The congregation became unsettled. Some declared that the advice of Eustace must be followed. Others asked to be heard, not wishing to lose the opportunity of expounding their doctrines before a general religious council. Faces kindled and voices rose. "Let a Cæcilian enter one of our churches now" exulted Purpuris, "and we'll place our hands on his head, not to choose him as our shepherd, but to crack his skull!" Many forgot the purpose of the meeting and engaged in subtle discussions, seeking converts. The Basilidian, Triphon, who hailed from Egypt, surrounded by curious hearers, exhibited a transparent chrysolith amulet, bearing the mysterious word "Abraxa." "He who shall understand the meaning of the word _Abraxa_," Triphon was saying to the group around him, "shall receive all freedom, shall become an immortal, and, tasting all sins, be sullied by none. _Abraxa_ represents by letters the number of the mountains in heaven, three hundred and sixty-five. Above the three hundred and sixty-five celestial spheres, above the hierarchies of angels and archangels, there is a certain Nothingness, nameless, and more beautiful than any light, a motionless and sterile Nothingness...." "The motionless and sterile nothingness is in your own stupid head!" growled an Arian bishop, striding straight up to Triphon. The Gnostic, according to his custom, became silent, locking his lips in a contemptuous smile, and raising a forefinger-- "Wisdom! Wisdom!" he ejaculated, and vanished in the crowd. The prophetess of Papusa, among her anxious Copts, stood up, terrible, pale, half-swooning, and groaned, as if her troubled eyes saw nothing, as if her ears heard nothing-- "_Maran Atha_"--"The Lord is coming!" The disciples of the youth Epiphanes, a Pagan demi-god or Christian martyr, worshipped in the oratories of Cephalonia, were declaiming brotherhood and equality-- "There are no laws but these: Destroy all; let all be in common--women, lands, riches, like earth, air, and sun!" The Ophites, serpent-worshippers, raised above their heads a cross, round which a tame adder was coiling-- "The wisdom of the Serpent," they said, "gives man a knowledge of good and evil; behold the saviour, Ophiomorphos, the serpentiform! Fear nothing! Hearken to him! Taste the forbidden fruit, and ye shall be even as gods!" A perfumed and curled Marcosianist, lifting on high a crystal cup full of water with the skilful gestures of a juggler, invited curiosity-- "Look at this miracle! the water's going to boil and be turned into blood!" Colabasians were there, counting their fingers with inconceivable celerity, and demonstrating that all the numbers of Pythagoras, every mystery of heaven and earth, were comprised in the letters of the Greek alphabet-- "Alpha, Omega--the beginning and the end, and between them the Trinity; Beta, Gamma, Delta--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! You see how simple it is!"