Note 335 — II. THE COLOSSIAN HERESY.

Irenæus (iii. 11. 1), after speaking of Cerinthus and the Nicolaitans, proceeds ‘non, quemadmodum illi dicunt, alterum quidem fabricatorem (i.e. demiurgum), alium autem Patrem Domini: et alium quidem fabricatoris filium, alterum vero de superioribus Christum, quem et impassibilem perseverasse, descendentem in Jesum filium fabricatoris, et iterum revolasse in suum pleroma.’ The doctrine is precisely that which he has before ascribed to Cerinthus (i. 26. 1), but the mode of statement may have been borrowed from the Nicolaitans or from some later Gnostics. There is however no improbability in the supposition that Cerinthus used the word pleroma in this way; see the detached note on πλήρωμα below.