Chapter XXII.—Origin of the Devil, in the Criminal Excess of the Sorrow of Achamoth. The Devil, Called Also Munditenens, Actually Wiser Than the Demiurge, Although His Work.

The odium felt amongst them^68306830    Infamia apud illos. against the devil is the more excusable,^68316831    Tolerabilior. even because the peculiarly sordid character of his origin justifies it.^68326832    Capit: “capax est,” nimirum “infamiæ” (Fr. Junius). For he is supposed by them to have had his origin in that criminal excess^68336833    Ex nequitia. of her^68346834    Achamoth’s. sorrow, from which they also derive the birth of the angels, and demons, and all the wicked spirits. Yet they affirm that the devil is the work of the Demiurge, and they call him Munditenens^68356835    Irenæus’ word is Κοσμοκράτωρ; see also Eph. vi. 12. (Ruler of the World), and maintain that, as he is of a spiritual nature, he has a better knowledge of the things above than the Demiurge, an animal being. He deserves from them the pre-eminence which all heresies provide him with.