The Naassene Fragment, on Attis
S. 4 Moreover, also, the Phrygians say that the Father of wholes 5 is Amygdalos 6—
J. —no [ordinary] tree 7 (H. he says); but that He is that Amygdalos the Pre-existing, who having in Himself the Perfect Fruit, as it were, throbbing 8 and moving in [His] Depth, He tore asunder 9 His Womb, and gave birth to His own Son 10—
C. —the Invisible, Unnameable, and Ineffable [One] of whom we tell. 1
S. For “amyxai” 2 is, as it were, “to break” and “cut open”; just as (H. he says) in the case of inflamed bodies and those which have some internal tumour, when physicians lance them, they speak of “amychas.” 3
Thus (H. he says) the Phrygians call him Amygdalos.
C. From whom proceeded and was born the Invisible—
“Through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made.” 4
(30) S. The Phrygians also say that that which is generated from Him is Syriktēs. 5
J. For that which is generated is Spirit in harmony. 6
C. For “God (H. he says) is Spirit.” 7
Wherefore He says:
“Neither in this mountain do the true worshippers worship, nor in Jerusalem, but in Spirit.” 8
For the worship of the perfect [men] (H. he says) is spiritual, not fleshly.
J. And “Spirit” (H. he says) is there where both Father and Son are named, generated there from Him 1 and the Father.
S. He 2 (H. he says) is the Many-named, Myriad-eyed, Incomprehensible, whom every nature desires, some one way, some another.
J. This (H. he says) is the Word 3 of God, which is:
“The Word of Announcement of the Great Power. Wherefore It shall be sealed, and hidden, and concealed, stored in the Habitation, where the Root of the Universals has its foundation—
“Of Æons, Powers, Intelligences, Gods, Angels, Spirits Delegate, Existing Non-existences, Generated Ingenerables, Comprehensible Incomprehensibles,—Years, Months, Days, Hours,—of [the] Boundless Point, from which the most minute begins to increase by parts. 4
“For (H. he says) the Point which is nothing and is composed of nothing, though partless, will become by means of its own Thought a Greatness 1 beyond our own comprehension.”
C. This [Point] (H. he says) is the Kingdom of the Heavens, the “grain of mustard seed,” 2 the partless point, the first existing for the body; which no one (H. he says) knows save the spiritual [men] alone.
J. This (H. he says) is what is said:
“They are neither words nor languages whereby their 3 sounds are heard.” 4
H. These things, [then,] which are said and done by all men, they thus interpret off-hand to their peculiar theory (νοῦν), pretending that they are all done with a spiritual meaning.
For which cause also they 5 say that the performers in the theatres—they, too, neither say nor do anything without Design. 6
S. For example (H. he says), when the people assemble in the theatres, and a man comes on the stage, clad in a robe different from all others, with lute 7 in hand on which he plays, and thus chants the Great Mysteries, not knowing what he says: 8
“Whether blest Child of Kronos, or of Zeus, or of Great Rhea,—
Hail, Attis, thou mournful song 9 of Rhea!
Assyrians call thee thrice-longed-for Adōnis;
all Egypt [calls thee] Osiris;
the Wisdom of Hellas [names thee] Mēn’s Heavenly Horn;
the Samothracians [call thee] august Adama;
the Hæmonians, Korybas;
the Phrygians [name thee] Papa sometimes,
at times again Dead, or God, 1 or Unfruitful,
or Aipolos, or Green Reaped 2 Wheat-ear,
or the Fruitful that Amygdalos brought forth,
Man, Piper . . . Attis!”
H. He [S.] says that this is the Attis of many forms of whom they [NN., in H.’s opinion] sing as follows:
S. “Of Attis will I sing, of Rhea’s [Belovèd];—
not with the boomings 3 of bells,
nor with the deep-toned 4 pipe of Idæan Kurētes;
but I will blend my song with Phoebus’ music of the lyre.
Evoï! Evan!—for [thou art] Pan, [thou] Bacchus [art], and Shepherd of bright stars!”
G.R.S. Mead, Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 1, 1906, pp. 182-6.
From Hippolytus, Philosophumena; or, Refutation of all Heresies.
Samizdat 