The Tripartate Tractate
NHC I, 5
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 I, 5. The Nag Hammadi texts were written in the fourth century, subsequently buried, and then rediscovered in 1945. Scholars refer to this unnamed work as “tripartite” because it is divided into three parts. Part 1 describes the origin and development of the cosmos, Part 2 describes the creation and fall of humanity, and Part 3 describes the destinies and fates of the different classes of humanity.
This translation from the Coptic is by Samuel Zinner and was edited by Mark M. Mattison with the generous support of Other Gospels. As the 1978 team translation of the Tripartite Tractate by Harold W. Attridge, Elaine H. Pagels, and Dieter Mueller in James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978) benefitted the later 2007 translation by Einar Thomassen in Marvin Meyer, ed., The Nag Hammadi Scriptures (New York, NY: HarperOne, 2007), so this present translation has benefitted from the insights of both earlier translations.
Symbols
[ ] Gap in the text (known as a “lacuna”)
( ) Editorial insertion to clarify the text
< > Editorial correction of a scribal error
[51] Page number of the Coptic codex (hyperlinked)
Part 1: Cosmology
The Father
[51] When discussing exalted matters, it is appropriate that we begin with the Father, the root of the Totality, from whom we have received the gift to speak concerning him. Before anything besides him came to be, he existed.
Like a number, the Father is single, because he comes first and is himself alone. Yet he does not resemble someone who is single. If he did, how could he be a father? Because whenever a father exists, the name “son” will follow. The single one, however, who is the Father alone, resembles the root of a tree with branches and fruit. Of him it is said, strictly speaking, that he is a father, because he is incomparable and changeless. This is why, strictly speaking, he is single, and (why he) is a god, given that no one (stands in a relation to him) as a god, because no one is his father. For he is unbegotten, and no one else begot him, and no one else created him. Because anyone who is someone else’s father or creator, he also has a father and a creator. To be sure, he can be a father and a creator of someone who came into being from him and someone he created, because, strictly speaking, he is not a father and he is not a god, because there was [52] someone who [begot and] created him. Therefore, only he, strictly speaking, is Father and God, who has had no one beget him. Regarding the Totalities, it is he who begot and created them.
He has no beginning and no end, but it is not just that he has no end. Because he is unbegotten, he is deathless, yet he is also unchanging in his eternal being, in his self-identity, in what established him, and in what makes him great. Nor will he ever be separated from what makes him be, and no one will compel him to bring forth any intention that he has never willed. No one originated (the Father’s) existence, and so he is unchanging. And no one can separate him from his own being and self-identity, which is what he exists in, nor from his greatness, which is why no one can comprehend him. And it is impossible that anyone would change his form into something different, or that anyone could lower him, or change him or lessen him. This is <how> in the plenitude of truth he is the unchangeable, invariable one, with immutability for his garments. It is not just that he is called “Beginningless” and “Endless,” but he is neither born, nor will he die. Thus, as he is without beginning and without end in the way he subsists, so [53] in his greatness he cannot be reached, being incomprehensible in his wisdom, unfathomable in his power, and unknowable in his sweetness.
Strictly speaking, only he who is the good, the unbegotten Father, and the wholly perfect one is full with his offspring, and with all virtues, and with everything that is of value. And he possesses yet more, even the absence of all spite, so that one may find that all who have anything owe it to him, because he bestows it, although he is unattainable and tireless in his giving, being wealthy in the gifts he gives and reposing in the favors he lavishes.
His category and form and great scale are such that none have been with him from the beginning. And there is no place in which he dwells, or from which he proceeds, or into which he enters. And there is no primal form that he uses as a pattern when he works, nor does any difficulty attend him in whatever he does, nor is any matter available for him to use to create what <he> creates. And there is no substance inhering in him that he uses to beget whatever he begets, nor is there any co-worker accompanying him in his work. To claim anything like this is ignorance. One should instead claim (he is) good, without defect, perfect, [54] entire, since he is the Totality.
None of the names thought of or pronounced, seen or understood, none of them are applicable to him, no matter how immensely majestic, glorifying and reverential. One can, however, pronounce such names to his glory and honor, in agreement with the ability of those who glorify him. Regarding what inheres within his existence, being, and form, the mind cannot conceive him, nor can words express him, nor can eyes behold him, nor can anyone comprehend him. This is on account of his unsearchable greatness, his ungraspable profundity, his limitless height, and his unlimited <extension>.
This is the character of what is unbegotten: It does not extend or join to anything like something that is limited. He instead has a character without possessing face or form, things comprehended by perception, which is why he is incomprehensible.
The Son
If, then, he is incomprehensible, consequently, he cannot be known, and he is ungraspable by any thought, invisible to everything, unspeakable by any words, beyond the touch of any hand. Only he knows himself as he [55] is, and his form and his greatness and his scale as they are. And because he can conceive of himself, see himself, name himself, and comprehend himself, he is the only one whose own mind, own eye, own mouth, own form are (equivalent to his) own being. And (so) he is what he conceives of, what he sees, what he speaks, what he comprehends, being what is inconceivable, unspeakable, ungraspable, and unchanging, whereas what he conceives of, sees, and speaks of, what he has thought of, is sustenance, joyful, true, pleasing, and restful. He surpasses all wisdom, and is above all mind, and all glory, and all beauty, and all sweetness, and all greatness, and every depth and every height.
The one unknowable in nature, possessing all the great attributes I listed, if from the riches of his sweetness wants to grant the knowledge to know him, he can do this. His power (to do this) is his will. Nevertheless, in silence the great one restrains himself, who causes the Totalities to come forth into their eternal existence.
[56] Strictly speaking, he begets himself in an unspeakable (mode), because only he is self-begotten, because conceived from himself, and because he knows himself as he is. He makes whatever deserves his respect and glory and honor and praise out of his infinite greatness, and his unsearchable wisdom, and his immeasurable power, and his sweetness beyond taste. He projects himself in the mode of generation, receiving glory and praise, honor and love, and he glorifies and praises himself, giving himself honor and love. In this way he has a Son, subsisting in him, remaining silent about him, being unspeakable in the unspeakable one, invisible in the invisible one, ungraspable in the ungraspable one, incomprehensible in the incomprehensible one.
In this way (the Son) exists in (the Father) forever. As we explained previously, in an unbegotten mode the Father knows himself in himself, who begot himself by thought, the thought about him, being the perceiving [57] of himself, the [. . .] of his eternal nature. However, strictly speaking, that is the silence and the wisdom and the gift, if in this manner it is named properly. As the Father, strictly speaking, exists, before whom no [one else existed], and apart from [whom] there is no other who is unbegotten, [so the Son] also, strictly speaking, exists, before whom no one else existed, and after whom no other son will exist. He is, therefore, a Firstborn and only Son. He is the Firstborn because no one exists before him, and he is an only Son because no one will be after him. Moreover, he has his fruit, being what cannot be known because of its transcendent greatness. He, nevertheless, willed (his fruit) to become known, out of the riches of his sweetness. And he revealed inexplicable might, and he mingled it with the great wealth of his generosity.
The Church
It was not only the Son who existed from the beginning, but the Church also existed from the beginning. Whoever thinks the realization that the Son is an only son contradicts this proposition, owing to the enigmatic nature of the subject, it is not the case. As [58] the Father is a unity, and has revealed himself as Father for none but himself, the Son was also discovered as a brother to none but himself, owing to the fact that he is unbegotten and without a beginning. The Father wonders at himself [as] Father, and he gives [himself glory] and honor and [love]. He also, moreover, conceives of himself as Son, congruent with the attributes of beginninglessness and endlessness. In this way is the matter confirmed.
His countless and limitless offspring are inseparable. Those who exist have originated from the Son and the Father like kisses of those who kiss each other with a good and insatiable thought, the embrace being one, though comprising many kisses. The meaning is that the Church comprises many individuals who existed before the aeons, which, strictly speaking, is called “the aeons of the aeons.” This is the character of the imperishable holy spirits, on whom the Son reposes, because this is his nature, like the Father who also reposes [59] on the Son.
The Aeons
[. . .] the Church exists in the qualities and attributes in which the Father and the Son exist, as I have stated from the beginning. It subsists, therefore, in the births of countless aeons. By the qualities and the attributes in which (the Church) [exists], (the aeons) also give birth in a way beyond counting. This is because these (aeons) [constitute] (the Church’s) union which they [form] with each other and [with those] who have gone forth from [them and] with the Son, for whose glory they exist.
It is impossible, therefore, that mind would conceive of <them>, he being the perfection of that place. Nor can speech describe them, because they are unspeakable and unnameable and ungraspable. It is only they who can name themselves and who can conceive of themselves, because they are unrooted in these places. Those in that place are unspeakable, uncountable in the system [that is] both [the mode] and the dimension, the rejoicing, the joy of the unbegotten, nameless, unnameable, ungraspable, invisible, inconceivable one. This is the fullness of paternity, so that his riches are a birth.
[60] [. . .] of the aeons dwelt eternally in thought, because the Father was as a thought and a place for them. Their generations once established, the one in total control desired to take hold and bring forth what was deficient in the [. . .], and he brought forth those who [were within] him. However, because he is [the way] he is, [he is] a spring undiminished by the water abundantly flowing from it.
While they dwelt in the Father’s thought, namely, in the concealed depth, the depth knew them, yet they could not know the depth in which they dwelt. And it was impossible for them to know themselves, or for them to know anything else. In other words, they dwelt with the Father, their existence not being for themselves. Instead, they existed only as a seed does, and so it was found that they existed as does a fetus. As with a word he begot them, as they subsisted in spermatic form, while those whom he was going to beget had not yet reached existence from him.
[61] The Father was the one who first thought of them. He sowed a thought as if it were a spermatic seed, not just that they could exist for his sake, but so they could exist also for their own sakes, that they could then exist in his thought as a cognitive entity, and that they could exist also for their own sakes. So that they could know what exists for their sakes, he generously [bestowed the] initial form, and that [they could] know [who the Father] is who exists for their sakes, he granted them the name of Father through a voice declaring to them that whatever exists, exists by that name, which belongs to them. This is owing to the fact that they attained being because of the exaltation that dwells in the name, (an exaltation) they failed to recognize. While a fetus, an infant has what is sufficient for itself, not yet seeing who sowed it. Their only task, therefore, was to search for him, recognizing his existence, constantly desiring to discover what exists.
However, because the perfect Father is good, and just as he did not <close off> himself to them to make them exist eternally in his thought, but instead granted that they could attain existence for their own sakes, too, so also he gave them the gift to know what is, namely, the one who knows himself eternally. [62] [. . .] obtain form [to know] that He Who Is exists, just like people who, when they are born in this place, enter into the light so they can see those who begot them.
The All
The Father produced the All like a small child, like a drop from a spring, like a blossom from [a vine], like [a flower], like a <planting> [. . .], so that it needed to obtain [nourishment] and growth and perfection. He held it back for a season. The one who conceived of it from the first instant of the beginning, possessed and beheld it from the first instant of the beginning, but he <concealed> it for those who were the first to originate from him. Not from envy, but that the aeons could not receive their perfection (prematurely) from the first instant of the beginning and could not lift up themselves to the glory (that belongs solely to) the Father, and could not suppose that they possess all this from themselves. Instead, just as he willed to allow them to be able to come into being, so that they could also come into being as perfect entities, at the time of his choosing he granted them the perfect idea of generosity toward them.
The one he raised up to be a light to those who originated from himself, the one from whom they derive their name, he is the full, complete and perfect Son. He produced him mixed with what emerged out of him, [63] [. . .] sharing in the glory [. . .] the Totality, congruent with [. . .], by means of which each is [able] to receive it to [himself], although each did not have this greatness before they were received by it. They, instead, exist only partially in his proper mode and form and greatness. [They] are able to see him and speak of [what they] know about him, because they wear each other, because they are able to grasp [him]. By contrast, [his] mode of being is without comparison, so that the Father could receive honor from each one and could reveal himself, despite his incomparability. Concealed and unseen, they wonder at him in mind. The greatness of his exaltedness is consequently manifested when they speak of him and behold him, hymning him for the riches of his sweetness.
The Procreation of the Aeons
<...> and just as the acts of wonder by the silences are eternal generations and intellectual offspring, so the qualities of the Word are spiritual emanations. Because they pertain to speech, [64] both [acts of wonder] and qualities are seeds and thoughts of his offspring, and living, eternal roots that appear as self-originating offspring, existing as minds and spiritual offspring for the glory of the Father.
[Being] spirits and minds, sound and speech are unnecessary, it being unnecessary to perform [an act] to obtain what they wish to [have done]. Instead, based on the pattern of [the Father’s] own existence, [those] who originate from him beget anything they wish. And he has child<ren>, the one of whom they think, and of whom they speak, and toward whom they move, and the one in whom they subsist, and the one to whom they sing hymns to glorify him; because this is their power of procreation, resembling those from whom they originated, congruent with their shared help, given that they help each other as do those who are unbegotten.
The Father, in accord with his exalted place above the Totalities, being unknown and ungraspable, possesses a greatness and scale that if revealed suddenly, immediately, would destroy all the lofty beings among the aeons who had originated from him. He, therefore, restrained his strength and his infinite resources that comprise his [65] being, [remaining] unspeakable and unnameable, exalted above all mind and all speech.
This is, though, the one who stretched himself out, and what he stretched out formed a foundation and a place and a dwelling for the universe, one of his names being the One by Whom, because he is the Father of All. By his labor for the existing ones, he sowed into them the thought to search for him. The wealth of their [. . .] is that they grasp that he exists and that they inquire into what was existent.
The Father and the Son
This is the one who was given to them for satisfaction and nourishment and rejoicing and a wealth of enlightenment, which comprises his joint labor, his knowledge and his mixing with them. This is the one in fact who is both called and is the Son, because he is the Totalities, and they know who he is and that he covers (them) with garments. This is the one called “Son” and the one whose existence they comprehend, and they were searching for him. This is the one who exists as Father and the one about whom they cannot speak, and the one they do not grasp. This is the first one who came to be. No one can grasp him or comprehend him. Or can any draw near toward the Exalted One, toward the one who is, strictly speaking, pre-existent? However, all names thought of [66] or spoken of him are used in honor, as a hint at him, in accord with the capacity of each to glorify him.
He who arose from him when he stretched himself out to beget and to produce knowledge for the Totalities, he [. . .] every name without falsehood, and, strictly speaking, he is the only first one, the human from the Father, the one whom I [call]:
the form without form,
the body without body,
the invisible face,
the unspeakable word,
the ungraspable mind,
the fountain flowing from him,
the root of the planted ones,
and the god of those who are;
the light of those he enlightens,
the love of those he loves,
the providence of those he providentially guides,
the wisdom of those he made wise,
the power of those he empowered,
the assembly <of> those he gathers to him,
the revelation of the things searched for,
the eye of the seeing,
the breath of the breathing,
the life of the living,
the unity of those mingled with the Totalities.
All of these subsist in the single one, as he clothes himself entirely (with them), and (yet) he is never called by his single name. And in this singular mode they are equally the single one and the Totalities. He is not separable like a body, nor is he divided by the names he has obtained, (as if) he is one thing in one mode and [67] something [different] in another mode. Neither, moreover, does he change in [. . .], nor is he transformed into the names he conceives of, even becoming now this, then that, being one thing now, and at some other time, becoming something different. Instead, he remains entirely himself to the very end. [He is] simultaneously and eternally all of the Totalities without exception. He is what comprises all of them. He presented the Father to the Totalities. It is even the case that he is the Totalities, because he is his own self-knowledge and he is every quality and power. And [he] himself [is] the eye through which he possesses knowledge, while beholding himself in himself thoroughly, and possessing a Son and a form.
His powers and qualities, therefore, are countless and unheard, because of the way <that> he begets them. Countless and inseparable are those whom his words beget, and (so are) his instructions and his Totalities. He knows them, who are what he himself is, because they subsist in the single name, and they all speak by means of it. And he brings forth, so that they might discover that they exist in accord with their individual qualities in a unified mode.
The Aeons Procreate
And he did not reveal the diverse (qualities) to the Totalities all at once, nor did he reveal his self-equality to those who originated from him. All those who originated from him, <who> are the aeons of the aeons, [68] because they [are] <his> procreative nature’s emanations and offspring, in their own procreative nature they also <procreate> for the glory of the Father, he being the cause that established them. As we stated before, he creates the aeons as roots and springs and fathers, and he is the one they glorify, because he possesses knowledge and wisdom, and because the Totalities recognized that they originated from knowledge and wisdom of the Totality.
If those of the Totality had rendered glory in accord with each aeon’s personal <capacities>, what they would have produced would have been but a pale reflection of the Father, who is the Totality. This is why in the song of glory and in the power of his unity, from which they proceeded, they were brought to a mingling and a mixture and a unity with each other. They offered the Father a worthy glorification from the assembly of the Fullness, a single yet multiple image, because it was produced for the glory of the single one, and because they approached the one who is himself the Totalities.
It was [69a / 69b] a praise [of the aeons] to the one who produced the Totalities as a first-fruit of the immortals and an eternal one. This was because, having emerged from the living aeons perfect and full on account of the perfect and full one, the full and perfect state of those who glorified in a perfect manner was left intact because of the communion, like the perfect Father, who when glorified hears also the glorification that glorifies [him, to] make manifest that they (also) are what he is.
The reason for the second honor given to them is what was returned to them from the Father when they knew the gift that enabled them to bear fruit among each other for the Father. The result was that just as they <were> gloriously brought forth for the Father, so they appeared perfectly in the act of glorifying.
They were fathers of the third glorification congruent with the freedom and the power which was begotten with them, bestowing on them the capacity to glorify together and to glorify individually by will. They were the first and the second glorifications, so that both of them are perfect and full, given that they are manifestations of the perfect and full Father and of those perfect things that emerged from the glorification of the perfect one. However, the fruit of the third glorification comprises the will of each of the aeons, and each one of the qualities and powers of the Father. The fruit exists [70a / 70b] complete and perfect insofar as what glory the aeons desire and are able to give to the Father results from their agreement and by each individually. This is what he loves and what he exerts power over, since through this the Father is glorified. This is why they are minds of minds that are found to be words of words, elders of elders, and degrees of degrees, being exalted above each other.
Each one who gives glory has his place and his exaltation and his abode and his repose, comprising the glory he offers. All who glorify the Father have an eternal begetting, begetting by mutually helping each other, because the emanations are infinite and immeasurable, and because there is no trace of envy in the Father toward those who originated from him with regard to their begetting something equal or like him, given that he exists in the Totalities, begetting and revealing himself. He makes anyone he wishes to be a father, whose Father he indeed is, and he makes anyone he wishes to be a god, whose God he indeed is, and he makes them the Totalities, <for whom> he is the Totality. [71] Strictly speaking, all great names are reserved there, those the angels share, who came into being in the world together with the archons, even though they have no similarity to the eternal beings.
The Aeons Seek the Father
The whole system of the aeons possesses a love and a yearning for the perfect, complete discovery of the Father, and this is their unrestrained unity. Although the Father eternally reveals himself, it was not his desire that they know him (automatically), because he allows that he will be grasped in a mode of searching, reserving to himself his unsearchable primal essence. The Father bestowed basic desires to the aeons, because they form places on the path that leads to him, as toward a school of training for behavior. He has offered to them:
faith in him and prayer to the one they do not see,
and a strong hope in the one they do not grasp,
and a fruitful love that looks to what it does not see,
and a worthy understanding of the eternal mind,
and a blessing of wealth and freedom,
and an understanding that longs to glorify the Father for <his> thought.
[72] By his will the exalted Father is known, by the Spirit that breathes within the Totalities, even imparting to them an idea to search for the unknown one, as when a pleasant aroma makes someone search for the source of the aroma, because the aroma of the Father excels over these natural ones. This is because his sweetness causes the aeons unspeakable pleasure, and it produces in them the idea of mixing with him who desires that they know him in a unified way, and to help each other in the Spirit that is planted within them. Although a great weight bears down on them, they are renewed in an indescribable manner, because they cannot be separated from that in which they are placed in an ungrasping way, because they will not speak, remaining silent concerning the Father’s glory, concerning the one who can speak, and nevertheless from him they will acquire a form.
Although speech cannot describe him, he revealed [himself.] They possess <him> concealed within a thought. This is why the aeons remain silent about the way the Father subsists in his form and his essence and his greatness, [73] whereas the aeons are worthy of knowing by his Spirit that he cannot be named nor comprehended. It is by his spirit, the trace of seeking him, that he supplies them the capacity to grasp him and to speak of him. Each aeon is a name, <that is>, each is a quality and power of the Father, because he exists in several names, which are mixed together and in harmony with each other. One can speak of him because of the riches of speech, just like the Father, though being a single name on account of his unity, possesses countless qualities and names.
The Nature of Emanation
The emanation of the Totalities, who exist from the existent one, did not take place by being separated from each other, like [something] discarded by the one who gives birth to them. Instead, their begetting resembles an act of extension, just as the Father extends himself to the ones he loves, so that [those] who have originated from him could also become him. Although a unity, the current age is divided into units of time, which in turn are divided into years, which in their turn are divided into seasons, and (then) seasons into months, and months into days, and days into hours, and hours into minutes. Even so, [74] the age of truth, because it is one and many, is honored with the insignificant and important names as each can grasp it. To use an analogy, this is like a spring that, although being what it is, it nevertheless flows, growing into streams and lakes and canals and branches. Or, it is like a root that spreads out beneath trees, and branches with their fruit, or like a human body, divided in an inseparable manner into various branching limbs, primary and secondary limbs, great and small.
The aeons brought forth themselves in agreement with the third fruit by free will and by the understanding he gave them for thought. It is not their desire to give glory [together with] what the separate Fullnesses brought forth in unison as words of [praise]. Neither is it their desire to give glory together with the entire Totality, nor do they desire to glorify together with any individual aeon who reached a higher place or state than his own, except he obtain <what> was desired from the one with a more exalted name and a higher place. [75] They receive each other at the higher place, and the one who wanted to go higher begets himself, in a manner of speaking, begetting himself together with the other one and with what he is, being renewed together with the one who came to him from his brother, and beholding him and entreating him about the matter.
So that this transpires in this way, the one who desired to give glory says nothing to him about it except this, because a limit for speech is set down in the Fullness, so that they remain silent about the ungraspability of the Father, yet permitting them to speak about their desire to grasp him.
The Mistake of the Last Aeon, the Word
It occurred to one of the aeons to try to grasp the ungraspability and to give glory to it, and especially to the unspeakability of the Father. Because he is a Word from the unity, he is one, [yet] he is not from the unity of the Totalities, nor from him who produced them, that is, the one who produced the Totality, namely, the Father. This aeon was one of those who had been given wisdom, those whose thought was pre-existent, by which they produced what they willed. He received, therefore, an innate wisdom to scrutinize the concealed foundation, because he is a fruit of wisdom. The free will begotten with the Totalities was a reason that this one did [76] what he desired, without anyone restraining him.
This one’s intent, who is the Word, was good. When he had been produced, he hastened to glorify the Father, though <he> desired something impossible, wishing to produce a perfect being from a union in which he had no part, and having no command. This aeon was the last to have <been> produced by mutual assistance, and he was small in scale. And before begetting anything for the glorification of the will, and in unison with the Totalities, he proceeded generously out of a lavish love, and went toward what surrounds the perfect glory, because it was not outside the will of the Father that the Word was produced; that is, he did not proceed without it.
The Father, however, had produced him for those he knew were appropriate to produce. The Father and the Totalities withdrew from him, so the limit the Father had placed could be established, because it is not by grasping what is ungraspable, but by the will [77] of the Father. Moreover, (this transpired) so those things that had come into being could become a plan of salvation that would unfold, and it could <not> fail to unfold in order to reveal the Fullness. It is not appropriate, then, to speak negatively about this action of the Word, though it is appropriate if we say of this action of the Word that it is a cause of a plan of salvation destined to unfold.
The Word begot himself as perfect and single, being content therewith for the glory of the Father he desired. However, those he wanted to lay hold of firmly he begot in shadows and images and likenesses. He was unable to gaze at the light; instead he peered into the depths, and he doubted. Out of this came a separation that disturbed him greatly, and a withdrawal caused by his self-doubting and separation, self-forgetting and self-ignorance and <of what> exists.
His self-exaltation and his belief that he could grasp what is ungraspable hardened in him and became rooted in him. These infirmities, however, remained with him while he was beside himself, caused by self-doubt, because <he failed to attain reaching> the glories of the Father, whose exaltedness is inimitable. He failed to attain this because he was unable to grasp it.
The one he produced by himself [78] as a single aeon hastened upward to what was his, and this relative of his in the Fullness forsook him who came into being in the deficiency together with those he had produced in an imaginary manner, because they do not belong to him. After he produced himself perfectly, he who indeed had produced himself, he grew weak like a female nature that forsakes its male counterpart. Out of what was deficient in itself there emerged those things that sprang from his thought and his pride, yet out of what is perfect in him he departed from it and [lifted himself] upward to those who belong to him. He dwelt in the Fullness as a reminder to him because [he had been] saved from [his pride].
The one who hastened upward and the one who pulled him to himself, these were not barren, but by producing a fruit in the Fullness, they deposed what had arisen in the deficiency. The things that came into being from the prideful thought are like the Fullnesses, being (the Fullnessess’) likenesses, images, shadows, and illusions, lacking reason and illumination, belonging to vacuous thought, because they were not produced by anything. [79] Their end, consequently, will agree with their beginning, for what never was will revert to what will never be. They, though, think of themselves as greater, stronger, and more [honorable] than the names [that beautify] them, whose shadows they are. They are like a beautiful reflection [someone sees], because the face of an image as a rule derives its beauty from the image it reflects.
They thought they were self-existent and without a source, because they saw nothing else that existed before them. And so they lived in defiance and by rebellious acts, failing to humble themselves before the one for whose sake they had come to be. They desired to command each other, to rule over each other [in] their ambition for glory, whereas the glory they possessed included the cause [of] the system that was to be. Because [they are] likenesses of those things that are above, <they> lifted up themselves out of a lust for control, each of them in the measure of the great name, whose shadow each one is, each supposing itself superior to his companions.
These others’ thought was not barren, yet just as <those> whose shadows they are, where each thought becomes a son, [80] so what they think of becomes their offspring. It came to pass, therefore, that a multitude of offspring were produced from them, as fighters, as warriors, as troublemakers, as disobedient rebels, lovers of control, and every other being of this kind who sprang from these.
The Word was the cause for (this multitude) coming into being, and he was increasingly perplexed, and he wondered. Rather than perfection, he beheld deficiency; rather than unification, he beheld separation; rather than firmness, [he beheld] weaknesses; rather than [repose], commotions. He [could not] make them stop [loving] commotion, nor could [he] destroy it. He was [entirely] powerless; his Totality and his [perfection] had forsaken him.
Those who came into being ignorant of themselves neither knew the Fullnesses where they originated, nor did they know the cause of their existence. In this unstable situation, the Word failed to produce anything else resembling emanations, which are what dwell in the Fullness, the glories that exist to the glory of the Father. He instead produced [81] diminutive weaklings, limited by the infirmities [that] constrained him as well.
The likeness that was alone in this situation had been the cause of those things that did not cause their own existence from the beginning. The one in this deficient situation continued to produce deficient beings until he pronounced judgment and condemned those irrational beings he had produced. He strove against them until they were destroyed, namely, those who had striven against the condemnation, [as] the wrath pursued them.
The Conversion Called “Repentance”
However, he was a <helper> and redeemer from their opinion and rebellion, because from him [comes] the conversion called “repentance.” That occurred [when] the Word [changed] his opinion and his thought. Turning away from evil, he turned toward those things that are good. After the conversion, he remembered those who exist and the prayer for the one who converted himself by what is good. He first prayed to the one who dwells in the Fullness, and remembered him, then his brothers, (both) one at a time and simultaneously all of them together, but before all of them, the Father.
[82] The prayer in unison assisted him in [his] own return <to> himself and to the Totality, because what caused his remembrance of those who had existed from the beginning was that he (himself) had been remembered. This was the distant thought that calls out from far away, returning him.
His entire prayer and remembering comprised several powers that were in agreement with the previously mentioned limit, because nothing in his thought is barren. The powers were good and greater than those of the likeness, because those of the likeness also belong to a [dark] nature. What they became originated from an illusion involving similarity and a [vain thought] of pride, and they originated from [a thought] that knew them first. The former beings, what are they like? They are like <oblivion> and deep sleep, resembling those who have disturbing dreams, those who in their dream have <someone> pursue and trouble them. For him, the others resemble illuminated creatures who await sunrise, because they beheld in him dreams that indeed are sweet.
At once [83] the emanations of the thought <ceased>, no longer having any substance, and no longer having any honor, [for] <they> are unequal to those who pre-existed. If they were superior [to] the likenesses, the only reason for their being exalted above those was that they acted out of a good intention, for they had not originated from the infirmity that came into being, the good intention being <his who> sought for the pre-existent after praying and lifting himself up to the good. He sowed in them an inclination to seek and to pray to the pre-existent glorious one, and he sowed in them the capacity to think of [it], and the capacity to think that there was something greater than themselves that existed before they had, despite their not knowing what it was. By begetting harmony and mutual love, from that thought they acted in unity and unanimity, given that from unity and from unanimity they had derived their existence.
The Battle Between the Emanations
The others were stronger in the lust for control, because they were more honorable [84] than the former ones, who had risen up against them. Those refused to humble themselves, thinking that they had originated from themselves, being without a beginning, and as to giving birth, that they were the first to give birth to others. The two orders warred against each other, battling for control, owing to their manner of being, the result being that they were inundated by powers and natures that typify the situation of mutual combat, possessing lust for control and everything else like it. From these the vacuous love for glory pushed them to desire the lust for control, whereas not one among them possessed the exalted thought, nor recognized it.
The forces of this thought were made ready with the <names> of the pre-existent <ones>, whose representations they are. The order of those of this kind possessed mutual harmony. They, however, battled against the order of those of the likeness, whereas the order of those of the likeness waged war against the likenesses and acted against them out of its fury. [85] From this it [took place ... their] own [against] each other, many [. . .] necessity positioned them [. . .] so they could prevail [. . .] he ceased not [. . .] and their envy and [their] fury and violence and lust and ignorance succeeded, producing diverse types of matter and powers of different kinds, intermixed in great numbers, whereas the Word, who caused their begetting, in his mind was awaiting a revelation of the [hope] that was to come to him from above.
While bestirring (himself), the Word obtained hope and expectation for the Exalted One. Regarding those of the shadow, he distanced himself from them completely, because they warred against him and did not in the least humble themselves before him, but he found repose in those who belonged to memory. Regarding those who came to be through memory, the Word produced, in an unseen manner, in agreement with their nature, the one who ascended on high, remembering the one who had been deficient, until the light shone on him from above bestowing life, begotten by the thought of brotherly love among the pre-existent Fullnesses.
The Aeons’ Prayer Produces the Son
The fall that the aeons of the Father of the Totalities experienced happened only as if it were their own (experience), (planned by the Father) with care, beneficence, and great kindness. [86] […] the Totality, to teach them about [the deficiency] by the one [from whom alone they] all received power to remove the deficiencies.
His own [order came] into being from <him> who hastened on high, and from what produced itself from him, and from the complete perfection. The one who hastened on high became for the deficient one an intercessor together with the emanation of the aeons that had come into being in agreement with the things that exist. When he prayed to them, because they were in unison they agreed joyfully and eagerly, and with harmonious agreement, to help the deficient one. They assembled, beseeching the Father of beneficent intention that help would come from the Father above, to his glory, because there was no other way for the deficient one to become perfect except by the will of the Fullness of the Father, which he had moved to himself, revealing and bestowing <it> on the deficient one.
From the harmony that had come into being with a joyful inclination they produced the fruit as a begetting from the harmony, a unity the Totalities possessed, revealing the face of the Father, on whom the aeons thought while they glorified and prayed for their brother’s help with a request that the Father would join with them. In this way, they eagerly and joyfully produced the fruit. He then revealed the manifestation of the agreement of their mutual union, which is his beloved Son. [87] The Son in whom the Totalities are well pleased clothed them with himself as a garment, imparting perfection to the deficient one, and giving strength to the perfect ones. Strictly speaking, (he is) called “Savior” and “Redeemer” and “the Well-Pleasing One” and “the Beloved,” “the Paraclete” and “the Christ” and “the Light for the Appointed Ones,” being congruent with the ones who had produced him, because he became the names of the places that had been granted to him. What other name, though, can be ascribed to him except the Son? As we said before, this is because he is the knowledge of the Father, whom he desired that they know.
The aeons generated both the face of the Father whom they glorify, as we wrote earlier, and their own (face), because the aeons who glorify generated <his> visage and their face. They were made as his army, as that of a king, because the beings from the thought possess a powerful concord and a harmony blended together. They were produced in a complex form, so the one to whom help would be given could behold those for whom he had interceded. He beholds the one who bestowed it on him as well. The fruit of the agreement with him that we earlier mentioned is subordinate to the power of the Totalities, because the Father was able to place the Totalities within him, the pre-existent ones and the ones that are, and the ones that will be. [88] He revealed those whom the Father had placed within him, not giving them, but entrusting them to him. He carried out the universal plan of salvation with the authority granted him from the beginning and the power for the work. In this way, he began to accomplish his revelation.
The one the Father dwells in and the one the Totalities dwell in <was> created before the one who is without sight. He taught him about those who sought for their sight through the radiance of the perfect light. He perfected him first in unspeakable joy. He perfected him for his own sake as a perfect one, and he bestowed on him what is appropriate for each individual as well. This is the quality of the first joy.
The Son Reveals Himself
And <he> sowed a word in him invisibly which was intended to become knowledge, and he granted him power to move away and to cast away from himself those who are disobedient to him. In this way, he revealed himself to him. To those, however, who came to be for his sake, he revealed a form beyond their grasp. They (consequently) behaved with enmity toward each other. <He> suddenly revealed himself to them, drawing near in the form of lightning, and departed like a flash of lightning. When finishing their mutual entanglement, he ended it [89] by the sudden revelation, for which they were not prepared, were not expecting, and did not know.
This made them frightened and they fell down, because they could not endure the appearance of the light that had struck them. The one who appeared devastated the two orders. Just as the beings of memory <have been> named Little One, so they have but a dim idea of the Exalted One who pre-exists them, and they have sown within themselves a feeling of astonishment at the Exalted One who is to be manifested. They therefore received his revelation and prostrated before him. They became witnesses persuaded of <him>, acknowledging the light that had appeared was stronger than those who resisted them.
However, those of the likeness grew sore afraid, because they could not bear to hear about him in the beginning, that a vision of this kind could exist. They consequently plunged into the pit of ignorance called “the Outer Darkness” and “Chaos,” and “Death” and “the Abyss.” He positioned them lower than the order of the beings of memory, given that it was evidently stronger than they. They were deemed worthy to rule over the indescribable darkness, because they own it and it is the lot assigned to them. He granted that they, also, would be of use in the plan of salvation that was to unfold, [90] even that of which <they> were unaware.
There is a [great] difference between the revelation for the one who came to be and the revelation for the one who was deficient, and the revelation for those who came to be because of him. He revealed himself to him within him, because he is with him, sharing in his suffering, bestowing on him repose little by little, causing him to grow, lifting him up, and giving himself to him to enjoy in a vision. To those, however, who fell outside, he revealed himself on a sudden and in a flash, and he then quickly withdrew himself, not allowing them to gaze on him.
The Fullness of the Word
When the deficient Word became enlightened, his Fullness sprang into being. He escaped from those who at the first had troubled him. He became disentangled from them. He stripped off that prideful thought. When those who at the first had been disobedient to him prostrated and humbled themselves in front of him, he became mingled with the Repose.
And <he> was joyful because of the visitation of his visiting brothers. He glorified and praised those who were shown to have been a help to him. He gave thanks for escaping from those who had rebelled against him, and esteemed and honored the Greatness and those who were determined to reveal themselves to him. He generated living images of the living figures. They are pleasing and good, because they exist from living things, resembling them in beauty, yet unequal to them in truth, because they are not from a unification between him who produced them [91] and the one who revealed himself to him. Even so, he works in wisdom and knowledge, completely mingling the Word with himself. And so those who were produced from him are great, just as He Who Is is truly great.
After he wondered at the beauty of those <who> had appeared to him, he declared himself grateful for this visitation. The Word carried out this work with the help of those who aided him, because of the firmness of those who had come to be through him, so that they could obtain something good, because he remembered to pray for the plan of salvation for all those whom he had produced, which was made firm in order to establish them.
Those whom he purposefully produced are therefore on chariots, like those who came to be, those who appeared so that they could pass through every place of what is below, so that each one of them could be granted the place appropriate to his nature.
This is destructive for those of the likeness, but beneficial for those of the memory, a revelation of those from the decision of the aeons, which was a unity and a mercy, whereas they are but seeds that have not yet reached full existence.
The one who appeared was a face of the Father and of the harmony. He was a garment of all graces, and food for those whom the Word produced while praying and glorifying and praising. This is the one he glorified and praised [92] while gazing at those he beseeched so that he could perfect them with the images he had produced.
The Word increased their mutual assistance and the hope of the promise, because they possess joy and a wealth of repose and unsullied delights. Bestowing perfection with the goal of vision, he generated those he remembered at the first, when they were not (as yet) with him. He remains in hope and faith in the perfect Father, as do the Totalities. It is revealed to him before he intermingles with it, so that those who have come to be would not perish by gazing on the light, given that they are unable to bear the great, lofty stature.
The Aeon of the Word
The thought of the Word, who had regained his stability and had come to rule over those who came to be through him, was called “Aeon” and “Place” for everyone he had produced in agreement with the decision, even that which is called “Synagogue of Salvation,” because he healed himself from the scattering that is the multitudinous thought, and returned to the single thought. It is similarly called “Storehouse” for the repose he gained, bestowed on himself alone. [93] It is also called “Bride” for the joy of the one who delivered himself to him hoping for fruit from the union, even who appeared to him. It is also called “Kingdom” for the firmness he gained while rejoicing at the dominion over those who had waged war against him. And it is called “Joy of the Lord” for the gladness with [which he] clothed himself. The light abides with him, granting him repayment for the good things that are his, even the thought<s> of freedom.
The aeon we mentioned earlier is higher than the two orders of those who battle each other. It is no companion to those who wield control, and it does not pertain to infirmities and weaknesses, things pertaining to the memory and to the likeness. What the Word placed himself in was a completely joyful aeon possessing the form of matter, yet also having the nature of its cause, which is what was revealed, given that it was an image of those who dwell in the Fullness, who came to exist from the riches of the delight of He Who Is.
Moreover, rejoicing at the face of the one who revealed himself, in his <delight> and expectation and the promise of what he had requested, he possessed the name of the Son and his essence, his power, and his form. He is the one he loved and in whom he delighted, [94] for whom prayers had been lovingly offered. This aeon was a light and a desire to be made firm and a willingness to be taught and an eye for seeing, qualities which it possessed from the exalted ones. Moreover, it was wisdom for his thought opposed to those situated lower in the plan of salvation, a word for speaking, and the perfection of other things like these.
And those who assumed form together with him according to the image of the Fullness, their parents are the ones who revealed themselves, each one being a copy of one of the figures. Being forms of maleness, not originating from the infirmity that is femaleness, they originate from the one who had already fled from the infirmity. <They> bear the name Church, because they harmoniously resemble the harmony of the assembly of those who have come into manifestation. What came into being in the image of the light is also perfect, given that it is an image of the sole existent light, which is the Totalities. Even if it was inferior to the one whose image it is, it still possesses its inseparability, because it is a face of the inseparable light.
Nevertheless, those who came into being in the image of each of the aeons, in essence they are what we mentioned earlier, but in their energy they are unequal, because it inheres (differently) in each of them individually. In this unification with each other they are equal, [95] but each (aeon) has retained (the individual differences) proper to it. That is why they possess passions, passion being an infirmity, because they were not produced from the unity of the Fullness, but instead prematurely from one before receiving it from the Father, or from the unity with his Totality and will.
Despite this, it was beneficial for the future plan of salvation. They were allowed to pass through the lower places, because the places cannot receive their sudden arrival, unless one at a time. Their arrival is necessary, because everything will be brought to completion by them.
In brief, the Word received the vision of everything, of those that were, and of those that now are, and of those that will be, because he has been entrusted with the plan of salvation of everything that is. Some things have already attained to being, because there was a purpose behind it. Seeds that are yet to exist he has, by contrast, preserved within himself, on account of the promise pertaining to what he conceived, a promise of seeds yet to be. And he produced his offspring, that is, the revelation of what he had conceived. For a time, though, the promised seeds were prevented from coming into existence, because they have been appointed for a mission when the Savior comes, and his companions, the ones who are first in the knowledge and glory of the Father.
The Work of the Word
It is appropriate, [96] in view of the prayer he offered and the conversion that resulted from it, that some would perish and others profit, and others besides would be set apart. He first readied the punishment of the disobedient, using a power from the one who had appeared, from whom he received authority over all things, in order that he would be separate from him. He is the one who is below, and he remains set apart from the Exalted One, until he readies the plan of salvation outwardly for all things, and gives to each one the place assigned to it.
The Word first established himself when he adorned the Totalities, as a foundational rule and cause and ruler of the things that came into being, like the Father, the cause of the establishment, was first to exist after him. He created the pre-existent images, which he produced with thanks and glorification.
Then he adorned the place for those he had produced in glory, which is called “Paradise,” “Delight,” “Joy Full of Nourishment,” and “Joy <of> the Pre-existent Ones.” And it preserves the image of all good things that dwell in the Fullness.
Then he adorned the kingdom as a city filled with every pleasant thing, namely, brotherly love and abundant generosity replete [97] with holy spirits and the strong powers that rule over them, which the Word produced and established with strength.
Next (for adornment was) the place of the Church that gathers together in this place, possessing the form of the Church that dwells in the aeons, for the glorification of the Father.
After these (he adorned) the place for faith and obedience (that comes) from hope. [The Word] received these when the light appeared.
Next he (adorned the place of) the inclination toward prayer and supplication. This was followed by forgiveness and the word about the one who was to appear.
Every spiritual place subsists in a spiritual power. They are different from the beings of the memory, because their power is founded in an image, being what separates the Fullness from the Word. By contrast, the power – which operates in prophecy concerning the future – guides the beings of the memory <who came into being for the sake of> what is pre-existent. This prevents them from comingling with the things that attain being through a vision of things that abide with him.
The Two Orders
The beings of the memory located outside are humble, maintaining the representation of the Fullness, particularly on account of the mutual participation in the names that adorn them. The conversion results in humility toward the beings of the memory, and also having humility toward them is the law of judgment, being condemnation and anger.
Having humility toward them is also the power that places those apart who fall beneath them, dispatching them far away. It prevents them [98] [from] spreading out over the beings of the memory and the conversion. This (power) comprises fear, confusion, oblivion, bewilderment, ignorance, and (the things) that have come into being through imagination in the way a likeness does. In addition, the exalted names are bestowed on these things that indeed were lowly. Knowledge <is lacking for those> who were produced from them through pride, lust for control, disobedience, and falsity.
On each <of> them he bestowed a name, because the two orders subsist in a name. Those who belong to the memory and to the representation are called “Those of the Right,” “Soulish,” “the Fiery Ones,” and “Those of the Middle.” Those who belong to the prideful thought and to the likeness are called “Those of the Left,” “Material,” “the Dark Ones,” and “the Last Ones.”
After the Word founded each in their order, namely, the images and the representations and the likenesses, he preserved the aeon of the images pure against all who struggle against it, because it is a place of joy. To those of the memory, however, he revealed the thought he had stripped from himself, wishing to move them into a material union, to supply for them a system and an abode, so that they could also produce a desire to weaken the lure of evil for them. This was so that they could cease excessively delighting in the glory of their surroundings and so remaining in exile, but could instead recognize the infirmity they suffer. [99] In this way, they could beget love and an unceasing search for the one who can heal them of this feebleness. To make them assume a form, he placed the word of beauty over those who belong to the likeness, placing over them the law of judgment as well. He further placed over them the powers which the roots had produced [in] their lust for control. The Word was pleased with them because they are useful in the plan of salvation, so he [chose] these to be rulers over them. This was so that by the assistance of the beautiful word, or by the threat of the [law], or by the sway of lust for control, the order could be protected from those who would lower it to evil.
The Word knows the shared lust for control among the two orders. To these and to everyone else, he kindly granted their wish, giving to each the appropriate rank for command so that each would be a ruler over a place and an activity, deferring to those of higher order, to command the activity of the lower places, exerting control in agreement with his mode of being. The result was that among the angels [100] and archangels there are leaders and subordinates in positions of rule and subjection, while the activities are diverse and of different kinds.
Each of the archons with his race and his privileges enjoys that to which his lot has entitled him. Agreeing with the manner of their appearance, each stood at his post, being charged with the plan of salvation. And none lacks kingship over them from the end of the heavens to the end of the [earth], to every region of the [earth], and those beneath the earth. There are kings, there are lords, and those who are given commands, some for overseeing punishment, others for overseeing justice, still others for granting repose and healing, others for instruction, others for keeping watch.
The Demiurge
Over all of the archons, he assigned an archon whom no one commands. He is the lord of them all, namely, the face the Word produced by his thought to be a representation of the Father of the Totalities. He is, therefore, beautified with every <name> that is a likeness of him, because he possesses every quality and glorious attribute. Accordingly, he is even called “Father,” “God,” “Demiurge,” “King,” “Judge,” “Place,” “Abode,” and “Law.” The Word employs him as a hand to put in order the work of the things below, and he employs him as a mouth to say what is to be prophesied. He spoke and put in order, and when he saw that (his works) were great and good and wondrous, he was delighted and glad, as [101] though in his own thoughts he had spoken them and done them, being ignorant that the movement within him originated from the Spirit that moves him in a predestined manner to do whatever he happens to wish.
Regarding the things that came into being from him, he spoke concerning them, and they came into being as a likeness of the spiritual places we referred to earlier on the topic of images. He <did> more than just work, for being assigned as the father of his plan of salvation, he generated not only through himself and the seeds, but also [through the] chosen Spirit who will descend [through him] to the places below. He does [more] than just speak his own spiritual words, <but> (he does so) in a concealed manner through the Spirit who cries out and gives birth to things that surpass its own nature. Since according to his nature he is God and Father, and all the other titles of honor, he assumed they pertained to his own nature.
He founded a repose for those obedient to him; as for those who are disobedient to him, <he> also <instituted> punishments. A paradise and a kingdom dwell with him, and all things besides that dwell in the aeon that pre-existed him. They have more value than the copies, because of their relation to the thought. (This relation) is, as it were, comparable to [102] a shadow and a garment, because he cannot see how whatever exists actually exists.
He instituted laborers and servants to help with what he would do and what he would say, because everywhere he operated, he left behind his face with his beautiful name, producing and pronouncing whatever he contemplates. From his own essence [he] established in his place visible images of the light, and [the] (invisible) spiritual [places]. In this way every place everywhere was beautified by him, reflecting the image of the one who placed them, and thus were they established. Although paradises, kingdoms, reposes, promises, and multitudes of servants for performing his will are ruling lords, they are placed below the lord who appointed them.
After listening to him in this way, he placed the lights that <comprise> the source <of> the system over the arrangement of the things below. This is how the invisible Spirit moved him, so that he [103] would be inclined to govern through his own servant, whom he also employed as a hand and as a < mouth>, and even as his face. He produced order, threats, and fear, so that those who operated out of ignorance […] could retain the place [given for them to] keep, because they are bound to their places by [the chains of the] archons over them.
The entire nature of matter [is] divided into three categories: The spiritual Word produced the [first] powers from imagination and pride, placing them first according to spiritual rank. Those (powers) which these produced by lust for control, he placed in the middle (rank), because they [consequently] <were> powers lusting for control, so that they could rule and issue compulsory commands with force to the establishment below them. Those that came into being through envy and jealousy, and every other offspring from these kinds of inclination, he placed in an order of slavery to control the outermost limits, and to command all that exist and all generation. From these derive (entities of) illnesses that kill suddenly, and who are eager to beget, though they were nothing in the place where they had originated and where they will again return. He therefore set over them authoritative powers, working unceasingly on matter, so that [104] the offspring of the existent ones could similarly exist unceasingly, because this is their glory.
Part 2: The Creation of Humanity
The Origins of Humanity and Death
Matter whose form is fluid (is) a cause of the blindness that prevails through the powers [. . .] in them all of it [. . .], as they together beget and are [destroyed]. The thought placed between those of the [right and] those of the left is a power of [imitation]. Everyone the first ones desire to make are, as it were, the projection of a shadow that follows a body, this <constituting> the roots of visible creatures.
The entire preparation of the ordering of the images, representations, and likenesses has come into being because of those in need of education, instruction, and formation supplied by a mirror, so that what is small could grow step by step. The reason for this was that he created humanity last, first preparing and supplying for them those things he had created for their sake.
The creation of humanity took place like that of all other things. In an invisible way, the spiritual Word moved them, completing them through the Demiurge [105] and his angelic servants, who together with presumption and its archons participated in the work of formation. Humans resemble a shadow of earth, so that they would be like [those] severed from the Totalities. And they are creatures made by all of them, those of the right and those of the left, each of the orders imparting a form to the [human just as] (the Totality) itself had been (formed).
The [form] the Word produced was deficient, like an [affliction] of infirmity, because he led it to [oblivion], ignorance, [and deficiency], and to every other infirmity, because the Word imparted but the first form, <something he gave him> in ignorance through the Demiurge, so that he would come to know that something exalted exists, and that he stands in need of [it]. This is what the prophet called “the living Spirit,” “the breath of the exalted aeons,” and “the invisible,” and this is the living soul that bestowed life to the body that at first was lifeless, but what is without life is ignorance.
Consequently, it is appropriate to hold that the soul of the first human originated from the spiritual Word, whereas the Creator supposed that he made it. What was breathed passed through him as through a mouth.
From his substance, the Creator also sent souls downward, because also [he] possesses the power of procreation, [106] <being> produced from the representation of the Father. Also, those of the left produced a certain kind of human of their own, because they, too, possess the likeness of <being>.
The spiritual substance is a unitary thing and a single representation, [and] its infirmity is a condition [of many] forms. Regarding the substance of the soulish ones, its condition is dualistic, because it possesses knowledge and praises the Exalted One, yet it is <also> inclined to evil, owing to the inclination of presumption. Regarding the substance of the material ones, its mode differs, even in several forms, and it was an infirmity that prevailed in several kinds of inclination.
So, the first human being is a diverse formation, and a diverse creation, and a storehouse for those of the left and those of the right, and a spiritual Word whose interests are divided between each of the two substances from which it derives its being.
This is why it is said that a paradise was planted for him, so he could eat the food of three kinds of trees, because it is a garden of three orders, and because it supplies delight. The noble and chosen substance in him was more exalted than <the> creation, and it <was> an injury to them. And so, they gave a command, threatening that a grave danger would befall him, [107] namely, death. He was permitted to taste and enjoy only the bad trees, and from the other tree, that of duality, he did not permit [him] to eat, and much less from the tree of life. To prevent him from obtaining an honor [equal to] them, and to prevent [him. . .] them.
By the evil power called “the serpent,” even he who is cleverer than all the evil powers, the human <was> led astray through the plan of those who belong to the memory and to the desires. It made him disobey the commandment, so that he would die. And from that place he was expelled, from all its delights.
This is the expulsion with which they punished him, when he was expelled from the delights of those who belong to the likeness and those who belong to the representation. This was (actually) an act of providence, so that humans would come to realize that enjoyments last only for a brief time, in contrast to the eternal place of repose. The Spirit had ordained this act when he planned beforehand that the human should experience the great evil, namely, death, which is thorough ignorance of the Totality, and also that he should taste all the evils that stem from that, and after the passions and anxieties and what stems from these, that he should obtain the greatest [108] good, namely, life eternal, which is the thorough knowledge of the Totalities and the obtaining of every good thing.
Owing to the disobedience of the first human, death reigned. It was wont to slay every human for as long as it possessed [dominion] and prevailed, which it received [as a] kingdom because of <the> previously mentioned plan of salvation by the will of the Father.
Part 3: Destinies and Fates
Different Opinions
When the two orders, [those] of the right and those of the left, are united with each other by the (mediating) thought that is between them, which gives them their shared plan of salvation, the result is that they both operate with the same passion, those of the right imitating those of the left, and those of the left imitating those of the right. At times, when the evil order, out of foolishness, starts committing evil, the <wise> order copies them, in the form of a male, also committing evil, as though it, too, were a power of evil. At other times, when the wise order starts performing good deeds, the <foolish> order tries to do good as well, copying it.
Thus are things established by these kinds [109] of acts, coming into being so that what is similar and what is dissimilar (resemble each other). Those, then, who are untaught cannot come to know the cause of existent things. And so, they have advanced various kinds of explanations. Some say that existent things derive their being from providence. These are those who see order and pattern in the movements of creation. Others say that (existence derives from) something alien. These are those who see <diversity> and the evil of the lawlessness of the powers. Others say that existent things occur because of fate. These are those who were preoccupied with this question. Others say that it is a matter of nature. Others say that it is a matter of chance. Most, though, of all of those who have grasped only as far as the visible elements, know of nothing beyond them.
The Greek sages and the barbarians have grasped as far as the powers that attained being through imagination and vacuous thought, <and also> those who have stemmed from these through conflict and the rebellious behavior operative among them. As a consequence, when they spoke concerning the things they considered wisdom, they were fooled by a <simulacrum>. They believed they had attained to the truth, [110] whereas they had attained to an error. This (error) pertained not just to minor appellations, but the powers themselves prevented them by convincing them that they had <understood> the Totality.
Consequently, the order fell into fighting itself, because of the prideful enmity of [an offspring] of the archon who is [superior], who pre-existed him. This is why there was total disagreement about everything by everybody, about philosophy, kinds of medicine, categories of rhetoric, kinds of music, and orders of logic, all being opinions and theories. And so <loquaciousness> prevailed, and <they> were in confusion, because of their inability to explain <those> who possess power and who gave them their theories.
Regarding the things that sprang up among the <nation> of the Hebrews, the writings by the material ones <whose> example the Greeks copy, all they thought of in order to articulate it, the powers of the right <…>, who inspired all of them to reason <with> words and a self-representation. Thus they began their journey to attain the truth, using the mixed (variety of) powers operative in them.
Thereafter they attained to the order of the unmixed powers, <before> they attained the one established according to the likeness of the Father. He is not invisible [111] <because of his> nature, but because a wisdom conceals him, in order to preserve the form of what is truly invisible. Many angels, therefore, have been unable to reach a vision of him. The people of the Hebrew nation, whom we mentioned earlier, namely, the righteous and the prophets, neither thought nor spoke anything from imagination or through an illusory image or from abstruse thought. Instead, each one by the power operative in him, paying attention to what he saw and heard, each spoke accurately, in harmony with each other and in agreement like those (powers) who were operative in them, because they preserved their <unity> and mutual harmony. This was the case above all because they praised the one who was more exalted than themselves, and the one who was greater than themselves, who existed and was appointed because they stood in need of him. This the spiritual Word produced among them as with one who needs the Exalted One, with hope and expectant waiting according to the thought that is the seed of salvation and an illuminating word that is the memory, with his offspring and his emanations, who are the righteous ones and the prophets we mentioned before. They preserve their fathers’ praise and their witness concerning what is great. These came into being [112] with an expectation of hope and attention, in whom was sown <the> seed of prayer and searching, which is sown in the many who have sought to be strengthened. It reveals itself and moves them to love the Exalted One, to proclaim that these things pertain to the One and Only.
Something singular was operative in them when they spoke. Their vision and their words, however, were diverse, because of the diversity of those who communicated to them their visions and words. Therefore, those who have paid heed to what they have spoken do not refuse any of it, but have accepted the scriptures with a diversity of interpretations. This led to the establishment of diverse groups that exist to this day among the Jews. Some say God is one, who has spoken in the ancient scriptures. Others say that he is manifold, yet some say that God is simple and in nature a single mind. Others say that his acts are related to the origins of good and evil. Yet others say that he himself is the creator of what has come into being, while others say that [113] he created through the angels. The diversity of ideas of this type reflects the diversity of forms and the wealth of types of scripture, which produced their teacher<s> of the Law.
The Prophesied Savior
The prophets, though, spoke nothing of their own will, but each of them (spoke) of the things he saw and heard concerning the proclamation of the Savior. What he proclaimed, and the central theme of their proclamation, was what each said concerning the coming of the Savior, which is that it would arrive. At times, the prophets speak about it as if he is yet to be born, whereas at other times it is as if the Savior speaks in their mouths, saying that the Savior will arrive and bestow favor on those who did not know him. Accordingly, not all of them said everything in the same way, but by the power given to speak about him and about the place he saw, each one thought that it is from that place that the Savior would be born, and that he would come from that place. Not one of them, accordingly, knew from where he would come, or who would beget him. This alone is what they were worthy to speak, that he would be born and would suffer. With regard to his pre-existence and his eternal existence as unbegotten, impassible <…> not from the Word, who came into being in flesh, [114] it never dawned on their thought.
And this is the message they were inspired to deliver concerning his flesh which would appear. It is said that it was a birth like all of theirs, but that above all else it was from the spiritual Word, the cause of the things that have come into being. He from whom the Savior received his flesh did indeed beget him in the form of a seed, at the revelation of the light, agreeing with the promised word of his revelation, <being> indeed the state of <a> seed of <what was>, although begotten last. However, the one whom the Father ordained to manifest salvation through him, who is the fulfillment of the promise, when he descended into life, he was given every means necessary for his descent. His Father is one, the only one who is truly a father to him, the unseen, unknowable, in nature ungraspable, who alone is God, who by his will and his gift has granted that he could be seen, known, and grasped.
The Incarnation
Out of an inclination to mercy, our Savior became the same as what those for whose sake he appeared became through an instinctive passion, namely, flesh and soul, which constantly holds sway over them, and they are destroyed and die. Yet, those who [came into being] [115] [as] invisible and invisibly, he taught them concerning himself invisibly. He not only took on <himself> the death of those whom he intended to save, but he embraced their smallness as well, to which they had fallen when they were <born> with body and soul, because he deigned to be born as a child with body and soul. He participated in all the other situations that those who had fallen shared in, even though they possessed the light, despite his being exalted above them, because he deigned to be conceived without sin, impurity, and corruption. He was begotten into physical life, dwelling in life, because it was determined that both would equally become body and soul on account of the passion and shifting inclination from the Word who had bestirred himself (in conversion).
But in view of the plan of salvation, it was he <who> took on himself the results of those things we mentioned before, namely, what came into being from the illuminating vision and the firm thought of the Word after his self-conversion, after he bestirred himself. This is how those who, like him, assumed body and soul, and an establishment and stability and wisdom. It had been determined beforehand that they would come together with the coming of the Savior that also had been determined beforehand. Only when the Savior had made the decision did they also come. So they came, surpassing much more in their fleshly emanation those who had been produced from the deficiency, [116] because this was how they, too, underwent corporeal emanation, as did the Savior, through the revelation of their union with him.
These are those of a singular substance, even that which is spiritual. The plan of salvation, though, is diverse, this being one thing, that, another. Some emerge from passion and division, being in need of healing. Others issue from prayer that heals the sick, being appointed to treat the fallen, these being the apostles and the preachers of the message. They are the students of the Savior, and instructors for those in need of teaching.
Then why is it that they also participate in the (same) passions as those who were produced from passion, if in accord with the plan of salvation they were produced in one body with <the> Savior, who did not participate in such passions? The Savior was an image of a singular entity, being the Totality in bodily mode. He consequently maintained the pattern of inseparability, from which issues impassability. Yet they are images of each one who was revealed, which is why they embrace separation from their pattern, given that they assumed form for the planting that exists beneath the heaven, and that also [117] participates in the evil that prevails in the places they have attained. For the will held captive the Totality under sin, so that by will he could bestow mercy on the Totality, and that they could be saved, given that one who is singular is chosen to give life, all the rest being in need of salvation.
Because of this, he was the first of those to obtain the grace of bestowing the gifts preached by those he considered deserving of preaching to others. Because <the> seed of the promise of Jesus Christ was put in place, whose revelation and union we have served, the promise made teaching possible, even the return to what they had been at the beginning, they possessing a drop inclining them to return to it, which is what they call “redemption,” which is the release from captivity and the attainment of freedom.
The captivity is that of those who were enslaved to ignorance. By contrast, freedom is the knowledge of the truth that existed before ignorance, prevailing eternally without beginning and without end, being what is good, a panacea, and a release from the enslaving nature that made those suffer who had been produced in a lowly thought of vacuity, the nature of the evil inclination, [118] through the thought that degrades them to the lust for control. From the wealth of grace that looked on the children, they received the treasure of freedom. (Freedom) casts down passion and destroys those things that it earlier discarded from itself when the Word had separated them from himself. He destined them for destruction until <the> the plan of salvation ends, and allowed them to continue to exist because they, too, were of use for the things that had been predetermined.
Three Categories of Humans
Humans came to be divided into three categories of nature: the spiritual, the soulish, and the material, congruent with the triple inclination of the Word, from which were produced those who are the material ones, and the soulish ones, and the spiritual ones. Each of the three categories of nature is known by its fruit, although they were not yet known from the first, but only when the Savior came, who shone upon the saints and revealed (to which category) each belonged.
The spiritual category is like light from light and spirit from spirit. When its head appeared, it at once hastened toward (its appropriate category). Of a sudden it grew a body for its head, immediately obtaining knowledge from the revelation.
Being like light from fire, the soulish category, by contrast, was reticent to recognize [119] the one who appeared to it, being all the more (reticent) to hasten toward him through faith. Instead, although a voice taught it, <it> was satisfied, because it was not far from the hope of the promise, because it obtained, as it were, the assurance of the things to come in the form of a pledge.
The material category, by contrast, is alien in every way, because it resembles darkness, spurning the light that shines, since its manifestation extinguishes it. And because it did not embrace his <coming>, it is <immoderate> and full of spite for the revelation of the Lord.
The spiritual category will obtain thorough salvation in all aspects. The material category will be destroyed in all aspects, as is the case with an adversary. The soulish category, owing to its middle position both as to how it was produced and as to its nature, is duality, congruent with its inclination for both good and evil. And what has been determined for it is ambiguous <…> and its full escape <from> what is good.
Those the Word produced in accord with the pre-existent pattern in his thought, when he remembered the Exalted One and prayed for salvation, they gained salvation immediately. [Owing] to the salvific thought, they were saved thoroughly by what it produced. It is the same regarding [the ones] these in their own turn produced, [120] whether angels or humans. Agreeing with the acknowledgement that one exists who is more exalted than themselves, and agreeing with the prayer and the seeking after him, they, too, will receive the same salvation those who were produced receive, because they are from the good inclination. They were assigned the service of preaching the future coming of the Savior and his revelation after he had come. Whether angels or humans, when he appointed this service to them, they indeed obtained the nature of their being.
By contrast, those who came from the thought of lust for control, who came into being from the strike by his opponents, were produced by that thought. Given that they are mixed, they will obtain an ambiguous end. Those who cast off the lust for control that was granted them but for a time and for particular periods, and who will glorify the Lord of glory, and who will renounce their anger, they will obtain the reward for their humility, which is unending existence.
By contrast, those who are arrogant because of lust for ambition and who love passing glory, and who forget that it was only for particular periods and times that they were delegated authority, and hence did not confess that the Son of God [121] is the Lord of all and Savior, and did not renounce their anger and cease imitating the evil ones, they will experience retribution for their ignorance and their foolish passion, together with those who have erred and wandered off.
Even more evil are those who perpetrated inappropriate things against the Lord, like the powers of the left perpetrated against him, even putting him to death. They thought to themselves, “We shall become masters of the Totality, if the one who has been proclaimed king of the Totality is slain.” And they worked to this end, even the humans and angels who are not of the good inclination of the ones of the right, but from the mixture. They opted for self-glory, despite it being but a passing glory and a lust, whereas the way to eternal repose is through humility (that results in) salvation, being of those who are to be saved, those of the right.
After they praise the Lord and have thought of what is pleasing to the Church, and have sung the hymn of the humble together with her as fully as possible, doing what is pleasing to her, they will share in her agonies and her anguishes like those who take into account what is good for the Church; they will enjoy a share in her hope. This pertains [122] to humans and angels.
Those of the order of the left, their path leads to loss, because they not only rejected the Lord and devised an evil plot against him, they also aimed their hatred and envy and jealousy at the Church. And this is the cause of the condemnation of those who have troubled the Church, even stirring up themselves to create <trials> for the Church.
The Election, the Calling, the Restoration, and the Redemption
The Election participates in the nature and the body of the Savior. It is like a bridal chamber because of its unity and its union with him, because above all it was for its sake that Christ came. By contrast, the Calling is positioned for those who rejoice in the bridal chamber, and who are glad and happy over the union of the bridegroom and the bride. In this way, the place the Calling will obtain is the aeon of the images, where the Word is yet to unite with the Fullness. And because of this, the Human of the Church was joyful and glad, and he hopes for her. He comprises spirit, soul, and body, congruent with the one who made the plan of salvation.
Within (the Human) was a human who was a unity, because he was the Totality, and he was all of them. And he possessed what issued from the [Father], which [123] the places could receive. He also possessed the limbs we mentioned before. When the redemption was proclaimed, the Perfect Human at once obtained the knowledge of how to return speedily to his unity, to the place from which he originated. He returned joyfully to the place from which he had originated, to the place from which he had issued forth.
However, his limbs needed a place for schooling, as is in the places prepared to supply it with the images and archetypes like a mirror, until all the limbs of the body of the Church <are joined> in the same place and obtain the restoration at the same time, through the manifestation of the entire body, <…> the restoration to the Fullness.
It possesses a primary shared harmony and union, which is the harmony belonging to the Father until the Totalities attain a face like his. The restoration at the end, though, <will occur> after the Totality is unveiled in him who is the Son, 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 in that one, in the proper way, who is the path to the ungraspable, unspeakable, [124] unseen, and incomprehensible one, so that it attains redemption.
It will be a liberation not just from the control of those <of> the left, and not just an escape from the power of those of the right, of which we believed we were slaves and sons, from whom no one flees without quickly being caught by them again. The redemption is instead also an ascent <to> the degrees in the Fullness, and to those who obtained names, and who grasped them in accord with the ability of each aeon. And it is an entrance into what is silent, without need for voice, or for knowledge, conceptualization, or for enlightenment, but (where) all things are light, all being radiant without the need for enlightenment.
Angels as well as humans need redemption, as does the image and the Fullnesses of the aeons and the wondrously radiant powers. Even the Son himself, who is the model for the redemption of the Totality, [needed] redemption, too, [125] because he became human, subjecting himself to everything necessary to us in the flesh, who are his Church. When he then first attained redemption through the Word that had descended on him, all the rest attained redemption from him by embracing him for themselves. This is because those who received the one who had (already) received, (naturally) received what was in him.
Among fleshly humans, redemption began [being] bestowed when his firstborn, and his love, the fleshly Son, and the heavenly angels were deemed deserving to form a fellowship with him on the earth, which is why he is called “the angelic redemption of the Father,” consoling those who had grieved for the sake of the knowledge of the Totality, because he was the first to have this gift bestowed on him before anyone else.
The Father’s Revelation
The Father knew him beforehand, because before anything else existed he dwelt in his thoughts, where he possessed also those for whose sakes he revealed him. He placed the deficiency on what perdures for passing periods of time, for glory to his Fullness. The fact that he was unknown caused him to display his kindness [by giving knowledge of himself].
[126] In this way, he obtained knowledge regarding him as a manifestation of his benevolence and the revelation of the wealth of his sweetness, which is the second glory. And so, he has thus been manifested also as the cause of ignorance, even though he produces knowledge, a concealed and ungraspable wisdom in which he preserves the knowledge until the end, when the Totalities will have exhausted themselves in their search for God the Father, whom no one has found out by their own wisdom or power. He deigns to grant them knowledge of the great gift of the excellent thought by unending thanksgiving to him. From his unshakable counsel, he reveals himself eternally to those who through his will were deemed deserving of the knowledge of the Father, who in his nature cannot be known, and in whose foreknowledge planned that they could obtain knowledge and every good thing that accompanies it, together with tasting ignorance and its pains.
In this way, they would come to taste evil things and could train themselves through them [. . .] for a time, so that they could obtain the [enjoyment of good things] for eternity. [127] They expose themselves and are constantly rejected and slandered by their enemies, considering this an adornment and a wondrous mark of exalted things. This was to make it clear that the ignorance of those ignorant of the Father was of their own doing, in contrast to his power that made it possible for them to obtain knowledge of him.
This knowledge is appropriately called “the knowledge of all possible thought” and “the treasure.” And to increase knowledge even more, it is the revelation of those who were known in the beginning, and it is the path toward union and the pre-existent one. The result is that those who increase in greatness are those who have forsaken the greatness designated for them in the plan of salvation in accord with the (divine) will, so that the end could be like the beginning.
The True Baptism
Regarding what is the true baptism, into which the Totalities descend and in which they come into existence, there is no other baptism besides this one, which is the redemption in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, when profession of faith is made in those names, [which] are a single name of the gospel, [128] when someone has believed that the things told to them are reality.
For someone who believes in their existence, this is to obtain, in an invisible manner, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit by testifying with a firm faith and understanding them with a firm hope. Based on this, the attainment of that which someone has believed could become to them a return, so that the Father could become one with him, the Father (and) God, whom he has professed in faith, and who granted that he be made one with him in knowledge.
The baptism we mentioned earlier is called “the garment <that> those who wear do not remove,” because it is donned by those who have received redemption. It is also called “the confirmation of the unfailing truth,” being unmoving and unshakable in a way that firmly grasps those who have received <restoration>, while they grasp it firmly. It is called “silence” on account of is quietness and its immovability. It is also called “bridal chamber” because of the harmonious and inseparable condition of those [whom] <he has> known <and who> have known him. It is also called [129] “the light that does not set and that is without flame,” not because it fails to give light, but because those who don it and those whom it dons are transformed into light. It is also called “eternal life,” which is deathlessness.
And so what it is called, including its names <omitted> here, accords with all the beauteous things it comprises in a mode that is simple, pleasant, inseparable, intricate, perfect, and unshakable. How is it, then, to be named except as the Totality, so that even were it assigned countless names, they are spoken simply as a means of referring to it, when in fact it transcends all words, all voices, all thoughts, and it transcends everything, and it transcends all silence. So it is <…> with those who are what it is. This is indeed what it is, possessing an unspeakable and ungraspable face, glorified by those who possess knowledge through what they have grasped.
More about the Calling
Even though there are many more things we could say on the topic of the Election, [130] and it would be appropriate to speak of them, nevertheless we must <speak> more about those of the Calling, as those of the right are named, it being unhelpful were we to forget them. We have spoken of them before at length, as if it had been enough. Why is it, then, that we spoke of them only in part?
I said that all those who originated from the Word, either from the judgment on the evil ones or from the fury which battles against them, or from the conversion away from them, being the return to the exalted ones, or from the prayer and the memory of the pre-existent ones, or from hope and faith that their salvation through good works could be [won], all of these have been deemed deserving, because they are from the good inclinations, having as cause of their begetting a thought from He Who Is.
I furthermore said that before the Word willingly involved himself with them in an invisible mode, the Exalted One bestowed on them the earlier mentioned thought, because they [heeded] it, [131] the thought that became the cause of their existence. They did not lift up themselves (arrogantly) when <they> were saved, as if nothing pre-existed them. They instead confessed that their existence had an origin, and that they desire to know him who existed before them.
I furthermore said that they prostrated at the revelation of the light with the appearance of lightning, and that they gave testimony that it appeared for their salvation.
I said that not just those who have originated from the Word will obtain what is good, but even those whom these produced in accord with the good inclinations will enjoy the repose because of the richness of the gift. Even those who were produced from the desire of lust for control, in whom is the seed for the lust for control, will obtain the reward of good deeds, if they have cooperated with those of a good inclination, and if they purposely desire to forsake the vacuous love of fading glory, in order to observe the commandment of the Lord [132] of glory, and rather than a passing paltry honor, they will inherit the eternal kingdom.
We needed to revisit our earlier discourse, but now, to articulate a coherent argument, we have to correlate the causes and the effects and the <evidence> regarding whether those of the right, regardless of being unmixed or mixed, can obtain the gift of salvation and repose. Consequently, in a convincing discussion we must demonstrate this based on the form of their belief.
If we profess the kingdom in Christ, <we> eliminate the entire diversity of forms, of inequality, and of change. For the end will again experience a singularity, just as the beginning was a singularity, the place without male or female, without slave or free, without circumcision or uncircumcision, without angel or human, but Christ is all in all. How is it that one who did not exist in the beginning can be found in existence, and <what is> the nature of the one who was not a slave, given that he will take a place together with [133] someone who is free? They will even receive an unmediated vision, without needing to believe that things are this way based solely on a minor word from a voice.
This is because the restoration of what once was is a singularity. Even if some are exalted owing to the plan of salvation, being assigned with the causes of the things that exist, activating a multitude of natural forces, and delighting in them, be they angels or humans, they will attain to the kingdom and the confirmation and the salvation.
And the following are the causes: Those who appeared in flesh unflinchingly believed that he is the Son of the unknown God, ineffable from of old, and whom none were able to see. They renounced their gods to whom they had previously prostrated, and the lords of heaven and on earth. Before <he> had even been taken up, even still as a child, they gave testimony that he was already preaching. And when he was in the tomb [as a] dead man, the angels believed that he was alive, [even receiving] life [134] from the one who had died.
The multitude of their sacred services and wonders which they had performed in the (pagan) temples were now changed to devotion to another (i.e., Christ). Their confession (of Christ) is what gave them the power to (change their pagan devotion), through hastening their approach to (Christ). They had received that (pagan) preparation only so that they would (later) reject it in favor of the one (i.e., Christ) who was not <shown honor> in this lower place (i.e., the world). But for (rejecting pagan gods) [they gained] Christ, whom they realized was from the [exalted] place, from [which] they had come together with him, a place of godly rule. The names of those they had worshipped, cared for, and served, they had received on loan, now transferring them to the one to whom they properly refer.
However, it was not until after his assumption that they recognized that he was their Lord, over whom there is no lord. They transferred their kingdoms to him; they rose up [from their] thrones (vacating them); they surrendered their crowns. He revealed himself to them, however, for the causes we discussed already, namely, for their healing and their [conversion to] the good thought concerning [. . .] [135] companion and the angels [. . .], and the wealth of good they did for it. They [thus] were assigned the services that benefit the elect, namely, conveying their iniquity to heaven, for eternal trial with undeniable and unerring [judgment]. They continue on their behalf, until all enter earthly life and depart from life, while their bodies [linger] on earth, serving all their [. . .], making [themselves] sharers in their pains and persecutions and perils, which were brought upon the saints more than on others.
Regarding the servants of the evil <one>, because evil is deserving of destruction <…>, firmly because of the [life in common] which is above all the worlds, which is their good thought and fraternity.
And the Church will recall them as true friends and faithful servants, once she has obtained redemption from the one who [gives them] the reward comprising the joy that prevails in the bridal [chamber] and the [ . . . which] dwells in her house [. . .] which dwells in thought [. . .] and what it is indebted to [. . .] [136] Christ, who dwells with her [and the] expectant waiting of the Father [of] the Totality, because she will supply them with angels for guidance and service.
The aeons will recall pleasing thoughts of serving the Church, <and> will bestow on them their reward [for] all their meditations. This is an emanation from them, so that as Christ [fulfilled his] will, which produced the exalted great [things] of the Church and bestowed them on her, <so> will this emanation be a thought for these, supplying them their dwelling places, in which they will dwell eternally. [After they] reject the downward pull of the deficiency, the power of the Fullness will propel them upward by greatness of generosity and by the sweetness of the pre-existent aeon.
Conclusion
This is the complete nature of the begetting, caused by what [Christ] bore when he shone on them [with] a [light] he revealed [. . .] like his [. . .] which will be [. . .] like his [. . .] while the sole variation [that] exists in those who were
(5 lines missing)
[137] [. . .] those who exist [. . .] through [. . .] as [I have] earlier said, while the material ones will be forsaken until the end to be destroyed, because they will not give their [names], should they return one more time to what [will not be]. Like they were [. . .] they were not [. . .] but they were profitable [for the] time that they dwelt among them, though they were not [. . .] in the beginning. Then [. . .] to act differently through the control they possessed in the preparation, [to] resist them.
Although I continually make use [of] these words, [I have failed to grasp] the thoughts. Some elders [. . .] him greatness.
(5 or 6 lines missing)
[138] [. . .] every [. . .] angel [. . .] words [and] a trumpet [sound], declaring the great complete restoration from the radiant east, in the bridal [chamber], which is the love of God the [Father], in accord with the power which [. . .] of the greatness [. . .], the sweetness of the [. . .] his, because he reveals himself to the greatnesses [. . .] his goodness [. . .] the praise, the kingdom, and the [glory] through [Jesus Christ], the Lord, the Savior, the Redeemer of all those encompassed by the one filled with loving mercy, through [his] Holy Spirit, from now through all generations, forever and ever. Amen.