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One day John, the brother of James [these are the sons of Zebedee], was going up to
the Temple. A Pharisee by the name of Arimanios came up to him and challenged him, asking:
"Where is the teacher you used to follow?"
John replied, "He has gone back to the place from which he came."
The Pharisee said, "That Nazarene misled you (plural), told you lies, closed your hearts
and turned you away from your ancestral traditions."
When I heard these things, I, John, turned away from the temple and went off to a deserted
mountainous place. I was very unhappy, saying to myself:
"How was the Savior designated? Why did his Father send him into the world?
Who is his Father? What kind of realm will we go to?
For, although he told us, 'This realm is modeled on the imperishable realm,'
He didn't teach us about the latter."
All of a sudden, while I was contemplating these things,
Behold! The heavens opened and the whole of creation
shone with a light from above, And the world quaked!
I was afraid, yet Behold!
A little child appeared before me in the light. I continued looking at him as he became an
old man And then he changed again, becoming like a
young man. I didn't understand what I was seeing,
But the one likeness had several forms in the light,
And these likenesses appeared each through the other
And the vision had three forms.
He said to me, "John, why doubt?
Why be afraid? Don't you know this image?
Be not afraid. I am with you (plural) always.
I am the Father The Mother
The Son I am the incorruptible
Purity.
I have come to teach you About what is
And what was And what will be
In order for you to understand The invisible world
And the world that is visible And the immovable race of perfect humanity.
Raise your head; Understand my lessons;
Share them with any others who have received the spirit,
Who are from the immovable race of perfect humanity."
The Inexpressible One
The One rules all. Nothing has authority over it.
It is the God. It is Father of everything,
Holy One The invisible one over everything.
It is uncontaminated Pure light no eye can bear to look within.
The One is the Invisible Spirit. It is not right to think of it as a God or
as like God. It is more than just God.
Nothing is above it. Nothing rules it.
Since everything exists within it It does not exist within anything.
Since it is not dependent on anything It is eternal.
It is absolutely complete and so needs nothing. It is utterly perfect
Light.
The One is without boundaries Nothing exists outside of it to border it
The One cannot be investigated Nothing exists apart from it to investigate
it The One cannot be measured
Nothing exists external to it to measure it
The One cannot be seen For no one can envision it
The One is eternal For it exists forever
The One is inconceivable For no one can comprehend it
The One is indescribable For no one can put any words to it.
The One is infinite light Purity
Holiness Stainless,
The One is incomprehensible Perfectly free from corruption.
Not "perfect" Not "blessed"
Not "divine" But superior to such concepts.
Neither physical nor unphysical Neither immense nor infinitesimal
It is impossible to specify in quantity or quality
For it is beyond knowledge.
The One is not a being among other beings It is vastly superior
But it is not "superior."
It is outside of realms of being and time For whatever is within realms of being was
created And whatever is within time had time allotted
to it The One receives nothing from anything.
It simply apprehends itself in its own perfect light
The One is majestic. The One is measureless majesty
Chief of all Realms Producing all realms
Light Producing light
Life Producing life
Blessedness Producing blessedness
Knowledge Producing knowledge
Good Producing goodness
Mercy Producing mercy
Generous Producing generosity
[It does not "possess" these things.]
It gives forth light beyond measure, beyond comprehension.
[What can I say?]
His realm is eternal, peaceful, silent, resting, before everything.
He is the head of every realm sustaining each of them through goodness.
The Origin of Reality
[We would know nothing of the ineffable And nothing of the immeasurable
Without the help of the one who comes forth from the One who is the Father.
He alone has informed us.]
The Father is surrounded by light. He apprehends himself in that light
[which is the pure spring of the water of life
that sustains all realms].
He is conscious of his image everywhere around him,
Perceiving his image in this spring of Spirit Pouring forth from himself.
He is enamored of the image he sees in the light-water,
The spring of pure light-water enveloping him.
His self-aware thought (ennoia) came into being.
Appearing to him in the effulgence of his light.
She stood before him.
This, then, is the first of the powers, prior to everything.
Arising out of the mind of the Father The Providence (pronoia) of everything.
Her light reflects His light.
She is from His image in His light Perfect in power
Image of the invisible perfect *** Spirit.
She is the initial power glory of Barbelo
glorious among the realms glory of revelation
She gave glory to the *** Spirit She praised Him
For she arose from Him.
[This, the first Thought, is the Spirit's image]
She is the universal womb She is before everything
She is: Mother-Father
First Man Holy Spirit
Thrice Male Thrice Powerful
Thrice Named
Androgynous eternal realm First to arise among the invisible realms.
She, Barbelo, asked the *** Spirit for foreknowledge (prognosis).
The Spirit agreed. Foreknowledge came forth and stood by Providence
[This one came through the Invisible *** Spirit's Thought.]
Foreknowledge gave glory to the Spirit And to Barbelo, the Spirit's perfect power,
For She was the reason that it had come into being.
Primary Structures of the Divine Mind
She, Barbelo, asked the *** Spirit for Incorruptibility
The Spirit agreed. Incorruptibility came forth and stood by Thought
and Foreknowledge.
Incorruptibility gave glory to the Invisible *** Spirit
And to Barbelo, For She was the reason that it had come into
being.
She asked for everlasting Life. The Spirit agreed
Everlasting life came forth and they all stood together.
They gave glory to the invisible Spirit
And to Barbelo, For She was the reason that it had come into
being.
She asked for Truth. The Spirit agreed
Truth came forth and they all stood together. They gave glory to the invisible Spirit
And to Barbelo, For She was the reason that it had come into
being.
This is the fivefold realm of the Father:
The First Man who is The Image of the Invisible Spirit who is
Providence who is Barbelo who is
Thought. And
Foreknowledge - Incorruptibility - Life Everlasting - Truth
[These are an androgynous fivefold realm - therefore it is a realm of ten - of the Father.]
Secondary Structures of the Divine Mind
The Father looked into Barbelo [into the pure light surrounding the Invisible
Spirit]
Barbelo conceived and bore a spark of light Who had blessedness similar to, but not equal
to, her blessedness,
Who was the only child of that mother--father The only offspring,
The only begotten child of the pure light, the Father.
The Invisible *** Spirit celebrated the light that had been produced
Coming forth from the first power who is The Providence
Barbelo
The Spirit anointed him with Goodness, making him perfect
[he lacked no goodness whatsoever, for he was anointed with the Invisible Spirit's
Goodness]
He stood in the Spirit's presence and it was poured upon him.
Having received this anointing from the Spirit he immediately glorified Him
And he glorified the perfect Providence. Because of Her he had come into being.
He asked for Mind (nous) to be a companion to him.
The Spirit consented
When the Invisible Spirit consented Mind came into being.
It stood by the Anointed and glorified the Spirit and Barbelo
[These beings came into existence through silence and thought.]
He wished to act through the Word of the Invisible Spirit.
Whose Will became an action and appeared with Mind
And then Word followed Will into being.
[The Christ, the divine autogenes, created everything through the Word.]
Everlasting Life and Will, Mind, and Foreknowledge
Stood together. They glorified the Invisible Spirit and Barbelo.
Because of Her they had come into being.
Tertiary Structures of the Divine Mind
The Holy Spirit Brought his and Barbelo's divine autogenes
Son to completion In order that he could stand before the great
Invisible *** Spirit As the divine autogenes Christ
And honor Him with a mighty voice.
[The Son came through Providence].
The Invisible Spirit Placed the divine autogenes over everything.
All authorities were subordinated to him. The truth within him let him learn everything
[He is called by the highest name of all. That name will be told only to those who are
worthy to hear it From the light, [which is the Christ,]
From the incorruptibility, Through a gift of the spirit
The Four Lights arising from the divine autogenes stood before him.
[The four fundamental powers are Understanding, Grace, Perception, and Consideration.]
Grace exists within the realm of the Light called Harmozel, the first angel.
Along with Harmozel are Grace
Truth Form
The second Light is called Oriel and it stands over the second realm.
With Oriel are: Conceptualization (Epinoia)
Perception Memory
The third Light is called Daveithai and it stands over the third realm.
With Daveithai are: Understanding
Love Idea
The fourth Light is called Eleleth and it stands over the fourth realm.
With Eleleth are: Perfection
Peace Wisdom (Sophia).
These are the four lights standing before the divine autogenes.
Twelve realms stand before the Son of the Powerful
The autogenes The Christ
Through the intention And the grace
Of the Invisible Spirit Twelve realms belong to the Son of the autogenes.
[All of this came into being through the intention of the Holy Spirit
Through the autogenes.]
From the perfect mind's foreknowledge Through the intention of the Invisible Spirit
And the autogenes's will. The perfect human appeared,
Its first true manifestation
The *** Spirit named the human Adamas And placed him over the first realm with the
mighty autogenes Christ With the first Light Harmozel and its powers.
The Invisible One gave Adamas invincible power of mind.
Adamas spoke, glorifying and praising the Invisible Spirit:
"Everything has come into being from you Everything will return to you.
I will praise you and glorify you And the Autogenes
And the triple realm: Father -- Mother -- Son,
the perfect power."
Over the second realm was appointed Adamas's son Seth
With the second Light Oriel.
In the third realm were placed the children of Seth
With the third Light Daveithai. [The souls of the saints are placed there.]
In the fourth realm were placed the souls of those ignorant of the fullness
Those who did not repent at once But who, after some time, eventually repented,
They are with the fourth Light Eleleth.
All of these created beings glorify the Invisible Spirit
A Crisis that Became the World
It happened that the realm (aeon) Wisdom (Sophia) Of conceptual thought (Epinoia),
Began to think for herself, She used the thinking (enthymesis)
And the foreknowledge (prognosis) Of the Invisible Spirit.
She intended to reveal an image from herself To do so without the consent of the Spirit,
Who did not approve, Without the thoughtful assistance of her masculine
counterpart, Who did not approve.
Without the Invisible Spirit's consent Without the knowledge of her partner
She brought it into being.
Because she had unconquerable Power Her thought was not unproductive.
Something imperfect came out of her Different in appearance from her.
Because she had created it without her masculine counterpart
She gave rise to a misshapen being unlike herself.
Sophia saw what her desire produced. It changed into the form of a dragon with
a lion's head And eyes flashing lightning bolts.
She cast him far from her, Outside of the realm of the immortal beings
So that they could not see him.
[She had created him in ignorance.]
Sophia surrounded him with a brilliant cloud, Put a throne in the center part of the cloud
So that no one would see it. [Except for the Holy Spirit called the Mother
of the Living] She named him Yaldabaoth.