Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol I:
IRENÆUS: Chapter XXIV.—Folly of the arguments...

Chapter XXIV.—Folly of the arguments derived by the heretics from numbers, letters, and syllables.

1. This very thing, too, still further demonstrates their opinion false, and their fictitious system untenable, that they endeavour to bring forward proofs of it, sometimes through means of numbers and the syllables of names, sometimes also through the letter of syllables, and yet again through those numbers which are, according to the practice followed by the Greeks, contained in [different] letters;—[this, I say,] demonstrates in the clearest manner their overthrow or confusion, 3151 as well as the untenable and perverse character of their [professed] knowledge. For, transferring the name Jesus, which belongs to another language, to the numeration of the Greeks, they sometimes call it “Episemon,” 3152 as having six letters, and at other times “the Plenitude of the Ogdoads,” as containing the number eight hundred and eighty-eight. But His [corresponding] Greek name, which is “Soter,” that is, Saviour, because it does not fit in with their system, either with respect to numerical value or as regards its letters, they pass over in silence. Yet surely, if they regard the names of the Lord, as, in accordance with the preconceived purpose of the Father, by means of their numerical value and letters, indicating number in the Pleroma, Soter, as being a Greek name, ought by means of its letters and the numbers [expressed by these], in virtue of its being Greek, to show forth the mystery of the Pleroma. But the case is not so, because it is a word of five letters, and its numerical value is one thousand four hundred and eight. 3153 But these things do not in any way correspond with their Pleroma; the account, therefore, which they give of transactions in the Pleroma cannot be true.

2. Moreover, Jesus, which is a word belonging to the proper tongue of the Hebrews, contains, as the learned among them declare, two letters and a half, 3154 and signifies that Lord who contains heaven and earth; 3155 for Jesus in the ancient Hebrew language means “heaven,” while again “earth” is expressed by the words sura usser. 3156 The word, therefore, which contains heaven and earth is just Jesus. Their explanation, then, of the Episemon is false, and their numerical calculation is also manifestly overthrown. For, in their own language, Soter is a Greek word of five letters; but, on the other hand, in the Hebrew tongue, Jesus contains only two letters and a half. The total which they reckon up, viz., eight hundred and eighty-eight, therefore falls to the ground. And throughout, the Hebrew letters do not correspond in number with the Greek, although these especially, as being the more ancient and unchanging, ought to uphold the reckoning connected with the names. For these ancient, original, and generally called sacred letters 3157 of the Hebrews are ten in number (but they are written by means of fifteen 3158 ), the last letter p. 394 being joined to the first. And thus they write some of these letters according to their natural sequence, just as we do, but others in a reverse direction, from the right hand towards the left, thus tracing the letters backwards. The name Christ, too, ought to be capable of being reckoned up in harmony with the Æons of their Pleroma, inasmuch as, according to their statements, He was produced for the establishment and rectification of their Pleroma. The Father, too, in the same way, ought, both by means of letters and numerical value, to contain the number of those Æons who were produced by Him; Bythus, in like manner, and not less Monogenes; but pre-eminently the name which is above all others, by which God is called, and which in the Hebrew tongue is expressed by Baruch, 3159 [a word] which also contains two and a half letters. From this fact, therefore, that the more important names, both in the Hebrew and Greek languages, do not conform to their system, either as respects the number of letters or the reckoning brought out of them, the forced character of their calculations respecting the rest becomes clearly manifest.

3. For, choosing out of the law whatever things agree with the number adopted in their system, they thus violently strive to obtain proofs of its validity. But if it was really the purpose of their Mother, or the Saviour, to set forth, by means of the Demiurge, types of those things which are in the Pleroma, they should have taken care that the types were found in things more exactly correspondent and more holy; and, above all, in the case of the Ark of the Covenant, on account of which the whole tabernacle of witness was formed. Now it was constructed thus: its length 3160 was two cubits and a half, its breadth one cubit and a half, its height one cubit and a half; but such a number of cubits in no respect corresponds with their system, yet by it the type ought to have been, beyond everything else, clearly set forth. The mercy-seat 3161 also does in like manner not at all harmonize with their expositions. Moreover, the table of shew-bread 3162 was two cubits in length, while its height was a cubit and a half. These stood before the holy of holies, and yet in them not a single number is of such an amount as contains an indication of the Tetrad, or the Ogdoad, or of the rest of their Pleroma. What of the candlestick, 3163 too, which had seven 3164 branches and seven lamps? while, if these had been made according to the type, it ought to have had eight branches and a like number of lamps, after the type of the primary Ogdoad, which shines pre-eminently among the Æons, and illuminates the whole Pleroma. They have carefully enumerated the curtains 3165 as being ten, declaring these a type of the ten Æons; but they have forgotten to count the coverings of skin, which were eleven 3166 in number. Nor, again, have they measured the size of these very curtains, each curtain 3167 being eight-and-twenty cubits in length. And they set forth the length of the pillars as being ten cubits, with a reference to the Decad of Æons. “But the breadth of each pillar was a cubit and a half;” 3168 and this they do not explain, any more than they do the entire number of the pillars or of their bars, because that does not suit the argument. But what of the anointing oil, 3169 which sanctified the whole tabernacle? Perhaps it escaped the notice of the Saviour, or, while their Mother was sleeping, the Demiurge of himself gave instructions as to its weight; and on this account it is out of harmony with their Pleroma, consisting, 3170 as it did, of five hundred shekels of myrrh, five hundred of cassia, two hundred and fifty of cinnamon, two hundred and fifty of calamus, and oil in addition, so that it was composed of five ingredients. The incense 3171 also, in like manner, [was compounded] of stacte, onycha, galbanum, mint, and frankincense, all which do in no respect, either as to their mixture or weight, harmonize with their argument. It is therefore unreasonable and altogether absurd [to maintain] that the types were not preserved in the sublime and more imposing enactments of the law; but in other points, when any number coincides with their assertions, to affirm that it was a type of the things in the Pleroma; while [the truth is, that] every number occurs with the utmost variety in the Scriptures, so that, should any one desire it, he might form not only an Ogdoad, and a Decad, and a Duodecad, but any sort of number from the Scriptures, and then maintain that this was a type of the system of error devised by himself.

4. But that this point is true, that that number which is called five, which agrees in no respect with their argument, and does not harmonize with their system, nor is suitable for a typical manifestation of the things in the Pleroma, [yet has a wide prevalence, 3172 ] will be proved as follows from the Scriptures. Soter is a name of p. 395 five letters; Pater, too, contains five letters; Agape (love), too, consists of five letters; and our Lord, after 3173 blessing the five loaves, fed with them five thousand men. Five virgins 3174 were called wise by the Lord; and, in like manner, five were styled foolish. Again, five men are said to have been with the Lord when He obtained testimony 3175 from the Father,—namely, Peter, and James, and John, and Moses, and Elias. The Lord also, as the fifth person, entered into the apartment of the dead maiden, and raised her up again; for, says [the Scripture], “He suffered no man to go in, save Peter and James, 3176 and the father and mother of the maiden.” 3177 The rich man in hell 3178 declared that he had five brothers, to whom he desired that one rising from the dead should go. The pool from which the Lord commanded the paralytic man to go into his house, had five porches. The very form of the cross, too, has five extremities, 3179 two in length, two in breadth, and one in the middle, on which [last] the person rests who is fixed by the nails. Each of our hands has five fingers; we have also five senses; our internal organs may also be reckoned as five, viz., the heart, the liver, the lungs, the spleen, and the kidneys. Moreover, even the whole person may be divided into this number [of parts],—the head, the breast, the belly, the thighs, and the feet. The human race passes through five ages first infancy, then boyhood, then youth, then maturity, 3180 and then old age. Moses delivered the law to the people in five books. Each table which he received from God contained five 3181 commandments. The veil covering 3182 the holy of holies had five pillars. The altar of burnt-offering also was five cubits in breadth. 3183 Five priests were chosen in the wilderness,—namely, Aaron, 3184 Nadab, Abiud, Eleazar, Ithamar. The ephod and the breastplate, and other sacerdotal vestments, were formed out of five 3185 materials; for they combined in themselves gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And there were five 3186 kings of the Amorites, whom Joshua the son of Nun shut up in a cave, and directed the people to trample upon their heads. Any one, in fact, might collect many thousand other things of the same kind, both with respect to this number and any other he chose to fix upon, either from the Scriptures, or from the works of nature lying under his observation. 3187 But although such is the case, we do not therefore affirm that there are five Æons above the Demiurge; nor do we consecrate the Pentad, as if it were some divine thing; nor do we strive to establish things that are untenable, nor ravings [such as they indulge in], by means of that vain kind of labour; nor do we perversely force a creation well adapted by God [for the ends intended to be served], to change itself into types of things which have no real existence; nor do we seek to bring forward impious and abominable doctrines, the detection and overthrow of which are easy to all possessed of intelligence.

5. For who can concede to them that the year has three hundred and sixty-five days only, in order that there may be twelve months of thirty days each, after the type of the twelve Æons, when the type is in fact altogether out of harmony [with the antitype]? For, in the one case, each of the Æons is a thirtieth part of the entire Pleroma, while in the other they declare that a month is the twelfth part of a year. If, indeed, the year were divided into thirty parts, and the month into twelve, then a fitting type might be regarded as having been found for their fictitious system. But, on the contrary, as the case really stands, their Pleroma is divided into thirty parts, and a portion of it into twelve; while again the whole year is divided into twelve parts, and a certain portion of it into thirty. The Saviour therefore acted unwisely in constituting the month a type of the entire Pleroma, but the year a type only of that Duodecad which exists in the Pleroma; for it was more fitting to divide the year into thirty parts, even as the whole Pleroma is divided, but the month into twelve, just as the Æons are in their Pleroma. Moreover, they divide the entire Pleroma into three portions,—namely, into an Ogdoad, a Decad, and a Duodecad. But our year is divided into four parts, —namely, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. And again, not even do the months, which they maintain to be a type of the Triacontad, consist precisely of thirty days, but some have more and some less, inasmuch as five days remain to them as an overplus. 3188 The day, too, does not always consist precisely of twelve hours, but rises from nine 3189 to fifteen, and then falls again from fifteen to nine. It cannot therefore be held that months of thirty days each were so formed for the sake of [typifying] p. 396 the Æons; for, in that case, they would have consisted precisely of thirty days: nor, again, the days of these months, that by means of twelve hours they might symbolize the twelve Æons; for, in that case, they would always have consisted precisely of twelve hours.

6. But further, as to their calling material substances “on the left hand,” and maintaining that those things which are thus on the left hand of necessity fall into corruption, while they also affirm that the Saviour came to the lost sheep, in order to transfer it to the right hand, that is, to the ninety and nine sheep which were in safety, and perished not, but continued within the fold, yet were of the left hand, 3190 it follows that they must acknowledge that the enjoyment 3191 of rest did not imply salvation. And that which has not in like manner the same number, they will be compelled to acknowledge as belonging to the left hand, that is, to corruption. This Greek word Agape (love), then, according to the letters of the Greeks, by means of which reckoning is carried on among them, having a numerical value of ninety-three, 3192 is in like manner assigned to the place of rest on the left hand. Aletheia (truth), too, having in like manner, according to the principle indicated above, a numerical value of sixty-four, 3193 exists among material substances. And thus, in fine, they will be compelled to acknowledge that all those sacred names which do not reach a numerical value of one hundred, but only contain the numbers summed by the left hand, are corruptible and material.

Footnotes

“Sive confusionem” is very probably a marginal gloss which has found its way into the text. The whole clause is difficult and obscure.

Comp. i. 14, 4.

Thus: Σωτήρ ( σ = 200, ω = 800, τ = 300, η = 8, ρ = 100 ) = 1408.

Being written thus, ישו, and the small י being apparently regarded as only half a letter. Harvey proposes a different solution which seems less probable.

This is one of the most obscure passages in the whole work of Irenæus, and the editors have succeeded in throwing very little light upon it. We may merely state that ישו seems to be regarded as containing in itself the initials of the three words יְהֹוָה, Jehovah; שְמַיִם, heaven; and וְאָרָץ, and earth.

Nothing can be made of these words; they have probably been corrupted by ignorant transcribers, and are now wholly unintelligible.

“Literæ sacerdotales,”—another enigma which no man can solve. Massuet supposes the reference to be to the archaic Hebrew characters, still used by the priests after the square Chaldaic letters had been generally adopted. Harvey thinks that sacerdotales represents the Greek λειτουργικά, “meaning letters as popularly used in common computation.”

The editors have again long notes on this most obscure passage. Massuet expunges “quæque,” and gives a lengthened explanation of the clause, to which we can only refer the curious reader.

בָרוּךְ, Baruch, blessed, one of the commonest titles of the Almighty. The final ך seems to be reckoned only a half-letter, as being different in form from what it is when accompanied by a vowel at the beginning or in the middle of a word.

Ex. xxv. 10.

Ex. xxv. 17.

Ex. xxv. 23.

Ex. xxv. 31, etc.

Only six branches are mentioned in Ex. xxv. 32.

Ex. xxvi. 1.

Ex. xxvi. 7.

Ex. xxvi. 2.

Ex. xxvi. 16.

Ex. xxvi. 26.

Ex. xxx. 23, etc.

Ex. xxx. 34.

Some such supplement as this seems requisite, but the syntax in the Latin text is very confused.

Matt. 14:19, 21; Mark 6:41, 44; Luke 9:13, 14; John 6:9, 10, 11.

Matt. xxv. 2, etc.

Matt. xvii. 1.

St. John is here strangely overlooked.

Luke viii. 51.

Luke xvi. 28.

“Fines et summitates;” comp. Justin Mart., Dial. c. Tryph., 91.

“Juvenis,” one in the prime of life.

It has been usual in the Christian Church to reckon four commandments in the first table, and six in the second; but the above was the ancient Jewish division. See Joseph., Antiq., iii. 6.

Ex. xxvi. 37.

Ex. xxvii. 1; “altitudo” in the text must be exchanged for “latitudo.”

Ex. xxviii. 1.

Ex. xxviii. 5.

Josh. x. 17.

[Note the manly contempt with which our author dismisses a class of similitudes, which seem, even in our day, to have great attractions for some minds not otherwise narrow.]

365 (the days of the year)—12 × 30 + 5.

These hours of daylight, at the winter and summer solstice respectively, correspond to the latitude of Lyons, 45° 45´ N., where Irenæus resided.

“Alluding,” says Harvey, “to a custom among the ancients, of summing the numbers below 100 by various positions of the left hand and its fingers; 100 and upwards being reckoned by corresponding gestures of the right hand. The ninety and nine sheep, therefore, that remained quietly in the fold were summed upon the left hand, and Gnostics professed that they were typical of the true spiritual seed; but Scripture always places the workers of iniquity of the left hand, and in the Gnostic theory the evil principle of matter was sinistral, therefore,” etc., as above.

“Levamen,” corresponding probably to the Greek ἀνάπαυσιν.

᾽Αγάπη ( α = 1, γ = 3, α = 1, π = 80, η = 8 ) = 93.

᾽Αλήθεια ( α = 1, λ = 30, η = 8, θ = 9, ε = 5, ι = 10, α = 1 ) = 64.