Part 2 The Apocryphon of John

Now when the authorities appeared from the chief begetter, the chief ruler of the darkness, these were their names from the ignorance of he who had begotten them: The first is Yaoth. The second is Hermas, who is the eye of the fire. {The authorities who appeared from the chief begetter, the Chief Ruler of the darkness and ignorance, together with the authorities were in ignorance of the one who had begotten them. These are their names: the first is Haoth. The second is Harmas, who is the eye of the fire.} The third is Galila. The fourth is Yobel. The fifth is Adonaios. The sixth is Sabaoth. The seventh is Kainan and Kae, who is named Cain, who is the sun. The eighth is Abiressine. The ninth is Yobel. The tenth is Harmoupiael. {The seventh is Kainan Kasin, who is called the sun. The eighth is Abiressia. The ninth is Yobel. The tenth is Armoupiael.} The eleventh is Adonin. The twelfth is Belias. They all have double names: one set of names from desire and wrath, but yet other names which are given to them by the glory of heaven. The (latter) are the ones which reveal their nature in truth. Saklas called them by the names which are from illusion and their power. {Saklas called them by the names which are from illusion and their powers.} On the one hand, through (the names given by the glory of heaven), they are reproved and weakened, like the seasons, while on the other hand, through those (of Saklas) they grow strengthened and increase. And he commanded that seven kings should rule over the heavens and five over the chaos of Hades. {And he commanded that seven should rule over the heavens and five over the chaos of Hades.} 12 The names of the glories who are over the seven heavens are these: The first is Iaoth, the lion-faced {The first is Aoth, the lion-faced}. The second is Eloaios, the donkey-faced. The third is Astaphaios, the hyena-faced. The fourth is Iao, the snake-faced with seven heads {The fourth is Yaw, the serpent-faced and lion-faced}. The fifth is Adonaios, the serpent-faced. The sixth is Adoni the monkey-faced {The sixth is Adonin, the monkey-faced. The seventh is Sabbadaios, whose face is a shining fire}. The seventh is Sabbataios, whose face is a flame of fire that shines. This is the hebdomad of the week. These are those who rule the world. Yaldabaoth-Saklas (is) the one whose forms are without number such that he can appear with any face at will. 13 He allotted them (portions) out of his own fire, but he did not give them any of his power from the pure light of the power which he had drawn from the Mother. Because of the glory which is in him from the power of the light of the Mother, he became Christ to them. Because of that, he made them call him God, {Because of the glory which is in him from the power of the light of the Mother, he was lord over them. Because of this, he called him­self God over them} thus being disobedient to the reality from which he had come into being. And he joined with the authorities. When he spoke, the seven powers came into being, and he named them. {And he joined the powers with the authorities. When he spoke, they came to be.} Beginning with the highest, he placed authorities (as follows): The first, then, is Pronoia with the first (authority) Yaoth. The second is Divinity with the second one Eloaios. The third is Goodness/Christhood with the third one Astaphoios. The fourth is Fire with the fourth one Yao. The fifth is Kingship with the fifth one Sabaoth. The sixth is Understanding with the sixth one Ad[oni. The] seven[th] is Sophia [wi]th the seventh one Sabbataios. These are the ones who have a firmament corresponding to each heaven and aeon according to the likeness of the Aeon which exists from the beginning, in the model of the indestructible ones. 14 He saw the creation below him and the multitude of angels which are below him who came into being from him. And he said to them, `I am a jealous God; without me there is nothing.' —already indicating to the angels who are below him that another God does exist. For if there were no other (god) over him, of whom would he be jealous? Then the Mother began to move to and fro as she understood her deficiency. It was her own perfection that had caused her to be blamed, because her partner had not been in concord with her." But I said, "Christ, what does it mean `to move to and fro?' He smiled and said, "You think it happened like Moses said 'upon the water.' But in fact, she saw the evil and rebellion which would happen through her offspring. She repented, and as she was coming and going in the ignorant darkness, she began to be ashamed and she did not dare to return but she continued coming and going. Now her coming and going is 'to move to and fro.' Now when the Arrogant one got a power from the Mother, he was ignorant of many beings who were superior to his Mother, for he said about his Mother that she alone existed. He saw the great multitude of angels that he had created. He was mighty over them. And when the Mother understood that the untimely birth of the darkness was not perfect because her partner had not been in concord with her, she repented. She wept great tears. And It heard the entreaty of her repentance and the brothers prayed for her. The holy invisible Spirit assented. When the invisible Spirit had assented, It poured upon her a Spirit from the perfection. When her partner came down to her to put right her deficiencies {her partner came down to put right their deficiencies}, it was through Pronoia that he willed to put right her deficiencies. She was not, however, conveyed to her own Aeon, but, because of the great ignorance which had appeared in her, she dwelled in the Ninth until she puts right her deficiency. 15 A voice came to her, ‘The Human exists and the Child of the Human.' The chief ruler Yaldabaoth heard, but he did not think that the voice had come [from the exalted height above]. The holy, perfect Father, the first Human of human form, taught them about himself. The Blessed one revealed his likeness to them. And the whole dominion of the seven authorities bent down. They saw the pattern of the image in the water. They said to each other, 'Let us create a human in the image of God and with the likeness.' They created out of each other and all their powers. They molded a form out of themselves and each one of (their) powers created from its power a soul. They created by imitating the image which they had seen, the image of the one who exists from the beginning, the perfect Human. They said, 'Let us give him the name Adam so that that name and its power might illumine us.' And the powers began (creating their respective souls) from (the image) below: The first is Divinity; it is a soul of bone. The second is Christhood/Goodness {The second is [Lor]dship]}; it is a soul of sinew. The third is Fire; it is a soul of flesh {[The third is bo]th Christhood/Goodness and Fire, it is a so[ul] of [fle]sh [and the whole foundation of the b]od[y]}. The fourth is Pronoia; it is a soul of marrow which is the whole foundation of the body. The fifth is Kingdom; it is a soul [of blood]. The sixth is Understanding it is a soul of skin. {The sixth is [Understanding]; it is a soul of tooth with the whole body.} The seventh is Wisdom; it is a soul of hair. And they set the whole body in order. {And they set the whole human in order.} And their angels stood before them. They created a substantial soul out of the things which had first been prepared by the authorities, the harmony of the joined parts. 17 {And he blew into it from his spirit, which is the power from the, Mother, out of the Chief Ruler into the body.} And they created the whole body, which was joined together by the multitude of angels. 18 And it remained inactive a long time because neither the seven authorities nor the 360 angels who had forged [the links of the chain] were able to awaken it. And (the Mother) wanted to retrieve the power which she had given to the ruler from (her) audacity. She went in innocence and entreated the Father of the All, whose mercy is great, and the luminous God. Following a holy design, he sent Autogenes and his four lights in the shape of angels of the Chief Ruler. They advised him with the goal of extracting the power of the Mother from within him. They said to him, 'Blow into his face from the spirit which is in you and the object will arise: And he blew into it from his spirit, which is the power from the Mother, into the body. And [at that moment] he moved. Immediately [the rest of the] authorities became jealous because he had come into being through them all and they had given the powers that existed within them to the human and he possessed the souls of the seven authorities and their powers. His wisdom was greater than them all and greater even than the Chief Ruler. And they knew that he was naked of evil because he was wiser than they and he had entered into the light. They lifted him and brought him down into the lowest region of all matter. But the blessed Father is a merciful benefactor. He had mercy on the [Mother's] power that had been taken [from] the [Chief] Ruler lest they might have power over the body. He and his mercy sent the good Spirit as a helper to the primal one who had gone down, who was named Adam. (His helper is) the Epinoia of the light, the one whom he named Life. It is she who labors for the whole creation by toiling with him, by setting him right in his own perfect temple {[by setting him] right [in his own] fullness}, and by teaching him about the descent of his deficiency and instructing him about his ascent. And the Epinoia of the light was hidden within him so that the rulers might not know but our sister Sophia, who is like us, would set right her deficiencies through the Epinoia of the light. 19 And the human shone because of the shadow of the light which is in him. And his thinking was superior to those who had made him. {And his thinking was superior to those who had made him and, the [whole] host of rulers of authorities.} And they bent down. They saw that the human was superior to them. They took counsel with the whole angelic host of the rulers and the rest of their powers. Then they mixed fire and earth with water and flame. They seized them and the four winds, blowing with fire, joining them with each other, [making a] great disturbance; they brought him down into the shadow of death. Yet again they made another form from earth, water, fire, and spirit which is from matter, darkness, desire, and the adversarial spirit. This is the chain. This is the tomb of the molded body with which they clothed the human, the fetter of the flesh. He is the primal one who came down and the primal partition. But it is the Thought of the primal light who dwells in him who awakens his thinking. {This is the chain. This is the tomb of the molded body with which the robbers clothed the human, the chain of oblivion. And in this way, the human become mortal. This is the primal desc[ent] and his Primal partition. But it is the Thought of the pre-existent light who dwells in him who awakens his thinking.} 20 The Chief Ruler took him and placed him in paradise, of which he said, 'It is [a] delight for him' but really so that he might deceive him. For their delight is bitter and their beauty is licentious. Their delight is a deception and their tree is iniquity. Their fruit is an incurable poison and their promise is death to him. {For [their flood was bitter and their [beauty] is licentious. Their food was a deception and their trees were [iniquity. Their fruit was an incurable poison] an[d their promise] is [death] to them. } Their tree which they planted is the tree of life. For my part, I will teach you about the mystery of their life. It is their counterfeit spirit which dwells in them, whose purpose is to make him wander so that he does not know his perfection. That tree is of this sort: Its root is bitter. Its branches are shadows of death. its leaves are hate and deception. Its fragrance is an ointment of evil. And its fruit is the desire for death. Its seed drinks from darkness {[an]d its seed sprouted [from] darkness.} The dwelling place of those who taste it is Hades. But the tree which they call 'knowledge of good and evil' is the Epinoia of the light. Concerning her they commanded, 'Do not taste (of it),' which means 'do not listen to her.' They issued this commandment against him so that he might not look up to his per­fection and realize that he was naked of his perfection. But as for me, I set them right so that they would eat." I said to him, "Christ, was it not the serpent who instructed her?" He laughed and said, "The serpent is the one who instructed her about the sowing of desire, pollution, and destruction because they are useful to it. Yet it knew that she would not obey it because she is wiser than it. {and [he said], "the serpent appeared to them [. .] sowing of desire, which is the pollution [...] darkness so that he might be useful [to it]. [For] it knew [that] he was disobedient to it because he was [wiser] than it.} 21 And he wanted to bring out the power which had been given to him. And he cast a trance upon Adam." I said to him, "Christ, what is the trance?" He said, "It is not like Moses said that he caused him to sleep but it was his sensibility that he covered with a shroud. He weighed him down with insensibility. {"Are you thinking that it is as Moses said, 'He caused him to sleep'? No, but it was his sensibility that he covered with insensibility. } For indeed it is said by the prophet, 'I will make the ears of their hearts heavy so that they might not understand and might not see.' Then the Epinoia of the light hid herself in him. And according to his will, he wanted to bring her from the rib. But the Epinoia of the light is ungraspable. The darkness pursued her, but it was not able to lay hold of her. He wanted to bring the power from him (Adam) to make another kind of molded form in a woman's shape. And he stood her up before him – not 'He took a rib' as Moses said. He created the woman beside him. Immediately he became sober from the drunkenness of the darkness. The Epinoia of the Light uncovered the shroud from his understanding. Immediately when he recognized his essence {Immediately he recognized his fellow essence who is like him}, he said, `Now this is bone from my bone and flesh from my flesh. Because of this man will leave his father and his mother and he will cling to his wife, and from two they will become a single flesh.' For the Mother's partner will be sent forth and she will be set right{For the Mother's consort was sent forth to rectify her deficiencies}. Because of this, Adam named her the mother of all the living by the authority of the exalted height and the revelation. Epinoia taught him about knowledge. From the tree in the form of an eagle, she taught him to eat of knowledge so that he might remember his perfection {[so that they might] remember their Fullness} for both were in a fallen state of ignorance. 22 Yaldabaoth knew that they had withdrawn from him. He cursed them. Moreover, he adds concerning the female that the male should rule over her for he does not understand the mystery which came to pass from the design of the Holy Height. But they were afraid to curse him, thereby revealing his ignorance. All his angels cast them out of paradise {And he threw them out of paradise}. He clothed him with a dark gloom. Then Yaldabaoth saw the virgin who stood beside Adam. He was full of senseless folly, desiring to sow a seed in her. He defiled her. He begat the first son, Yawe {Yawai } the bear face, and similarly the second, Eloeim the cat face. The one is righteous, while the other is unrighteous. Eloim is righteous; Yawe is unrighteous. He set the righteous one over fire and spirit, while (he set) the unrighteous one over water and earth. Among the generations of all humanity, these are called Cain and Abel. Up to the present day, marital intercourse came about from the Chief Ruler. He planted a desire for seed in Adam so that from this essence (of desire) a likeness from their counterfeit spirit might be begotten. {And to the present day sex[ual intercourse continues, re­maining fro[m] the Chief Archon. And [He planted] in Adam a seed of desire so that through this essence their likeness could be begotten through the counterfeit spirit.} He set two rulers over the principalities so that they might rule over the tomb. He recognized his essence which is like him {He recognized his own lawlessness}. Adam begot Seth just as it is in the generation which is above in the aeons. Likewise the Mother sent what belongs to her {Likewise they sent to the Mother her own Spirit to awaken those who are like it}; the Spirit came down to it (the generation) to awaken the essence that is like it (the Spirit) following the model of the perfection, to awaken them from forgetfulness and the wickedness of the tomb. And it (the Spirit) remained like this for a while: it labored on behalf of her seed {And [thus] they re[mained for] a while, while she labored on behalf of the seed } so that when the Spirit from the holy aeon should come, it will set right the deficiency by (establishing) the uprightness of the aeon so that it might become a holy perfection; thus it would come to pass that there would be no deficiency in it." 23 I said, "Christ, will the souls of everyone live in the pure light?" {Then [I] said, Lord, "Will the souls of every one be saved [for the pu]re light?"} He said to me, "You have arrived at an insight of great things such as are difficult to disclose to any others except those who are from that immovable generation. Those upon whom the Spirit of the Life descends, having been yoked with the power, they will be saved and become perfect. And they will be worthy to enter these realms of the great Lights. For they will be worthy to be purified there from all evil and the enticements of wickedness. {And they will be worthy of these great Lights. For there they are purified from all wickedness and the chains of evil.} For they do not give themselves to anything else except this incorruptible congregation and they attend to it without anger or envy or fear or desire or overindulgence. They are not restrained by any of these nor by anything else in them except only the flesh {and they attend to it without anger or envy or jealousy or desire or overindulgence. They are not restrained [by] any of these (except only the flesh] } to which they are subject while they are waiting fervently for (the time) when they will be brought forth and those who receive (them) will admit them into the honor of the imperishable eternal life and the calling, enduring all things, bearing all things so that they might complete the contest and inherit eternal life.” I said, "Christ, what will the souls do, upon whom the power and the Spirit of Life descended but who did not do these things, in order that they might also be saved?" {And I said to him, Lord, "Where are the souls of those who do not do these things or where will those go into whom the Spirit of Life and the power entered? Will they be saved or not?} He said to me, "Those upon whom that Spirit comes will live in any case and come out from evil. {He said to, "Those into whom the Spirit of Life enters will be saved in any case, these ones flee from evil."} For the power enters into every human being—for without it, it is not possible for them to stand upright. After it (the soul) is born, then the Spirit of Life is brought to it. If the powerful Spirit of Life comes, it strengthens the power, which is the soul, and it is not led astray into wickedness. {After the human is born, the Spirit of Life brings the counter­feit spirits. If the Spirit of Life [comes], since it is strong, it [str]engthens [the soul], which is the power, and it is not led astray into wickedness.} But those into whom the counterfeit spirit enters are drawn by it and they are led astray." I said, "Christ, {I said, Lord,} when the souls [of those] leave the flesh, where will they go?" He laughed and said to me, "To a place of the soul, which is the power that is greater than the counterfeit spirit. This (soul) is powerful. It flees from the works of wickedness and it is saved by the incorruptible oversight and brought up to the repose of the aeons." I said, "Christ, {I said, "Lord, } what about those who do not know the All—what are their souls or where will they go?" He said to me, "In those, a counterfeit spirit proliferated by causing them to stumble. {He said to me, "It is these that the counterfeit spirit has burdened when they stumbled.} And in that way he burdens their soul and draws it into works of wickedness, and he leads it into forgetfulness. After it has become naked in this way, he hands it over to the authorities who came into being from the Ruler. And again they cast them into fetters. {And in this way after becoming [na]ked of the body, they are handed over to the authorities who came into being through the Ruler. Again [they cast] them into (bodily) parts.} And they consort with them until they are saved from forgetfulness and it receives some knowledge. And in this way, it becomes perfect and is saved." I said, "Christ, how does the soul become smaller and enter again into the nature of the mother or the human?" He rejoiced when I asked this, and he said, "Blessed are you for paying close attention! Because of this they submit themselves to another who has the Spirit of Life in it. By following and obeying him, it is saved, and of course it does not enter another flesh." I said to him, "Christ, where are the souls of those who understood but turned away?" {I said, "Lord, those who did understand yet they turned back, where are their souls or where will they withdraw?"} He said to me, "Those to whom repentance did not come will go to the place to which the angels of poverty will withdraw. And they will be guarded for the day when all those who blasphemed against the holy Spirit will be punished. They will be tortured in eternal punishment." {And [they] will be guarded for the day when all those who blasphemed against the holy Spirit with an eter[nal blasphemy] will be pun­ished.} 24 I said, "Christ, where did the counterfeit spirit come from?'' He said to me, "(It all began) when the Mother whose mercy is great and the holy Spirit, the compassionate, who troubles herself with us—the seed that is, the Epinoia of the light awakened the thinking of human beings of the generation of the eternal, luminous, perfect Human. Then the Chief Ruler knew that they surpassed him in the excellence of their wisdom. He wanted to restrict their plan for he was ignorant. He did not understand [that] they were wiser than he. He made a plan with his powers. {He made a plan and begot Fate.} They begot Fate and they bound the gods of heaven and angels and demons and human beings with measures and seasons and times in order to keep them all in its fetter—for it was lord over them all. He had a wicked and perverted thought, and he had regrets about all the things which had come into being through him. He planned to bring a flood over the whole erection of humanity. And the greatness of Pronoia, who is the Epinoia of light, instructed Noah. {And the greatness of Pronoia produced a Thought, which is Epinoia. She appeared to [Noah].} He preached to people, but they did not believe him. It is not like Moses said, that he hid himself in an ark, but she sheltered him somewhere not Noah more (than others) but also some people from the immovable generation. They entered a place. They were sheltered by a luminous cloud. And he recognized his sovereignty along with those who were with him in the light which illumined them, {And they recognized the sovereignty above [an]d those who were with him when the light illumined them} for darkness flowed out over everything upon the earth. 25 He made a plan with his angels. Their angels were sent to the daughters of men so that they might raise offspring from them, to be a respite for them. But at first they did not succeed. They all came together to make a plan to create the counterfeit spirit—for they remembered the Spirit which had descended. And the angels altered their appearance into the likeness of their husbands and their 'husbands' sated them with the spirit, which molested them in the darkness out of wickedness. "They brought them gold, silver, gifts, and metals of copper, iron, and every sort. They beguiled them into temptation {And they [be]guiled them into distractions} so that they would not remember their immovable Pronoia. They took them and begot children out of darkness through their counterfeit spirit. It closed their hearts. They became hard by the hardening of the counterfeit spirit until now. 26 So again the blessed Mother Father, whose mercy is great, takes form in her seed. 27 First I went up to this perfect aeon. And it is to you ( John) that I speak these things so that you might write them down and give them in secret to your fellow spirits. For this mystery belongs to the immovable generation. The Mother had come another time before me. These are also the things which she did in the world. She set her seed upright {She was [rectifying] her deficiency.} I will teach you about what will happen. For indeed I gave these things to you so that you might write them down and keep them secure." Then he said to me, "Cursed be anyone who will exchange these things for a gift, whether for food or drink or clothing or anything else like these." {Then he said to me, "[Cur]sed be every one who will give these in exchange for a gift, whether silver or [gold or] in exchange for drink or for [things to] eat or clothing or anything else like these.} He handed over this mystery to him. Immediately he disappeared from him. And he ( John) went to his fellow disciples. He began telling them about the things which had been said to him by the Savior. The Secret Revelation of John.