and forty bishops, and they held divergent views—indeed, divergent creeds—(1).

Some of them said, “The Messiah and Mary are two gods apart from God,” and these were the Maryamiyya (2).

Others said, “The Messiah proceeds from the Father as a flame of fire kindled from another flame; the first flame is not diminished by lighting the second.”

Still others claimed, “Mary did not conceive for nine months; rather, a light passed through Mary’s womb just as water flows through a spout, for the Word of God entered through her ear and, in that very moment, emerged from the place whence children come.” This was the doctrine of Alban (3) and his followers.

Another group asserted, “The Messiah is a human being created from the divine essence, one of us in substance; the Son’s beginning was with Mary, and he was chosen to be the saviour of human essences. Divine grace accompanied him, settling in him through love and will, and for that reason he was called the Son of God. They say that God is one substance and one hypostasis (4) to which they give three names, and they do not believe in the Word or in the Holy Spirit.” This was the doctrine of Paul and his adherents.

Yet another faction maintained, “There are three eternal gods (5): Good, Evil, and Justice…"