Irenæus

Footnotes

Introductory Note to Irenæus Against Heresies

^[2837] The semi-vowels are λ, μ, ν, ρ, σ, ζ, ξ, ψ.

^[2838] It seems scarcely possible to give a more definite rendering of this clause: it may be literally translated thus: “And because they receive the outflow of those above, but the turning back again of those below.”

^[2839] The ninth letter being taken from the mutes and added to the semi-vowels, an equal division of the twenty-four was thus secured.

^[2840] Viz., Pater, Anthropos, and Logos.

^[2841] Viz., ζ, ξ, ψ = δς, κς, πς.

^[2842] Matt. xvii. 7; Mark ix. 2.

^[2843] Moses and Elias being added to the company.

^[2844] Referring to the word Χρειστός, according to Harvey, who remarks, that “generally the Ogdoad was the receptacle of the spiritual seed.”

^[2845] The Saviour, as Alpha and Omega, was symbolized by the dove, the sum of the Greek numerals, π, ε, ρ, ι, σ, τ, ε, ρ, α (περιστερά, dove), being, like that of Α and Ω, 801.

^[2846] That is, the letters ζ, ξ, ψ all contain ς, whose value is six, and which was called ἐπίσημον by the Greeks.

^[2847] Referring to Aletheia, which, in Greek, contains seven letters.

^[2848] By these seven powers are meant the seven heavens (also called angels), formed by the Demiurge.

^[2849] We here follow the text of Hippolytus: the ordinary text and the old Latin read, “So does the soul of infants, weeping and mourning over Marcus, deify him.”

^[2850] Ps. viii. 2.

^[2851] Ps. xix. 1.

^[2852] The text is here altogether uncertain: we have given the probable meaning.

^[2853] That is, the name of Soter, the perfect result of the whole Pleroma.

Chapter XV.—Sige relates to Marcus the generation of the twenty-four elements and of Jesus. Exposure of these absurdities.

^[2854] Manifestly to be so spelt here, as in the sequel Chreistus, for Christus.

^[2855] The text is here altogether uncertain, and the meaning obscure.

^[2856] The reading is exceedingly doubtful: some prefer the number eighty-eight.

^[2857] There were, as Harvey observes, three extraneous characters introduced into the Greek alphabet for the sake of numeration —the three episema for 6, 90, and 900 respectively. The true alphabet, then, as employed to denote number, included eight units, eight tens, and eight hundreds.

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