give sleep to my eyelids, nor rest to my temples until I have fought for the savior of all.’” Such was the beginning of the war that Cyril waged against Saint Nestorius: It was because the latter had judged him fairly and had blamed his audacity, that, wanting to take revenge on him, he began a theological discussion, and it was because of him that all Greece was contaminated. He shows in fact, by his letters, that his fight against Nestorius was not caused by religion, but by the fair judgment that the latter had rendered against him. When this enemy of the truth resolved to slander the patron of orthodoxy, he began by corrupting Celestine, Bishop of Rome, other bishops, the Emperor and his cubiculars with presents, and he was especially helped by the Emperor’s sister; she had promised to be a virgin consecrated to Christ, but as she had had relations with several men, Nestorius had ordered her image to be removed from the temple. We can learn from the letters of Akakios, Bishop of Aleppo, to Alexander, Bishop of Mabog, how Cyril bought a lace of Apollinaris’s garment for a price of gold. This is how he expresses himself: “Many are the gifts of Cyril, and, because of our sins, they have triumphed over the truth. After the death of Scholasticus, when the pious emperor made inquiries into the great quantity of gold he left, he found a memorandum in which it was written that he had received several pounds of gold from Cyril.” What more shall I say? Shall I tell how the debt arising from his loans is still not extinguished today and how the church of Alexandria pays it? It is said that, in order to triumph through it, he resorted to magic and went so far as to sacrifice a donkey! But it is fitting to expose some of his blasphemies to demonstrate his impiety. Here is what he writes in his letter to Acacius of Melitene: “We say two natures which have been united, but we know that after the union, as the separation into two had ended, one is the nature of Our Lord”; and a little further: “It is not fitting, in fact, to understand that there are two natures, but one nature in the Incarnate Word.” This was also the opinion of Asterius the Arian, […]
 
[The following lines are incomprehensible to me and the text appears to be faulty and incomplete.]
 
[…]
 
The theories of Apollinairis resemble them. What a new creation! What a possible mixture! God and man, one nature! Yet such is the opinion of Cyril and of all Greece; he rejected Nestorius who said: “I do not admit that the Word of God was ever two days old, and accepted Cyril, the child of Simon the magician.”
 
HERESY OF THE EUTYCHEANS.
[…]
 
HERESY OF THE SEVERIANS. (P. 150.)
Severus was a disciple of Julian and became Bishop of Antioch during the reign of Emperor Anastasius. Severus revealed and openly proclaimed what had been implicitly recognized by the Council of Ephesus, namely, that after the incarnation, there is only one person and one nature in the Messiah. We know that after ascending the throne, Justin, as a result of his zeal for religion, expelled this enemy of the truth from the Church because of the impurity of his faith and sent him into exile with Xenaias of Mabog, a man perfect in every kind of heresy, who held the same opinions as him. He was smothered, by order of the Emperor, in the smoke of a furnace.
 
HERESY OF THE JULIANITES.
This Julian was Severus’s teacher. When his disciple became patriarch and he was rejected, he fell into envy. For this reason, he adopted a different belief from Severus’s and, in his erroneous belief, he came to blaspheme openly like the Simonians. This new teacher professed that the Word of God was not incarnate from that body common to all men which comes from Adam, but from that essence foreign to sin which was that of Adam before his sin. This foolishness uttered by that impure mouth, people have blindly accepted to this day, mainly the Armenians and the Ethiopians.
 
ON THE KANTHEANS.
The stupid Kantheans claim that their doctrine comes from Abel, so it is necessary to demonstrate their origin. When Goliath, the Philistine giant, was killed by David, as the Philistines were ashamed to admit that their giant had died from a slingshot, they told this lie: that a warrior armed with an iron staff had come from the Hebrew camp, struck him down, and killed him. They built a statue of him and celebrated every year, in commemoration of his death, a festival consisting of a mock battle. Arranged in ranks and standing in troops facing each other, the priests of Dagon, who were the priests of Goliath, tore at their bodies with irons, struck each other with staffs, and chased after each other in a mock struggle. Then one of them, carrying an iron staff, would approach, strike the statue, and knock it down as Goliath had been knocked down. When the statue fell, they shouted, “Thus the humble has killed the giant, the weak has killed the strong!” They did this for a long time in their country, and when Nebuchadnezzar took the Philistines captive, he broke the statue of Goliath. When they arrived in Babylon, the priests of Dagon made a large wooden statue in the likeness of Goliath and placed on its head a piece of iron like Goliath’s helmet. They lined up, and one of the priests bowed before the statue and pretended to strike himself with a dagger. They cut down a large, bushy branch and hung nuts and food on it. One of the priests carried it naked; their loins girded with a dyed woolen belt, they went out into the desert, shot arrows, and shouted, “The arrow has flown!” They all cried out, men and women, “The mysteries are slain, and I am at peace; the giants have been annihilated and I am at peace,” as if to mourn the murder of Goliath. They committed these follies in the month of August and during the months of October and November. The Chaldeans, having found in their signs of the zodiac an ancient and disturbing devil named by them Nergal, called this sect by his name, and it survived until King Yazdegerd [II]. In the time of Firuz [Pērōz I of the Sassanians], Battai introduced an abomination of another kind.
 
ON BATTAI AND WHERE HE WAS FROM.
The followers of this religion had a leader named Papa, son of Klilayes, a native of Gaukai. This Papa had a slave named Battai who, due to his laziness, ran away from slavery and hid among the Jews. From their home, he went to the disciples of Mani, collected and arranged some of their discourses and a few fragments of their magical mysteries. In the time of King Firuz, when a decree was issued against idols and their priests, ordering that only the religion of the Magi would remain, Battaï, seeing that his religion was coming to an end, flattered the Magi and worshipped the stars. They even accepted fire and placed it in their homes. He changed his name from Battaï to Yazdani, which means “he comes from the gods.” He borrowed from the Jews the prohibition against eating pork, from the Pentateuch the name of the Lord God, and from the Christians the sign of the cross which he placed on the left shoulder of his followers. His adherents say that the cross is the secret of the boundary between the Father of Greatness and the lower earth.
 
SOME INFORMATION ON HIS DOCTRINES.
He says that before all things there was a divinity that divided itself in two and from it came good and evil. The good collected light and the evil collected darkness. Then the evil understood and ascended to make war on the Father of Greatness. The Father of Greatness knew that this was war and he uttered a word; from this word the Lord God was created. The Lord God also uttered seven words, and seven forces were born from him. Then seven demons ascended, bound the Lord God and the seven forces born from him and took away the principle of the soul from the Father of Greatness; the demons and devils set to work as well as the seven and the twelve and made Adam the first man. The Lord God came, destroyed Adam, and made him again. They also say that there are ten heavens to which they give ridiculous names, namely: Ardi, Mardi, Ardabli, Sparsagal, Harbabel, Qudi, Maqdi, Labsi, Mahsi and Haya. […] [This whole passage is extremely obscure, and it is not known who brought an offering from Adam’s garden. It is very likely that a number of words were omitted by the scribes; it is evident that an entire part of a sentence has been omitted.] … tell our father when the captives will be released and when rest will be granted to the tortured beings who suffer, when rest will be granted to the souls who endure persecution in the world? I spoke and said to them: “When the Euphrates is dried up from its mouth and the Tigris flows out of its bed, when all the rivers are dry and all the torrents overflow, then rest will be granted to souls.” This sample of the impieties of Battai taken from many others is enough.
 
SECT OF THE DOSTEANS (MANDEANS), WHICH WAS AUTHORIZED BY THE BEGGAR ADO.
Ado was said to have come from Adiabene and came as a beggar with his family to the land of Mesene. His father’s name was Dabda, his mother Em-Kushta, and his brothers Shilmai, Nidbai, Bar-Hayye, Abizkha, Kushtai, and Sethel. When they arrived at the Karun River, they found a man named Papa, son of Tinis. They begged him for alms, as was their custom, and persuaded him to take in the lazy Ado, because he was unable to beg due to his illness. Papa handed him over to some palm-tree keepers. but when they complained about him, saying, “He is of no use to us,” Papa built him a shelter by the roadside so that he could ask for food from passers-by. At last, his companions gathered together and came to him and rang bells there, as beggars do. In Meshan, they are called Mandaeans, Mashkneans, followers of the one who performs good deeds; in Bet Aramaye, they are called Nazarenes, followers of Dosta; but the proper name for them would be Adonai. Their teaching is borrowed from the Marcionites, the Manicheans and the Kantheans.
 
SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR DOCTRINES.
They say that before heaven and earth existed, there were great forces that resided upon the waters. They had a son whom they named Abatur. Abatur had a son whom he named Ptahil. They claim that Abatur gave him an order in these terms: “Go, coagulate the earth without (?) pressure and extend the heavens without (?) pillars; create and make men, one son of another, make their heads whiter than the vapor of the waters and their beards whiter than the fish of the sea (?). May they live and endure two hundred and seventy-two years!” Ptahil went but did not carry out his father’s orders; instead, he created and made the ten nations and the twelve nations. He cast a spell (?) into them and did not cast into them the spirit and the soul. While Abatur was sitting in the seven firmaments, he raised his eyes and saw Ptahil. He said to him: “The curse be upon you, Ptahil! I said: ‘Go, make them one son of the other,’ and he did not listen to what I ordered him!” They add that the genii and Ptahil got up and said to Abatur: “Do not pronounce this curse on Ptahil, your son!” He said to them: “This curse will be on Ptahil until the day of judgment, until the years of redemption, until the resurrection of the dead has taken place, from a day and a half ago, when the Messiah will come forward and come into the world, when the mud brick will speak with the foundations and say: ‘I confess the Messiah!’” Since Abatur did not listen to him any more than the genii, sons of light, Ptahil went away in silence and received the bonds of his father. They say that he threw over him a chain which is the whole of the world and fixed on him a point which goes from the earth to the sky and, behold, Ptahil now remains chained until the day of judgment, until the years of redemption, until the mud brick speaks with the foundations and says: “I confess the Messiah.”
 
They say in their psalm that they call The Journey to the Witches: “The evil fairies (?) who are called Hamgaï and Hamgagaï by the northern chain, Mardik, Labarnita, Tati, Houzita, Eni, Nani, Bel, Belti by the country of the Romans, Dik, Mardik, Gouztani by India, Arnat and Aphrodite by the West, Mgardachalioutah by the East, Ama and Mamani by Hira of the Arabs (1), at the head of which is old Ambiou (they are all witches), went to kill by their enchantments the bulls, the rams, the horses, the camels and the sheep and dried up the seeds and the plants until they reached Adam, the first man. They flattered Adam and he washed away their leprosy (?). They cast spells on Adam and threw him into cruel misfortunes until Hibil came and bound Adam and washed him. This is how they confer what they call baptism. They also say about Dinanus [i.e. Dinanukht the Sage], the scribe of religions, and little Dissa [i.e. Diṣai].... Is what has been said so far about this madman enough?
 
SECT OF THE NERGALIANS.
Their sect descends from Cain. After Cain’s death, his sons gathered together and said, “The spirit of our father Cain has no rest on earth, for he is afraid and trembles because of the murder of Abel.” They made a naos and placed food on it so that Cain’s spirit would come and dwell upon it. Cain’s sons gathered around this naos as if for a funeral ceremony and named their father Cain Nerig, because they said their father desired rest; therefore, it was Cain whom his sons named Nerig. The sons of Seth also gathered together and said, “Let us also build a dwelling for Abel, our father’s brother.” They made one and called it the Blame (because they said: “He has been a blame for us.”) This is the kanta of the ignorant Kantheans.
 
SECT OF THE HOUSE OF RAHMUTHA.
This is what this Rahmutha was. There was a man from Kasgrun in Cappadocia who was called Shaqrun. This Shaqrun married two women, one named Aliat, the other Kamham. He married Aliat first and called Aliat Reshitha (beginning), because he had married her first. He called Kamham Rahmutha (love [i.e. rhamta]), because he loved her more than his companion. Rahmutha had two sons named, one Marhat, the other Aba; Reshitha had no sons, and Shaqrun loved Rahmutha’s sons. Marhat and Aba grew up, but before reaching adolescence, they went out to their father at harvest time, suffered heatstroke, and both died in a single day. Their father erected two statues for them and placed them in his house, so that they would be a comfort to him. He made offerings to them and worshipped them, and after many generations, fools were misled and called them the gods of the house of Rahmutha.
 
ON BISHMA.
Bishma was a poor man from Nkah, a town in the land of Canaan. When a famine occurred, Bishma left the land of Canaan and went to Egypt. He begged in the Egyptians’ fields for twenty-four years. After his death, the Egyptians, having learned about him, took his portion and gave it in his name to other poor people. The poor, knowing this, blessed them in Bishma’s name, so that they would give them more. This is what Bishma is.
 
SECT OF DANHISHE.
Danhishe was a bronze statue made by Damon, chief of the city of Apaskia, in honor of his son Kayur, who had died. He did not make it of gold for fear of it being stolen, and its name Danhishe comes from the fact that it was made of bronze. This is what Danhishe is.
 
ON THE FEAST OF WATERS.
This is the origin of the feast of waters: when Pharaoh left Egypt, pursued the Israelites, and was submerged in the sea, the cities he had previously persecuted were filled with joy and held festivities and a great feast on the seashore. Eventually, people were misled and called it the Feast of Waters.
 
ON THE FEAST OF THE DEAD.
Here is the origin of the feast of the dead: when the Hebrews marched against Balak, killed many Moabites, and then a plague swept through Israel because the Israelites had committed fornication with the daughters of the Midianites, Balak celebrated a great feast to rejoice at the death of his enemies, and this custom continued from generation to generation.
 
ON NANEA.
Nanea was the daughter of one of the chieftains of the land of Elam. Antiochus, having heard of her riches, came to kidnap her. Darius, Nanea’s father, caught wind of this and was afraid, but Nanea treacherously sent word to Antiochus: “Let not my lord come as an enemy against his servants. I persuaded my father not to go to war against you. He will give you the land, and I will be your wife.” Antiochus believed her, left his army far away and came with a few men. Nanea ordered her servants to stand at the gate of a tower: “When he comes in,” she said, “stone him.” When Antiochus arrived and went through the gate, they threw stones at him and stoned him; he died and his army scattered. The people of the country, hearing of this feat, erected a statue in honor of Nanea. She was taken captive by the Chaldeans who killed her son.
 
[This paragraph contains the distorted story of Antiochus and the priests of Nanea, found in the first chapter of the second book of Maccabees.]
 
ON THE BARQA (THUNDER) OF THE GUZNIANS.
Barqa (thunder) is not that which bursts forth in the clouds, but there was in Rkem of Gaya a man named Barqin. He was rich, had no children, and made for himself a statue that he called the Thunder of the Guznians. This was the reason why Shahirat, chief of the Guznians, came to greet Barqin. Barqin prayed to him; he made and gave to him another statue of gold and precious stones to place in his city, and long afterward, thunder was associated with this statue.

End of the eleventh and last book of The Scholion,

​Source: H. Pognon, Inscriptions mandaïtes des coupes de Khouabir (Paris: Welter, 1898), 105-108, 159-232.