Tripartite Tractate
THE TRIPARTITE TRACTATE (I, 5)
Introduced by
HAROLD W. ATTRIDGE and ELAINE H. PAGELS
Translated by
HAROLD W. ATTRIDGE and DIETER MUELLER
The Tripartite Tractate , named for the three parts of the text, narrates the origin and history of the universe from the beginning to the anticipated “restoration of all things.” The first part begins by describing what is transcendent (“the things that are exalted”), above all, the Father “who is the root of everything,” the “depth, the abyss, and the Unengendered One.” While such language shows affinity with the language of Valentinian Gnostics, this author, unlike Valentinus, declares that the Father is “alone, without any companion,” encompassing within himself all the qualities that other Valentinian sources attribute to feminine elements of the divine being (that is, the Mother, Silence, Grace). The Father, “out of the abundance of his sweetness,” desires to share himself, and so engenders the Son, the “only begotten,” who exists “from the beginning” in the Father’s thought. With the Son, “preexisting from the beginning,” is the church which comes forth from the love between the Father and the Son. Thereby the author of the Tripartite Tractate interprets the divine being (here called the pleroma, literally the “fullness”) in terms of only three primary members—Father, Son, and Church—a theological innovation that Tertullian attributes to the western Valentinian teacher Heracleon.
The text goes on to relate the process of devolution and precreation known from Valentinian sources in the form of the myth of Sophia. Unlike any known Valentinian teacher, however, this author transposes the myth into a myth of the Word (Logos). Here it is the divine Logos who undergoes suffering, and brings forth from himself the elements involved in creation. This author insists, perhaps in response to “orthodox” criticism, that the Logos’ “rash act,” far from violating the Father’s will, actually fulfills it in bringing forth the dispensation.
The second part of the Tripartite Tractate , interpreting the Genesis account, relates the creation of the human race and explains how the fall led to the dominion of death. From this account the author explains that there came into existence three different types of human beings: those identified with spirit (the pneumatics, or spiritual ones), those identified with matter (the hylics, or material ones), and those identified with soul (the psychics, composed of a mixture of spirit and matter).
The third part of the tractate describes how the Savior came into the world to release humankind from death, to redeem the church, and to “restore all things” to the Father. Human response to Christ’s coming depends on each person’s essential nature. Those whose inclination is material reject him, and face ultimate destruction; those who are spiritual, together with those of the psychics who believe in Christ and obey him, are to be redeemed and restored to God. The text closes with praise to the Father through “Jesus the Lord” and through the “Holy Spirit.”
While the language and teaching of this text show affinities with Valentinian theology, it offers radically different interpretations of such major themes as the nature of God the Father, and the activity of the Logos in creation and redemption. Thus, the Tripartite Tractate offers a remarkable new source for understanding how a Gnostic teacher interprets the major themes of Christian theology.
THE TRIPARTITE TRACTATE
I 51, 1-138, 25
As for what we can say about the things which are exalted, it is fitting that we begin with the Father, who is the root of everything, the one from whom we have received 5 grace to say of him that he existed before anything other than himself came into being.
The Father is a unity, like a 10 number, for he is the first and is that which he alone is. Yet he is not like a solitary individual. Otherwise, how could he be a father? For whenever there is a “father,” 15 it follows that there is a “son.” But the single one, who alone is the Father, is like a root with tree, branches, and fruit. It is said 20 of him that he is a father in the proper sense, since he is inimitable and immutable, because he is a sole lord 25 and is a god, because no one is a god for him nor is anyone a father to him. For he is unbegotten and there is no other who begot him, nor 30 another who created him. For whoever is someone’s father or someone’s creator, he, too, has a father and creator. It is certainly possible 35 for him to be the father and the creator of the one who came into being from him and the one whom he created. Yet he is not a father in the proper sense, nor 40 a god, because he has 52 someone who begot [him and] who created him. In the proper sense, then, the only Father and God is the one whom no one else begot. As for the universe,5 he is the one who begot it and created it.
He is without beginning and without end; for not only is he without end—he is immortal for this reason, that he is unbegotten—10 but he is also invariable in his eternal existence, in his identity, in that by which he is established, and in that by which he is great. Neither 15 will he remove himself from what he is, nor will anyone else force him to approach a goal which he has not ever desired, since he has not had 20 anyone who initiated his own existence. Likewise he is himself unchanged, and no one else can remove him from his existence and 25 his identity, that by which he is, and his greatness. Thus he cannot be grasped, nor is it possible for anyone else to change him into a different form or to reduce him, alter him,30 or diminish him, because this, in the fullest sense, is the truth: he is the unalterable, unchangeable one, with immutability clothing him.
Not only is he the one 35 called “without a beginning” and “without an end,” because he is unbegotten and immortal. But just as he has 40 no beginning and no end, so he is unattainable 53 in his greatness, inscrutable in his wisdom, incomprehensible in his power, and unfathomable in his 5 sweetness.
In the proper sense he alone is the good, the unbegotten Father and the complete perfect one. He is the one filled with all his offspring 10 and with every virtue and with everything of value. And he has more, that is, lack of any evil. In order that it may be discovered that he has everything that he has,15 he gives it away, being unsurpassed and not wearied by that which he gives, but wealthy (precisely) in the gifts which he bestows and at rest 20 in the favors which he grants.
He is of such kind and such form and such great magnitude that no one else has been with him from the beginning; nor is there a place 25 in which he is, or from which he has come forth, or into which he will go; nor is there a primordial form which he uses as a model in his work; nor is there any difficulty 30 which accompanies him in what he does; nor is there any material set out for him, from which he creates what he creates; nor any substance within him from 35 which he begets what he begets; nor a co-worker who, along with him, does what he does. To say anything of this sort is ignorant. Rather,40 as one who is good, blameless, perfect, and 54 complete, he by himself is everything.
Not one of the names which are conceived, spoken, seen, or 5 grasped, not one of them, applies to him, even if they are exceedingly glorious, great, and honored. However, it is possible to utter these names for his glory 10 and honor, in accordance with the capacity of each of those who give him glory. Yet as for him, in his own existence, being, and form,15 it is impossible for mind to conceive him, nor can any work express him, nor can any eye see him, nor can any body grasp him, because of 20 his inscrutable greatness, and his incomprehensible depth, and his immeasurable height, and his illimitable will. This is the nature of the 25 unbegotten one, which does not touch anything else, nor is it joined (to anything) in the manner of something which is limited. Rather, he possesses this constitution, without having a 30 face or a form, things which are understood through perception, which the incomprehensible one transcends. If he is incomprehensible, then it follows that 35 he is unknowable, that he is the one who is inconceivable by any thought, invisible in any thing, ineffable by any word, untouchable by any hand.40 He alone is the one who knows himself as he 55 is, along with his form and his greatness and his magnitude, and who has the ability to conceive of himself, to see himself, to name 5 himself, to comprehend himself, since he alone is the one who is his own mind, his own eye, his own mouth, his own form, and the one who conceives 10 of himself, who sees himself, who speaks of himself, who comprehends himself, namely, the inconceivable, ineffable, the incomprehensible, unchanging one.15
He is sustenance; he is joy; he is truth; he is rejoicing; he is rest. That which he conceives, that which he sees, that about which he speaks, the thought which he has,20 transcends all wisdom, and is above all intellect, and is above all glory, and is above all honor, and 25 all sweetness, and all greatness, and any depth, and any height.
If this one, who is unknowable in his nature, to whom pertain all the greatnesses which 30 I already mentioned, if in the abundance of his sweetness he wishes to grant knowledge so that he might be known, he has the ability to do so. He has his power,35 which is his will. Now, however, it is in silence that he keeps himself, he who is the great one, who is the cause of bringing the Totalities into their 40 eternal being. 56
He himself, since in the proper sense he begets himself as ineffable one, since he is self-begotten,5 since he conceives of himself, and since he knows himself as he is, (namely as) the one who is worthy of his admiration, and glory, and honor, and praise, since he produces himself 10 because of the boundlessness of his greatness, and the unsearchability of his wisdom, and the immeasurability of his power, and his 15 untasteable sweetness, he is the one who projects himself in this manner of generation, thus having honor and a wondrous glory of love; the one who 20 gives himself glory, who wonders, who honors, who also loves; the one who has a Son, who subsists 25 in him, who is silent concerning him; who is the ineffable one in the ineffable one, the invisible one, the incomprehensible one, the inconceivable one in 30 the inconceivable one. Thus, the Father exists forever, as we said earlier, in an unbegotten way, the one who knows himself,35 who begot himself, who has a thought, which is the thought of himself, that is, the 57 perception of himself, which is the [foundation] of his constitution forever. That is, in the proper sense,5 the silence and the wisdom and the grace which is designated properly in this way.
Just as [the] Father exists in the fullest sense,10 the one before whom [there was no one] else and [the one] after [whom] there is no other unbegotten one, so too the [Son] exists in the fullest sense,15 the one before whom there is no other and after whom no other son exists. Therefore he is a first-born and an only Son,20 the first-born because no one exists before him and the only Son because no one is after him. Furthermore, he has his own fruit,25 that which is unknown because of its surpassing greatness. Yet he wanted it to be known, because of the riches of his sweetness.30 And he revealed the unsurpassable power and he combined with it the great abundance of his generosity.
Not only does the Son exist from the beginning, but the Church,35 too, exists from the beginning. Now he who thinks that the discovery that the Son is an only son opposes the word (about the church)—’ because of the mysterious quality of the matter 40 it is not so. For just as 58 the Father is a unity and has revealed himself as a father for him (the Son) alone, so too 5 the Son was found to be a brother to him (the Father) alone, in virtue of the fact that he is unbegotten and without beginning. He wonders at himself 10 [along with the] Father, and he gives [him(self)] glory and honor and [love]. Furthermore, he too is the one who conceives of himself as Son, in accordance with the 15 conditions: “without beginning” and “without end.” The matter (of the Son) exists just as something which is fixed. His offspring, the things which exist, being innumerable,20 illimitable, and inseparable, have, like kisses, come forth from the Son and the Father, (like kisses) because of the multitude 25 of those who kiss one another with a good, insatiable thought, the kiss being a unity, although it involves many. Such is the 30 Church consisting of many men, which exists before the aeons, and which is called, in the proper sense, “the aeons of the aeons.” Such is the nature of the 35 holy imperishable spirits, upon which the Son rests, since his essence is like that of the Father who rests 59 upon the Son.
[…] the Church exists in the conditions and properties in which the Father and the Son exist,5 as I mentioned previously. Therefore it subsists in the innumerable aeonic procreations. Also in an uncountable way [they] too beget, by [the] properties [and] 10 the conditions in which it (the Church) [exists]. These [comprise the] constitution which [they form] with one another and [with those] who have come forth from them 15 toward the Son, for whose glory they exist. Therefore it is not possible for mind to conceive them. They were the perfection of that place, and no word 20 designates them, for they are ineffable and unnameable and inconceivable. They alone have the ability to name themselves in order to conceive 25 of themselves. For they have not been planted in these places.
The things which pertain to that place are ineffable, (and) innumerable in the system, which is 30 the manner and the size and the joy and the gladness of the unbegotten, nameless, unnameable, inconceivable, invisible,35 incomprehensible one. It is the fullness of the Fatherhood, so that his abundance is a begetting. 60
[…] all of the aeons were forever in the thought of the Father, who was like a thinking 5 of them and a place (for them). When the generations had been established, the one who controls everything wished to take, to lay hold of, and to bring forth those who were deficient in the 10 [… , and he brought] forth those who [are] in him. But since he is [as] he is, [he is like] a spring which is not diminished by the water which 15 abundantly flows from it. At the time that they were in the Father’s thought, that is, in the hidden depth, the depth knew them,20 but they were unable to know the depth in which they were; nor could they know 25 themselves; nor could they know anything else. In other words, they were with the Father; they did not exist by themselves. Rather,30 they only had existence in the manner of a seed. Thus it has been discovered that they existed like a fetus. Like the word,35 he begot them, and they subsisted spermatically, before the ones whom he was to beget came into being. 61 Therefore the Father who first thought of them—’ not only so that they might exist for him, but also that they might exist for themselves as well,5 that they might then exist in [his] thought with the mode of existence proper to thought, and that they might exist for themselves too—he sowed a thought like a seed of [knowledge], so that [they]10 might know [what it is that has come into being] for them. He graciously [granted the] initial form that they might [think about] who is the Father who exists […]. He gave them the name “father” 15 by means of a voice proclaiming to them that what exists exists through that name which they have by virtue of the fact that they come into being.
The exalted one, whom they have forgotten, is in the name.20—While in the form of a fetus, the infant is self-sufficient before ever seeing the one who sowed him.—Therefore, they had 25 the sole task of searching for him, realizing that he exists, ever wishing to find out what it is that exists. Since, however, the perfect Father is good,30 just as he did not hear them until they came into being in his thought, but (then) granted that they too might come into being, so also will he give them grace 35 to know what it is that exists, that is, the one who knows himself eternally, 62 [and the one who has given them a] form to [know] what it is that exists. As they are begotten in this place, when they are born, they are in 5 the light, so that they see those who have begotten them.
The Father brought forth everything. Like a little child, like a drop from a spring, like a blossom 10 from a [vine], like a [flower], like a planting, [they are] in need of gaining [knowledge] and growth and faultlessness. He withheld it 15 for a time, he who had thought of it from the very beginning. He has possessed it from the very beginning, he saw it, and he closed it to those who first came from 20 him. (He did this), not out of envy, but in order that the aeons might not receive their faultlessness from the very beginning and might not exalt themselves to the Father in glory and might not think 25 that from themselves alone they have this. But just as he wished to grant that they might come into being, so too (he wished to grant) that they might come into being as 30 faultless ones. When he wished, he gave them the perfect idea of beneficence toward them.
The one whom he took up as a light for those who came 35 from himself, the one from whom they take their name, he is the Son, who is full, complete, and blameless. He (the Father) brought him forth united with the one who came forth from 63 him […] partaking of the [glory from] the Totality, in so [far] as each one can receive [him] for himself,5 since his greatness is not such before they receive him, but he does certainly exist, as he is, in his own manner and form and greatness.10 Since it is possible for them to see him and for them to say that which they know of him since they bear him while he bears them […], it is possible for them to comprehend him.15 He, however, is as he is, the incomparable one. In order that he might receive honor from each one, the Father reveals himself,20 and yet in his ineffability he is hidden as an invisible one, while he mentally wonders at himself. Therefore the greatness of his loftiness consists in the fact that they 25 speak about him and see him. He becomes manifest, so that he may be hymned because of the abundance of his sweetness, with the grace of. … Just as 30 the admirations of the silences are eternal generations and they are mental offspring, so too the dispositions 35 of the word are spiritual emanations. Both of them (admirations and dispositions), since they belong to a word, 64 are […] and thoughts [of] his begetting, and roots which live forever, showing that 5 they are offspring which have come forth from him, being minds and spiritual offspring to the glory of the Father.
There is no need for voice and spirit, for mind and 10 word, […] nor is there need to [work at] that which they desire [to do], but as [he] was, so have they come forth from him,15 begetting everything which they desire. And the one whom they conceive of, and whom they speak about, and the one toward whom they move, and the one in whom they are, and 20 the one whom they hymn, to him do they give glory. They have sons—for this is their power as begetters—even like those from whom they have come,25 according to their mutual assistance, since they assist one another like the unbegotten ones.
The Father, in accordance with his exalted position over the Totalities, being 30 an unknown and incomprehensible one, has greatness of the sort and magnitude, such that if he had formerly revealed himself suddenly 35 to all the exalted ones among the aeons who had come forth from him, they would have perished. Therefore he withheld his power and his ease within that which he 65 is. [He is] ineffable [and] unnameable and exalted above every mind and every word. He, however, reached 5 out from himself, and what he spread out is what gave a confirmation and a place and a dwelling to the universe, a name of his being “the 10 one by whom,” since he is the Father of the universe. Therefore [he] labored for those who exist, having sown himself into their thought so that [they] might seek after him. The abundance of [their …]15 is the fact that they think that he exists and that they seek after what it is [that] he was. This one was given to them for enjoyment and nourishment and joy and an abundance 20 of the illumination, which consists in his fellow laboring, his knowledge, and his mingling with them. This is the one who is called and is, in fact,25 the Son, since he is the Totality and the one whose identity is known and the one who clothes himself with them. He is the one who is called “Son,” and the one of whom they think 30 that he exists and they were seeking after him. This is the one who is a Father, and the one whom they are not able to speak about, and the one of whom they do not conceive; he is the one who first exists.35
It is impossible for anyone to conceive of him or think of him. Who can approach there, toward the exalted one, toward the preexistent in the proper sense? But all the names conceived 66 or spoken about him are produced for an honor, as a trace of him, according to the power of each 5 of those who glorify him. Now he who arose from him stretches himself out for begetting and for knowledge on the part of the Totalities. He [also], without falsification, is all of the names,10 and he is, in the proper sense, the sole first one, [the] man of the Father. He it is whom I call the form of the formless, the body of the bodiless, the face 15 of the invisible, the word of [the] unutterable, the mind of the inconceivable, the fountain which flows from him, the root of those who are planted, and the god of those who exist, the light 20 of those whom he illuminates, the love of those whom he loved, the providence of those for whom he providentially cares, the wisdom of those whom he made wise, the power of those to whom he gives power, the assembly 25 of those whom he assembles, the revelation of the things which are sought after, the eyes of those who see, the breath of those who breathe, the life of those who live, the unity of those who are mixed with the Totalities.30
All of these are in the single one, as he clothes himself completely. By his single name he is never called. And in 35 this unique way they are equally a single individual and the Totalities. He is neither divided as a body, nor is split up into the names which he has.40 He is different in one way and different 67 in another. [Yet] he does not change by […] nor is he changed into [the] names which he has. He is now this, now 5 something else, with each item being different. Yet he is entirely and completely himself. [He] is each and every one of the Totalities forever at the same time. He is what 10 all of them are. He, as
the Father of the Totalities, also is the Totalities, for he is the one who is knowledge for himself and he is each one of the qualities. He 15 has the powers and he is beyond all that which he knows, while seeing himself completely and having a Son and a form. Therefore 20 his powers and properties are innumerable and inaudible, because of the begetting by which he begets them. Innumerable and indivisible are 25 the begettings of his words, and his commands and his Totalities. He knows them—which things he himself is, since they are in the single name, and 30 are all speaking within him. And he brings (them) forth, in order that it might be discovered that they exist according to their individual properties in a unified way. And he did not reveal the multitude 35 to the Totalities at once, nor did he reveal his equality to those who had come forth from him.
All those who came forth from him, who are the aeons of the aeons, 68 they are emanations, they are offspring of his procreative nature. They too, in their procreative nature, have given glory to 5 the Father, since he was the cause of their establishment. This is what we said originally, namely that he created the aeons as roots and 10 springs and fathers, and that he to whom they give glory has begotten, for he has knowledge and wisdom, and the Totalities know 15 that it is from knowledge and wisdom that they have come forth. They would have brought forth a semblance of honor—“The Father is the one who is the Totalities”—20 if the aeons had risen up to give honor individually. Therefore, in the song of glorification and in the power of the unity 25 of him from whom they have come, they were drawn into a mingling and a combination and a unity with one another. They offered glory worthy of 30 the Father from the pleromatic congregation, which is a single image although many, because it was brought forth as a glory for the single one and because 35 they came forth toward the one who is himself the Totalities. Now this 69 is their praise […] to the one who brought forth the Totalities, being a first fruit of the immortals and an eternal one, because 5 it was from the living aeons that it came forth, perfect and full, because of the one who is perfect and full. It left them full and perfect, those who have given glory in a perfect way because of the 10 fellowship. For like the faultless Father (that he is), when he is glorified he hears the glory of those who glorify him, so as to make them manifest as that which he is.
The cause of the second 15 honor which accrued to them was that which was returned to them from the Father when they had known the grace by which they bore fruit for one another because of the Father.20 As a result, just as they came forth in glory for the Father, so too (have they come forth) in order to appear perfect, as a manifestation, acting by giving glory.
They 25 are fathers in the third glory according to the independence and the power which was begotten with them, since each one of them individually does not exist so as to give glory 30 in a unitary way to him whom he desires (to glorify).
They are the first and the second, and thus they are both perfect and full, for they are manifestations of the Father who is perfect 35 and full, as well as of those who came forth, who are perfect by the fact that they glorify the perfect one. The third fruit, however, consists of honors of the will of each one of the aeons 40 and each one of the properties. The Father has power. He is 70 [in] a Pleroma which is perfect [in the thought], which is a product of a combination as much as it is a product of the individuality 5 of the aeons. It is this which he desires and over which he has power, as it gives glory to the Father.
For this reason they are minds of minds, which are found to be 10 words of words, elders of elders, depths of depths, which are exalted above one another. Each one 15 of those who give glory has his place and his exaltation and his dwelling and his rest, which consists of the glory which he brings forth.20
All those who glorify the Father have their begetting eternally—they beget in the act of assisting one another—’ since the emanations are limitless and 25 immeasurable, and since there is no envy on the part of the Father toward those who come forth from him (so as to prevent) their begetting something equal or similar to him, since he is the one who 30 is in the Totalities, begetting and revealing himself. Whomever he wishes he makes into a father, of whom he in fact is Father, and a god, of whom he in fact 35 is God, and he makes them the Totalities, whose entirety he is.
All the names which 71 are fair are kept there with these (aeons) in the proper sense, these (names) which the angels share, who have come into being in 5 the cosmos along with the archons, although they do not have any resemblance to the eternal beings.
The entire system of the aeons has a love and a longing 10 for the perfect, complete discovery of the Father, and this is their unimpeded union. Though the Father reveals himself eternally, he did not wish 15 that they should know him, since he grants that he be conceived in such a way as to be sought for, while keeping to himself his unsearchable, primordial being.
However, the Father is the one who has given a start 20 to the aeonic roots, since they are places on the peaceful path toward him, as toward a school of behavior. He has extended to them faith in and prayer to him whom 25 they have not seen, and a firm hope in him whom they have not conceived, and a fruitful love which looks toward that which it does not see, and an acceptable understanding 30 of the eternal mind, and a blessing, which is riches and freedom, and a wisdom of the one who desires the glory of the Father 35 for his thoughts.
It is by virtue of his will that the Father, the one who is exalted, is known, 72 that is, (by virtue of) the spirit which breathes in the Totalities and which gives them an idea of seeking after the 5 unknown one, just as one is drawn by a pleasant aroma to search for the thing from which the aroma arises, since the aroma 10 of the Father surpasses these ordinary ones. For his sweetness exists in the aeons in an ineffably pleasurable way, and it gives them their idea 15 of mingling with him who wants them to know him in a united way, and (an idea) of assisting one another in the spirit which is sown within them. Though existing 20 under a great weight, they are renewed in an inexpressible way, since it is impossible for them to be separated from that in which they are set in ignorance,25 because they do not speak, being silent about the Father’s glory, about the one who has power to speak, and yet they take form from him. He became manifest,30 though it is impossible to speak of him. They have him, hidden in their thoughts, since (they are) from this one. They are silent about the way the Father is 35 in his form, and his nature, and his greatness, 73 while the aeons have become worthy of knowing through his spirit that he is unnameable and incomprehensible, through 5 his spirit, which is the trace of the discovery of him, providing them the ability to conceive of him and to speak about him.
Each one of the aeons is a name, each of which is 10 a virtue and power of the Father. Since he is in many names, which are mixed yet harmonious with one another, it is possible to speak of him because of the wealth of speech, just as the Father 15 is a single name because he is a unity, yet is innumerable in his properties and names.
The emanation of the Totalities, which have come into being from the one 20 who exists, did not at all come into being separate from one another, as something cast off from the one who begets them. Rather, their begetting is like a process of extension,25 as the Father extends himself to those whom he desires, so that those who have come forth from him might become him as well.
Just as the present aeon, although a 30 unity, is divided into ages, and ages are divided into years, and years are divided into seasons, and seasons into months, and months into days, and days 35 into hours, and hours into moments, so 74 too the aeon of the Truth, being a unity and multiplicity, is honored with little and great names according to the 5 power of each to grasp it—by way of analogy, like a spring which is what it is, yet flows into rivers and lakes and canals 10 and branches, or like a root which extends into trees with branches and fruit, or like a human body, which is partitioned 15 in an indivisible way into members of members, primary members and secondary, great [and] small.
The aeons have been brought forth in accord with the third 20 fruit by the freedom of the will and by the wisdom which he graciously gave them for their thought. They do not wish to honor 25 the one who comes from an agreement, though he was produced for words of [praise] for each of the Pleromas. Nor do they wish to give glory with the Totality. Nor do 30 they wish (to do so) with anyone else, who was originally above the depth of that one, or (above) its place, except for the one who exists in the exalted name and 35 the exalted place, and only if he receives from the one who wished (to praise), 75 taking it to him(self) for the one above him. And he begets himself, so to speak, and through that one, he begets him 5 along with that which he is. He renews himself along with the one who came upon him, by his brother. He sees him and asks him about the matter.
He who wished to ascend to him,10 so that it might be in this way, he, the one who wished to give honor, did not say anything to him about this except it alone. For there is a boundary to speech set in the Pleroma, so 15 that they are silent about the incomprehensibility of the Father, but they speak about the one who wishes to comprehend him. It came to one of the aeons that it should attempt to grasp the incomprehensibility.20 He gives glory to it, and especially to the ineffability of the Father. Since he is a Logos of the unity, he is one, though he is not from the Father of the Totalities, nor 25 from him who brought them forth (the Son). For the one who brought forth the Totality is the Father.
This aeon is among those to whom was given wisdom, each one of whom preexisted 30 in his thought. By that which he wills are they produced. Therefore he took a nature of wisdom in order to examine the hidden establishment, as a fruit of 35 wisdom, for the free will which was begotten with the Totalities was a cause of this one, so that he would do 76 what he desired, with no one to restrain him.
The intent of the Logos was something good.5 When he had come forth, he gave glory to the Father, although he had attempted an act beyond his power, wishing to bring forth one who is perfect, from a 10 harmony in which he had not been, and without having a command.
This aeon was last to have been brought forth by 15 mutual assistance—and he was young in age. And before he begot anything else for the glory of the will and in harmony with the Totalities, he acted magnanimously,20 from an abundant love, and set out for the one who is within perfect glory, for it was not without the will of the Father 25 that the Logos was produced, which is to say, not without him (the Father) does he (the Logos) go forth. But the Father himself had brought him forth for those of whom he knew that it was 30 fitting that they should come into being.
The Father and the Totalities drew away from him, so that the limit, which the Father had set, might be established—for 35 it is not from the attainment of incomprehensibility but by the will 77 of the Father—and furthermore, (they withdrew) so that the things which have come to be might become a system which would be bitter if it did not come into being 5 by the revelation of the Pleroma. Therefore it is not fitting to criticize the movement which is the Logos, but it is fitting that we should say about the movement of the Logos, that it is a cause 10 of a system, which has been destined to come about.
The Logos begot himself as a perfect unity for the glory of the Father, the one who desired him and who takes pleasure in him,15 but those whom he (the Logos) wished to take hold as an establishment, he begot in shadows, models, and likenesses. For he was not able to bear the sight of the light, but he looked into 20 the depth and he doubted. Therefore it was an extremely painful division and a turning away because of his self-doubt and division, forgetfulness and ignorance of himself and 25 of that which is.
His self-exaltation and his expectation of comprehending the incomprehensible became firm for him and was in him. But the sicknesses which followed him 30 when he went beyond himself came into being from self-doubt, namely the fact that he did not attain to the glory of the Father, the one whose exalted status 35 is unlimited. This one did not attain him, for he did not receive him.
The one whom he brought forth from himself 78 as a unitary aeon rushed up to that which is his and to his kin in the Pleroma. He abandoned 5 that which exists defectively, those who had come forth from him in an imaginary way, since they are not his.
When he who produced himself as perfect actually did bring 10 himself forth, he became weak like a female nature which has abandoned its virility.
From that which was deficient in itself there 15 came those things which came into being from his thought and [his] arrogance. Because of this his perfect (self) left him and raised [itself] up to those who are his. He was 20 in the Pleroma as a reminder to him that he [would be] saved from [his …].
The one who ran on high and the one who drew him to himself were not 25 barren, but brought forth a fruit in the Pleroma. They upset those who were in the defect.
Like the Pleromas are the things which came into being from the 30 arrogant thought, which are their (the Pleromas’) likenesses, models, shadows, and phantasms, lacking 35 reason and the light, these which belong to the vain thought, since they are not products of anything. Therefore 79 their end will be like their beginning: (they are) from that which did not exist, (and are) to return once again to that which will not be. The ones, however,5 who by themselves are great (the Pleromas), are more powerful and beautiful than the names which are given to them, which are [their] shadows. In the manner of a likeness are they (the names) beautiful.10 For the [face] of the image normally takes its beauty from that of which it is an image.
They thought of themselves, that they are beings existing by themselves and are without a source,15 since they do not see anything else existing before them. Therefore they [live] in disobedience [and] acts of rebellion, without having humbled themselves before the one because of whom they came into being.20
They wanted to command one another, outrivalling one another in their vain ambition, while the glory which they possess contains a cause 25 of the system which was to be.
They are likenesses of the things which are exalted. They were brought to a lust for power over one another according to the glory of the name 30 of which each is a shadow, each one imagining that it is superior to the others.
The thought of these others was not barren, but just like those 35 of which they are shadows, all that they think about they have as sons 80 and those of whom they thought they had as offspring. Therefore it happened that many offspring came forth from them,5 as fighters as warriors, as troublemakers, as apostates in disobedience, as lovers of power and 10 all others such as (derive) from these.
The Logos was a cause of these [who] came into being. He also, to a greater degree, was embarrassed and astonished: 15 instead of perfection, he saw a defect, instead of unification, he saw division, instead of stability, he [saw] disturbances, instead of [rest], tumults. Neither was it [possible] 20 for him to make them cease from [loving] disturbance, nor was it possible for him to destroy it. He was powerless, once his Totality and his exaltation abandoned him.
The things which had come into being 25 unaware of themselves both did not know the Pleroma from which they came forth, and did not know the one who was the cause of 30 their existence.
The Logos, being in such unstable conditions, did not continue to bring forth anything like emanations,35 the things which are in the Pleroma, the glories which exist for the honor of the Father. Rather, he brought 81 [forth] in […] weakness (things) small and [hindered] by their illnesses, by which he too was hindered. It was the imitation of the system which was 5 a unity, that which was the cause of the things which do not exist from the first, by themselves.
Until the one who brought forth these things in the way which was 10 responsible for the defect, until he judged those who have come into being because of him, contrary to reason, and until that judgment was a condemnation, he struggled against them for their destruction.15 These are the ones who struggled against the condemnation and whom the wrath pursues, while it (the wrath) helps and redeems (them) from their (false) opinion and apostasy. From it 20 [also] comes the conversion which is called “metanoia.” The Logos turned to [another] opinion and another thought, turning away from evil and 25 turning toward good. Following the conversion, the remembrance of the things which exist and the prayer came to the one who converted himself to the good.30
That which is in the Pleroma was what he first prayed to, and remembered; then (he remembered) his brothers individually and (yet) always with one another; then all of them together; 35 but before all of them, the Father. 82
The prayer of the Totality helped him to return to himself and (to) the Totality, for it caused 5 him to remember those who have existed from the first, and them to remember him. This is the thought which calls out from afar, bringing him back.10
All his prayer and remembering were numerous powers according to that limit. For there is nothing barren in his thought.15
The powers were good and greater than those of the likeness. For those belonging to the likeness also belong to a […]. From an illusion 20 of similarity and a thought of arrogance has [come about] that which they became. And they originate from the one who first knew [them].25
The former are like forgetfulness and a heavy sleep, being like those who dream troubled dreams, to whom 30 sleep comes while they—’ those who dream—are oppressed. The others are like some creatures of light for him, looking for 35 the rising of the sun. It happened that they saw dreams in it, (dreams) which are truly sweet. However, 83 immediately it put a stop [to] the emanations of the thought. They [did] not any longer have their substance, and also they did 5 not have honor any longer.
Though he is not equal to those who preexisted, if they were superior to the likenesses, it was he alone through whom they were more exalted than those,10 for they are not from a good intent.
It was not from the sickness which came into being that they were produced, which (sickness) is the good intent from […], which 15 sought after the preexistent. Once he had prayed, he both exalted himself to the good and sowed in them their predisposition to seek 20 and pray to the glorious preexistent one, and he sowed in them their thought about him and an idea that they should think that there is something greater than themselves and that he 25 exists prior to them, although they did not understand what he was. Begetting agreement and mutual love through that thought, they acted in 30 unity and unanimity, since from unity and from unanimity they have received their very being.
They were stronger than them 35 in the lust for power, for they were more honored 84 than the first ones, who had raised themselves above them. Those had not humbled themselves. They thought about themselves that they were beings originating from themselves 5 alone and were without a source. As they brought [forth] at first according to their own birth, the two orders assaulted one another, fighting for 10 command because of their manner of being. As a result they were submerged in acts of violence and cruelty, as is normal in cases of mutual assault, since they have a 15 lust for power and all other things of this sort. From these the vain love of glory draws all of them to 20 the desire of the lust for power, while none of them remembers the exalted one nor acknowledges him.
The powers 25 of this thought were prepared for the works of the preexistent ones, those of which they are images. For the order of those of this sort 30 had mutual harmony, and also it fought against the order of those of the likeness, while the order of those of the likeness wages war 35 against the representations and acts against it alone, because of its wrath. 85 Therefore it […] them […] against one another, in respect [to …] necessity appointed so [that they might …]5 and might prevail [over them and …] was not great, […] and their envy and their malice and wrath and violence and desire and prevailing ignorance 10 produce empty matters and powers of various sorts, mixed in great number with one another; while the mind of the Logos, which was a cause of their begetting, was open to a revelation of the hope 15 which would come to him from above.
The Logos which moved had the hope and the expectation of him who is exalted. As for those of the shadow, he separated himself from them in every way,20 since they fight against him and are not at all humble before him. He was content with the beings of the thought. And the one who […] up in this way and who is within the exalted boundary, remembering 25 the one who is defective, the Logos knew him in an invisible way among those who came into being according to the thought, according to the one who was with them, until the light shone upon him from 30 above as a life-giver, the one who was begotten by the thought of brotherly love of the preexistent Pleromas.
The stumbling, which happened to the aeons of the Father of the Totalities who did 35 not suffer, was brought to them, as if it were their own, in a careful and non-malicious and immensely sweet way. 86 [… the] Totalities so that they might receive [instruction] from the single one, the one from whom they all [received strength] to eliminate the defects.
The order 5 [which] was his came into being from him who ran [on] high and that which brought itself forth from him and from the entire perfection. The one who ran on high became for the one who was defective an intercessor with the 10 emanation of the aeons which had come into being in accord with the things which exist. When he prayed to them, they consented joyously and willingly, since they were in agreement, and with harmonious consent, to aid the 15 defective one. They gathered together, asking the Father with a beneficent intent, that there be aid from above, from the Father, for his glory, since the defective one could not become perfect in any other way,20 unless it was the will of the Pleroma of the Father, who had drawn him to himself, who revealed himself and who gave to the defective one. Then from the agreement in a joyous willingness which had come into being they 25 brought forth the fruit, which was a begetting from the agreement, a unity, a possession of the Totalities revealing the countenance of the Father, of whom the aeons thought 30 as they gave glory and prayed for help for their brother with a wish in which the Father counted himself with them. Thus it was willingly and gladly that they bring forth the fruit. And he made manifest the agreement of the 35 revelation of his union with them—which is the Son of his will. 87 But the Son in whom the Totalities are pleased put himself on them as a garment, through which he gave perfection to the defective one,5 and gave strength to those who are perfect, the one who is properly called “Savior” and “the Redeemer” and “the Pleasing One” and “the Beloved,” “the one to whom prayers have been offered” and “the Christ” and 10 “the Light of those appointed,” in accordance with the ones from whom he was brought forth, since he has become the names of the positions which were given to him. Yet what other name may be applied to him except “the Son,” as we previously 15 said, since he is the knowledge of the Father, whom he wanted them to know?
Not only did the aeons generate the countenance of the Father to whom they gave praise, which was written previously, but also 20 they generated that which is theirs. For the aeons, those who give glory, generated this countenance and their face. They were produced as an army for him, as for a king, since the beings of the thought have a 25 powerful fellowship and an intermingled harmony. They came forth in a multifaceted form in order that the one to whom help was to be given might see those to whom he had prayed 30 for help. He also sees the one who gave it to him.
The fruit of the agreement with him, of which I previously spoke, is subject to the power of the Totalities. For the Father has set the Totalities within him,35 both the ones which preexist and the ones which are and the ones which will be. 88 He was capable (of doing it). He revealed those which he had placed within him in his breast. Having entrusted (it) to him, he directed the administration of the universe 5 according to the authority which was given him from the
first and the power of the task. Thus he began and effected his revelation.
He created first the one in whom the Father is and the one 10 in whom the Totalities are, earlier than the one who lacked sight. He gave instruction about himself to those who searched for their sight, by means of the shining of that perfect light.15 He first perfected it in ineffable joy. He perfected it for himself as a perfect one, and he also gave to it what is appropriate to each individual. For this is the determination of 20 the first joy.—Also we were sown in him in an invisible way as a word which is destined to be knowledge.—And he gave him power to separate. He cast out from himself 25 those who are disobedient to him. Thus he made himself manifest to him. But to those who came into being because of him he revealed a form surpassing 30 them. They acted in a hostile way toward one another. Suddenly he revealed himself to them, approaching them in the form of lightning. And in putting an end to the entanglement which they have with 35 one another, he stopped it 89 by the sudden revelation which they were not informed about, did not expect, and did not know of. Because of this they 5 were afraid and fell down, since they were not able to bear the blow of the light which struck them. The one who appeared was an assault for the two orders. Just as the beings of thought had been given the name 10 “little one,” so they have a faint notion that they have the exalted one. He exists before them, and they have sown within them an attitude of amazement at the exalted one who 15 will become manifest. Therefore they welcomed his revelation and they worshipped him. They became convinced witnesses to him. They acknowledged the light which had come into being as 20 one stronger than those who fought against them. The beings of the likeness, however, were exceedingly afraid, since they were not able to hear about him in the beginning, that there is a vision of this sort. Therefore they fell down 25 to the pit of ignorance which is called “the Outer Darkness” and “Chaos” and “Hades” and “the Abyss.” He set up what was beneath the order of the beings 30 of thought, as it had become stronger than they. They were worthy of ruling over the unspeakable darkness, since it is theirs and is the lot which was assigned to them. He 35 granted them that they, too, should be of use for the organization which was to come, 90 to which he had assigned them.
There is a great difference between the revelation to the one who had come into being and the one who was defective and those things which are to come into being because of the latter. For he revealed himself to him within 5 him, since he is with him, is a fellow sufferer with him, gives him rest little by little, makes him grow, lifts him up, gives himself to him completely for enjoyment from 10 the vision. But to those who are outside he revealed himself quickly and in a striking way, and he withdrew to himself beyond them, without having let them see him.
When the Logos which was defective was illumined,15 his Pleroma began. He escaped those who had disturbed him at first. He became unmixed with them. He stripped off that arrogant thought.20 He received mingling with the Rest, when those who had been disobedient to him at first bent down and humbled themselves before him. And he rejoiced over the visitation of his brothers 25 who had visited him. He gave honor and praise to those who had become manifest as a help to him, while he gave thanks, because he had escaped those who revolted against him, and admired and honored the greatness 30 and those who had appeared to him in a determined way. He generated manifest images of the living forms, beautiful in that which is good, existing among the things which exist, resembling 35 them in beauty, but unequal to them in truth, since they are not from an agreement with him, between the one who brought them 91 forth and the one who revealed himself to him. But in wisdom and knowledge he acts, mixing the Logos with him(self) entirely. Therefore those which came 5 forth from him are great, just as that which is is truly great.
After he was amazed at the beauty of the ones who had appeared to him, he professed gratitude for their 10 visitation. The Logos performed this activity, through those from whom he had received aid, for the stability of those who had come into being because of him, and so that they might receive something good,15 thinking to pray for the organization of all those who came forth from him, which is stabilized, so that it might make them established. Therefore those whom he intentionally produced are in chariots,20 just as those who came into being, those who have shown that they would pass through every place of things which are below, so that each one might be given the place which is constituted as he 25 is. This is destruction for the beings of the likeness, yet is an act of beneficence for the beings of the thought and a revelation for those who are from 30 the Ordinance, which was a unity while suffering, while they are seeds, which have not come to be by themselves.
The one who appeared was a countenance of the Father and of the agreement, and he was 35 a garment (composed) of every grace, and food which is for those whom the Logos brought forth while praying and receiving glory and honor. 92 This is the one whom he glorified and honored while looking to those to whom he prayed, so that he might perfect them through the images which he had brought forth.
The Logos added 5 even more to their mutual assistance and to the hope of the promise, since they have the joy and great rest and undefiled pleasures.10 He generated those whom he thought of at first, when they were not with him, (he generated them) having the perfection. Now, while he who belongs to the vision is with him,15 he exists in hope and faith in the perfect Father, as much as the Totalities. He appears to him before he mixes with him in order that the things which have come into being might not perish by looking 20 upon the light, for they can not accept the great, exalted stature.
The thought of the Logos, which had returned to his stability and ruled over those who had 25 come into being because of him, was called “Aeon” and “Place” of all those whom he had brought forth in accord with the ordinance, and he is also called “Synagogue of 30 Salvation,” because he healed himself from the dispersal, which is the multifarious thought. He returned to the single thought. Similarly, he is called “Storehouse,”35 because of the rest which he obtained, giving (it) to himself alone. 93 And he is also called “Bride,” because of the joy in the one who gave himself to him in the hope of fruit from the union, and who appeared to him.5 He is also called “Kingdom” because of the stability which he received, while he rejoices at the domination over those who fought him. And he is called “the Joy of the Lord” because of the gladness in [which he]10 clothed himself. With him is the light, giving him recompense for the good things which are in him, and (with him is) the thought of freedom.
The aeon, of whom we previously spoke,15 is above the two orders of those who fight against one another. He is not a companion of those who hold dominion and is not implicated in the illnesses and weaknesses, things belonging to the thought and to the likeness.20
The one in whom the Logos set himself, perfect in joy, was an aeon, having the form of matter, but also having the constitution of the cause, which 25 is the one who revealed himself, being an image of those things which are in the Pleroma, those things which came into being from the abundance of the enjoyment of the one who exists joyously. He, moreover, is 30 the countenance of the one who revealed himself in sincerity and attentiveness and the promise concerning the things for which he asked. He had the designation of the Son 35 and his essence and his power and his form, who is the one (whom) he loved and in whom he was pleased, 94 who was entreated in a loving way. He was light and was a desire to be established and an openness for instruction and an eye and a vision,5 qualities which he had from the exalted ones. He was also wisdom for his thinking in opposition to the things beneath the organization. He was also a word for speaking and the perfection of the things10 of this sort. It is these who took form with him, but according to the image of the Pleroma, having fathers who are the ones who gave them life, each one being a copy15 of each one of the faces, which are forms of maleness, since they are not from the illness which is femaleness, but are from this one who already has left behind20 the sickness, and who has the name “the Church,” for in harmony they resemble the harmony in the assembly of those who have revealed themselves.
The one who came into being in the image of the25 light, he too is perfect, inasmuch as he is an image of the one existing light which is the Totalities. Even if he was inferior to the one of whom he is an image, nevertheless he has30 his indivisibility, because he is a countenance of the indivisible light. Those, however, who came into being in the image of each one of the aeons,35 they in their essence are in the one whom we previously mentioned, but in power they are not equal because it (the power) is in each of them. In this mingling with one another40 they have equality, 95 but each one has not cast off what is peculiar to him. Therefore they are passions, for passion is sickness, since they are productions not of the union 5 of the Pleroma but of this one, prematurely, before he received the Father. Hence the agreement with his (the Father’s) Totality and his will was something beneficial for the organization which was to come. It was granted them10 to pass through the places which are below, since the places are unable to accommodate their coming quickly, unless (they come) individually, one by one.15 Their coming is necessary, since by them will everything be perfected.
In short, the Logos received the vision of all things, those which preexist and those which are now and those which will be,20 since he has been entrusted with the administration of all that which exists. Some things are already in things which are worthy of coming into being, but the seeds which are to25 be he has with himself, because of the promise which belonged to the one whom he conceived, as something belonging to seeds which are to be. And he produced his offspring, that30 is, the revelation of the one who conceived him. How- ever, for a while the seed of promise is guarded so that those who have been appointed for a mission might be appointed35 by the coming of the Savior and of those who are with him, the ones who are first in knowledge and glory of the Father.
It is fitting from 96 the prayer which he made and the conversion which occurred because of it, that some should perish, while others benefit,5 and still others be set apart. He first prepared the punishment of those who are disobedient, making use of the power of the one who appeared, the one from whom he received10 authority over all things, so as to separate from himself that which is below. He also kept it apart from the exalted one until he prepares the arrangement of all those things15 which are external, and gives to each the place which is assigned to it.
The Logos established himself at first, when he beautified the Totalities, as a basic principle and cause20 and ruler of the things which came to be, like the Father, the one who was the cause of his (the Logos’) establishment, which was the first to exist after him (the Father). He created the preexistent images,25 which he brought forth in thanks and glorification. Then he beautified the place of those whom he had brought forth in glory, (the place) which is called “Paradise” and 30 “the Enjoyment” and “the Joy full of sustenance” and “the Joy,” which preexist. And of every goodness which exists in the Pleroma, he preserves the image.35 Then he beautified the kingdom, like a city filled with everything of beauty, which is brotherly love and the great generosity, which is filled 97 with the holy spirits and [the] mighty powers which govern them, those which the Logos produced and confirmed 5 in power. Then (he beautified) the place of the Church which assembles in this region, having the form of the Church which exists in the aeons, which glorifies the Father. After these (he beautified) the place10 of the faith and obedience (which arises) from hope, which things the Logos received when the light appeared; then (he beautified the place of) the disposition, which is prayer [and] supplication, which were followed by forgiveness15 and the word concerning the one who will appear.
All the spiritual places are in spiritual power. They are separate from those of the thought, while the power of an image is established,20 which separates the Pleroma from the Logos, while the power is active in prophesying about the things which will be, and leaves to the preexistent one the things belonging to the thought, which have already come into being,25 and does not permit them to mix with the things which have come into being through a vision of the things which are in his presence.
Things which belong to the thought which is transcendent are humble, they preserve the representation of the pleromatic,30 especially because of the sharing in the names by which they are beautiful.
The conversion is humble toward the things of thought, and the law, too, is humble toward them,35 (the law) of the judgment, which is their condemnation and wrath. Also humble toward them is the power which separates those below them, sends them far off, and does not allow them 98 [to] lay hold of those belonging to thought and the conversion, which (power) consists in fear and perplexity and forgetfulness and astonishment and ignorance and the things which have come into being 5 in the manner of a likeness, through phantasy. Those things too, which are in fact lowly, are given the exalted names. There is no knowledge for those who have come forth from them with arrogance10 and lust for power, and disobedience and falsehood.
He named each one of the two orders. Those belonging to the thought and those of the representation15 are called “the Right” and “Psychic” and “the Flames” and “the Middle Ones.” Those who belong to the arrogant thought and those of the likeness are called “the Left,”20 “Hylic,” “the Dark Ones,” and “the Last.”
After the Logos established each one in his order, both the images and the representations and the likenesses, he kept the aeon of the images25 pure from all those who fight against it, as a place of joy. However, to those of the thought he revealed the thought which he had stripped from himself, desiring to draw them30 into a material union, for the sake of their organization and dwelling place, and in order that they might bring forth an impulse for diminution from their attraction to evil, so that they might not any more35 rejoice in the glory of their environment and be dissolved, but might rather see their sickness in which they suffer, 99 so that they might beget love and continuous searching after the one who is able to heal them of the inferiority. Also over those 5 who belong to the likeness he set the word of beauty, so that he might bring them into a form. He also set over them the law of judgment. Again, he set over them [the]10 powers which the roots had produced [in] their lust for power. He [appointed] those who rule over them, so that either by the support of the word which instructs them or by the threat of the [law]15 or by the power of lust for power they might keep the order of those who have reduced it to evil, until the Logos is pleased with them, since they are useful for the administration.
The Logos knows the agreement20 in the lust for power of the two orders. To these and to all the others he graciously granted their desire. He gave to each one the appropriate rank,25 and it was ordered that each one be a ruler over a place and an activity, yielding to the place more exalted than himself, in order to command30 the other places in an activity which is in the allotted activity which falls to him to have control over because of his mode of being. As a result, there are commanders and35 subordinates in positions of domination and subjection among the angels 100 and archangels, while the activities are of various types and are different. Each one of the archons with his race and his perquisites to which his lot 5 has claim, just as they appeared, each was on guard, since they have been entrusted with administration, and none lacks a command, and none is without kingship from10 the end of the heavens to the end of the [earth], even to the foundations of the [earth] and to the places beneath the earth. There are kings, there are lords, and those who give commands, some15 for administering punishment, others for administering justice, still others for giving rest and healing, others for teaching, others for guarding.
Over all the images he established an Archon20 with no one commanding him, since he is the lord of all of them, the countenance which the Logos brought forth in his thought as a representation of the Father of the Totalities. Therefore25 he is adorned with all names which are a representation of him (the Father), since he is characterized by every property and glorious quality. For he too is called “father” and “god” and “demiurge” and “king” and “judge” and “place”30 and “dwelling” and “law.”
The Logos uses him (the Archon) as a hand, to beautify and work on the things below, and he uses him as a mouth,35 to say the things which will be prophesied.
The things which he has spoken he does. When he (the Archon) saw that they are great and good and wonderful, he was pleased and rejoiced, as 101 if he himself in his own thought had been the one to say them and do them, not knowing that the movement within him is from the spirit which moves 5 him in a determined way toward those things which he (the spirit) wants.
In regard to the things which came into being from him, he uttered them and they came into being as a representation of the spiritual realms which we mentioned previously in the discussion about the images.
Not only10 does he work, but also, as he is father of [his] organization, he engenders by himself and by the seeds, yet also [by the spirit] which is elect and which will descend through him to the places which are below.15 Not only does he speak spiritual words of his own, ⟨but⟩ in an invisible way (he speaks) through the spirit which calls out and produces things greater than his own essence.20
Since in his essence he is a “god” and “father” and all the rest of the honorific titles, he was thinking that they were elements25 of his own essence. He established a rest for those who obey him, but for those who disobey him he also established punishments. With him too30 there is a paradise and a kingdom and everything else which exists in the aeon which exists before him. (The latter) are more valuable than the imprints, because of the thought which35 is connected with them, which is like 102 a shadow and a garment, so to speak, because he does not see in what way the things which exist actually do exist.
He established workers and 5 servants for what he will do and what he will say, for in every place where he worked he left his countenance in his beautiful name,10 effecting and speaking of the things which he thinks about.
He established in his place images of the light which appeared and of [those things which are]15 spiritual, while (the images) were of his own essence.
Thus they were honored in every place by him, being pure, from the countenance of the one who appointed them, and they were20 established: paradises and kingdoms and rests and promises and multitudes of servants of his will, and though they are lords of dominions,25 they are set beneath the one who is (truly) lord, the one who made them.
After he heard in this way, properly, about the lights, which are the source30 and the structure, he set them over the beauty of the things below. The invisible spirit moved him in this way so that he would 103 wish to administer through his own servant, whom he too used, as a hand and 5 as a mouth and as if he were his face, (and his servant is) the things which he brings, order and threat and fear, in order that those who have done what is ignorant [along with him]10 might despise the order which [was given for them to] keep as they are fettered in the [bonds of the archons], which are on them [securely]. The whole establishment of matter [is divided] into three. The [strong] powers15 which the spiritual Logos brought forth from fantasy and arrogance, he established in the first spiritual rank. Then those
The matter which flows through its form 5 (is) a cause by which the invisibility which exists through the powers [belongs] to them all, to […] begetting before them and [destroying].
The thought which is set 10 between those of the right [and] those of the left is a power of […]. All those which we have […] will wish to make them, so to speak, a projection of theirs,15 like a shadow cast from and following a body. Those who are the roots of the visible creations, namely the entire preparation of the adornment of the images and representations20 and likenesses, have come into being precisely because of those who need education and teaching and formation, so that the smallness might grow, little25 by little, as through a mirror image. Therefore at the very end did he create man, having first prepared and provided for him the things which he had created30 for his sake.
Like that of all else is the creation of man. The spiritual Logos also moved him invisibly, as he perfected35 him through the 105 Demiurge and his angelic servants, who shared in the act of fashioning in [multitudes. He] took counsel with his archons, being like a shadow of an earthly man,5 so that he might be like [those] who are cut off from the Totalities. Also he is something prepared by all of them, those of the right and those of the left, since each one in [the] orders gives a form to the […],10 in which it exists.
The […] which the Logos brought forth, the Logos [who was] defective, as he had [been] in the sickness, (that form) was not like him because he brought it forth [forgetfully],15 ignorantly, and [defectively], and in all the other weak ways, when the Logos gave the first form through the Demiurge in ignorance, so that he20 would learn that the exalted one exists and would know that he needs [him]. This is what the prophet called “Living Spirit” and “the Mind of the exalted aeons” and “[the]25 Invisible,” and this is the living soul which has given life to the power which was dead at first. For that which is dead is ignorance.
It is fitting that we explain30 about the soul of the first man, that it is from the spiritual Logos, while the creator thinks that it is his, since it is from him, as from a mouth through which35 one breathes. The creator also sent down souls from his substance, since he too has a power of procreation, 106 because he is a being in the image of the Father. Also those of the left brought forth, as it were, men of their own, since they have 5 the likeness of being.
The spiritual substance is a name and a single image, [and] its weakness is the determination [in many] forms. As for the substance10 of the psychics, its determination is double, since it has the knowledge and the confession of the exalted one, and it is not inclined to evil, which is the inclination of thought. As for the material substance,15 its way is different and in many forms, and it was a weakness which existed in many types of inclination.
The first man is a mixed formation, and a20 mixed creation, and a deposit of those of the left and those of the right, and a spiritual word whose attention is divided between each of the two substances from which he takes25 his being. Therefore it is said that a paradise was planted for him, so that he might eat of the food of three kinds of tree, since it is a garden of the30 threefold order, and since it is that which gives enjoyment.
The noble elect substance which is in him was more exalted. It created and it did not wound35 them. Therefore they issued a command, making a threat and bringing upon him a great 107 danger, which is death. Only the enjoyment of the things which are evil did he allow him to taste, and from the other tree with 5 the double (fruit) he did not allow him to eat, much less from the tree of life, so that [they would not] acquire honor […] them and so that [they would not be …]10 by the evil power [which] is called “the serpent.” And he is more cunning than all the evil powers. He led man astray [through] the ordinance of those which belong to the thought15 and the desires. He made him transgress the command, so that he would die. And he (man) was expelled from every enjoyment of that place.
This is the expulsion which was made 20 for him, when he was expelled from the enjoyments of the beings of the likeness and those of the representation. It was a work of providence, so that it might be found that it is a short time until man will receive the enjoyment 25 of the things which are eternally good, in which is the place of rest. This the spirit ordained when he first planned that man should experience the 30 great evil, which is death, that is complete ignorance of the Totality, and that he (man) should experience all the evils which come from this and,35 after the deprivations and cares which are in these (evils), that he should receive of the greatest 108 good, which is life eternal, that is firm knowledge of the Totalities and the reception of all good things.5 Because of the transgression of the first man death ruled. It was accustomed to slay every man in the manifestation of its [domination] which had been given it 10 [as] a kingdom, because of the organization of the Father’s will, of which we spoke previously.
If both of the orders, those on the right and those on the left,15 are brought together with one another by the thought which is set between them, which gives them their organization with each other, it happens that they both act with the same 20 emulation of their deeds, with those of the right resembling those of the left and those of the left resembling those of the right. And at times when the evil order begins to do 25 evil in a foolish way, the wise order emulates in the form of a man of violence, even doing what is evil 30 as if it were a power of a man of violence. At other times the foolish order attempts to do good, imitating the hidden order,35 when it is jealous to do it (good). As it is in the things which are established, [or] in the 109 things which have come to resemble the things which are unlike one another, they are unable to know the course of the things which exist, namely those 5 who were not instructed.
Therefore other types (of explanation) have been introduced, some saying that it is according to providence that the things which exist have their being. These are the people who observe 10 the stability and the conformity of the movement of creation. Others say that it is something extraneous (by which existents exist). These are people who observe the diversity and the lawlessness and the evil of the powers.15 Others say that the things which exist are what is destined to happen. These are the people who were occupied with this matter. Others say that it (what exists) is something in accordance with nature.20 Others say that it is a self-existent. The majority, however, all who have gone as far as the visible elements, do not know anything more than them.
Those who were wise 25 among the Greeks and the barbarians have advanced to the powers which have come into being by way of imagination and empty speculation. Those who have come from these (sages), in accord with the mutual conflict 30 and rebellious manner active in them (the sages), also spoke in a likely, arrogant, and imaginary way concerning the things 35 which they thought of as wisdom, although they were deceived by the likeness, thinking that they had attained the truth, 110 when they had (only) attained error. (They did so) not simply in minor appellations, but the powers themselves seem to hinder them, (appearing) as if they were the Totality.5 Therefore, it happened that the order was caught up in fighting itself alone, because of the arrogant hostility of one [of the offspring] of the archon who is 10 superior, who exists before him. Therefore nothing is in agreement with its fellows, nothing, neither philosophy nor types of medicine 15 nor types of rhetoric nor types of music nor types of logic, but they are opinions and theories. It happened that ineffability ruled,20 in confusion because of the inarticulateness of those who hold sway, who give them thoughts.
What has come from the race of the Hebrews and what is written by 25 the hylics, who speak in the fashion of the Greeks, ⟨are⟩ the powers of those who think of attributing them to the right, powers which move them all to think of words and images for them. And they 30 grasped so as to attain the truth. They used the confused powers which act in them. Afterwards they attained to the order of the unmixed, the one who is established, the 35 unity, who exists in the image of the Father’s image. He is not invisible 111 in his nature, but a wisdom envelops him so that he might preserve the form of the truly invisible one. Therefore 5 many angels have not been able to see him. Also other men of the Hebrew race, of whom we already spoke, namely the righteous ones and the prophets, did not think of anything,10 and did not say anything from imagination or from analogy or from esoteric thinking, but each one by the power which was at work in him,15 and while listening to the things which he saw and heard, spoke of them in faith. Having a unified agreement with one another after the manner of those who worked in them,20 they preserve the connection and the mutual agreement primarily by the confession of the one more exalted than they. And there is one who is greater than they, who was appointed since they have need 25 of him, begotten by the spiritual Logos along with them as one who needs the exalted one, (begotten) in hope and expectation in accord with the thought which is the seed of salvation.30 And he is an illuminating word, which consists of the thought and his offspring and his emanations. Since the just ones and the prophets, whom we have previously mentioned, preserve the confession and the 35 testimony concerning the one who is great made by their fathers who were 112 looking for the hope and the hearing, in them is sown the seed of prayer and the searching, which is sown in many 5 who have searched for strengthening. It appears and draws them to love the exalted one, to proclaim these things as pertaining to a unity. And it was a unity which 10 worked in them when they spoke. Their vision and their words do not differ because of the multitude of those who have given them the vision and the word. Therefore those who have 15 listened to what they have said concerning this do not reject any of it, but have accepted the scriptures in an altered way. By interpreting them they established 20 many heresies which have existed to the present among the Jews. Some say that God is one, who made a proclamation 25 in the ancient scriptures. Others say that he is many. Some say that God is simple and was a simple mind 30 in nature. Others say that his activity is linked with the origin of good and evil. Still others say that he is the 35 creator of that which has come into being. Still others say that 113 it was by his angels that he created.
The multitude of ideas of this sort, the multitude of forms and the abundance of types of scripture, is what produced 5 their teachers of the Law. The prophets, however, did not say anything of their own accord, but each one of them (spoke) of the things which he had seen and 10 heard through the proclamation of the Savior. This is what he proclaimed, with the main subject of their proclamation being that which each said concerning the coming of the Savior, which is this coming.15 Sometimes the prophets speak about it as if it will be. Sometimes (it is) as if the Savior speaks from their mouths, saying that the Savior will come and show favor to those who have not 20 known him. They (the prophets) have not all joined with one another in confessing anything, but each one thinks on the basis of the activity from which he received power to speak about him,25 and on the basis of the place which he saw, that it is from it (the activity) that he (the Savior) will be begotten and that he will come from that place. Not one of them knew 30 whence he would come nor by whom he would be begotten, but he alone is the one of whom it is worthy to speak, the one who will be begotten and who will suffer. Concerning 35 that which he previously was and that which he is eternally, an unbegotten, impassible Logos who came into being in flesh, 114 he did not come into their (the prophets’) thought. And this is the account, which they received an impulse to give, concerning his flesh which was to appear. They say that 5 it is from all of them (the archons), but before all things, for it is from the spiritual Logos who is the cause of the things which have come into being, from whom the Savior received 10 his flesh. He conceived him at the revelation of the light, according to the word of the promise, at his revelation from the seminal state.15 For the one who exists is not a seed of the things which exist, since he was begotten at the end. But to the one by whom the Father ordained the manifestation of salvation, who is the fulfillment of the promise,20 to him belonged all these instruments for entry into life, through which he descended. His Father is one, and alone is truly a father to him, the 25 invisible, unknowable, the incomprehensible in his nature, who alone is God in his will and his form, who has granted that he might be seen,30 known, and comprehended.
He it was who is our Savior in willing compassion, who is that which they were. So, for their sake he became 35 manifest in an involuntary suffering. They became flesh and soul— that is, eternally—which (things) hold them, and in corruptibility they die. And as for those who [came into being, 115 the] invisible one taught them invisibly about himself.
Not only did he take upon himself the death of 5 those whom he thought to save, but also he accepted their smallness to which they had descended, when they had fasted in body and soul. (He did so) because he had let himself be conceived 10 and born as an infant, in body and soul.
Among all the others who shared in them (body and soul) and those who fell and received the light, he appeared being exalted, because 15 he had let himself be conceived without sin, stain, and defilement. He was begotten in life, being in life because the former and the latter are in 20 passion and changing opinion from the Logos who moved, who established them to be body and soul. He it is who has taken to himself the one who came for those whom we previously 25 mentioned.
He came into being from the glorious vision and the unchanging thought, from the Logos who had returned to himself after his movement from the organization, just as 30 those who came with him took body and soul and a confirmation and stability and judgment of things. They too intended to come.
When they thought of 35 the Savior they came, and they came when he knew; they also came more exalted in the emanation according to the flesh than those who had been brought forth from a defect, because 116 in this way they received their bodily emanation along with the body of the Savior through the revelation and 5 the mingling with him. The others were those of one substance and it indeed is the spiritual (substance). The organization is different. This is one thing,10 that is another. Some come forth from passion and division, needing healing. Others are from prayer so that they heal 15 the sick, when they have been appointed to treat those who have fallen. These are the apostles and the evangelists. They are the disciples of the Savior, and teachers 20 who need instruction. Why then did they, too, share in the passions in which those who have been brought forth from passion share, if indeed they are bodily productions 25 in accordance with the organization and the Savior, who did not share in the passions?
The Savior was a bodily image of the unitary one. He 30 is the Totality in bodily form. Therefore he preserved the form of indivisibility, from which comes impassibility. They, however, are images 35 of each thing which became manifest. Therefore they assume division from the pattern, having taken form for the planting which exists beneath [the heaven]. This also 117 is what shares in the evil which exists in the places which they have reached. For the will held the Totality under sin so that 5 by that will he might have mercy on the Totality and they might be saved, while a single one alone is destined to give life and all the rest need salvation. Therefore it was from (reasons) of this sort that 10 he began to receive grace to give the honors which were proclaimed by Jesus, which were suitable for him to proclaim to the rest, since a seed of the 15 promise of Jesus Christ was set up, whom we have served in (his) revelation and union. Now the promise possessed the instruction and the return to what they were from 20 the first, from which they possess the drop, so as to return to him, which is that which is called “the redemption.” And it is the release from the captivity and the acceptance 25 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 30 the ignorance came to be, ruling forever without beginning and without end, being something good and a salvation of things and a release from 35 the servile nature in which they have suffered.
Those who have been brought forth in a lowly thought of vanity, that is, (a thought) which goes to things which are evil 118 through the thought which [draws] them down to the lust for power, these have received the possession which is freedom, from the abundance of the grace which looked 5 upon the children. However, it (the possession) was disturbance of the passion and destruction of those things which he cast off from himself at first, when the Logos separated them from himself, (the Logos) who 10 was the cause of their being destined for destruction, though he kept them at the end of the organization and allowed them to exist because even they were useful for the things which were ordained.
Mankind came 15 to be in three essential types, the spiritual, the psychic, and the material, conforming to the triple arrangement of the Logos, from which 20 were brought forth the material ones and the psychic ones and the spiritual ones. Each of the three essential types is known by its fruit. They were not known at first 25 but only at the coming of the Savior, who shone upon the saints and revealed what each was.
The spiritual race, being 30 like light from light and like spirit from spirit, when its head appeared, it ran toward him immediately. It immediately became a body 35 of its head. It suddenly received knowledge in the revelation. The psychic race is like light from a fire, since it hesitated to accept knowledge 119 of him who appeared to it. (It hesitated) even more to run toward him in faith. Rather, through a voice it was instructed and this was sufficient, since it is not far 5 from the hope according to the promise, since it received, so to speak as a pledge, the assurance of the things which were to be. The material race, however, is alien in 10 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 15 hateful toward the Lord at his revelation.
The spiritual race will receive complete salvation in every way. The material will receive destruction in every way, just as 20 one who resists him. The psychic race, since it is in the middle when it is brought forth and also when it is established, is double in its determination for both good and evil. It takes its 25 appointed departure suddenly and its complete escape to those who are good, whom the Logos brought forth in accordance with the first element of his 30 thought, when he remembered the exalted one and prayed for salvation. It (the saved psychic race) has salvation [immediately]. It will be saved completely [because of] the salvific thought. As he 35 was brought forth, so [too] were these brought forth from him, 120 whether angels or men. In accordance with the confession that there is one who is more exalted than themselves, and in accordance with the prayer and the search for 5 him, they also will attain the salvation of those who have been brought forth, since they are from the disposition which is good. They were appointed for service in proclaiming the coming 10 of the Savior who was to be and his revelation which had come. Whether angels or men, when he was sent as a service to them, they in fact received the essence of their being.15 Those, however, who are from the thought of lust for power, who have come into being from the blow of those who fight against him, those whom the thought 20 brought forth, since they are mixed, they will receive their end suddenly. Those who will be brought forth from the lust for power which is given to them for a 25 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 30 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,35 and for this reason did not acknowledge that the Son of God 121 is the Lord of all and Savior, and were not brought out of the wrath and the resemblance to the evil ones, they 5 will receive judgment for their ignorance and their senselessness, which is suffering, along with those who went astray, anyone of them who turned away; and 10 even more (will they be judged for their) wickedness in doing to the Lord things which were not fitting, which the powers of the left did to him, even including his death. They persevered,15 saying, “We shall become rulers of the universe if the one who has been proclaimed king of the universe is slain,” (they said this) when they labored to do this, namely the men and angels 20 who are not from the good organization of the right ones but from the mixture. And they first chose for themselves honor, though it was only a temporary wish 25 and desire, while the path to eternal rest is by way of humility for the salvation of those who will be saved, those of the right ones. After they confess 30 the Lord and the thought of that which is pleasing to the church and the song of those who are humble along with her to the full extent possible, in that which is pleasing to do for her, in sharing in her sufferings 35 and her pains in the manner of those who understand what is good for the Church, they will have a share in [her] hope. This (needs be) said 122 on the subject of how the path of men and angels who are from the order of the left leads to error: 5 not only that they denied the Lord and plotted evil against him, but also toward the Church, too, is directed their hatred and envy and jealousy; 10 and this is the reason for the condemnation of those who have moved and have aroused themselves for the trials of the church.
The election shares body and essence with 15 the Savior, since it is like a bridal chamber because of its unity and its agreement with him. For before every place the Christ came for her sake. The calling,20 however, has the place of those who rejoice at the bridal chamber and who are glad and happy at the union of the bridegroom and the bride.25 The place which the election will have is the aeon of the images, where the Logos has not yet joined with the Pleroma. And since the man of the Church was glad and happy at this, as he hoped for 30 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 35 the Totality—and he is all of them. And, since he has the effluence from the […] which 123 the places will receive, he also has the members about which we spoke earlier. When the redemption was proclaimed, the perfect man received knowledge 5 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 10 from which he came, to the place from which he flowed forth. His members, however, needed a place of instruction, which is in the places which are prepared, so that they, like mirrors, might receive from them forms resembling 15 the images and archetypes, until all the members of the body of the church are in a single place and receive the restoration at one 20 time, when they have been manifested as the sound body—the restoration (is) into the Pleroma. It has a prior assent to a mutual agreement,25 which is the assent which belongs to the Father, until the Totalities receive a countenance like him. The restoration is at the end, after the Totality reveals what it is, the Son,30 who is the redemption, that is the path toward the incomprehensible Father, that is the return to the pre-existent, and (after) the Totalities reveal themselves 35 in this one in the proper way, the one who is the inconceivable one and the ineffable one, 124 and the invisible one and the incomprehensible one, so that it (the Totality) receives redemption. It (redemption) was not only release from the domination of the 5 left ones, nor was it only escape from the power of those of the right, to each of which we thought that we were slaves and 10 sons, from whom none escapes who does not quickly become theirs again, but the redemption also is an ascent and (it is) the depths which are in the 15 Pleroma and 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 20 need for voice nor for knowing nor for forming a concept nor for illumination, but (where) all things are light which does not need to be 25 illumined.
Not only do humans need redemption but also the angels, too, need redemption along with the image and the rest of the Pleromas of 30 the aeons and the wondrous powers of illumination. So that we might not be in doubt in regard to the others, even the Son himself, who has the position of redeemer of the Totality, [needed] redemption 125 as well—he who had become man—when he gave himself for each thing which we need, we in the flesh, who are 5 his Church. Now when he first received redemption from the Logos who had descended upon him, all the rest received redemption from him, namely those who had taken him to themselves.10 For those who received the one who had received (redemption) also received what was in him.
Among the men who are in the flesh he began to give redemption, his first-born, and his love, the 15 Son who was incarnate. The angels who are in heaven asked for a constitution, so that they might form an association with him upon the earth. Therefore he is called “the Redemption 20 of the angels of the Father,” he who comforted those who were laboring under the Totality for his knowledge, because he was given the grace before anyone else.
The Father was the first 25 to know him, since he was in his thought before anything came into being and since he had those to whom he has revealed him. He set the deficiency on the one who 30 remains for a certain period of time, as a glory for his Pleroma, since the fact that he is unknown is a cause of his production from his 35 agreement […] 126 of him. Just as reception of knowledge of him is a manifestation of his lack of envy and the revelation of the abundance of his sweetness,5 which is the second glory, so too he has been found to be a cause of ignorance, although he is also a begetter of knowledge.
In a 10 hidden and incomprehensible wisdom he kept the knowledge to the end, until the Totalities became weary in their search for God the Father, whom no one found through his own wisdom 15 or power. In his abundant thought he gives himself so that they might receive knowledge of his great glory, which he has given, and the cause, which he has given, which is his unceasing thanksgiving,20 which is from the immobility of his counsel. From eternity he reveals himself to those who are worthy of the Father who is unknown in his nature, so that they 25 might receive knowledge of him through his desire that they should come to experience the ignorance and its pains.
Those of whom he first thought that they from 1 the immobility of his counsel. 1 From eternity he reveals himself 1 to those who are worthy of the Father 1 who is unknown in his nature, so that they 25 might receive knowledge of him through his desire 1 that they should come to experience the 1 ignorance and its pains. 1
Those of whom he first thought 1 that they should attain knowledge and 30 the good things which are in it, 1 they were planning—which is the wisdom 1 of the Father—that they might experience 1 the evil things and might 1 train themselves in them,35 as a [. . .] for a time 1 [. . . so that they might] receive the enjoyment 1 [of good things] for 1 eternity. 127 They hold change and 1 persistent renunciation and the 1 cause of those who fight against them as an adornment 1 and marvelous quality of those who 5 are exalted, so that it is made manifest 1 that the ignorance of 1 those who are ignorant of the Father was 1 something of their own. He who gave them 1 knowledge of him (the Father) was one of his powers 10 for enabling them to grasp that 1 knowledge in the fullest sense is 1 called “the knowledge of 1 all that which is thought of” and “the 1 treasure” and “the addition for the 15 increase of knowledge,” “the revelation 1 of those things which were first known,” 1 and “the path toward assent 1 and toward the 1 preexistent one,” which is the 20 increase of those who have 1 abandoned the greatness which was theirs 1 in the organization of 1 the will, so that the end 1 might be like the beginning.25
As for the baptism which exists 1 in the fullest sense, into 1 which the Totalities will descend 1 and in which they will be, there is no other 1 baptism apart from this one alone,30 which is the redemption into 1 God, Father, Son, and 1 Holy Spirit, when 1 confession is made through 1 faith in those names,35 which are a single name of 1 the gospel, 128 when they have come to believe what has been said to them, 1 namely that they (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) exist. From 1 this they have their 1 salvation, those who have 5 believed that they exist. This 1 is attaining in an invisible way 1 to the Father, Son, 1 and Holy Spirit in an 1 undoubting faith. And when they 10 have borne witness to them, it is also with a 1 firm hope that they 1 attain them, so that the return to them might 1 become the perfection of those who have believed 1 in them and (so that) 15 the Father might be one with them, the Father, 1 God, whom they have confessed 1 in faith and who 1 gave (them) their union with him in 1 knowledge.
The baptism which we 20 previously mentioned is called 1 “garment of those who do not 1 strip themselves of it,” for those who 1 will put it on and those who have 1 received redemption wear it. It is also 25 called “the confirmation of the 1 truth which has no fall.” 1 In an unwavering and 1 immovable way he grasps those 1 who have received the restoration 30 while they grasp him. (Baptism) is 1 called “silence” because of 1 the quiet and the tranquility. 1 It is also called “bridal chamber” 1 because of the agreement and the 35 individual state of those who know 1 that they have known him. It is also called 129 “the light which does not set 1 and is without flame,” since it does not give light, 1 but those who have worn it 1 are made into light. They 5 are the ones whom he wore. 1 (Baptism) is also called “the 1 eternal life,” which is 1 immortality; and it is called 1 “all that which it is,” simply,10 in the proper sense of what is pleasing, 1 inseparably and irremovably 1 and faultlessly and 1 imperturbably, to that which belongs 1 to those who have received a beginning. For what else is there 15 to name it 1 apart from the designation “it is the Totalities”; 1 that is, if it is given 1 numberless names, they are spoken simply as a reference to it.20 Just as it transcends every word 1 and it transcends every voice 1 and it transcends every mind 1 and transcends everything 1 and it transcends every silence,25 so 1 it is 1 with those who are that 1 which it is. This is that which they find 1 it to be,30 ineffably and 1 inconceivably in (its) visage, for the coming into being in those who 1 know, through him whom they have comprehended, 1 who is the one to whom 1 they gave glory.
Even if on the matter of the election 130 there are many more things for 1 us to say as it is fitting to 1 say, nonetheless, to the matters 1 concerning the call—for 5 those of the right are so named—1 it is necessary 1 for us to turn once again 1 and it is not profitable 1 for us to forget them. We have spoken 10 about them, if there is enough in 1 what preceded at some length. How have we 1 spoken? In a partial way, 1 since I said that all those who came 1 forth from the Logos,15 either from the judgment of 1 the evil ones or from 1 the wrath which fights against them and the 1 separation from them, which 1 is the separation toward 20 the exalted ones, or from the prayer and 1 the remembrance of those who pre-existed 1 or from hope and 1 faith that they would receive their salvation 1 from good work,25 since they have been deemed worthy because 1 they are beings from the good 1 dispositions, they have 1 the cause of their begetting 1 which is an opinion from the one who 30 exists. Still further (I said) that before the 1 Logos concerned himself with 1 them in an invisible way, 1 willingly, the exalted one added 1 to this thought, because 35 they were [. . .] to him, 131 who was the cause of 1 their being. They did not exalt themselves, 1 when they were saved, as if there were nothing 1 existing before them, but they 5 confess that they have a beginning 1 to their existence and they 1 desire this: to know him 1 who exists before them. 1 Most of all (I said) that they worshipped 10 the revelation of the light 1 in the form of lightning and 1 they bore witness that it appeared 1 as salvation for them. 1
Not only those who have come forth 15 from the Logos, about whom 1 alone we said that 1 they would accomplish the good work, 1 but also those whom these brought forth 1 according to the good dispositions 20 will share 1 in the rest according to the abundance 1 of the grace. Also those who have been 1 brought forth from the desire 1 of lust for 25 power, having the 1 seed in them which is the 1 lust for power, will receive 1 the reward for (their) good deeds, 1 namely those who acted and those 30 who have the predisposition 1 toward the good, if they 1 intentionally desire and wish 1 to abandon the 1 vain, temporal ambition 35 and [they] keep the commandment of the Lord 132 of glory, instead of the 1 momentary honor. They will inherit 1 the eternal kingdom.
Now 1 it is necessary that we unite 5 the causes and the effects on them 1 of the grace and the impulses, 1 since it is fitting that we say what 1 we mentioned previously about the salvation 1 of all those of the right,10 of all those unmixed and those mixed, 1 to join them with 1 one another. And as for the rest, [which] 1 is the revelation of [the] 1 form (in) which they believed,15 (it is fitting) that we should treat it with a 1 suitable discussion. For when we 1 confessed the kingdom 1 which is in Christ, we escaped from 1 the whole multiplicity of forms and from 20 inequality and change. For the end 1 will receive a unitary existence 1 just as the beginning, 1 where there is no 1 male nor female, nor slave 25 and free, nor circumcision 1 and uncircumcision, neither angel 1 nor man, but 1 Christ is all in all. What is the form 1 of the one who did not exist at first? 30 It will be found that he will exist, and 1 what is the nature of the one who was not a slave? 1 He will take a place with a 133 free man. For they will receive the vision 1 more and more by nature 1 and not only by word, 1 so that they believe only through 5 a voice (saying) that this is the way 1 it is. 1
The restoration to that which used to be is a unity. 1 Even if some are 1 exalted because of the organization, since they have been appointed 10 as causes of the things which have come into being, 1 since they are more active as natural forces, 1 and since they are desired because of these things, 1 yet angels and men will receive the kingdom and the confirmation 1 [and] the salvation.15 These, then, are the causes. 1
About the one who appeared in flesh they believed 1 without any doubt 1 that he is the Son of the unknown 1 God, who 20 was not previously spoken of 1 and who could not be seen. Then 1 they abandoned their gods 1 whom they had previously worshipped 1 and the lords who are 25 in heaven and on 1 earth. Before 1 he had taken them up, and while he was still 1 a child, they testified that he had already 1 begun to preach,30 and when he was in the tomb 1 as a dead man the 1 [angels] thought that he was alive 1 [and received] life 134 from the one who had died. 1 They first desired their numerous services 1 and wonders 1 which were in the temple on their behalf 5 to be performed continuously as the confession. 1 That is, it can 1 be done on their behalf through 1 their (very) approach to him. 1
That preparation which they did not accept,10 they rejected 1 because of the one who had not been sent 1 from that place, but [they accepted] 1 the Christ who they thought 1 existed in [that] place 15 from which they had come 1 along with him, a place of gods 1 and lords whom they served, 1 worshipped, 1 and ministered to 20 in the names which they had received on loan. 1 —They were given to the one who is designated 1 by them properly.— 1 However, after his 1 assumption, they had the experience 25 to know that he is their Lord, 1 over whom no one else is lord. 1 They gave him a kingdom; 1 they rose from their thrones; 1 they were kept from their 30 crowns. He, however, revealed himself to them, 1 for the reasons which we have already spoken of, 1 their salvation and the [return to a] 1 good thought until [. . .] 135 companion and the angels 1 [. . .] and the abundance of good 1 [which they did] with it. Thus 1 they were entrusted with the services 5 which benefit the elect, 1 bringing their iniquity 1 up to heaven. They tested them eternally 1 for the lack of humility from the inerrancy 1 of the creation, continuing on their 10 behalf until all come to life and 1 leave life, while their 1 bodies [remain] on earth. They (the angels) serve 1 all their [. . .], sharing 1 [with them] in their sufferings 15 [and] persecutions and 1 tribulations, which were brought 1 upon the saints in every place. 1
As for the servants of the 1 evil one, though 20 evil is worthy of destruction, they are in 1 [. . .]. But because of the 1 [polity] which is above 1 all the worlds, which is 1 their good thought 25 and the fellowship, 1 the Church will remember them 1 as good friends 1 and faithful servants, once she has received 1 redemption [. . .] requital.30 Then the [gladness] which is in 1 the bridal [chamber] and the [. . .] 1 in her house [. . .] 1 in the thought [. . .] 1 the giving and the one who [. . .]. 136 Christ is the one with her [and the] 1 expectation of the Father [of] 1 the Totality, since she will produce for them 1 angels as guides and 5 servants.
They will 1 think pleasant thoughts. 1 They are services for her. She will 1 give them their requital for all that which 1 the aeons will think about.10 The exalted one is an emanation from them. 1 Just as Christ [did] his 1 will which he brought [forth and] 1 exalted the greatnesses of the Church [to] 1 give them to her, so 15 will she be a thought for 1 [these]. And to men he gives [their] 1 dwelling places forever, in 1 which they will dwell [leaving] 1 behind the attraction toward 20 the defect, while 1 the power of the Pleroma pulls them up 1 in the greatness of the 1 generosity and [the] sweetness of 1 the aeon which preexists. This 25 is the nature of the entire begetting of those 1 whom he had when he shone 1 on them [in] a light which he 1 revealed [. . .]. 1 Just as this one [. . .]30 who will be [. . .] 1 so too his [lord 1 while] the change alone is 1 in those who have changed [. . .] 1374 which [. . .] by 1 him [. . .] give praise 1 as I have said, 1 while the hylics will remain until 1 the end for destruction, since they will not give 1 forth for their [. . .], if 10 [they would] return once again to that which 1 [. . .]. As they were 1 [. . .] they were not 1 [. . .] but they were of use 1 [in the] time that they were 15 [in it] among them, although they were not 1 [. . .] at first. If 1 [. . .] to do something else concerning 1 the control which 1 they have of the preparation.20 [. . .] before them. 1 —For though I continually use 1 these words, I have not understood 1 his meaning.—Some 1 [elders . . .] him 25 [greatness. . . .] 1384 all [. . .] angels 1 [. . .] word 1 and [the sound of] a trumpet 1 he will proclaim the great, 1 complete amnesty 1 from the beauteous east, in the 10 bridal chamber which is the love 1 of God the Father [. . .] 1 according to the power which [. . .] 1 of the greatness [. . .] 1 the sweetness of [. . .]15 of him, since he reveals 1 himself to the greatnesses [. . .] 1 his goodness [. . .] 1 the praise, the dominion, [and] the [glory] 1 through [. . .] the Lord, the 20 Savior, the Redeemer of all those belonging to the one filled 1 with Love, 1 through his Holy Spirit 1 from now through all 1 generations for ever 25 and ever. Amen.
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