The Ancient Witnesses

Chapter 1: A Journey to Nicaea • 43

meant for a wide audience. 3 These heresies were in the form of myths —bizarre stories whose symbols could be interpreted in many different ways. To borrow the Apostle Paul’s words, the Gnostics were devoted to “myths and endless genealogies.” 4 Many of the stories were about the gods and creation. I understood now why Irenaeus was the ideal critic for these books: he was born, as I mentioned, in the birth place of Homer and was thoroughly schooled in Greek literature and its myths. In other words, he had a mind for this stuff. We think of the doctrine of the Trinity as hard to comprehend but the Gnostic myths were convoluted on purpose: they were cosmic dramas whose episodes varied from teacher to teacher. Taking the place of the Trinity was the so-called Pleroma , or fullness, a pantheon of Aeons —eternal ones—spawned by a “Father Aeon prior to all,” and producing more aeons through interrelations with one another. The last of these, Sophia (Wisdom), fell from her place in the Pleroma through her overpowering desire to know the Father. “According to these myths,” explained Irenaeus, “Sophia’s tears were the source of all the seas, rivers, and springs. From her smile came the light, and from her confusion and frustration came the hills, the rocks, and the trees.” The point of the Gnostic myths seemed to be that God was completely unknowable, and that the creation was evil—the result of a mistake.

3 The original book of heresies was written in Coptic, a basic, everyday language spoken and read by the people—especially monks—of Irenaeus’s time.

4 1 Timothy 1:4. It is not known if the doctrine Paul opposed was the same Gnosticism described by Irenaeus.