The Ways of Heretics

Τοιαύτης δὲ τῆς ὑποθέσεως αὐτῶν οὔσης, ἣν οὔτε προφῆται ἐχήρυξαν, οὔτε ὁ Κύριος ἐδίδαξεν, οὔτε ἀπόστολοι παρέδωχαν, ἦν περὶ τῶν ὅλων αὖχοῦσι πλεῖον τῶν ἄλλων ἐγνωκέναι, ἐξ ἀγράφων ἀναγινώσκοντες, καὶ τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον, ἐξ ἅμμου σχοινία πλέκειν ἐπιτηδεύοντες, ἀξιοπίστως προσαρμόζειν πειρῶνται τοῖς εἰρημένοις, ἧτοι παραδολὰς κυριακὰς, ἣ ῥήσεις προφητικὰς, ἣ λόγους ἀποστολιχοὺς, ἵνα τὸ πλάσμα αὐτῶν μὴ ἀμάρτυρον εἶναι δοχῇ" τὴν μὲν τάξιν καὶ τὸν εἱρμὸν τῶν Γραφῶν ὑπερδαίνοντες, καὶ, ὅσον ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτοῖς, λύοντες τὰ μέλη τῆς ἀληθείας, μεταφέρουσι δὲ καὶ μετακλάξτουσι, καὶ ἄλλο ἐξ ἄλλου ποίοῦντες ἑξαπατῶσι πολλοὺς, τῇ τῶν ἐφαρμοζομένων κοριακῶν λογίων κάκοσυνθέτῳ σοφίᾳ. Ὅνπεῤ τρόπον᾽ εἴ τις βασιλέως εἰκόνος καλῆς, κατεσκευαόμένης ἐκ ψηφίδων ἐπισήμων ὑπὸ σοφοῦ τεχνίτου, λύσας τὴν ὑποκειμένην τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἰδέαν, μετενέγκῃ τὰς ψηφῖδας ἐκείνας, καὶ μεθαρμόσοι, καὶ ποιήσει μορφὴν κυνὸς, ἢ ἁλώπεκος, καὶ ταύτην φαύλως κατεσχευασμένην, ἔπειτα διορίζοιτο, καὶ λέγοι ταύτην εἶναι τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐχείνην εἰκόνα τὴν καλὴν, ἣν ὁ σοφὸς τεχνίτης κατεσκεύασε, δεικνὺς τὰς ψηφῖδας τὰς καλῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ τεκνίτου τοῦ πρώτου εἰς τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως εἰχόνα συντεθείσας, κακῶς δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ὑστέρου εἰς χυνὸς μορφὴν μετενεχθείσας, καὶ διὰ τῆς τῶν ψηρφίδὼων φαντασίας μεθοδεύοι τοὺς ἀπειροτέρους, τοὺς κατάληψιν βασιλιχῆς μορφῆς οὐχ ἔχοντας, χαὶ πείθοι, ὅτι αὕτη ἡ σακρὰ τῆς ἀλώπεχος ἰδέα ἐχείνη ἐστὶν ἡ καλὴ τοῦ βασιλέως εἰχών" τὸν αὐτὸν δὴ τρόπον χαὶ εὖτοι γραῶν μύθους συγχαττύσαντες, ἔπειτα ῥήματα καὶ λέξεις, καὶ παραδολὰς ὅθεν καὶ πόθεν ἀποσπῶντες, ἐφαρμόζειν βούλονται τοῖς μύθοις αὖτῶν τὰ λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ. Sanctus Ireneaus Lugdunensis, Adversus Haereses, Liber I, Caput VIII Source: Migne PG 7.519b-523a

As it is, then, such is their system, which neither Prophets announced, nor the Lord taught, nor the Apostles handed on, but by which they boast abundantly that they have more knowledge than everyone else, gathering from that which is not Scripture, and, as it is said, striving to weave ropes from sand, while they try to adapt, with an appearance of noble honesty, to their own pronouncements, either the parables of the Lord, or the sayings of the Prophets, or the words of the Apostles, in order that their fantasies may not seem to be lacking witness, and so they pass over the order and the connection of the Scriptures, and so far as it in them lies, twist the limbs of truth, throwing them around, thrusting them here and there, making one thing out of another, and seducing by the adaptation the words of the Lord to their own poor fantastic arrangement. It is just as if the fine image of a king fashioned by the skill of a diligent artist out of precious jewels should be taken apart by someone, and then that he should rearrange the gems to fit them together as to make them into the form of a dog or a small fox, and that poorly executed, and he should then stand there boldly and declare that this was truly the fine image of the king a wise artist constructed, pointing to the jewels which had been admirably fitted together by the first artist to form the image of the king, but which have now been clumsily transferred by the latter to the shape of a dog, and by the mere appearance of the jewels, he should deceive the ignorant who had no conception what the king's form was like, persuading them that an inferior likeness of a small fox was, in fact, the fair image of the king. In such a way do these persons patch together old women's chatter, and then endeavour, by taking away from their proper connection, words, expressions, and parables, to adapt the words of God to their fictions. Saint Ireneaus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book 1, Chapter 8