Secret Book of John

2. [19] It, however, came to pass one day, when John, the brother of James — they being the sons of Zebedee — had gone up to the temple, that a Pharisee named Arimanias came to him and said to him: “Where is your teacher, whom you were following?”

3. He said to him: “He has returned to the place he came from.”

4. The Pharisee said to him: “With deceit this Nazarene fooled all of you, and he filled your ears with lies, [20] and sealed off your hearts, turning you away from the traditions of your fathers.”

5. When I heard these sayings, I turned away from the temple toward the mountain, a desert place, and I lamented much in myself, asking:

6. “How then was the savior appointed, and why was he dispatched to the world by his Father, who dispatched him, and who is his Father, and to what kind of aeon is it to which we will go?

7. He said to us: ‘This aeon is of the kind that is an indestructible aeon.’

8. He, however, did not inform us about what kind the latter is.”

1. Immediately, as I was musing on these matters, the heavens were opened, and the entire creation glowed with a light [21] underneath heaven, and the entire world was shaken.

2. I grew afraid, and I beheld, and lo, a child appeared to me,

3. but it changed its likeness into an old man as the light was with him.

4. As I gazed on it, I understood not this marvel, whether the appearance was of diverse forms owing to the light, because its forms appeared through each other, or whether it was a single appearance, given that it possessed three faces.

5. He asked me: “John, why do you marvel, being afraid?

6. You are certainly not unfamiliar with this appearance?

7. Be not of a weak heart.

8. I am the one who is always with all of you.

9. I am the Father, I am the Mother, I am the Son.

10. I am the [22] eternal one, the unpolluted and untainted one.

11. I have now come to inform you of what is, and what was, and what will happen, so that you might understand the things that are not yet manifest, and those things that are manifest, and to inform you of the Perfect Man.

12. Lift up, therefore, your face to me, so that you might listen and accept the things I will tell you today, so that you might, then, convey them to your companion spirits, of the unmoving race of the Perfect Man.”

1. I also asked to understand. He said to me: “The monad, because it is a unity, and because nothing rules higher than it,

2. is the God and Father of the All, the unseen Holy One, who is higher than the All, who exists as his indestructibility, existing inside [23] pure light, at which no eye-light can gaze.

3. He is the Spirit. It is improper to think of him as a god or as anything similar, because he is more than a god, a ruler over which nothing rules, because nothing exists before he exists, nor does he need them.

5. He does not need life, because he is eternal.

6. There is nothing he needs, because he cannot be perfected, as though he had lacked and so needed to be perfected.

7. Instead, he is forever completely perfect. He is light.

8. He is limitless, given that no one exists before him who could place limits on him.

9. He is the unfathomable one, given that there exists before him no one to examine him.

10. He is the immeasurable one, given that no one besides him measured him, as though they existed before him.

11. He is the unseen one, [24] given that no one has seen him.

12. He is the eternal one, given that he exists eternally.

13. He is the unspeakable one, given that no one conceived of him to be able to speak of him.

14. He is the one who cannot be named, given that no one existed before him who could name him.

15. He is light beyond measure, the pure one, being sacred and unstained,

16. the unspeakable one, perfect and indestructible.

17. He is neither perfection, nor blessedness nor divinity, but he is highly exalted above these. He is neither without limits, nor with limits, but what he is exceeds these,

18. given that he is neither somatic, nor is he non-somatic.

19. He is not large; he is not small.

20. He cannot be quantified, given that he is not a created being, nor can anyone understand him.

21. He is not in any sense a being, given that he is highly exalted over all of them, but not because he as a being is loftier than them, but because [25] he is being as such.

22. He participated in no aeon. For him, there is no temporality, because whoever participates in an aeon, others would have necessarily made such ready for him.

23. Also, he was not assigned a temporal measurement, because he does not obtain anything assigned from another. Also, he is without need, there being no one before him in any sense at all.

24. He is the only one he desires in the perfection of the light.

25. He will study the pure light, the majesty beyond measure,

26. the eternal one who bestows eternity; the light who bestows light;

27. the life who bestows life;

28. the blessed one who bestows blessedness;

29. knowledge who bestows knowledge;

30. the ever-good who bestows good,

31. the beneficent one,

33. not because he possesses, but because he bestows, being the mercy who bestows mercy, the gift-bestowing gift, the light beyond measure.

34. [26] What is there to speak to you of him, the ungraspable one? This is the way the light appears, to the degree that I could understand, because who is there who will ever understand him?

1. In this way I would be able to speak with you. His aeon is beyond destruction, in repose, resting in silence, the one existing before everything. He is the leader of all aeons, if anything indeed exists beside him, because no one has understood the attributes of that one beyond measure with the exception of him who has dwelt inside himself. He is the one who explained to us these things.

2. He is the one who studies himself inside his own light that surrounds him, that is, the spring of living water, the completely pure light. The spring of the Spirit poured forth of the living water of light, and he supplied all aeons and [27] worlds. In every direction at once he observed his own image by beholding it inside the pure light-water that surrounds him, and his potential thought became actual, and she approached and attended him inside the glow of the light.

3. She is the power who is before the All, who issued forth.

4. She is the perfect Providence of the All, the light, the appearance of the light, the image of the unseen one,

5. the perfect power, Barbelo, the perfect aeon of glory,

6. extolling him, because she had issued forth on account of him, and she understands him.

7. She is the first thought, his own image.

1. She became Primal Man, the virginal Spirit, the triple-male, the [28] triple-powerful, the triple-named, the triple-begotten, the aeon that is androgynous and unaging, who issued forth from his Providence.

2. Barbelo also entreated him to grant her Precognition; he agreed.

3. After agreeing, Precognition approached and stood attending together with Thought, which is Providence,

4. glorifying the unseen one and the perfect power, Barbelo, because they had come into being on account of her.

5. This power again entreated to grant her Indestructibility, and he agreed.

6. After agreeing, Indestructibility approached and stood attending together with Thought and Precognition.

7. She extolled the unseen one and Barbelo, because she had come to be on account of her,

8. and she entreated that she be granted [29] eternal life, and he agreed, and agreeing, Eternal Life approached.

9. They attended and extolled him and Barbelo, because they had come to be on account of her, from the emergence of the unseen Spirit.

12. This is the aeonic pentad of the Father, which is the Primal Man, the image of the unseen one.

13. This is Barbelo, and Idea, and Precognition, and Indestructibility, and Eternal Life.

14. This is the androgynous pentad, being the aeonic decad, the Father of the unbegotten Father.

1. Barbelo peered into him, the pure light. [30] She turned herself in his direction

2. and gave birth to a spark of blessed light, yet in greatness he is unequal to her.

3. This is the only-begotten one, who issued forth from the Father, self-generated divine one, the first-born Son of the All that belongs to the Spirit of pure light.

4. The unseen Spirit, however, rejoiced because of the light that had come into being, who had issued forth from the first power, who is his Providence, Barbelo.

5. He also anointed him with his anointing, so that he became perfect, and lacked nothing of the anointing because he had anointed him with his anointing of the unseen Spirit, which he poured out onto him for his sake, and he received the anointing by means of the virginal [31] Spirit, and he attended him, extolling the unseen Spirit and perfect Providence on whose account he had issued forth.

6. He also entreated to give him one thing, Mind, and the unseen Spirit agreed.

7. Mind approached, standing in attendance together with Christ, extolling him and Barbelo. All of these, however, entered into Silence and Thought,

8. and the unseen Spirit desired to make something, and his potential will became actual, and approached, and stood in attendance together with Mind and Light, extolling him,

9. and the Logos followed Will, because by means of the Logos, Christ, the self-generated God, created the All.

1. Eternal Life together with Will, and Mind together with Precognition, [32] attended and extolled the unseen Spirit and Barbelo, given that they had come into being on her account.

2. He also completed by the Spirit, the eternal self-generated God, the Son of Barbelo, so that he would attend him, the eternal, virginal, unseen Spirit, the self-generated God, the Christ, whom he had praised with great praise,

3. because he had come into being from his Primal Thought, he whom the unseen Spirit appointed as God over the All, as true God.

4. He bestowed on him all authority, and subjected to him the truth that is inside him, so that he would know the All, he whose name will be spoken to those who deserve it.

5. However, from Light, which is Christ, and Indestructibility, by means of the divine [33] Spirit, the four great lights approached from the self-generated God to attend him.

6. The three are: Will, and Idea, and Life.

7. However, the four are: Grace, Understanding, Perception, Discretion.

8. Grace: with the first light, Harmozel, who is the angel of light dwelling in the first aeon, with whom there dwell three aeons: Grace, Truth, Form.

9. The second light: Oroiael, whom he appointed over the second aeon,

10. with whom dwell three aeons: Providence, Perception, Memory.

11. The third light: Daveithe, whom he appointed over the third aeon, with whom dwell three aeons: [34] Understanding, Love, Ideal Form.

12. However, the fourth light: Eleleth, whom he appointed over the fourth aeon,

13. with whom dwell three aeons: Perfection, Peace, Sophia.

14. These are the four lights who attend the self-generating God,

15. the twelve aeons who attend the Son, the great self-generated Christ, by means of the good will of the unseen divine Spirit. The twelve aeons pertain to the Son of the self-generate one.

16. By means of the will of the holy Spirit, by means of the self-generated one, was everything established.

1. However, from Precognition with Perfect Mind, by means of God, [35] by means of the good will of the great unseen Spirit, and the good will of the self-generated one, the true Perfect Man came forth first.

2. He named him Adam, and appointed him over the first aeon together with the great God, the self-generating Christ, by the first aeon Harmozel, escorted by his powers.

3. The unseen Spirit also granted him an invulnerable spiritual strength.

4. He said: ‘I extol and praise, O unseen Spirit, because on your account the All has come forth into being, and into you will be the All.

5. I praise you and the self-generated one, and the three aeons: the Father, the Mother, and the Son, the perfect power.’

6. He appointed also his son Seth [36] over the second light, Oroiael, but appointed inside the third aeon was the seed of Seth, the souls of the holy ones, who exist forever inside the third light, Daveithe.

7. Further, inside the fourth aeon were placed the souls of those who were acquainted with their perfection and who failed to repent immediately, but who instead continued unrepentant for some time. At last, they repented.

8. They will remain inside the fourth light, Eleleth,

9. who has assembled them to himself, extolling the unseen Spirit.

1. Our companion-sister, Sophia, in that she is an aeon, conceived a thought on her own, together with the conception of the Spirit and Precognition.

2. She willed to bring forth the [37] likeness from out of herself, apart from the Spirit concurring with her, or agreeing, or with her companion approving, that is, the male virginal Spirit.

3. She did not, however, find her companion when she was ready to decide without the good will of the Spirit and the knowledge of her own companion, and when she was bringing forth on account of the sexual knowledge that was inside her.

4. Her thought was unable to remain barren, and her production came forth incomplete, foreign in his appearance, because she had made him apart from her companion, and he was dissimilar to the appearance of the mother, because he possesses a different form,

5. but she noticed during her consideration that he was assuming the form of a different appearance, possessing the face of a dragon and the face of a lion.

6. His [38] eyes were glowing with fire.

7. She thrust him away from her, outside those places, so that none of the immortal ones could see him, because she had given birth to him in ignorance.

8. She attached a shining cloud to him, and erected a throne in the midst of the cloud, so that none could see him, apart from the holy Spirit — whose name is Life, the Mother of Everyone — and she gave him the name Yaldabaoth.

9. This is the chief archon who procured a strong power from the mother.

10. He extricated himself from her, and moved away from the place where he had been born.

1. He [39] grasped another place and created for himself an aeon that burns with shining fire, the one where he lives even now, and he mated with Pride, who dwells with him, and begot the authorities who are subjected to him, the twelve angels, an aeon for each one of them, according to the pattern of the indestructible aeons.

2. He further created for each one of them seven angels, and for the angels three powers, all of whom are subjected to him, being 360 angelic beings together with his third power, in appearance like the first pattern, which was prior to him.

3. When the authorities now emerged from [40] the chief begetter, the chief archon of the darkness, through the ignorance of the one who had begotten them, these were their names:

4. The first is Yaoth;

5. the second is Hermas, who is the fire-eye;

6. the third is Galila;

7. the fourth is Yobel;

8. the fifth is Adonaios;

9. the sixth is Sabaoth;

10. the seventh is Kainan, even Kae, who is named Cain, who is the sun;

11. the eighth is Abiressine;

12. the ninth is Yobel;

13. the tenth is Harmoupiael;

14. the eleventh is Adonin;

15. the twelfth is Belias.

16. They all, however, possess a set of names from Lust and [41] Anger,

17. but they possess another set of names, producing a double set assigned to them.

18. The latter were assigned to them by the glory of Heaven, but these accurately make manifest their nature.

19. Saklas also called them according to the names that refer to illusion and to their power,

20. through which they progressively diminish and weaken, but by the latter names they grow strong and multiply.

1. He also commanded that seven kings rule over the heavens, and five over Chaos in the netherworld.

4. The glorious names of those in charge of the seven heavens are these:

5. The first is Yaoth, the lion-faced; the second is Eloaios, the donkey-faced; the third is Aslaphaios, [42] the hyena-faced; the fourth is Yao, the dragon

Literally, “serpent,” but that the meaning is “dragon” is confirmed by the parallel readings of drakōn.

6. These are the sevenfold aspect of the week; these rule the world.

7. However, Yaldabaoth Saklas, he of many forms, to manifest himself with any face he wished,

8. shared with them of his fire, which belongs to him, as well as his power, but of the pure light and the power he had derived from the mother, he gave nothing to them. As a consequence, he became Christ over them.

9. On account of the [43] glory inside him, the power of the light, the mother, on account of these he allowed himself to be called ‘God,’ in this way disobeying the substance from which he had originated.

10. He further joined the seven powers together with the authorities. When he spoke, they came into existence, and he named them. He set up authorities beginning with the highest:

11. The first, then, is Providence, together with the first authority, Yaoth; the second is Divinity, together with the second authority, Eloaios; the third is Anointing, together with the third authority, Astaphaios; the fourth is Fire, together with the fourth authority, Yao; the fifth is Kingdom, together with the fifth authority, Sabaoth; [44] the sixth is Understanding, together with the sixth authority, Adoni; the seventh is Sophia, together with the seventh authority, Sabbataios.

12. These possess a firmament that corresponds to each heaven

13. and an aeon that corresponds according to the model of the aeons that existed from the beginning, in the pattern of the indestructible ones.

16. However, he saw the creation beneath him, and the host of angels attending him, which had issued forth from him. He said to them: ‘I am a jealous God; there is none other than me,’

17. which already implied to the angels attending him that there is another God, because if there had not been another, how could he be jealous of another?

18. The mother then began [45] ‘to move

LXX Genesis 1:2

1. I, however, said: “Christ, what is ‘she moved back and forth’?” He, however, grinned, and said: “Are you thinking that it agrees with what Moses said, ‘above the waters

Genesis 1:2

2. Instead, when she witnessed the evil and rebellion that would be perpetrated by her son, she repented, and moving about inside the darkness of ignorance, she began to feel shame, and she dared not to return, but she was moving about.

3. Her moving about, however, is what ‘to go back and forth’ means. When, now, [46] the proud one procured a power from the mother, he was ignorant of much that surpassed his mother, because he was saying of his mother that she was the only one who existed.

4. He saw the large host, the angels he had created. He lifted up himself above them.

5. When, however, the mother realized that the murky abortion was imperfect, because her companion had not agreed together with her,

6. she repented and wept copiously, and he hearkened to the prayer of her repentance, and the brothers petitioned for her sake.

7. The holy unseen Spirit granted his agreement. When [47] the unseen Spirit had agreed, he poured out onto her a Spirit from the Perfection. Her companion descended to her to rectify her deficiencies. He decided through Providence to rectify her deficiencies, and not only to her own aeon was she restored, but on account of the great ignorance that had originated from her, she will dwell in the Ninth until she has rectified her deficiency.

8. A voice came to her: ‘The Man exists and the Son of Man,’ but the chief archon, Yaldabaoth, overheard. He assumed that the voice did not originate from on high.

9. He taught them concerning himself, [48] that is, the sacred and perfect Father, the Primal Man, in human form. The blessed one made manifest his appearance to them.

1. Further, the entire group of the archons of the seven authorities bent downward, and they saw inside the water the form of the image. They said one to another, ‘Let us create a man in the image of God, and in the likeness,’ and they created out of one another and out of all of their powers.

2. They molded a form from out of themselves and out of each one of the powers, [49] and by means of the power they created the soul. They created it from the image which they had seen

3. by mimicking he who exists from the beginning, the Perfect Man, and they said, ‘Let us call him Adam, so that his name and its power may be a light for us,’ and the powers commenced from below:

4. The first is Divinity, a living bone; the second is Goodness, a living sinew;

5. the third is Fire, a living flesh; the fourth is Providence, a living marrow as well as the complete foundation of the body;

6. the fifth is Kingdom, [50] living blood;

7. the sixth is Understanding, living skin;

8. the seventh is Sophia, living hair;

9. and they arranged the complete body, and their angels attended them. From the things made ready at first by the authorities they created the substance of the soul, the coordination of the limbs joined to one another, and the complete body was created, being fitted together by the host of angels, which I mentioned previously.

1. It, however, was inert for a prolonged time, because the seven authorities could not awaken it, nor could the other 360 angels who had assembled [51] the limbs joined to one another.

2. Also, she wanted to regain the power she had granted to the archon of sexual desire. She approached innocently, and entreated the Father of the All, the Most Merciful and the God of Light.

3. With the sacred decree, he dispatched the self-generated one together with the four lights in angelic forms of the chief archon. They counseled him that they should bring forth from inside him the power of the mother. They said to him, ‘Blow into his face of your Spirit, and the production will arise,’ and into the body he blew at him with his Spirit, which is the power from his mother,

5. and [52] at that very instant it moved. Suddenly, the rest of the authorities grew envious, because he had come to exist through all of them, and they had bestowed their interior powers on the man, and he possessed the souls of the seven authorities, as well as their powers. His intellect surpassed all of theirs and surpassed the chief archon as well.

6. They realized now that he was free of evil, because he was cleverer than they, and that he had gained entrance into the light. They took him and escorted him into the nethermost regions of all matter,

7. but the blessed Father is the merciful, beneficent one. He was merciful to the power [53] of the mother which they had brought forth from the chief archon, so that they would be unable to obtain power over the body. He and his great mercy dispatched the good Spirit as a helper to the first one who had descended, who had been given the name Adam, that is, Reflection of Light, who had been called ‘Life

LXX Genesis 3:21

8. She, however, helps the entire creature by laboring together with him, by returning him to his own temple, and by instructing him concerning the descent of his flaw, and by instructing him concerning its ascent.

9. Reflection of Light was also concealed inside him, so that the archons would be unknowing, but that, instead, [54] our sister Sophia, who looks like us, would rectify her deficiencies with Reflection of Light, and the man glowed on account of the light-shadow inside him, and his intellect surpassed that of those who had made him, and they prostrated.

1. They beheld the man. He surpassed them. Together with the entire group of angels of the archons and the remainder of their powers, they took counsel.

2. Then fire and earth combined together with water and flame. They grasped them, and the four winds, blowing with fire, were joined together with one another, and [55] made a loud commotion. They led him into the shadow of death. They produced a form once again, but out of earth and water and fire and wind, that is, out of matter and darkness and lust and the opposing spirit.

3. This is the chain. This is the tomb for the mold of the body they used to clothe the man as the chain of matter.

4. This is the first one who descended and the first division, but Thought of the First Light, because she dwelt inside him, roused his intellect.

5. The chief archon brought him and placed him in paradise. [56] He who used to say, ‘Let it be a delight for him

LXX Genesis 2:15

6. Regarding their tree, which they planted, ‘It is the tree of life,’ I will instruct all of you concerning the mystery of their life. It is their false spirit from inside them, to lead him astray, so that he would not experience his perfection.

7. That tree is of the kind whose root is bitter, and whose branches are shadows of death, and whose [57] leaves are hatred and trickery, and its perfume is an anointing of evil, and its fruit is the lust of death, and its seed drinks continually of darkness.

8. Those who taste of it, their dwelling place is Hades.

9. Regarding the tree which they call, ‘so as to know good and evil,’ which is Reflection of Light, concerning which they issued the commandment not to taste, that is, obey her not, because the commandment was issued against him so that he could not gaze up toward his perfection and realize that he had been stripped of his perfection, but it was I who induced them [58] so that they ate.”

10. I asked him: “Christ, was it not the serpent that instructed her?”

11. He grinned and said: “The serpent instructed her concerning sexual lust, concerning defilement and destruction, because he can exploit these,

12. and he

The chief archon

13. I asked him: ‘‘Christ, what is the ‘trance’?”

14. He, however, said: “It is not the way Moses said, ‘He caused him to sleep,’ but it was his perception he veiled with a veil. He caused him to be drowsy with [59] a lack of perception, because he in fact said through the prophet: ‘I will cause the ears of their hearts to be heavy, so that they do not understand and do not see

Isaiah 6:10

1. Reflection of Light then concealed herself inside him, and in his desire, he wished to extract her from out of the rib, but she — Reflection of Light, because she is an entity that cannot be grasped —

2. even though the darkness chased after her, it could not lay hold of her. He wished to extract the power from out of him to make a mold once more, in the form of a woman, and he lifted her up in front of him, not the way Moses said, ‘He took a rib and created the woman next to him.’ Suddenly, he became sober from the inebriation of darkness.

3. [60] Reflection of Light raised the veil that lay over his mind. When he realized this, he immediately said, ‘This is surely bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.

4. Therefore will the man leave his father and his mother, and he will cleave to his wife, and both of them will become one flesh,’ because the mother’s companion will be dispatched, and she will be rectified. Therefore, Adam gave her the name ‘the mother of all the living.’ By the sovereignty from on high, and by the revelation, Reflection instructed him in knowledge.

1. [61] From the tree, in the shape of an eagle, she instructed him to eat of knowledge, so that he could recall his perfection, because both had fallen into ignorance.

2. Yaldabaoth realized that they had withdrawn from him, and cursed them, but moreover, he adds concerning the woman that the husband is to rule over her,

4. because he does not know the mystery that transpired through the sacred decree from on high. They, however, feared to curse him, and to expose his ignorance. All of his angels expelled [62] them from paradise. He clothed him in dark gloom.

5. Yaldabaoth then beheld the virgin standing near Adam. He was filled with ignorance, so that he desired to raise up a seed from her.

6. He polluted her and begot the first child, and similarly the second:

7. Yave, the bear-face, and Eloim, the cat-face.

8. The one is just, but the other is unjust. Eloim is the just one, Yave is the unjust one.

9. The just one he placed over fire and wind, but the unjust one he placed over water and earth. These are called Cain and Abel by all generations of men.

10. [63] Until today, there is sexual intercourse in marriage, because of the chief archon. Inside Adam he planted sexual lust, so that from this essence they gave birth to a copy from their false spirit.

11. However, he placed the two archons over the principalities, so that they would rule over the tomb.

12. He knew his essence, which resembled him. Adam begot Seth, and exactly as the race in heaven, among the aeons, so the mother dispatched the one who belongs to her.

13. The Spirit descended to her in order to rouse the essence that resembles [64] him, according to the simulacrum of the perfection,

14. in order to rouse them from oblivion and the evil of the tomb, and in this way he remained for a time.

15. He toiled for her seed, so that, when the Spirit comes forth from the sacred aeons, he can rectify their defect, confirm the aeon so that it can become a sacred Perfection, and that, as a result, there will be no defect inside it.”

1. I, however, asked: “Christ, will the souls of everyone continue living in the pure light?”

2. He said to me: “You have opened up a contemplation of great things of the kind that are difficult to explain to others, with the exception [65] of those who originate from that unmoving race.

3. Those on whom the Spirit of life is soon to alight, after they have joined together with the power, they will be saved, they will become perfect, and they will deserve to enter these great lights, because there they will deserve to be purified of all evil, and the temptations of evil,

4. given that they devote themselves to nothing else but this indestructible assembly, and they will certainly fix their attention on it, without wrath, or envy, or fear, or lust, or pleasure. They are not troubled by any of these, not even by a single one of them, except only the flesh, [66] while they put it to use, looking forward with expectation to when they will be brought forth and received by those who receive

5. into the excellence of eternal, indestructible life and the election, withstanding all, and enduring all, so that they will finish the contest and inherit eternal life.”

6. I asked: “Christ, if they will not have performed these things, what will the souls do to be similarly saved, those into whom the power and the Spirit of life had entered?”

7. He said to me: [67] “Those into whom that spirit enters will in any scenario live and will be delivered out of evil, because the power enters into everyone, because without it they would be unable to stand.

8. However, after it is born, the Spirit of life will then be carried to it. In this way, when this strong Spirit of life has arrived, it strengthens the power, that is, the soul, and it strays not into evil.

9. However, those into whom the false spirit enters are compelled by him and are led astray.”

10. I, however, asked: “Christ, when their souls [68] have departed from their flesh, where will they go?”

11. He, however, grinned and said: “To a place of the soul, which is the power that has grown far more excellent than the false spirit. This is strong, and it runs away from evil deeds, and by means of the indestructible providential care, it will be saved and brought up to the repose of the aeons.”

12. I, however, asked: “Christ, those who did not know the All, what are their souls, or where will they go?”

13. He said to me: “Over these a false spirit increased in strength [69] when they faltered, and in this way he weighs down their soul, compels it to evil deeds, and throws it into oblivion. In this way, after it becomes naked, he delivers it over to the authorities who came into existence from the archon. They once again throw them into fetters and accompany them until they are rescued from oblivion, and it obtains knowledge, and in this way is perfected and saved.”

14. I, however, asked: “Christ, how does the soul grow smaller and smaller and return into the natural state of the mother or into the man?”

15. He, however, rejoiced when I had asked him this, and he said: [70] “Blessed are you for understanding. For this cause, then, they are given over to the other, in whom dwells the Spirit of life.

16. By means of following and obeying through him, it will be saved.

17. In fact, it will no longer enter into flesh.”

18. I asked him: “Christ, but those who did know, but who have turned away, where will their souls go?”

19. He said to me: “They will go to the place where the angels of destitution will retreat, to whom repentance does not come. They will be detained for the day when all those who have blasphemed the holy Spirit will be punished. They will be [71] tormented with an age-long punishment.”

1. I, however, asked: “Christ, where did the false spirit originate?”

2. He said to me: “When the abundantly merciful mother, together with the merciful holy Spirit, the one who pitied us — that is, Reflection of Light, together with her offspring, — he is the one who raised it in the intellect of the people of the race of this Perfect Man of eternal light.

3. The chief archon became aware that they were loftier than him in the height of their wisdom, and he desired to seize their objective, because he was ignorant, unaware [72] that they were wiser than he.

4. He concocted a plot with his powers, and they begot Destiny, and fettered with measurements and times and moments the gods of the heavens, and angels, and demons, and humans, so that all of them would be in its fetter, given that Destiny is the universal overlord, a wicked and perverted notion. He then regretted everything that had transpired because of him.

7. He conspired to bring a flood on all the offspring of humanity but the greatness of Providence, being Reflection of Light, [73] notified Noah, and he preached to people, but they did not believe him.

8. It was not as Moses said, ‘He hid himself in an ark,’ but she protected him in a place — not only Noah, but people of the unmoving race.

9. They entered a place and protected themselves with a radiant cloud, and he became aware of his lordship and of those who were with him

10. inside the light that shone on them, because darkness was descending over everything on the earth. He concocted a plot together with his [74] angels.

11. They dispatched their angels to the daughters of men, so that from them they could raise up offspring for their pleasure, and they were at first unsuccessful.

12. They all reached an agreement on a plot

13. to create the false spirit, because they recalled the Spirit who had descended, and the angels transformed their likeness into the likeness of their husbands, because being their husbands, they filled them with spirit that mixed together with them inside the darkness that originates from evil.

14. They presented them with gold and silver and gifts, even of metals of copper and iron, even of all kinds, [75] and they led them into temptation so that they would not be able to remember their unwavering Providence.

17. They selected them and begot children out of the darkness with their false spirit. He shut up their hearts and they grew hard with the hardness of the false spirit, even until now.

11. Therefore, the blessed one, that is, the Mother-Father, abundant in mercy, is taking shape inside her seed. I first ascended to this perfect aeon.

1. I, however, speak these things to you, so that you may write them down and distribute them in secret to your companion spirits, because this is the mystery of the unmoving race. [76] The Mother, however, came another time in front of me. These are now the things she performed in the world: she rectified her seed.

2. I will instruct all of you concerning what will come to pass, because surely I offered these things to you to be written down and be kept secure.” He then said to me: “Cursed be any who will trade these sayings for a gift, either of food, or of drink, or of garments, or of any other thing like these.”

3. He entrusted this mystery to him, and he immediately vanished from him, and he [77] departed to his companion disciples and began informing them about what had been spoken to him by the savior.