THE GNOSTIC Q
Compiled by L. Caruana
For his novel The Hidden Passion
2003 - 2006
BEGINNING
- THE FATHER AND SON INTHE UPPER AEONS
- THE CREATION OF THE UPPER AEONS
- THE CREATION OF THE LOWER AEONS
- THE FATHER AND SON INTHE UPPER AEONS
- The One
- The One in general
- General Names of the One
- The One as above definintion
- The One as self-knowing
- The One as the Source
- The One as a unity
- The One in three parts
- The One in time, space and the aeons
- The One as good or evil
- Poetic Names of the One
- The One as creator
- The Father and the Son
- The Son
- General names of the Son
- Proper names of the Son
- On Christ as the Creator (and the Word):
- On the Saviour expanding the One’s unity while remaining one
- On Christ as within
- On Christ as an image or appearance, but without body
(docetism)
- On the False Christ
- On Seth descending as Jesus
- On Christ’s Descent into the Lower Aeons
________________________________________________________
- ON THE CREATION OF THE UPPER AEONS:
- Members of the Upper Aeons:
- On the Anthropos in the Upper Aeons
- Creation in the Apocryphon of John
- Creation in the Gospel of the Egyptians
- Creation in Eugnostos the Blessed
- Creation in On the Origin of the World
- The Angels
- Pretennoia system of Angels
- Gospel of Egyptian system of Angels
- Untitled Bruce codex ms angels
_______________________________________________
THE CREATION OF THE LOWER AEONS
- Yaltabaoth
- The creation of the Lower Aeons
- On the Anthropos in the Lower Aeons:
- On creating Adam
- On Adam and Eve
- On Eating from the Tree
- On the descendents of Adama and Eve:
_______________________________________________
SOPHIA, MAGDALENE, WOMEN
On Sophia:
On Protennoia (who is Barbelo):
On Epinoia: (After-Thought)
On Plesithea:
On Norea:
On Mary Magdalene
On saving or redeeming Mary Magdalene or Sophia:
On the Lost Sheep:
On the soul as virgin, prostitute, and redeemed
On Prositution:
On the relationship of men and women:
________________________________________________
BAPTISM & RITUAL
On Melchizedek
On John the Baptist
On Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan
On Gnostic rituals in general:
On the Five Seals
On kissing:
On baptism:
On chrism or unction:
On the Bridal Chamber:
On the eurcharist and last supper (See LAST SUPPER below)
______________________________________________________
ACQUISITION OF DISCIPLES
On Apostles in the Gnostic sense
On Jesus addressing his disciples:
On disciples addressing Jesus:
On discipleship (and on ‘Brothers’):
On the Mission of the Disicples: teaching, healing etc
Jesus Instructs his disciples with a sermon:
On the gospels of the disciples:
On women disciples:
On Salome
On Judas Thomas the contender:
On Peter
On Andrew
On James the greater
On John
On James the Just (or Less)
On Philip and the others
On Judas the Betrayer
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FIRST SERMONS AND HEALING
On long parables:
On speaking in parables or directly:
On speaking and hearing
Verily I say unto you:
Blessed be:
Woe to:
On castigating the ignorant and those who do not hear
The Kingdom is:
On healing:
On assuaging hunger and thirst:
On poverty:
I am:
________________________________________________________
PARABLES, PRAYERS,
TEACHINGS
On how to pray:
On holding the hands while praying:
Enigmatic expressions of Jesus:
General sayings:
On the pneuma
On Gnosis and the mind
On gnosis
On Vision
On Seeing as a Reflection of Unity
On Images
On images as types, patterns or ideal forms:
On Form
On the Revelation
On the divine Unity
On the Father and the Son
On the kingdom here and now:
On the Kingdom (see also ‘the Kingdom is...’ above
On Time (and salvation)
On re-incarnation and cyclic time (for the Psychics):
On time as past, present and future in one:
On Light
On Love
On Truth
On the hidden or secret and the revealed:
On Secret Names
On Pronouncing the Secret Names
On the three types
Of the fate of the three types
On Good and Evil
On the Law of the Archons
On Alienation
On the Elect being beyond sin, tempatation etc.
On Denial and
Renunciation
On Indulgence or Libertinism
On Ignorance
On illusion:
On Lust
On Avoiding Lust
On greed, pride, envy etc
On those who rule - the proud, vain, greedy and powerful:
On avoiding greed, through love and giving:
On Slaves
On the fate of the Damned
On the end of the world
On revolution:
On the Transfiguration
__________________________________________________________
EVENTS LEADING TO THE
CRUCIFIXION
- That those who persecute Christ as the archons, or led by the
archons:
- Events leading up to the crucifixion:
- The separation of Jesus from Christ, and the role of destiny
(see also CRUCIFIXION below)
- Gethsemane
____________________________________________________________
THE LAST SUPPER
On eating:
On the Eucharist in general
The eucharist as symbolic of self-offering:
Liturgy spoken during the eucharist:
On the Gnostic Prayer of Thanksgiving:
______________________________________________________________
CRUCIFIXION
On the crucifixion:
On Jesus suffering or not suffering during the crucifixion:
That Jesus did not suffer:
That Jesus did suffer:
__________________________________________________
RESURRECTION AND RETURN TO
THE DISCIPLES
On appearing risen from the dead, and to whom:
On the Resurrection:
On rising up through the Archons (and fear):
On the Ascension and rising up:
On crossing over the other side:
On predicting the Fall of Jersusalem:
On the Restitution / Restoration / Redemption:
On Re-union with the One
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GNOSTIC QUOTATIONS:
BEGINNING
- THE FATHER AND SON INTHE UPPER AEONS
- The One
- The One in general
- General Names of the One
- The One as above definintion
- The One as self-knowing
- The One as the Source
- The One as a unity
- The One in three parts
- The One in time, space and the aeons
- The One as good or evil
- Poetic Names of the One
- The One as creator
- The Father and the Son
- The Son
- General names of the Son
- Proper names of the Son
- On Christ as the Creator (and the Word):
- On the Saviour expanding the One’s unity while remaining one
- On Christ as within
- On Christ as an image or appearance, but without body
(docetism)
- On the False Christ
- On Seth descending as Jesus
- On Christ’s Descent into the Lower Aeons
_________________________________________________
THE FATHER AND SON IN THE UPPER AEONS
THE ONE
The One in general:
- “the one who is” (Prayer of Paul)
- “He has non-being existence.” (Allogenes)
- “the One who exists, who is silent, who is above the heaven”
(Marsanes)
- “the Silent One” (Marsanes)
- “the Triple-Powered One who subsists in stillness and silence
and is unknowable.” (Allogenes)
- “He alone is the one who knows himself as he is,” (Tripart.
Tract)
- “the complete perfect one” (Tripart. Tract)
- “ the light that shines without shadow” (Eugnostos)
- “good, faultless, perfect, complete, being himself the Totality”
(Tripart. Tract)
- “he is inimitable and immutable” (Tripart. Tract)
- “the unalterable, immutable one, with immutability clothing
him.” (Tripart. Tract)
- “he is unbegotten, and there is no other who begot him, nor
another who created him” (Tripart. Tract)
- “the Self-begotten One...
the divine Self-engendered One” (Marsanes)
- The Invisible Spirit: “the invisible One who is above
everything, who exists as incorruption, which is in the pure light into which
no eye can look. He is the invisible Spirit...” (Apoc John)
- “He is an aeon-giving aeon. He is life-giving life. He is a
blessedness-giving blessed one. He is knowledge-giving knowledge. He is
goodness-giving goodness.” (Apoc John)
- “...about the great invisible Spirit, the Father whose name
cannot be uttered, he who came forth from the heights of the perfection, the
light of the light of the aeons of light, the light of the silence of the
providence <and> the Father of the silence, the light of the word and the
truth, the light of the incorruptions, the infinite light, the radiance from
the aeons of light of the unrevealable, unmarked, ageless, unproclaimable
Father, the aeon of the aeons, Autogenes, self-begotten, self-producing, alien,
the really true aeon.” (Gosp Egypt)
_____________________________________________________
General names of the One:
- “the incorruptible Father” (Apoc Peter)
- “the indivisible light” (Tripart tract)
- “the Three-Powered One” (Marsanes)
_____________________________________________________
On the One as above definition:
- “the Immeasurable One. It is a mystery” (3 Protennoia)
- “the Incomprehensible One” (3 Protennoia)
- “exalted above every name” (Prayer of Paul)
- “Not one of the names which are conceived or spoken, seen or
grasped - not one of them applies to him,”(Tripart. Tract)
- “the Father whose name cannot be uttered” (Gosp Egypt)
- “unproclaimable Father”
(Gosp Egypt)
- “it is impossible for mind to conceive him, nor can any speech
convey him, nor can any eye see him” (Tripart. Tract)
- “he cannot be grasped” (Tripart. Tract)
- “exalted above every mind” (Tripart. Tract)
- Beyond dualities: “He is not corporeal nor is he incorporeal. He
is neither large nor is he small” (Apoc John)
- “He-Who-Is is ineffable... He has no name; for whoever has a
name is the creation of another. He is unnameable.” (Eugnostos)
- “ineffable joy and unutterable jubilation” (Eugnostos)
- “Thou art one. Thou art one, just as there is one (who) will say
to thee: Thou art one, thou art a single living spirit. How shall we give thee
a name? We do not have it, For thou art the existence of them all. Thou art the
life of them all. Thou art the mind of them all.” (3 Stele Seth)
- “And he is One who subsists as a cause and source of Being, and
an immaterial material and an innumerable number and a formless form and a
shapeless shape and a powerlessness and a power and an insubstantial substance
and a motionless motion and an inactive activity” (Allogenes)
- “He is neither boundless, nor is he bounded by another. Rather,
he is something superior. He is not corporeal. He is not incorporeal. He is not
great. He is not small. He is not a number. He is not a creature. Nor is he
something that exists, that one can know. But he is something else of himself
that is superior, which one cannot know.” (Allogenes)
_____________________________________________________
On the One as self-knowing:
- “he has the ability to conceive of himself, to see himself, to
name himself, to comprehend himself” (Tripart. Tract)
- “the one who knows himself eternally,” (Tripart. tract)
- “The Father... is the one in whom he knows himself, who begot
him (the Son) having a thought, which is the thought of him, that is, the
perception of him” (Tripart. Tract)
- “It (the One) looks to every side and sees itself from itself.”
(Eugnostos)
- “He is unknowable, while he (nonetheless) knows himself.”
(Eugnostos)
- “He sees himself within himself, like a mirror, having appeared
in his likeness.” (Eugnostos)
- “Seeing himself within himself in a mirror, he appeared
resembling himself...” (Sophia of Jesus Christ)
- Speaking of the One: “This is the truth which covers them all.
This is the image of the Father. This is the mirror of the All.” (Untitled
Bruce)
- “He provides everything for himself, since it is he who shall
come to be when he recognizes himself.” (Allogenes)
- “he is the one who knows what he is” (Allogenes)
- "He is primary revelation and knowledge of himself, as it
is he alone who knows himself” (Allogenes)
- The One as ‘unknowable’: “This is the first unknowable one
(akatagnôstos), the mother of the ennead, which completes a decad from the
monad of the unknowable (agnôstos) one.” (Untitled Bruce)
_____________________________________________________
The One as the Source:
- “the root of the Totality” (Tripart. Tract)
- “the one filled with all his offspring” (Tripart. Tract)
- “He is the one who projects himself thus, as generation,”
(Tripart. Tract)
- “But since he is as he is, he is a spring, which is not
diminished by the water which abundantly flows from it.” (Tripart. Tract)
- “It is he who at all times gives life to the aeons, and through
his word the indivisible one learned to know the monad. And through his word
the holy Pleroma came into existence.” (Untitled Bruce)
- “The Father brought forth everything, like a little child, like
a drop from a spring, like a blossom from a vine, like a flower, like a
<planting>” (Tripart. Tract)
- “the Father, from whom the beginning came forth, (and) to whom
all will return who have come forth from him” (Gosp Truth)
- “And through them all he is in them all” (Allogenes)
- “I bless thee, 0 light, who alone dost manifest (all lights)”
(Bruce Untitled ms)
_____________________________________________________
The One as a unity:
- “I am the Invisible One within the All.” (It is actually
Protennoia who says this in 3 Protennoia, but identifying herself with the One)
- “This is the Only One. This is he from whom the monad came, like
a ship laden with all good things, or like a city filled with every race of man
and every king`s image.” (Untitled Bruce)
_____________________________________________________
The One as an androgynous unity that becomes a pair:
- Protennoia: “I am androgynous. I am Mother (and) I am Father,
since I copulate with myself. I copulated with myself and with those who love
me, and it is through me alone that the All stands firm. I am the Womb that
gives shape to the All by giving birth to the Light that shines in splendor.”
(3 Protennoia)
- Protennoia: “I am 'He who is syzygetic'... I am called 'She who
is syzygetic'.” (3 Protennoia)
- “the Ineffable One who dwells in the Monad. He dwells alone in
silence, and silence is tranquility since, after all, he was a Monad and no one
was before him. He dwells in the Dyad and in the Pair, and his Pair is Silence.
And he possessed the All dwelling within him.” (Val. Expo.) (perhaps ‘pair’
should be read here as ‘consort’)
The One in three parts:
- The One appears under three names.
- These may be through the metaphor of ‘the family’: the Father,
the Mother, and the Son. (3 Protennoia)
- Or through the metaphor of ‘speaking’: the Voice, the Speech (or
Sound) and the Word (with the Silence as either the One or the aeons) (3
Protennoia)
- “I am the Father, I am the Mother, I am the Son.” (Apoc John)
- “Three powers came forth from him; they are the Father, the
Mother, (and) the Son,” (Gosp Egypt)
- “the Father of those without beginning, who alone is
Father and Mother unto himself” (Untitled Bruce)
- “I am seeking the kingdom of the Three-Powered One, which has no
beginning.” (Marsanes)
- The Mother is Barbelo: “The second ogdoad-power, the Mother, the
virginal Barbelon” (Gosp Egypt)
- In the Untitled Bruce codex m.s., the Father is the demi-urge of
the Upper Aeons: “This is the Father, the second demiurge. Through the breath
of his mouth, the forethought inspired those without existence. They came into
being through the will of this one, because it is he who commands the All, so
that it comes into existence.” (Untitled Bruce)
_____________________________________________________
The One in time, space and the aeons:
- “before anything came into being, it was the Father alone who
existed,” (Auth. Teach.)
- “the Eternal One” (Apoc Peter)
- “He is without beginning and without end.” (Tripart. Tract)
- “the one who encircles all spaces, while there is none that
encircles him” (Gosp Truth)
- “Time was not apportioned to him,” (Apoc John)
- “He is immeasurable. He is untraceable” (Eugnostos)
- “He is neither boundless, nor is he bounded by another...”
(Allogenes)
- “He neither participates in age nor does he participate in
time.”(Allogenes)
- “Consider these things about God: he is in every place; on the
other hand, he is in no place. With respect to power, to be sure, he is in
every place; but with respect to divinity, he is in no place. So then, it is
possible to know God a little. With respect to his power, he fills every place,
but in the exaltation of his divinity, nothing contains him. Everything is in
God, but God is not in anything.” (Silvaus)
_____________________________________________________
The One as good or evil:
- “lack of any malice”
(Tripart. Tract)
- “he is a being without evil, imperturbable, sweet,” (Gosp Truth)
_____________________________________________________
Poetic Names of the One:
- “sustaining, joyous, true, delightful, and restful” (Tripart.
Tract)
- “his untasteable sweetness” (Tripart. Tract)
- “the eye of revelation that is at rest,” (Allogenes)
- “a beauty and a first emergence of stillness and silence and
tranquility” (Allogenes)
- [he is] a single one
[who] exists before [all] these who really exist [in the] immeasurable and
undivided Spirit [...] [...] the All which [exists] in him (...) He is far
higher than every unattainable one, yet he gives [...] greater than any body
(and) is purer than every unembodied one, entering every thought and every body
(...) In Existence he exists (...) Let the one who will find him come into
existence. Existing in Life, he is alive [...] (Zost)
_____________________________________________________
The One as creator:
“The Father brought forth everything, like a little child, like a
drop from a spring, like a blossom from a vine, like a flower, like a
<planting>” (Tripart. Tract)
“This one, however, stretched himself out and it was that which he
stretched out which gave a foundation and a space and a dwelling place for the
universe, a name of his being” (Tripart. Tract)
Aeons
are an extension of the Father, without separation: “The emanation of the
Totalities, which exist from the one who exists, did not occur according to a
separation from one another, as something cast off from the one who begets
them. Rather, their begetting is like a process of extension, as the Father extends
himself to those whom he loves, so that those who have come forth from him
might become him as well.” (Tripart Tract)
“the Father... created the pre-existent images” (Tripart tract)
“In the beginning, he (the One) decided to have his likeness
become a great power. Immediately, the principle (or beginning) of that Light appeared as Immortal Androgynous Man.
His male name is 'Begotten, Perfect Mind'. And his female name is 'All-wise
Begettress Sophia'. It is also said that she resembles her brother and her
consort.” (Eugnostos) - By this, I
understand that the One at first became male and female - or rather,
androgynous, with a male and female name. Mind (thinking, Christ) is the male
and Sophia (thought) is the female.
In Marsanes, there is first of all the One ‘who has no being’.
From him came those ‘that truly exist’ (hence, creation ex nihilo). Of those
that exist, the first ‘worked from silence’ and was ‘the Silent One’. The next
came from energy and was ‘the Three-Powered One’. That’s what I understand from
this passage:
“When I had inquired about these things, I perceived that he had
worked from silence. He exists from the beginning among those that truly exist,
that belong to the One who exists. There is another, existing from the
beginning, belonging to the One who works within the Silent One. And the
silence [...] him works. For as much as this one [...], that one works from the
silence which belongs to the Unbegotten One among the aeons, and from the
beginning he does not have being. But the energy of that One <is> the
Three-Powered One, the One unbegotten before the Aeon, not having being. And it
is possible to behold the supremacy of the silence of the Silent One, i.e., the
supremacy of the energy of the Three-Powered. And the One who exists, who is
silent, who is above the heaven [...], revealed the Three-Powered,
First-Perfect One.” (Marsanes)
- “But concerning the invisible, spiritual Triple-Powered-One,
hear! He exists as an Invisible One who is incomprehensible to them all. He
contains them all within himself, for they all exist because of him.” (Allogenes)
- “He is Vitality and Mentality and That-Which-Is.... And the
three are one, although individually they are three.” (Allogenes)
- Beside ‘three powers’ there may also be ‘three faces’: “And
there is a great invisible one standing upon it, and a great unbegotten one and
a great incomprehensible one. Each one has three faces.” (Untitled Bruce)
_____________________________________________________
On the Father and the Son:
“the Father, is like a root, with tree, branches and fruit.”
(Tripart. Tract)
“The Father... is the one in whom he knows himself, who begot him
(the Son) having a thought, which is the thought of him, that is, the
perception of him” (Tripart. Tract)
“Now the name of the Father is the Son. It is he who first gave a
name to the one who came forth from him... The name, however, is invisible,
because it alone is the mystery of the invisible, which comes to ears that are
completely filled with it by him. For indeed, the Father's name is not spoken,
but (rather,) it is apparent through a Son. ” (Gosp Truth)
“You cannot know God through anyone except Christ, who has the
image of the Father, for this image reveals the true likeness in correspondence
to that which is revealed. A king is not usually known apart from an image.”
(Silvanus)
“Now the Uncreated One projected Word and Life. Word is for the
glory of the Ineffable One while Life is for the glory of Silence,” (Val.
Expo.)
_____________________________________________________
THE SON:
“The Savior was an image of the unitary one, he who is the
Totality in bodily form.” (Tripart tract)
“the Son who is perfect in every respect -- that is, the Word who
originated through that Voice” (3 Protennoia)
“Now the Son of God, Rheginos, was Son of Man. He embraced them
both, possessing the humanity and the divinity, so that on the one hand he
might vanquish death through his being Son of God, and that on the other
through the Son of Man the restoration to the Pleroma might occur” (Treatise on
Resurrection)
_____________________________________________________
General names of Son:
- Mostly he is called Lord, then Christ and Saviour
- In general: Lord, Saviour, Son, Teacher (rabbi?), Son of Man,
Jesus the Christ, Son of God, Lord (Jesus) Christ, the Christ, Redeemer, Logos,
Light, King of the aeons, God.
“The Christ” (Apoc John)
“the only-begotten one” (Apoc John)
“the divine Autogenes” (Apoc John)
“firstborn” (Tripart.
Tract)
“Lord of Lords, the King of the ages...Son of Man, the Spirit, the
Paraclete of truth” (Prayer of Paul)
“First-born of the Pleroma (?)” “the First-born, the
First-begotten” (Prayer of Paul)
“the unborn physis” (Gosp Egypt)
The Sethian saviour is called “the illuminator of knowledge” (Apoc
Adam)
The Son is to the Father as:
”the form of the formless,
the body of the bodiless,
the face of the invisible,
the word of the unutterable,
the mind of the inconceivable” (Tripart. Tract)
“the
countenance of the Father” (Tripart. Tract)
“the
one who is properly called "Savior" and "the Redeemer" and
"the Well-Pleasing one" and "the Beloved," "the one to
whom prayers have been offered" and "the Christ" and "the
Light of those appointed," (Tripart. Tract)
“He
it is who was our Savior in willing compassion” (Tripart tract)
“the
Son of the unknown God” (Tripart tract)
“the
Son was found to be a brother to himself alone”
(Tripart. Tract)
“He
enlightened them; he showed (them) a way, and the way is the truth” (Gosp
Truth)
“Jesus,
the compassionate and tender-hearted,” (Pistis Sophia, Bk 1, ch 5)
“He
became a way for those who were gone astray, and knowledge for those who were
ignorant, a discovery for those who were searching, and a support for those who
were wavering, immaculateness for those who were defiled.” (Gosp Truth)
“He
is completely ineffable to the All, and he is the confirmation and the
hypostasis of the All, the silent veil, the true High Priest, the one who has
the authority to enter the Holies of Holies, revealing the glory of the Aeons
and bringing forth the abundance to <fragrance>.” (Val. Expo.)
-
Lord of Lords (Pr. Paul)
-
the hidden mystery, the merciful one, the faithful one (Gos. Truth)
-
the solution (Treat. Res.)
-
Lord of All, Lord of glory, King of the universe, the knowledge, the treasure,
the revelation, the path toward harmony (Tric Trac)
-
the living one, the Son of the living one (Gos. Thom )
-
Messiah, the Nazarene, the perfect man, the heavenly man, Pharisatha (Gos.
Phil)
-
the holy one (Soph. JC)
-
Rabbi ( 1 Apoc Jas)
-
the Son of Light, the perfect blessed one, a Christ (Treat. Seth)
-
King, Sun of life, the life, the idea of incorruptibility, the narrow way, the
wisdom of God, the great power, the door, the angel, the good shepherd, the
(faithful) friend, Great goodness of God, Great one of the heavens, a great
Glory, Judge, mother of all, image of the Father, (Teach Silv.)
-
titles of ‘the logos’: the first-born, prototype, light of the eternal light,
spotless mirror of the workings of God, image of his goodness, the eye which looks
at the invisible Father, Life, king of faith, the sharp sword (Teach Silv. -)
-
the holy child, saviour of the whole world, son of life, son of immortality,
the one who is in the light, Our illuminator (Ep. Pet. Phil)
-
Teacher of immortality, the shape, the one who was reproached, the humiliated one, the one who was redeeemed, the head
(Interp, Knowledge)
_____________________________________________________
Proper names of Son:
“the great Christ, who is from silence, who is the incorruptible
child Telmael Telmachael Eli Eli Machar Machar Seth,” (Gosp Egypt)
- Yesseus Mazareus Yessedekeus: “IE ieus EO ou EO Oua! Really,
truly, O Yesseus Mazareus Yessedekeus, O living water, O child of the child, O
glorious name! Really truly, aiOn o On (or: O existing aeon), iiii EEEE eeee
oooo uuuu OOOO aaaa{a}. Really, truly, Ei aaaa OOOO, O existing one who sees
the aeons! Really, truly, aee EEE iiii uuuuuu OOOOOOOO, who is eternally
eternal! Really, truly, iEa aiO, in the heart, who exists, u aei eis aei, ei o ei,
ei os ei (or: (Son) forever, You are what you are, You are who you are)! This
great name of yours is upon me, O self-begotten Perfect one, who is not outside
me.” (Gosp Egypt)
- Yesseus, Mazareus, Yessedekeus: “This is the hidden knowledge of
Adam, which he gave to Seth, which is the holy baptism of those who know the
eternal knowledge through those born of the word and the imperishable
illuminators, who came from the holy seed: Yesseus, Mazareus, Yessedekeus, the
Living Water.” (Apoc Adam)
_____________________________________________________
On Christ as the Creator (and the Word):
“because of the word, Christ the divine Autogenes created
everything” (Apoc John)
_____________________________________________________
On Christ as the Mind (or Nous):
“God came forth: the Son, Mind of the All, that is, it is from the
Root of the All that even his Thought stems, since he had this one (the Son) in
Mind.” (Val. Expo.)
“that is, the Son, the Father of the All, and the Mind of the
Spirit; for he was possessing this one before [...]. He is a spring. He is one
who appears in Silence, and he is Mind of the All dwelling secondarily with
Life. For he is the projector of the All and the very hypostasis of the Father,
that is, he is the Thought and his descent below.” (Val. Expo.)
“the power of the Word that came forth from the pleroma, the one
who is in the thought and the mind of the Father, that is, the one who is
addressed as 'the Savior',” (Gos. Truth)
_____________________________________________________
On the Saviour expanding the One’s unity while remaining one:
Seth: “We bless thee, Thrice Male, for thou didst unite all
through them all, for thou hast empowered us. Thou hast arisen from one; from
one thou hast gone forth; thou hast come to one. Thou hast saved, thou hast saved, thou hast
saved us, O crown-bearer, crown-giver! We bless thee eternally. We bless thee,
once we have been saved... Thou wast divided everywhere. Thou didst continue
being one.” (3 Stele Seth)
Setheus is a kind of saviour figure inwhich the pleroma ‘see their
likenesses in him’: “Then Setheus sent the light-spark to the indivisible one.
And it shone, it gave light to the whole place of the holy pleroma. And
they saw the light of the light-spark. They rejoiced and they gave myriads of
myriads of glories to the Setheus and to the light-spark which had manifested,
as they saw that all their likeness was in him. And they depicted the
light-spark within them as a man of light and truth.” (Untitled Bruce)
They called him one assuming all forms,
- In a vision, Jesus appears to John during the crucifixion and
shows him a cross of light:
“100 Now the
multitude of one aspect that is about the cross is the lower nature: and those
that you see in the cross, if they do not have one form, it is because all the
members of him that came down have not yet been comprehended.
“But once human
nature (or the upper nature) is taken up, and the race draws near to me and
obeys my voice, then he that hears me shall be united, and shall not be any more
that which he is now, but above them, as I am now also.
“For, as long as
you do not call yourself mine, I am not what I am or was: but if you do hear
me, then you, hearing, shall be as I am; and I shall be what I was when I, and
you as I, am with myself. For from me you are that which I am. Do not place
great care, therefore, in the many, and despise those that are outside the
mystery; but know that I am wholly with the Father, and the Father with me.”
(Acts of John, rendered into modern Eng) NB - This is a fairly clear expression
of how Jesus reveals the one’s unity among men. And this comes about as a way
of seeing.
- “And all is Christ, he who has inherited all from the Existent
One. For Christ is the idea of incorruptibility, and he is the Light which is
shining undefiled. For the sun (shines) on every impure place, and yet it is
not defiled. So it is with Christ: even if he is in the deficiency, yet he is
without deficiency. And even if he has been begotten, he is (still) unbegotten.
So it is with Christ: if, on the one hand, he is comprehensible, on the other,
he is incomprehensible with respect to his actual being. Christ is all. He who
does not possess all is unable to know Christ.” (Silvanus)
“For he is light from the power of God, and he is an emanation of
the pure glory of the Almighty. He is the spotless mirror of the working of
God, and he is the image of his goodness. For he is also the light of the
Eternal Light. He is the eye which looks at the invisible Father, always
serving and forming by the Father's will. He alone was begotten by the Father's
good pleasure. For he is an incomprehensible Word, and he is Wisdom and Life.
He gives life to, and nourishes, all living things and powers. Just as the soul
gives life to all the members, he rules all with power and gives life to them.
For he is the beginning and the end of everyone, watching over all and
encompassing them.” (Silvanus)
_____________________________________________________
On Christ as within:
“O self-begotten Perfect one, who is not outside me.” (Gosp Egypt)
_____________________________________________________
On Christ as an image or appearance, but without body
(docetism):
Jesus: “Who I am, thou shalt know when I depart. What now I am
seen to be, that I am not. Thou shalt see when thou comest.” (Acts of John)
_____________________________________________________
On the False Christ:
Protennoia: “The Archons thought that I was their Christ. Indeed,
I dwell in everyone. Indeed, within those in whom I revealed myself as Light, I
eluded the Archons. I am their beloved, for in that place I clothed myself as
the son of the Archgenitor, and I was like him until the end of his decree,
which is the ignorance of Chaos.” (3 Protennoia) By this, I understand that
there was a False Christ who was the Son of God, but God understood as
Yaltabaoth.
_____________________________________________________
On Seth descending as Jesus:
“Then the great Seth was sent by the four lights, by the will of
the Autogenes... He passed through the three parousias which I mentioned
before: the flood, and the conflagration, and the judgment of the archons... to
save her (the race) who went astray, through... the baptism through a
Logos-begotten body which the great Seth prepared for himself secretly through
the virgin. ...(He) established ... the holy baptism... through the
incorruptible, Logos-begotten one, even Jesus the living one, even he whom the
great Seth has put on.” (Gosp Egypt)
The appearance of ‘the illuminator of knowledge’ (a Sethian
saviour figure) during the third parousia: “Once again, for the third time, the
illuminator of knowledge will pass by in great glory (...) And he will perform
signs and wonders in order to scorn the powers and their ruler. (...) And the
powers will not see it with their eyes, nor will they see the illuminator
either. Then they will punish the flesh of the man upon whom the holy spirit
came.”(Apoc Adam)
“For as I (Seth) came downward, no one saw me. For I was altering
my shapes, changing from form to form. And therefore, when I was at their
gates, I assumed their likeness. For I passed them by quietly, and I was
viewing the places, and I was not afraid nor ashamed, for I was undefiled. And
I was speaking with them, mingling with them through those who are mine, and trampling
on those who are harsh to them with zeal, and quenching the flame. And I was
doing all these things because of my desire to accomplish what I desired by the
will of the Father above.” (2 Treat Gr Seth)
_____________________________________________________
On Christ’s Descent into the Lower Aeons, putting on Jesus,
flesh, body etc
Jesus: “I visited a bodily dwelling. I cast out the one who was in
it first, and I went in. And the whole multitude of the archons became
troubled.” (2 Treatise Seth)
“the Self-begotten One, O [...] became [...] part by part the
entire place. He descended; again he descended <from> the Unbegotten One”
(Marsanes) NB - Marsanes is a Gnostic and non-Christian text)
“I am the one who was sent down in the body because of the seed
which had fallen away. And I came down into their mortal mold. But they did not
recognize me;” (Christ cited in Peter’s letter to Philip)
The mother gave the son a garment in which were all the forms
needed to descend: “Afterwards the mother established her first-born son. She
gave to him the authority of the sonship. And she gave to him hosts of angels
and archangels. And she gave to him twelve powers to serve him. And she gave to
him a garment' in which to accomplish all things. And in it were all bodies:
the body of fire, and the body of water, and the body, of air and the body of
earth, and the body of wind, and the body ( of angels), and the body of
archangels, and the body of powers, and the body of mighty ones, and the body
of gods, and the body of lords. In a word, within it were all bodies so that
none could hinder him from going to the height or from going down to the
abyss.” (Bruce Untitled ms)
Protennoia as the Word (ie Saviour): “The Third time I revealed
myself to them in their tents as Word, and I revealed myself in the likeness of
their shape. And I wore everyone's garment, and I hid myself within them, and
they did not know the one who empowers me. For I dwell within all the
Sovereignties and Powers, and within the angels, and in every movement that
exists in all matter. And I hid myself within them until I revealed myself to
my brethren. And none of them (the Powers) knew me, although it is I who work
in them.” (3 Protennoia)
“I entered into the midst of their prison, which is the prison of
the body.” (Apoc John)
"I, therefore,
the perfect Pronoia of the all, changed myself into my seed, for I existed
first... I am the remembrance of the pleroma. And I went into the realm of
darkness and I endured till I entered the middle of the prison. And the
foundations of chaos shook. And I hid myself from them because of their
wickedness, and they did not recognize me.
Again I returned
for the second time, and I went about. ...And again I ran up to my root of
light, lest they be destroyed before the time.
Still for a third
time I went - ...And I filled my face with the light of the completion of their
aeon. And I entered into the midst of their prison, which is the prison of the
body. And I said, 'He who hears, let him get up from the deep sleep.' ...Arise
and remember... And I raised him up, and sealed him in the light of the water
with five seals, in order that death might not have power over him from this
time on.” (Apoc John)
“And when the mother ceased praying to the infinite and unknowable
one who fills the All and gives life to them all, he heard her and all those
with her who belong to her. And he sent to her a power from the Man whom they
desire to see. And from the infinite one came the infinite light-spark, at
which the aeons wondered where he was hidden before he revealed himself through
the infinite Father. This one who had revealed the All in himself, where was he
hidden? And the powers of the hidden aeons followed him until they came to him
who is revealed, and until they reached the holy pleroma. And he concealed
himself in the powers of those who came forth from the hidden one. And he made
them into a world. He wore it (the world) in the holy (place). And the powers
of the pleroma saw him, they loved him.” (Bruce Untitled ms) By this, I
understand that the saviour descended in order to conceal himself in each of
us, and through the hidden Christ in us we may rise up through the aeons.
“Then the great Seth was sent by the four lights, by the will of
the Autogenes and the whole pleroma, through <the gift> and the good
pleasure of the great invisible Spirit, and the five seals, and the whole
pleroma.
He passed through
the three parousias which I mentioned before: the flood, and the conflagration,
and the judgment of the archons and the powers and the authorities, to save her
(the race) who went astray, through the reconciliation of the world, and the
baptism through a Logos-begotten body which the great Seth prepared for himself
secretly through the virgin, in order that the saints may be begotten by the
holy Spirit, through invisible, secret symbols, through a reconciliation of the
world with the world, through the renouncing of the world, and the god of the
thirteen aeons, and (through) the convocations of the saints and the ineffable
ones, and (through) the incorruptible bosom, and (through) the great light of
the Father, who pre-existed with his Providence, and established through her
the holy baptism that surpasses the heaven, through the incorruptible,
Logos-begotten one, even Jesus the living one, even he whom the great Seth has
put on.” (Gosp Egypt)
“But I came from the places above by the will of the great Light,
(I) who escaped from that bond; I have cut off the work of the robbers; I have
awakened that drop that was sent from Sophia, that it might bear much fruit
through me, and be perfected and not again be defective, but be <joined>
through me, the Great Savior, that his glory might be revealed, so that Sophia
might also be justified in regard to that defect, that her sons might not again
become defective but might attain honor and glory and go up to their Father”
(Sophia JC)
“Now he came that we might become glorious through the humiliated
one that dwells in the places of humiliation.” (Interp. Knowledge)
The descent of the Setheus: “Then the veils opened, and the light
penetrated down to the matter below and to those who had no form and no
likeness. And in this way they acquired the likeness of the light. Some indeed
rejoiced because the light came to them and they became rich. Others wept
because they became poor, and those things which they had were taken away.”
(Untitled Bruce)
“O soul, persistent one, in what ignorance you exist! For who is
your guide into the darkness? How many likenesses did Christ take on because of
you! Although he was God, he was found among men as a man. He descended to the
Underworld. He released the children of death. They were in travail, as the
scripture of God has said. And he sealed up the (very) heart of it (the
Underworld). And he broke its (the Underworld's) strong bows completely. And
when all the powers had seen him, they fled, so that he might bring you,
wretched one, up from the Abyss, and might die for you as a ransom for your
sin. He saved you from the strong hand of the Underworld.” (Silvanus)
“Know who Christ is, and acquire him as a friend, for this is the
friend who is faithful. He is also God and Teacher. This one, being God, became
man for your sake. It is this one who broke the iron bars of the Underworld,
and the bronze bolts. It is this one who attacked and cast down every haughty
tyrant. It is he who loosened from himself the chains of which he had taken
hold. He brought up the poor from the Abyss and the mourners from the
Underworld. It is he who humbled the haughty powers; he who put to shame
haughtiness through humility; he who has cast down the strong and the boaster
through weakness; he who, in his contempt, scorned that which is considered an
honor, so that humility for God's sake might be highly exalted; (and) he who
has put on humanity. (Silvanus)
_____________________________________
- ON THE CREATION OF THE UPPER AEONS:
- Members of the Upper Aeons:
- On the Anthropos in the Upper Aeons
- Creation in the Apocryphon of John
- Creation in the Gospel of the Egyptians
- Creation in Eugnostos the Blessed
- Creation in On the Origin of the World
- The Angels
- Pretennoia system of Angels
- Gospel of Egyptian system of Angels
- Untitled Bruce codex ms angels
_____________________________________
- On the Creation of the Upper Aeons
On the first hypostasis or aeon of creation:
The One came to know itself by sexually uniting with itself. At
that moment, the androgynous being became male and female: ‘the bridegroom’ and
‘the bride’ or ‘the Father’ and ‘the Virgin who came down’. The first aeon
became ‘the bridal chamber’:
“Indeed, one must utter a mystery. The Father of everything united
with the virgin who came down, and a fire shone for him on that day. He
appeared in the great bridal chamber. Therefore his body came into being on
that very day. It left the bridal chamber as one who came into being from the
bridegroom and the bride. So Jesus established everything in it through these.
It is fitting for each of the disciples to enter into his rest.” (Gosp Philip)
The One reflected upon itself in the watery light, generating
images in the aeons: “For it is he who looks at himself in his light which
surrounds him, namely the spring of the water of life. And it is he who gives
to all the aeons and in every way, (and) who gazes upon his image which he sees
in the spring of the Spirit. It is he who puts his desire in his water-light
which is in the spring of the pure light-water which surrounds him.” (Apoc
John)
The One was a light which shone, producing shadows and forms, of
which Barbelo was the first. Though ‘a shadow of him’, she remains ‘light from
light’. Though she divides into many, she preserves his unity:
“Great is the first aeon,
male virginal Barbelo, the first glory of the invisible Father, she who is
called "perfect". Thou (fem.) hast seen first the one who truly
pre-exists because he is non-being. And from him and through him thou hast
pre-existed eternally, the non-being from one indivisible, triple power, thou a
triple power, thou a great monad from a pure monad, thou an elect monad,the
first shadow of the holy Father, light from light. We bless thee, producer
(fem.) of perfection, aeon-giver (fem.). Thou hast seen the eternal ones
because they are from a shadow. And thou hast become numerable. And thou didst
find, thou didst continue being one (fem.); yet becoming numerable in division,
thou art three-fold. Thou art truly thrice, thou one (fem.) of the one (masc.).
And thou art from a shadow of him” (3 Stele Seth)
Later, the same
text speaks of “the shadows which pour from the one.”(3 Stele Seth)
___________________________________
- Members of the Upper Aeons:
“(Barbelo) is prior to them all, the Mother-Father, the first man,
the holy Spirit, the thrice-male, the thrice-powerful, the thrice-named androgynous
one” (Apoc John)
"This is the pentad of the aeons: ... it is the forethought,
which Barbelo... and the foreknowledge, and the indestructibility, and the
eternal life, and the truth. This is the androgynous pentad of the aeons, which
is the decad of the aeons...” (Apoc John)
“The first Aeon he established over the first: Armedon, Nousanios,
Armozel; the second he established over the second Aeon: Phaionios, Ainios,
Oroiael; the third over the third Aeon: Mellephaneus, Loios, Daveithai; the
fourth over the fourth: Mousanios, Amethes, Eleleth. Now those Aeons were
begotten by the God who was begotten - the Christ -...” (3 Protennoia)
- The Four Lights are also called ‘Light-Givers’: “"It is
I," he (Eleleth) said, "who am understanding. I am one of the four
light-givers...” (Hypo. Archons)
“Four lights (appeared) from the divine Autogenes. He expected
that they might attend him. And the three (are) will, thought, and life. And
the four powers (are) understanding, grace, perception, and prudence. And grace
belongs to the light-aeon Armozel, which is the first angel. And there are
three other aeons with this aeon: grace, truth, and form. And the second light
(is) Oriel, who has been placed over the second aeon. And there are three other
aeons with him: conception, perception, and memory. And the third light is
Daveithai, who has been placed over the third aeon. And there are three other
aeons with him: understanding, love, and idea. And the fourth aeon was placed
over the fourth light Eleleth. And there are three other aeons with him:
perfection, peace, and wisdom. These are the four lights which attend the
divine Autogenes, (and) these are the twelve aeons which attend the son of the
mighty one” (Apoc John)
“The incorruptible man Adamas asked for them a son out of himself,
in order that he (the son) may become father of the immovable, incorruptible
race, so that, ... the dead aeon may raise itself (and) dissolve. And thus
there came forth from above the power of the great light, the Manifestation.
She gave birth to the four great lights: Harmozel, Oroiael, Davithe, Eleleth,
and the great incorruptible Seth, the son of the incorruptible man Adamas.”
(Gosp. Egypt)
Seth: “Thou hast commanded all these to be saved through thy word
[...] glory who is before him, Hidden One, blessed Senaon, he who begat
himself, Asineu(s), [...]ephneu(s), Optaon, Elemaon the great power, Emouniar,
Nibareu(s), Kandephor(os), Aphredon, Deiphaneus, thou who art Armedon to me,
power-begetter, Thalanatheu(s), Antitheus, thou who existeth within thyself,
thou who art before thyself - and after thee no one entered into activity.” (3
Stele Seth)
“... "Thou art [...], Solmis! [...] according to the Vitality
that is thine, and the first activity which derives from divinity. Thou art
great, Armedon! Thou art perfect, Epiphaneus!
“And according to
that activity of thine, the second power and the Mentality which derives from
blessedness: Autoer, Beritheus, Erigenaor, Orimenios, Aramen, Alphleges,
Elelioupheus, Lalameus, Yetheus, Noetheus, thou art great! He who knows thee
knows the Universal One! Thou art One, thou art One, He who is good, Aphredon!
Thou art the Aeon of the Aeons, He who is perpetually!"
“Then she praised
the Universal One, saying "Lalameus, Noetheus, Senaon, Asine[us, ...]riphanios,
Mellephaneus, Elemaoni, Smoun, Optaon, He Who Is! Thou art He Who Is, the Aeon
of Aeons, the Unbegotten, who art higher than the unbegotten (ones), Yatomenos,
thou alone for whom all the unborn ones were begotten, the Unnameable One! ...
(10 lines missing) ... knowledge."
“Now after I heard
these things, I saw the glories of the perfect individuals and the all-perfect
ones who exist together, and the all-perfect ones who are before the perfect
ones.” (Allogenes)
Surrounding the One and praising him, there are at least five
orders of angels or aeons in the Gospel of the Egyptians:
- thrones
- powers
- glories
- authorities
- angels
- five according to: “and the thrones which are in them, and the
powers which surround them, glories, authorities, and the powers” (Gosp Egypt)
- four according to : “she (Providence) passed through all the
aeons which I mentioned before. And she established thrones of glory, and
myriads of angels without number who surrounded them, powers and incorruptible
glories, who sing and give glory, all giving praise with a single voice, with
one accord, with one never-silent voice, [...] to the Father, and the Mother,
and the Son” (Gosp Egypt)
In the Bruce Untitled ms, there is the following (order
uncertain):
- powers
- glories
- angels
- archangels
- ministers
“These are the powers which were given to the forefather who was
placed in the aeon of the mother. And there were given to him myriads upon
myriads of glories, and angels and archangels and ministers, so that those that
are of matter should serve him '.” (Bruce Untitled ms)
“Among the things that were created the monad is first, the dyad
follows it, and the triad, up to the tenths. Now the tenths rule the
hundredths; the hundredths rule the thousandths; the thousands rule the ten
thousands. This is the pattern <among the> immortals.” (Eugnostos)
*
**
***
****
*****
Note: It’s possible that the passage below from Gospel of the
Egyptians should be arranged as follows (acc. to Layton, p 118)
a
ee
ééé
iiii
ooooo
yyyyyy
óóóóóóóó
- “* * * IE ieus EO ou EO Oua! Really, truly, O Yesseus Mazareus
Yessedekeus, O living water, O child of the child, O glorious name! Really
truly, aiOn o On (or: O existing aeon), iiii EEEE eeee oooo uuuu OOOO aaaa{a}.
Really, truly, Ei aaaa OOOO, O existing one who sees the aeons! Really, truly,
aee EEE iiii uuuuuu OOOOOOOO, who is eternally eternal! Really, truly, iEa aiO,
in the heart, who exists, u aei eis aei, ei o ei, ei os ei (or: (Son) forever,
You are what you are, You are who you are)! This great name of yours is upon
me, O self-begotten Perfect one, who is not outside me.” (Gosp Egypt)
“<The> dyad and the monad do not resemble anything, but they
are first to exist. The dyad, being divided, is divided from the monad, and it
belongs to the hypostasis. But the tetrad received (the) elements, and the
pentad received concord, and the hexad was perfected by itself. The hebdomad
received beauty, and the ogdoad received [...] ready ... (1
line unrecoverable) ... greatly. And the decad
revealed the whole place. But the eleven and the twelve have traversed [...]
not having [...]” (Marsanes)
In the Untitled Bruce Codex ms, the Pleroma is described as a
temple-city with four gates and a Holy of Holies: “He created the holy Pleroma
in this way: four gates with four monads within it, one monad to each gate and
six helpers (parastatai) to each gate, and twelve dodecads to each gate, and
five pentads of powers to each gate, making 24 helpers (parastatai) ; and 24
myriad powers to each gate, and nine enneads to each gate, and ten decads to
each gate, and twelve dodecads to each gate, and five pentads of power to each
gate, and an overseer who has three aspects - an unbegotten aspect, a true
aspect and an unutterable aspect - to each gate. One of his aspects looks forth
from the gate to the outer aeons, the other looks inwards to the Setheus, and
the other looks to the height, and the sonship is in each monad. ... The
unutterable aspect of the overseer looks towards to the holy of the holies,
that is, the infinite one who is the head of the sanctuary.” (Untitled Bruce)
- The Untitled Bruce Codex ms also describes the Pleroma as ‘the
body’ of the monad, which is like the mother-city “This is the manner in which
they are all within the monad : there are twelve monads making a crown upon its
head ; each one makes twelve. And there are ten decads surrounding its
shoulders. And there are nine enneads surrounding its belly. And there are
seven hebdomads at its feet, and each one makes a hebdomad. And to the veil
which surrounds it like a tower, there are twelve gates. There are twelve
myriad powers at each gate, and they are called archangels and also angels.
This is the mother-city of the only-begotten one.” (Untitled Bruce)
_____________________________________________________
- On the Anthropos in the Upper Aeons:
In the following three paragraphs from the Bruce Untitled ms, we
have a prayer to the One which reveals how the Elect come to be a part of the
One’s unity by questioning the signs in his creation, and so ‘knowing’ that
they are one with him. Then, the Anthropos manifests the form by which we come
to know the One, and this form is that of Man (and of the saviour):
“thou alone art he who has given character to all creation. Thou
hast manifested them in thyself. Thou art the demiurge of those that have not
yet manifested - these which thou alone knowest, and we do not know them. Thou
alone art he who gives signs of them to us, so that we should ask of thee
concerning them, that thou shouldst manifest them, and we should know them
through thee alone.
Thou alone didst bring thyself to the measure of the hidden
worlds, until they knew thee. It is thou who hast given to them to know that it
is thou who hast borne them in thy incorporeal body. And thou hast created
them, for thou hast begotten Man in thy self-originate mind, and in the thought
and the perfect idea. This is Man, begotten of mind (nous), to whom thought
gave form. It is thou who hast given all things to Man. And he has worn them
like garment.
and he has put them on like clothing, and he has wrapped
himself in the creation like a mantle. This is Man whom the All prays to know.
Thou alone hast commanded Man that he be revealed so that they know thee
through him, that thou hast begotten him. And thou wast revealed according to
thy will.” (Bruce Untitled ms)
_____________________________________________________
- Creation in the APOCRYPHON OF JOHN:
- The One - the Invisible Virginal Spirit
-Barbelo - the first power, which is Thought or Forethought and
‘the womb of everything’
- The Pentad - Barbelo plus Foreknowledge, Indestructibility,
Eternal Life, and Truth
- From a spark of the Invisible Spirit (ie the One), Barbelo
conceives the Only Begotten One, which is the Christ
- Christ received a helper, which is Mind. And the Mind generated
Will, Deed and Word
- (four powers:
understanding, grace, perception, and prudence)
- The Twelve Aeons (incl. four Lights and their three aeons)
- four Lights (or light-aeons): Armozel, Oriel, Daveithai, Eleleth
- the first light-aeon Armozel over: the aeons Grace, Truth, and
Form.
- the second light-aeon Oriel: over the aeons: Conception,
Perception, and Memory.
- the third light-aeon Daveithai: the aeons: Understanding, Love,
and Idea.
- the fourth light-aeon Eleleth: over the aeons Perfection, Peace,
and Wisdom.
- From Barbelo’s Forethought and from the will of the Father and
the Son, Pigera-Adamas, ‘the Perfect Man’ appears
- Pigera-Adamas is placed over the first aeon
- Seth is placed over the second aeon
- Seed of Seth is placed over the third aeon (incl the ‘souls of
the saints’)
- Late-repented souls are placed over the fourth aeon
- Without the consent of the Father or his maleness, Sophia brings
forth a thought, which is Yaltabaoth
- Yaltabaoth begets Authorities, which are seven Kings over seven
Heavens, and five over the depths of the Abyss
- The first seven Authorities, as seven kings of the Heavens:
- the first one is Athoth, the reaper
- The second one is Harmas, the eye of envy.
- The third one is Kalila-Oumbri.
- The fourth one is Yabel.
- The fifth one is Adonaiou, who is called Sabaoth.
- The sixth one is Cain, whom the generations of men call the sun.
- The seventh is Abel.
The next five Authorities, as five kings of the Abyss:
- The eighth is Abrisene.
- The ninth is Yobel.
- The tenth is Armoupieel.
- The eleventh is Melceir-Adonein.
- The twelfth is Belias, it is he who is over the depth of Hades.
- each archon created seven powers (days of the week) and each
power created six angels until they became 365 angels (days of the year)
- Yaltabaoth united each of the seven Powers with the seven
Authorities, and named them acc. to the upper aeons.
The seven Powers, their appearances, and their names
the first is Athoth, a sheep's face; goodness
the second is Eloaiou/Eloaio, a donkey's face; foreknowledge
the third is Astaphaios/Astraphaio, a hyena's face; divinity
the fourth is Yao, a serpent's face with seven heads; lordship
the fifth is Sabaoth, a dragon's face; kingdom
the sixth is Adonin/Adonein, a monkey's face; envy
the seventh is Sabbede/Sabbateon, a shining fire-face;
understanding
- The One speaks of the first Perfect Man and shines his image in
the Upper Aeons, so Yaltabaoth and the authorities and powers create a man acc.
to this image and acc to their likeness, who they name Adam.
The seven Powers created seven substances or ‘souls’:
- The first one, goodness, created a bone-soul;
- The second, foreknowledge, created a sinew-soul;
- The third, divinity, created a flesh-soul;
- The fourth, the lordship, created a marrow-soul;
- The fifth, kingdom created a blood-soul;
- The sixth, envy, created a skin-soul;
- The seventh, understanding, created a hair-soul.
- The multitude of the angels used these seven substances to create
the parts of the natural and material body (many as ‘left and right’)
- Other angels (named) are in charge of ‘the sense’,
‘imagination’, ‘composition’ and ‘whole impulse’ (there are 7 senses)
- Four demons (named) rule over heat, cold, wetness, and dryness,
while the mother of these stands in their midsts, who is ‘matter’
- The four chief demons are:
- Ephememphi: pleasure
- Yoko: desire
- Nenentophni: grief
- Blaomen: fear.
- the mother of them all is Aesthesis-Ouch-Epi-Ptoe.
- From the four chief demons come the Passions:
- Ephememphi: pleasure - wickedness, pride, etc
- Yoko: desire - anger,
wrath, bitterness, bitter passion, unsatedness etc
- Nenentophni: grief - envy, jealousy, distress, trouble, pain,
callousness, anxiety, mourning, etc.
- Blaomen: fear - dread, fawning, agony, and shame
- the head of the material soul is Anaro
- the number of angels that made the body are 365.
- The Five Lights descend and trick Yaltabaoth into blowing his
spirit into the face of natural body, which then moved and became luminous.
- The archons reform man’s body from earth, water, fire and the
four winds to make him mortal, ignorant, forgetful, desirous and dark
- Then the archons placed Adam in the garden and told him to eat
of ‘the tree of their life’, which is deathly, deceptive, dark, desirous etc
- Yaltabaoth creates Eve from the image of Epinoia which he sees
in Adam. When Adam sees Eve, he sees Epinoia, who awakens him.
- Sophia descends, as life ‘and through her they taste the perfect
knowledge’; the saviour descends, as an eagle on the tree of Knowledge; and
Epinoia is in the tree of knowledge and appears as a light.
- Angered, Yaltaboath casts them out of paradise. Then, he seduces
Eve, but the Epinoia took ‘life’ (Sophia) out of Eve, so she brought forth two
sons, who are Eloim and Yave, whom Yaltabaoth called Cain and Abel
- Through this seduction, Yaltabaoth planted sexual desire in Eve,
and ‘the copies of bodies’ through sexual intercourse’.
- Adam begot Seth by ‘recognizing the likeness of Foreknowledge’
But, ‘a likeness of the mother’ descended and gave him Yaltabaoth’s ‘water of
forgetfulness’ to drink, so Seth forgot where he came from.
_____________________________________________________
- Creation in the GOSPEL OF THE EGYPTIANS
- The One
- Domedon Doxomedon - the first to come forth, as the aeon and the
light of all the aeons
- The Father, Mother, and Son: three powers from the One: each has
an ogdoad
- (the Son is fourth, Mother fifth, Father sixth)
- First Ogdoad:
The <first> ogdoad,
- the thought
- the word
- the incorruption,
- the eternal life,
- the will,
- the mind,
- the foreknowledge,
From the first ogdoad came ‘the thrice-male child’ (‘Ainon’)
The second ogdoad is related to the Mother, the virginal Barbelon
The third ogdoad is related to the Son, who produces seven powers
of light and seven voices
- After the three powers called the uncallable name of the One, it
produced the thrice-male child of the
great Christ, called 'Ainon'
- Ainon produced, ‘the child of the child’ ‘Esephech’
- Providence in mentioned
- Then comes the ‘self-begotten’ Christ
- Mirothoe gives birth to Adamas, who mingles with the Logos and
the Autogenes
- Adamas asks for a son out of himself, and Manifestation gives
birth to the Four Lights Harmozel, Oroiael, Davithe, Eleleth, as well as Seth,
“the son of the incorruptible man Adamas.”
- In this way, the perfect hebdomad became complete. (“When she
receives the glory, she becomes eleven ogdoads”)
- Then ‘the consorts’ come for the completion of the Ogdoad of
Autogenes. After this, the ‘ministers’ of each and their consorts
first light Harmozel - consort Grace / minister Gamaliel - consort
Memory
second light Oroiael - consort Perception / minister Gabriel-
consort Love
third light Davithe - consort Understanding / minister Samlo-
consort Peace
fourth light Eleleth - consort Prudence / minister Abrasax- consort Eternal Life
In this way five ogdoads became complete, making forty
With much shaking and trembling, the three male children come down
and in the greatness of Christ the church appears (confused)
Seth brings forth the four-breasted Virgin Plesithea, then takes
his seed from her and puts it in the fourth aeon of Davithe
- After five thousand years, the Four Lights decide to make an angel
to rule over chaos and Hades. In the cloud of Sophia they make a being, one
part ‘great angel Sakla’ and one part ‘great demon Nebruel’, who creates twelve
aeons, and seven (unknown)
The first angel is Athoth.
The second is Harmas, the eye of the fire
The third is Galila.
The fourth is Yobel.
The fifth is Adonaios, who is called 'Sabaoth'.
The sixth is Cain, whom the great generations of men call the sun.
The seventh is Abel;
the eighth Akiressina;
the ninth Yubel.
The tenth is Harmupiael.
The eleventh is Archir-Adonin.
The twelfth is Belias.
- Then a voice said ‘Behold man exists’ and his image appeared
- Because of this Metanoia (repentence) came into being, and with
the Father’s approval she prayed for repentence, so that the seed of Seth would
be sown into the Aeons, in order that ‘the deficiency may be filled up’. She
did this ‘for the repentence’ of the archons and their offspring
“Then the great Seth came and brought his seed. And it was sown in
the aeons” He sowed it through Edokla. The number of his seed is the number of
Sodom.
The great Seth is sent through ‘the three parousias’ (the flood,
the conflagration, and the judgment of the archons) to save the race ‘that went
astray’. Seth ‘put on’ Jesus, and the body prepared for him by the virgin, to
establish baptism, and a reconciliation with the world.
- the (first) great light Harmozel, the place of the living
Autogenes and the incorruptible man Adamas,
- the second, Oroiael, the place of the great Seth, and Jesus,
- the third, Davithe, the place of the sons of the great Seth,
- the fourth, Eleleth, the place where the souls of the sons are
resting,
- the fifth, Yoel, who presides over the name of him to whom it
will be granted to baptize with the holy baptism.
_____________________________________________________
- Creation in EUGNOSTOS THE BLESSED:
- The One
- the first to appear is Father (self-grown, self-constructed,
'Self-Father Man')
- the first principle is
Immortal Androgynous Man.
- His male name is 'Begotten, Perfect Mind'
- His female name is 'All-wise Begettress Sophia'
- From Immortal Androgynous Man came the ‘first designation’
namely, divinity and kingdom
- First Man is 'Faith' ('pistis')
- First was the monad, then
the dyad and the triad, up to the tenths.
- From Immortal Androgynous Man came another ‘principle’ called
'Self-perfected Begetter’
- His male aspect is 'First-begotten Son of God'.
- His female aspect is 'First-begotten Sophia, Mother of the
Universe,' whom some call 'Love'
- First Begetter Father is called 'Adam of the Light.'
- Son of Man consented with Sophia, his consort, and revealed a
great androgynous Light.
- His masculine name is 'Savior, Begetter of All things'.
- His feminine name is designated 'Sophia, All-Begettress' and
'Pistis' (faith).
- Then Savior consented with his consort, Pistis Sophia, and
revealed six androgynous spiritual beings
- The first aeon, then, is that of Immortal Man. The second aeon
is that of Son of Man, who is called 'First Begetter' ("who is called
'Savior'" added in Codex V)
_____________________________________________________
- Creation in ON THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD:
- Chaos is not darkness but shadow, which means it comes from
something prior to it.
- From the infinite came immortal beings, including Pistis, who
engendered Sophia
- Sophia is like a veil dividing above and below
- A shadow of Pistis was cast into the abyss. It became jealous,
and from that jealousy came an aborted foetus, spiritless, made of matter in
the watery abyss
- Pistis Sophia gave the abortion form, so it could rule over
matter, and it became a lion-like androgynous form which Sophia named Yalda
baoth, since “she said to him, "Child, pass through to here," whose
equivalent is 'yalda baoth'.”
- The Perfect call him Ariael, since he is lion-like
- ‘as a spirit moving to and fro upon the waters’, the ruler
separated the waters from the dry places, and separated heaven from earth,
creating all through ‘the word’, which he had learned from Sophia.
- By saying Eee, Eh, and Asss, he created three sons: Yao, Eloai,
and Astaphaios
- Seven androgynous forms appeared in the chaos with masc. and
fem. names:
Yaldabaoth: fem name: Pronoia (Forethought) Sambathas ‘which is
'week'
Yao: fem. name: Lordship.
Sabaoth: fem. name: Deity.
Adonaios: fem. name: Kingship.
Elaios: fem. name: Jealousy.
Oraios: fem. name: Wealth.
Astaphaios: fem. name: Sophia (Wisdom).
- For each, Yaldabaoth created heavens with seven glories, and
thrones, mansions, temples, chariots and virgin spirits, as well as ‘armies of
gods and lords and angels and archangels - countless myriads’.
- Yaldabaoth said "It is I who am God, and there is no other
one that exists apart from me." Then Sophia in anger said, "You are
mistaken, Samael," (that is, "blind god") and predicted that ‘an
immortal man of light’ would appear, causing the ‘consummation’ when all their
works would be abolished
- Of the seven rulers, Sabaoth alone repented, and Sophia brought
him up to the seventh heaven, and with the aid of three archangels he dwells
above the twelve gods of chaos
- Sophia gave Sabaoth a daughter, Zoe (Life)
- Sabaoth created a four-faced chariot with 8 x 4 forms (lion,
calf, eagle, man) making 64 forms, with 7 angels plus him (1) before it, making
72 gods in all. The chariot is called Cherubin, and more serpent-like angels
were created, called Seraphin. He also created ‘a congregation of angels,
thousands and myriads, numberless’
- Then he created ‘a firstborn called Israel - which is, "the
man that sees God"’
- Then Jesus Christ, who resembles the Saviour in the eighth
heaven above
- Saboath’s reign will continue until the consummation
- So Sophia has Saboath on her right, as Justice; and ‘the prime
parent’ (ie Yaldabaoth) on her left, as Wickedness, to rule over the lower
aeons: “Now Pistis Sophia set him apart from the darkness and summoned him to
her right, and the prime parent she put at her left. Since that day, right has
been called justice, and left called wickedness.” (Origin of the World)
- Due to envy and wrath for his son Saboath, Yaldabaoth created
Death, which rules over the six heavens, but not the seventh of Saboath
- Death, an androgynous being, mingled with its own nature and
produced seven androgynous offspring.
- The names of the male ones: Jealousy, Wrath, Tears, Sighing,
Suffering, Lamentation, Bitter Weeping.
- The names of the female ones: Wrath, Pain, Lust, Sighing, Curse,
Bitterness, Quarrelsomeness
- In contrast Saboath, through Zoe, created seven good androgynous
forces
- The names of the male ones: the Unenvious, the Blessed, the
Joyful, the True, the Unbegrudging, the Beloved, the Trustworthy.
- The names of the female ones: Peace, Gladness, Rejoicing,
Blessedness, Truth, Love, Faith (Pistis).
- Then Yaldabaoth said,"If anything has existed before me,
let it appear, so that we may see its light." And in the eighth heaven a
light appeared, which all the forces saw, except only Yaldaboath and his
Pronoia saw that it had ‘a human likeness within it’
- Pronoia fell in love with the likeness but, being unable to
embrace it, she ‘poured her light upon the earth’, and the human likeness
appeared as "Adam of Light," whose rendering is "the luminous
man of blood," and the earth spread over him, holy Adaman, whose rendering
is "the Holy Land of Adamantine."
- Then all the rulers ‘honored the blood of the virgin’.
-
“Out of that first blood Eros appeared, being androgynous. His masculinity is
Himireris, being fire from the light. His femininity that is with him - a soul
of blood - is from the stuff of Pronoia. He is very lovely in his beauty,
having a charm beyond all the creatures of chaos. Then all the gods and their
angels, when they beheld Eros, became enamored of him. And appearing in all of
them, he set them afire: just as from a single lamp many lamps are lit, and one
and the same light is there, but the lamp is not diminished. And in this way,
Eros became dispersed in all the created beings of chaos, and was not
diminished.”
-
As
‘the sexual union of Eros
was consummated’ from earth came ‘primal pleasure’ and ‘woman’ from which
followed ‘marriage’ ‘birth’ and finally ‘dissolution’
- Justice created Paradise with the Tree of Life and Tree of
Knowledge
- The first soul loved eros, and from their blood spilled upon the
earth came the first rose, and then the first plants, and then the first
animals - all containing the seeds of the authorities and angels.
- Before this, Sophia created all the stars in the heavens ‘to
render temporal signs’
- The ‘Adam of Light’ created six heavens between the upper eighth
and the chaos below.
- Out of jealousy, Yaldabaoth created a copy of the Adam of the
Light out of matter, so that the Adam would be enamoured of it.
- Eve, the ‘first virgin’ utters a poetic account, ‘I am...’
- A certain number of souls were captured and taken prisoner into
the bodies fashioned by the Yaldabaoth, and will remain until the consummation
of the age.
- Then Yaldabaoth created Adam, a ‘soul-endowed’ man, then
abandoned him. He could not stand.
- Then Eve, who is Zoe (daughter of Sophia), was sent, and she
spoke, so that Adam rose
- The authorities, seeing Zoe glow with light, wanted to unite
with her. But she fled and hid in Adam, becoming Eve. Then, the true Zoe hid in
the Tree of Knowledge. And the rulers united with the material Eve instead of
Zoe. She brought forth Abel.
- There were three Adams - the Adam of Light who is spirit, the
second Adam who has soul, and the third who is earhtly.
- The earthly Adam and Eve, instructed by ‘the beast’ or
‘instructor’ (who is Zoe), ate of the tree of knowledge, and gained knowledge.
The rulers were unable to punish the beast, but Adam and Eve were cursed.
- Seeing that Adam and Eve were now wise and could disinguish
light from darkness, they cast them out of paradise, lest they should eat from
the Tree of Life and become immortal.
- The rulers instructed them on how to worship the false gods
- Once the world had become full with the descendents of the
earthly Adam, the Father sent ‘the blessed little innocent spirits’, which the
rulers could not defile. This is “the fourth race is kingless and perfect, being the highest of
all. For these shall enter the holy place of their father. And they will gain
rest in repose and eternal, unspeakable glory and unending joy.”
- With the coming of the fourth race comes the end of the rulers, who
consume each other and are consumed.
_____________________________________
THE ANGELS
- Those who receive the Elect in the Upper Aeons by ‘knowing’ or
‘recognizing’ them
Protennoia system of angels:
Yammon, Elasso, Amenai- ‘those who give robes of light’ -
Micheus, Michar, Mnesinous - ‘the baptizers’ in the spring of the
Water of Life. Bariel, Nouthan, Sabenai - ‘those who enthrone’ from the Throne
of Glory.
Ariom, Elien, Phariel - ‘those who glorify’ with the glory of the
Fatherhood. And Kamaliel, [...]anen, Samblo, and the servants of <the>
great holy luminaries - ‘those who snatch away’
“And I delivered him to those who give robes - Yammon, Elasso,
Amenai - and they covered him with a robe from the robes of the Light; and I
delivered him to the baptizers, and they baptized him - Micheus, Michar,
Mnesinous - and they immersed him in the spring of the Water of Life. And I
delivered him to those who enthrone - Bariel, Nouthan, Sabenai - and they
enthroned him from the Throne of Glory. And I delivered him to those who
glorify - Ariom, Elien, Phariel - and they glorified him with the glory of the
Fatherhood. And those who snatch away snatched away - Kamaliel, [...]anen,
Samblo, and the servants of <the> great holy luminaries - and they took
him into the light-place of his Fatherhood. And he received the Five seals from
the Light of the Mother, Protennoia, and it was granted him to partake of the
mystery of knowledge, and he became a Light in Light.” (3 Protennoia)
_____________________________________________________
Gospel of Egyptians system of angels:
Yesseus Mazareus Yessedekeus - ‘the living water’
James the great and Theopemptos and Isaouel - ‘the great leaders’
Micheus and Michar and Mnesinous - ‘they who preside over the
spring of truth’
Sesengenpharanges - ‘he who presides over the baptism of the
living
Micheus and Michar - ‘they who preside over the gates of the
waters’
Seldao and Elainos - ‘they who preside over the mountain
Gamaliel, Gabriel, Samblo, and Abrasax (the ministers of the four lights)
- ‘the receivers of the great race of Seth’
Olses, Hypneus and Heurumaious - ‘they who preside over the sun,
its rising’ , Mixanther and Michanor (the rulers) - ‘they who preside over the
entrance into the rest of eternal life’
Akramas and Strempsouchos - ‘they who guard the souls of the
elect’
Heli Heli Machar Machar Seth (the great power)
Harmozel (the first light) - ‘the place of the living Autogenes,
the God of the truth, and Adamas’
Oroiael (the second light) - ‘the place of the great Seth, and
Jesus’
Davithe (the third light) - ‘the place of the sons of Seth
Eleleth (the fourth light) - the place where the souls of the sons
are resting’
Yoel (the fifth), ‘who presides over the name of him to whom it
will be granted to baptize with the holy baptism that surpasses the heaven, the
incorruptible one’.
Poimael - ‘the incorruptible man’
“There appeared to them the great attendant Yesseus Mazareus
Yessedekeus, the living water, and the great leaders, James the great and
Theopemptos and Isaouel, and they who preside over the spring of truth, Micheus
and Michar and Mnesinous, and he who presides over the baptism of the living,
and the purifiers, and Sesengenpharanges, and they who preside over the gates
of the waters, Micheus and Michar, and they who preside over the mountain,
Seldao and Elainos, and the receivers of the great race, the incorruptible,
mighty men <of> the great Seth, the ministers of the four lights, the
great Gamaliel, the great Gabriel, the great Samblo, and the great Abrasax, and
they who preside over the sun, its rising, Olses and Hypneus and Heurumaious,
and they who preside over the entrance into the rest of eternal life, the
rulers Mixanther and Michanor, and they who guard the souls of the elect,
Akramas and Strempsouchos, and the great power Heli Heli Machar Machar Seth,
and the great invisible, uncallable, unnameable, virginal Spirit, and the
silence, and the (first) great light Harmozel, the place of the living
Autogenes, the God of the truth, and <he> who is with him, the incorruptible
man Adamas, the second, Oroiael, the place of the great Seth, and Jesus, who
possesses the life, and who came and crucified that which is in the law, the
third, Davithe, the place of the sons of the great Seth, the fourth, Eleleth,
the place where the souls of the sons are resting, the fifth, Yoel, who
presides over the name of him to whom it will be granted to baptize with the
holy baptism that surpasses the heaven, the incorruptible one.” (Gosp Egypt)
- Poimael: “But from now on, through the incorruptible man
Poimael, and they who are worthy of (the) invocation, the renunciations of the
five seals in the spring-baptism, these will know their receivers as they are
instructed about them, and they will know them (or: be known) by them. These
will by no means taste death.” (Gosp Egypt)
- Abrasax and Sablo and Gamaliel appear during the parousia of the
conflagration: “Abrasax and Sablo and Gamaliel will descend and bring those men
out of the fire and the wrath, and take them above the aeons and the rulers of
the powers, and take them away” (Apoc Adam)
- Micheu and Michar and Mnesinous: “Then a voice came to them,
saying "Micheu and Michar and Mnesinous, who are over the holy baptism and
the living water, why were you crying out against the living God with lawless
voices and tongues without law over them, and souls full of blood and foul
deeds? You are full of works that are not of the truth, but your ways are full
of joy and rejoicing. Having defiled the water of life, you have drawn it
within the will of the powers to whom you have been given to serve them.” (Apoc
Adam)
_____________________________________________________
Untitled Bruce codex ms angels:
- Gamaliel, Strempsuchos, Agramas are called watchers who aid the
Elect: “Watchers were sent to them, namely Gamaliel, Strempsuchos, Agramas and
those with him. They became helpers to those who believed in the light-spark.”
(Untitled Bruce)
____________________________________
THE CREATION OF THE LOWER AEONS
- Yaltabaoth
- The creation of the Lower Aeons
- On the Anthropos in the Lower Aeons:
- On creating Adam
- On Adam and Eve
- On Eating from the Tree
- On the descendents of Adama and Eve:
_____________________________________________________
YALTABAOTH
- The lion-headed serpent, the source of fiery light, the first
archon
- “Now when Pistis Sophia
saw him moving about in the depth of the waters, she said to him, "Child,
pass through to here," whose equivalent is 'yalda
baoth'. (Origin of the World)
- Also called Saklas, Samael: “he is called 'Saklas', that is, 'Samael', 'Yaltabaoth'” (3 Protennoia)
- “Now the archon who is weak has three names. The first name is
Yaltabaoth, the second is Saklas, and the third is Samael.” (Apoc John)
- he displays arrogance, pride, envy, greed
- Titles: ‘the first archon’, ‘the Arrogant One’, ‘the envier’,
‘the great Demon’, ‘the Archgenitor’
- As the Arrogant One and envier: “the Arrogant One, became proud on account of the praise of the
powers. He became an envier” (Letter
of Peter to Philip)
- As the Archgenitor: “Then the Powers answered, saying ‘For behold, even he, the
Archgenitor of our birth, about whom we boast, even he did not know this
Speech.’” (3 Protennoia)
- Yaltabaoth is in the “form of a lion-faced serpent. And its eyes were like lightning
fires which flash” (Apoc John)
- As ‘the great Demon’, etc: “...immediately there appeared the
great Demon who rules over the lowest part of the underworld and Chaos. He has
neither form nor perfection, but, on the contrary, possesses the form of the
glory of those begotten in the darkness. Now he is called 'Saklas', that is,
'Samael', 'Yaltabaoth', he who had taken power; who had snatched it away from
the innocent one (Sophia); who had earlier overpowered her who is the Light`s
Epinoia who had descended, her from whom he had come forth from originally.” (3
Protennoia)
- His form comes from a shadow of light. He is androgynous:
“Sophia, who is called Pistis, wanted to create something, alone without her
consort; and her product was a celestial thing. A veil exists between the world
above and the realms that are below; and shadow came into being beneath the
veil; and that shadow became matter; and that shadow was projected apart. And
what she had created became a product in the matter, like an aborted fetus. And
it assumed a plastic form molded out of shadow, and became an arrogant beast
resembling a lion. It was androgynous, as I have already said, because it was
from matter that it derived.” (Hypo. Archons)
- As the Archigenetor of ignorance: “the Archigenetor of ignorance
reigned over Chaos and the underworld” (3 Protennoia)
- He has a dual nature Sakla ‘the great angel’ and Nebruel ‘the
great demon’
- “After five thousand years, the great light Eleleth spoke:
"Let someone reign over the chaos and Hades." And there appeared a
cloud whose name is hylic Sophia [...] She looked out on the parts of the
chaos, her face being like [...] in her form [...] blood. And the great angel
Gamaliel spoke to the great Gabriel, the minister of the great light Oroiael;
he said, "Let an angel come forth, in order that he may reign over the
chaos and Hades." Then the cloud, being agreeable, came forth in the two
monads, each one of which had light. [...] the throne, which she had placed in
the cloud above. Then Sakla, the great angel, saw the great demon who is with
him, Nebruel. And they became together a begetting spirit of the earth. They
begot assisting angels. Sakla said to the great demon Nebruel, "Let the
twelve aeons come into being in the [...] aeon”” (Gosp Egypt)
- He is Samael, ‘the Blind God’ on account of his pride: “Their
chief is blind; because of his power and his ignorance and his arrogance he
said, with his power, "It is I who am God; there is none apart from
me." When he said this, he sinned against the entirety. And this speech
got up to incorruptibility; then there was a voice that came forth from
incorruptibility, saying, "You are mistaken, Samael" - which is,
"god of the blind." (Hypo. Archons)
- “It was <in> the abyss that it (shadow) appeared, deriving
from the aforementioned Pistis. Then shadow perceived there was something
mightier than it, and felt envy; and when it had become pregnant of its own
accord, suddenly it engendered jealousy.
And when these
things had come to pass, then Pistis came and appeared over the matter of
chaos, which had been expelled like an aborted fetus - since there was no
spirit in it. For all of it (chaos) was limitless darkness and bottomless
water. Now when Pistis saw what had resulted from her defect, she became
disturbed. And the disturbance appeared, as a fearful product; it rushed to her
in the chaos. She turned to it and blew into its face in the abyss, which is
below all the heavens.
And when Pistis
Sophia desired to cause the thing that had no spirit to be formed into a likeness
and to rule over matter and over all her forces, there appeared for the first
time a ruler, out of the waters, lion-like in appearance, androgynous, having
great authority within him, and ignorant of whence he had come into being. Now
when Pistis Sophia saw him moving about in the depth of the waters, she said to
him, "Child, pass through to here," whose equivalent is 'yalda
baoth'.
Now as for the
ruler Yaltabaoth, he is ignorant of the force of Pistis: he did not see her
face, rather he saw in the water the likeness that spoke with him. And because
of that voice, he called himself 'Yaldabaoth'. But 'Ariael' is what the perfect
call him, for he was like a lion. ” (Origin of the World)
___________________________________
On the Creation of the Lower Aeons:
- In the Apocryphon of John,
Yaltabaoth alone and by himself generates the Authorities: “He became strong
and created for himself other aeons with a flame of luminous fire which (still)
exists now. And he joined with his arrogance which is in him and begot
authorities for himself.” (Apoc John)
- “And he placed seven kings - each corresponding to the
firmaments of heaven - over the seven heavens, and five over the depth of the
abyss... And he shared his fire with them...” (Apoc John)
- In the Gosp. Egypt, Yaltabaoth is generated,
like all the aeons, in a cloud named Sophia, but there is no fault in his
generation.
- In Hypostasis of the Archons,
Yaltabaoth generates the Lower Aeons with Sophia’s help: “And he said, "If
any other thing exists before me, let it become visible to me!" And
immediately Sophia stretched forth her finger and introduced light into matter;
and she pursued it down to the region of chaos. And she returned up to her
light; once again darkness [...] matter. This ruler, by being androgynous, made
himself a vast realm, an extent without limit. And he contemplated creating
offspring for himself, and created for himself seven offspring, androgynous
just like their parent. And he said to his offspring, "It is I who am god
of the entirety." (Hypo. Archons)
- The Lower Aeons are modelled on the Upper Aeons, being in their
image, except that they are formed from perishable matter.
- Yaltabaoth, “having expelled his power - that is, the blasphemy
he had spoken - he pursued it down to chaos and the abyss, his mother, at the
instigation of Pistis Sophia. And she established each of his offspring in
conformity with its power - after the pattern of the realms that are above, for
by starting from the invisible world the visible world was invented.” (Hypo
Archons)
- "This is the first archon who took a great power from his
mother. And he removed himself from her and moved away from the places in which
he was born. He became strong and created for himself other aeons with a flame
of luminous fire which (still) exists now. And he joined with his arrogance
which is in him and begot authorities for himself. ... And he placed seven
kings - each corresponding to the firmaments of heaven - over the seven
heavens, and five over the depth of the abyss, that they may reign.” (Apoc
John)
_____________________________________________________
On the Anthropos in the Lower Aeons:
"And a voice came forth from the exalted aeon-heaven: 'The
Man exists and the son of Man.' ...And the whole aeon of the chief archon
trembled, and the foundations of the abyss shook. And of the waters which are
above matter, the underside was illuminated by the appearance of his image
which had been revealed. And when all the authorities and the chief archon
looked, they saw the whole region of the underside which was illuminated. And
through the light they saw the form of the image in the water. And he
(Yaltabaoth) said to the authorities which attend him, 'Come, let us create a
man according to the image of God and according to our likeness, that his image
may become a light for us.'” (Apoc John)
Then a voice came from on high, saying, "The Man exists, and
the Son of the Man." Because of the descent of the image above, which is
like its voice in the height of the image which has looked out through the
looking out of the image above, the first creature was formed. (Gosp Egypt)
_____________________________________________________
On creating Adam:
The Protennoia says that the first man was modelled after her:
“And the Archigenetor of ignorance reigned over Chaos and the underworld, and
produced a man in my likeness.” (3 Protennoia)
Yaltabaoth: “'Come, let us create a man according to the image of
God and according to our likeness, that his image may become a light for us.'
And they created by means of their respective powers in correspondence with the
characteristics which were given. And each authority supplied a characteristic
in the form of the image which he had seen in its natural (form). He created a
being according to the likeness of the first, perfect Man. And they said, 'Let
us call him Adam, that his name may become a power of light for us.'” (Apoc
John)
In Hypo. Archons, the archons formed man’s
body from matter in an attempt to grasp the image of incorruptibility, which
had appeared in the Upper Aeons. Yaltabaoth breathed a soul (not the pneuma)
into the man, and so he remained on the ground, unable to rise. Only later did
the Spirit come and dwell in man, who became Adam:
“As incorruptibility looked down into the region of the waters,
her image appeared in the waters; and the authorities of the darkness became
enamored of her. But they could not lay hold of that image, which had appeared
to them in the waters, because of their weakness - since beings that merely possess
a soul cannot lay hold of those that possess a spirit - for they were from
below, while it was from above. This is the reason why "incorruptibility
looked down into the region (etc.)": so that, by the father's will, she
might bring the entirety into union with the light.
“The rulers laid
plans and said, "Come, let us create a man that will be soil from the
earth." They modeled their creature as one wholly of the earth. Now the
rulers [...] body [...] they have [...] female [...] is [...] with the face of
a beast. They had taken some soil from the earth and modeled their man after
their body and after the image of God that had appeared to them in the waters.
They said, "Come, let us lay hold of it by means of the form that we have
modeled, so that it may see its male counterpart [...], and we may seize it
with the form that we have modeled" - not understanding the force of God,
because of their powerlessness. And he breathed into his face; and the man came
to have a soul (and remained) upon the ground many days. But they could not
make him arise because of their powerlessness. Like storm winds they persisted
(in blowing), that they might try to capture that image, which had appeared to
them in the waters. And they did not know the identity of its power.
“Now all these
things came to pass by the will of the father of the entirety. Afterwards, the
spirit saw the soul-endowed man upon the ground. And the spirit came forth from
the Adamantine Land; it descended and came to dwell within him, and that man
became a living soul. It called his name Adam, since he was found moving upon
the ground. A voice came forth from incorruptibility for the assistance of
Adam; and the rulers gathered together all the animals of the earth and all the
birds of heaven and brought them in to Adam to see what Adam would call them,
that he might give a name to each of the birds and all the beasts.” (Hypo.
Archons)
_____________________________________________________
On Adam and Eve:
“When Eve was still with Adam, death did not exist. When she was
separated from him, death came into being. If he enters again and attains his
former self, death will be no more.” (Gosp Philip)
- "And he (Adam) saw the woman beside him. And in that moment
the luminous Epinoia appeared, and she lifted the veil which lay over his mind.
And he became sober from the drunkenness of darkness. And he recognized his
counter-image...” (Apoc John)
“The rulers... opened his side like a living woman. And they built
up his side with some flesh in place of her, and Adam came to be endowed only
with soul. And the spirit-endowed woman came to him and spoke with him, saying,
"Arise, Adam." And when he saw her, he said, "It is you who have
given me life; you will be called 'mother of the living'. - For it is she who
is my mother. It is she who is the physician, and the woman, and she who has
given birth."” (Hypo. archons)
Adam speaking to Seth: “Listen to my words, my son Seth. When God
had created me out of the earth, along with Eve, your mother, I went about with
her in a glory which she had seen in the aeon from which we had come forth. She
taught me a word of knowledge of the eternal God. And we resembled the great
eternal angels, for we were higher than the god who had created us and the
powers with him, whom we did not know.
Then God, the ruler
of the aeons and the powers, divided us in wrath. Then we became two aeons. And
the glory in our heart(s) left us, me and your mother Eve, along with the first
knowledge that breathed within us. And it (glory) fled from us; it entered into
[...] great [...] which had come forth, not from this aeon from which we had
come forth, I and Eve your mother. But it (knowledge) entered into the seed of
great aeons. For this reason I myself have called you by the name of that man
who is the seed of the great generation or from whom (it comes).” (Apoc Adam)
“And when they had finished Adam, he abandoned him as an inanimate
vessel, since he had taken form like an abortion, in that no spirit was in
him.... And he could not stand up... Sophia sent her daughter Zoe, being called
Eve, as an instructor, in order that she might make Adam, who had no soul,
arise, so that those whom he should engender might become containers of light.
When Eve saw her male counterpart prostrate, she had pity upon him, and she
said, "Adam! Become alive! Arise upon the earth!" Immediately her
word became accomplished fact. For Adam, having arisen, suddenly opened his
eyes. When he saw her, he said, "You shall be called 'Mother of the
Living'. For it is you who have given me life." (Origin of the World)
_____________________________________________________
On eating from the tree:
“For when they (Adam and Eve) ate of the tree of knowledge, they
trampled the Cherubim and the Seraphim with the flaming sword.” (Melchizedek)
The saviour: “I appeared in the form of an eagle on the tree of
knowledge... that I might teach them and awaken them out of the depth of
sleep.” (Apoc John)
“And our sister Sophia (is) she who came down in innocence in
order to rectify her deficiency. Therefore she was called Life, which is the
mother of the living, by the foreknowledge of the sovereignty of heaven. And
through her they have tasted the perfect Knowledge. I appeared in the form of
an eagle on the tree of knowledge, which is the Epinoia from the foreknowledge
of the pure light, that I might teach them and awaken them out of the depth of
sleep. For they were both in a fallen state, and they recognized their
nakedness. The Epinoia appeared to them as a light; she awakened their thinking.”
(Apoc John)
“They (the archons) took Adam and put him the garden, that he
might cultivate it and keep watch over it. And the rulers issued a command to
him, saying, "From every tree in the garden shall you eat; yet from the
tree of recognizing good and evil do not eat, nor touch it; for the day you eat
from it, with death you are going to die." They [...] this. They do not
understand what they have said to him; rather, by the father's will, they said
this in such a way that he might (in fact) eat, and that Adam might <not>
regard them as would a man of an exclusively material nature. The rulers took
counsel with one another and said, "Come, let us cause a deep sleep to
fall upon Adam." And he slept. - Now the deep sleep that they "caused
to fall upon him, and he slept" is Ignorance.” (Hypo. Archons)
In Hypostasis of the Archons, the ‘female spiritual principle’
hides in the snake and tells Eve that she and Adam should eat from the Tree of
Knowledge to ‘recognize good and evil’. The spirit then leaves the serpent and
they eat of the tree. But, being only with souls, they recognized that they
were ‘naked of the spiritul element’, so they hid their loins with fig leaves.
The rulers, seeing them naked, cursed the empty serpent. They also threw Adam
and Eve out of the garden and cursed them: “ they threw mankind into great
distraction and into a life of toil, so that their mankind might be occupied by
worldly affairs, and might not have the opportunity of being devoted to the
holy spirit.”
___________________________________
On the descendents of Adama and Eve:
In The
Hypostasis of the Archons, Eve bears Cain and Abel
(it is unclear who is the father. It seems the archons father Cain while Adam
fathers Abel). Cain murders Abel and is cursed. Then, ‘Adam knew his female
counterpart Eve’ and she bore Seth, saying "I have borne another man
through God, in place of Abel." Again, Eve becomes pregnant and bears
Norea, saying "He has begotten on me a virgin as an assistance for many
generations of mankind." She is the virgin whom the forces did not defile.
Then mankind began to multiply and improve.
Then the archons
made a flood, but the descendents of Seth and Norea escape through the second
of Noah’s arks
In the Apocalypse
of Adam, Adam says to Seth that Adam and Eve once had knowledge of the Upper
Aeons, but lost it. Still, this knowledge will be passed on through ‘the seed
of Seth’. Meanwhile, “The God who created us, created a son from himself and
Eve, your mother.” Assumingly, this was Cain.
______________________________________
SOPHIA, MAGDALENE, WOMEN
On Sophia in general:
On Sophia’s Fall, generating the cosmos:
On Sophia’s Repentence:
On Protennoia (who is Barbelo):
On Barbelo:
On Epinoia: (After-Thought)
On Plesithea:
On Norea:
On Mary Magdalene
On saving or redeeming Mary Magdalene or Sophia:
On the Lost Sheep:
On the soul as virgin, prostitute, and redeemed
On Prositution:
On the relationship of men and women:
_____________________________________
On Sophia in general:
“You are wisdom (Sophia)! You are knowledge! You are truth!
Because of you is Life; from you comes Life.” (3 Steles Seth 123:16 - Turner)
Sophia can also be silence. Silence reflects without speech:
“Sophia, his consort, who was called 'Silence', who was named 'Silence' because
by reflecting without speech she perfected her own majesty.” (Eugnostos)
“a likeness then emanated from Pistis (Faith); it is called Sophia
(Wisdom). It exercised volition and became a product resembling the primeval
light. And immediately her will manifested itself as a likeness of heaven,
having an unimaginable magnitude; it was between the immortal beings and those
things that came into being after them, like [...]: she (Sophia) functioned as
a veil dividing mankind from the things above.” (Origin of the World)
“The apostles said to the disciples, "May our entire offering
obtain salt." They called Sophia "salt". Without it, no offering
is acceptable. But Sophia is barren, without child. For this reason, she is
called "a trace of salt" (Gosp Phil)
“...Echamoth is Wisdom...” (ie Hockmah) (Gosp Phil)
“the innocent Sophia.. she who descended” (3 Protennoia)
“Other immortal souls associate with all these souls because of
the Sophia who looked down.” (Zost)
“For those who were in the world had been prepared by the will of
our sister Sophia - she who is a whore - because of the innocence which has not
been uttered.” (2 Treatise Seth)
_____________________________________
On Sophia’s Fall, generating the cosmos:
- “When Sophia looked at [...] them she produced the darkness,”
(Zost)
Mary said to him: "Holy Lord, where did your disciples come
from, and where are they going, and (what) should they do here?"
The Perfect Savior said to them: "I want you to know that
Sophia, the Mother of the Universe and the consort, desired by herself to bring
these to existence without her male (consort).
(Sophia JC)
“Sophia, who is called Pistis, wanted to create something, alone
without her consort” (Hypo. Archons)
That she should suffer, then, was not the will of the Father, for
she dwells in herself alone without her consort. (Val. Expo.)
_____________________________________
On Sophia’s Repentence:
- “But to Sophia a place of rest was given in exchange for her
repentance.” (Zost)
“Sophia suffered after her son ascended from her, for she knew
that she dwelt in a [...] in unity and restoration. They were stopped [...] the
brethren [...] these. A [...] did not [...]. I became [...]. Who indeed are
they? The [...], on the one hand, stopped her [...], on the other hand, [...].
with the [...] her. These moreover are those who were looking at me, these who,
[...] these who considered [...] the death. They were stopped [...] her and she
repented and she besought the Father of the truth, saying, "Granted that I
have renounced my consort. Therefore I am beyond confirmation as well. I
deserve the things (passions) I suffer. I used to dwell in the Pleroma putting
forth the Aeons and bearing fruit with my consort" And she knew what she
was and what had become of her.” (Val. Expo.)
“Achamoth, who, having for a little while looked upon the Saviour
with His associates, and dwelling all the rest of the time in the intermediate
place, waited for Him till He should come again, and restore her to her proper
consort. Her name, too, was indicated by the Saviour, when He said, ‘Yet wisdom
is justified by her children.’” (Iren. Bk I, viii, 4)
“When all the seed shall have come to perfection, they state that
then their mother Achamoth shall pass from the intermediate place, and enter in
within the Pleroma, and shall receive as her spouse the Saviour, who sprang
from all the AEons, that thus a conjunction may be formed between the Saviour
and Sophia, that is, Achamoth. These, then, are the bridegroom and bride, while
the nuptial chamber is the full extent of the Pleroma. The spiritual seed,
again, being divested of their animal souls,(2) and becoming intelligent
spirits, shall in an irresistible and invisible manner enter in within the
Pleroma, and be bestowed as brides on those angels who wait upon the Saviour.
The Demiurge himself will pass into the place of his mother Sophia;(3) that is,
the intermediate habitation. In this intermediate place, also, shall the souls
of the righteous repose; but nothing of an animal nature shall find admittance
to the Pleroma. When these things have taken place as described, then shall
that fire which lies hidden in the world blaze forth and bum; and while
destroying all matter, shall also be extinguished along with it, and have no
further existence.” (Iren bk I, vii, 1)
_____________________________________
On Protennoia (who is Barbelo):
- Protennoia has three names, but exists as one. She is first born
of the One, and made three descents: first, as the Father, second as the
Mother, and third as the Son. This is also described as: first as the Voice,
second as the Speech (Sound), and third as the Word.
- In other words, ‘the Son’ or Saviour is a manifestation of
Protennoia. Without knowing it, Jesus is a manifestation of Mary Madgalene.
Protennoia: “I descended to the midst of the underworld, and I
shone down upon the darkness. It is I who poured forth the water. It is I who
am hidden within radiant waters. I am the one who gradually put forth the All
by my Thought. It is I who am laden with the Voice. It is through me that
Gnosis comes forth.” (3 Protennoia)
Protennoia: “I am the Thought of the Father, and through me
proceeded the Voice, that is, the knowledge of the everlasting things.” (3
Protennoia)
Protennoia: “I am androgynous. I am Mother (and) I am Father,
since I copulate with myself. I copulated with myself and with those who love
me, and it is through me alone that the All stands firm. I am the Womb that
gives shape to the All by giving birth to the Light that shines in splendor.”
(3 Protennoia)
_____________________________________
On Barbelo
- The upper wisdom
- “the first power” (Apoc
John)
- “the forethought of the
All” (Apoc John)
- “the first thought, his image” (Apoc John)
- “she became the womb of everything” (Apoc John)
- addressed as “O Mother of the aeons, Barbelo” (Melchizedek)
- “thou dost become a great male noetic First-Appearer.” (3 Stele
Seth)
- manifest also as Protennoia (see Protennoia)
- Of the three powers, the Father, Mother and Son, she is the
Mother: “Three powers came forth from him; they are the Father, the
Mother, (and) the Son... The second ogdoad-power, the Mother, the virginal
Barbelon” (Gosp Egypt)
- She is a triple power that comes from a triple power. Seth:
“from one indivisible, triple power, thou a triple power” (3 Stele Seth)
- She is a unity that comes from a unity. Seth: “thou a great
monad from a pure monad” (3 Stele Seth)
- She is ‘the male virgin’ of Gospel of the Egyptians: “Then
the great Seth gave praise to the great, uncallable, virginal Spirit, and the
male virgin Barbelon” (Gosp Egypt)
- Seth calls her male virginal. Seth: “Great
is the first aeon, male virginal Barbelo, the first glory of the invisible
Father, she who is called ‘perfect’” (3
Stele Seth)
- Why Barbelo is male: “the Aeon which is Barbelo, the male
Virgin. For this reason the Virgin became male, because she had been divided
from the male. The Knowledge stood outside of him, because it belongs to him.
And she who exists, she who sought, possesses (it), just as the Three-Powered
One possesses (it). She withdrew from them, from these two powers, since she
exists outside of the Great One, as she [...]” (Marsanes)
- Presumeably, Zostrianos is talking about Barbelo / Yoel: “ the
pleroma [...] which she did not desire for herself. She has [...] him outside
of the [perfection], she has divided, for she is [the] all-perfection [of]
perfection, existing as thought. With respect to him [she] is a begetting which
follows him, and as one from his ineffable power she has a first power and the
first barreness after him, because with respect to all the rest a first aeon.
(...) she did not begin [...] time, but she [appeared] from eternity, having
stood before him in eternity. She was darkened by the majesty of his [...] She
stood looking at him and rejoicing because she was filled with his kindness,
[...] (nb ‘Chrestos’) (...) She became ignorant [...] and she [...] body and
[...] promise [...] light [...] [...] she exists [...] [...] in order that she
might not come forth anymore nor come into existence apart from perfection. She
knew herself and him. Having made herself stand, she was at rest because of
him, since she was [from] him who really exists, {she was from him who really
exists) and all those. (Thus), she knows herself and him who pre-exists. (...)
[They who came after] stood upon him who really exists, for she knew about him,
in order that those who follow her might come into being having a place and
that those who come forth (from her) might not be before her but might become
holy (and) simple. She is the comprehension of god 83 who pre- [exists. She]
rested [...] to the simple [...] salvation salvation [...] [...] he [...] [...]
light which was fore- [known]. She was called Barbelo because (of her being)
thought; the triple [race] (which is) male, virginal (and) perfect and her
knowledge through which she came into being in order that they might not [...]
her down and that she might not come forth anymore through those in her and
those who follow her. ” (Zost) (Compare references of ‘barreness’, ‘kindness’
etc to Apoc. John)
_____________________________________
On Epinoia: (After-Thought)
- The Thought which the One planted in man to remind him of his
origins. The Thought was planted between the time Yaltabaoth breathed a spirit
into his material body and the time he was imprisoned in forgetfulness etc
- “And he (the One) sent..
a helper to Adam, luminous Epinoia which comes out of him, who is called Life.
And she assists the whole creature, by toiling with him and by restoring him to
his fullness and by teaching him about the descent of his seed (and) by
teaching him about the way of ascent, (which is) the way he came down. And the
luminous Epinoia was hidden in Adam, in order that the archons might not know
her” (Apoc John)
- Yaltabaoth modelled Eve after the image of Epinoia hiding in
Adam. Then, when Adam saw Eve, he awoke from his forgetfulness
- "And he (Adam) saw the woman beside him. And in that moment
the luminous Epinoia appeared, and she lifted the veil which lay over his mind.
And he became sober from the drunkenness of darkness. And he recognized his
counter-image...” (Apoc John)
______________________________________
On Plesithea:
“Then there came forth from that place the great power of the
great light Plesithea, the mother of the angels, the mother of the lights, the
glorious mother, the virgin with the four breasts, bringing the fruit from
Gomorrah, as spring, and Sodom, which is the fruit of the spring of Gomorrah
which is in her. She came forth through the great Seth.” (Gosp Egypt)
_________________________________________
On Norea:
“And Adam knew his female counterpart Eve, and she became
pregnant, and bore Seth to Adam. And she said, "I have borne another man
through God, in place of Abel." Again Eve became pregnant, and she bore
Norea. And she said, "He has begotten on me a virgin as an assistance for
many generations of mankind." She is the virgin whom the forces did not
defile. Then mankind began to multiply and improve.” (Hypo. Archons)
_________________________________________
On Mary Magdalene:
“As for the Wisdom who is called ‘the barren’, she is the mother
of the angels. And the companion of the [...] Mary Magdalene. [...] loved her
more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest
of the disciples [...]. They said to him ‘Why do you love her more than all of
us?’ The Savior answered and said to them,’Why do I not love you like her? When
a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no
different from one another. When the light comes, then he who sees will see the
light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness.’” (Gosp Philip)
“Peter said to Mary, ‘Sister we know that the Savior loved you
more than the rest of woman. Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember
which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them.’” (Gosp M. Mag)
“When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this
point that the Savior had spoken with her.
But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, ‘Say what you wish
to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said
this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas.’
Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things. He
questioned them about the Savior: ‘Did He really speak privately with a woman
and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer
her to us?’
Then Mary wept and said to
Peter, ‘My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I have thought
this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Savior?’
Levi answered and said to Peter, ‘Peter you have always been hot
tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. But
if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the
Savior knows her very well.That is why He loved her more than us.’ (Gosp M.
Magd)
(Jesus says:) “Mary Magdalene and John, the virgin, will surpass
all my disciples and all men who shall receive mysteries in the Ineffable; they
will be on my right hand and on my left, and I am they and they are I . . .”
(Pistis Sophia)
“she (Magdalene) uttered this as one who had understood
completely”, (Dial Sav 139:11)
“You (Magdalene) make clear the abundance of the revealer” (Dial
Sav. 140:17)
“Mary (Magdalene) said, "Thus with respect to 'the wickedness
of each day,' and 'the laborer is worthy of his food,' and 'the disciple
resembles his teacher.'" She uttered this as a woman who had understood
completely.” (Dialogue of the Saviour)
- Remember the Apocryphal Gospels in Schneemacher such as the
Questions of Mary
_____________________________________
On saving or redeeming Mary Magdalene or Sophia:
“Secretly her bridegroom fetched it. He presented it to her mouth
to make her eat it like food, and he applied the word to her eyes as a medicine
to make her see with her mind and perceive her kinsmen and learn about her
root, in order that she might cling to her branch from which she had first come
forth, in order that she might receive what is hers and renounce matter.”
(Authoritative Teaching)
The saviour: “I came from the places above by the will of the
great Light, (I) who escaped from that bond; I have cut off the work of the
robbers; I have awakened that drop that was sent from Sophia, that it might
bear much fruit through me, and be perfected and not again be defective, but be
<joined> through me, the Great Savior, that his glory might be revealed,
so that Sophia might also be justified in regard to that defect, that her sons
might not again become defective but might attain honor and glory and go up to
their Father...” (Sophia JC)
_____________________________________
On the Lost Sheep:
“He (the saviour) is the shepherd who left behind the ninety-nine
sheep which were not lost. He went searching for the one which had gone astray.
He rejoiced when he found it, for ninety-nine is a number that is in the left
hand, which holds it. But when the one is found, the entire number passes to
the right (hand)” (Gosp Truth)
_____________________________________
On the Simon and Helena myth as model for Christ and Sophia:
2. Now this Simon
of Samaria, from whom all sorts of heresies derive their origin, formed his
sect out of the following materials:--Having redeemed from slavery at Tyre, a
city of Phoenicia, a certain woman named Helena, he was in the habit of
carrying her about with him, declaring that this woman was the first conception
of his mind, the mother of all, by whom, in the beginning, he conceived in his
mind [the thought] of forming angels and archangels. For this Ennoea leaping
forth from him, and comprehending the will of her father, descended to the
lower regions [of space], and generated angels and powers, by whom also he
declared this word was formed. But after she had produced them, she was
detained by them through motives of jealousy, because they were unwilling to be
looked upon as the progeny of any other being. As to himself, they had no
knowledge of him whatever; but his Ennoea was detained by those powers and
angels who had been produced by her. She suffered all kinds of contumely from
them, so that she could not return upwards to her father, but was even shut up
in a human body, and for ages passed in succession from one female body to
another, as from vessel to vessel. She was, for example, in that Helen on whose
account the Trojan war was undertaken; for whose sake also Stesichorus(2) was
struck blind, because he had cursed her in his verses, but afterwards,
repenting and writing what are called palinodes, in which he sang her praise,
he was restored to sight. Thus she, passing from body to body, and suffering
insults in every one of them, at last became a common prostitute; and she it
was that was meant by the lost sheep.(3)
3. For this
purpose, then, he had come that he might win her first, and free her from slavery,
while he conferred salvation upon men, by making himself known to them. For
since the angels ruled the world ill because each one of them coveted the
principal power for himself, he had come to amend matters, and had descended,
transfigured and assimilated to powers and principalities and angels, so that
he might appear among men to be a man, while yet he was not a man; and that
thus he was thought to have suffered in Judaea, when he had not suffered.
Moreover, the prophets uttered their predictions under the inspiration of those
angels who formed the world; for which reason those who place their trust in
him and Helena no longer regarded them, but, as being free, live as they
please; for men are saved through his grace, and not on account of their own
righteous actions. For such deeds are not righteous in the nature of things,
but by mere accident, just as those angels who made the world, have thought fit
to constitute them, seeking, by means of such precepts, to bring men into
bondage. On this account, he pledged himself that the world should be
dissolved, and that those who are his should be freed from the rule of them who
made the world. (Iren)
On the soul as virgin, prostitute, and redeemed:
“Wise men of old
gave the soul a feminine name. Indeed she is female in her nature as well. She
even has her womb.
As long as she was
alone with the father, she was virgin and in form androgynous. But when she
fell down into a body and came to this life, then she fell into the hands of
many robbers.... they defiled her, and she [...] (lost) her virginity.
And in her body she
prostituted herself and gave herself to one and all, considering each one she
was about to embrace to be her husband. When she had given herself to wanton,
unfaithful adulterers, so that they might make use of her, then she sighed
deeply and repented. But even when she turns her face from those adulterers,
she runs to others and they compel her to live with them and render service to
them upon their bed, as if they were her masters. Out of shame she no longer
dares to leave them, whereas they deceive her for a long time, pretending to be
faithful, true husbands, as if they greatly respected her. And after all this
they abandon her and go.
She then becomes a
poor desolate widow, without help... For
from them she gained nothing except the defilements they gave her while they
had sexual intercourse with her. And her offspring by the adulterers are dumb,
blind and sickly. They are feebleminded.
But when the father
who is above visits her and looks down upon her and sees her sighing - with her
sufferings and disgrace - and repenting of the prostitution in which she
engaged, and when she begins to call upon his name so that he might help her,
[...] all her heart, saying "Save me, my father, for behold I will render
an account to thee, for I abandoned my house and fled from my maiden`s
quarters. Restore me to thyself again." When he sees her in such a state,
then he will count her worthy of his mercy upon her, for many are the afflictions
that have come upon her because she abandoned her house.” (Exegesis on the
Soul)
Yet the greatest struggle has to do with the prostitution of the
soul. From it arises the prostitution of the body as well. Therefore Paul,
writing to the Corinthians (1Co 5:9-10), said, "I wrote you in the letter,
'Do not associate with prostitutes,' not at all (meaning) the prostitutes of
this world or the greedy or the thieves or the idolaters, since then you would
have to go out from the world." - here it is speaking spiritually -
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood - as he said (Ep 6:12) -
but against the world rulers of this darkness and the spirits of
wickedness." (Exegesis on the Soul)
____________________________________________
On Prostitution:
Exegesis on the Soul quotes the Old Testament on prositution:
“Now concerning the
prostitution on the soul, the Holy Spirit prophesies in many places. For he
said in the prophet Jeremiah (3:1-4),
If the husband
divorces his wife and she goes and takes another man, can she return to him
after that? Has not that woman utterly defiled herself? "And you
prostituted yourself to many shepherds and you returned to me!" said the
lord. "Take an honest look and see where you prostituted yourself. Were
you not sitting in the streets defiling the land with your acts of prostitution
and your vices? And you took many shepherds for a stumbling block for yourself.
You became shameless with everyone. You did not call on me as kinsman or as
father or author of your virginity".
Again it is written
in the prophet Hosea (2:2-7),
Come, go to law
with your mother, for she is not to be a wife to me nor I a husband to her. I
shall remove her prostitution from my presence, and I shall remove her adultery
from between her breasts. I shall make her naked as on the day she was born,
and I shall make her desolate like a land without water, and I shall make her
longingly childless. I shall show her children no pity, for they are children
of prostitution, since their mother prostituted herself and put her children to
shame. For she said, "I shall prostitute myself to my lovers. It was they
who gave me my bread and my water and my garments and my clothes and my wine
and my oil and everything I needed." Therefore behold I shall shut them up
so that she shall not be able to run after her adulterers. And when she seeks
them and does not find them, she will say, 'I shall return to my former
husband, in those days I was better off than now."
Again he said in
Ezekiel (16:23-26),
It came to pass after
much depravity, said the lord, you built yourself a brothel and you made
yourself a beautiful place in the streets. And you built yourself brothels on
every lane, and you wasted your beauty, and you spread your legs in every
alley, and you multiplied your acts of prostitution. You prostituted yourself
to the sons of Egypt, those who are your neighbors, men great of flesh.”
(Exegesis on the Soul)
___________________________________________________
On the relationship of men and women:
“In the beginning, he (the One) decided to have his likeness
become a great power. Immediately, the principle (or beginning) of that Light appeared as Immortal Androgynous Man.
His male name is 'Begotten, Perfect Mind'. And his female name is 'All-wise
Begettress Sophia'. It is also said that she resembles her brother and her
consort.” (Eugnostos) - By this, I
understand that the One at first became male and female - or rather,
androgynous, with a male and female name. Mind (thinking, Christ) is the male
and Sophia (thought) is the female.
"And his consort is the Great Sophia, who from the first was
destined in him for union” (Sophia JC) (‘his’ is ‘Immortal Androgynous Man’)
“For the males move [...] upon the females and the females upon
the males.” (Bk Thomas Contender)
"When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like
the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and
when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be
male nor the female female... then will you enter the kingdom." (Gosp.
Thomas 22) OR
"When you make the two into one, and when you make the inside
like the outside and the outside like the inside and the above like the below –
that is, to make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male
will not be male and the female will not be female – ... then you will enter
[the kingdom]." (Gosp. Thomas 22)
- Zost 131:5 - “Flee from the madness and the bondage of
femaleness, and choose for yourselves the salvation of maleness.”
“But when she perceives the straits she is in and weeps before the
father and repents, then the father will have mercy on her and he will make her
womb turn from the external domain and will turn it again inward, so that the
soul will regain her proper character. For it is not so with a woman. For the
womb of the body is inside the body like the other internal organs, but the
womb of the soul is around the outside like the male genitalia which is
external. So when the womb of the soul, by the will of the father, turns itself
inward, it is baptized and is immediately cleansed of the external pollution
which was pressed upon.” (Exegesis of the Soul)
"And if you (Asclepius) wish to see the reality of this
mystery, then you should see the wonderful representation of the intercourse
that takes place between the male and the female. For when the semen reaches
the climax, it leaps forth. In that moment, the female receives the strength of
the male; the male, for his part, receives the strength of the female, while
the semen does this. (Asclepius 21)
"Therefore, the mystery of intercourse is performed in
secret, in order that the two sexes might not disgrace themselves in front of
many who do not experience that reality. For each of them (the sexes)
contributes its (own part in) begetting. For if it happens in the presence of
those who do not understand the reality, (it is) laughable and unbelievable.
And, moreover, they are holy mysteries, of both words and deeds, because not
only are they not heard, but also they are not seen. (Asclepius
21)
“The forms of evil
spirit include male ones and female ones. The males are they which unite with
the souls which inhabit a female form, but the females are they which are
mingled with those in a male form, though one who was disobedient. And none
shall be able to escape them, since they detain him if he does not receive a
male power or a female power, the bridegroom and the bride. One receives them
from the mirrored bridal chamber.
“When the wanton
women see a male sitting alone, they leap down on him and play with him and
defile him. So also the lecherous men, when they see a beautiful woman sitting
alone, they persuade her and compel her, wishing to defile her. But if they see
the man and his wife sitting beside one another, the female cannot come into
the man, nor can the male come into the woman. So if the image and the angel
are united with one another, neither can any venture to go into the man or the
woman.” (Gosp. Philip)
“From heaven the father sent her (the soul) her man, who is her
brother, the firstborn. Then the bridegroom came down to the bride. She gave up
her former prostitution and cleansed herself of the pollutions of the
adulterers, and she was renewed so as to be a bride. She cleansed herself in
the bridal chamber; she filled it with perfume; she sat in it waiting for the
true bridegroom. No longer does she run about the market place, copulating with
whomever she desires” (Exegesis of the Soul)
“Thus when the soul had adorned herself again in her beauty [...]
enjoyed her beloved, and he also loved her. And when she had intercourse with
him, she got from him the seed that is the life-giving spirit, so that by him
she bears good children and rears them. For this is the great, perfect marvel
of birth. And so this marriage is made perfect by the will of the father. Now
it is fitting that the soul regenerates herself and become again as she
formerly was. The soul then moves of her own accord. And she received the
divine nature from the father for her rejuvenation, so that she might be
restored to the place where originally she had been. This is the resurrection
that is from the dead. This is the ransom from captivity. This is the upward
journey of ascent to heaven. This is the way of ascent to the father.” (Exegesis
of the Soul)
“When Eve was still with Adam, death did not exist. When she was
separated from him, death came into being. If he enters again and attains his
former self, death will be no more.” (Gosp Philip)
“If the woman had not separated from the man, she should not die
with the man. His separation became the beginning of death. Because of this,
Christ came to repair the separation, which was from the beginning, and again
unite the two, and to give life to those who died as a result of the separation,
and unite them. But the woman is united to her husband in the bridal chamber.
Indeed, those who have united in the bridal chamber will no longer be
separated. Thus Eve separated from Adam because it was not in the bridal
chamber that she united with him.” (Gosp Philip)
“Whereas in this world the union is one of husband with wife - a
case of strength complemented by weakness(?) - in the Aeon (eternal realm), the
form of the union is different, although we refer to them by the same names...”
(Gosp Philip)
“No one can know
when the husband and the wife have intercourse with one another, except the two
of them. Indeed, marriage in the world is a mystery for those who have taken a
wife. If there is a hidden quality to the marriage of defilement, how much more
is the undefiled marriage a true mystery! It is not fleshly, but pure. It
belongs not to desire, but to the will. It belongs not to the darkness or the
night, but to the day and the light.
“If a marriage is
open to the public, it has become prostitution, and the bride plays the harlot
not only when she is impregnated by another man, but even if she slips out of
her bedroom and is seen. Let her show herself only to her father and her
mother, and to the friend of the bridegroom and the sons of the bridegroom.
These are permitted to enter every day into the bridal chamber. But let the
others yearn just to listen to her voice and to enjoy her ointment, and let
them feed from the crumbs that fall from the table, like the dogs.
“Bridegrooms and
brides belong to the bridal chamber. No one shall be able to see the bridegroom
with the bride unless he become such a one.” (Gosp Philip)
The kingdom is “called ‘Bride’ because of the joy of the one who
gave (herself) ... in the hope of... union” (Tripart tract)
“And though the person of her maleness had not approved, she
(Sophia) brought forth” (Apoc John)
- "And he (Adam) saw the woman beside him. And in that moment
the luminous Epinoia appeared, and she lifted the veil which lay over his mind.
And he became sober from the drunkenness of darkness. And he recognized his
counter-image...” (Apoc John)
“They (the archons) opened his (Adam’s) side like a living woman.
And they built up his side with some flesh in place of her, and Adam came to be
endowed only with soul. And the spirit-endowed woman came to him and spoke with
him, saying, "Arise, Adam." And when he saw her, he said, "It is
you who have given me life; you will be called 'mother of the living'. - For it
is she who is my mother. It is she who is the physician, and the woman, and she
who has given birth."” (Hypo. Archons)
“And when they had finished Adam, he abandoned him as an inanimate
vessel, since he had taken form like an abortion, in that no spirit was in
him.... And he could not stand up... Sophia sent her daughter Zoe, being called
Eve, as an instructor, in order that she might make Adam, who had no soul,
arise, so that those whom he should engender might become containers of light.
When Eve saw her male counterpart prostrate, she had pity upon him, and she
said, "Adam! Become alive! Arise upon the earth!" Immediately her
word became accomplished fact. For Adam, having arisen, suddenly opened his
eyes. When he saw her, he said, "You shall be called 'Mother of the
Living'. For it is you who have given me life." (Origin of the World)
"Now up to the present day, sexual intercourse continued due
to the chief archon. And he planted sexual desire in her who belongs to Adam.
And he produced through intercourse the copies of the bodies, and he inspired
them with his counterfeit spirit.” (Apoc John) This suggests that sexual
intercourse produces only bodies, or ‘copies of bodies’, and no psyche or
spirit.
“For no one who is under the Law will be able to look up to the
truth, for they will not be able to serve two masters. For the defilement of
the Law is manifest; but undefilement belongs to the light. The Law commands
(one) to take a husband (or) to take a wife, and to beget, to multiply like the
sand of the sea. But passion, which is a delight to them, constrains the souls
of those who are begotten in this place, those who defile and those who are
defiled, in order that the Law might be fulfilled through them. And they show
that they are assisting the world; and they turn away from the light, who are
unable to pass by the archon of darkness until they pay the last penny.” (Test
Truth)
"Now up to the present day, sexual intercourse continued due
to the chief archon. And he planted sexual desire in her who belongs to Adam.
And he produced through intercourse the copies of the bodies, and he inspired
them with his counterfeit spirit.” (Apoc John) This suggests that sexual
intercourse produces only bodies, or ‘copies of bodies’, and no psyche or
spirit.
“But once they (the saviour and the soul) unite with one another,
they become a single life. Wherefore the prophet said (Gn 2:24) concerning the
first man and the first woman, "They will become a single flesh." For
they were originally joined one to another when they were with the father
before the woman led astray the man, who is her brother. This marriage has
brought them back together again and the soul has been joined to her true love,
her real master, as it is written (cf. Gn 3:16; 1 Co 11;1; Ep 5:23), "For
the master of the woman is her husband." (Exegesis of the Soul)
“Out of that first blood (of the virgin Pronoia), Eros appeared,
being androgynous. His masculinity is Himireris, being fire from the light. His
femininity that is with him - a soul of blood - is from the stuff of Pronoia.
He is very lovely in his beauty, having a charm beyond all the creatures of
chaos. Then all the gods and their angels, when they beheld Eros, became
enamored of him. And appearing in all of them, he set them afire: just as from
a single lamp many lamps are lit, and one and the same light is there, but the
lamp is not diminished. And in this way, Eros became dispersed in all the
created beings of chaos, and was not diminished... After that Eros, the
grapevine sprouted up out of that blood, which had been shed over the earth. Because
of this, those who drink of it conceive the desire of sexual union. After the
grapevine, a fig tree and a pomegranate tree sprouted up from the earth,
together with the rest of the trees, all species, having with them their seed
from the seed of the authorities and their angels. ” (Origin of the World)
_____________________________________
BAPTISM & RITUAL
On Melchizedek
On John the Baptist
On Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan
On Gnostic rituals in general:
On the Five Seals
On baptism:
On chrism or unction:
On the renunciation (which is naming the lower and upper aeons):
On the Bridal Chamber:
On kissing:
On the eurcharist and last supper (See LAST SUPPER below)
_____________________________________
On Melchizedek:
Melchizedek, the mysterious ‘High Priest’ is mentioned in OT
Genesis 14:18, Psalm 110:4 and NT Hebrews 5:10 - 7:28
“O Melchizedek, Holy One, High-Priest, the perfect hope and the
gifts of life.” (Melchizedek)
“For I have a name: I am Melchizedek, the Priest of God Most High;
I know that it is I who am truly the image of the true High-Priest of God Most
High,” (Melchizedek) By this passage, I understand that Jesus is the High
priest, and Melchizedek sees himself reflected in Jesus, in name and image, as
the High Priest.
And Melchizedek king of Shalem brought out bread and wine; now he
was a priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be
Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most
High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand." And he gave him a
tenth of all. (Genesis 14:18-20)
The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, "Thou art a
priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." (Psalm 110:4)
The Coming of Melchizedek
Dead Sea Scroll: 11Q13, Column 2
(...) And concerning what Scripture says, "In
this year of Jubilee you shall return, everyone of you, to your property" (Lev. 25;13) And what is also written; "And
this is the manner of the remission; every creditor shall remit the claim that
is held against a neighbor, not exacting it of a neighbor who is a member of
the community, because God`s remission has been proclaimed" (Deut.15;2) the interpretation is that it applies to the Last
Days and concerns the captives, just as Isaiah said: "To
proclaim the Jubilee to the captives" (Isa.
61;1) (...) just as (...) and from the inheritance of Melchizedek, for (...
Melchizedek), who will return them to what is rightfully theirs. He will
proclaim to them the Jubilee, thereby releasing them from the debt of all their
sins. He shall proclaim this decree in the first week of the jubilee period
that follows nine jubilee periods. Then the "Day
of Atonement" shall follow after the
tenth jubilee period, when he shall atone for all the Sons of Light, and the
people who are predestined to Melchizedek. (...) upon them (...) For this is
the time decreed for the "Year of Melchizedek`s favour", and by his might he will judge God`s holy ones and so establish
a righteous kingdom, as it is written about him in the Songs of David ; "A
godlike being has taken his place in the council of God; in the midst of divine
beings he holds judgement" (ps.
82;1). Scripture also says about him ; "Over it take your seat in the highest heaven; A divine being will
judge the peoples" (Ps. 7;7-8) Concerning
what scripture says ; " How long will you judge unjustly , and show partiality with the
wicked? Selah" (Ps. 82;2), the
interpretation applies to Belial and the spirits predestined to him,
because all of them have rebelled, turning from God`s precepts and so becoming
utterly wicked. Therefore Melchizedek will thoroughly prosecute the vengeance
required by God`s statutes. Also, he will deliver all the captives from the
power of Belial, and from the power of all the spirits destined to him.
Allied with him will be all the "righteous divine beings"(Isa. 61;3). (The ...) is that whi(ch ...all) the divine
beings.
The visitation is the Day of Salvation that He has decreed through
Isaiah the prophet concerning all the captives, inasmuch as Scripture says,
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who
announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to
Zion "Your divine being reigns"." (Isa. 52;7) This scriptures' interpretation: "the
mountains" are the prophets, they who
were sent to proclaim God`s truth and to prophesy to all Israel. "The
messengers" is the Anointed of the
spirit, of whom Daniel spoke; "After the sixty-two weeks, an Anointed shall be cut off" (Dan. 9;26) The "messenger
who brings good news, who announces Salvation" is the one of whom it is written; "to
proclaim the year of the LORD`s favour, the day of the vengeance of our God; to
comfort all who mourn" (Isa. 61;2) This
scripture`s interpretation: he is to instruct them about all the periods of
history for eternity (... and in the statutes) of the truth. (...) (....
dominion) that passes from Belial and returns to the Sons of Light (....) (...)
by the judgment of God, just as it is written concerning him; "who
says to Zion "Your divine being reigns" (Isa. 52;7) "Zion" is the congregation of all
the sons of righteousness, who uphold the covenant and turn from walking in the
way of the people. "Your divine being" is
Melchizedek, who will deliver them from the power of Belial. Concerning what
scripture says, "Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; in the seventh month
. . . " (Lev. 25;9)
NB - In the Torah, every seventh year was a sabbath year (Lev
25:3-4), in which the land was given rest from being planted or pruned. There
was also a jubilee year, actually the 50th year following a succession of seven
sabbatical years (7x7), in which all property was restored to its original
owner and all debts were cancelled (Lev 25:13; Deut 15:2). All Hebrew slaves
were also to be set free. The Jubilee or Yovel began on the Day of Atonement
and was announced by the blowing of trumpets throughout the land. Yovel was
thus a marvelous picture of ultimate redemption and freedom from every bondage.
_____________________________________
On John the Baptist:
- Jesus had arranged for John to prepare the way, bu planting the
soul of the prophet Elias in John’s mother Elizabeth. Jesus: “I found
Elisabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, before she had conceived him and I
cast into her a power which I had received from the Little Jao, the Good, who
is in the Midst, so that he should be able to preach before me, and prepare my
way and baptise with water of forgiveness.
“Now that power was
in the body of John. And again, in place of the soul of the archons which he
was due to receive, I found the soul of the prophet Elias in the aeons of the
sphere; and I took it in and I took his soul again; I brought it to the Virgin
of the Light, and she gave it to her paralemptors. They brought it to the
sphere of the archons, and they cast it into the womb of Elisabeth. But the
power of the Little Jao, he of the Midst, and the soul of the prophet Elias
were bound in the body of John the Baptist.” (Pistis Sophia Bk 1 ch 7)
“Then I (James) asked him (Jesus), "Lord, how shall we be
able to prophesy to those who request us to prophesy to them? For there are
many who ask us, and look to us to hear an oracle from us."
The Lord answered and said, "Do you not know that the head of
prophecy was cut off with John?"
But I said, "Lord, can it be possible to remove the head of
prophecy?"
The Lord said to me, "When you come to know what 'head'
means, and that prophecy issues from the head, (then) understand the meaning of
'Its head was removed.' (Apocryphon of James)
- One mention of John the Baptist is in the Gospel of Thomas
is in 46:1-2, "Jesus said 'From
Adam to John the Baptist, among those born of women, no one is so much greater
than John the Baptist that his eyes should not be averted'."
- From Q scholars are presented with a prayer, by Jesus, which
John taught his disciples - "Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom
come. Give us each our daily bread; and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves
forgive everyone who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation."
§
John Preaches to Specific Groups
3.10
And the multitudes asked him, "What then shall we do?" 3.11 And he
answered them, "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none;
and he who has food, let him do likewise." 3.12 Tax collectors also came
to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" 3.13
And he said to them, "Collect no more than is appointed you." 3.14
Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to
them, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with
your wages." (Luke)
1.19
And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from
Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 1.20 He confessed, he did not
deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." 1.21 And they asked him,
"What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are
you the prophet?" And he answered, "No." 1.22 They said to him
then, "Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do
you say about yourself?" 1.23 He said, "I am the voice of one crying
in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah
said." (John)
_____________________________________
On Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan (see also On Baptism below)
“Jesus
appeared [...] Jordan - the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven. He who was
begotten before everything, was begotten anew. He who was once anointed, was
anointed anew. He who was redeemed, in turn redeemed (others).” (Gosp Philip)
“But
the Son of Man came forth from Imperishability, being alien to defilement. He
came to the world by the Jordan river, and immediately the Jordan turned back.
And John bore witness to the descent of Jesus. For it is he who saw the power
which came down upon the Jordan river; for he knew that the dominion of carnal
procreation had come to an end. The Jordan river is the power of the body, that
is, the senses of pleasures. The water of the Jordan is the desire for sexual
intercourse. John is the archon of the womb.” (Test. Truth)
“...
word [...] upon the Jordan river, when he came to John at the time he was
baptized. The Holy Spirit came down upon him as a dove [...] accept for
ourselves that he was born of a virgin and he took flesh; he [...] having
received power. Were we also begotten from a virginal state or conceived by the
word? Rather, we have been born again by the word. Let us therefore strengthen
ourselves as virgins in the [...].” (Test. Truth)
“And the mystery commanded that the veils of
the aeons be drawn back... And then the triple-powered one in whom the Son was
hidden came forth, and on his head was the crown of stability, making myriads
upon myriads of glories, and those who cry out: ‘Make straight the way of the
Lord and receive the grace of God. And he will fill all the aeons which belong
to you (?) ' with the grace of the only-begotten Son.’” (Untitled
Bruce)
-
When Jesus steps forth from the Jordon after baptism, his head should be
crowned with rays of light (see CROWN)
-
The Messiah/Christ is ‘the anointed one’ who is anointed with oil. In Exodus
30:22, God (YHVH) instructed Moses to make this oil (cinnamon, cassia, spices,
etc.) and how to anoint an individual, thus making them a Messiah.
-
In Exodus 40:13 Moses anoints Aaron, making him the first messiah and priest
-
In I Kings 1:39 Zadok anoints Solomon
_____________________________________
On Gnostic rituals in general:
- Gnosticism has ‘hidden mysteries’: “This is the book of the
gnoses of the invisible God, by means of the hidden mysteries which show the
way to the chosen race,” (1st Bk Ieou)
- Fire, though divided, suffers no loss - it may pass from candle
to candle and grow in number, while remaining one from the source.
- Water, though one, may become many separate drops - yet how
willingly the drops plunge into the ocean to become one again.
- Fire and water are vehicles of light
- Fire is a concentration and a diffusion of light
- Water retains light, like a glass or mirror, concentrating it
and reflecting it
“The Lord did everything in a mystery, a baptism and a chrism and
a eucharist and a redemption and a bridal chamber. [...] he said, "I came
to make the things below like the things above, and the things outside like
those inside. I came to unite them in the place." [...] here through types
[...]and images.” (Gosp Philip)
- Note that there are five rituals (baptism, chrism, eucharist,
redemption and bridal chamber) which are
described as ‘images’. Are these the ‘5 seals’ which allow us to rise up
through the archons?
- the pneuma = spirit = divine spark = fire = chrism
- the psyche = soul = watery image (?) = water = baptism
“It is through water and fire that the whole place is purified -
the visible by the visible, the hidden by the hidden. There are some things
hidden through those visible. There is water in water, there is fire in
chrism.” (Gosp Philip)
(This assumes a ‘hidden’ as well as ‘visible’ baptism and chrism)
“It is from water and fire that the soul and the spirit came into
being. It is from water and fire and light that the son of the bridal chamber
(came into being). The fire is the chrism, the light is the fire. I am not
referring to that fire which has no form, but to the other fire whose form is
white, which is bright and beautiful, and which gives beauty.” (Gosp Philip)
“Through the Holy Spirit we are indeed begotten again, but we are
begotten through Christ in the two. We are anointed through the Spirit. When we
were begotten, we were united. None can see himself either in water or in a
mirror without light. Nor again can you see in light without mirror or water.
For this reason, it is fitting to baptize in the two, in the light and the
water. Now the light is the chrism.” (Gosp Philip)
“...Baptism is "the Holy" building. Redemption is the
"Holy of the Holy". "The Holy of the Holies" is the bridal
chamber. Baptism includes the resurrection and the redemption; the redemption
(takes place) in the bridal chamber.”(Gosp Philip)
- the ritual for redemption and resurrection seems to be included
within baptism
Note that ‘resurrection’ is not the after-death event, but an
event in this life:
“Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error. If
they do not first receive the resurrection while they live, when they die they
will receive nothing. So also when speaking about baptism they say,
"Baptism is a great thing," because if people receive it they will
live.”(Gosp Philip)
- “There are [...] (the races of ) three men, and also his
posterities, unto the consummation of the world: the spirit-endowed of
eternity, and the soul-endowed, and the earthly. Likewise, the three phoenixes
<in> Paradise - the first is immortal; the second lives 1,000 years; as
for the third, it is written in the Sacred Book that it is consumed. So, too,
there are three baptisms - the first is the spiritual, the second is by fire,
the third is by water.” (Origin of the world) The three parousias are described
here as three baptisms. But, more importantly, it becomes clear that pagans,
who are ‘earthly’ practice a baptism of water alone, while Christians, who have
souls (psyche) practice a baptism that includes water and fire (fire is the oil
of the chrism or unction), while the Gnostics, who have spirits (pneuma)
practice a baptism of water, fire and the spirit.
_____________________________________
On the Five Seals:
- The rite of the Five Seals extends the One’s self-reflective
creation so as to include the Gnostic initiate as one of the race of the Elect
in the Upper Aeons.
- In my interpretation, based on a text from the Gospel of Philip
(see below), it does this in five steps:
- Through Baptism, the initiate is sprinkled or immersed in water.
This means, the watery image of the initiate appears in the Upper Aeons, as a
reflection of the One. (see BAPTISM) The initiate may first ‘take off’ his
garment and then ‘put on’ another garment. This means, ‘taking off’ the
corruptible body and ‘putting’ on’ the imperishable body (see GARMENT)
- Through the Chrism, the initiate is anointed with oil. This
means, the fiery spark of the initiate appears in the Upper Aeons, as a
particle of the One’s light. (see CHRISM)
- Through the Redemption, the initiate learns the names of the
archons in the Lower Aeons (by renouncing them). At the same time, he learns
the names of the beings in the Upper Aeons (by praising or invoking them). And,
he acquires his own hidden name, which is his name among the Elect in the Upper
Aeons. This means, the One speaks the initiate’s name to refect upon itself.
(see NAMES). All of this may happen as part of a visionary resurrection (a
vision of ascent through the aeons).
- Through the Eucharist, the initiate shares a meal of bread and
wine. This means, the initiate shares in the Saviour’s ritual act of
self-sacrifice.
- Finally, through the Bridal Chamber, the initiate is kissed, or
a couple kiss one another. This means, the masculine spirit of the initiate has
consented to be the consort of the feminine soul. Or, two initiates, male and
female, have consented to become the consorts of one another. As an androgynous
being with its male and female ‘names’, ‘aspects’ or ‘consorts’ in consent, it
appears among the Upper Aeons. It may ‘consent’ (sexually unite) without being
trapped by the archons’ desire. And it may ‘beget fruit’ (have children) which
will belong to the imperishable race, rather than to the archons.
- Those who receive the five seals will return to the Upper Aeons
- The Five Seals come from the One in the Upper Aeons: “the five
seals which the Father brought forth from his bosom” (Gosp Egypt)
“These are the glories that are higher than every glory, that is,
the Five Seals,” (3 Protennoia)
- Christ gives the seals: “There is a sonship in their midst,
which is called Christ the Verifier. It is he who verifies each one, and he
seals him with the seal of the Father as he sends them in to the first Father,
who exists in himself.” (Untitled Bruce)
- The Elect receive the Five Seals to rise up and beome
imperishable. The Saviour speaking of a soul: “And I raised him up, and sealed
him in the light of the water with five seals, in order that death might not
have power over him from this time on.” (Apoc John)
- In the Gospel of Philip, five ritual acts are mentioned which
may be part of the baptismal rite of the Five Seals: - baptism, chrism,
eucharist, redemption (or resurrection) and bridal chamber:
- “The Lord did everything in a mystery, a baptism and a chrism
and a eucharist and a redemption and a bridal chamber. [...] he said, "I
came to make the things below like the things above, and the things outside
like those inside. I came to unite them in the place." [...] here through
types [...]and images.” (Gosp. of Philip)
- But note that redemption (and resurrection) are incl. in baptism
- “Baptism includes the resurrection and the redemption; the
redemption (takes place) in the bridal chamber.”(Gosp Philip)
- Meanwhile, invocation and renunciation are included within the
five seals; through this instruction and knowledge of receivers, one avoids
death:
“But from now on, through the incorruptible man Poimael, and they
who are worthy of (the) invocation, the renunciations of the five seals in the
spring-baptism, these will know their receivers as they are instructed about
them, and they will know them (or: be known) by them. These will by no means
taste death.” (Gos Egypt)
- The five seals are a knowledge of certain names, perhaps
positively, of the upper aeons:
- “He who possesses the Five Seals of these particular names has
stripped off <the> garments of ignorance and put on a shining Light...
And I proclaimed to them the ineffable Five Seals in order that I might abide
in them and they also might abide in me.” (3 Protennoia)
- “and they took him into the light-place of his Fatherhood. And
he received the Five seals from the Light of the Mother, Protennoia, and it was
granted him to partake of the mystery of knowledge, and he became a Light in
Light.” (3 Protennoia)
- Baptism is traditionally ‘a seal’. The author is contending
against Christian baptism: “There are some, who upon entering the faith,
receive a baptism on the ground that they have it as a hope of salvation, which
they call the "seal", not knowing that the fathers of the world are
manifest (in) that place. But he himself knows that he is sealed.” (Test Truth)
- Scholars on the Five Seals:
- See Alastair Logon: 'The
Mystery of the Five Seals: Gnostic Initiation Reconsidered', Vigiliae
Christianae 51 (1997) 188-207;
- “...a kind of baptism, which the texts often
designate by the term "the Five Seals." The Sethian texts providing
the most detail about the Five Seals are the Gospel of the Egyptians and the
Trimorphic Protennoia, but they do not reveal the precise ritual character of
these Five Seals, with the result that the rite must be reconstructed from
their rather allusive allusions to it. The texts contain no liturgical rubrics.
Baptism is an extremely well-attested rite in the early Christian world, where
it and the various symbolic acts that comprise this rite are commonly called
"seals." So the basic puzzle is the meaning of the term
"five": does it refer to a single act performed five times, e.g. a
quintuple immersion in contrast to the typically triple immersion of Christian
baptism, or does it refer to five ritual acts comprising the rite, or to some
mysterious transcendental Pentad of names (Trimorphic Protennoia NHC XIII,1:
49,28-32) or aeons (Apocryphon of John NHC II,1: 6,2-10)? The texts do not tell
us....” (“Ritual in Gnosticism’, John D. Turner, University Of
Nebraska-Lincoln, SBL 1994 Book of Seminar Papers, 136-181)
- In the Trimorphic Protennoia: “Rather than designating a
fivefold immersion in the Living Water, the Five Seals are interpreted as a
five-stage ritual of psychic ascent: the investiture of the stripped Spirit
with light, its enthronement, its baptism by Micheus, Michar and Mnesinous in
the spring of Living Water, its glorification with the Fatherhood, and its
rapture into the light (perhaps the Four Lights) by the servants of the Four
Lights Kamaliel, [..]anen and Samblo (48, 15-35). The stages of this visionary
rite do not seem to follow in an intuitively obvious sequence (e.g., in 45,
13-20 one has the following sequence: glorification, enthronement, investiture,
baptism and becoming Light). Indeed, since most cults practiced naked baptism,
one might expect the order: baptism, investiture, enthronement, glorification
and final rapture.” ("To See The Light: A Gnostic Appropriation Of Jewish
Priestly Practice and Sapiential and Apocalyptic Visionary Lore," in
Mediators of the Divine: Horizons of Prophecy and Divination on Mediterranean
Antiquity (ed. R. M. Berchman; Florida Studies in the History of Judaism 163;
Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1998), 63-113.)
___________________________________________________
On baptism:
- the baptism is from Christ - ‘the living water’
- “ the holy baptism of those who know the eternal knowledge
through those born of the word and the imperishable illuminators, who came from
the holy seed: Yesseus, Mazareus, Yessedekeus, the Living Water.” (Apoc Adam)
- It is done with ‘the waters that are above’ (ie watery light of
Upper Aeons):
- “For the waters which are above [...] that receive baptism
[...]. But receive that baptism which is with the water which [...], while he
is coming ...” (Melch)
- three baptisms - spiritual, by fire and by water:
“There are [...] three men, and also his posterities, unto the
consummation of the world: the spirit-endowed of eternity, and the
soul-endowed, and the earthly. Likewise, the three phoenixes <in>
Paradise - the first is immortal; the second lives 1,000 years; as for the
third, it is written in the Sacred Book that it is consumed. So,
too, there are three baptisms - the first is the spiritual, the second is by
fire, the third is by water.” (Origin of the World)
- The ‘first’ baptism as forgiveness of sins:
“...the first baptism is the forgiveness of sins. We are brought
from those of the right, that is, into the imperishability which is the Jordan.
But that place is of the world. So we have been sent out of the world into the
Aeon. For the interpretation of John is the Aeon, while the interpretation of
that which [is] the Jor[dan] is the descent which is [the upward progression],
that [is, our Exodus] from the world [into] the Aeon.” (On the Baptism A)
- the baptism as cleansing:
“So when the womb of the soul, by the will of the father, turns
itself inward, it is baptized and is immediately cleansed of the external
pollution which was pressed upon it, just as garments, when dirty, are put into
the water and turned about until their dirt is removed and they become clean.
And so the cleansing of the soul is to regain the newness of her former nature
and to turn herself back again. That is her baptism.” (Exegesis on the Soul)
- The baptism as transition from lower to upper aeons (incl from
soul to spirit):
“[..... from the ] world into the Jordan and from the blindness of
the world into the sight of God, from the carnal into the spiritual, from the
physical into the angelic, from the created into the Pleroma, from the world
into the Aeon, from the servitudes into sonship, from entanglements into one
another, from the desert into our village, from the cold into the hot, from
[...] into a [...] and we [...] into the [....thus] we were brought from
seminal bodies into bodies with a perfect form. Indeed I entered by way of
example the remnant for which the Christ rescued us in the fellowship of his
Spirit. And he brought us forth who are in him, and from now on the souls will
become perfect spirits. Now the things granted us by the first baptism
[....invisible ...which] is his, since [.......speak][about...]....” (On the
Baptism B)
- The baptism as ‘putting on a garment’ or ‘investiture’:
“The baptism which we previously mentioned is called ‘garment of
those who do not strip themselves of it’, for those who will put it on and
those who have received redemption wear it...” (Tripart tract) By this I
understand that the garment is what one acquires through baptism
- The baptism as ‘putting on a garment’ or ‘investiture’:
Protennoia: “And I am inviting you into the exalted, perfect
Light. Moreover, (as for) this (Light), when you enter it... you will accept
robes from those who give robes, and the baptizers will baptize you, and you
will become... the way you first were when you were <Light>.” (3
Protennoia) Again, baptism gives the garment, here a robe of light and
imperishability
- The baptism as ‘putting on a garment’ or ‘investiture’:
- Protennoia (as the Saviour): “I gave to him from the Water of
Life, which strips him of the chaos that is in the uttermost darkness that
exists inside the entire abyss, that is, the thought of the corporeal and the
psychic. All these I put on. And I stripped him of it, and I put upon him a
shining Light, that is, the knowledge of the Thought of the Fatherhood. And I
delivered him to those who give robes - Yammon, Elasso, Amenai - and they
covered him with a robe from the robes of the Light; and I delivered him to the
baptizers, and they baptized him - Micheus, Michar, Mnesinous - and they
immersed him in the spring of the Water of Life. ” (3 Protennoia)
- The baptism as silence, bridal chamber, robe of light, eternal
life:
“(Baptism) is called ‘silence’ because of the quiet and the
tranquility. It is also called ‘bridal chamber’ because of the agreement and
the indivisible state of those who know they have known him. It is also called
‘the light which does not set and is without flame’ since it does not give
light, but those who have worn it are made into light. They are the ones whom
he wore. (Baptism) is also called ‘the eternal life’ which is immortality”
(Tripart tract)
- The baptism as a confession of names (invocation):
“As for the baptism which exists in the fullest sense, into which
the Totalities will descend and in which they will be, there is no other
baptism apart from this one alone, which is the redemption into God, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, when confession is made through faith in those names...
namely that they exist. From this they have their salvation, those who have
believed that they exist.... And when they have borne witness to them, it is
also with a firm hope that they attained them, so that the return to them might
become the perfection of those who have believed in them and (so that) the
Father might be one with them, the Father... who gave (them) their union with
him in knowledge.” (Tripart tract)
- The baptism as pronouncing initiate’s name:
“And <according to> the perfect laws, I shall pronounce my
name as I receive baptism now (and) forever, (as a name) among the living (and)
holy names, and (now) in the waters. Amen.” (Melchizedek) This makes clear that
the initiate received a holy name at the moment of his baptism.
- the baptism as renunciation of the world:
“But the baptism of truth is something else; it is by renunciation
of the world that it is found. But those who say only with the tongue that they
are renouncing it are lying” (Test Truth)
- the Baptism as redemption:
“Not only do humans need redemption, but also the angels, too...
even the Son himself, who has the position of redeemer of the Totality, needed
redemption as well, - he who had become man, - since he gave himself for each
thing which we need, we in the flesh, who are his Church. Now, when he first
received redemption from the word which had descended upon him, all the rest
received redemption from him, namely those who had taken him to themselves.”
(Tripart tract) This suggests that Jesus, upon being baptized, was redeemed by
the Holy Spirit (or here, Logos). And so are we redeemed through
baptism.
(fragment:) “He baptized himself, and the [...] he became
divine;” (Test Truth)
“Thus it is by being born again that the soul will be saved.”
(Exegesis on the Soul)
“Those [...] go down into the water. [...] out (of the water),
will consecrate it, [...] they who have [...] in his name.” (Gosp Philip)
- the ritual of baptism, meaning a total movement into and out of
the water, would be undertaken to ‘ritually make present’ the primordial event
of the One immersing itself into its own watery light in order to see and know
itself. This immersion into the ‘invisible’ watery upper aeons would be the
‘hidden’ baptism. The ‘visible’ baptism could be a movement into and
out of the visible lower aeons.
This movement ‘out of’ includes ‘redemption’ and ‘resurrection’. That is why
redemption and resurrection are included within baptism.
To dye is a form of baptism: “God is a dyer. As the good dyes,
which are called "true", dissolve with the things dyed in them, so it
is with those whom God has dyed. Since his dyes are immortal, they become
immortal by means of his colors. Now God dips what he dips in water.” (Gosp
Philip)
“By perfecting the water of baptism, Jesus emptied it of death.
Thus we do go down into the water, but we do not go down into death, in order
that we may not be poured out into the spirit of the world. When that spirit
blows, it brings the winter. When the Holy Spirit breathes, the summer comes.”
(Gosp Philip)
- The following was copied from a book on Early Coptic Christian
Magical Spells
- From The Book of Jeu in Carl Schmidt, The
Books of JEU and The Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978)
- On the Gnostic Baptism of Fire, which relates to John the
Baptist’s expression ‘I baptize with water, but he will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit and with fire’.
-(p. 108) (Jesus says) “Bring me grape vines to receive the
Baptism of fire.
- (p. 109) “He (Jesus) offered up incence. He sent up juniper
berries and myrrh, along with frankincence, mastic, nard, cassia flowers,
turpentine and oil of myrrh. (...) He crowned them all with the plant of the
pigeon grass and put the plant of the dog-head in their mouths (...) and he
placed before them the incence that he had offered up. And Jesus came behind
the incence he had offered up and sealed them with this seal (...)
This is its name:
Thozaeez
This is its
interpretation: zozozez
Jesus turned to the
four corners of the world with his disciples and invoked this prayer, speaking
thus: ‘Her me my Father, father of all Fatherhoods, infinite Light, make my
disciples worthy to receive the baptism of (p. 110) fire, and release them from
their sins and purify them of their transgressions (...) Yea, hear me my Father
as I invoke your imperishable names that in the Treasury of Light:
Azarakaza A ... Amanthkratitath
Yo Yo Yo
Amen Amen
Yaoth Yaoth Yaoth
Phaoph Phaoph Phaoph
Chioephozpe Chenobinuth
Zarlai Zazorlai Laizai
Amen Amen Amen (etc.)
_____________________________________
On Chrism or unction:
- chrism superior to baptism; father anointed son; son anointed
apostles etc.
- chrism brings spirit, light and resurrection (ie ascent)
- “The chrism is superior to baptism, for it is from the word
"Chrism" that we have been called "Christians," certainly
not because of the word "baptism". And it is because of the chrism
that "the Christ" has his name. For the Father anointed the Son, and
the Son anointed the apostles, and the apostles anointed us. He who has been
anointed possesses everything. He possesses the resurrection, the light, the
cross, the Holy Spirit. The Father gave him this in the bridal chamber; he
merely accepted (the gift). The Father was in the Son and the Son in the
Father. This is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Gosp Philip)
i.e. - The ritual act of anointing with oil ‘ritually makes
present’ the primordial anointing of Christ ‘the anointed one’ in the upper
aeaons. This seems to be the moment in which the divine spark entered Christ,
since the chrism oil is related to fire, white fire and invisible fire.
- “...If anyone becomes a son of the bridal chamber, he will
receive the light. If anyone does not receive it while he is here, he will not
be able to receive it in the other place. He who will receive that light will
not be seen, nor can he be detained. And none shall be able to torment a person
like this, even while he dwells in the world. And again when he leaves the
world, he has already received the truth in the images. The world has become
the Aeon (eternal realm), for the Aeon is fullness for him. This is the way it
is: it is revealed to him alone, not hidden in the darkness and the night, but
hidden in a perfect day and a holy light.” (Gosp Philip)
i.e - those who receive the chrism, one of the five seals, will be
able to rise up through the aeons and ‘will not be seen, nor can he be
detained’ by the archons. What is more, the demons here below who work upon the
body shall not ‘be able to torment a person like this’.
- Christ will anoint the Elect with an unction, granting
awareness, ascent and eternal life:
“he will anoint them (the descendents of Norea) with the unction
of life eternal, given him from the undominated generation. Then they will be
freed of blind thought, and they will trample underfoot death, which is of the
authorities, and they will ascend into the limitless light where this sown
element belongs.” (Hypo. Archons).
- Through Christ, the anointed can overcome evil:
[....] according to [....] the type of [...] see him. It is
fitting for you at this time to send thy Son Jesus Christ and anoint us so we
might be able to trample upon the snakes and the heads of the scorpions and all
the power of the Devil since he is a shepherd of the seed. Through him we have
known thee. And we glorify thee : Glory be to thee, the Father in the Son, the
Father in the Son, the Father in the Holy Church and in the holy angels! From
now he abides forever in the perpetuity of the Aeons, forever until the
untraceable Aeons of the Aeons. Amen. (On the Anointing)
- Christ anoints, which brings forgiveness (mercy) and perfection:
“That is why Christ was spoken of in their midst, so that those
who were disturbed might receive a bringing-back, and he might anoint them with
the ointment. This ointment is the mercy of the Father, who will have mercy on
them. But those whom he has anointed are the ones who have become perfect”
(Gosp Truth)
- the chrism is done with oil, specifically olive oil.
- “...it is from the olive tree that we got the chrism, and from
the chrism, the resurrection.” (Gosp Philip)
- see above ‘On Gnostic Ritual in General’ for Chrism as related
to fire, light, spirit, resurrection
- Judas Thomas anoints, baptizes and breaks bread with Mygdonia:
- “121 And when Narcia had brought these things, Mygdonia stood
before the apostle with her head bare; and he took the oil and poured it on her
head, saying: Thou holy oil given unto us for sanctification, secret mystery
whereby the cross was shown unto us,
thou art the straightener of the crooked limbs, thou art the humbler (softener)
of hard things (works), thou art it that showeth the hidden treasures, thou art
the sprout of goodness; let thy power come, let it be established upon thy
servant Mygdonia, and heal thou her by this freedom. And when the oil was
poured upon her he bade her nurse unclothe her and gird a linen cloth about
her; and there was there a fountain of water upon which the apostle went up,
and baptized Mygdonia in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.
And when she was baptized and clad, he brake bread and took a cup of water and
made her a partaker in the body of Christ and the cup of the Son of God, and
said: Thou hast received thy seal, get for thyself eternal life. And
immediately there was heard from above a voice saying: Yea, amen. And when
Narcia heard that voice, she was amazed, and besought the apostle that she also
might receive the seal; and the apostle gave it her and said: Let the care of
the Lord be about thee as about the rest.” (Acts of Thomas)
_____________________________________
On repentence as a form of visionary resurrection including the
invocation and renunciation (which are a naming of beings in the lower and
upper aeons):
- In (the very fragemented) Zostrianos, “the angel of the
knowledge of eternal light” teaches him of the hierarchy of powers through a
vision. He must “come and pass through each of these” to teach the Elect. He
passed through the archons’ realms: “I
was rescued from the whole world and the thirteen aeons in it and their angelic
beings. They did not see us, but their archon was disturbed at [our] passage.”
- Then, he was ‘baptized there’ and became a light and image:
“Then I knew that the power in me was set over the darkness because it
contained the whole light. I was baptized there, and I received the image of
the glories there. I became like one of them.”
- He was ‘washed’ seven times for each archon’s realm: “after
washing there seven times [in] living [water], once for each [of the] aeons.
- In the ‘repentence’ he was ‘baptized four times’: “ I ascended
to the Repentance which really exists [and was] baptized there four times.” “I
was baptized for the third (and fourth) time in the name of the divine
Autogenes by each of these powers.”
- Later, three of the four ‘waters’ are explained - the water of
life, blessedness and existence, which bring vitality, knowledge and divinity
respectively: “And a water of each one of them [...] ; therefore [...] waters
are the perfect ones. It is the water of life that belongs to Vitality in which
you now have been baptized in the Autogenes. It is in the [water] of
Blessedness which belongs to Knowledge that you will be baptized in the
Protophanes. It is the water of Existence [which] belongs to Divinity, the
Kalyptos.”
- He was baptized in the living water, purified and sealed: “I was
baptized in the [name of] the divine Autogenes by those powers which are [upon]
living waters, Michar and Micheus. I was purified by [the] great Barpharanges.
Then they [revealed] themselves to me and wrote me in glory. I was sealed by
those who are on these powers, [Michar] Mi[ch]eus, Seldao, Ele[nos] and
Zogenethlos.”
- He ‘passed by’ the powers: “The great ruler on high,
Authrounios, said to me, ‘Are you asking about those whom you have passed by?’”
(cf ‘Become Passers-by’ in Gos Thom)
- After a long discussion of how everything below is a model or
copy of the originals above, it is explained that one’s own soul in the below
is a model of one’s soul above. When one receives the light, one realizes this:
“But when souls are illuminated by the light in them and (by) the model which
often comes into being in them without suffering (... many fragments...) are
located according to the power they have in themselves, [...] lower are
produced by the copies. Those who receive a model of their souls are still in
the world.” nb These souls above would be ‘the images of the Elect sealed in
the Upper Aeons’
- The ‘washing of Kalyptos’ is a knowledge that ‘all come from the
one and to the one they return’: “And if in understanding the origin of these,
how they all appear from a single origin, how all who are joined come to be
divided, how those who are divided join again, and how the parts [join with]
the alls and the species and [kinds - if] one understands these things, one has
washed in the washing of Kalyptos.”
- It is suggested that ‘the washing’ is an acquisition or learnnig
of ‘names’: “But the name in which they wash is a word of the water.”
- Again, washing is learning names: “When you receive the third
washing [...], you will learn about the [...] really [...] in [that] place.
About these names, they are as follows:”
- He is then baptized a fifth time, which brings him above
‘Repentence’ (the ‘Middle’ realm of Sophia) up to the Fifth aeon of the
Autogenes: “[When I was] baptized the fifth [time] in the name of the Autogenes
by each of these powers, I became divine. [I] stood upon the fifth aeon”
- Thus there are five baptisms: “Yoel who belongs to all [the
glories] said to me, "You have [received] all the [baptisms] in which it
is fitting to [be] baptized, and you have become [perfect]”
- Then Yoel (Barbelo) sends him to an aeons further down, of
Protophanes, where: “I saw glories which are greater than powers, [and] they
anoint me.”
- Then he went up to Mind, joining in unity with all. He was
‘written in glory and sealed’, ‘received the crown’ and ‘received an image’ :
“Apophantes and Aphropais, the Virgin-light, came before me and brought me into
Protophanes, (the) great male perfect Mind. I saw all of them as they exist in
one. I joined with them all (and) blessed the Kalyptos aeon, the virgin Barbelo
and the Invisible Spirit. I became all-perfect and received power. I was
written in glory and sealed. I received there a perfect crown. I came forth to
the perfect individuals, and all of them were questioning me. They were
listening to the loftiness of my knowledge. They were rejoicing and receiving
power. When I again came down to the aeons of Autogenes, I received a true
image, pure (yet) suitable for the perceptible (world). “
- After, he returned to earth, ‘put on his image’ and wrote all
this: “I came down to the aeon copies and came down here 130 to the airy-earth.
I wrote three tablets (and) left them as knowledge for those who would come
after me, the living elect. Then I came down to the perceptible world and put
on my image. Because it was ignorant, I strengthened it (and) went about
preaching the truth to everyone. Neither the angelic beings of the world nor
the archons saw me, for I negated a multitude of [judgments] which brought me
near death.”
- “ [Awaken] your divine part to God, (...) Do not baptize
yourselves with death (...) Flee from the madness and the bondage of femaleness
and choose for yourselves the salvation of maleness. (...) Do not be led
astray. (....) Look at the Light. Flee the Darkness. Do not be led astray to
your destruction.” (Zost)
- fragment: “and they will renounce the archons” (Melch.)
- fragment: these will not be ‘convicted’ by the
- “... these two who have been chosen will at no time nor in any
place will they be convicted (...) by their enemies, (...). All of the adverse
natures will [...] (...) together with those that dwell in the heavens.”
(Melch.)
- do not reveal these to others:
- “These things which I was commanded to reveal, these things
reveal as I (have done). But that which is hidden, do not reveal to anyone,
unless it is revealed to you (to do so).” (Melch)
- the form of the invocation is as follows: ‘Holy are you, Holy are you, Holy are you, x
(title) x (name), for ever and ever, Amen.’:
- “Holy are you, Holy are you, Holy are you, O Father of the All,
who truly exists, [...] do(es) not exist, Abel Baruch [...], for ever and ever,
Amen. Holy are you, Holy are you, Holy are you, Mother of the aeons, Barbelo,
for ever and ever, Amen.” (Melch)
“As for the baptism which exists in the fullest sense, into which
the Totalities will descend and in which they will be, there is no other
baptism apart from this one alone, which is the redemption into God, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, when confession is made through faith in those names...
namely that they exist. From this they have their salvation, those who have
believed that they exist.... And when they have borne witness to them, it is
also with a firm hope that they attained them, so that the return to them might
become the perfection of those who have believed in them and (so that) the
Father might be one with them, the Father... who gave (them) their union with
him in knowledge.” (Tripart tract)
- Renouncing the god of 13 aeons and convoking the saints; armed
with armor:
“He (Seth) passed through the three parousias which I mentioned
before: the flood, and the conflagration, and the judgment of the archons and
the powers and the authorities, to save her (the race) who went astray, through
the reconciliation of the world, and the baptism through a Logos-begotten body
which the great Seth prepared for himself secretly through the virgin, in order
that the saints may be begotten by the holy Spirit, through invisible, secret
symbols, through a reconciliation (NB ‘killing’) of the world with the world,
through the renouncing of the world, and the god of the thirteen aeons, and
(through) the convocations of the saints and the ineffable ones, and (through)
the incorruptible bosom, and (through) the great light of the Father, who
pre-existed with his Providence, and established through her the holy baptism
that surpasses the heaven, through the incorruptible, Logos-begotten one, even
Jesus the living one, even he whom the great Seth has put on. And through him,
he nailed the powers of the thirteen aeons, and established those who are
brought forth and taken away. He armed them with an armor of knowledge of this
truth, with an unconquerable power of incorruptibility.” (Gos Egypt)
- invocation and renunciation as five seals; instruction and
knowledge of receivers; thus avoiding death:
“But from now on, through the incorruptible man Poimael, and they
who are worthy of (the) invocation, the renunciations of the five seals in the
spring-baptism, these will know their receivers as they are instructed about
them, and they will know them (or: be known) by them. These will by no means
taste death.” (Gos Egypt)
- The five seals are a knowledge of certain names, perhaps
positively, of the upper aeons:
- “He who possesses the Five Seals of these particular names has
stripped off <the> garments of ignorance and put on a shining Light...
And I proclaimed to them the ineffable Five Seals in order that I might abide
in them and they also might abide in me.” (3 Protennoia)
- The archons have 2 names; one given by Yaltabaoth (which gives
them power) and one given ‘acc. to glory’, which renders them powerless:
-“They were given names according to the glory which belongs to
heaven for the destruction of the powers. And in the names which were given to
them by their Originator there was power. But the names which were given them
according to the glory which belongs to heaven mean for them destruction and
powerlessness. Thus they have two names.” (Apoc. John)
- Jesus teaches his apostles the hidden names and signs of the
archons:
“The living Jesus answered and said : "(May your mind
understand) through that which I say to you in the course of my discourse, so
that you fulfil it and are saved from the archon of this aeon and his
persecutions, to which there is no end. But you, my disciples, hasten to
receive my word with certaintiy so that you know it, in order that the archon
of this aeon may not fight with you” (1st bk Ieou)
- for more on the soul’s ascent, see below on Soul’s Ascent (after
crucifixion)
_____________________________________
On the Bridal Chamber:
The bridal chamber as union of Christ and Sophia: “When the whole
seed is perfected, then, they say, will the mother, Achamoth leave the place of
the Middle, enter into the Pleroma, and receive her bridegroom, the Savior, who
came into being from all (the aeons), with result that the Savior and Sophia,
who is Achamoth, form a pair (syzygy) These then are said to be bridegroom and
bride, but the bridal chamber is the entire Pleroma. The spiritual beings will
divest themselves of their souls and become intelligent spirits, and, without
being hindered or seen, they will enter into the Pleroma, and will be bestowed
as brides on the angels around the Savior. The Demiurge passes into the place
of his mother Sophia, that is, into the Middle. The souls of the righteous will
also repose in the place of the Middle, for nothing psychic enters the Pleroma.
When this has taken place, then (they assert) the fire that is hidden in the
world will blaze forth and burn: when it has consumed all matter it will be
consumed with it and pass into non-existence. According to them the Demiurge
knew none of these things before the advent of the Savior.” (Ptolemaeus, apud
Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses I, 1.7.1; cf. Excerpta ex Theodoto 63-65).
OR “When all the seed shall have come to perfection, they state
that then their mother Achamoth shall pass from the intermediate place, and
enter in within the Pleroma, and shall receive as her spouse the Saviour, who
sprang from all the AEons, that thus a conjunction may be formed between the
Saviour and Sophia, that is, Achamoth. These, then, are the bridegroom and
bride, while the nuptial chamber is the full extent of the Pleroma. The
spiritual seed, again, being divested of their animal souls,(2) and becoming
intelligent spirits, shall in an irresistible and invisible manner enter in
within the Pleroma, and be bestowed as brides on those angels who wait upon the
Saviour. The Demiurge himself will pass into the place of his mother Sophia;(3)
that is, the intermediate habitation. In this intermediate place, also, shall
the souls of the righteous repose; but nothing of an animal nature shall find
admittance to the Pleroma. When these things have taken place as described,
then shall that fire which lies hidden in the world blaze forth and bum; and
while destroying all matter, shall also be extinguished along with it, and have
no further existence.” (Iren bk I, vii, 1)
“Then before the foundation of the world, when the whole multitude
of the Assembly came together upon the places of the Ogdoad, when they had
taken counsel about a spiritual wedding which is in union, and thus he was perfected
in the ineffable places by a living word, the undefiled wedding was consummated
through the Mesotes of Jesus, who inhabits them all and possesses them, who
abides in an undivided love of power. And surrounding him, he appears to him as
a Monad of all these, a thought and a father, since he is one.” (2 Treat. Gr.
Seth) OR
“Once, before the foundation of the world, when the whole
multitude of the assembly in the realm of the eight came together and made
plans, they united in spiritual marriage. The marriage was consummated in these
ineffable places by means of a living word, through the mediator of Jesus, who
dwells in all of them and rules over them with pure profound love. He
transformed himself and appeared as a single manifesation of all of them, as
thought, father, One. (2 Treat. Gr. Seth - Meyer trans.)
“I am Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, who is exalted above the
heavens - O perfect and incorruptible ones, because of the incorruptible and
perfect mystery and the ineffable one. But they think that we decreed them
before the foundation of the world, in order that, when we emerge from the
places of the world, we may present there the symbols of incorruption from the
spiritual union unto knowledge. You do not know it, because the fleshly cloud
overshadows you. But I alone am the friend of Sophia.” (2 Treat Gr. Seth) OR
“I am Jesus the Christ, child of humankind, exalted above the
heavens. You who are perfect and undefiled, I have presented this to you on
account of the mystery that is undefiled and perfect and ineffable, that you
understand that we ordained these things before the foundation of the world, so
that when we appear through the world, we may present the symbols of
incorruption from the spiritual union with knowledge. You do not know this
because of the cloud of flesh that overshadows you. It is I who am the friend
of Sophia.” (2 Treat. Gr. Seth - Meyer trans.)
“They had agreed with Nous, who stretches out (and) will stretch
out in joyful union...” (2 Treat Gr. Seth) OR “These were one with mind, that
extends itself, that will extend itself, in joyful union.” (2 Treat. Gr. Seth -
Meyer trans.)
“And this is a wedding of truth, and a repose of incorruption, in
a spirit of truth, in every mind, and a perfect light in an unnameable mystery.
But this is not, nor will it happen among us in any region or place in division
and breach of peace, but (in) union and a mixture of love, all of which are
perfected in the one who is.” (2 Treat Gr. Seth) OR “This is a wedding of truth, incorruptible
rest, in a spirit of truth, in every mind, perfect light, in unnamed mystery.
This does not happen and will not happen among us in any regions and locales
where there is dissension and disruption of peace. Rather, this is union, a feast of love, and all are fulfilled in the
one who is.” (2 Treat. Gr. Seth - Meyer trans.)
“It also happened in the places under heaven for their
reconciliation. Those who knew me in salvation and undividedness, and those who
existed for the glory of the father and the truth, having been separated,
blended into the one through the living word.” (2 Treat Gr. Seth) OR “This love
also is to be found in the regions under the heavens that are joined to the
regions above. Those who have come to know me through salvation and unity, and
those who have lived for the glory of the father and truth, once were separate,
but they have been united with the One through the living word.” (2 Treat. Gr.
Seth - Meyer trans.)
“The forms of evil spirit include male ones and female ones. The
males are they which unite with the souls which inhabit a female form, but the
females are they which are mingled with those in a male form, though one who
was disobedient. And none shall be able to escape them, since they detain him
if he does not receive a male power or a female power, the bridegroom and the
bride. One receives them from the mirrored bridal chamber. When the wanton
women see a male sitting alone, they leap down on him and play with him and
defile him. So also the lecherous men, when they see a beautiful woman sitting
alone, they persuade her and compel her, wishing to defile her. But if they see
the man and his wife sitting beside one another, the female cannot come into
the man, nor can the male come into the woman. So if the image and the angel
are united with one another, neither can any venture to go into the man or the
woman.” (Gos Phil)
“The powers do not see those who are clothed in the perfect light,
and consequently are not able to detain them. One will clothe himself in this
light sacramentally in the union.” (Gos Phil)
“If the woman had not separated from the man, she should not die
with the man. His separation became the beginning of death. Because of this,
Christ came to repair the separation, which was from the beginning, and again
unite the two, and to give life to those who died as a result of the
separation, and unite them. But the woman is united to her husband in the
bridal chamber. Indeed, those who have united in the bridal chamber will no
longer be separated. Thus Eve separated from Adam because it was not in the
bridal chamber that she united with him.” (Gos Phil)
“The soul of Adam came into being by means of a breath. The
partner of his soul is the spirit. His mother is the thing that was given to
him. His soul was taken from him and replaced by a spirit. When he was united
(to the spirit), he spoke words incomprehensible to the powers. They envied him
[...] spiritual partner [...] hidden [...] opportunity [...] for themselves
alone [...] bridal chamber, so that [...].” (Gos Phil)
“No one can know when the husband and the wife have intercourse
with one another, except the two of them. Indeed, marriage in the world is a
mystery for those who have taken a wife. If there is a hidden quality to the
marriage of defilement, how much more is the undefiled marriage a true mystery!
It is not fleshly, but pure. It belongs not to desire, but to the will. It
belongs not to the darkness or the night, but to the day and the light. If a
marriage is open to the public, it has become prostitution, and the bride plays
the harlot not only when she is impregnated by another man, but even if she
slips out of her bedroom and is seen. Let her show herself only to her father
and her mother, and to the friend of the bridegroom and the sons of the bridegroom.
These are permitted to enter every day into the bridal chamber. But let the
others yearn just to listen to her voice and to enjoy her ointment, and let
them feed from the crumbs that fall from the table, like the dogs. Bridegrooms
and brides belong to the bridal chamber. No one shall be able to see the
bridegroom with the bride unless he become such a one.” (Gos Phil)
“From heaven the father sent her (the soul) her man, who is her
brother, the firstborn. Then the bridegroom came down to the bride. She gave up
her former prostitution and cleansed herself of the pollutions of the
adulterers, and she was renewed so as to be a bride. She cleansed herself in
the bridal chamber; she filled it with perfume; she sat in it waiting for the
true bridegroom. No longer does she run about the market place, copulating with
whomever she desires” (Exegesis of the Soul)
“Thus when the soul had adorned herself again in her beauty [...]
enjoyed her beloved, and he also loved her. For this is the great, perfect
marvel of birth. And so this marriage is made perfect by the will of the
father. Now it is fitting that the soul regenerates herself and become again as
she formerly was. The soul then moves of her own accord. And she received the
divine nature from the father for her rejuvenation, so that she might be
restored to the place where originally she had been. This is the resurrection
that is from the dead. This is the ransom from captivity. This is the upward
journey of ascent to heaven. This is the way of ascent to the father.”
(Exegesis of the Soul)
“Great is the mystery of marriage! For without it, the world would
not exist. Now the existence of the world [...], and the existence of [...]
marriage...” (Gosp Philip)
“the mirrored bridal
chamber” (Gosp Philip)
“(the height which) no one has seen nor known, where the wedding
of the wedding robe is, the new one and not the old, nor does it perish. For it
is a new and perfect bridal chamber of the heavens, as I have revealed (that)
there are three ways: an undefiled mystery in a spirit of this aeon, which does
not perish, nor is it fragmentary, nor able to be spoken of; rather, it is
undivided, universal, and permanent.” (2 Treat Gr Seth) OR “...to the height.
There I am, in the eternal realms that no one has seen or understood, where the
wedding of the wedding robe is. It is the new wedding, not the old, and it does
not perish, for the new brdial chamber is of the heavens, and it is perfect. As
I have revealed, there are three ways, and this is an undefiled mystery in the
spirit of the eternal realm that is not destroyed or divided or even discussed,
for it is indivisible, universal, and permanent.” (2 Treat Gr Seth - Meyer trans.)
“The powers do not see those who are clothed in the perfect light,
and consequently are not able to detain them. One will clothe himself in this
light sacramentally in the union.” (Gosp Philip)
- so the ‘garment of light’ is acquired in the sacrament of
‘union’ (bridal chamber)
“The baptism which we previously mentioned is called ‘garment of
those who do not strip themselves of it’ for those who will put it on and those
who have received redemption wear it... It (Baptism) is also called ‘bridal
chamber’ because of the agreement and the indivisible state of those who know
they have known him. It is also called ‘the light which does not set and is
without flame’ since it does not give light, but those who have worn it are
made into light.” (Tripart tract)
- Again, clothing and light are connected to the bridal chamber,
but now this garment is received at baptism.
Jesus : “Because of this, then, I came here, that they might be
joined with that Spirit and Breath, [III continues:] and might from two become
one, just as from the first, that you might yield much fruit and go up to Him
Who Is from the Beginning, in ineffable joy and glory and honor and grace of
the Father of the Universe.” (Soph. Jes. Chr.)
“The children of the bridal chamber have just one name: rest.
Altogether, they need take no other form, because they have contemplation...”
(Gospel of Philip)
“The bridal chamber, however, remains hidden. It is the Holy in
the Holy. The veil at first concealed how God (ie the archon) controlled the
creation, but when the veil is rent and the things inside are
revealed... (some) will be able to go within the veil... For this reason, the
veil ... was rent from the top to bottom. Those above opened to us the things
below, in order that we may go in to the secret of the truth.... But we shall
go in there by means of lowly types... Therefore, the perfect things have
opened to us, together with the hidden things of truth. The holies of the
holies were revealed, and the bridal chamber invited us in.” (Gosp Philip)
- In the complete version of this quote, I see the possibility
that ‘sex between man and wife’, perhaps when performed ritually in the bridal
chamber, is like a ‘lowly type’ by which the higher ‘perfect marriage’ is
experienced. In a sense, we ‘enter through’ the lowly image of sex to the
higher union of Christ and Sophia.
“At the present time, we have the manifest things of creation. We
say, "The strong who are held in high regard are great people. And the
weak who are despised are the obscure." Contrast the manifest things of
truth: they are weak and despised, while the hidden things are strong and held
in high regard. The mysteries of truth are revealed, though in type and image.
The bridal chamber, however, remains hidden. It is the Holy in the Holy. The
veil at first concealed how God controlled the creation, but when the veil is
rent and the things inside are revealed, this house will be left desolate, or
rather will be destroyed. And the whole (inferior) godhead will flee from here,
but not into the holies of the holies, for it will not be able to mix with the
unmixed light and the flawless fullness, but will be under the wings of the
cross and under its arms. This ark will be their salvation when the flood of
water surges over them. If some belong to the order of the priesthood, they
will be able to go within the veil with the high priest. For this reason, the
veil was not rent at the top only, since it would have been open only to those
above; nor was it rent at the bottom only, since it would have been revealed
only to those below. But it was rent from the top to bottom. Those above opened
to us the things below, in order that we may go in to the secret of the truth.
This truly is what is held in high regard, (and) what is strong! But we shall
go in there by means of lowly types and forms of weakness. They are lowly
indeed when compared with the perfect glory. There is glory which surpasses
glory. There is power which surpasses power. Therefore, the perfect things have
opened to us, together with the hidden things of truth. The holies of the
holies were revealed, and the bridal chamber invited us in.” (Gos Phil)
“’The Holy of the Holies’ is the bridal chamber. Baptism includes
the resurrection and the redemption; the redemption (takes place) in the bridal
chamber.” (Gos Phil)
“Truth did not come into the world naked, but it came in types and
images. The world will not receive truth in any other way. There is a rebirth
and an image of rebirth. It is certainly necessary to be born again through the
image. Which one? Resurrection. The image must rise again through the image.
The bridal chamber and the image must enter through the image into the truth:
this is the restoration.” (Gos Phil)
“The Lord did everything in a mystery, a baptism and a chrism and
a eucharist and a redemption and a bridal chamber. [...] he said, "I came
to make the things below like the things above, and the things outside like
those inside. I came to unite them in the place." [...] here through types
[...]and images.” (Gos Phil)
“A bridal chamber is not for the animals, nor is it for the
slaves, nor for defiled women; but it is for free men and virgins.” (Gos Phil)
“As long as it is hidden, wickedness is indeed ineffectual, but it
has not been removed from the midst of the seed of the Holy Spirit. They are
slaves of evil. But when it is revealed, then the perfect light will flow out
on every one. And all those who are in it will receive the chrism. Then the
slaves will be free and the captives ransomed. "Every plant which my
father who is in heaven has not planted will be plucked out." (Mt 15:13)
Those who are separated will unite [...] and will be filled. Every one who will
enter the bridal chamber will kindle the light, for [...] just as in the
marriages which are [...] happen at night. That fire [...] only at night, and
is put out. But the mysteries of that marriage are perfected rather in the day
and the light. Neither that day nor its light ever sets. If anyone becomes a
son of the bridal chamber, he will receive the light. If anyone does not
receive it while he is here, he will not be able to receive it in the other place.
He who will receive that light will not be seen, nor can he be detained. And
none shall be able to torment a person like this, even while he dwells in the
world. And again when he leaves the world, he has already received the truth in
the images. The world has become the Aeon (eternal realm), for the Aeon is
fullness for him. This is the way it is: it is revealed to him alone, not
hidden in the darkness and the night, but hidden in a perfect day and a holy
light.” (Gosp Philip)
“The election (ie return to the One) is like a bridal chamber
because of its unity and its agreement with him (Christ)... (It is like) those
who rejoice at the bridal chamber, and who are glad and happy at the union of
the bridegroom and the bride.” (Tripart tract)
“O soul, persistent one, be sober and shake off your drunkenness,
which is the work of ignorance. If you persist and live in the body, you dwell
in rusticity. When you entered into a bodily birth, you were begotten. Come
into being inside the bridal chamber! Be illuminated in mind!” (Silvanus)
_____________________________________
On kissing:
“All who are begotten in the world are begotten in a natural
way... (But) it is by a kiss that the perfect conceive and give birth. For this
reason we also kiss one another. We receive conception from the grace which is
in one another.” (Gosp Philip)
- It seems Jesus kissed a disciple before he revealed hidden
knowledge: James: "And he kissed my mouth. He took hold of me, saying,
"My beloved! Behold, I shall reveal to you those things that (neither) the
heavens nor their archons have known.” (Second Apoc. James)
“Those which exist have come forth from the Son and the Father
like kisses, because of the multitude of some who kiss one another with a good,
insatiable thought, the kiss being a unity, although it involves many kisses.”
(Tripart. tract)
- By this, I understand that the moment the Son kisses another, he
initiates him into the unity of the Father. After this first kiss, those
unified in the community continue to kiss one another, as a ritual mark of
unity.
“Secretly her bridegroom fetched it. He presented it to her mouth
to make her eat it like food, and he applied the word to her eyes as a medicine
to make her see with her mind and perceive her kinsmen and learn about her
root, in order that she might cling to her branch from which she had first come
forth, in order that she might receive what is hers and renounce matter.”
(Authoritative Teaching)
“And the Lord appeared to him. Then he (James) stopped (his)
prayer and embraced him. He kissed him, saying, "Rabbi, I have found you!”
(1st Apoc James)
“He who drinks from my mouth shall become like me...” (Gos. Thom
log 108)
_____________________________________
On the eurcharist and last supper:
see LAST SUPPER below
ACQUISITION OF DISCIPLES
On Apostles in the Gnostic sense
On Jesus addressing his disciples:
On disciples addressing Jesus:
On discipleship (and on ‘Brothers’):
On the Mission of the Disicples: teaching, healing etc
Jesus Instructs his disciples with a sermon:
On the gospels of the disciples:
On women disciples:
On Salome
On Judas Thomas the contender:
On Peter
On Andrew
On James the greater
On John
On James the Just (or Less)
On Philip and the others
On Judas the Betrayer
___________________________________________
On Apostles in the Gnostic sense
- In the Gnostic sense, the apostles are twelve aeons surrounding
the Saviour. Therefore, consider the idea that their hidden names are the Greek
terms for Love, Truth, etc. Magdalene,
as the twelfth aeon Sophia, would be the twelfth apostle, if Judas is
eliminated
- “And the four powers (are) understanding, grace, perception, and
prudence. And grace belongs to the light-aeon Armozel, which is the first
angel. And there are three other aeons with this aeon: grace, truth, and form.
And the second light (is) Oriel, who has been placed over the second aeon. And
there are three other aeons with him: conception, perception, and memory. And
the third light is Daveithai, who has been placed over the third aeon. And
there are three other aeons with him: understanding, love, and idea. And the
fourth aeon was placed over the fourth light Eleleth. And there are three other
aeons with him: perfection, peace, and wisdom.”(Apoc John)
- For my novel, the parallels are as follows:
- the light-aeon Armozel (Simon Peter)
- (and the four powers understanding, grace, perception, and
prudence)
- and three aeons:
- grace (Simon Peter)
- truth (Thomas)
- form (Matthew)
- the second light Oriel (Andrew)
- and three aeons:
- conception (Andrew)
- perception (James the Less)
- memory (Jude)
- the third light Daveithai (James the Great)
- and three aeons:
- understanding (James the Great)
- love (Philip)
- idea (Nathanael)
- the fourth light Eleleth (John)
- and three aeons:
- perfection (John)
- peace (Simon Zealot)
- wisdom (Magdalene)
____________________________________________________
On Jesus addressing his disciples:
“Now I have come to teach you what is and what was and what will
come to pass,” (Apoc John)
“Now, therefore, lift up your face, that you may receive the
things that I shall teach you” (Apoc John)
“The savior smiled and said...” (Apoc John)
And he (the saviour) said: "Peace be to you, My peace I give
you!" And they all marveled and were afraid. The Savior laughed and said
to them: (Sophia JC)
He called out, saying: "Whoever has ears to hear about the
infinities, let him hear!"; and "I have addressed those who are
awake.” (Sophia JC)
Jesus: “But you, my disciples, hasten to receive my word with
certaintiy so that you know it...” (1st Bk Ieou)
“Mary hailed her brethren, saying, "Where are you going to
put these things about which you ask the son [...]?" The Lord said to her, "Sister, [no one]
will be able to inquire about these things except for someone who has somewhere
to put them in his heart.” (Dialogue of the Saviour)
"Hearken to the word, understand knowledge, love life, and no
one will persecute you, nor will anyone oppress you, other than you
yourselves." (Apocryphon of James)
“Then Jesus appeared saying to them, "Peace to you all and
everyone who believes in my name. And when you depart, joy be to you and grace
and power. And be not afraid; behold, I am with you forever." (Letter of
Peter to Philip)
_____________________________________
On disciples addressing Jesus:
“And you, our light, enlighten, O lord." (Bk Thomas
contender)
"It is you, lord, whom it befits to speak, and me to
listen." (Bk Thomas contender)
"Lord, we can obey you if you wish, for we have forsaken our
fathers and our mothers and our villages, and followed you. Grant us,
therefore, not to be tempted by the devil, the evil one." (Apoc. of James)
James said, "Rabbi, you have said... (First Apoc. James)
“You are an illuminator” (James describing Jesus in Second Apoc.
James)
“You have made us divine through Your knowledge.” (Prayer of
Thanksgiving)
“We have known You, intellectual light. Life of life, we have
known You. Womb of every creature, we have known You.” (Prayer of Thanksgiving)
"Christ... became for us an illuminator in the darkness. Yea
hear us!" (Letter of Peter to Philip)
"O, Lord Jesus Christ, author of our rest, give us a spirit
of understanding...” (Letter of Peter to Philip)
“My Redeemer, redeem me, for I am yours; the one who has come
forth from you. You are my mind; bring me forth! You are my treasure house;
open for me! You are my fullness; take me to you! You are (my) repose; give me
the perfect thing that cannot be grasped!” (Prayer of Paul)
“We prostrated ourselves on the ground and worshipped him. We comprised
eleven disciples. He stretched forth his hand and caused us to stand.” (Acts of
Peter) (nb - they are eleven disciples because this is after the resurrection
and Judas is now dead)
“All the apostles, Matthew and John, Philip and Bartholomew and
James, answered with one voice, saying:” (1st Bk Ieou) NB - all five say the
same thing at once, as a sign of unity.
Peter
was afraid to reply to him for the second time. He signaled to the one who was
beside him, who was John: "You talk this time." John answered and
said, "Lord, before you we are afraid to say many words...” (Acts of
Peter)
(Peter
addressing the saviour disguised:) “I said to him, ‘My brother and my friend!’
He answered me, then, saying, ‘Rightly did you say, 'My brother and my friend.'
(Acts of Peter)
Matthew said to him: "Lord, no one can find the truth except
through you. Therefore teach us the truth." (Sophia JC)
The apostles answered, saying : " Speak to us, O Lord, that
we may hear thee. We have followed thee with our whole hearts. We have left
behind father and mother, we have left behind vineyards and fields, we have
left behind goods and the greatness of kings, and we have followed thee, so
that thou shouldst teach us to know the life of thy father who has sent
thee" (1st Bk Ieou)
___________________________________
On discipleship (and on ‘Brothers’):
“For just as the Father is a unity, and has revealed himself as
Father for him alone, so too the Son was found to be a brother to himself
alone,” (Tripart. tract)
NB - this passage is used to explain how the church exists from
the beginning with the Father and the Son. The way I understand it, the Son
found its reflection of itself in the apostles, which it called ‘brothers’. So,
just as the Son reflects the Father in his unity, so do the Brothers (apostles
and the elect) reflect the Son in his unity (as the church). All are one.
- Peter: “And in our hearts, we were united. We agreed to fulfill
the ministry to which the Lord appointed us. And we made a covenant with each
other.” (Acts of Peter)
- In Pistis Sophia, Jesus explains to his disciples how he chose
them from the beginning of the world, as twelve powers or ‘saviours’: “Because
of this indeed I have chosen you from the beginning ( through the First
Mystery. Rejoice now and be glad, because when I entered the world I brought
the twelve powers with me, as I told you from the beginning, which I took from
the twelve saviours of the Treasury of Light, according to the command of the
First Mystery. These now I cast into the wombs of your mothers when I came into
the world, and it is these which are in your bodies today.” (Pistis Sophia Bk
I, ch 7)
In the Upper Aeons, there are twelve who see themselves reflected
in the One: “In the third father there is the silence (Sigè) and the source;
and twelve beneficent ones look upon it and see themselves in it.” (Untitled
Bruce) This relates to the dance of the twelve disciples around Christ.
These twelve wear the crowns of the Elect: “This (is what) the
only-begotten one hidden in the indivisible one, before whom there is a source
which twelve beneficent ones surround, commands them. And each one has a crown
upon his head, and he has twelve powers which surround him. And they bless the
only-begotten king” (Untitled Bruce)
- Again: “And they (the ‘12
beneficent ones’ ie disciples) bless the only-begotten one, saying :
"Through thy image we have seen thee, we have fled to thee, we have stood
with thee, we have received the unfading crown, which has been known through
thee. Glory to thee for ever, O only begotten one" And they all said :
"Amen" at once.”(Untitled Bruce)
The disciples are like ‘twelve aspects’ of Christ: “There is a
sonship in their midst, which is called Christ the Verifier... And this Christ
bears twelve aspects : an infinite aspect, an incomprehensible aspect, an
unutterable aspect, an simple aspect, an imperishable aspect, a still aspect,
an unmoved aspect, an unbegotten aspect and a pure aspect.” (Untitled Bruce)
Again, of ‘the Setheus’: “There are twelve fatherhoods in his
right hand in the type of the twelve apostles.” (Untitled Bruce)
“the true brothers, those upon whom the love of the Father is
poured out, and in whose midst there is no lack of him.” (Gosp Truth)
“when the great Son was sent after his small brothers, he spread
abroad the edict of the Father and proclaimed it” (Interp. Knowledge)
- The discples are those who are ‘called’ by Jesus. ‘The call’ has
a special meaning. When the Father pronounces one’s hidden name, one is drawn
back to him through the call: “Those whose name he (the Father) knew in advance
were called at the end, so that one who has knowledge is the one whose name the
Father has uttered. For he whose name has not been spoken is ignorant. Indeed,
how is one to hear, if his name has not been called?” (Gosp Truth)
- And so, the elect are called to ascend: “If he is called, he hears, he answers, and
he turns to him who is calling him, and ascends to him.” (Gosp Truth)
The Saviour calls them through their ‘hidden name’ - see On Hidden
Names
Jesus calls his disciples “apprentices” and “laborers” (Bk Thomas
Contender)
Ending of an epistle: “I greet you and those who love you (pl.) in
brotherly Love.” (Treatise on Resurrection)
_______________________________________
On the Mission of the Disicples: teaching, healing etc
- “I have given you authority over all things as sons of Light,
that you might tread upon their power...” (Soph. JC 119:4)
“When you strip off from yourselves what is corrupted, then you
will become illuminators in the midst of mortal men." (Christ cited in
Peter’s letter to Philip)
“Come together and teach in the world the salvation” (Christ cited in Peter’s letter to Philip)
“But that which is hidden, do not reveal to anyone, unless it is
revealed to you (to do so)." (Melchizedek)
“Then Peter and the other apostles saw him, and they were filled
with a holy spirit, And each one performed healings. And they parted in order
to preach the Lord Jesus. And they came together and greeted each other saying,
"Amen." (Letter of Peter to Philip)
“Then the apostles parted from each other into four words in order
to preach. And they went by a power of Jesus, in peace.”(Letter of Peter to
Philip) NB ‘into four words’?
_______________________________
- Jesus Instructs his disciples with a sermon:
“Say, then, from the heart, that you are the perfect day, and in
you dwells the light that does not fail. Speak of the truth with those who
search for it, and (of) knowledge to those who have committed sin in their
error. Make firm the foot of those who have stumbled, and stretch out your
hands to those who are ill. Feed those who are hungry, and give repose to those
who are weary, and raise up those who wish to rise, and awaken those who sleep.
For you are the understanding that is drawn forth. If strength acts thus, it
becomes even stronger. Be concerned with yourselves; do not be concerned with
other things which you have rejected from yourselves. Do not return to what you
have vomited, to eat it. Do not be moths. Do not be worms, for you have already
cast it off. Do not become a (dwelling) place for the devil, for you have
already destroyed him. Do not strengthen (those who are) obstacles to you, who
are collapsing, as though (you were) a support (for them). For the lawless one
is someone to treat ill, rather than the just one. For the former does his work
as a lawless person; the latter as a righteous person does his work among
others. So you, do the will of the Father, for you are from him.” (Gosp Truth)
"Hearken to the word, understand knowledge, love life, (Apoc.
Jas)
"Become earnest about the word! For as to the word, its first
part is faith; the second, love; the third, works; for from these comes life.
For the word is like a grain of wheat; when someone had sown it, he had faith
in it; and when it had sprouted, he loved it, because he had seen many grains
in place of one. And when he had worked, he was saved, because he had prepared
it for food, (and) again he left (some) to sow. So also can you yourselves
receive the kingdom of heaven; unless you receive this through knowledge, you
will not be able to find it."(Apoc Jas)
"Therefore, trust in me, my brethren; understand what the
great light is. (Apoc Jas)
- Zostrianos ends with a sermon: “"Know those who are alive
and the holy seed of Seth. Do not [show] disobedience to me. [Awaken] your
divine part to God, and as for your sinless elect soul, strengthen it.
Behold death here and seek the immutable ingenerateness, the [Father] of
everything. He invites you, while they reprove you. Although they ill-treat 131
you, he will not abandon you. Do not baptize yourselves with death nor entrust
yourselves to those who are inferior to you instead of to those who are better.
Flee from the madness and the bondage of femaleness and choose for yourselves
the salvation of maleness. You have not come to suffer; rather, you have come
to escape your bondage. Release yourselves, and that which has bound you will
be dissolved. Save yourselves so that your soul may be saved. The kind Father
has sent you the Savior and given you strength. Why are you hesitating? Seek
when you are sought; when you are invited, listen, for time is short. Do not be
led astray. The aeon of the aeons of the living ones is great, yet (so also is)
the [punishment] of those who are unconvinced. Many bonds and chastisers
surround you. 132 Flee quickly before death reaches you. Look at the Light.
Flee the Darkness. Do not be led astray to your destruction. (Zostrianos)
_______________________________________________
On the gospels of the disciples:
James (after the crucifixion): “... the twelve disciples were all
sitting together and recalling what the Savior had said to each one of them,
whether in secret or openly, and putting it in books - But I was writing that
which was in my book - lo, the Savior appeared...” (Apocryphon of James)
- After the appearance of the saviour, the disciples will ‘labour’
to write his words ‘acc. to their desire’: “Then many will follow him (the
saviour), and they will labor in their birthplaces. They will go about; they
will write down his words according to (their) desire.” (Concept Great Power)
“By having a
brother who regards us as he also is, one glorifies the one who gives us grace.
Moreover, it is fitting for each of us to enjoy the gift that he has received
from God, and that we not be jealous, since we know that he who is jealous is
an obstacle in his (own) path, since he destroys only himself with the gift and
he is ignorant of God. He ought to rejoice and be glad and partake of grace and
bounty. Does someone have a prophetic gift? Share it without hesitation.
Neither approach your brother jealously nor ... (8 lines missing)...
‘...Now your
brother also has his grace: Do not belittle yourself, but rejoice and give
thanks spiritually, and pray for that one, in order that you might share the
grace that dwells within him. So do not consider him foreign to you, rather,
(as) one who is yours, whom each of your <fellow> members received. By
loving the Head who possesses them, you also possess the one from whom it is
that these outpourings of gifts exist among your brethren.
“But is someone
making progress in the Word? Do not be hindered by this; do not say: ''Why does
he speak while I do not?", for what he says is (also) yours, and that
which discerns the Word and that which speaks is the same power. (Interp.
Knowledge) (By this, I understand that there is no canonical authority for
revelation gospels, but that each revelation must be taken as authentic)
_____________________________________
On women disciples:
“There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his
mother, and her sister, and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion.
His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary.” (Gosp Philip)
"Her sister" may refer to ‘the other Mary’ who was possibly the
Virgin Mary's sister-in-law because she may have been married to the Virgin
Mary's brother Clopas/ Theuda (mentioned in the N.T.). Or, Jesus had a sister
named Mary.
“After he rose from the dead, his twelve disciples and seven women
continued to be his followers” (Sophia JC)
“Yet another thing I ask of you: who are the seven women who have
been your disciples? And behold all women bless you.” (James to Jesus in First
Apoc James)
- the anwer Jesus gives is
partly obliterated, but he says ‘the Spirit of’ and then three of these are
still visible: Thought, Counsel and Knowledge.
Jesus to James: “When you speak these words of this perception,
encourage these four: Salome and Mariam and Martha and Arsinoe.” (First Apoc
James)
- Ҥ
The Women Collegues - 8.1 Soon afterward he went on through cities and
villages, preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the
twelve were with him, 8.2 and also some women who had been healed of evil
spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Mag'dalene, from whom seven demons had
gone out, 8.3 and Joan'na, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and
many others, who provided for them out of their means.” (Luke)
-
The seven female disciples for my novel:
-
Mary Magdalene
-
Mary the Virgin Mother
- Salome as Mary Salome, who was mother of John and James the
Greater
- ‘the other Mary’, who is the sister of Mary and mother of James
the Lesser and Jude
-
Mariam and Martha
-
Arsinoe
-
Joanna (wife of Chuza)
-
Susanna
-
Consider the idea that the seven woman apostles are seven aeons surrounding
Ennoia, the upper Wisdom (hence, the Virgin Mary). They can be related to
Pronoia, Protonoia, Altheia etc. These will be their ‘hidden names’
-
Barbelo (Ennoia) - Virgin Mary
-
Forethought (Pronoia) - Joanna
-
Foreknowledge (Prognosis) - Martha
-
Indestructibility (Aphthrasia) - Mariam
-
Eternal Life (Zoe) - Susanna
-
Truth (Alethea) - Arsinoe
-
Sophia - Magdalane
________________________________
On
Salome:
(61)
(1) Jesus said: "Two will rest on a bed. The one will die,
the other will live."
(2) Salome said: "(So) who are you, man?
You have gotten a place on my couch as a <stranger> and you
have eaten from my table."
(3) Jesus said to her: "I am he who comes from the one who is
(always) the same.
I was given some of that which is my Father’s."
(4) "I am your disciple!"
(5) "Therefore I say: If someone becomes <like> (God),
he will become full of light.
But if he becomes one, separated (from God), he will become full
of darkness." (Gospel of Thomas)
- Jesus to James: “When you speak these words of this perception,
encourage these four: Salome and Mariam and Martha and Arsinoe.” (First Apoc
James)
- One of the holy women who companied with Jesus in Galilee, and
ministered to Him (Mark 15:40,41).
- She was present at the crucifixion (Mark 15:40), and was among
those who came to the tomb of Jesus on the resurrection morning (Mark 16:1,2).
- Comparison with Matthew 27:56 clearly identifies her with the
wife of Zebedee. It is she, therefore, whose ambitious request for her sons
James and John is recorded in Matthew 20:20-24; Mark 10:35-40.
- From John 19:25 many infer that she was a sister of Mary, the
mother of Jesus (thus Meyer, Luthardt, Alford); others (as Godet) dispute the
inference.
___________________________________
On Judas Thomas the contender:
“...you are my twin and true companion”, “you will be called my
brother” (Bk Thomas Contender)
- “Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples...” (John
11.16 )
“Jesus took them all by stealth, for he did not appear as he was,
but in the manner in which they would be able to see him. He appeared to them
all. He appeared to the great as great. He appeared to the small as small. He
appeared to the angels as an angel, and to men as a man. Because of this, his
word hid itself from everyone. Some indeed saw him, thinking that they were seeing themselves...”
(Gospel of Philip)
(This passage can explain that Thomas Judas saw Jesus with his own
features, as if he were his twin brother. Only Thomas Judas saw Christ in this
manner - as a mirror reflection of himself. For this reason, he was singled out
by Jesus. The others thus called him ‘the twin’, following Jesus. He was not
Jesus’ twin in the flesh)
In a visionary state “ what you see you shall become.” In the world, you see the sun without becoming it. But with the
gnosis, “you became those things... You saw Christ, you became Christ...
in that place you do see yourself.”
(Gosp Philip) This means that Thomas saw himself in Christ in a visionary state
- that is why he is ‘the twin’.
John: “And I, having in mind his great grace, and his unity which
hath many faces, and his wisdom which without ceasing looketh upon us, said:
That shall ye learn if ye inquire of him.” (Acts of John)
(John:) “94 Now before he was taken by the lawless Jews... He bade
us therefore make as it were a ring, holding one another's hands, and himself
standing in the midst he said: Answer Amen unto me. He began, then, to sing an
hymn and to say: ...
A lamp am I to thee that beholdest me. Amen.
A mirror am I to thee that perceivest me. Amen.
A door am I to thee that knockest at me. Amen.
A way am I to thee a wayfarer. .” (Acts of John)
According to Layton (359) both ‘Thomas’ and ‘Didymus’ are words
that, besides being proper names, had the ordinary meaning of ‘twin’ (the first
in Greek, the other in Syriac/Aramaic)
Judas (or Jude) is the brother of James in the N.T. Epistle of
Jude (and James was also the brother of Christ)
"Judas
Thomas," as we have noted, was the name by which the Doubting Thomas of
John's gospel was known in the Syriac culture. But "Thomas" simply
means "twin," and would be rendered in Aramaic as Tauma, just as in
Greek the word is "Didymus." The familiar English translations of John's
gospel might seem to use redundant names for "Thomas Didymus" --
"twin-twin." In the Syriac tradition the apostle is dubbed Judas, and
is distinguished from other Judases (such as Judas Iscariot and Judas, son of
Jacob) by calling him the twin. And, in the Acts of Judas Thomas, the person of
whom he is the twin-- corporeal, or spiritual, or allegorical?-- is Jesus.
(Merillat)
“And he took him (Thomas) and withdrew and told him three things.”
(Gosp Thomas 13)
The Judas of Dialogue of the Saviour may
be taken to be Thomas Judas
The Thomas of The Gospel of Thomas is
also Thomas Judas
At the crucial moment, he may play the role of ‘Judas the
betrayer’, though this is not Gnostic belief
_____________________________________
On Peter:
In my novel, Peter approaches the Kingdom through ‘faith’ (pistis)
while Thomas approaches through ‘knowledge' (gnosis). In this sense, Peter
belongs to those Gnostic gospels which are more Judaic and Christian. This
seems to be the case anyway, since The Acts of Peter and The Apocryphon of
James (where Peter speaks often) are very Christian and emphasize faith.
“But you yourself, Peter, become perfect in accordance with your
name with myself, the one who chose you, because from you I have established a
base for the remnant whom I have summoned to knowledge.” (Apoc Peter)
- Christ teaches Peter to see the invisible: “And he said to me,
"Peter, I have told you many times that they are blind ones who have no
guide. If you want to know their blindness, put your hands upon (your) eyes -
your robe - and say what you see." But when I had done it, I did not see
anything. I said "No one sees (this way)." Again he told me, "Do
it again." And there came in me fear with joy, for I saw a new light
greater than the light of day. Then it came down upon the Savior. And I told
him about those things which I saw.” (Apoc. Peter)
“When he (Jesus) had said these things, he (Peter) came to
himself.” (Apoc. Peter). NB - this is in the context of the beginning of the
dialogue, where Jesus says Peter must suffer (and be crucified) like him. Peter
grows frightened (and reference is made to the cock crowing). So, Jesus shows
him a docetist crucifixion to give him strength (among other things). Then
Jesus says this. But, it can be taken out of context to say ‘coming to himself’
is coming to know his Self.
Christ, disguised as a physician (after the resurrection): “He
said to Peter, ‘Peter!’ And Peter was frightened, for how did he know that his
name was Peter? Peter responded to the Savior, ‘How do you know me, for you
called my name?’ Lithargoel answered, ‘I want to ask you who gave the name
Peter to you?’ He said to him, ‘It was Jesus Christ, the son of the living God.
He gave this name to me.’ He answered and said, ‘It is I! Recognize me, Peter.’
He loosened the garment, which clothed him - the one into which he had changed
himself because of us - revealing to us in truth that it was he.” (Acts of
Peter)
- a form of ‘transfiguration’ occurs in the Letter of Peter to
Philip where these two go to the Mount of Olives and pray for Christ to appear
(after the crucifixion)
“And Peter opened his mouth, he said to his (fellow) disciples,
"Did our Lord Jesus, when he was in the body, show us everything? For he
came down. My brothers, listen to my voice." And he was filled with a holy
spirit. He spoke thus: "Our illuminator, Jesus, came down and was
crucified. And he bore a crown of thorns. And he put on a purple garment. And
he was crucified on a tree and he was buried in a tomb. And he rose from the
dead. My brothers, Jesus is a stranger to this suffering.” (Letter of Peter to
Philip)
It is possible that Peter could have a dream in which he recounts
parts of the story in the Acts, where he and the apostles go to a strange land
and meet a man selling pearls. Otherwise, the pearl seller can be used as a
parable, and the story of the saviour disguised as a physician (also in Acts)
could be used. This story is more about ‘recognizing’ the saviour.
“But Peter replied to these words and said, "Sometimes you
urge us on to the kingdom of heaven, and then again you turn us back, Lord;
sometimes you persuade and draw us to faith and promise us life, and then again
you cast us forth from the kingdom of heaven."
But the Lord answered and said to us, "I have given you faith
many times; moreover, I have revealed myself to you, James, and you (all) have
not known me. (...) But you, through faith and knowledge, have received life.”
(Apocrypohon of James) NB It is through FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE that life is
received.
_______________________________________________________
On Andrew:
______________________________________________________
On James the greater
- Note, I must distinguish between three James - The greater
James, who was brother of John, then the lesser James, who was also an apostle,
and the James who was brother of Jesus, and became the leader of the first
church in Jerusalem, and was martyred by stoning. The last seems to be ‘James
the Just’, and may be combined with James the Lesser
- The Apocryphon of James appears to be written by James the
Greater (in the first person)
- Meanwhile, the First and Second Apocryphon of James are written
by James the Just (or Lesser) in the first person.
- James, with John, is a son of Zebedee: “John, the brother of
James - who are the sons of Zebedee” (Apoc John)
In the Apocryphon of James, James and Peter together are
privileged.
After the crucifixion, Jesus appears and says: "Have you
departed and removed yourself from us?" But Jesus said, "No, but I
shall go to the place from whence I came. If you wish to come with me,
come!" They all answered and said, "If you bid us, we come." He
said, "Verily I say unto you, no one will ever enter the kingdom of heaven
at my bidding, but (only) because you yourselves are full. Leave James and
Peter to me, that I may fill them." And having called these two, he drew
them aside and bade the rest occupy themselves with that which they were about.
(Apocalyspe of James)
Later, Jesus says to Peter and James: “Therefore, I say to you, 'Become full, and
leave no space within you empty. (...) I have said to you, 'Become full,' that
you may not be in want. ”(Apocalyspe of James)
James says: “But I answered and said to him, "Lord, we can
obey you if you wish, for we have forsaken our fathers and our mothers and our
villages, and followed you. Grant us, therefore, not to be tempted by the
devil, the evil one." (Apocalyspe of James)
The Apocalypse of James puts emphasis on faith - for Peter and for
James. Hence, James says at the end: “since they will be enlightened through
me, by my faith” (Apocalyspe of James)
_____________________________________
On John:
“John, the brother of James - who are the sons of Zebedee” (Apoc
John)
John’s revelation: “Straightway, while I was contemplating these
things, behold, the heavens opened and the whole creation which is below heaven
shone, and the world was shaken. I was afraid, and behold I saw in the light a
youth who stood by me. While I looked at him, he became like an old man. And he
changed his likeness (again), becoming like a servant. There was not a
plurality before me, but there was a likeness with multiple forms in the light,
and the likenesses appeared through each other, and the likeness had three
forms.” (Apoc John)
He said to me, "John, John, why do you doubt, or why are you
afraid? You are not unfamiliar with this image, are you? - that is, do not be
timid! - I am the one who is with you (pl.) always.” (Apoc John)
- Christ appears to John and James as a man old and young:
“For when he had
chosen Peter and Andrew, which were brethren, he cometh unto me and James my
brother, saying: I have need of you, come unto me. And my brother hearing that,
said: John, what would this child have that is upon the sea-shore and called
us? And I said: What child? And he said to me again: That which beckoneth to
us. And I answered: Because of our long watch we have kept at sea, thou seest
not aright, my brother James; but seest thou not the man that standeth there,
comely and fair and of a cheerful countenance? But he said to me: Him I see
not, brother; but let us go forth and we shall see what he would have.
“89 And so when we
had brought the ship to land, we saw him also helping along with us to settle
the ship: and when we departed from that place, being minded to follow him,
again he was seen of me as having rather bald, but the beard thick and flowing,
but of James as a youth whose beard was newly come. We were therefore
perplexed, both of us, as to what that which we had seen should mean. And after
that, as we followed him, both of us were by little and little perplexed as we
considered the matter. Yet unto me there then appeared this yet more wonderful
thing: for I would try to see him privily, and I never at any time saw his eyes
closing (winking), but only open. And oft-times he would appear to me as a
small man and uncomely, and then againt as one reaching unto heaven. Also there
was in him another marvel: when I sat at meat he would take me upon his own
breast; and sometimes his breast was felt of me to be smooth and tender, and
sometimes hard like unto stones, so that I was perplexed in myself and said:
Wherefore is this so unto me? And as I considered this, he . .” (Acts of John)
“And I, having in mind his great grace, and his unity which hath
many faces, and his wisdom which without ceasing looketh upon us,” (Acts of
John)
“And oftentimes when I walked with him, I desired to see the print
of his foot, whether it appeared on the earth; for I saw him as it were lifting
himself up from the earth: and I never saw it.” (Acts of John)
- “90 And at another time
he taketh with him me and James and Peter unto the mountain where he was wont
to pray, and we saw in him a light such as it is not possible for a man that
useth corruptible (mortal) speech to describe what it was like. Again in like
manner he bringeth us three up into the mountain, saying: Come ye with me. And
we went again: and we saw him at a distance praying. I, therefore, because he
loved me, drew nigh unto him softly, as though he could not see me, and stood
looking upon his hinder parts: and I saw that he was not in any wise clad with
garments, but was seen of us naked, and not in any wise as a man, and that his
feet were whiter than any snow, so that the earth there was lighted up by his
feet, and that his head touched the heaven: so that I was afraid and cried out,
and he, turning about, appeared as a man of small stature, and caught hold on
my beard and pulled it and said to me: John, be not faithless but believing,
and not curious. And I said unto him: But what have I done, Lord? And I say
unto you, brethren, I suffered so great pain in that place where he took hold
on my beard for thirty days, that I said to him: Lord, if thy twitch when thou
wast in sport hath given me so great pain, what were it if thou hadst given me
a buffet? And he said unto me: Let it be thine henceforth not to tempt him that
cannot be tempted.”(Acts of John)
One Gnostic text quotes the Gospel of John: “This truly is the
only-begotten God. This is he whom the All knew. They became God, and they
raised up his name : God. This is he of whom John spoke: "In the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. This one without
whom nothing exist, and that which has come into existence in him is life"<John
1.1,3,4>” (Untitled Bruce)
___________________________________________
On James the Just (or Less)
- Note, I must distinguish between three James - The greater
James, who was brother of John, then the lesser James, who was also an apostle,
and the James who was brother of Jesus, and became the leader of the first
church in Jerusalem, and was martyred by stoning. The last seems to be ‘James
the Just’, and may be combined with James the Lesser
- The Apocryphon of James appears to be written by James the Greater
(in the first person)
- Meanwhile, the First and Second Apocryphon of James are written
by James the Just (or Lesser) in the first person.
- James the Less is related by blood to Jesus. The canonical
gospels say that he (and Jude as well) are brothers of Jesus (Mt 13:55 and Mk
6:3)
- The gnostic gospels make this relation more distant.
- In 2 Apoc Jas., Jesus and James are both born of Mary, but by
different fathers. Mary was virgin when she gave birth to Jeses, but married to
Theuda when she gave birth to James. Hence, Mary herself says that ‘they gave
suck at the same breast’ but that Jesus and James are ‘step-brothers’ (2 Jas
50:23)
- 1 Apoc Jas., says that James is ‘not Jesus’ brother materially’
(1 Apoc. Jas 24:15)
- In my novel I have assumed that Theuda is the brother of the
virgin Mary, and that he is married to ‘the other Mary’ mentioned in the
canonical gospels (Mt 27:55, Mk 15:47, Mk 16:1, Lk 24:10, Jn 19:25). Thus
James, Joses, Jude, Simon and ‘the three sisters’ all become ‘cousins’ of Jesus
by blood. But, living together under one roof, they are also his ‘brothers and sisters’ in the eyes of the
villagers.
James of the Second Apoc of James is like a proto-type for baptism
“I have given you a sign of these things, James, my brother. For
not without reason have I called you my brother, although you are not my
brother materially.” (First Apoc. James)
James: “I am the brother in secret,” (James preaching in Second
Apoc James)
James: "Once when I was sitting deliberating, he (Jesus) opened
the door. That one whom you hated and persecuted came in to me. He said to me,
"Hail, my brother; my brother, hail." As I raised my face to stare at
him, (my) mother said to me, "Do not be frightened, my son, because he
said 'My brother' to you (sg.). For you (pl.) were nourished with this same
milk. Because of this he calls me "My mother". For he is not a
stranger to us. He is your step-brother [...]." (James preaching in Second
Apoc James)
“The just [...] is his servant. Therefore your name is ‘James the
Just’.” (First Apoc. James)
James: “I am the Just One, and I do <not> judge. I am not a
master, then, but I am a helper.” (2 Apoc. Jas) nb - ‘fair’ may be used instead
of ‘just’
- Jesus spoke with James secretly in Jerusalem before the
crucifixion, propheseying all that would happen. Then, he appeared specifically
to James after the resurrection. James was walking with ‘his disciples’ on
Mount Gaugelan when Christ appeared. James kissed him, but the others fled.
This kiss will anger the others and turn them against James. (First Apoc.
James)
“And the Lord appeared to him. Then he (James) stopped (his)
prayer and embraced him. He kissed him, saying, "Rabbi, I have found you!”
(1st Apoc James)
“Now since you are a just man of God, you have embraced me and
kissed me. Truly I say to you that you have stirred up great anger and wrath
against yourself.” (Is it possible that ‘James’ has replaced ‘Judas’ as the
main character of the First Apoc of James?)
- Jesus tells James that the 12 archons (?) have their types in
the 12 disciples: "They (the archons?) are a type of the twelve disciples
and the twelve pairs” (First Apoc James). And so, James will later ‘rebuke’ the
12 disciples (?) “And he went at that time immediately and rebuked the twelve
(disciples?) and cast out of them contentment concerning the way of
knowledge” (This would be more evidence
to support the idea that James is Judas, and Judas has turned against the 12
disciples because they persecute him just as the 12 archons do).
- In the Second Apoc of James, James says “(I am) he who was first
summoned by him who is great, and who obeyed the Lord” (Second Apoc of James)
- When James preaches about Jesus, he says that Christ appeared to
him (assumingly, after the resurrection) not in body: “(Christ said:) ‘But now,
stretch out your hand. Now, take hold of me.’ And then I stretched out my hands
and I did not find him as I thought (he would be).”
James: “you will call me
'the Just One.'” (Second Apoc of James)
- After preaching to the crowd, the crowd becomes angry. And the
priests take James and throw him down and bury him up to the waist in a hole
and stone him to death. (Second Apoc of James)
______________________________________________________
On Philip and the others
______________________________________________________
On Judas the Betrayer
FIRST SERMONS AND HEALING
On long parables:
On speaking in parables or directly:
On speaking and hearing
Verily I say unto you:
Blessed be:
Woe to:
On castigating the ignorant and those who do not hear
The Kingdom is:
On healing:
On assuaging hunger and thirst:
On poverty:
I am:
_______________________________________
On long parables:
- The story of Lithargoel (light, gazelle-like stone) from The
Acts of Peter about the Pearl Seller
- In fact, there are three parables in Act of Peter, loosely
connected: The Pearl Seller, The Road to the City of Nine Gates and Healing the
Poor
NB . The intro in Robinson for Acts of Peter also translates
Lithargoel as ‘the god of the glistening stone’ and refers to Rev 2:17
- The Hymn of the Pearl
NB - this is full of Gnostic imagery, and tells the tale of ‘the
saviour saved’
- The soul as virgin, prostitute, and then bride of the bridegroom
in Exegesis on the Soul
NB - this parable may be told as an exegesis of the Psalm: And the
prophet said in the Psalms (Ps 45:10-11): "Hear, my daughter, and see and
incline your ear and forget your people and your father's house, for the king
has desired your beauty, for he is your lord." (Exegesis on the Soul)
_______________________________________
On speaking in Parables or directly:
“At first I spoke to you in parables, and you did not understand;
now I speak to you openly, and you (still) do not perceive.” (Apoc. James)
“From today onwards now I will speak with you openly from the
beginning of the truth until its completion. And I will speak with you face to
face, without parable. I will not conceal from you, from this hour onwards,
anything of the things of the height and of the place of the truth.” (Pistis
Sophia Bk I)
"For people do not gather figs from thorns or from thorn
trees, if they are wise, nor grapes from thistles. For, on the one hand, that
which is always becoming is in that from which it is, being from what is not
good, which becomes destruction for it and death. But that which comes to be in
the Eternal One is in the One of the life and the immortality of the
life which they resemble." (Apoc. Peter)
_________________________________________
On speaking and hearing:
-
“I will speak to those who know to hear not with the ears of the body but with
the ears of the mind.” (Testimony of Truth)
-
“hear (...) those things that you will guard in great silence and great
mystery, because they are not spoken to anyone except those who are worthy,
those who are able to hear: nor is it fitting to speak to an uninstructed
generation concerning the Universal One that is higher than perfect.”
(Allogenes)
- “The Lord said, ‘It is the one who speaks who
also listens, and it is the one who can see who also reveals.’” (Dial. of the
Saviour)
-
“Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Sophia JC)
-
“He (Jesus) called out, saying: ‘Whoever has ears to hear about the infinities,
let him hear!’; and ‘I have addressed those who are awake.’” (Sophia JC)
-
Jesus: “Behold, I speak in order that I may come forth. Pay attention to me in
order that you may see me!” (2 Apoc Jas)
-
Jesus: "Listen to my words that I may speak to you. Why are you asking me?
I am Jesus Christ who am with you forever." (Ep Pet. Phil.)
__________________________________
Verily I say unto you:
- “Verily, I say unto you...” (Apocryphon of James) (i.e. - Amen,
I say unto you)
- “Therefore, I say to you, be sober; do not be deceived!”
(Apocryphon of James)
- “Listen and understand.”
- “For truly I tell you...”
- “You have heard it said ... But I say to you that...”
_____________________________________
Blessed be:
- "Blessed is the soul of those men because they have known
God with a knowledge of the truth! They shall live forever, because they have
not been corrupted by their desire, along with the angels, nor have they
accomplished the works of the powers, but they have stood in his presence in a
knowledge of God like light that has come forth from fire and blood.” (Apoc
Adam)
- “Blessed will they be who have spoken out and obtained grace for
themselves.” (Apocryphon of James)
- “Blessed will they be who have known me; woe to those who have
heard and have not believed! Blessed will they be who have not see, yet have
believed!" (Apocryphon of James)
- “Blessed is the wise man who sought after the truth, and when he
found it, he rested upon it forever and was unafraid of those who wanted to
disturb him.” (Thomas Contender)
- “Blessed are you who have prior knowledge of the stumbling
blocks and who flee alien things.” (Thomas Contender)
- “Blessed are you who are reviled and not esteemed on account of
the love their lord has for them.” (Thomas Contender)
- “Blessed are you who weep and are oppressed by those without
hope, for you will be released from every bondage.” (Thomas Contender)
- (07) Jesus says:
(1) "Blessed is the lion that a person will eat and the lion
will become human.
(2) And anathema is the person whom a lion will eat and the lion
will become human." (Gospel of Thomas)
- (18) (1) The disciples said to Jesus: "Tell us how our end
will be." (2) Jesus said: "Have you already discovered the beginning
that you are now asking about the end? For where the beginning is, there the
end will be too. (3) Blessed is he who will stand at the beginning. And he will
know the end, and he will not taste death." (Gospel of Thomas)
- (19) Jesus says: (1)"Blessed is he who was, before he came
into being. (Gospel of Thomas)
- (49) Jesus says: (1) "Blessed are the solitary ones, the
elect. For you will find the kingdom. (2) For you come from it (and) will
return to it." (Gospel of Thomas)
- (54) Jesus says: "Blessed are the poor. For the kingdom of
heaven belongs to you." (Gospel of Thomas)
- (58) Jesus says: "Blessed is the person who has struggled.
He has found life."
- (68) Jesus says: (1) "Blessed are you when(ever) they hate
you (and) persecute you. (2) But they (themselves) will find no place there
where they have persecuted you." (Gospel of Thomas)
- (69) Jesus says: (1) "Blessed are those who have been
persecuted in their heart.
They are the ones who have truly come to know the Father."
(Gospel of Thomas)
(2) "Blessed are those who suffer from hunger so that the
belly of the one who wishes (it) will be satisfied." (Gospel of Thomas)
- (103) Jesus says: "Blessed is the person who knows at which
point (of the house) the robbers are going to enter, so that [he] may arise to
gather together his [domain] and gird his loins before they enter."
(Gospel of Thomas)
______________________________________________
Woe to:
- “Woe to you, godless ones, who have no hope, who rely on things
that will not happen!” (Thomas Contender)
- “Woe to you who hope in the flesh and in the prison that will
perish! How long will you be oblivious? And how long will you suppose that the
imperishables will perish too? Your hope is set upon the world, and your god is
this life! You are corrupting your souls!” (Thomas Contender)
- “Woe to you within the fire that burns in you, for it is
insatiable!” (Thomas Contender)
- “Woe to you because of the wheel that turns in your minds!”
(Thomas Contender)
- “Woe to you within the grip of the burning that is in you, for
it will devour your flesh openly and rend your souls secretly, and prepare you
for your companions!” (Thomas Contender)
- “Woe to you, captives, for you are bound in caverns! You laugh!
In mad laughter you rejoice! You neither realize your perdition, nor do you
reflect on your circumstances, nor have you understood that you dwell in
darkness and death! On the contrary, you are drunk with the fire and full of
bitterness. Your mind is deranged on account of the burning that is in you, and
sweet to you are the poison and the blows of your enemies! And the darkness
rose for you like the light, for you surrendered your freedom for servitude!
You darkened your hearts and surrendered your thoughts to folly, and you filled
your thoughts with the smoke of the fire that is in you! And your light has
hidden in the cloud of [...] and the garment that is put upon you, you [...].
And you were seized by the hope that does not exist. And whom is it you have
believed? Do you not know that you all dwell among those who that [...] you as
though you [...]. You baptized your souls in the water of darkness ! You walked
by your own whims!” (Thomas Contender)
- “Woe to you who dwell in error, heedless that the light of the
sun which judges and looks down upon the all will circle around all things so
as to enslave the enemies. You do not even notice the moon, how by night and
day it looks down, looking at the bodies of your slaughters! ” (Thomas
Contender)
- “Woe to you who love intimacy with womankind and polluted
intercourse with them!” (Thomas Contender)
- “Woe to you in the grip of the powers of your body, for they
will afflict you!” (Thomas Contender)
- “Woe to you in the grip of the forces of the evil demons!”
(Thomas Contender)
- “Woe to you who beguile your limbs with fire! Who is it that
will rain a refreshing dew on you to extinguish the mass of fire from you along
with your burning?” (Thomas Contender)
- (112) Jesus says:
(1) "Woe to the flesh that depends on the soul.
(2) Woe to the soul that depends on the flesh." (Gospel of
Thomas)
____________________________________________
On castigating the ignorant and those who do not hear:
"O you wretches; O you unfortunates; O you pretenders to the
truth; O you falsifiers of knowledge; O you sinners against the Spirit: can you
still bear to listen, when it behooved you to speak from the first? Can you
still bear to sleep, when it behooved you to be awake from the first, so that
the kingdom of heaven might receive you? Verily, I say unto you, had I been
sent to those who listen to me, and had I spoken with them, I would never have
come down to earth. So, then, be ashamed for these things." (Apocryphon of
James)
“And the senseless and blind ones are always senseless, always
being slaves of law and earthly fear.” (2 Treat. Gr. Seth)
_______________________________________________
The Kingdom is:
"For the kingdom of heaven is like an ear of grain after it
had sprouted in a field. And when it had ripened, it scattered its fruit and
again filled the field with ears for another year. You also, hasten to reap an
ear of life for yourselves, that you may be filled with the kingdom!"
(Apocryphon of James)
- (03) Jesus says: (1) "If those who lead you say to you:
‘Look, the kingdom is in the sky!’ then the birds of the sky will precede you.
(2) If they say to you: ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fishes will precede you.
(3) Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and outside of you." (4)
"When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will
realize that you are the children of the living Father. (5) But if you do not
come to know yourselves, then you exist in poverty, and you are poverty."(Gospel
of Thomas)
-
(20) (1) The disciples said to Jesus: "Tell us whom the kingdom of heaven
is like!" (2) He said to them: "It is like a mustard seed. (3)
<It> is the smallest of all seeds. (4) But when it falls on cultivated
soil, it produces a large branch
(and)
becomes shelter for the birds of the sky."(Gospel of Thomas)
-
(22) (1) Jesus saw infants being suckled. (2) He said to his disciples:
"These little ones being suckled are like those who enter the
kingdom." (3) They said to him: "Then will we enter the kingdom as
little ones?" (4) Jesus said to them: "When you make the two into
one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the
inside and the above like the below – (5) that is, to make the male and the
female into a single one, so that the male will not be male and the female will
not be female – (6) and when you make eyes instead of an eye and a hand instead
of a hand and a foot instead of a foot, an image instead of an image, (7) then
you will enter [the kingdom]."
(Gospel of Thomas)
-
(27) (1) "If you do not abstain from the world, you will not find the
kingdom. (2) If you do not make the Sabbath into a Sabbath, you will not see
the Father."(Gospel of Thomas)
-
(57) Jesus says: (1) "The kingdom of the Father is like a person who had
(good) seed. (2) His enemy came by night. He sowed darnel among the good seed.
(3) The person did not allow (the servants) to pull up the darnel. He said to
them: ‘Lest you go to pull up the darnel (and then) pull up the wheat along
with it.’ (4) For on the day of the harvest, the darnel will be apparent and it
will be pulled up (and) burned." (Gospel of Thomas)
-
(76) Jesus says: (1) "The kingdom of the Father is like a merchant who had
merchandise and found a pearl. (2) That merchant is prudent. He sold the goods
(and) bought for himself the pearl alone. (3) You too look for his treasure,
which does not perish, (and) which stays where no moth can reach it to eat it,
and no worm destroys it." (Gospel of Thomas)
-
(96) Jesus [says]: (1) "The kingdom of the Father is like [a] woman. (2)
She took a little bit of yeast. [She] hid it in dough (and) made it into huge
loaves of bread. (3) Whoever has ears should hear."(Gospel of Thomas)
(97)
Jesus says: (1) "The kingdom of the [Father] is like a woman who is
carrying a [jar] filled with flour. (2) While she was walking on [the] way,
very distant (from home), the handle of the jar broke (and) the flour leaked
out [on] the path. (3) (But) she did not know (it); she had not noticed a
problem. (4) When she reached her house, she put the jar down on the floor
(and) found it empty." (Gospel of Thomas)
-
(98) Jesus says: (1) "The kingdom of the Father is like a person who
wanted to kill a powerful person. (2) He drew the sword in his house (and)
stabbed it into the wall to test whether his hand would be strong (enough). (3)
Then he killed the powerful one." (Gospel of Thomas)
-
(107) Jesus says: (1) "The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred
sheep. (2) One of them went astray, the largest. He left the ninety-nine, (and)
he sought the one until he found it. (3) After he had toiled, he said to the
sheep: ‘I love you more than the ninety-nine.’"(Gospel of Thomas)
-
(109) Jesus says: (1) "The kingdom is like a person who has a hidden
treasure in his field, (of which) he knows nothing. (2) And [after] he had
died, he left it to his [son]. (But) the son did not know (about it either). He
took over that field (and) sold [it]. (3) And the one who had bought it came,
and while he was ploughing [he found] the treasure. He began to lend money at
interest to whom he wished." (Gospel of Thomas)
-
(113) (1) His disciples said to him: "The kingdom – on what day will it
come?" (2) "It will not come by watching (and waiting for) it. (3)
They will not say: ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ (4) Rather, the kingdom of
the Father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it."
(Gospel of Thomas)
____________________________________
On healing:
“He
(the saviour) gave them the pouch of medicine and said, ‘Heal all the sick of
the city who believe in my name.’ Peter was afraid to reply to him for the
second time. He signaled to the one who was beside him, who was John: ‘You talk
this time.’ John answered and said, ‘Lord, before you we are afraid to say many
words. But it is you who asks us to practice this skill. We have not been
taught to be physicians. How then will we know how to heal bodies as you have
told us?’
He answered them, ‘Rightly have you
spoken, John, for I know that the physicians of this world heal what belongs to
the world. The physicians of souls, however, heal the heart. Heal the bodies
first, therefore, so that through the real powers of healing for their bodies,
without medicine of the world, they may believe in you, that you have power to
heal the illnesses of the heart also.’ (Acts of Peter)
“For
the Son of Man clothed himself with their first-fruits; he went down to Hades
and performed many mighty works. He raised the dead therein; and the
world-rulers of darkness became envious of him, for they did not find sin in
him. But he also destroyed their works from among men, so that the lame, the
blind, the paralytic, the dumb, (and) the demon-possessed were granted healing.
And he walked upon the waters of the sea. For this reason he destroyed his flesh
from [...] “ (Test Truth)
9.1
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. 9.2 And his disciples asked
him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born
blind?" 9.3 Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his
parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. 9.4 We must
work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one
can work. 9.5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
9.6 As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and
anointed the man's eyes with the clay, 9.7 saying to him, "Go, wash in the
pool of Silo'am" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back
seeing. (John)
_______________________________________
On assuaging hunger and thirst:
6.35 Jesus said to them,
"I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who
believes in me shall never thirst.(John)
6.51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one
eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for
the life of the world is my flesh."(John)
_______________________________________
On poverty:
_______________________________________
I am:
- “I am the light which exists in the light, I am the remembrance
of the Pronoia...” (Apoc John)
“I am the way for those who have gone astray - from “He became a
way for those who were gone astray.” (Gospel of Truth)
14.6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the
life; no one comes to the Father, but by me (John)
- for ‘I am light’ see ‘on light’
15.1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
15.2 Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch
that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 15.3 You are
already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. 15.4 Abide in me,
and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in
the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 15.5 I am the vine, you are
the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much
fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 15.6 If a man does not abide in
me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered,
thrown into the fire and burned. (John)
I am the first son who was begotten. -
He will destroy the dominion of them all. -
I am the beloved.
I am the righteous one.
I am the son of the Father.
I speak even as I heard.
I command even as I received the order.
I show you even as I have found. (2 Apoc Jas)
(I am the one which he who created the heaven and the earth and
dwelled in it, did not see.
I am the one who is the life.
I am the light.
I am the one who will come to be.
And again I shall provide an end for what has begun,
and a beginning for what is about to be ended.
I am the Holy Spirit and the Invisible One,
who did not descend upon the earth.
I am the virgin, and that which I wish, happens to me.
I was naked, and there was no garment clothing me.)
(taken from 2 Apoc. Jas:)
He was that one whom he who created the heaven and the earth
and dwelled in it, did not see.
He was this one who is the life.
He was the light.
He was that one who will come to be.
And again he shall provide an end for what has begun,
and a beginning for what is about to be ended.
He was the Holy Spirit and the Invisible One,
who did not descend upon the earth.
He was the virgin, and that which he wishes, happens to him.
I saw that he was naked, and there was no garment clothing him. (2
apoc Jas)
PARABLES, PRAYERS,
TEACHINGS
On how to pray:
On holding the hands while praying:
Enigmatic expressions of Jesus:
General sayings:
On the pneuma
On Gnosis and the mind
On gnosis
On Vision
On Seeing as a Reflection of Unity
On Images
On images as types, patterns or ideal forms:
On Form
On the Revelation
On the divine Unity
On the Father and the Son
On the kingdom here and now:
On the Kingdom (see also ‘the Kingdom is...’ above
On Time (and salvation)
On re-incarnation and cyclic time (for the Psychics):
On time as past, present and future in one:
On Light
On Love
On Truth
On the hidden or secret and the revealed:
On Secret Names
On Pronouncing the Secret Names
On the three types
Of the fate of the three types
On Good and Evil
On the Law of the Archons
On Alienation
On the Elect being beyond sin, tempatation etc.
On Denial and
Renunciation
On Indulgence or Libertinism
On Ignorance
On illusion:
On Lust
On Avoiding Lust
On greed, pride, envy etc
On those who rule - the proud, vain, greedy and powerful:
On avoiding greed, through love and giving:
On Slaves
On the fate of the Damned
On the end of the world
On revolution:
On the Transfiguration
_____________________________________
On how to pray:
"So when you offer
praise, do so like this: Hear us, Father, just as you heard your only-begotten
son, and received him, and gave him rest from any [...] You are the one whose
power [...] your armor [...] is [...] light [...] living [...] touch [...] the
word [...] repentance [...] life [...] you. You are the thinking and the entire
serenity of the solitary. Again: Hear us just as you heard your elect. Through
your sacrifice, these will enter; through their good works, these have saved
their souls from these blind limbs, so that they might exist
eternally. Amen. (Dialogue of the Saviour - III.5)
'My
God and my father, who saved me from this dead hope,
who
made me alive through a mystery of what he wills,
Do
not let these days of this world be prolonged for me,
but
the day of your light [...] remains in [...] salvation.
Deliver
me from this place of sojourn!
Do
not let your grace be left behind in me,
but
may your grace become pure!
Save
me from an evil death!
Bring
me from a tomb alive, because your grace -
love
- is alive in me to accomplish a work of fullness!
Save
me from sinful flesh,
because
l trusted in you with all my strength,
because
you are the life of the life!
Save
me from a humiliating enemy!
Do
not give me into the hand of a judge who is severe with sin!
Forgive
me all my debts of the days (of my life)!
Because
I am alive in you, your grace is alive in me.
I
have renounced everyone, but you I have confessed.
Save
me from evil affliction!
But
now is the time and the hour.
O
Holy Spirit, send me salvation [...] the light [...]
the
light [...] in a power [...].'” (James praying in Second Apoc James)
- “And they (the ‘12 beneficent ones’ ie disciples) bless the
only-begotten one, saying : "Through thy image we have seen thee, we have
fled to thee, we have stood with thee, we have received the unfading crown,
which has been known through thee. Glory to thee for ever, O only begotten
one" And they all said : "Amen" at once.”(Untitled Bruce)
“Holy
are you, Holy are you, Holy are you, O Father of the All, who truly exists,”
The expression ‘holy are you’ repeats as it is addressed to each name in the
upper aeons: Barbelo, Doxomedon, Harmozel etc. (Melchizedek)
“This is he whom the All - those within being a crown upon his
head, and those outside at his feet, and those of the midst surrounding him -
bless, saying ; "Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, Thou art living within
those that live, thou art holy within the holy ones, thou dost exist within
those that exist, and thou art the father within the fathers, and thou art God
within the gods, and thou art Lord within the lords, and thou art a place
within all the places"”(Untitled Bruce)
“94 Now before he was taken by the lawless Jews, who also were
governed by (had their law from) the lawless serpent, he gathered all of us
together and said: Before I am delivered up unto them let us sing an hymn to
the Father, and so go forth to that which lieth before us. He bade us therefore
make as it were a ring, holding one another's hands, and himself standing in
the midst he said: Answer Amen unto me. He began, then, to sing an hymn and to
say:
Glory be to thee, Father.
And we, going about in a ring, answered him: Amen.
Glory be to thee, Word: Glory be to thee, Grace. Amen.
Glory be to thee, Spirit: Glory be to thee, Holy One:
Glory be to thy glory. Amen.
We praise thee, O Father; we give thanks to thee, O Light, wherein
darkness dwelleth not. Amen.
95 Now whereas (or wherefore) we give thanks, I say:
I would be saved, and I would save. Amen.
I would be loosed, and I would loose. Amen.
I would be wounded, and I would wound. Amen.
I would be born, and I would bear. Amen.
I would eat, and I would be eaten. Amen.
I would hear, and I would be heard. Amen.
I would be thought, being wholly thought. Amen.
I would be washed, and I would wash. Amen.
Grace danceth. I would pipe; dance ye all. Amen.
I would mourn: lament ye all. Amen.
The number Eight (lit. one ogdoad) singeth praise with us. Amen.
The number Twelve danceth on high. Amen.
The Whole on high hath part in our dancing. Amen.
Whoso danceth not, knoweth not what cometh to pass. Amen.
I would flee, and I would stay. Amen.
I would adorn, and I would be adorned. Amen.
I would be united, and I would unite. Amen.
A house I have not, and I have houses. Amen.
A place I have not, and I have places. Amen.
A temple I have not, and I have temples. Amen.
A lamp am I to thee that beholdest me. Amen.
A mirror am I to thee that perceivest me. Amen.
A door am I to thee that knockest at me. Amen.
A way am I to thee a wayfarer. .” (Acts of John)
_____________________________________
On Holding the Hands while praying:
“Therefore it is fitting to pray to God night and day, spreading
out our hands towards him as do people sailing in the middle of the sea: they
pray to God with all their heart without hypocrisy” (Exegesis of the soul)
“Therefore, I have stretched out my hands while they were folded”
(Gospel of the Egyptians)
“And he stretched out his hands and said this prayer - not that
(one) which it is his custom to say...” (2 Apoc. Jas)
94 “Now before he was taken by the lawless Jews... He bade us
therefore make as it were a ring, holding one another's hands, and himself
standing in the midst” (Acts of John)
“the Gospel of the Egyptians (NHC III,2: 66,9-68,1) ...mentions
the bodily gesture, rather like a Hindu mudra, of extending ones hands in the
act of prayer (cf. 3 Mac 2:2; in Odes of Solomon 21, 27, 37, 42 a sign of the
crucifixion), indeed while they are folded, forming a circle to symbolize one's
containment of the inner light.” (“Ritual in Gnosticism’, John D. Turner,
University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, SBL 1994 Book of Seminar Papers, 136-181)
_____________________________________
Enigmatic expressions of Jesus:
NB - Are these the ‘riddles’ which Melchizedek mentions: That
Christ spoke “at first in parables and riddles.” (Melchizedek)
Jesus said, "It is in light that light exists." (Bk
Thomas contender)
'Become full, and leave no
space within you empty” (Apoc of James)
The disciples said to Jesus: "Tell us how our end will
be."
Jesus said: "Have you already discovered the beginning that
you are now asking about the end? For where the beginning is, there the end
will be too.”(Gospel Thomas 18)
Seth: “The way of ascent is the way of descent.” (3 Stele Seth)
Jesus said, "When you make the two one, you will become the
sons of man, and when you say, 'Mountain, move away,' it will move away."
(Gospel Thomas 106)
“Light and Darkness, life and death, right and left, are brothers
of one another. They are inseparable. Because of this neither are the good
good, nor evil evil, nor is life life, nor death death.” (Gospel of Philip)
“...They wish to rise in the flesh, and they do not know that it
is those who wear the flesh who are naked. It is those who [...] to unclothe
themselves who are not naked.” (Gospel of Philip)
“In this place you see everything and do not see yourself. But in
that place, you do see yourself - and what you see you shall become.” (Gosp
Philip)
The Lord said, "Blessed is he who is before he came into
being. For he who is, has been and shall be." (Gosp Philip)
“The
world came about through a mistake.”
(Gosp Philip)
James
on Jesus: “Behold him who speaks and seek him who is silent.” (Second Apoc.
James)
_____________________________________
General Sayings:
- the saviour: “I opened the path, and I taught them about the
passage which they will traverse” (Dial. of the Saviour) i.e - ‘I open the path’
- “The Savior said, ‘The
lamp of the body is the mind. As long as the things inside you are set in
order, that is, [...], your bodies are luminous. As long as your hearts are
dark, the luminosity you anticipate [...]’” (Dial. of the Saviour) i.e ‘The
lamp of the body is the mind, but your hearts are dark.’
-
“Judas said to Matthew, ‘Brother, who will be able to climb up to such a height
or down to the bottom of the abyss?’” (Dial. of the Saviour)
____________________________________
On the pneuma:
- Usual Eng. translation of pneuma, though pneuma also means
‘breath’
- The incorruptible particle of light and life from the Father
- Also called ‘pearl’, ‘drop of light’, ‘light spark’, ‘inner man’
- There appear to be three parts - first ‘the Invisible Spirit’,
who is the One; second, ‘the Holy Spirit’ who illuminates, third ‘the spirit’
which is in each of us and is illumined in order to behold the One: “And you
(pl.) have been given the third part of the spirit of the power of the One who
possesses the three powers. Blessed is [...].” (Marsanes)
- The pnuema is a ‘drop’ of watery light: “All who come into the
world, like a drop from the Light, are sent by him to the world of Almighty”
(Sophia JC)
- droplet of light: “When Sophia let fall a droplet of light, it
flowed onto the water, and immediately a human being appeared, being
androgynous. That droplet she molded first as a female body.” (Origin of the
World)
- ‘light spark’: “This is the Father of all the light-sparks. And
this is the head of every immortal body.” (Untitled Bruce)
- ‘spark’ (on the creation of the Christ): “And he (the invisible
Spirit) looked at Barbelo with the pure light which surrounds (him), and (with)
his spark, and she conceived from him. He begot a spark of light with a light
resembling blessedness.” (Apoc. John)
- As the ‘inner man’: “the
archons are fighting against the inner man.” (Christ cited in Peter’s letter to
Philip)
- located in the soul (psyche): “the Spirit that dwells in the
soul, which originated from the Water of Life” (3 Protennoia)
____________________________________
On gnosis and the mind:
The Savior said, "The lamp of the body is the mind.”
(Dialogue of the Saviour)
“Let
your mind awaken...” (Apoc. Paul)
“I
will speak to those who know to hear not with the ears of the body but with the
ears of the mind.” (Test. Truth)
_____________________________________
On gnosis:
“he
(the saviour) began to know himself and to speak with his mind, which is the
father of the truth, concerning the unbegotten aeons, and concerning the virgin
who brought forth the light.” (Test Truth) By this, I understand that Jesus did
not ‘know’ himself and the creation of the world at the beginning of his
earthly life, but only learned it gradually.
“For
he who has not known himself has known nothing, but he who has known himself
has at the same time already achieved knowledge about the depth of the all.
“ (Bk Thomas Contender)
To
know is to become what is known. Jesus says to John: “...behold me in truth,
that I am, not what I said, but what thou art able to know, because thou art
akin thereto.” (Acts of John)
“Whoever
is worthy of knowledge will receive (it)... for he is an immortal in the midst
of mortal men.” (Sophia JC)
“he
has to come to know the Son of Man, that is, he has come to know himself.”
(Test Truth)
"Whoever,
then, knows the Father in pure knowledge will depart to the Father and repose
in Unbegotten Father.” (Sophia JC)
“They
knew, they were known;” (Gos. Truth)
-
The One ‘knows’ the elect, and commands them to know him, thus being saved: “We
all bless thee, knower, in a glorifying blessing,.. And thou knowest one, for
this one who belongs to thee is on every side... Present a command to us to see
thee, so that we may be saved. Knowledge of thee, it is the salvation of us
all. Present a command! When thou dost command, we have been saved!” (3 Stele
Seth)
In
Allogenes, there are repeated references to ‘unknowing knowing’ or ‘ignorant
knowledge. Barbelo: “"O Allogenes, in an unknowing knowledge you know that
the Triple-Powered One exists”, “As though I were ignorant of him, I knew him,”
“And he (the One) is united with the ignorance that sees him.” This is a kind of revelation: “by means of a
primary revelation of the First One unknowable to them all” (Allogenes)
Barbelo:
“If you seek with a perfect seeking, then you shall know the Good that is in
you; then you will know yourself as well, (as) one who derives from the God who
truly pre-exists.” (Allogenes)
“O
light-giving Light that enlightened our hearts until we received the light of
life; O true Word, that through gnosis teaches us the hidden knowledge of the
Lord Jesus, the living one.” (1st Bk Ieou)
_____________________________________
On vision:
The Lord said,
"Brother Matthew, you will not be able to see it as long as you are
carrying flesh around." Matthew
said, "Lord, even if I will not be able to see it, let me know
it!" The Lord said, "Everyone
who has known himself has seen it in everything given to him to do...”
(Dialogue of the Saviour - III.5)
"How do you wish to see it? By means of a transient vision or
an eternal vision?" (Dialogue of
the Saviour - III.5)
“It
is the one who can see who reveals." (Dialogue of the Saviour - III.5)
“those
who have sight among things that are not visible” (Bk Thomas contender)
Jesus
to Peter: “’If you want to know their blindness, put your hands upon (your)
eyes - your robe - and say what you see.’ But when I had done it, I did not see
anything. I said ‘No one sees (this way).’ Again he told me, ‘Do it again.’ And
there came in me fear with joy, for I saw a new light greater than the light of
day.” (Apoc Peter)
“And
blessed is he who has opened the eyes of the blind.” (Gosp Truth)
Protennoia:
“I am the sight of those who dwell in sleep.” (3 Protennoia)
“the
pure light into which no eye can look” (Apoc John)
“...Let
him go from what is hidden to the end of what is visible, and this Thought will
instruct him how faith in those things that are not visible was found in what
is visible. This is a principle of knowledge.” (Eugnostos)
“When
<I> was taken by the eternal Light out of the garment that was upon me,
and taken up to a holy place whose likeness cannot be revealed in the world,
then by means of a great blessedness I saw all those about whom I had heard.
And I praised all of them and I stood upon my knowledge and I inclined to the
knowledge of the Universals, the Aeon of Barbelo.” (Allogenes)
_____________________________________
On Seeing as a Reflection of Unity:
- The Upper Aeons result from the One reflecting upon itself: “Seeing
himself within himself in a mirror, he appeared resembling himself...” (Sophia of Jesus Christ)
“Jesus took them all by stealth, for he did not appear as he was,
but in the manner in which they would be able to see him. He appeared to them
all. He appeared to the great as great. He appeared to the small as small. He
appeared to the angels as an angel, and to men as a man. Because of this, his
word hid itself from everyone. Some indeed saw him, thinking that they were seeing themselves...”
(Gospel of Philip)
“It is not possible for anyone to see anything of the things that
actually exist unless he becomes like them. This is not the way with man in the
world: he sees the sun without being a sun... But you saw something of that
place, and you became those things... You saw Christ, you became Christ... So
in this place you see everything and do not see yourself, but in that place you
do see yourself - and what you see you shall become.” (Gosp of Philip)
Jesus to John: “For what thou art, thou seest, for I showed it
thee; but what I am I alone know, and no man else.” (Acts of John)
Jesus, as the disciples dance around him: “Behold thyself in me
who speak, and seeing what I do, keep silence about my mysteries.” (Acts of
John)
Jesus: “It is I who am in you, and you are in me, just as the
Father is in you in innocence.” (2 Treatise Seth)
(John on Jesus’ many forms:) “And I, having in mind his great
grace, and his unity which hath many faces, and his wisdom which without
ceasing looketh upon us...” (Acts of John)
(John:) “94 Now before he was taken by the lawless Jews... He bade
us therefore make as it were a ring, holding one another's hands, and himself
standing in the midst he said: Answer Amen unto me. He began, then, to sing an
hymn and to say: ...
A lamp am I to thee that beholdest me. Amen.
A mirror am I to thee that perceivest me. Amen.
A door am I to thee that knockest at me. Amen.
A way am I to thee a wayfarer. .” (Acts of John)
- In a vision, Jesus appears to John during the crucifixion and
shows him a cross of light:
“100 Now the
multitude of one aspect that is about the cross is the lower nature: and those
that you see in the cross, if they do not have one form, it is because all the
members of him that came down have not yet been comprehended.
“But once human
nature (or the upper nature) is taken up, and the race draws near to me and obeys
my voice, then he that hears me shall be united, and shall not be any more that
which he is now, but above them, as I am now also.
“For, as long as
you do not call yourself mine, I am not what I am or was: but if you do hear
me, then you, hearing, shall be as I am; and I shall be what I was when I, and
you as I, am with myself. For from me you are that which I am. Do not place
great care, therefore, in the many, and despise those that are outside the
mystery; but know that I am wholly with the Father, and the Father with me.”
(Acts of John, rendered into modern Eng) NB - This is a fairly clear expression
of how Jesus reveals the one’s unity among men. And this comes about as a way
of seeing.
____________________________________
On images:
“the Father... created the pre-existent images” (Tripart tract)
“The Savior was an image of the unitary one, he who is the
Totality in bodily form.” (Tripart tract)
- By creating an image of the first Man, the One reveals his own
likeness (image) to be in human form: "And a voice came forth from the
exalted aeon-heaven: 'The Man exists and the son of Man.' ...And he (the One)
taught them... the image of the invisible one: the first Man. For he revealed
his likeness in a human form.” (Apoc John)
The Logos of the Father generated the Saviour and generated images
to remind the children of their origins and perfect them. This is the sense of:
“ that he might perfect them through the images which he had brought forth.”
(Tripart tract)
“That which came into being in the image of the light, it too is
perfect, inasmuch as it is an image of the one existing light, which is the
Totalities.” (Tripart tract)
"The images are manifest to man, but the light in them
remains concealed in the image of the light of the father. He will become
manifest, but his image will remain concealed by his light." (Gosp Thomas
83) OR
"The images are visible to humanity, but the light within
them is hidden in the image. {} The light of the Father will reveal itself, but
his image is hidden by his light." (Gosp Thomas 83)
“Truth did not come into the world naked, but it came in types and
images. The world will not receive truth in any other way. There is a rebirth
and an image of rebirth. It is certainly necessary to be born again through the
image. Which one? Resurrection. The image must rise again through the image.
The bridal chamber and the image must enter through the image into the truth:
this is the restoration.” (Gosp Philip)
“I am an image of Him-who-is. But I have brought forth the image
of him so that the sons of Him-who-is might know what things are theirs...”
(First Apoc James)
- “And they (the ‘12 beneficent ones’ ie disciples) bless the
only-begotten one, saying : ‘Through thy image we have seen thee...’”(Untitled
Bruce)
“they (the children of the Father) whose image is light with no
shadow in it” (Gosp Truth)
“it is I who shall take you above, through this shape that you
see.” (Interp. Knowledge)
_______________________________________________
On images as types, patterns or ideal forms:
- “Thus were completed the aeons with their heavens and firmaments
for the glory of Immortal Man and Sophia, his consort: the area which
<contained the pattern of> every aeon and their worlds and those that
came afterward, in order to provide the types from there, their likenesses in
the heavens of chaos and their worlds.” (Eugnostos)
- “And when you become perfect in that place, still yourself. And
in accordance with the pattern that indwells you, know likewise that it is this
way in all such (matters) after this pattern.” (Allogenes)
- “Thus the aeons were completed quickly in the heavens and the
firmaments in the glory of Immortal Man and Sophia, his consort: the area from
which every aeon and the world and those that came afterward took (their)
pattern for their creation of likenesses in the heavens of chaos and their
worlds.” (Sophia of JC)
- “As with all the Aeons, the Aeon of Barbelo exists also endowed
with the types and forms of those who truly exist, the image of Kalyptos.”
(Allogenes)
- “For everything which is visible is a copy of that which is
hidden.” (Silvanus)
_____________________________________
On Forms:
- When the archons looked up into the Upper Aeons, they saw the
First Man. They “saw the form of the image in the water” (Apoc John) This
suggests that an image has a ‘form’ in the Upper Aeons, and ‘matter’ in the
Lower Aeons
“So from that moment on, the form is not apparent, but it will
vanish in the fusion of Unity” (Gosp Truth)
“they came forth from him (the Father), like children who are from
a grown man. They knew that they had not yet received form, nor yet received a
name, each one of which the Father begets. Then, when they receive form by his
knowledge, though truly within him, they do not know him. But the Father is
perfect, knowing every space within him. If he wishes, he manifests whomever he
wishes, by giving him form and giving him a name, and he gives a name to
him...” (Gosp Truth)
- By this I understand that, just as the Elect have a secret name,
so do they have a form (or image?) which comes from the Father and allows them
to return to him.
the apostles: “O Lord Jesus, thou who livest, whose goodness
extends over those who have found thy wisdom and thy form in which thou gavest
light” (1st BK Ieou)
“And then he cried out, saying; ‘My children with whom I am in
travail until the Christ take form in you.’ And again he cried out: ‘For I am
ready now to place a single husband, Christ, beside a holy Virgin.’” (Bruce
Untitled ms)
_____________________________________
On the revelation:
“...you
will clothe yourselves in light and enter the bridal chamber." (Dialogue of the Saviour - III.5)
“...cast
away from your blind thought, this bond of flesh which encircles you” (First
Apoc. James)
“You
are an illuminator” (James describing Jesus in Second Apoc. James)
“Let
your mind awaken” (Apoc. Paul)
-
Jesus: “I came from the places above by the will of the great Light, (I) who
escaped from that bond; I have cut off the work of the robbers; I have awakened
that drop that was sent from Sophia, that it might bear much fruit through me,
and be perfected and not again be defective, but be <joined> through me,
the Great Savior, that his glory might be revealed, so that Sophia might also
be justified in regard to that defect...” (Sophia JC)
-
Saviour: “ 'He who hears, let him get up from the deep sleep.' And he wept and
shed tears. Bitter tears he wiped from himself and he said, 'Who is it that
calls my name, and from where has this hope come to me, while I am in the
chains of the prison?' And I said, 'I am the Pronoia of the pure light; I am
the thinking of the virginal Spirit, who raised you up to the honored place.
Arise and remember that it is you who hearkened, and follow your root,
which is I, the merciful one, and guard yourself against the angels of poverty
and the demons of chaos and all those who ensnare you, and beware of the deep
sleep and the enclosure of the inside of Hades.” (Apoc John)
“And
there came in me fear with joy, for I saw a new light greater than the light of
day” (Peter speaking of a revelation which Jesus made him see in Apoc Peter)
“and
all the unknowns were known...” (3 Protennoia)
-
“this was never heard or known among all the aeons and their worlds until now.”
(Sophia JC)anoint
-
Christ: “I came from Self-begotten and First Infinite Light, that I might
reveal everything to you.” (Sophia JC)
Protennoia:
“The Third time I revealed myself...” (3 Protennoia) NB - There are three
stages in which the Saviour (or here, Protennoia) reveals itself
_____________________________________
On divine Unity:
“...cast away from your blind thought, this bond of flesh which
encircles you. And then you will reach Him-who-is. And you will no longer be
James; rather you are the One-who-is.” (First Apoc. James)
“The Father is a single one, like a number, for he is the first
one and the one who is only himself.” (Tripart tract)
“the single one, who alone is the Father, is like a root, with
tree, branches and fruit.” (Tripart tract)
in one, a multitude
revealed themselves. Now because the multitudes gather and come to a unity we
call them 'Assembly (Sophia JC)
- “I
and the Father are one.” (John 10.30)
-
The Jews try to stone him. Jesus replies: “even though you do not believe me,
believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me
and I am in the Father." (John)
-
Jesus: “14.19 Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you
will see me; because I live, you will live also. 14.20 In that day you will
know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” (John)
-
Jesus: “17.20 "I do not pray for these only, but also for those who
believe in me through their word, 17.21 that they may all be one; even as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the
world may believe that thou hast sent me. 17.22 The glory which thou hast given
me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 17.23 I in
them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly
one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even
as thou hast loved me.” (John)
“It
is within Unity that each one will attain himself; within knowledge, he will
purify himself from multiplicity into Unity, consuming matter within himself
like fire, and darkness by light, death by life.” (Gosp Truth)
“And they all had a single mind, since it is out of one.” (2
Treatise Seth)
_____________________________________
On the Father and the Son:
“For whenever there is a ‘father’, the name ‘son’ follows.”
(Tripart. tract)
“The Savior was an image of the unitary one, he who is the
Totality in bodily form.” (Tripart tract)
- Then, to Philip’s question, Jesus says: “14.10 Do you not
believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me?” (John)
_____________________________________
On the kingdom here and now:
His
disciples said to him, "When will the repose of the dead come about, and
when will the new world come?"
He
said to them, "What you look forward to has already come, but you do not
recognize it." (Gospel Thomas 51)
"It
is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the all. From me
did the all come forth, and unto me did the all extend. Split a piece of wood,
and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there." (Gosp.
Thomas 77)
His
disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?"
<Jesus
said,> "It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of
saying 'here it is' or 'there it is.' Rather, the kingdom of the father is
spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it." (Gosp. Thomas 113)
"You
read the face of the sky and of the earth, but you have not recognized the one
who is before you, and you do not know how to read this moment." (Gosp.
Thomas 91)
“He
who hears, let him get up from the deep sleep.” (Apoc John)
“Arise
and remember” (Apoc John)
“when
you know my Word, you will bring heaven down, and it will dwell in you.” (!st
bk Ieou)
_____________________________________
On the kingdom (see also ‘The Kingdom is...’ above
“the
kingdom (is) like a city filled with everything pleasing, which is brotherly
love and the great generosity” (Tripart tract)
“(it
is) an entrance into what is silent, where there is no need for voice nor for
knowing, nor for forming a concept, nor for illumination, but (where) all things
are light, while they do not need to be illumined.” (Tripart tract)
“For
the end will receive a unitary existence, just as the beginning is unitary,
where there is no male nor female, nor slave and free, nor circumcision and
uncircumcision, neither angel nor man, but Christ is all in all.” (Tripart tract)
“and
be saved from all those bonds, and enter into the place where they were at
first” (3 Protennoia)
“Then
all the children of the light will be truly acquainted with the truth and their
root, and the father of the entirety and the holy spirit. They will all say
with a single voice, 'The father's truth is just, and the son presides over the
entirety’, and from everyone unto the ages of ages, ‘Holy - holy - holy!
Amen!'” (Hypo Archons)
_____________________________________
On time (and salvation):
“While you have time in the world, listen to me,” (Bk Thomas
Contender)
“one’s time in this world
is short.” (Zost)
“Those who sow in winter reap in summer. The winter is the world,
the summer the other Aeon (eternal realm). Let us sow in the world that we may
reap in the summer.” (Gosp. Philip)
“Indeed, as long as the hour is not yet come, it (the immortal
soul) shall resemble a mortal one.” (Apoc Peter)
The children of the light are “another race who are not of this
age.” (Apoc Peter)
Protennoia: “I shall tell them of the coming
end of the Aeon and teach them of the beginning of the Aeon to come, the one
without change, the one in which our appearance will be changed. We shall be
purified” (3 Protennoia)
Protennoia:
“hour begets hour, day begets day. The months made known the month.Time has
gone round succeeding time. This particular Aeon was completed in this fashion”
(3 Protennoia)
“For
they (men) are bound with measures and times and moments, since it (fate) is
lord over everything.”
(Apoc John)
_____________________________________
On re-incarnation and cyclic time (for the Psychics):
“An
ass which turns a millstone did a hundred miles walking. When it was loosed, it
found that it was still at the same place. There are men who make many
journeys, but make no progress towards any destination.” (Gosp Phil)
“...many
go astray on the way.” (Gosp Phil)
“those
on whom the counterfeit spirit descends are drawn by him and they go astray.”
(Apoc John)
And I said, "Lord, where will the
souls of these go when they have come out of their flesh? ...Those who have not
known to whom they belong, where will their souls be?" And he said to me,
"In those, the despicable spirit has gained strength when they went
astray. ...After it comes out of (the body), it is handed over to the
authorities..., and they bind it with chains and cast it into prison, and
consort with it until it is liberated from the forgetfulness and acquires
knowledge. And if thus it becomes perfect, it is saved... It is not again cast
into another flesh." (Apoc John) This suggests that, when the authorities
‘consort’ with the soul of a psychic, it is reborn in another body.
-
In the Apoc of Paul, Paul is brought up to the third heaven, where he sees a
soul which is being brought up to the third archon, who sits in judgement of
his sins. Witnesses are called which testify to his sins. And so “When the soul
heard these things, it gazed downward in sorrow. And then it gazed upward. It was
cast down. The soul that had been cast down went to a body which had been
prepared for it.” (Apoc Paul)
_____________________________________
On time as past, present and future in one:
The
Lord said, "Blessed is he who is before he came into being. For he who is,
has been and shall be." (Gosp Philip)
“it
is as the eternal day” (James preaching in Second Apoc. James)
“Now
is the time and the hour.”(James praying in Second Apoc. James)
“Be
not afraid, I am with you forever,” (Christ cited in Peter’s Letter to Philip)
“Just
as the present aeon, though a unity, is divided by units of time and units of
time are divided into years and years are divided into seasons and seasons into
months, and months into days, and days into hours, and hours into moments, so
too the aeon of the Truth, since it is a unity and multiplicity” (Tripart
tract)
“forever
without beginning and without end” (Tripart tract)
“from
now through all generations forever and ever. Amen.”(Tripart tract)
“The
restoration is at the end, after the Totality reveals what it is,... that is,
the return to the pre-existent” (Tripart tract)
“For
the end will receive a unitary existence, just as the beginning is unitary,
where there is no male nor female, nor slave and free, nor circumcision and
uncircumcision, neither angel nor man, but Christ is all in all.” (Tripart tract)
_____________________________________
On light:
“Light exists inside a person of light, and he shines on the whole
world.
If he does not shine, there is darkness." (Gosp Thomas 24)
“If they say to you: ‘Where do you come from?’ (then) say to them:
‘We have come from the light, the place where the light has come into being by
itself, has established [itself] and has appeared in their image.’”(Gospel
Thomas 50)
"Therefore I say: If someone becomes <like> (God), he
will become full of light.
But if he becomes one, separated (from God), he will become full
of darkness." (Gos. Thom 61)
James on Jesus:“He was this one who is the life. He was the light.
He was that one who will come to be.” (Second Apoc. James)
The Assembly “...are in the Light that shines without shadow, and
joy that cannot be described, and unutterable jubilation. They ever delight
themselves on account of their unchanging glory and the immeasurable rest...”(Sophia
JC)
- 1.1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. 1.2 He was in the beginning with God; 1.3 all things were
made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.(...)
1.14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we
have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (John)
1.4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John)
1.5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it. (John)
1.9 The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the
world. (John)
3.19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the
world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
3.20 For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the
light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 3.21 But he who does what is true
comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been
wrought in God. (John)
-
“8.12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he
who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of
life." (John)
-
Jesus says he is from above:
-
8.23 He said to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of
this world, I am not of this world.” (John)
-
12.34 The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ
remains for ever. How can you say that the Son of man must be lifted up? Who is
this Son of man?" 12.35 Jesus said to them, "The light is with you
for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake
you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. 12.36 While you
have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."
When Jesus had said this, he departed and hid himself from them.” (John)
12.46
I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain
in darkness.(John)
- The saviour as lightning: “they worshipped the revelation of the
light in the form of lightning, and they bore witness that it appeared as
<their> salvation.” (Tripartite tractate)
“Say, then, from the heart, that you are the perfect day, and in
you dwells the light that does not fail.” (Gosp Truth)
“That which came into being in the image of the light, it too is
perfect, inasmuch as it is an image of the one existing light, which is the
Totalities.” (Tripart tract)
“The spiritual race (is) like light from light and like spirit
from spirit... It suddenly received knowledge in the revelation. The psychic
race is like light from a fire, since it hesitated to accept knowledge of him
who appeared to it... The material race,
however, is alien in every way; since it is dark, it shuns the shining of the
light, because its appearance destroys it. And since it has not received its
unity, it is something excessive and hateful toward the Lord at his
revelation.” (Tripart. tract)
“It is a Light dwelling in Light.” (3 Proennoia) (The ‘it’ is not
clear - perhaps the Voice of the One)
Protennoia: “I dwell in undefiled Light” (3 Proennoia) (The ‘it’
is not clear - perhaps the Voice of the One)
Protennoia speaking of Light: “it was sent to illumine those who
dwell in the darkness.” (3 Proennoia)
Protennoia speaking as the Word (ie the Saviour): “I am the Light
that illumines the All. I am the Light that rejoices in my brethren.” (3 Proennoia)
“the pure light into which no eye can look” (Apoc John)
“And when the light had mixed with the darkness, it caused the
darkness to shine. And when the darkness had mixed with the light, it darkened
the light and it became neither light nor dark, but it became dim.” (Apoc John)
“The whole multitude of those angels are called 'Assembly of the
Holy Ones, the Shadowless Lights.” (Eugnostos)
"Blessed is the soul of those men because they have known God
with a knowledge of the truth! ... they have stood in his presence in a
knowledge of God like light that has come forth from fire and blood.” (Apoc
Adam)
“O light-giving Light that enlightened our hearts until we
received the light of life; O true Word, that through gnosis teaches us the
hidden knowledge of the Lord Jesus, the living one.” (1st Bk Ieou)
“Christ has a single being, and he gives light to every place.
This is also the way in which he speaks of our mind, as if it were a lamp which
burns and lights up the place.” (Silvanus) - re- the lamp of the body is the mind
“And understand by this that he who is in darkness will not be
able to see anything unless he receives the light and recovers (his) sight by
means of it. Examine yourself (to see) whether you wholly have the light, so
that, if you ask about these things, you may understand how you will escape.
For many are seeking in darkness, and they grope about, wishing to understand,
since there is no light for them.
My son, do not
allow your mind to stare downward, but rather, let it look by means of the
light at things above. For the light will always come from above. Even if it
(the mind) is upon the earth, let it seek to pursue the things above. Enlighten
your mind with the light of heaven, so that you may turn to the light of
heaven.” (Silvanus)
“Light the light within you. Do not extinguish it! Certainly, no
one lights a lamp for wild beasts or their young.” (Silvanus)
_____________________________________
On love:
“he who lives in harmony and friendship of brotherly love,
naturally and not artificially, completely and not partially, this person is
truly the desire of the Father. He is the universal one and perfect love.” (2
Treat Gr. Seth)
"Love your brother like your life/soul!
Protect him like the apple/pupil of your eye!" (Gosp Thomas
25)
“But it is in it that I shall come to be, and (it is fitting) to
be concerned at all times with the Father of the all, and the true brothers,
those upon whom the love of the Father is poured out, and in whose midst there
is no lack of him. They are the ones who appear in truth, since they exist in
true and eternal life, and (since they) speak of the light which is perfect,
and (which is) filled with the seed of the Father, and which is in his heart
and in the pleroma, while his Spirit rejoices in it and glorifies the one in
whom it existed, because he is good. And his children are perfect and worthy of
his name, for he is the Father; it is children of this kind that he loves.”
(Gos. Truth)
“Faith receives, love gives. No one will be able to receive
without faith. No one will be able to give without love. Because of this, in
order that we may indeed receive, we believe, and in order that we may love, we
give, since if one gives without love, he has no profit from what he has
given.” (gosp Philip)
"Love builds up"
(1 Co 8:1). In fact, he who is really free, through knowledge, is a slave,
because of love for those who have not yet been able to attain to the freedom of
knowledge. Knowledge makes them capable of becoming free.” (gosp Philip)
“Love
never calls something its own, [...] it [...] possess [...]. It never
says,"This is yours" or "This is mine," but "All these
are yours".” (gosp Philip)
“Spiritual
love is wine and fragrance. All those who anoint themselves with it take
pleasure in it. While those who are anointed are present, those nearby also
profit (from the fragrance). If those anointed with ointment withdraw from them
and leave, then those not anointed, who merely stand nearby, still remain in
their bad odor. The Samaritan gave nothing but wine and oil to the wounded man.
It is nothing other than the ointment. It healed the wounds, for "love
covers a multitude of sins" (1 P 4:8).” (gosp Philip)
“Now
you who live together with the Son of God, love not the world, but love the
Lord, in order that those you will bring forth may not resemble the world, but
may resemble the Lord.” (gosp Philip)
“Farming
in the world requires the cooperation of four essential elements. A harvest is
gathered into the barn only as a result of the natural action of water, earth,
wind and light. God's farming likewise has four elements - faith, hope, love,
and knowledge. Faith is our earth, that in which we take root. And hope is the
water through which we are nourished. Love is the wind through which we grow.
Knowledge, then, is the light through which we ripen.” (gosp Philip)
“Judas
said, "Tell me, Lord, what the beginning of the path is." He said, "Love and goodness. For if one
of these existed among the governors, wickedness would never have come into
existence." (Dialogue of the Saviour) ie ‘Love and Goodness are the
beginning of the path’.
_____________________________________
On truth:
“Truth,
which existed since the beginning, is sown everywhere. And many see it being
sown, but few are they who see it being reaped.” (Gosp Philip)
“Truth
did not come into the world naked, but it came in types and images... (you)
must enter through the image into the truth: this is the restoration.” (Gosp
Philip)
_____________________________________
On the hidden or secret and the revealed:
"Let
your mind awaken... so that you may know the hidden things in those that are
visible.” (Apoc Paul)
Protennoia:
“I shall tell you a mystery, ineffable and indivulgeable by any mouth” (3
Protennoia)
“And
the all-glorious One, Youel, anointed me again and she gave power to me. She
said, "Since your instruction has become complete, and you have known the
Good that is within you, hear concerning the Triple-Powered One those things
that you will guard in great silence and great mystery, because they are not
spoken to anyone except those who are worthy, those who are able to hear: nor
is it fitting to speak to an uninstructed generation concerning the Universal
One that is higher than perfect.” (Allogenes)
_____________________________________
On secret names:
- The secret names, known from the beginning and uttered by the
Father, are inscribed in the Book of the Living: “Those whose name he (the
Father) knew in advance were called at the end, so that one who has knowledge
is the one whose name the Father has uttered.”(Gosp of Truth)
“those who are to receive
teaching are the living, who are inscribed in the book of the living.” (Gosp of
Truth)
Christ, disguised as a physician (after the resurrection): “He
said to Peter, ‘Peter!’ And Peter was frightened, for how did he know that his
name was Peter? Peter responded to the Savior, ‘How do you know me, for you
called my name?’ Lithargoel answered, ‘I want to ask you who gave the name
Peter to you?’ He said to him, ‘It was Jesus Christ, the son of the living God.
He gave this name to me.’ He answered and said, ‘It is I! Recognize me, Peter.’
He loosened the garment, which clothed him - the one into which he had changed
himself because of us - revealing to us in truth that it was he.” (Acts of
Peter)
“Truth brought names into existence in the world for our
sakes...”(Gosp. Philip)
“But the rulers (archons) wanted to deceive man... They took the
name of those that are good and gave it to those that are not good, so that
through the names they might deceive him and bind them...” (Gosp. Philip)
“Hence, names given to the worldly are very deceptive... Thus one
who hears the word "God" does not perceive what is correct, but
perceives what is incorrect. So also with "the Father" and "the
Son" and "the Holy Spirit" and "life" and
"light"... If they were in the Aeon (eternal realm), they would at no
time be used as names in the world. Nor were they set among worldly things. They
have an end in the Aeon.” (Gosp. Philip)
“One single name is not uttered in the world, the name which the
Father gave to the Son; it is the name above all things: the name of the
Father. For the Son would not become Father unless he wore the name of the
Father. Those who have this name know it, but they do not speak it.” (Gosp.
Philip)
“Nothing existed except Him-who-is. He is unnameable and
ineffable. I myself am also unnameable, from Him-who-is, just as I have been
given a number of names - two from Him-who-is.” (Jesus to James in First Apoc
James)
- The number of archons is related to their names:
“...existing under the authority of the twelve archons. The
inferior power among them brought forth for itself angels and unnumbered hosts.
[...] they are unnumbered. If you want to give them a number now, you will not
be able to do so until you cast away from your blind thought, this bond of
flesh which encircles you. And then you will reach Him-who-is. And you will no
longer be James; rather you are the One-who-is. And all those who are
unnumbered will all have been named." (First Apoc James)
“Now the name of the Father is the Son. It is he who first gave a
name to the one who came forth from him... The name, however, is invisible,
because it alone is the mystery of the invisible, which comes to ears that are
completely filled with it by him. For indeed, the Father's name is not spoken,
but (rather,) it is apparent through a Son. ” (Gosp Truth)
“This great name of yours is upon me, O self-begotten Perfect one,
who is not outside me. I see you, O you who are visible to everyone. For who
will be able to comprehend you in another tongue?” (Gosp Egypt)
“while the hylics will remain until the end for destruction, since
they will not give forth for their names, if they would return once again to
that which will not be.” (Tripart tract)
__________________________________________________
On pronouncing the secret names:
- In Marsanes, a hierarchy of sounds in names is created, which
relates to the origin of the soul and the types of soul
- This hierarchy puts, in general, vowels above consonants
- The long or double vowels, called dipthongs (superior), the
short or semi-vowels, called vowels (intermediate), and the voiceless
consonants, called oxytones (inferior)
- Among voiceless consonants: aspirate (superior), inaspirate
(inferior)
- The diphthongs: ai, au, ei, eu, Eu, ou, Ou, oi, Ei, ui, Oi,
auei, euEu, oiou, ggg, ggg, ggg, aiau, eieu, Eu, oiou, Ou, ggg, ggg, aueieu,
oiou, Eu,
- the simple vowels: eee, iii, ooo, uuu, OOO
“But
know that the oxytones exist among the vowels, and the diphthongs which are
next to them. But the short are inferior, and the [...] are [...] by them.
Those that [...], since they are intermediate [...]. The sounds of the
semivowels are superior to the voiceless (consonants). And those that are
double are superior to the semivowels, which do not change. But the aspirates
are better than the inaspirates (of) the voiceless (consonants). And those that
are intermediate will accept their combination in which they are; they are
ignorant of the things that are good. They (the vowels) are combined with the
intermediates, which are less. Form by form, <they constitute> the
nomenclature of the gods and the angels, not because they are mixed with each other
according to every form, but only (because) they have a good function. It did
not happen that <their> will was revealed.” (Marsanes)
- Marsanes reveals the vowels that make up ‘the third shape of the
soul’, but remains silent concerning the fourth and fifth: “With
regard to them, they were not allowed to reveal the whole topic, but only those
things that are apparent. You (pl.) were taught about them, that you should
perceive them” (Marsanes)
"He is! He is! The Son of God! The Son of God! It is he who
is! The Aeon of Aeons.. Therefore we glorify thee: ma mo o o o eia ei on ei!
The Aeon of Aeons!” (3 Protennoia)
“Domedon Doxomedon came forth... And the throne of his glory was
established... on which his unrevealable name is inscribed, on the tablet [...]
while he rests in the silence, he whose name is in an invisible symbol. A
hidden, invisible mystery came forth:
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
oooooooooooooooooooooo uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (the 7 vowels, 22 times each).
And in this way, the three powers gave praise to the great, invisible,
unnameable, virginal, uncallable Spirit” (Gosp Egypt)
“the great Christ, who is from silence, who is the incorruptible
child Telmael Telmachael Eli Eli Machar Machar Seth,” (Gosp Egypt)
“Mirothoe... gave birth to him whose name I name, saying, ien ien
ea ea ea, three times. For this one, Adamas, is a light which radiated from the
light” (Gosp Egypt)
“* * * IE ieus EO ou EO Oua! Really, truly, O Yesseus Mazareus
Yessedekeus, O living water, O child of the child, O glorious name! Really
truly, aiOn o On (or: O existing aeon), iiii EEEE eeee oooo uuuu OOOO aaaa{a}.
Really, truly, Ei aaaa OOOO, O existing one who sees the aeons! Really, truly,
aee EEE iiii uuuuuu OOOOOOOO, who is eternally eternal! Really, truly, iEa aiO,
in the heart, who exists, u aei eis aei, ei o ei, ei os ei (or: (Son) forever,
You are what you are, You are who you are)! This great name of yours is upon
me, O self-begotten Perfect one, who is not outside me.” (Gosp Egypt)
“I shall declare your glory truly, for I have comprehended you,
sou iEs ide aeiO aeie ois, O aeon, aeon, O God of silence! I honor you
completely. You are my place of rest, O Son Es Es o e, the formless one who
exists in the formless ones, who exists raising up the man in whom you will
purify me into your life, according to your imperishable name.” (Gosp
Egypt)
“<Then> the power appeared by means of an activity that is
at rest and silent, although it uttered a sound thus: zza zza zza. But when she
(Youel) heard the power and she was filled ... (5 lines missing)” (Allogenes)
_____________________________________
On the three types:
“Mankind came to be in three essential types, the spiritual, the
psychic, and the material... Each of the three essential types is known by its
fruit. And they were not known at first but only at the coming of the Savior,
who shone upon the saints and revealed what each was.” (Tripart tract)
“The spiritual race (is) like light from light and like spirit
from spirit... It suddenly received knowledge in the revelation. The psychic
race is like light from a fire, since it hesitated to accept knowledge of him
who appeared to it... The material race,
however, is alien in every way; since it is dark, it shuns the shining of the
light, because its appearance destroys it. And since it has not received its
unity, it is something excessive and hateful toward the Lord at his
revelation.” (Tripart. tract)
“There are [...] three men, and also his posterities, unto the
consummation of the world: the spirit-endowed of eternity, and the
soul-endowed, and the earthly. Likewise, the three phoenixes <in>
Paradise - the first is immortal; the second lives 1,000 years; as for the third,
it is written in the Sacred Book that it is consumed. So,
too, there are three baptisms - the first is the spiritual, the second is by
fire, the third is by water.” (Origin of the World)
“And since the man of the Church was happy and glad at this, as he
was hoping for it, he separated spirit, soul, and body in the organization of
the one who thinks that he is a unity, though within him is the man who is the
Totality - and he is all of them.” (Tripart tract) By this, I understand that
the Gnostic keeps the acts of his body separate from sense (psyche) and spirit,
though he knows there is a greater unity. The body belongs to the archons, and
what it does, does not affect the spirit, which is separate.
_____________________________________
Of the fate of the three types:
“The spiritual race will receive complete salvation in every way.
The material will receive destruction in every way, just as one who resists
him. The psychic race, since it is in the middle when it is brought forth and
also when it is created, is double according to its determination for both good
and evil.” (Tripart tract)
- Acc. to Apoc John, the Pneumatics will be saved, and the
Psychics too:
And I said to the
savior, "Lord, will all the souls then be brought safely into the pure
light?" He answered and said to me, "Great things have arisen in your
mind, for it is difficult to explain them to others except to those who are
from the immovable race. Those on whom the Spirit of life will descend and
(with whom) he will be with the power, they will be saved and become perfect
and be worthy of the greatness and be purified. ... Such then are worthy of the
imperishable, eternal life and the calling. For they endure everything and bear
up under everything, that they may finish the good fight and inherit eternal
life."
I said to him,
"Lord, the souls of those who did not do these works (but) on whom the
power and Spirit descended, (will they be rejected?" He answered and said
to me, "If) the Spirit (descended upon them), they will in any case be saved,
and they will change (for the better). For the power will descend on every man,
for without it no one can stand. And after they are born, then, when the Spirit
of life increases and the power comes and strengthens that soul, no one can
lead it astray with works of evil. But those on whom the counterfeit spirit
descends are drawn by him and they go astray." (Apoc John)
Acc. to The Concept of the Great Power, the material will destroy
themselves, the Psychics will be saved after punishement, and the Pneumatics
will rise to the Upper Aeons:
- The material will destroy themselves: “Then the souls will
appear, who are holy through the light of the Power, who is exalted, above all
powers, the immeasurable, the universal one, I and all those who will know me.
And they will be in the aeon of beauty of the aeon of judgment, since they are
ready in wisdom, having given glory to him who is in the incomprehensible
unity; and they see him because of his will, which is in them. And they all
have become as reflections in his light. They all have shone, and they have
found rest in his rest.”(Concept Great Power)
- The Psychic will be saved after punishment: “And he will release
the souls that are being punished, and they will come to be in purity. And they
will see the saints and cry out to them, "Have mercy on us, O Power who
art above all powers!" For [...] and in the tree of iniquity that exists
[...] to him their eyes. And they do not seek him because they do not seek us,
nor do they believe us, but they acted according to the creation of the archons
and its other rulers. But we have acted according to our birth of the flesh, in
the creation of the archons, which gives law. We also have come to be in the
unchangeable aeon.”(Concept Great Power)
- The Pneumatic will rise to the Upper Aeons: “Then he will come
to destroy all of them. And they will be chastised until they become pure.
Moreover their period, which was given to them to have power, which was
apportioned to them, (is) fourteen hundred and sixty years. When the fire has
consumed them all, and when it does not find anything else to burn, then it
will perish by its own hand. Then the [...] will be completed [...] the second
power [...] the mercy will come [...] through wisdom [...]. Then the firmaments
will fall down into the depth. Then the sons of matter will perish; they will
not be, henceforth.”(Concept Great Power)
_____________________________________
On good and evil:
“And since the man of the Church was happy and glad at this, as he
was hoping for it, he separated spirit, soul, and body in the organization of
the one who thinks that he is a unity, though within him is the man who is the
Totality - and he is all of them.” (Tripart tract) By this, I understand that
the Gnostic keeps the acts of his body separate from sense (psyche) and spirit,
though he knows there is a greater unity. The body belongs to the archons, and
what it does, does not affect the spirit, which is separate.
“In this world, there is good and evil. Its good things are not
good, and its evil things not evil. But there is evil after this world which is
truly evil - what is called "the middle". It is death.” (Gosp Philip)
____________________________________
On the Law of the Archons:
“For no one who is under the Law will be able to look up to the
truth, for they will not be able to serve two masters. For the defilement of
the Law is manifest; but undefilement belongs to the light. The Law commands
(one) to take a husband (or) to take a wife, and to beget, to multiply like the
sand of the sea. But passion, which is a delight to them, constrains the souls
of those who are begotten in this place, those who defile and those who are
defiled, in order that the Law might be fulfilled through them. And they show
that they are assisting the world; and they turn away from the light, who are
unable to pass by the archon of darkness until they pay the last penny.” (Test
Truth)
“he (the saviour) again [...], fighting against thoughts of the
archons and the powers and the demons, not giving them a place in which to
rest. But he struggled against their passions [...], he condemned their error.
He cleansed his soul from the transgressions which he had committed with an
alien hand. He stood up, being upright within himself, because he exists in
everyone, and because he has death and life within himself, and he exists in
the midst of both of them. And when he had received the power, he turned
towards the parts of the right, and he entered into the truth, having forsaken
all things pertaining to the left,” (Test Truth) By this, I understand that the
saviour did indeed ‘transgress’ or ‘commit sins’, and then he ‘cleansed’ his
soul of them - through the realization of the gnosis at the cross. As an
exemplary model, the saviour also experienced all the passions of the body (the
archons), which he then overcame.
____________________________________
On alienation:
Jesus: “I have indeed said to you from the beginning that you are
not from the world; I also am not from it.” (Pistis Sophia Bk I ch 7)
- Peter: “we are strangers here” (Acts of Peter)
- Saviour disguised: “I also am a fellow stranger like you."
(Acts of Peter)
- Jesus: “I am a stranger to the regions below.” (2 Treatise Seth)
- the saviour: “And to someone who will not know the root of all
things, they remain hidden. Someone who will not know the root of wickedness is
no stranger to it.” (Dialogue of the Saviour)
- The Elect are not strangers to the Upper Aeons: “The men (the
Elect) will be like those angels, for they are not strangers to them. But they
work in the imperishable seed.” (Apoc Adam)
- “He (Jesus) said to them, “You are from below, I am from above;
you are of this world, I am not of this world.” (John 8:23)
- “Jesus said: ‘Become passers-by.’” (Gosp. Thomas 42)
- positive and negative sense: “Liken yourselves to foreigners; of
what sort are they in the eyes of your city? Why are you disturbed when you
cast yourselves away of your own accord and separate yourselves from your city?
Why do you abandon your dwelling place of your own accord, making it ready for
those who want to dwell in it? O you outcasts and fugitives, woe to you, for
you will be caught!” (Apocryphon of James)
___________________________________
On the Elect being beyond sin, temptation etc:
-“The powers do not see those who are clothed in the perfect
light, and consequently are not able to detain them. One will clothe himself in
this light sacramentally in the union.” (Gosp Philip)
- The ‘sons of light’ are above all earthly authorities: “I have
given you authority over all things as Sons of Light, that you might tread upon
their power with your feet.” (Sophia JC)
- Eleleth reveals to Norea that the archons cannot defile she or
her descendents: “And these authorities cannot defile you and that generation;
for your abode is in incorruptibility, where the virgin spirit dwells, who is
superior to the authorities of chaos and to their universe.” (Hypo. Archons).
By this, I understand that the Elect may be libertine, and still rise past the
archons.
- Again: “You (Norea), together with your offspring, are from the
primeval father; from above, out of the imperishable light, their souls are
come. Thus the authorities cannot approach them, because of the spirit of truth
present within them; and all who have become acquainted with this way exist
deathless in the midst of dying mankind.”(Hypo. Archons).
- Again: “...If anyone becomes a son of the bridal chamber, he
will receive the light. If anyone does not receive it while he is here, he will
not be able to receive it in the other place. He who will receive that light
will not be seen, nor can he be detained. And none shall be able to torment a
person like this, even while he dwells in the world. And again when he leaves
the world, he has already received the truth in the images. The world has
become the Aeon (eternal realm), for the Aeon is fullness for him. This is the
way it is: it is revealed to him alone, not hidden in the darkness and the
night, but hidden in a perfect day and a holy light.” (Gosp Philip)
i.e - those who receive the chrism, one of the five seals, will be
able to rise up through the aeons and ‘will not be seen, nor can he be
detained’ by the archons. What is more, the demons here below who work upon the
body shall not ‘be able to torment a person like this’.
____________________________________
On denial and renunciation:
- “Whoever does not know the work of perfection, knows nothing. If
one does not stand in the darkness, he will not be able to see the light.”
(Dialogue of the Saviour)
The saviour disguised: “No man is able to go on that road, except
one who has forsaken everything that he has and has fasted daily from stage to
stage. For many are the robbers and wild beasts on that road. The one who
carries bread with him on the road, the black dogs kill because of the bread.
The one who carries a costly garment of the world with him, the robbers kill
because of the garment. The one who carries water with him, the wolves kill
because of the water, since they were thirsty for it. The one who is anxious about
meat and green vegetables, the lions eat because of the meat. If he evades the
lions, the bulls devour him because of the green vegetables." (Acts of
Peter)
Peter: “We evaded the robbers, because they did not find their
garments with us. We evaded the wolves, because they did not find the water
with us for which they thirsted. We evaded the lions, because they did not find
the desire for meat with us. We evaded the bulls [...] they did not find green
vegetables.”(Acts of Peter)
Peter answered and said to him (the saviour revealed), "Lord,
you have taught us to forsake the world and everything in it. We have renounced
them for your sake. What we are concerned about (now) is the food for a single
day. Where will we be able to find the needs that you ask us to provide for the
poor?" (Acts of Peter)
The Lord answered and said, "O Peter, it was necessary that
you understand the parable that I told you! Do you not understand that my name,
which you teach, surpasses all riches, and the wisdom of God surpasses gold,
and silver and precious stone(s)?"
(Acts of Peter)
“They (the Elect) have no other care than the incorruption alone,
to which they direct their attention from here on, without anger or envy or
jealousy or desire and greed of anything. They are not affected by anything
except the state of being in the flesh alone, which they bear while looking
expectantly for the time when they will be met by the receivers (of the body).”
(Apoc John)
“No one knows the God of truth except solely the man who will forsake
all of the things of the world, having renounced the whole place, (and) having
grasped the fringe of his garment. He has set himself up as a power; he has
subdued desire in every way within himself.” (Test Truth)
“But the soul - she who has tasted these things - realized that
sweet passions are transitory. She had learned about evil; she went away from
them and she entered into a new conduct. Afterwards she despises this life,
because it is transitory. And she looks for those foods that will take her into
life, and leaves behind her those deceitful foods.” (Authoritative Teaching)
“Control yourselves, receive the imperishable seed, bear fruit,
and do not become attached to your possessions.” (Marsanes)
“intensify the struggle against every folly of the passions of
love” (Silvanus)
“Obtain the austerity of good discipline.” (Silvanus)
“Cast out the animal nature which is within you, and do not allow
base thought to enter you.” (Silvanus)
“Do not become desirous of gold and silver, which are profitless,
but clothe yourself with wisdom like a robe; put knowledge on yourself like a
crown,” (Silvanus)
“But you did not recognize the deceitfulness of this one when you
received him as a true friend. For he casts into your heart evil thoughts as
good ones, and hypocrisy in the guise of true wisdom, avidity in the guise of
conservative frugality, love of glory in the guise of that which is beautiful,
boastfulness and pride in the guise of great austerity, and godlessness as
great godliness.” (Silvanus)
“My son, guard yourself against wickedness, and do not let the
Spirit of Wickedness cast you down into the Abyss. For he is mad and bitter. He
is terrifying, and he casts everyone down into a pit of mire.” (Silvanus)
“It is a great and good thing not to love fornication, and not
even to think of the wretched matter at all, for to think of it is death. It is
not good for any man to fall into death. For a soul which has been found in
death will be without reason. For it is better not to live than to acquire an
animal's life. Protect yourself, lest you are burned by the fires of
fornication. For many who are submerged in fire are its servants, whom you do
not know as your enemies.” (Silvanus)
“O my son, strip off the old garment of fornication, and put on
the garment which is clean and shining, that you may be beautiful in it. But
when you have this garment, protect it well. Release yourself from every bond,
so that you may acquire freedom. If you cast out of yourself the desire whose
devices are many, you will release yourself from the sins of lust.” (Silvanus)
“Listen, O soul, to my advice. Do not become a den of foxes and
snakes, nor a hole of serpents and asps, nor a dwelling place of lions, or a
place of refuge of basilisk-snakes. When these things happen to you, O soul,
what will you do? For these are the powers of the Adversary. Everything which
is dead will come into you through them (the powers). For their food is
everything which is dead, and every unclean thing. For when these are within
you, what living thing will come into you? The living angels will detest you.
You were a temple, (but) you have made yourself a tomb. Cease being a tomb, and
become (again) a temple, so that uprightness and divinity may remain in you.”
(Silvanus)
“Give yourself gladness from the true vine of Christ. Satisfy
yourself with the true wine, in which there is no drunkenness nor error. For it
(the true wine) marks the end of drinking, since there is usually in it what
gives joy to the soul and the mind, through the Spirit of God. But first,
nurture your reasoning powers before you drink of it (the true wine).”
(Silvanus)
“Do not pierce yourself with the sword of sin. Do not burn
yourself, O wretched one, with the fire of lust. Do not surrender yourself to
barbarians like a prisoner, nor to savage beasts which want to trample upon
you. For they are as lions which roar very loudly. Be not dead lest they
trample upon you. You shall be man! It is possible for you through reasoning to
conquer them.” (Silvanus)
“Then beware, lest somehow you fall into the hands of robbers. Do
not allow sleep to your eyes nor drowsiness to your eyelids, that you may be
saved like a gazelle from nets, and like a bird from a trap.” (Silvanus)
_____________________________________
On indulgence or libertinism
The following text by Marsanes may have been re-interpreted by
Irenaeus into the idea that one must 'taste every sin' as a justification for
libertinism: “Finally the entire defilement was saved, together with the
immortality of the former (fem.). I have deliberated, and have attained to the
boundary of the sense-perceptible world. <I have come to know> part by
part the entire place of the incorporeal being, and <I> have come to know
the intelligible world. <I have come to know>, when <I> was deliberating,
whether in every respect the sense-perceptible world is worthy of being saved
entirely.” (Marsanes)
- Ditto: “And to someone who will not know the root of all things,
they remain hidden. Someone who will not know the root of wickedness is no stranger
to it.” (Dialogue of the Saviour)
- Ditto: “For so long as the root of wickedness is hidden, it is
strong. But when it is recognized, it is dissolved. When it is revealed, it
perishes. That is why the Word says, "Already the axe is laid at the root
of the trees" (Mt 3:10). It will not merely cut - what is cut sprouts
again - but the ax penetrates deeply, until it brings up the root. Jesus pulled
out the root of the whole place, while others did it only partially. As for
ourselves, let each one of us dig down after the root of evil which is within
one, and let one pluck it out of one's heart from the root. It will be plucked
out if we recognize it. But if we are ignorant of it, it takes root in us and
produces its fruit in our heart. It masters us. We are its slaves. It takes us
captive, to make us do what we do not want; and what we do want, we do not do.
It is powerful because we have not recognized it. While it exists it is
active.” (Gospel of Philip)
_____________________________________
On ignorance:
- “Ignorance is the mother of all evil. Ignorance will result in
death, because those who come from ignorance neither were nor are nor shall be.
[...] will be perfect when all the truth is revealed. For truth is like
ignorance: while it is hidden, it rests in itself, but when it is revealed and
is recognized, it is praised, inasmuch as it is stronger than ignorance and
error. It gives freedom. The Word said, "If you know the truth, the truth
will make you free" (Jn 8:32). Ignorance is a slave. Knowledge is freedom.
If we know the truth, we shall find the fruits of the truth within us. If we
are joined to it, it will bring our fulfillment.” (Gospel of Philip)
- The flesh of ‘non-understanding’ leads us astray. Jesus: “I do
not speak of the flesh in which you dwell, but the flesh of non-understanding
which exists in ignorance, which leads astray many from the of my Father.” (1st
Bk Ieou)
archons: “For as for our tree from which we grew, a fruit of
ignorance is what it has; and also its leaves, it is death that dwells in them,
and darkness dwells under the shadow of its boughs. And it was in deceit and
lust that we harvested it, this (tree) through which ignorant Chaos became for
us a dwelling place.” (3 Protennoia)
“But these - the ones who are ignorant - do not seek after God.
Nor do they inquire about their dwelling-place, which exists in rest, but they
go about in bestiality.” (Authoritative Teaching)
___________________________________
On illusion:
“the fire (ie archon), will give them an illusion of truth, and
will shine on them with a perishable beauty, and it will imprison them in a
dark sweetness and captivate them with fragrant pleasure.” (Bk. Thom. Cont.)
______________________________________
On lust:
Adam says to Seth: “I knew a sweet desire for your mother. Then
the vigor of our eternal knowledge was destroyed in us, and weakness pursued
us. Therefore the days of our life became few. For I knew that I had come under
the authority of death.” (Apoc Adam)
“O bitterness of the fire that blazes in the bodies of men and in
their marrow, kindling in them night and day, and burning the limbs of men and
making their minds become drunk and their souls become deranged” (Bk Thomas
Contender)
“it (the archon) has
fettered them with its chains and bound all their limbs with the bitterness of
the bondage of lust” (Bk Thomas Contender)
“So will you not cease loving the flesh and being afraid of
sufferings?” (Apoc. of James)
“For the flesh is weak. It will receive what has been ordained for
it. But as for you, do not be timid or afraid" (Jesus to James in First
Apoc James)
- “from desire (comes) anger, wrath, and bitterness, and bitter
passion, and unsatedness” (Apoc John)
“The Law commands (one) to take a husband (or) to take a wife, and
to beget, to multiply like the sand of the sea. But passion, which is a delight
to them, constrains the souls of those who are begotten in this place, those
who defile and those who are defiled, in order that the Law might be fulfilled
through them. And they show that they are assisting the world; and they turn
away from the light, who are unable to pass by the archon of darkness until
they pay the last penny.” (Test Truth)
“when the spiritual soul was cast into the body, it became a
brother to lust and hatred and envy, and a material soul. So therefore the body
came from lust, and lust came from material substance. For this reason the soul
became a brother to them.”(Authoritative Teaching)
“Whenever, therefore, the soul wishes to inherit along with the
outsiders - for the possessions of the outsiders are proud passions, the
pleasures of life, hateful envies, vainglorious things, nonsensical things,
accusations [...] for her [...] prostitution, he excludes her and puts her into
the brothel.” (Authoritative Teaching)
_____________________________________
On avoiding lust:
“Fear not the flesh nor love it. If you fear it, it will gain
mastery over you. If you love it, it will swallow and paralyze you.” (Gosp
Philip)
“we have been released from the flesh.” (Test Truth)
“The human being has intercourse with the human being. The horse
has intercourse with the horse, the ass with the ass. Members of a race usually
have associated with those of like race. So spirit mingles with spirit, and
thought consorts with thought, and light shares with light. If you are born a
human being, it is the human being who will love you. If you become a spirit,
it is the spirit which will be joined to you. If you become thought, it is
thought which will mingle with you. If you become light, it is the light which
will share with you. If you become one of those who belong above, it is those
who belong above who will rest upon you. If you become horse or ass or bull or
dog or sheep, or another of the animals which are outside or below, then neither
human being nor spirit nor thought nor light will be able to love you. Neither
those who belong above nor those who belong within will be able to rest in you,
and you have no part in them.”(Gosp Philip)
“But then the bridegroom (the saviour), according to the father's
will, came down to her (the soul) into the bridal chamber, which was prepared.
And he decorated the bridal chamber. For since that marriage is not like the
carnal marriage, those who are to have intercourse with one another will be
satisfied with that intercourse. And as if it were a burden, they leave behind
them the annoyance of physical desire...” (Exegesis on the Soul)
“But the Son of Man came forth from Imperishability, being alien
to defilement. He came to the world by the Jordan river, and immediately the
Jordan turned back. And John bore witness to the descent of Jesus. For it is he
who saw the power which came down upon the Jordan river; for he knew that the
dominion of carnal procreation had come to an end. The Jordan river is the power
of the body, that is, the senses of pleasures. The water of the Jordan is the
desire for sexual intercourse. John is the archon of the womb.” (Test. Truth)
“But as for one who is in ignorance, it is difficult for him to
diminish his works of darkness which he has done. Those who have known
Imperishability, however, have been able to struggle against passions.” (Test.
Truth)
_____________________________________
On greed, pride, envy etc
(29) Jesus says:
(1) "If the flesh came into being because of the spirit, it
is a wonder.
(2) But if the spirit (came into being) because of the body, it is
a wonder of wonders.
(3) Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has taken up residence
in this poverty."
(Gos Thom)
(36) Jesus says: "Do not worry from morning to evening and
from evening to morning about what you will wear." (Gos. Thom - Mr 6:25)
Nb - this can lead up to a discussion on garments (eg Gos Thom 37)
- “while you are in this world, what is it that you lack?”
(Treatise on Resurrection)
-
When Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden they were cursed to toil in
distraction: “they threw mankind into great distraction and into a life of
toil, so that their mankind might be occupied by worldly affairs, and might not
have the opportunity of being devoted to the holy spirit.” (Hypo. Archons)
-
“That one then will fall into drinking much wine in debauchery. For wine is the
debaucher. Therefore she (the soul) does not remember her brothers and her
father, for pleasure and sweet profits deceive her.” (Authoritative Teaching)
-
“Now these are the foods with which the devil lies in wait for us.... the
desire of a tunic, so that you will pride yourself in it, and love of money,
pride, vanity, envy that rivals another envy, beauty of body, fraudulence. The
greatest of all these are ignorance and ease.
“Now all such things the adversary
prepares beautifully and spreads out before the body, wishing to make the mind
of the soul incline her toward one of them and overwhelm her, like a hook,
drawing her by force in ignorance, deceiving her until she conceives evil, and
bears fruit of matter, and conducts herself in uncleanness, pursuing many
desires, covetousnesses, while fleshly pleasure draws her in ignorance.” (Authoritative Teaching)
“Then
Death, being androgynous, mingled with his (own) nature and begot seven
androgynous offspring. These are the names of the male ones: Jealousy, Wrath,
Tears, Sighing, Suffering, Lamentation, Bitter Weeping. And these are the names
of the female ones: Wrath, Pain, Lust, Sighing, Curse, Bitterness,
Quarrelsomeness. They had intercourse with one another, and each one begot
seven, so that they amount to forty-nine androgynous demons.” (Origin of the
World)
“Next
the psychic aeon (came). It is a small one, which is mixed with bodies, by
begetting in the souls (and) defiling (them). For the first defilement of the
creation found strength. And it begot every work: many works of wrath, anger,
envy, malice, hatred, slander, contempt and war, lying and evil counsels,
sorrows and pleasures, basenesses and defilements, falsehoods and diseases,
evil judgments that they decree according to their desires.” (Concept Great
Power)
_____________________________________
On those who rule - the proud, vain, greedy and powerful:
“...their doctrine to fear and slavery, worldly cares, (...) from
slavery and jealousy, fear and love of worldly matter...” (2 Treat gr. Seth)
- “regard them as beasts, for just as beasts devour one another,
so also men of this sort devour one another.”
(Bk Thomas Contender)
- "Woe to you, godless ones... Your hope is set upon the
world, and your god is this life! You are corrupting your souls! ..."Woe
to you within the fire that burns in you, for it is insatiable! Woe to you
because of the wheel that turns in your minds!”
(Bk Thomas Contender)
- “Those, however, who are from the thought of lust for power...
will receive their end suddenly. Those (whose) lust for power... is given to
them for a time and for certain periods, and who will give glory to the Lord of
glory, and who will relinquish their wrath, they will receive the reward for
their humility, which is to remain forever. Those, however, who are proud
because of the desire of ambition, and who love temporary glory, and who forget
that it was only for certain periods and times which they have that they were
entrusted with power, and for this reason did not acknowledge the Son of
God..., they will receive judgment for their ignorance and their senselessness,
which is suffering...” (Tripart tract)
- Saviour: “Then all the powers which are above, as well as those
below, will [...] you. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth over the end of all these things.” (Dialogue of the Saviour)
- Saviour: “I say to you, let him who possesses power renounce it
and repent.” (Dialogue of the Saviour)
- (81) Jesus says:
(1) "Whoever has become rich should be king.
(2) And the one who has power should renounce (it)." (Gosp of
Thomas)
(110) Jesus says: "The one who has found the world (and) has
become wealthy should renounce the world." (Gosp of Thomas)
- (78) Jesus says:
(1) "Why did you go out to the countryside? To see a reed
shaken by the wind,
(2) and to see a person dressed in soft clothing [like your] kings
and your great/powerful persons?
(3) They are dressed in soft clothing and will not be able to
recognize the truth." (Gosp of Thomas)
_____________________________________
On avoiding greed, through love and giving:
“Faith receives, love gives. No one will be able to receive
without faith. No one will be able to give without love. Because of this, in
order that we may indeed receive, we believe, and in order that we may love, we
give, since if one gives without love, he has no profit from what he has
given.” (Gosp Philip)
“Love never calls something its own, [...] it [...] possess [...].
It never says,’This is yours’ or ‘This is mine,; but ‘All these are yours’.
(gosp Philip)
we “...despise them (who contend against us) with a lofty,
incomprehensible knowledge, and flee to the one who exists. (Authoritative
Teaching?)
“And (as for) those who contend with us, being adversaries who
contend against us, we are to be victorious over their ignorance through our
knowledge, since we have already known the Inscrutable One from whom we have
come forth. We have nothing in this world, lest the authority of the world that
has come into being should detain us in the worlds that are in the heavens,
those in which universal death exists, surrounded by the individual [...]
worldly. We have also become ashamed of the worlds, though we take no interest
in them when they malign us. And we ignore them when they curse us. When they
cast shame in our face, we look at them and do not speak. (Authoritative
Teaching?)
“For
they work at their business, but we go about in hunger (and) in thirst, looking
toward our dwelling-place, the place which our conduct and our conscience look
toward, not clinging to the things which have come into being, but withdrawing
from them. Our hearts are set on the things that exist, though we are ill (and)
feeble (and) in pain. But there is a great strength hidden within us.
(Authoritative Teaching?)
“Our soul indeed is ill because she dwells in a house of poverty,
while matter strikes blows at her eyes, wishing to make her blind. For this reason
she pursues the word and applies it to her eyes as a medicine <opening>
them...” (Authoritative Teaching)
_____________________________________
On slaves:
“In this world, the slaves serve the free. In the Kingdom of
Heaven, the free will minister to the slaves: the children of the bridal
chamber will minister to the children of the marriage. The children of the
bridal chamber have just one name: rest. Altogether, they need take no other
form, because they have contemplation...” (Gospel of Philip)
“He who is a slave against his will, will be able to become free.
He who has become free by favor of his master, and has sold himself into
slavery, will no longer be able to be free.” (Gospel of Philip)
“(Ignorance) masters us. We are its slaves. It takes us captive,
to make us do what we do not want; and what we do want, we do not do. It is
powerful because we have not recognized it. While it exists it is
active.”(Gospel of Philip)
“And it (redemption) is the release from the captivity and the
acceptance of freedom. In its places, the captivity of those who were slaves of
ignorance holds sway. The freedom is the knowledge of the truth which existed
before the ignorance was ruling.” (Tripart tract)
“And what... of the one who was a slave? (In the kingdom,) He will
take a place with a free man.” (Tripart tract)
_____________________________________
On the fate of the damned:
“Only a little while longer, and that which is visible will
dissolve; then shapeless shades will emerge, and in the midst of tombs they
will forever dwell upon the corpses in pain and corruption of soul." (Bk
Thomas Contender)
(He will) “...cast him from heaven down to the abyss, and he will
be imprisoned in a narrow dark place”
(Bk Thomas Contender)
There will be “...fiery scourges that cast a shower of sparks into
the face of the one who is pursued” (Bk
Thomas Contender)
“This is to be said on the subject of how men and angels who are
from the order of the left have a path to error: not only did they deny the
Lord and plot evil against him, but also toward the Church did they direct
their hatred and envy and jealousy; and this is the reason for the(ir)
condemnation” (Tripart. tract)
And I (John) said, "Lord, these also who did not know, but
have turned away, where will their souls go?" Then he (the saviour) said
to me, "To that place... where there is no repentance. And... they will be
punished with eternal punishment." (Apoc John)
_____________________________________
On the end of the world:
"The heavens and the earth will be rolled
up in your presence.” (Gosp. Thomas 111)
James
on Jesus: “And again he shall provide an end for what has begun,
and
a beginning for what is about to be ended.” (Second Apoc. James)
James:
“This (house) I shall doom to destruction and derision of those who are in
ignorance.” (Second Apoc. James)
Protennoia:
“hour begets hour, day begets day. The months made known the month. Time has
gone round succeeding time. This particular Aeon was completed in this fashion,
and it was estimated, and it (was) short, for it was a finger that released a
finger, and a joint that was separated from a joint. Then, when the great
Authorities knew that the time of fulfillment had appeared - just as in the
pangs of the parturient it (the time) has drawn near, so also had the
destruction approached - all together the elements trembled, and the
foundations of the underworld and the ceilings of Chaos shook, and a great fire
shone within their midst, and the rocks and the earth were shaken like a reed
shaken by the wind.” (3 Protennoia) NB Compare this to Mark
the
archons: “For already the slackening of our bondage has approached, and the
times are cut short, and the days have shortened, and our time has been
fulfilled, and the weeping of our destruction has approached us, so that we may
be taken to the place we recognize.” (3 Protennoia)
“And
the phoenix first appears in a living state, and dies, and rises again, being a
sign of what has become apparent at the consummation of the age.” (Origin of
the world)
-
See Parousias. The Elect will pass through three catastrophes before the end of
the world: first a flood (Noah), then a fire (time of the Saviour) and the
third, which will bring about the end.
“Before the consummation of the age,
the whole place will shake with great thundering. Then the rulers will be sad,
[...] their death. The angels will mourn for their mankind, and the demons will
weep over their seasons, and their mankind will wail and scream at their death.
Then the age will begin, and they will be disturbed. Their kings will be
intoxicated with the fiery sword, and they will wage war against one another,
so that the earth is intoxicated with bloodshed. And the seas will be disturbed
by those wars. Then the sun will become dark, and the moon will cause its light
to cease. The stars of the sky will cancel their circuits. And a great clap of
thunder will come out of a great force that is above all the forces of chaos,
where the firmament of the woman (Sophia) is situated. Having created the first
product, she (Sophia) will put away the wise fire of intelligence and clothe
herself with witless wrath. Then she will pursue the gods of chaos, whom she
created along with the prime parent (Yaldabaoth). She will cast them down into
the abyss. They will be obliterated because of their wickedness. For they will
come to be like volcanoes and consume one another until they perish at the hand
of the prime parent (Yaldabaoth). When he has destroyed them, he will turn
against himself and destroy himself until he ceases to exist.
“And their heavens will fall one upon
the next and their forces will be consumed by fire. Their eternal realms, too,
will be overturned. And his heaven will fall and break in two. His [...] will
fall down upon the [...] support them; they will fall into the abyss, and the
abyss will be overturned.
“The light will [...] the darkness and
obliterate it: it will be like something that has never been. And the product
to which the darkness had been posterior will dissolve. And the deficiency will
be plucked out by the root (and thrown) down into the darkness. And the light
will withdraw up to its root. And the glory of the unbegotten will appear. And
it will fill all the eternal realm.” (Origin of the world)
-
In The Concept of the Great Power, there are three aeons, and each ends through
catastrophe. First, the aeon of the Flesh, which ends by water and the Flood
(Noah survives):
“the aeon of the flesh came to be in
the great bodies. ... the father of the flesh, the water, avenged himself...
And he (Noah) made a wooden ark, and whom he had found entered it. And the
flood took place.”(Concept Great Power) (Note that Noah is positive, an
appearance of the saviour).
Second, the Psychic Aeon, which ends
by fire: “And the mother of the fire was impotent. She brought the fire upon
the soul and the earth, and she burned all <the> dwellings that are in
it. And its shepherd perished. Moreover,
when she does not find anything else to burn, she will destroy herself.” During
Psychic aeon (still...), the saviour appears:
“Then, in this aeon, which is the
psychic one, the man will come into being who knows the great Power... He will
speak in parables; he will proclaim the aeon that is to come, just as he spoke
in the first aeon of the flesh, as Noah.. And he opened the gates of the
heavens with his words. And he put to shame the ruler of Hades; he raised the
dead, and he destroyed his dominion.” (Concept Great Power)
The archons try to seize him, and this
brings about ‘a great disturbance’ and “And the sign of the aeon that is to
come will appear. And the aeons will dissolve.” But, the archons “were ashamed
of their dissolution” and grew powerful again, overturning cities:
“The cities were <overturned>;
the mountains dissolve. The archon came, with the archons of the western
regions, to the East, i.e., that place where the Logos appeared at first. Then
the earth trembled, and the cities were troubled. Moreover, the birds ate and
were filled with their dead. The earth mourned together with the inhabited
world; they became desolate.” (Concept Great Power)
During, what appears to be, the Final
aeon, they send an ‘imitator’ who is like a ‘false prophet’ that establishes
‘the kingdom of the earth’:
“then the archons sent the imitator...
And he bore great signs. And he reigned over the whole earth and all those who
are under heaven. He placed his throne upon the end of the earth, for "I
shall make you god of the world". He will perform signs and wonders. Then
they will turn from me, and they will go astray.” (Concept Great Power)
This brings on the final catastrophe,
which seems to be a time of Dryness and Draught:
“All the powers of the sea will
tremble and dry up, And the firmament will not pour down dew. The springs will
cease. The rivers will not flow down to their springs. And the waters of the
springs of the earth will cease. Then the depths will be laid bare and they
will open. The stars will grow in size, and the sun will cease.” (Concept Great
Power)
It is then that the saviour will
‘withdraw’ and take the elect with him.
Marsanes
says the physical world will be saved: “Finally the entire defilement was
saved, together with the immortality of the former (fem.). I have deliberated,
and have attained to the boundary of the sense-perceptible world. <I have
come to know> part by part the entire place of the incorporeal being, and
<I> have come to know the intelligible world. <I have come to
know>, when <I> was deliberating, whether in every respect the
sense-perceptible world is worthy of being saved entirely.” (Marsanes)
“And
Egypt will be made a desert by the gods and the Egyptians. And as for you,
River, there will be a day when you will flow with blood more than water. And
dead bodies will be (stacked) higher than the dams. And he who is dead will not
be mourned as much as he who is alive... "And in that day... Darkness will
be preferred to light, and death will be preferred to life. No one will gaze
into heaven. And the pious man will be counted as insane, and the impious man
will be honored as wise. The man who is afraid will be considered as strong.
And the good man will be punished like a criminal.... Every sacred voice of the word of God will be
silenced, and the air will be diseased.” (Asclpeius 21)
_____________________________________
On revolution:
"Perhaps people think
that I have come to cast peace upon the earth. But they do not know that I have
come to cast dissension upon the earth: fire, sword, war. For there will be
five in one house: there will be three against two and two against three,
father against son and son against father.” (Gosp. Thomas 16)
"I have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am guarding it
until it blazes." (Gosp. Thomas 10)
“The
rich have become poor, and the kings have been overthrown. Everything is prone
to change. The world is an illusion!” (Treatise on Resurrection)
_____________________________________
On predicting the Fall of Jersusalem:
“When you depart, immediately war will be made with this land.
Weep, then, for him who dwells in Jerusalem.” (Jesus to James in First Apoc
James)
___________________________________________________
On the Transfiguration:
- The 2nd Bk of Pistis Sophia records a revelation which seems to
be based on the Transfiguration. It occcurs during the eleven years that Jeus
spent with his disciples after the crucifixion. They were on the Mount of
Olives “on the 15th of the moon, on the day on which it is full in the month of
Tôbe.” (Pistis Sophia Bk I, ch. 2 - 7)
Jesus was thinking by himself.
- Then, Jesus ascended in a blaze of light: “Now it happened when
the light-power had come down upon Jesus, it gradually surrounded him
completely. Then Jesus rose or ascended to the height, giving light
exceedingly, with (a) light to which there was no measure. And the disciples
gazed after him, and not one of them spoke until he had reached heaven, but
they all kept a great silence.” (Pistis Sophia Bk I, ch. 2 - 7)
- Then, a day of earthquakes passed, so that the disciples
“...were weeping to one another, on the ninth hour of the following day the
heavens opened, and they saw Jesus coming down, giving light exceedingly, and
there was no measure to the light in which he was.” (Pistis Sophia Bk I, ch. 2
- 7)
- Jesus explains that he was given his ‘garment of light’: “it
(the mystery) sent me my garment of light, which it had given to me from the
beginning, which I had left behind.” (Pistis Sophia Bk I, ch. 2 - 7) This
garment gives him authority to speak of the mysteries.
- See The Acts of John for setting, dialogue and a description of
vision relating to the Transfiguration on the Mount of Olives
In the Apocryphon of James, Christ leads Peter and James away and
speaks with them privately.
Christ: “Remember my cross and my death, and you will live!"
But I (James)
answered and said to him, "Lord, do not mention to us the cross and death,
for they are far from you."
The Lord answered
and said, "Verily, I say unto you, none will be saved unless they believe
in my cross. But those who have believed in my cross, theirs is the kingdom of
God. Therefore, become seekers for death, like the dead who seek for life; for
that which they seek is revealed to them. And what is there to trouble them? As
for you, when you examine death, it will teach you election. Verily, I say unto
you, none of those who fear death will be saved; for the kingdom belongs to
those who put themselves to death.” (Apoc. Jas)
“But the Lord answered and said to us (Peter and James), "I
have given you faith many times; moreover, I have revealed myself to you,
James, and you (all) have not known me. Now again, I see you rejoicing many
times; and when you are elated at the promise of life, are you yet sad, and do
you grieve, when you are instructed in the kingdom? But you, through faith and
knowledge, have received life.” (Apoc. Jas)
Christ: “But I have said (my) last word to you, and I shall depart
from you, for a chariot of spirit has borne me aloft, and from this moment on,
I shall strip myself, that I may clothe myself.” (Apoc. Jas)
“Having said these words, he departed. But we bent (our) knee(s),
I and Peter, and gave thanks, and sent our heart(s) upwards to heaven. We heard
with our ears, and saw with our eyes, the noise of wars, and a trumpet blare,
and a great turmoil.
“And when we had
passed beyond that place, we sent our mind(s) farther upwards, and saw with our
eyes and heard with our ears hymns, and angelic benedictions, and angelic
rejoicing. And heavenly majesties were singing praise, and we, too, rejoiced.”
(Apoc. Jas)
_______________________________________
EVENTS LEADING TO THE
CRUCIFIXION
- That those who persecute Christ as the archons, or led by the
archons:
- Events leading up to the crucifixion:
- The separation of Jesus from Christ, and the role of destiny
(see also CRUCIFIXION below)
___________________________________________
- That those who persecute Christ as the archons, or led by the
archons:
- “As for the Pharisees and the scribes, it is they who belong to
the archons who have authority over them.” (Test Truth)
- In the First Apoc of James, James reveals what Jesus told him in
Jerusalem just before the crucifixion. Though vague, it becomes clear that
Jesus knows that the archons want to seize him: “Behold, I shall reveal to you
everything of this mystery. For they will seize me the day after tomorrow. But
my redemption will be near.”(First Apoc James)
- After the resurrection, Jesus says explicitly to James that
‘they’ (the perscuting Romans and Jews?) were actually the archons, and so
‘they’ should not be blamed: “And this people has done me no harm. But this
(people) existed as a type of the archons,”(First Apoc James)
- A fragment hints that the Romans and Jews who persecute him are
the archons: “They are not [...] but archons [...].”(First Apoc James)
-
The Tripartite Tractate speaks of ‘the evil ones’, whether as men or angels (ie
archons), and the punishment they will received because: “They persevered
saying, ‘We shall become rulers of the universe, if the one who has been
proclaimed king of the universe is slain,” (Tripart Tract). This suggests again
that the archons plotted to kill Jesus.
“And everything pertaining to them (the archons) was brought about
because of me (Seth). And there came about a disturbance and a fight around the
Seraphim and Cherubim, since their glory will fade, and the confusion around
Adonaios on both sides and their dwelling - to the Cosmocrator and him who
said, "Let us seize him''; others again, "The plan will certainly not
materialize.''” (2 Treat Gr Seth)
_______________________________________
- Events leading up to the crucifixion:
- Jesus knows he will be seized, but will not ‘rebuke’ them but
remain silent. He is afraid of the ordeal that awaits:
“It is against me that they are armed. And they are armed with
other powers. But they are armed against me in judgment. They did not give
[...] to me in it [...] through them [...]. In this place [...] suffering, I
shall [...]. He will [...] and I shall not rebuke them. But there shall be
within me a silence and a hidden mystery. But I am fainthearted before their
anger."(First Apoc James)
“94 Now before he was taken by the lawless Jews, who also were
governed by (had their law from) the lawless serpent, he gathered all of us
together and said: Before I am delivered up unto them let us sing an hymn to
the Father, and so go forth to that which lieth before us. He bade us therefore
make as it were a ring, holding one another's hands, and himself standing in
the midst he said: Answer Amen unto me. He began, then, to sing an hymn and to
say:
Glory be to thee, Father.
And we, going about in a ring, answered him: Amen.
etc” (Acts of John)
_______________________________________
- The separation of Jesus from Christ, and the role of destiny
(see also CRUCIFIXION below)
(28) Jesus says:
(1) "I stood in the middle of the world, and in flesh I
appeared to them. (Gos. Thom)
“Now the Son of God, Rheginos, was Son of Man. He embraced them
both, possessing the humanity and the divinity, so that on the one hand he
might vanquish death through his being Son of God, and that on the other
through the Son of Man the restoration to the Pleroma might occur;” (Treat.
Res.)
- Jesus is under the hiermarmene and must die (though Christ does
not) in order to ‘complete his destiny: “For behold, I shall complete this
destiny upon this earth as I have said from the heavens.” (First Apoc James)
- James refers to Christ’s passion as ‘completing his destiny’ :
James said, "Rabbi, how, after these things, will you appear
to us again? After they seize you, and you complete this destiny, you will go
up to Him-who-is." (First Apoc James)
- Jesus makes a distinction between himself and Christ (?), saying
the archons cannot seize ‘him’. He certainly prophesies his resurrection. He
will be resurrected in order to give his disciples the final revelation:
The Lord said, "James, after these things I shall reveal to
you everything... [...]. And after this I shall appear for a reproof to the
archons. And I shall reveal to them that he cannot be seized. If they seize
him, then he will overpower each of them. But now I shall go.” (First Apoc
James)
- See Parousias. The archons tried to seize ‘him’ (Jesus?) during
the second parousia. But, they could not seize Christ ‘the Word’, and this
brought about ‘the end of the archons rule’: “Then a great disturbance took
place. The archons raised up their wrath against him. They wanted to hand him
over to the ruler of Hades. Then they recognized one of his followers. A fire
took hold of his soul. He (Judas?) handed him over, since no one knew him
(Jesus?). They acted and seized him. They brought judgment upon themselves. And
they delivered him up to the ruler of Hades. And they handed him over to
Sasabek for nine bronze coins. He prepared himself to go down and put them to
shame. Then the ruler of Hades took him. And he found that the nature of his
flesh could not be seized, in order to show it to the archons. But he was
saying: "Who is this? What is it? His word has abolished the law of the
aeon. He is from the Logos of the power of life." And he was victorious over
the command of the archons, and they were not able by their work to rule over
him. The archons searched after that which had come to pass. They did not know
that this is the sign of their dissolution, and (that) it is the change of the
aeon. The sun set during the day; that day became dark. The evil spirits were
troubled. And after these things he will appear ascending. And the sign of the
aeon that is to come will appear. And the aeons will dissolve.” (Concept Great
Power)
____________________________________
Raising of Lazarus:
11.32 Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell
at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would
not have died." (Gospel of John)
11.35 Jesus wept. (Gospel of John)
- j. raises Laz. from the dead
12.1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where
Laz'arus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 12.2 There they made him a
supper; Martha served, and Laz'arus was one of those at table with him. 12.3
Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of
Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the
fragrance of the ointment. 12.4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he
who was to betray him), said, 12.5 "Why was this ointment not sold for
three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" 12.6 This he said, not that
he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box
he used to take what was put into it. 12.7 Jesus said, "Let her alone, let
her keep it for the day of my burial. 12.8 The poor you always have with you,
but you do not always have me." (Gospel of John)
12.24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls
into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
(Gospel of John)
THE LAST SUPPER
Events of the Last Supper in John:
On eating:
On the Eucharist in general
The eucharist as symbolic of self-offering:
Liturgy spoken during the eucharist:
On the Gnostic Prayer of Thanksgiving:
Gethsemane:
_____________________________________
Events of the Last Supper in John:
13.21 When Jesus had thus spoken, he was troubled in spirit, and
testified, "Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
(Gospel of John)
13.27 Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to
him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." (Gospel of John)
13.38 Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me?
Truly, truly, I say to you, the cock will not crow, till you have denied me
three times." (Gospel of John)
14.18 "I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you.
14.19 Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see
me; because I live, you will live also. 14.20 In that day you will know that I
am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. (Gospel of John)
14.30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this
world is coming. He has no power over me; 14.31 but I do as the Father has
commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us
go hence. (Gospel of John)
16.6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has
filled your hearts. (Gospel of John)
16.22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your
hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. (Gospel of John)
16.28 I came from the Father and have come into the world; again,
I am leaving the world and going to the Father." (Gospel of John)
_____________________________________
On eating:
“This world is a corpse-eater. All the things eaten in it
themselves die also. Truth is a life-eater. Therefore no one nourished by truth
will die. It was from that place that Jesus came and brought food. To those who
so desired, he gave life, that they might not die.” (Gospel of Philip)
- The Acts of Peter says the followers of Christ must suffer
through fasting: "And also (concerning) the road to the city, which you
asked me about, I will tell you about it. No man is able to go on that road,
except one who has forsaken everything that he has and has fasted daily from
stage to stage. For many are the robbers and wild beasts on that road. The one
who carries bread with him on the road, the black dogs kill because of the
bread. The one who carries a costly garment of the world with him, the robbers
kill because of the garment. The one who carries water with him, the wolves
kill because of the water, since they were thirsty for it. The one who is
anxious about meat and green vegetables, the lions eat because of the meat. If
he evades the lions, the bulls devour him because of the green
vegetables." (Acts of Peter)
- “When they had said these things in the prayer, they embraced
each other and they went to eat their holy food, which has no blood in it.”
(Prayer of Thanksgiving)
_____________________________________
On the eucharist in general:
“The Lord did everything in a mystery, a baptism and a chrism and
a eucharist and a redemption and a bridal chamber.” (Gospel of Philip)
“The eucharist is Jesus. For he is called in Syriac
"Pharisatha," which is "the one who is spread out," for
Jesus came to crucify the world.” (Gospel of Philip)
(the author asks which will inherit resurrection - flesh or
spirit?) It is that which belongs to Jesus and his blood. Because of this he
said "He who shall not eat my flesh and drink my blood has not life in
him" (Jn 6:53). What is it? His flesh is the word, and his blood is the
Holy Spirit. He who has received these has food and he has drink and clothing.
(then he goes on about flesh or spirit rising) (Gospel of Philip) NB This may
take the form of Christ saying “The flesh is my word and the blood is the
spirit”
“...So it is also with the bread and the cup and the oil, even
though there is another one superior to these.”
- this assumes that there was a lesser and visible ritual with
‘the bread and the cup’
- Eating for the Gnostics, like sex, was something ‘lower’ which
they sublimated into something ‘higher’ through ritual and symbol. The Last
Supper and ‘partaking of the eucharist’ would seem to be Christian symbols
which they used in order to recognize the gnosis through eating. Important
aspects would be ‘giving’, and ‘sharing’. I can’t yet imagine the other
elements.
“The cup of prayer contains wine and water, since it is appointed
as the type of the blood for which thanks is given. And it is full of the Holy
Spirit, and it belongs to the wholly perfect man. When we drink this, we shall
receive for ourselves the perfect man. The living water is a body. It is
necessary that we put on the living man. Therefore, when he is about to go down
into the water, he unclothes himself, in order that he may put on the living
man.” (Gospel of Philip)
- Here is mentioned ‘drinking’ from a ‘cup’ which contains ‘wine
and water’. The cup of wine and water is related to ‘the blood for which thanks
is given’ (Christ’s sacrifice?). It is ‘full’ of the Holy Spirit i.e. the Holy
Spirit uses the sacrament of the Eucharist to make the upper aeons present in
the lower. To ‘drink’ it to take that which ‘belongs’ to ‘the perfect man’
(Christ, light) in the upper aeons and ‘receive’ it here in the lower, ie. the
pneuma, imperishability. The cup of ‘living water’ is related not only to his
‘blood’ but the ‘living man’s’ (Christ, life) ‘body’. By drinking it, we also
‘put on’ Christ’s body i.e. the imperishable ‘garment’. This means that we
‘unclothe’ ourselves of the ‘perishable garment’ (our body) in order to ‘put
on’ that of ‘the living man’ (Christ’s imperishable body).
- The eucharist relates to the baptism
6.35 Jesus said to them,
"I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who
believes in me shall never thirst. (John)
6.51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one
eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for
the life of the world is my flesh." (John)
- see Rudolf pg 230 for quotes from Pistis Sophia (eucharist
included wine, water, bread, incense, herbs and plants), Irenaeus, and Acts of
Thomas: (“Come and take part with us in this eurcharist which we perform in
your name, and the love-feast for which we are assembled at your invitation.”)
_____________________________________________________
- The eucharist as symbolic of self-offering:
“I have offered up myself to you as an offering,” (Melchizedek
speaking of Jesus in Melchizedek)
“He included himself in the living offering, together with your
offspring. He offered them up as an offering to the All.” (Gamaliel speaking of
either Jesus or Melchizedek in Melchizedek)
“so that in their world it might pass the thousand years in
Paradise - a soul-endowed living creature called "phoenix". It kills
itself and brings itself to life as a witness to the judgment against them, for
they did wrong to Adam and his generation, unto the consummation of the age.”
(Orig. World)
________________________________________
Liturgy spoken during the eucharist:
“We give thanks to you and we celebrate the eucharist, O Father,
remembering for the sake of thy Son, Jesus Christ that they come forth [...]
invisible [...] thy [Son....] his [love...] to [knowledge ......] they are
doing thy will through the name of Jesus Christ and will do thy will now and
always. They are complete in every spiritual gift and every purity. Glory be to
thee through thy Son and they offspring Jesus Christ from now and forever. Amen.”
(On the Eucharist A)
“[...] in the [...] the word of the [....the] holy one it is [...]
food and [drink...] Son, since you [...] food of the [...] to us the [...] in
the [life ..] he does [not boast...] that is[...] Church [...] you are pure
[...] thou art the Lord. Whenever you die purely, you will be pure so as to
have him [...] everyone who will guide him to food and drink. Glory be to thee
forever. Amen.” (On the Eucharist B)
_____________________________________
On the Gnostic Prayer of Thanksgiving:
“So when you offer praise, do so like this: Hear us, Father, just
as you heard your only-begotten son, and received him, and gave him rest from
any [...] You are the one whose power [...] your armor [...] is [...] light
[...] living [...] touch [...] the word [...] repentance [...] life [...] you.
You are the thinking and the entire serenity of the solitary. Again: Hear us
just as you heard your elect. Through your sacrifice, these will enter; through
their good works, these have saved their souls from these blind limbs, so that
they might exist eternally. Amen.” (Dial Sav.)
This the prayer
that they spoke:
“We give thanks to
You! Every soul and heart is lifted up to You, undisturbed name, honored with
the name 'God' and praised with the name 'Father', for to everyone and
everything (comes) the fatherly kindness and affection and love, and any
teaching there may be that is sweet and plain, giving us mind, speech, (and)
knowledge: mind, so that we may understand You, speech, so that we may expound
You, knowledge, so that we may know You. We rejoice, having been illuminated by
Your knowledge. We rejoice because You have shown us Yourself. We rejoice
because while we were in (the) body, You have made us divine through Your
knowledge.
The thanksgiving of
the man who attains to You is one thing: that we know You. We have known You,
intellectual light. Life of life, we have known You. Womb of every creature, we
have known You. Womb pregnant with the nature of the Father, we have known You.
Eternal permanence of the begetting Father, thus have we worshiped Your
goodness. There is one petition that we ask: we would be preserved in
knowledge. And there is one protection that we desire: that we not stumble in
this kind of life.”
When they had said
these things in the prayer, they embraced each other and they went to eat their
holy food, which has no blood in it. (Prayer of Thanksgiving)
____________________________________
Gethsemane:
- see the Gospel of John for Jesus’ farewell discourse and prayer
- full of Gnostic ideas on ‘naming’, unity etc.
(28) Jesus says:
"I stood (at rest) in the middle (midsts) of the world, and
in flesh I appeared to them. I found all of them drunk. None of them did I find
thirsty. And my soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind
in their heart, and they cannot see; for they came into the world empty, (and)
they also seek to depart from the world empty.
But now they are drunk. (But) when they shake off their wine, then they
will change their mind." (Gos. Thom) (See Bentley for a better trans.)
- Jesus knows he will be seized, but will not ‘rebuke’ them but
remain silent. He is afraid of the ordeal that awaits:
“It is against me that they are armed. And they are armed with
other powers. But they are armed against me in judgment. They did not give
[...] to me in it [...] through them [...]. In this place [...] suffering, I
shall [...]. He will [...] and I shall not rebuke them. But there shall be
within me a silence and a hidden mystery. But I am fainthearted before their
anger."(First Apoc James)
The number of Roman soldiers who seize Jesus should be 72, in
keeping with the idea in First Apoc James that there are 72 heavens (ie demons)
under the 12 archons who are trying to seize Christ. There might be 12 leaders
of the soldiers.
18.1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his
disciples across the Kidron valley, where there was a garden, which he and his
disciples entered. (John)
Look at the Light. Flee the Darkness. Do not be led astray to your
destruction. (Zostrianos)
__________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
CRUCIFIXION
On the crucifixion in general:
On the relationship of Christ (as spirit) to Jesus (as flesh):
On suffering or not suffering during the crucifixion:
That there was no suffering:
That there was no suffering because of a substitution:
That there was suffering:
That there was suffering, but symbolically:
Clearly, that Neither Jesus nor Christ suffered.
Clearly, that Jesus suffered but Christ did not.
Clearly, that Jesus did not suffer but Christ did.
Clearly, that Both Jesus and Christ suffered.
__________________________________________________
On the crucifixion in general:
“It was my going to the revealed height which the world did not
accept, my third baptism in a revealed image. When they had fled from the fire
of the seven Authorities, and the sun of the powers of the archons set,
darkness took them. And the world became poor when he was restrained with a multitude
of fetters. They nailed him to the tree, and they fixed him with four nails of
brass. The veil of his temple he tore with his hands. It was a trembling which
seized the chaos of the earth, for the souls which were in the sleep below were
released. And they arose. They went about boldly, having shed zealous service
of ignorance and unlearnedness beside the dead tombs, having put on the new
man, since they have come to know that perfect Blessed One of the eternal and
incomprehensible Father and the infinite light, which is I, since I came to my
own and united them with myself.” (2 Treat Gr. Seth)
“He (Christ) enlightened them; he showed (them) a way; and the way
is the truth which he taught them. For this reason, error grew angry at him,
persecuted him, was distressed at him, (and) was brought to naught. He was
nailed to a tree (and) he became fruit of the knowledge of the Father. It did
not, however, cause destruction because it was eaten, but to those who ate it,
it gave (cause) to become glad in the discovery, and he discovered them in
himself, and they discovered him in themselves.” (Gos. Truth)
“There was manifested in their heart the living book of the living
- the one written in the thought and the mind of the Father, which from before
the foundation of the totality was within his incomprehensibility - that (book)
which no one was able to take, since it remains for the one who will take it to
be slain. No one could have become manifest from among those who have believed
in salvation unless that book had appeared. For this reason, the merciful one,
the faithful one, Jesus, was patient in accepting sufferings until he took that
book, since he knows that his death is life for many.
Just as there lies
hidden in a will, before it is opened, the fortune of the deceased master of
the house, so (it is) with the totality, which lay hidden while the Father of
the totality was invisible, being something which is from him, from whom every
space comes forth. For this reason Jesus appeared; he put on that book; he was
nailed to a tree; he published the edict of the Father on the cross. O such
great teaching! He draws himself down to death, though life eternal clothes
him. Having stripped himself of the perishable rags, he put on imperishability,
which no one can possibly take away from him. Having entered the empty spaces
of terrors, he passed through those who were stripped naked by oblivion, being
knowledge and perfection, proclaiming the things that are in the heart, [...]
teach those who will receive teaching.
But those who are
to receive teaching are the living, who are inscribed in the book of the
living.” (Gos. Truth)
[...] the imprints of the nail wound [...] (Val Expo)
“Now the Son of God, Rheginos, was Son of Man. He embraced them
both, possessing the humanity and the divinity, so that on the one hand he
might vanquish death through his being Son of God, and that on the other
through the Son of Man the restoration to the Pleroma might occur;” (Treat.
Res.)
“‘My God, my God, why, O Lord, have you forsaken me?’ (Mk 15:34).
It was on the cross that he said these words, for he had departed from that
place.” (Gosp Philip)
“Christ came to ransom some, to save others, to redeem others. He
ransomed those who were strangers and made them his own. And he set his own
apart, those whom he gave as a pledge (or pledges = souls) according to his
plan. It was not only when he appeared that he voluntarily laid down his life,
but he voluntarily laid down his life from the very day the world came into
being. Then he came first in order to take it, since it had been given as a
pledge. It fell into the hands of robbers and was taken captive, but he saved
it. He redeemed the good people in the world as well as the evil.” (Gos. Phil.)
“For Jesus came to crucify the world.” (Gosp Philip)
“the living Jesus has taught to his apostles, saying:
"This is the teaching in which dwells the whole knowledge." The
living Jesus answered and said to his disciples: "Blessed is he who has
crucified the world, and who has not the world to crucify him." The
apostles answered with one voice, saying : "O Lord, teach us the way
to crucify the world, that it may not crucify us, so that we are destroyed and
lose our lives" The living Jesus answered : "He who has crucified it
is he who has found my word and has fulfilled it according to the will of him
who has sent me." (1st Bk Ieou)
Philip the apostle said, "Joseph the carpenter planted a
garden because he needed wood for his trade. It was he who made the cross from
the trees which he planted...” (Gosp
Philip)
“... and Jesus, who possesses the life, and who came and crucified
that which is in the law” (Gos Eg.)
(55) Jesus says:
“And whoever does not hate his brothers and his sisters (and) will
not take up his cross as I do, will not be worthy of me." (Gos. Thom)
“Then, in this
aeon, which is the psychic one, the man will come into being who knows the
great Power. He will receive (me) and he will know me. He will drink from the
milk of the mother, in fact. He will speak in parables; he will proclaim the
aeon that is to come, just as he spoke in the first aeon of the flesh, as Noah.
Now concerning his words, which he uttered, he spoke in all of them, in
seventy-two tongues. And he opened the gates of the heavens with his words. And
he put to shame the ruler of Hades; he raised the dead, and he destroyed his
dominion.
“Then a great
disturbance took place. The archons raised up their wrath against him. They
wanted to hand him over to the ruler of Hades. Then they recognized one of his
followers. A fire took hold of his soul. He (Judas?) handed him over, since no
one knew him (Jesus?). They acted and seized him. They brought judgment upon
themselves. And they delivered him up to the ruler of Hades. And they handed
him over to Sasabek for nine bronze coins. He prepared himself to go down and
put them to shame. Then the ruler of Hades took him. And he found that the
nature of his flesh could not be seized, in order to show it to the archons.
But he was saying: "Who is this? What is it? His word has abolished the
law of the aeon. He is from the Logos of the power of life." And he was
victorious over the command of the archons, and they were not able by their
work to rule over him.
“The archons
searched after that which had come to pass. They did not know that this is the
sign of their dissolution, and (that) it is the change of the aeon. The sun set
during the day; that day became dark. The evil spirits were troubled. And after
these things he will appear ascending. And the sign of the aeon that is to come
will appear. And the aeons will dissolve.” (Conc. Gr. Pow.)
“I am Christ, the Son of Man, the one from you who is among you. I
am despised for your sake, in order that you yourselves may forget the
difference. And do not become female, lest you give birth to evil and (its)
brothers: jealousy and division, anger and wrath, fear and a divided heart, and
empty, non-existent desire. But I am an ineffable mystery to you.” (2 Treat.
Gr. Seth) ie - I suffered to show you unity and forget difference
“O soul, persistent one, in what ignorance you exist! For who is
your guide into the darkness? How many likenesses did Christ take on because of
you! Although he was God, he was found among men as a man. He descended to the
Underworld. He released the children of death. They were in travail, as the
scripture of God has said. And he sealed up the (very) heart of it (the
Underworld). And he broke its (the Underworld's) strong bows completely. And
when all the powers had seen him, they fled, so that he might bring you,
wretched one, up from the Abyss, and might die for you as a ransom for your
sin. He saved you from the strong hand of the Underworld.” (Silvanus)
“Know who Christ is, and acquire him as a friend, for this is the
friend who is faithful. He is also God and Teacher. This one, being God, became
man for your sake. It is this one who broke the iron bars of the Underworld,
and the bronze bolts. It is this one who attacked and cast down every haughty
tyrant. It is he who loosened from himself the chains of which he had taken
hold. He brought up the poor from the Abyss and the mourners from the
Underworld. It is he who humbled the haughty powers; he who put to shame
haughtiness through humility; he who has cast down the strong and the boaster
through weakness; he who, in his contempt, scorned that which is considered an
honor, so that humility for God's sake might be highly exalted; (and) he who
has put on humanity. (Silvanus)
[...] of the cross since
[...] the imprints of the nail wound [...] perfection. Since it is a perfect
form that should ascend into the Pleroma, he did not at all want to consent to
the suffering, but he was detained [...] him by Limit, that is, by the syzygy,
since her correction will not occur through anyone except her own Son, whose alone
is the fullness of divinity. He willed within himself bodily to leave the
powers and he descended. And these things (passions) Sophia suffered after her
son ascended from her, for she knew that she dwelt in a [...] in unity and
restoration. They were stopped [...] the brethren [...] these. A [...] did not
[...]. I became [...]. Who indeed are they? The [...], on the one hand, stopped
her [...], on the other hand, [...]. with the [...] her. These moreover are
those who were looking at me, these who, [...] these who considered [...] the
death. They were stopped [...] her and she repented and she besought the Father
of the truth, saying, "Granted that I have renounced my consort. Therefore
I am beyond confirmation as well. I deserve the things (passions) I suffer. I
used to dwell in the Pleroma putting forth the Aeons and bearing fruit with my
consort" And she knew what she was and what had become of her.
So they both
suffered; they said she laughs since she remained alone and imitated the
Uncontainable One, while he said she laughs since she cut herself off from her
consort. [...] Indeed Jesus and Sophia revealed the creature. Since, after all,
the seeds of Sophia are incomplete and formless, Jesus contrived a creature of
this sort and made it of the seeds while Sophia worked with him. For since they
are seeds and without form, he descended and brought forth that pleroma of
aeons which are in that place, since even the uncreated ones of those Aeons are
of the pattern of the Pleroma and the uncontainable Father. The Uncreated One
brought forth the pattern of the uncreated, for it is from the uncreated that
the Father brings forth into form. But the creature is a shadow of pre-existing
things. Moreover, this Jesus created the creature, and he worked from the passions
surrounding the seeds. And he separated them from one another, and the better
passions he introduced into the spirit and the worse ones into the carnal. (Val
Expo)
_____________________________________
On the relationship of Christ (as spirit) to Jesus (as flesh):
(28) Jesus says:
(1) "I stood in the middle of the world, and in flesh I
appeared to them. (Gos. Thom)
That Christ put on Jesus and took him off before the
crucifixion:
The appearance of ‘the illuminator of knowledge’ (a Sethian saviour
figure) during the third parousia: “Once again, for the third time, the
illuminator of knowledge will pass by in great glory (...) And he will perform
signs and wonders in order to scorn the powers and their ruler. (...) And the
powers will not see it with their eyes, nor will they see the illuminator
either. Then they will punish the flesh of the man upon whom the holy spirit
came.”(Apoc Adam)
That Christ put on Jesus, suffered with him, and took him off
after the crucifixion:
Christ addressing the apostles after his resurrection: “I (Christ)
am the one who was sent down in the body because of the seed which had fallen
away. And I came down into their mortal mold. But they (the archons) did not
recognize me; they were thinking of me that I was a mortal man. And I spoke
with him who belongs to me (Jesus? the Elect?), and he harkened to me just as
you too (the apostles) who harkened today. And I gave him authority in order
that he might enter into the inheritance of his fatherhood. And I took [...]
they were filled [...] in his salvation. And since he was a deficiency, for
this reason he became a pleroma." (Ep Pet. Phil.)
Peter preaching: "’Our illuminator, Jesus, came down and was
crucified. And he bore a crown of thorns. And he put on a purple garment. And
he was crucified on a tree and he was buried in a tomb. And he rose from the
dead. My brothers, Jesus is a stranger to this suffering.’” (Letter of Peter to
Philip) (by ‘stranger’, it may mean that he did not suffer, or that he suffered
but was not harmed)
“As for me, I put on Jesus. I bore him from the cursed wood, and
established him in the dwelling places of his Father. And those who watch over
their dwelling places did not recognize me. For I, I am unrestrainable,
together with my seed; and my seed, which is mine, I shall place into the holy
Light within an incomprehensible Silence. Amen.” (3 Prot.)
“For he came by means of fleshly form, while nothing blocked his
course, because incorruptibility is irresistible, since he, again, spoke new
things, still speaking about what is in the heart of the Father, having brought
forth the flawless Word.” (Gos. Truth)
nb - this may not really be about Christ and Jesus: “I (Seth)
visited a bodily dwelling. I cast out the one who was in it first, and I went
in. And the whole multitude of the archons became troubled. And all the matter
of the archons, as well as all the begotten powers of the earth, were shaken
when it saw the likeness of the Image, since it was mixed. And I am the one who
was in it, not resembling him who was in it first. For he was an earthly man,
but I, I am from above the heavens. I did not refuse them even to become a
Christ, but I did not reveal myself to them in the love which was coming forth
from me. I revealed that I am a stranger to the regions below. (...) Others
also fled, as if from the Cosmocrator and those with them, since they have
brought every (kind of) punishment upon me.” (2 Treat Gr. Seth)
“And the Son of the Majesty, who was hidden in the regions below,
we brought to the height where I <was> in all these aeons with them,” (2
Treat Gr. Seth)
Iren. on Simon Magus: “so that he might appear among men to be a
man, while yet he was not a man; and that thus he was thought to have suffered
in Judaea, when he had not suffered.” (Iren bk I, xxiii, 3)
“They hold, accordingly, that our Lord, while preserving the type
of the first-begotten and primary tetrad, was compounded of these four
substances,--of that which is spiritual, in so far as He was from Achamoth; of
that which is animal, as being from the Demiurge by a special dispensation,
inasmuch as He was formed [corporeally] with unspeakable skill; and of the
Saviour, as respects that dove which descended upon Him. He also continued free
from all suffering, since indeed it was not possible that He should suffer who
was at once incomprehensible and invisible. And for this reason the Spirit of
Christ, who had been placed within Him, was taken away when He was brought
before Pilate.” (Iren Bk I, bk vii. 2)
_____________________________________
On suffering or not suffering during the crucifixion:
That there was no suffering:
Jesus speaking to James after the resurrection: “I am he who was
within me. Never have I suffered in any way, nor have I been distressed. And
this people has done me no harm. But this (people) existed as a type of the
archons, and it deserved to be destroyed through them.” (First Apoc James)
“They hold, accordingly, that our Lord, while preserving the type
of the first-begotten and primary tetrad, was compounded of these four
substances,--of that which is spiritual, in so far as He was from Achamoth; of
that which is animal, as being from the Demiurge by a special dispensation,
inasmuch as He was formed [corporeally] with unspeakable skill; and of the
Saviour, as respects that dove which descended upon Him. He also continued free
from all suffering, since indeed it was not possible that He should suffer who
was at once incomprehensible and invisible. And for this reason the Spirit of
Christ, who had been placed within Him, was taken away when He was brought
before Pilate.” (Iren Bk I, bk vii. 2)
“The Docetics (according to Hippolytus, Refutatio VIII, 10.6-8)
considered Jesus to have two bodies, his fleshly body acquired through his
human parent Mary, and another body, received at his baptism in the Jordan as
the type of the former; the former body was nailed to the cross, deceiving the
archons and powers, yet his nakedness was covered by his baptismal body,
perhaps to be understood as an ethereal garment or subtle body rather like the
vehicle (ochêma) of the soul.” (“Ritual in Gnosticism’, John D. Turner,
University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, SBL 1994 Book of Seminar Papers, 136-181
__________________________________________________
That that there was no suffering, because of a substitution:
That the substitute was the Archgenitor’s Son:
Protennoia: “Then I too revealed my Voice secretly, saying,
"Cease! Desist, (you) who tread on matter; for behold, I am coming down to
the world of mortals for the sake of my portion that was in that place from the
time when the innocent Sophia was conquered, she who descended, so that I might
thwart their aim which the one revealed by her appoints." And all were
disturbed, each one who dwells in the house of the ignorant light, and the abyss
trembled. And the Archigenetor of ignorance reigned over Chaos and the
underworld, and produced a man in my likeness. But he neither knew that that
one would become for him a sentence of dissolution, nor does he recognize the
power in him.” (Tri Prot.)
In The Apocalypse of Peter, it seems to me that ‘the Archgenitor’s
Son’ was crucified in place of Christ. This is ‘the son of their glory’ and
‘the first-born son of demons’:
Peter narrating Christ: “But me they cannot touch. And you, O
Peter, shall stand in their midst. Do not be afraid because of your cowardice.
Their minds shall be closed, for the invisible one has opposed them.”
When he had said
those things, I saw him seemingly being seized by them. And I said "What
do I see, O Lord? That it is you yourself whom they take, and that you are
grasping me? Or who is this one, glad and laughing on the tree? And is it
another one whose feet and hands they are striking?"
The Savior said to
me, "He whom you saw on the tree, glad and laughing, this is the living
Jesus. But this one into whose hands and feet they drive the nails is his
fleshly part, which is the substitute being put to shame, the one who came into
being in his likeness. But look at him and me."
But I, when I had
looked, said "Lord, no one is looking at you. Let us flee this
place."
But he said to me,
"I have told you, 'Leave the blind alone!'. And you, see how they do not
know what they are saying. For the son of their glory instead of my servant,
they have put to shame." And I saw someone about to approach us resembling
him, even him who was laughing on the tree. And he was <filled> with a
Holy Spirit, and he is the Savior. And there was a great, ineffable light
around them, and the multitude of ineffable and invisible angels blessing them.
And when I looked at him, the one who gives praise was revealed. And he said to
me, "Be strong, for you are the one to whom these mysteries have been
given, to know them through revelation, that he whom they crucified is the
first-born, and the home of demons, and the stony vessel in which they dwell,
of Elohim, of the cross, which is under the Law. But he who stands near him is
the living Savior, the first in him, whom they seized and released, who stands
joyfully looking at those who did him violence, while they are divided among
themselves. Therefore he laughs at their lack of perception, knowing that they
are born blind. So then the one susceptible to suffering shall come, since the
body is the substitute. But what they released was my incorporeal body. But I
am the intellectual Spirit filled with radiant light. He whom you saw coming to
me is our intellectual Pleroma, which unites the perfect light with my Holy
Spirit." (Apoc Peter)
“to give them freedom that they may create an imitation remnant in
the name of a dead man, who is Hermas, of the first-born of unrighteousness, in
order that the light which exists may not believed by the little ones.” (Apoc Peter) “ the counterfeit ones, indeed,
that there are multitudes that will mislead other multitudes of living ones,
and destroy them among themselves. And when they speak your name they will be
believed.” (Apoc Peter)
In 2 Treat Gr Seth, it is clear that Seth only suffered in
appearance, while the Archons’ man (as well as Simon and another) suffered in
his stead: “I (Seth) did not succumb to them (the archons) as they had planned.
But I was not afflicted at all. Those who were there punished me. And I did not
die in reality but in appearance, lest I be put to shame by them because these
are my kinsfolk. I removed the shame from me and I did not become fainthearted
in the face of what happened to me at their hands. I was about to succumb to
fear, and I <suffered> according to their sight and thought, in order
that they may never find any word to speak about them. For my death, which they
think happened, (happened) to them in their error and blindness, since they
nailed their man unto their death. For their Ennoias did not see me, for they
were deaf and blind. But in doing these things, they condemn themselves. Yes,
they saw me; they punished me. It was another, their father, who drank the gall
and the vinegar; it was not I. They struck me with the reed; it was another,
Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder. I was another upon Whom they placed
the crown of thorns. But I was rejoicing in the height over all the wealth of
the archons and the offspring of their error, of their empty glory. And I was
laughing at their ignorance.” (2 Treat Gr Seth)
NB - Concept of Our Great Power also mentions a false Messiah:
“Then when the times were completed, then wickedness arose mightily even until
the final end of the Logos. Then the archon of the western regions arose, and
from the East he will perform a work, and he will instruct men in his
wickedness. And he wants to nullify all teaching, the words of true wisdom,
while loving the lying wisdom. For he attacked the old, wishing to introduce
wickedness and to put on dignity. He was incapable, because the defilement of
his garments is great. Then he became angry. He appeared and desired to go up
and to pass up to that place.
Then the appointed
time came and drew near. And he changed the commands. Then the time came until
the child had grown up. When he had come to his maturity, then the archons sent
the imitator to that man in order that they might know our great Power. And
they were expecting from him that he would perform for them a sign. And he bore
great signs. And he reigned over the whole earth and all those who are under
heaven. He placed his throne upon the end of the earth, for "I shall make
you god of the world". He will perform signs and wonders. Then they will
turn from me, and they will go astray.
Then those men who
will follow after him will introduce circumcision. And he will pronounce
judgment upon those who are from the uncircumcision, who are the (true) people.
For in fact he sent many preachers beforehand, who preached on his behalf.
When he has
completed the established time of the kingdom of the earth, then the cleansing
of the souls will come,” (Con Gr. Pow.)
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That that there was suffering:
“ the merciful one, the faithful one, Jesus, was patient in
accepting sufferings...” (Gos. Truth) see ‘crucifixion’ above for full quote
Speaking together, the disciples asked: "’If he, our Lord,
suffered, then how much (must) we (suffer)?’ Peter answered saying, ‘He
suffered on our behalf, and it is necessary for us too to suffer.’ (Letter of
Peter to Philip)
Melchizedek: “... which will happen in his name. Furthermore, they
will say of him that he is unbegotten, though he has been begotten, (that) he
does not eat, even though he eats, (that) he does not drink, even though he
drinks, (that) he is uncircumcised, though he has been circumcised, (that) he is
unfleshly, though he has come in the flesh, (that) he did not come to
suffering, <though> he came to suffering, (that) he did not rise from the
dead, <though> he arose from the dead.” (Melchizedek)
Jesus to Peter and James: “But if you are oppressed by Satan, and
persecuted, and you do his (i.e., the Father's) will, I say that he will love
you, and make you equal with me, and reckon you to have become beloved through
his providence by your own choice. So will you not cease loving the flesh and
being afraid of sufferings? Or do you not know that you have yet to be abused
and to be accused unjustly; and have yet to be shut up in prison, and condemned
unlawfully, and crucified <without> reason, and buried as I myself, by
the evil one? Do you dare to spare the flesh, you for whom the Spirit is an
encircling wall? If you consider how long the world existed <before> you,
and how long it will exist after you, you will find that your life is one
single day, and your sufferings one single hour. For the good will not enter
into the world. Scorn death, therefore, and take thought for life! Remember my
cross and my death, and you will live!"
But I answered and said to him, "Lord, do not mention to us
the cross and death, for they are far from you."
The Lord answered and said, "Verily, I say unto you, none
will be saved unless they believe in my cross. But those who have believed in
my cross, theirs is the kingdom of God. Therefore, become seekers for death,
like the dead who seek for life; for that which they seek is revealed to them.
And what is there to trouble them? As for you, when you examine death, it will
teach you election. Verily, I say unto you, none of those who fear death will
be saved; for the kingdom belongs to those who put themselves to death. Become better
than I; make yourselves like the son of the Holy Spirit!" (Apocryphon of
James)
Jesus: “And many times have I said to you all together, and also
to you alone, James, have I said, 'Be saved!' And I have commanded you to
follow me, and I have taught you what to say before the archons. Observe that I
have descended and have spoken and undergone tribulation, and carried off my
crown after saving you. For I came down to dwell with you, so that you in turn
might dwell with me. And, finding your houses unceiled, I have made my abode in
the houses that could receive me at the time of my descent.” (Apocryphon of
James)
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That that there was suffering, but symbolically:
(28) Jesus says:
(1) "I stood in the middle of the world, and in flesh I
appeared to them. (Gos Thom)
“He it is who was our Savior in willing compassion, who is that
which they were. For it was for their sake that he became manifest in an
involuntary suffering.” (Tripart tract) (the reference to ‘they’ is not clear,
though it may be ‘the companions of the saviour’; the reference to ‘He’ is most
likely ‘the Word’.)
Jesus: “Who I am, thou shalt know when I depart. What now I am
seen to be, that I am not. Thou shalt see when thou comest.” (Acts of John)
“97 Thus, my beloved, having danced with us the Lord went forth.
And we as men gone astray or dazed with sleep fled this way and that. I, then,
when I saw him suffer, did not even abide by his suffering, but fled unto the
Mount of Olives, weeping at that which had befallen. And when he was crucified
on the Friday, at the sixth hour of the day, darkness came upon all the earth.
And my Lord standing in the midst of the cave and enlightening it, said: John,
unto the multitude below in Jerusalem I am being crucified and pierced with
lances and reeds, and gall and vinegar is given me to drink. But unto thee I
speak, and what I speak hear thou. I put it into thy mind to come up into this
mountain, that thou mightest hear those things which it behoveth a disciple to
learn from his teacher and a man from his God.”
(Acts of John)
Jesus to John: “Thou hearest that I suffered, yet did I not
suffer; that I suffered not, yet did I suffer; that I was pierced, yet I was
not smitten; hanged, and I was not hanged; that blood flowed from me, and it
flowed not; and, in a word, what they say of me, that befell me not, but what
they say not, that did I suffer. Now what those things are I signify unto thee,
for I know that thou wilt understand. Perceive thou therefore in me the
praising (al. slaying al. rest) of the (or a) Word (Logos), the piercing of the
Word, the blood of the Word, the wound of the Word, the hanging up of the Word,
the suffering of the Word, the nailing (fixing) of the Word, the death of the
Word. And so speak I, separating off the manhood. Perceive thou therefore in
the first place of the Word; then shalt thou perceive the Lord, and in the
third place the man, and what he hath suffered.
102 When he had
spoken unto me these things, and others which I know not how to say as he would
have me, he was taken up, no one of the multitudes having beheld him. And when
I went down I laughed them all to scorn, inasmuch as he had told me the things
which they have said concerning him; holding fast this one thing in myself,
that the Lord contrived all things symbolically and by a dispensation toward
men, for their conversion and salvation.” (Acts of John)
John: “let us watch because (or we shall find that) now also he
keepeth ward over prisons for our sake, and over tombs, in bonds and dungeons,
in reproaches and insults, by sea and on dry land, in scourgings,
condemnations, conspiracies, frauds, punishments, and in a word, he is with all
of us, and himself suffereth with us when we suffer, brethren... forasmuch as he
is the God of them that are shut, helping bring us up by his own compassion”
(Acts of John)
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Clearly, that Neither Jesus nor Christ suffered.
“As for me, I put on Jesus. I bore him from the cursed wood, and
established him in the dwelling places of his Father. And those who watch over
their dwelling places did not recognize me. For I, I am unrestrainable,
together with my seed; and my seed, which is mine, I shall place into the holy
Light within an incomprehensible Silence. Amen.” (3 Prot.)
Jesus speaking to James after the resurrection: “I am he who was
within me. Never have I suffered in any way, nor have I been distressed. And
this people has done me no harm. But this (people) existed as a type of the
archons, and it deserved to be destroyed through them.” (First Apoc James) NB -
this may mean Jesus did not suffer, or that Christ did not suffer.
Peter preaching: "’Our illuminator, Jesus, came down and was
crucified. And he bore a crown of thorns. And he put on a purple garment. And
he was crucified on a tree and he was buried in a tomb. And he rose from the
dead. My brothers, Jesus is a stranger to this suffering.’” (Letter of Peter to
Philip) (by ‘stranger’, it may mean that he did not suffer, or that he suffered
but was not harmed)
Iren. on Simon Magus: “so that he might appear among men to be a
man, while yet he was not a man; and that thus he was thought to have suffered
in Judaea, when he had not suffered.” (Iren bk I, xxiii, 3)
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Clearly, that Jesus suffered but Christ did not.
The appearance of ‘the illuminator of knowledge’ (a Sethian
saviour figure) during the third parousia: “Once again, for the third time, the
illuminator of knowledge will pass by in great glory (...) And he will perform
signs and wonders in order to scorn the powers and their ruler. (...) And the
powers will not see it with their eyes, nor will they see the illuminator
either. Then they will punish the flesh of the man upon whom the holy spirit
came.”(Apoc Adam)
“‘My God, my God, why, O Lord, have you forsaken me?’ (Mk 15:34).
It was on the cross that he said these words, for he had departed from that
place.” (Gosp Philip) This may be understood as Jesus saying to Christ (ie O
Lord) that he had abandoned him on the cross.
But at last Christ departed
from Jesus, and that then Jesus suffered and rose again, while Christ remained
impassible, inasmuch as he was a spiritual being. (Iren Bk I, ch xxvi. 1)
___________________________________________________
Clearly, that Jesus did not suffer but Christ did.
Jesus to John: “Thou hearest that I suffered, yet did I not
suffer; that I suffered not, yet did I suffer; that I was pierced, yet I was
not smitten; hanged, and I was not hanged; that blood flowed from me, and it
flowed not; and, in a word, what they say of me, that befell me not, but what
they say not, that did I suffer. Now what those things are I signify unto thee,
for I know that thou wilt understand. Perceive thou therefore in me the
praising (al. slaying al. rest) of the (or a) Word (Logos), the piercing of the
Word, the blood of the Word, the wound of the Word, the hanging up of the Word,
the suffering of the Word, the nailing (fixing) of the Word, the death of the Word.
And so speak I, separating off the manhood. Perceive thou therefore in the
first place of the Word; then shalt thou perceive the Lord, and in the third
place the man, and what he hath suffered.
102 When he had
spoken unto me these things, and others which I know not how to say as he would
have me, he was taken up, no one of the multitudes having beheld him. And when
I went down I laughed them all to scorn, inasmuch as he had told me the things
which they have said concerning him; holding fast this one thing in myself,
that the Lord contrived all things symbolically and by a dispensation toward
men, for their conversion and salvation.” (Acts of John)
Jesus speaking to James after the resurrection: “I am he who was
within me. Never have I suffered in any way, nor have I been distressed. And
this people has done me no harm. But this (people) existed as a type of the
archons, and it deserved to be destroyed through them.” (First Apoc James) NB -
this may mean Jesus did not suffer, or that Christ did not suffer.
Peter preaching: "’Our illuminator, Jesus, came down and was
crucified. And he bore a crown of thorns. And he put on a purple garment. And
he was crucified on a tree and he was buried in a tomb. And he rose from the
dead. My brothers, Jesus is a stranger to this suffering.’” (Letter of Peter to
Philip) (by ‘stranger’, it may mean that he did not suffer, or that he suffered
but was not harmed)
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Clearly, that Both Jesus and Christ suffered.
Melchizedek: “... which will happen in his name. Furthermore, they
will say of him that he is unbegotten, though he has been begotten, (that) he
does not eat, even though he eats, (that) he does not drink, even though he
drinks, (that) he is uncircumcised, though he has been circumcised, (that) he
is unfleshly, though he has come in the flesh, (that) he did not come to
suffering, <though> he came to suffering, (that) he did not rise from the
dead, <though> he arose from the dead.” (Melchizedek) NB - Melchizedek
seems to be reacting to the Acts of John
“ the merciful one, the faithful one, Jesus, was patient in
accepting sufferings...” (Gos. Truth) see ‘crucifixion’ above for full quote
“Now the Son of God, Rheginos, was Son of Man. He embraced them
both, possessing the humanity and the divinity, so that on the one hand he
might vanquish death through his being Son of God, and that on the other
through the Son of Man the restoration to the Pleroma might occur;” (Treat.
Res.)
“The Savior swallowed up death - (of this) you are not reckoned as
being ignorant - for he put aside the world which is perishing. He transformed
himself into an imperishable Aeon and raised himself up, having swallowed the
visible by the invisible, and he gave us the way of our immortality. Then,
indeed, as the Apostle said, "We suffered with him, and we arose with him,
and we went to heaven with him". Now if we are manifest in this world
wearing him, we are that one`s beams, and we are embraced by him until our
setting, that is to say, our death in this life. We are drawn to heaven by him,
like beams by the sun, not being restrained by anything. This is the spiritual
resurrection which swallows up the psychic in the same way as the fleshly.”
(Treat. Res.)
“the dead shall arise! (...) For we have known the Son of Man, and
we have believed that he rose from among the dead. This is he of whom we say,
"He became the destruction of death, as he is a great one in whom they
believe." Great are those who believe.”(Treat. Res.)
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RESURRECTION AND RETURN TO
THE DISCIPLES
On appearing risen from the dead, and to whom:
On the Resurrection:
On rising up through the Archons (and fear):
On the Ascension and rising up:
On crossing over the other side:
On predicting the Fall of Jersusalem:
On the Restitution / Restoration / Redemption:
On Re-union with the One
_____________________________________
On appearing risen from the dead, and to whom:
- Jesus spoke with James secretly in Jerusalem before the
crucifixion, propheseying all that would happen. Then, he appeared specifically
to James after the resurrection. (First Apoc. James)
- In the Letter of Peter to Philip, the apostles pray together on
the Mount of Olives (it’s not clear if this is after the crucifixion or after
his ascension) and Christ appears to them as a ‘bright light’ with a voice. The
voice answers their questions on the pleroma and passing through it, then it is
taken back up to heaven in a blast of lightning and thunder. (Letter of Peter
to Philip)
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On resurrection:
“Those who say that the Lord died first and (then) rose up are in
error, for he rose up first and (then) died. If one does not first attain the
resurrection, he will not die.” (Gosp Philip)
“While we are in this world, it is fitting for us to acquire the
resurrection, so that when we strip off the flesh, we may be found in rest...”
(Gosp Philip)
“...Resurrection. The image must rise again through the image.”
(Gosp Philip)
(51)
(1) His disciples said to him: When will the <resurrection>
of the dead take place, and when will the new world come?"
(2) He said to them: "That (resurrection) which you are
awaiting has (already) come, but you do not recognize it." (Gos. Thom.)
“Before Christ, some came from a place they were no longer able to
enter, and they went where they were no longer able to come out. Then Christ
came. Those who went in, he brought out, and those who went out, he brought
in.” (Gosp Philip) i.e. before Christ, we came from the aeons and could not
enter it again, because we had gone to the lower aeons and could not come out.
But with Christ, those who went into the lower aeons were brought out, and
those who had gone out of the upper aeons, he brought in.
“I am he who was within me. ” (Jesus speaking to James after the
resurrection in First Apoc James)
“Do not expect, therefore, the carnal resurrection” (Test Truth)
“What, then, is the resurrection? It is always the disclosure of
those who have risen.” (Treatise on Resurrection)
“The resurrection... is the revelation of what is, and the
transformation of things, and a transition into newness. For imperishability
descends upon the perishable; the light flows down upon the darkness,
swallowing it up; and the Pleroma fills up the deficiency. These are the
symbols and the images of the resurrection.” (Treatise on Resurrection)
The Savior swallowed up death.. for he put aside the world which
is perishing. He transformed himself into an imperishable Aeon and raised
himself up, having swallowed the visible by the invisible, and he gave us the
way of our immortality. Then, indeed, as the Apostle said, "We suffered
with him, and we arose with him, and we went to heaven with him". Now if
we are manifest in this world wearing him, we are that one`s beams, and we are
embraced by him until our setting, that is to say, our death in this life. We
are drawn to heaven by him, like beams by the sun, not being restrained by
anything. This is the spiritual resurrection which swallows up the psychic in
the same way as the fleshly.” (Treatise on Resurrection)
“already you have the resurrection. For if he who will die knows
about himself that he will die - even if he spends many years in this life, he
is brought to this - why not consider yourself as risen and (already) brought
to this?” (Treatise on Resurrection)
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On rising up through the Archons (and fear):
"I will teach you.
When the time of dissolution arrives, the first power of darkness will come
upon you. Do not be afraid and say "Behold! The time has come!" ...
Truly, fear is the power [...]. So if you are going to be afraid of what is
about to come upon you, it will engulf you. For there is not one among them who
will spare you or show you mercy. But in this way, look at the [...] in it,
since you have mastered every word on earth.” (Dialogue of the Saviour)
“For the crossing place is fearful before you. But you, with a
single mind, pass it by!” (Dialogue of the Saviour)
“ Since they were not afraid before me, they will pass by every
gate without fear and will be perfected in the third glory.” (2 Treat Gr Seth)
“When you come into their power, one of them who is their guard
will say to you, 'Who are you or where are you from?' You are to say to him, 'I
am a son, and I am from the Father.”... “When he also says to you, 'Where will
you go?', you are to say to him, 'To the place from which I have come, there
shall I return.' And if you say these things, you will escape their attacks.”
(Jesus to James in First Apoc James)
“And again when they take my soul to the place of Typhon,
the great and powerful Archon with the face of an ass`s
who is spread out upon the way of the Midst,
who carries off the souls by theft:
when they take my soul to that place
it will give to them the mystery of their fear, which is PPAWP”
(Bruce Fragment: On the Passage of the Soul)
"Listen, Asclepius! There is a great demon. The great God has
appointed him to be overseer or judge over the souls of men. And God has placed
him in the middle of the air, between earth and heaven. Now when the soul comes
forth from (the) body, it is necessary that it meet this daimon. Immediately,
he (the daimon) will surround this one (masc.), and he will examine him in
regard to the character that he has developed in his life. And if he finds that
he piously performed all of his actions for which he came into the world, this
(daimon) will allow him ... (1 line missing) ... turn him [...]. But if he sees
[...] in this one [...] he brought his life into evil deeds, he grasps him, as
he flees upward, and throws him down, so that he is suspended between heaven
and earth, and is punished with a great punishment. And he will be deprived of
his hope, and will be in great pain.” (Asclepius 21)
At the end of the last Parousia: “And I shall withdraw with
everyone who will know me. And they will enter into the immeasurable light,
(where) there is no one of the flesh nor the wantonness of the first to seize
them. They will be unhampered (and) holy, since nothing drags them down. I
myself (unknown - the saviour?) protect them, since they have holy garments,
which the fire cannot touch, nor darkness nor wind nor a moment, so as to cause
one to shut the eyes.” (Concept.Great.Power)
“He who will know our great Power will become invisible, and fire
will not be able to consume him. But it will purge and destroy all of your
possessions. For everyone in whom my form will appear will be saved,”
(Concept.Great.Power) By this, I understand that the soul rising up, dressed in
its robe of light, will appear (or be disguised) like the saviour, and so the
archons cannot see or detain him.
“the redemption also is an ascent to the degrees which are in the
Pleroma and to those who have named themselves and who conceive of themselves according
to the power of each of the aeons, and (it is) an entrance into what is silent,
where there is no need for voice nor for knowing, nor for forming a concept,
nor for illumination, but (where) all things are light, while they do not need
to be illumined.” (Tripart tract)
Jesus: “And many times have I said to you all together, and also
to you alone, James, have I said, 'Be saved!' And I have commanded you to
follow me, and I have taught you what to say before the archons.” (Apocryphon
of James)
_____________________________________
On the Ascension and rising up:
"Have you departed and
removed yourself from us?" But Jesus said, "No, but I shall go to the
place from whence I came. If you wish to come with me, come!"
They all answered and said, "If you bid us, we come."
He said, "Verily I say unto you, no one will ever enter the
kingdom of heaven at my bidding, but (only) because you yourselves are full.”
(Apoc. of James)
“For I came down to dwell with you, so that you in turn might
dwell with me. And, finding your houses unceiled, I have made my abode in the
houses that could receive me at the time of my descent." (Apoc James)
“But I have said (my) last word to you, and I shall depart from
you, for a chariot of spirit has borne me aloft, and from this moment on, I
shall strip myself, that I may clothe myself. But give heed; blessed are they
who have proclaimed the Son before his descent, that when I have come, I might
ascend (again). Thrice blessed are they who were proclaimed by the Son before they
came to be, that you might have a portion among them." Having said these
words, he departed.” (Apoc James)
“But we bent (our) knee(s), I (James) and Peter, and gave thanks,
and sent our heart(s) upwards to heaven. We heard with our ears, and saw with
our eyes, the noise of wars, and a trumpet blare, and a great turmoil. And when
we had passed beyond that place, we sent our mind(s) farther upwards, and saw
with our eyes and heard with our ears hymns, and angelic benedictions, and
angelic rejoicing. And heavenly majesties were singing praise, and we, too,
rejoiced. After this again, we wished to send our spirit upward to the Majesty,
and after ascending, we were not permitted to see or hear anything, for the
other disciples called us and asked us, "What did you hear from the
Master. And what has he said to you? And where did he go?" (Apoc James)
- In the Apoc of Paul, Paul is brought up to the third heaven,
where he sees a soul which is being brought up to the third archon, who sits in
judgement of his sins. Witnesses are called which testify to his sins. And so
“When the soul heard these things, it gazed downward in sorrow. And then it
gazed upward. It was cast down. The soul that had been cast down went to a body
which had been prepared for it.” (Apoc Paul)
-If the ‘archon’s commandment’ is found in someone, the archon
will detain him. Jesus: “But you, my disciples, hasten to receive my word with
certainty so that you know it, in order that the archon of this aeon may not
fight with you - this one who did not find any commandment of his in me” (1st
Bk Ieou)
- “We have nothing in this world, lest the authority of the world
that has come into being (i.e archons) should detain us in the worlds that are
in the heavens, those in which universal death exists... While her enemies look
at her in shame, she runs upward into her treasure-house - the one in which her
mind is - and (into) her storehouse which is secure, since nothing among the
things that have come into being has seized her, nor has she received a
stranger into her house.” (Authoritative Teaching)
- The soul, while ascending: “She gave (back) the body to those
who had given it to her” (Authoritative Teaching)
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On crossing over the other side:
“For the crossing place is fearful before you. But you, with a
single mind, pass it by! For its depth is great; its height is
enormous”(Dialogue of the Saviour)
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On the end of the Archons’ Rule:
“It was my going to the revealed height which the world did not
accept, my third baptism in a revealed image. When they had fled from the fire
of the seven Authorities, and the sun of the powers of the archons set,
darkness took them.” (2 Treat Gr Seth)
see also Three Parousias
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On the Restitution / Restoration / Redemption:
“When the redemption was proclaimed, the perfect man (ie Christ?)
received knowledge immediately, so as to return in haste to his unitary state,
to the place from which he came, to return there joyfully, to the place from
which he came, to the place from which he flowed forth. His members (ie
disciples, church), however, needed a place of instruction, which is in the
places which are adorned, so that they might receive from them resemblance to
the images and archetypes, like a mirror, until all the members of the body of
the Church are in a single place and receive the restoration at one time, when
they have been manifested as the whole body, namely the restoration into the
Pleroma.” (Tripart tract)
Seth to Barbelo: “Unite us as thou has been united. Teach us those
things which thou dost see. Empower us that we may be saved to eternal life.
For we are each a shadow of thee as thou art a shadow of that first
pre-existent one.” (3 Stele Seth)
At the end of the third Parousia: “Then the souls will appear, who
are holy through the light of the Power, who is exalted, above all powers, the
immeasurable, the universal one, I and all those who will know me. And they
will be in the aeon of beauty of the aeon of judgment, since they are ready in
wisdom, having given glory to him who is in the incomprehensible unity; and
they see him because of his will, which is in them. And they all have become as
reflections in his light. They all have shone, and they have found rest in his
rest.” (Concept of our Great Power)
“...from its going forth to its coming in.” (Bruce Untitled ms)
“When the whole seed is perfected, then, they say, will the
mother, Achamoth leave the place of the Middle, enter into the Pleroma, and
receive her bridegroom, the Savior, who came into being from all (the aeons),
with result that the Savior and Sophia, who is Achamoth, form a pair (syzygy)
These then are said to be bridegroom and bride, but the bridal chamber is the
entire Pleroma. The spiritual beings will divest themselves of their souls and
become intelligent spirits, and, without being hindered or seen, they will
enter into the Pleroma, and will be bestowed as brides on the angels around the
Savior. The Demiurge passes into the place of his mother Sophia, that is, into
the Middle. The souls of the righteous will also repose in the place of the
Middle, for nothing psychic enters the Pleroma. When this has taken place, then
(they assert) the fire that is hidden in the world will blaze forth and burn:
when it has consumed all matter it will be consumed with it and pass into
non-existence. According to them the Demiurge knew none of these things before
the advent of the Savior.” (Ptolemaeus, apud Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses I, 1.7.1;
cf. Excerpta ex Theodoto 63-65). OR “When all the seed shall have come to
perfection, they state that then their mother Achamoth shall pass from the
intermediate place, and enter in within the Pleroma, and shall receive as her
spouse the Saviour, who sprang from all the AEons, that thus a conjunction may
be formed between the Saviour and Sophia, that is, Achamoth. These, then, are
the bridegroom and bride, while the nuptial chamber is the full extent of the
Pleroma. The spiritual seed, again, being divested of their animal souls,(2)
and becoming intelligent spirits, shall in an irresistible and invisible manner
enter in within the Pleroma, and be bestowed as brides on those angels who wait
upon the Saviour. The Demiurge himself will pass into the place of his mother
Sophia;(3) that is, the intermediate habitation. In this intermediate place,
also, shall the souls of the righteous repose; but nothing of an animal nature
shall find admittance to the Pleroma. When these things have taken place as
described, then shall that fire which lies hidden in the world blaze forth and
bum; and while destroying all matter, shall also be extinguished along with it,
and have no further existence.” (Iren bk I, vii, 1)
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On Re-union with the One:
“And the uniting of their members was the gathering together of
the dispersed of Israel.... And they all became one, as it is written: ‘They
all became one in the one and only One '.” (Bruce Untitled ms)
- - The ‘washing of Kalyptos’ is a knowledge that ‘all come from
the one and to the one they return’: “And if in understanding the origin of
these, how they all appear from a single origin, how all who are joined come to
be divided, how those who are divided join again, and how the parts [join with]
the alls and the species and [kinds - if] one understands these things, one has
washed in the washing of Kalyptos.” (Zostrianos)
- “Then he exists as a perfect one. Therefore, he exists as a
perfect one because he is undivided with his own region, for nothing exists
before him except the [perfect] unity.” (Zostrianos)
The
Lord: “And you will become gods, and you will know that you are from God,
and you will see him, that he is God within you,” Bruce Untitled ms)
- “They enter jointly, but they come forth singly, fleeing from
the Aeons...” (Val Expo.) ie - the fallen souls came forth from the Upper Aeons
‘singly’, but they will return ‘jointly’