From M David Litwa's book,
Refuation of All Heresies
(the chapter number seem different to what are given elsewhere)
Book 9
13. 1. When the teaching of Kallistos resounded the world over, a man by the name of Alkibiades (who was deceitful and stark raving mad) observed this affair while living in Apamea of Syria.92 He, judging himself more monstrous and more naturally suited for scams than Kallistos, came to Rome bringing a certain book.93 He claimed that a certain righteous man named Elchasai had received it from the Seres of Parthia.94
2. Elchasai handed it on to a man called Sobiai,95 as if it were an oracle from an angel96 who was twenty-four reeds high (or ninety-six miles),97 four reeds wide, and six reeds from shoulder to shoulder. His footprints were three and a half reeds in length (or fourteen miles), one and a half reeds wide, and half a reed high. 3. There was a female with him too, whose measurements, he says, accorded with the preceding. Now the male is the son of God, whereas the female is called “Holy Spirit”.98
4. Telling these fantastical tales, Alkibiades thought that he could whip up fools by saying that this angel preached a new forgiveness of sins as good news to human beings in the third year of Trajan’s regency.99 Moreover, he ordains a baptism100 (which I will also relate), claiming that those embroiled in every licentiousness, defilement, and criminal behavior—if he is a believer who has turned from sin, has heard this book, and believed in it—by baptism receives forgiveness of sins.101
5. These scams he dared to devise, having taken his starting point from Kallistos’s dogma that I mentioned previously.102 Realizing that many would be pleased with such a promise, Alkibiades supposed that it was a good time to make his attempt. By opposing him, I did not permit the masses to be totally led astray. I exposed this movement as the activity of a bastard spirit and the invention of a puffed-up heart. I further showed that Alkibiades was like a wolf rising up against many wandering sheep—the very sheep that Kallistos, by misleading them, had scattered.
92. In this section, Alkibiades is portrayed as the main opponent, although he disappears in the summary in Ref. 10.29. Alkibiades belonged to a broader group commonly referred to as “Elchasaites.” For an introduction to this group, see Luttikhuizen, Revelation, 210–26; idem, “Elchasaites and Their Book,” in Marjanen and Luomanen, Companion, 335–64; Simon Claude Mimouni, “Les elkasaïtes: États des questions et des recherches,” in Tomson and Lambers-Petry, Image of the Judaeo-Christians, 209–29. For our author’s treatment of the “Elchasaites,” see J. Thomas, Le movement baptiste en Palestine et Syrie (150 av. J.-C.–300 ap. J.-C.) (Gembloux: J. Duculot, 1935), 140–56; Koschorke, Ketzerbekämpfung, 74–87; Simon Claude Mimouni, Le judéo-christianisme ancien: Essays historiques (Paris: Cerf, 1998), 287–307.
93. On the (fabricated) relationship between Kallistos and Alkibiades, see Carsten Colpe, “Die ‘elkesaitische Unternehmung’ in Rom, ihre Hintergründe und ihre mögliche Einwirkung auf das Häreseienbild des Bischofs Hippolyt,” in Chartulae: Festschrift für Wolfgang Speyer, JAC Ergänzungsband 28 (Münster: Aschendorff, 1998), 57–69 (61–64).
94. Note that Elchasai is not the writer of the book but one of its tradents. On the name Elchasai, see Luttikhuizen, Revelation, 179–88. On the nature of the book itself, see ibid., 87–88, 189–206; Luigi Cirillo, “L’apocalypse d’Elkhasaï: Son rôle et son importance pour l’histoire du judaïsme,” Apocrypha 1 (1990): 167–80 (170–76); Jones, Pseudoclementina, 359–431. Jones presents an order of the book’s fragments quite different from the reconstruction of Johannes Irmscher, “The Book of Elchasai,” in NTApoc 2:685–90. It is disputed whether, in the excerpts that follow, our author is quoting from Alkibiades (Luttikhuizen, Revelation, 225–26) or from the book itself. Jones argues that, since our author views the Book of Elchasai as a forgery (Ref. 10.29.1), he cites it “as if Alkibiades were speaking” (Jones, Pseudoclementina, 380). Seres (Σηρῶν) could refer to a region or to an eastern tribe that faithfully preserved primordial knowledge (Luttikhuizen, Revelation, 60; cf. Ps.-Clem. Rec. 8.48 [Rehm]). See further G. J. Reinink, “Das Land ‘Seiris’ (Šir) und das Volk der Serer in jüdischen und christlichen Traditionen,” JSJ 6 (1975): 72–85.
95. Some scholars view the name “Sobiai” as a transcription of an Aramaic participle meaning “to wash/baptize.” If so, Sobiai should be understood as “the baptists/baptizers.” See further Luttikhuizen, Revelation, 61
96. Cf. Origen in Eusebios, Hist. eccl. 6.38 (the book fell from heaven). According to Epiph., Pan. 19.1.4, Elchasai (here: Elxai) wrote the book under prophetic inspiration.
97. The measurement assumed here indicates that a reed (σχοῖνος) is four (Roman) miles long, which is about 3.6 English miles.
98. Epiphanios describes these huge angels three times: in his reports on the Jewish Ossaeans (Pan. 19.4.1–2), the Ebionites (30.17.6–7), and the Sampsaeans (53.1.9). Sometimes Epiphanios refers to the male angel as Christ. See further Cirillo, Elchasai, 53–60; Luttikhuizen, “Elchasaites and Their Book,” 344. The huge size of the angels is reminiscent of the Shi‘ur Qomah texts in later Jewish (Hekhalot) literature, for which see Martin Samuel Cohen, The Shi‘ur Qomah: Texts and Recensions (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1985). Yet other parallels are closer to home: e.g., Herm. Sim. 9.6.1 (83.1).
99. “This one” (τοῦτον) may refer to the male angel or to Elchasai. Our author later excerpts a text that speaks of Trajan mastering the Parthians in three years (Ref. 9.16.4). He may have assumed that the text was written three years into Trajan’s reign (101 CE). Problematically, Trajan only began the Parthian war in 114 CE (see further Luttikhuizen, Revelation, 63). Possibly the third year of Trajan refers to “a local era that numbered the years from Trajan’s assumption of power in the area” (Jones, Pseudoclementina, 396).
100. Marcovich inserts here and in Ref. 9.15.1 δεύτερον (“second [i.e., baptism]”), comparing Ref. 9.12.26 (“second” baptism of Kallistos). Our author did indeed interpret Elchasaite baptism as a second baptism for believers (note that he also accuses Markos of instituting a second baptism in Ref. 6.41.2–3). But his report on Alkibiades also assumes repeated therapeutic baptisms (Ref. 9.15.5; 9.16.1). It is not clear how Alkibiades understood his baptismal practices to relate to baptism in other churches. Given these ambiguities, it is safer to return to the original reading of P here and below where a simple βάπτισμα is specified. See further Cirillo, “L’apocalypse,” 176–79; Colpe, “Die ‘elkesaitische Unternehmung,’” 61–64; Gerard Luttikhuizen, “The Book of Elchasai: A Jewish Apocalyptic Writing, Not a Christian Church Order,” in Society of Biblical Literature 1999 Seminar Papers, SBLSP 38 (Atlanta: SBL, 1999, 405–25 (407–10); Simon Claude Mimouni, “Un ritual ‘mystérique’ des baptistes judéo-chrétiens des premiers siècles de notre ère?” in Expérience et écriture mystiques dans les religions du livre: Actes d’un colloque international tenu par le Centre d’études juives Université de Paris IV-Sorbonne 1994, ed. Paul B. Fenton and Roland Goetschel (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 55–74 (60–74).
101. Luttikhuizen asserts that “the Roman church did not yet have an institutionalized method for the remission of grave sins committed by baptized Christians (the sacrament of penance)” (“Elchasaites and Their Book,” 338). Thus Alkibiades had a market among Christians already baptized.
102. Namely, the “dogma” of universal forgiveness in Ref. 9.12.20.
The teachings of Alkibiades
6. But since I made a beginning, I will not keep secret the doctrines of Alkibiades. First, I drag into the open his lifestyle, showing that his supposed discipline is feigned. Secondly, I will present the chief points of his sayings, so that the one who reads his writings with a trained eye might know what and what sort of heresy he ventured.103
14. 1. This man advertises living according to the Law as bait, claiming that it is necessary to be circumcised and for believers to live according to the Law.104 But he draws certain things also from the previously mentioned heresies. He says, for instance, that Christ was a human being and was born just like everybody else.105 He was not born first in our times from a virgin, but even earlier. In fact, he was born many times. He seemed to be reborn and grow, alternating births and changing bodies (here Alkibiades cribs that old Pythagorean doctrine).106
2. They are so inflated with pride that they call themselves “foreseers of the future.” As their starting points, they clearly use measurements and numbers from the aforementioned Pythagorean art. They also devote themselves to diviners, astrologers, and magicians as if they were genuine. They use them to whip up dim-witted people, who consequently think that they partake of magically effective speech.
3. They teach certain spells and incantations for those bitten by dogs, the demon possessed, as well as those subject to other diseases. I will not keep these matters secret either. Since I have sufficiently recounted their principles and the root causes of their audacities, I will advance to relate their writings. By this means, those who read them will know both their delirium and their godless designs.
103. Cirillo proposes that the ἔγγραφα (“writings”) were excerpts that Alkibiades took from the Book of Elchasai for his missionary preaching (Elchasai, 20; similarly Jones, Pseudoclementina, 425). In contrast, Luttikhuizen asserts that the ἔγγραφα refer to written reports of Alkibiades’s oral teachings given before a select group. These written reports may have consisted of brief notes penned by our author himself or one of his assistants (Revelation, 63, 68). These notes included excerpts from the Book of Elchasai, but relatively few can be safely reconstructed. See further Cirillo, “L’apocalypse,” 168–69.
104. cf. Ref. 7.34.1 (“Ebionites”); Iren., Haer. 1.26.2; Epiph., Pan. 19.3.5.
105. cf. Karpokrates and Kerinthos in Ref. 7.32–33.
106. cf. Epiph., Pan. 30.3.1–6; 53.1.8.
Elchasaite Writings
15. 1. Alkibiades delivers a baptism to his followers, announcing to his dupes something like this:
- So if, my children, someone had sex with any animal whatsoever, or with a male or sister or daughter, or has committed adultery or another sexual infraction and wants to receive forgiveness of sins, the moment that he hears this book, let him be baptized a second time in the name of the great and highest God and in the name of his Son, the great King, and let him be cleansed and sanctify himself. 2. Let him call to witness for himself the seven witnesses who are written in this book: heaven, water, the holy spirits, the angels of prayer, oil, salt, and earth.107
These are the wondrous mysteries of Elchasai, the unspeakable and magnificent mysteries that Alkibiades delivers to his worthy disciples! These acts do not satisfy the lawless man, but “with two or three witnesses” he places them under the seal of his own vices, declaring in turn:
108
- 3. Again I say, O adulterers, adulteresses, and false prophets—if you want to convert so that your sins will be forgiven and so that
there will be peace for you and a portion with the righteous—the moment that you hear this book, be baptized a second time with
your clothes.109
Therapeutic Baptisms
4. But since I claimed that they use spells for those bitten by dogs (and other ailments), I will prove it. He says:
- Now should a mad and rabid dog infected with a spirit of destruction bite or gash or touch a man or woman or young man or young woman, let them run that very instant and, by descending into a river or fountain (wherever the place is deep), 5. let them baptize themselves with all their clothes. Then, let them pray to the great and highest God with heartfelt faith. And then let them call as witnesses the seven witnesses who are written in this book: “Behold I call to witness heaven, water, the holy spirits, the angels of prayer, oil, salt, and earth. 6. I testify by these seven witnesses that I will no longer sin. I will not commit adultery, I will not steal, I will not harm, I will not be greedy, I will not hate, I will not deal treacherously, nor take pleasure in any evil.” Having said these things, let them be baptized with all their clothes in the name of the great and highest God.110
107. This baptism was probably meant to cover grave or “mortal” sins committed by Christians after their first baptism. See further Luttikhuizen, Revelation, 72–73. The last quotation in the excerpt may be from the Book of Elchasai, which Alkibiades quotes (ibid., 71–72). The oath formula is given more fully below in Ref. 9.15.5–6. The oath indicates that Alkibiades demanded rebaptized Christians to undergo a rigorous moral reformation. cf. the seven witnesses (actually eight, if God is included) in Epiph., Pan. 19.6.4. We find heaven, earth, water, and air called to witness in Ps.-Clem. Adjuration 2.1 and 4.1 (Rehm, I, 3:10–12; 4:6–8). Cf. also Disc. 8–9 (NHC VI,6) 63.15–24; OF 619. The practice has biblical roots (Isa 1:2) and was encouraged by the fact that one should not swear directly by God.
108. For the two witnesses, see Deut 17:6; 19:15; Matt 18:16; 1 Tim 5:19. Our author uses sealing language likely because baptism was associated with the sealing of the Holy Spirit.
109. False prophets are associated with adulterers because they were thought to prostitute themselves to demons. Cirillo believes that this quote immediately followed what our author quotes in Ref. 9.15.2 (Cirillo, Elchasai, 19, 64). Luttikhuizen, however, asserts that this excerpt was addressed directly to Christian sinners and did not stem from the same source as the other quotations in Ref. 9.15–17 (Revelation, 69–70, 74–75).
110. cf. the account in Epiph., Pan. 30.17.4–5, with the comments of Andrea Nicolotti, “A Cure for Rabies or a Remedy for Concupiscence? A Baptism of the Elchasaites,” JECS 16 (2008): 518–34. (Nicolotti argues that the dog bite actually transmits a demon that is a punishment for sin.) The moral demands required for this sort of baptism show that Alkibiades was hardly lax. Luttikhuizen, who thinks that such renunciations of sin do not fit a cure for rabies, would move the renunciation to Ref. 9.15.2 where the rebaptism of Christian sinners is described (Revelation, 77). cf. Pliny the Younger, Ep. 10.96.7 (Christians swear to abstain from theft, adultery, and dishonesty).
16. 1. He blabbers a great many other things. He teaches that the same words be pronounced over consumptives too, and that they be baptized in cold water forty times over the course of seven days—and similarly for demoniacs.
O inimitable wisdom and spells filled full with power! Who will not be struck by the character and magnitude of the power of these words?
Astrological Admonitions
2. But since I accused them of using astrological deceit, I will prove it from their own words. He speaks as follows:
- There are evil planets of impiety. This has now been spoken to us, O you God-fearing disciples. Guard yourselves from the authority of the days of their rule, and do not begin your projects on their days, and do not baptize a man or woman on the days of their authority.
3. Whenever the moon travels beside these planets and is in conjunction with them, take caution on that day, until it veers away from them. Then baptize yourselves and start your projects at any point. Yet honor the Sabbath day, since it is one of those [unfavorable] days.
4. Now, on the third day of the week, take caution also not to begin anything, because once again—when three years of Caesar Trajan are again fulfilled, after he has subjected the Parthians to his own authority—the war between the angels of impiety in the north will break out. For this reason, all the kingdoms of impiety are disturbed.111
111. Here, “Elchasaites” are advised not to begin activities on Saturday and Tuesday in part because the planetary rulers of those days, Saturn and Mars, were viewed as malefic. Jones observes that “a conjunction of the moon with Saturn and with Mars would cover probably one day (perhaps, however, two or more) each a month” (Pseudoclementina, 436, with sources). See further Luttikhuizen, Revelation, 78–79; Hegedus,
Early Christianity, 292–94, 304–5. Trajan successfully fought the Parthians between 114 and 117 CE, although they quickly rebelled. Consequently, Luttikhuizen dates the prophecy to the autumn of 116 CE, when Trajan still had the upper hand. “It seems that the author of the book expected that, after the completion of another period of three years of Roman occupation, a new war of much larger dimensions would break out”
(“Elchasaites and Their Book,” 340).
Protection of the Mysteries
17.1. Accordingly, since Alkibiades considers it unreasonable that these great and inexpressible mysteries be trampled upon and delivered to the masses, he counsels his hearers to protect them like precious pearls.
112 To quote him:
- Do not read this oracle to all people, and keep these commandments with all diligence; for not all men are trustworthy, nor are all women upright.
2. These mysteries neither the sages of Egypt in their inner shrines nor the Greek sage Pythagoras were capable of grasping. For if Elchasai happened to live at that time, what need would there be for Pythagoras, Thales, Solon, the wise Plato, or the rest of the Greek sages to learn from the Egyptian priests—since they would have had such great wisdom from Alkibiades, the most wondrous interpreter of the wretched Elchasai?
3. Now then, it seems that what I have said is sufficient for people of sane mind to recognize the insanity of these people. Accordingly, I have decided not to quote their numerous oracles, since they are profuse and ridiculous.
But since I neglected none of the present teachings that have arisen in my lifetime, and have not kept secret those that arose before me, it seems right (so that I can proceed through all the material and leave nothing untold) to discuss the customs of the Jews, as well as their mutual differences.
4. (These matters, I believe, remain untreated).
113 When I reveal even their secrets, I will proceed to the demonstration of the true doctrine, so that after this huge labor of accounting for all heresies, we, who rush to the crown of the kingdom and piously believe the true doctrines, might not be disturbed.
112. cf. Ref. 5.8.33 (Naassenes); Matt 7:6 (pearls before swine); Gos. Thom. 93.
113. Our author identifies contemporary Jews as “heretics,” setting a trend for future heresiography. See further Averil Cameron, “Jews and Heretics—A Category Error?” in The Ways That Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, ed. Adam H. Becker and Annette Yoshiko Reed (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003), 345–60.