The Substance of the Archons
NHC II, 4
The following translation has been committed to the public domain and may be freely copied and used, changed or unchanged, for any purpose. It is based on the Coptic text of Nag Hammadi Codex II, 4. The Nag Hammadi texts were written in the fourth century, subsequently buried, and then rediscovered in 1945. The Substance[1] of the Archons narrates the origins and schemes of the archons beginning with the story of Adam and Eve.
This translation by Samuel Zinner is from the Coptic text in Bentley Layton, ed., The Coptic Gnostic Library: Nag Hammadi Codex II,2-7: Volume 1 (Leiden: Brill, 1989). The following previous translations were consulted: Bentley Layton in The Coptic Gnostic Library; Stephen Emmel, Helmut Koester, and Elaine H. Pagels, in James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990); Marvin Meyer in idem, ed., The Nag Hammadi Scriptures (New York: HarperOne, 2007); Ursula Ulrike Kaiser in Hans-Martin Schenke, Hans-Gebhard Bethge, Ursula Ulrike Kaiser, eds., Nag Hammadi Deutsch: Volume 2 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2001/2003). Zinner’s translation was edited by Mark M. Mattison with the generous support of Other Gospels.
Symbols
[ ] Gap in the text (known as a “lacuna”)
( ) Editorial insertion to clarify the text
[86] Page number of the Coptic codex (hyperlinked)
Introduction
[86] Concerning the substance of the authorities (from which they were made).[2] By the spirit of the Father of truth, the great apostle mentioned the authorities of darkness, and informed us that “our battle is not against flesh and [blood], but against the cosmic authorities and the spirits of evil.” I have sent you this writing because you inquired concerning the substance of the authorities (from which they were made).
Samael, the “Blind God”
Their leader is blind. [On account of his] power, ignorance, and pride, he declared in his [power]: “I am God; there is no other [except me].”
When he uttered this, he sinned against [the All]. This bragging ascended to indestructability, [87] and a voice responded from indestructability, and said: “You are in error, Samael,” which means “blind god,” his thoughts being blind. He vented his power, namely, the blasphemy he had uttered, and he followed it down into Chaos and to his mother, the Abyss, prompted by Pistis Sophia. She set up each one of his offspring in agreement with its power, according to the likeness of the lofty eternal aeons, because what is seen originated from what is unseen.
Indestructability peered downward into the place of the waters. Her image appeared as a reflection on the waters, and the authorities of darkness grew enamored with her. They, however, were unable to hold onto the image that had appeared to them on the waters, because they were feeble. And what is merely soulish is unable to hold onto what is spiritual, because the authorities originated from below, while the image of indestructability originated from above.
Consequently, indestructability peered downward into that place, in order that by the will of the Father she could unite all of them with the light.
The Archons Create Adam
The archons schemed, and said: “Come, let us create a man to be soil of the earth.”
They fashioned their creation as an entirely earthly being.
The archons possess bodies that are both female [and male], and their faces are faces of beasts. They took [soil] from the earth and fashioned [their man] according to their own bodies and [according to the image] of God that had appeared [to them] on the water.
They said: “[Come], let us lay hold of the image through the form we have molded, [in order that] the image can gaze on its male counterpart [and grow enamored with it], [88] and in order that we can grasp it in the form we have molded.” Being powerless, they understood not the power of God.
He blew into his face, and the man came to possess a soul, and he remained on the ground for several days. Being powerless, the archons were unable to make him arise. They continued to blow like tempestuous winds, attempting to seize hold of the image that had appeared to them on the waters, and they knew not its power.
All of these events transpired by the will of the Father of the All.
The Spirit subsequently gazed on the soulish man on the ground. The Spirit came forth from the Adamic Land. It descended and took up its abode inside him, and that man became a living soul, and the Spirit called his name Adam, because he was found moving on the ground.
A voice from indestructibility came forth to be a help to Adam. The archons brought together all of the animals of the earth, and all of the birds of the sky, even bringing them before Adam to learn what Adam might call them, so that he could assign names to all of the birds and to all the animals.
The Garden of Eden and Eve
The archons conveyed Adam, even placing him in the garden, so that he might tend it and guard it. They ordered him, and said: “You are allowed to eat from [all] the trees in the garden, but eat not from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. [Touch] it not, because on the day you eat from it, you certainly will die.”
[This] they [said to him], yet they understood not what [they had said] to him. Instead, it was according to the will of the Father [89] that they said this in the way they did, so that Adam would (indeed) eat, and so that Adam would <not> think of them in the way a thoroughly material man would.
The archons schemed with one another, and said: “Come, let us cause a deep sleep to fall upon Adam,” so that Adam slept. The deep sleep they caused to fall upon him, and which he slept, is ignorance. They opened up his side, like a living woman. Then they closed up his side with flesh in its place, and Adam became merely soulish.
The spiritual woman approached him, and she spoke with him, saying: “Arise, Adam.”
When he gazed on her, he said: “You have granted me life; you will be called the Mother of the living, because she is my mother. She is the physician, the woman, the one who has given birth.”
The authorities approached their Adam. When they saw his female counterpart talking with him, they were aroused and lusted for her. They said to one another: “Come, let us sow our semen into her,” and they pursued her. She, however, laughed at them on account of their stupidity and blindness. As they grabbed her, she became a tree, and as she placed before them a shadowy likeness of herself, they defiled it most vilely, defiling the signet of her voice. And thus they brought judgment on themselves by means of the shape they had modeled in their own image.
The Serpent
Then the female spiritual nature arrived in the guise of the serpent, the teacher. The serpent taught Adam and Eve, and said: “What did Samael [say to] you? Was what he said: ‘You are allowed to eat from all trees in the garden, but do not eat from [the tree] of the knowledge of good and evil’?”
[90] The fleshly woman said: “He said not only ‘Eat not,’ but even ‘Touch it not, because on the day that you eat from it, you certainly will die.’”
The serpent, the teacher, said: “Certainly you will not die, because he said this to you motivated by jealousy. On the contrary, your eyes will be opened, and you will become like gods, knowing (what is) good and evil.” And the female teaching nature was removed from the serpent, and she forsook it as though it were something earthly.
The fleshly woman took of the tree and ate, and she gave to her husband also, and in this way they ate, these beings who were merely soulish. Their blemish was revealed by their lack of knowledge. They realized that they had been stripped of what is spiritual, and they took fig leaves and fastened them around their naked loins.
Because he was unaware of what had transpired, the leader of the archons arrived and said: “Adam, where are you?”
Adam said: “I heard your voice, and I became afraid, because I was naked, and so I hid.”
The archon said: “Why did you hide, if not because you ate from the one tree from which I
forbade you to eat? You ate (from it)!”
Adam said: “The woman you gave me [handed] me the fruit, and I ate it.”
And the haughty [archon] cursed the woman.
The woman said: “The serpent fooled me, and (so) I ate.”
[The archons turned] toward the serpent, and cursed its shadow, [making it] grow weak.
And they knew not that it was the same shape they had modeled. From that time on, the serpent came under the curse of the authorities, lasting [91] until the Perfect Man came.
They turned to their Adam, driving him together with his wife out of the garden. They possessed no blessing, because they, too, were under the curse.
They drove mankind into a massive confusion and a life of work, in order that their mankind might be concerned with worldly matters and have no time to be concerned with the holy Spirit.
Adam and Eve’s Children
Next, Eve then gave birth to Cain, their son, and Cain tilled the land. Then Adam knew his wife. She once again became pregnant, giving birth to Abel, and Abel was a shepherd. Cain brought in crops from his field, while Abel brought in an offering from among his lambs. God looked favorably on the offering of Abel, but he did not accept the offerings of Cain.
The fleshly Cain pursued his brother Abel.
God said to Cain: “Where is Abel your brother?”
Cain answered and said: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
God said to Cain: “Listen! The voice of your brother’s blood calls to me. You have sinned with your mouth. It will return to you. Whoever kills Cain will unleash seven revenges, and you will live moaning and trembling on the earth.”
Adam once again [knew] his female counterpart Eve, and she became pregnant and bore [Seth] to Adam. She said: “I have given birth to [another] man through God, to replace [Abel].”
Eve once again became pregnant and gave birth to [Norea]. Eve said: “He has begotten a virgin for me in order to help many generations of humans.” [92] She is the virgin whom the forces did not defile.
And mankind began to multiply and to progress.
The Flood
The archons schemed with one another and said: “Come, let us cause a flood by our hands and annihilate all flesh, humans and beasts.”
When the archon of the forces came to know of their scheme, he said to Noah: “Make for yourself an ark of wood that does not rot, and hide in it, you together with your children and with the beasts and the birds of the sky, both small and large, settling it on Mount Sir.”
Orea[3] then approached Noah, desirous to board the ark. When he refused her, she blew on the ark so that it was devoured by fire. So a second time he made an ark.
The Archons Try to Rape Norea
The archons went to meet her, scheming to fool her. Their leader said to her, “Your mother, Eve, approached us,” but Norea turned to them, and said: “You are the archons of the darkness; cursed be you! You did not know my mother, but you instead knew your own female counterpart, because I am not your offspring; I come from the world above.”
In his might, the haughty archon turned, and his expression became as a flaming [inferno]. He was presumptuous toward her, and [said]: “You must render us sexual services, as did your mother Eve, because [. . .] has been delegated to me.”
Norea, however, in the power of [God] turned and cried with a loud voice to the Holy One, the God of the All: [93] “Rescue me from archons of injustice and save me immediately from their hands!”[4]
An angel descended from heaven and said to her: “Why do you invoke God? Why are you so presumptuous toward the holy Spirit?”
Norea asked: “Who are you?”
(Meanwhile), the archons of injustice had withdrawn from her.
The Angel Eleleth
The angel said: “It is I, Eleleth, the great angel Wisdom, who stands in front of the holy Spirit. I have been sent to speak with you, and to save you from the hand of those who are lawless, and I will instruct you concerning your root.”
Regarding that angel, I am unable to speak of his power. His appearance resembles fine gold, and his garment resembles snow. My mouth is truly unable to speak of his power and the appearance of his face.
The great angel Eleleth spoke to me, and said: “I am Wisdom, being one of the Four Lights who stand in front of the great unseen Spirit. Do you (really) imagine that these archons are able to exercise (any) power over you? Not one of them will be able to conquer the root of the truth, because he has appeared in the last days on account of the root of the truth, and these authorities will be confined. Also, these authorities will be unable to defile you and that generation, because your abode is in indestructibility, where abides the virgin Spirit, who is superior over the authorities of chaos and over their world.”
The Origin of the Blind God
I said: “My Lord, instruct me concerning the [power of] these authorities. [How] did they come into being, and out of what kind of substance and out of [94] what matter, and who created them and their strength?”[5]
The great angel, Eleleth, who is Wisdom, said to me: “Indestructibility dwells inside infinite aeons. Sophia, who is called Pistis, desired to create something independently, apart from her companion, and what she produced originated from above.
“There is a veil between the upper world and the aeons below, and a shadow came into being under the veil, and the shadow became matter, and the shadow fell onto a separate place.
“What she had produced developed into something material resembling an aborted fetus, and its shape was molded out of the shadow, and it became a haughty beast resembling a lion. It was androgynous, as I previously mentioned, because it had originated from matter.
“He opened his eyes, gazing on a vast, infinite quantity of matter, and he grew haughty, and said: ‘I am God, and nothing exists apart from me.’
“In saying this, he had sinned against the All, and a voice came forth from above the place of supreme rule,[6] and said: ‘You are in error, Samael,’ meaning ‘blind god.’
“He said, ‘If anything else exists before me, show it to me.’
“Sophia immediately stretched out her finger and inserted light into matter, and she pursued it downward to the place of chaos. She then returned upward to her light, darkness once again [falling on] matter.
“This archon, being androgynous, made for himself a vast realm, an infinite expanse.
[95] He thought of creating offspring for himself, and he created seven offspring for himself, androgynous just like their parent.
“He said to his offspring: ‘I am God of the All.’
“Zoe, the daughter of Pistis Sophia, cried out and said to him: ‘You are in error, Sakla,’ whose other name is ‘Yaldabaoth.’ Zoe breathed into his face, and her breath became an angel of fire for her, and that angel bound Yaldabaoth, casting him down to Tartaros, under the abyss.
God of Hosts, Sabaoth
“When Sabaoth, son of Yaldabaoth, witnessed the power of that angel, he repented and sentenced to judgment his father and Matter, his mother, whom he reviled.
“And he sang songs of praise to Sophia above, and to her daughter Zoe. Sophia and Zoe brought him up and appointed him over the seventh heaven, under the veil that divides the upper and lower (realms). He is called ‘God of hosts, Sabaoth,’ because he is over the hosts of chaos, because Sophia appointed him.
“When these events had transpired, Sabaoth made a massive four-faced chariot of cherubim for himself, and an infinity of angels to be his servants, as well as harps and lyres.
“Sophia brought her daughter Zoe and caused her to sit at his right hand and to instruct him concerning the things of the eighth heaven. And she placed the angel of wrath at his left hand.
[From] that day onward, [his right hand] was called ‘life,’ [96] while the left hand came to symbolize the injustice of the upper realm of the autocrat.[7] Before the time you existed, these events had transpired.
“When Yaldabaoth saw Sabaoth in this great majesty and exalted so highly, he grew envious of him, and his envy became an androgynous entity. And such was the origin of Envy, who gave birth to Death, and Death gave birth to offspring, and Death appointed each of them to be in charge of its (own) heaven. And all of the heavens of the chaos were filled with their multitudes.
“All of these events, however, transpired by the will of the Father of the All, according to the pattern of everything above, in order that the summation of chaos could be achieved.
“Behold, I have instructed you concerning the mold of the archons, the matter in which was made manifest, as well as their parent and their world.”[8]
Norea’s Final Questions
I said: “My Lord, do I, too, originate from their matter?”
“You, as well as your offspring, originate from the Father, who existed from the beginning.
The souls originate from above, from indestructible light. The authorities, accordingly, are unable to go near them, on account of the spirit of the truth that is inside them, and everyone who knows this path of the truth will be deathless among mortal humans.
“That seed, however, will not as yet become known. It will become known after three ages, and it will (then) liberate them from the bondage of the error of the authorities.”
I asked: “My Lord, how much longer until it comes to pass?”
He said to me: “Until the moment the True Man in a moldable substance[9] reveals [the spirit of] truth the Father has sent.
[97] “He will then instruct them concerning all things, anointing them with the oil of eternal life, bestowed on him from the kingless generation.
“They will then be liberated from blind thought, and they will tread on death, which originates from the authorities, and they will ascend to the infinite light where this seed dwells.
“The authorities then will give up their times, and their angels will weep because of their destruction, and their demons will grieve because of their death.
“Then all the sons of light will truly know the truth, as well as their root and the Father of the All, and the holy Spirit. All of them will proclaim with a single voice: ‘The truth of the Father is just, the Son reigns over the All.’And from everyone (will come the proclamation): ‘Forever and ever, holy, holy, holy! Amen.’”
The Substance of the Archons
Notes
[1] “Substance” renders the Greek loanword hypostasis. That the “substance,” hypostasis, here refers to the hyle, “matter,” from which the archons originated, is made clear from the contents of pages 93-95 (see the footnotes there). The title therefore does not refer to the spiritual nature or to the spiritual or ontological reality of the archons, but to their quite concrete, physical origin and physical substance and subsistence. The text several times narrates the scheming of the archons. This is significant, given that “scheme” (“plot”) is one of the often overlooked meanings of the Greek term hypostasis.
[2] This line, which begins with etbe, “concerning,” forms a separate sentence and is not to be joined to the sentence that follows. This first sentence is an explanatory subtitle to the text as a whole.
[3] An alternative name for Norea.
[4] “Hands,” not “clutches,” pace Bentley Layton in the Coptic Gnostic Library. As elsewhere in the text, “hand/s” is an idiom for “power.”
[5] Layton understands hypostasis as synonymous to the preceding “come into being,” and accordingly renders hypostasis as “genesis.” However, alternatively we can understand hypostasis as synonymous to the subsequent term hyle, “matter,” and render hypostasis as “substance.” The latter scenario is grammatically and semantically the more natural and therefore the likelier one.
[6] The Greek loanword authenteia can mean “rule” or “authenticity,” and although it can in some contexts possess a negative valence, here it clearly bears a positive valence, making Marvin Meyer’s translation “tyrannical ream” unsupportable. Page 94’s authenteia is not be identified with page 96’s cognate term authentēs, which contextually does bear a negative valence.
[7] Here the negative term authentēs, “autocrat,” is not to be confused with page 94’s contextually positive authenteia, “supreme rule.”
[8] “Mold,” typos. This passage harks back to pages 93-94, “out of what kind of substance (hypostasis) and out of [94] what matter (hyle).” When we correlate these two passages with each other, it becomes clear that the text understands hypostasis and typos as synonyms of each other. In short, the hypostasis of the archons is the material mold, or mold of material substance, from which they originated. Cf. later in page 96, “moldable substance,” expressed with the Greek loanword plasma. The hypostasis of the archons can therefore be understood as the plasma or (material) moldable substance of the archons, from which they originated.
[9] “Moldable substance,” plasma.