S. Parvis—Irenaeus, Women, and Tradition 163However, he claims, they are also rejecting the apostle Paul, who in the Letter to the
Corinthians spoke of prophetic charisms, and knows both men and women (viros et
mulieres) prophesying in the church. By rejecting all these, Irenaeus argues, they com-
mit the unforgivable sin, the sin against the Holy Spirit: “Per haec igitur omnia pec-
cantes in Spiritum Dei in irremissibile peccatum.”^26
Perhaps I am putting undue strain on “haec omnia” here. But the logic of Irenaeus’s
argument is that rejecting women prophets is included among those things that repre-
sent the unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit, because the whole story for Irenaeus is
a package. It is the Holy Spirit that guarantees that the Old and New Testaments speak
of the same God, and that the church is faithful to that God and to Christ. The Holy
Spirit who spoke through the Old Testament prophets also spoke through John and
Paul, and also spoke through women prophets known to Paul.^27 Thus he both insists
that women prophets are found in tradition, and implies that more women prophets
are therefore likely to arise in the future. To reject these things is to reject both Scrip-
ture and the Holy Spirit, Irenaeus argues. He has no greater sanction.
Let us return to the discussion of Marcus, for here we see a robust defense of what
real prophecy is, a defense made by women.^28 These women, “some of the most faith-
ful,” it is worth noting in passing, who seem to have spent time in Marcus’s orbit before
turning against him, may be Irenaeus’s source for some or all of the bootleg copies of
the Gnostic scriptures he has gotten a hold of. They certainly offer a valuable glimpse
into the lives and thoughts of the women who were attracted by or at least interested
in Gnosticism.
The picture painted in Hae r. I.13.3-4 is a revealing one. Marcus has obviously been
holding some sort of assembly, which has clearly proved very popular. A lot of the
well-born women of the area (again, by Irenaeus’s account) have gone along. None
of their friends or connections seems to have hindered them, or suggested there was
any problem with attending such events. It was likely a very charismatic occasion, in
the modern sense of the term. But these women have, despite the clear attractions of
the assembly, smelled a rat, decided that this man is in it for himself, and shopped the
operation to the bishop.
What they dislike about it is precisely the element of control. It is Marcus who
orchestrates the events, calling forward individual women to prophesy, with the words
“See, grace has descended on you: open your mouth and prophesy.” But the women
whose story Irenaeus gives are disgusted, breathing back out his supposed divine spirit
at him and covering him with anathemas, separating themselves from his company.
Their objection is that the gift of prophecy is not given to people by Marcus the magi-
cian but is sent by God from on high, and people who have it speak not on command
but when and where God chooses. Whatever else they may or may not know about the
faith, they know this for certain. Marcus’s actions, to them, are blasphemous. Whatever
about the Rule of Truth, it is their very strong understanding of the nature of the pro-
phetic charism that, from Irenaeus’s perspective, keeps them safe.
A trust in their sense of who God really is, and what sort of life they are being called
to lead, is the basis of Irenaeus’s pitch to the sort of women who might be attracted by
Gnosticism. Although he is prepared to give space to feminine imagery where it can