A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

102 A Source Book for Ancient Church History[088]those of the angels, they assert that some of these belong to thefirst, others to the second, heaven; and then they strive to setforth the names, principles, angels, powers, of the three hundredand sixty-five imagined heavens. They also affirm that the namein which the Saviour ascended and descended is Caulacau. 43Ch. 6. He, then, who has learned these things, and known allthe angels and their causes, is rendered invisible and incomprehensibleto the angels and powers, even as Caulacau also was.And as the Son was unknown to all, so must they also be knownby no one; but while they know all and pass through all, theythemselves remain invisible and unknown to all; for “Do thou,”they say, “know all, but let nobody know thee.” For this reason,persons of such a persuasion are also ready to recant, yea, rather,it is impossible that they should suffer on account of a merename, since they are alike to all. The multitude, however, cannotunderstand these matters, but only one out of a thousand, or twoout of ten thousand. They declare that they are no longer Jews,and that they are not yet Christians; and that it is not at all fittingto speak openly of their mysteries, but right to keep them secretby preserving silence.Ch. 7. They make out the local position of the three hundredand sixty-five heavens in the same way as do the mathematicians.For, accepting the theorems of the latter, they have transferredthem to their own style of doctrine. They hold that their chief isAbraxas [or Abrasax]; and on this account that the word containsin itself the numbers amounting to three hundred and sixty-five.B. The School of ValentinusThe Valentinians were the most important of all the Gnosticsclosely connected with the Church. The school had many adherentsscattered throughout the Roman Empire, its leading teachers43 A mystic name; it is the Hebrew for “line upon line,” see Is. 28:10. It meansnorm or rule.