Refutation of All Heresies, Vol. 2

is found to be two, a masculo-feminine entity having the female within it. This is Mind in Thought, for they are one when undivided from one another, yet are found to be two."

19. Simon, having discovered all this, fraudulently interprets as he wishes not only the words of Moses but also those of the poets. p. 263. He turns into allegory the Wooden Horse, Helen with the Torch, and other things, altering them to suit his own affairs and his Epinoia Original: Epinoia—thought or creative intent., through which he leads many astray. He says that she is the "lost sheep" who, dwelling among many women Original: kataginomenē, "descending into.", troubles the powers in the cosmos by her transcendent beauty. Therefore, the Trojan War occurred on account of her. For Epinoia herself dwelt in Helen at that time, and all the authorities seeking her favors caused faction and war among the nations in which she appeared. Thus, Stesichorus, having railed at her in his verses, was blinded; but having repented and written the Palinode A poem retracting a previous assertion., his sight was restored. She, being changed from one body to another by the angels and the authorities below who made the world, finally stood in a brothel Original: epi tegous, literally "on the roof." in Tyre, a city of Phoenicia, where Simon found her. At his first inquiry, he said he had come to her aid to free her from her bonds. Once he had "redeemed" her, she went about with him, pretending to be the lost sheep, while he claimed to be the Power above all things. But the rogue, having fallen in love with the hussy—the so-called Helen—bought her and enjoyed her; being ashamed before his disciples, he made up this story. Those who became imitators of this error and of Simon Magus do similar things, pretending that they ought to have promiscuous intercourse like beasts, saying: "All earth is earth, and it matters not where one sows, so long as one sows." They even bless this intercourse, calling it "perfect love" and the "Holy of Holies," and claiming that "ye shall sanctify one another." For they say they are not overcome by what anyone else would call evil, because they have been redeemed. And they say that Simon, having redeemed Helen, has in like manner