The Eighth Deep is the Forefather from whom and by whom all

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[Frontispiece: THE GNÔSTIC CROSS (Codex Brucianus)]

THE GNÔSIS OF THE LIGHT

A Translation of the Untitled Apocalypse

contained in the Codex Brucianus

with Introduction and Notes

BY

Rev. F. LAMPLUGH, B.A. (Cantab.)

London

John M. Watkins

21 Cecil Court, Charing Cross Road, W.C.2

1918

I have loved you, and have longed to give you Life.

Blessed is he who crucifieth the World and hath not suffered the World

to crucify him.

Blessed is the man who knoweth these things, who hath brought Heaven

down upon Earth and hath taken Earth and hath lifted it up unto Heaven,

and hath so wrought that the Midst is a Nothing.

_The Book of the Gnoses of the

Invisible God._

CONTENTS

Introduction

The Gnôsis of the Light

Notes

INTRODUCTION

This translation of the ancient Gnôstic work, called by Schmidt, the

_Untitled Apocalypse_, is based chiefly on Amélineau's French version

of the superior MS. of the Codex Brucianus, now in the Bodleian

Library, Oxford. In making the rendering I have studied the context

carefully, and have not neglected the Greek words interspersed with the

Coptic; also I have availed myself of Mr Mead's translation of certain

important passages from Schmidt's edition, for purposes of comparison.

Anything that I have added to bring out the meaning of the Gnôstic

author now and again, I have enclosed in brackets. Such suggestions

have always arisen from the text. I fancy my English version will be

found to give a reasonably accurate idea of the contents of one of the

most abstruse symbolical works in the world. The notes that I have

added are not intended to be final or exhaustive, but to give the

general reader some guidance towards understanding the intensely

interesting topics with which the powerful mind of the ancient mystical

writer was preoccupied. I have endeavoured to show myself a

sympathetic "Hierophant" or expounder of some of the mysteries, not

without study of the Gnôsis, both of the Christianised and purely

Hellenistic type, for the key to the understanding of symbolism is only

given into the hands of sympathy.

The Codex Brucianus was brought to England from Upper Egypt, by the

famous traveller Bruce, in 1769, and bequeathed by him to the care of

the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It contains several Gnôstic works

translated into the Upper Egyptian dialect from the Greek, and probably

is as old as the sixth century A.D. The Greek originals were of course

much older, that is to say, the MSS. to which the codex ultimately goes

back were much older. We are only concerned with one of them here, the

so-called _Untitled Apocalypse_, which is markedly distinct from the

others in character and style. Schmidt dates it well in the second

century A.D., and with this estimate I am inclined to agree. It shows,

as I have endeavoured to make clear in the notes, marked affinities in

some respects to the _Gospel of Mary_ (Codex Akhmim), which we know to

have been in existence before 180 A.D., and its philosophical basis is

the Platonism of Alexandria. If it is by one writer, I think it may be

dated from 160 or 170 A.D.-200 A.D., and belongs to the period of

Basilides and Valentinus.

Before venturing upon any discussion of the authorship and contents of

our document, it would be as well to say a few words as to the meaning

of that much misunderstood technical term "Gnôsis" in Hellenistic and

early Christian theology. For a fuller exposition I would refer the

reader to the admirable essay upon the subject by Mr G. R. S. Mead in

his volume _Quests Old and New_. Gnôsis was not "philosophy" in the

generally accepted sense of the term, or even religio-philosophy. "It

was immediate knowledge of God's mysteries received from direct

intercourse with the Deity--mysteries which must remain hidden from the

natural man, a knowledge at the same time which exercises decided

reaction on our relationship to God and also on our nature or

disposition" (Reitzenstein). It was the power or gift of receiving and

understanding revelation, which finally culminated in the direct

unveiled vision of God and the transformation of the whole man into

spiritual being by contact with Him. The ground of the idea of Gnôsis

does not seem to be very different from that of the later "Mystical

Theology," "which originally meant the direct, secret, and

incommunicable knowledge of God received in contemplation" (Dom John

Chapman). The revelation sought for was not so much a dogmatic

revelation as a revelation of the processes of "transmutation" of

Rebirth, of Apotheosis or "Deification." Its aim was dynamic rather

than static. But while the followers of the Gnôsis, both Christian and

Hellenistic, would have agreed that the direct knowledge of God is

incommunicable to others, they undoubtedly seem to have held that there

were what may be described as intermediate or preparatory processes or

energisings which could be communicated: (1) by initiation into a holy

community; (2) by a duly qualified master; (3) under the veils of

symbols and sacraments.

The Gnôstic movement began long before the Christian era (what its

original historical impulse was we do not know), and only one aspect of

it, and that from a strictly limited point of view, has been treated by

ecclesiastical historians. Recent investigations have challenged the

traditional outlook and the traditional conclusions and the traditional

"facts." With some to-day, and with many more to-morrow, the burning

question is, or will be--not how did a peculiarly silly and licentious

heresy rise within the Church--but how did the Church rise out of the

great Gnôstic movement, and how did the dynamic ideas of the Gnôsis

become crystallised into Dogmas? I do not indicate a solution; I do

not express an opinion. I call attention to a fact in the world of

scholarship that will not be without its decided reaction upon the

plain man. But the study of the ancient Gnôsis, and indeed of

mysticism generally, has left another suggestion that seems laden with

limitless possibilities. Let us first go back to what I said as to the

communication of certain "processes," "leavenings," or "energisings"

under a sacramental veil. These processes were held to modify the

nature of the person who submitted to them in a peculiar manner that

was likened to the impress or "character" of a seal upon wax. These

seals or "characters" could not only be acquired through formal rites

and by the laying on of the hands of a master, but also, I am disposed

to believe, by a certain mode of study--I am developing the Gnôstic

theory, not stating one of my own--namely, that of a highly symbolic

literature. The objection of the Gnôstic to a plain statement of facts

would probably be somewhat as follows: "What you say is very good and

true as far as it goes, but it is 'Pistis,' not Gnôsis; Faith, not

Knowledge. You desire to be a changed man. Pistis will change you to

a certain extent. I have nothing to say against it, but it will not

change you in the radical way that Gnôsis does." If you went on to

argue that your statement was reasonable and received admirable support

from logic and philosophy, he would probably reply: "Philosophy of the

kind you mention is excellent, and forms a basis for Gnôsis which is

not contrary to reason, though it is above it. Gnôsis is a rebirth by

which you become a god, and then you will have no need to find out

things by talking and discursive reasoning, for everything will be

within yourself and you will know all things in a vital way, by an act

of simple intuition in the end. 'The wind bloweth where it listeth,

and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it

cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the

Spirit.' If you tie yourself down to logic, you will not know the real

things, the 'Things that are,' by getting inside them. Your knowledge

will be external, superficial. Gnôsis, you may be surprised to learn,

is not just 'knowing,' it is light _and_ 'life,' living and being as

well. This must not be taken as an attacking reason; if you join our

school you will have a stiff course of Plato. You ought to know the

'Things that are' from the ordinary point of view, from outside, before

you approach them with the idea of getting inside them, and so raising

them up within yourself as far-shining lives. Afterwards you will

study in a new manner that will seem madness to the common-sensed; and

a Divine Madness indeed it is, for it will lead you to the secret of

the Cross."

Hence the disciple was confronted in due time with a document that

would not yield its secrets to dialectic, a kind of ritual in words

that initiated his intuition into self-knowledge. Intense devotion was

needed, imagination, and will-power. The Gnôsis came gradually,

perhaps after the manuscript had been laid aside; it was the effort

towards a sympathetic understanding that mattered, that was rewarded

with life and light from God. The mere success of the logical mind in

unravelling a puzzle was as nothing, for the readings of these

monstrous, many-faceted stars of symbolism were infinite. That the

intuition should enter into self awareness as into a sacred place of

the mysteries--that was a process of the Gnôsis.

Now this strange way of teaching, which was really a "Cloud of

Unknowing," was the real basis and point, as it were, of the

Alexandrine method of interpreting Scripture. Think of Philo and what

he says of the teaching of his Gnôstic Therapeuts. Think of Clement,

and of Origen with his "Eternal Gospel." This quickening of the

intuition into knowledge of itself and God, through allegory and symbol

based on philosophy, was the Everlasting Gospel.

So Gnôstic documents were not merely intended to puzzle the outsider,

but the insider as well. This fact will enable us to appreciate better

Basilides' famous remark about the one or two only who could understand

his system. His frame of mind was a little like that of a university

examiner after setting a paper. We need not think that these people

were altogether destitute of humour. It would be a gross exaggeration,

of course, to say that all the Gnôstic systems described in Irenaeus

and Hippolytus might have been devised by the same man, but it would be

a useful exaggeration, illustrating the extreme anti-literalist point

of view. Our knowledge of the schools rests for the most part on

reports made upon documents such as these, the purport of which was

entirely missed by those that made them. They treated Gnôsis as if it

were another kind of "Pistis," or another system of philosophy. One

doubts very much the correctness of the traditional classification of

schools, which was made by people who were not in very close touch with

them. One doubts if there was much hostility between these schools,

however much their symbolism may appear to differ on the surface.

What was the result of these processes "initiated" or "started" by

sacramental rites, by symbolism, by masters of Gnôsis? Was the result

something purely "subjective" at best? The answer of the Masters of

the Gnôsis to this question, which is characteristic of the modern mind

and expresses the doubt which is gnawing at the heart of much modern

religious life, would have been "No. There are certain physical

changes as well. The body is spiritualised." They might possibly have

added, "It is assumed, in part at least, by the Body of Stars[1] which

has been awakened within it. This is the Body by means of which Union

with God takes place, and then still more wonderful changes happen. We

can awaken the Body of Stars or Rays, but to unite it with Himself,

that depends upon the Will of God above, but all is a mystery of Grace."

This awakening of the Body of Stars, this assumption, or partial

assumption, by immortality of the inner flesh, is the interesting

possibility to which I referred earlier. Let me here quote two

Catholic writers. Says Döllinger (_First Age_, p. 235, quoting Rom.

vii. 22, 1 Cor. vi. 14, Eph. iii. 16 and 30, in support), "Saint Paul

not only divides man into body and spirit, but distinguishes in the

bodily nature, the gross, visible, bodily frame and a hidden, inner

'spiritual' body not subject to limits of space or cognisable by the

senses; this last, which shall hereafter be raised, is alone fit for

and capable of organic union with the glorified body of Christ, of

substantial incorporation with it." Dom John Chapman, O.S.B., in his

excellent article on "Catholic Mysticism" in Hastings' _Encyclopaedia

of Religion and Ethics_, vol. ix., writes: "It is not to be denied that

this psycho-physical side demands scientific investigation. It seems

certain that St John of the Cross is justified in his view that the

body is somehow 'spiritualised' by contemplation. Such facts as the

power of saints over the animal world and the power of reading

thoughts, _e.g._, are proved beyond cavil."

Here, then, we have a consistent tradition held by many schools, and I

think that it is by investigation along the lines suggested by Dom John

Chapman that there is the greatest chance of arriving at some proof of

immortality that will satisfy the scientific mind. For the claim of

mystics is that here and now it is possible to participate consciously

in that which is immortal, and the "spiritualising" of the body is an

outward sign of the substantiality of that claim, the standard set up

upon a hill to testify that the human consciousness is not planetary

merely, not "hylic," nor "psychic," but has its root in the wisdom that

issues from an inconceivable Abyss of Life and Light.

I believe that the original source of the document I have translated

belonged to an Egyptian community or school of contemplation whose name

has been forgotten in the night of time; that it was connected with the

preparation of a candidate for the Baptism of Light. What form this

rite really took it is impossible to say, but that it had outward signs

of some kind is extremely probable. We have an old Gnôstic ritual

preserved in the compilation generally known as the "Acts of John."

Perhaps this may give us some idea of the sort of ceremony that was

worked. I fancy there was an Eucharistic side, and that the Baptism of

Light was connected with the mystic crucifixion alluded to so often in

the notes. Possibly in the midst of the sacred dance, at the breaking

of the Bread, there was a certain laying on of hands by an adept

Master, one who had himself attained to the autoptic vision, and then

the candidate was left alone to immerse himself in the Dark Ray of the

Divine Mind.

I think also that the original MS. was based upon the work of one

Master, whose name, like that of the order to which he belonged, is

lost in the night of time, but that it also contains amplifications and

additions by at least one later hand. It will thus represent the mind

of a grade of teaching, and possibly contains material dating back to

the period of the Therapeutae that Philo knew. In other words, the

community may have been an old one before it was Christianised. In any

case, it remains the record of a stupendous spiritual adventure, the

attempt to produce a race of Divinised men, that is not without the

splendour of tragedy, for at some time, like the Holy Cup of Legend,

the presence of Masterhood departed, and the external house fell into

ruin and its place knew it no more. Perhaps, in the desire to

propagate, it admitted unworthy candidates; perhaps it turned to the

by-ways of magic in an attempt to arrest the external course of nature

and to defy necessity; perhaps there came a day when none could

understand the inner meaning of the high and far-shining mysteries, and

so amidst party strife the building word was lost. Many a man, no

doubt, who called himself a "Gnôstic" was but a sorry rogue; many

another was but a student of the letter, not of the life; many another

was but a spiritual swashbuckler, pompous in his demeanour and cryptic

in his utterance; some, led by an abhorrent fantasy, may have wandered

along the path that goes to the Venus-berg and have striven to lisp a

formula that would transform the earth into Gehenna rather than into

Heaven. But, beside this mass of imposture, of folly, of elegant

idleness and of corruption, the _à rebours_ of a spiritual outpouring,

there was a real mysticism that could present the Authentic Spectacle

and could utter comfortable words in tongues not of this world utterly.

There was a Gnôsis that strove to give the Peace of God to those within

and to those without, because in Peace all things were made, that

yearned to bring forth children, quickened fiery souls, æons, gods, in

bodies of light for the love of God; that saw in all things Grace, the

Sponsa Dei, the Mother most pure and immaculate. "No creature was ever

wronged of Thee," no spark ever quenched, no hope defrauded and hurled

eternally from the sky with shattered wings by Thee. Such is the fair

Faith that chanted its prayer beneath a heaven set with such strange

galaxies, and whispers to us now through the disremembered symbols of a

forgotten book.

It is pleasant, in these days of strife, to be able to quote Dr

Schmidt's appreciation of the _Untitled Apocalypse_ with a cordial

agreement:

"What a different world, on the contrary, meets us in our thirty-one

leaves! We find ourselves in the pure spheres of the highest Plêrôma;

we see, step by step, this world, so rich in heavenly beings, coming

into existence before our eyes; each individual space with all its

inmates is minutely described, so that we can form for ourselves a

living picture of the glory and splendour of this Gnôstic heaven. The

speculations are not so confused and fantastic as those of the Pistis

Sophia and our two Books of Jeu.... The author is imbued with the

Greek spirit, equipped with a full knowledge of Greek philosophy, full

of the doctrine of the Platonic ideas, an adherent of Plato's view of

the origin of evil--that is to say, Hyle.... We possess in these

leaves a magnificently conceived work by an old Gnôstic philosopher,

and we stand astonished, marvelling at the boldness of the

speculations, dazzled by the richness of the thought, touched by the

depth of soul of the author. This is not, like the Pistis Sophia, the

product of declining Gnôsticism, but dates from a period when Gnôstic

genius, like a mighty eagle, left the world behind it and soared in

wide and ever wider circles towards pure light, towards pure knowledge,

in which it lost itself in ecstasy.

"In one word, we possess in this Gnôstic work, as regards age and

contents, a work of the very highest importance, which takes us into a

period of Gnôsticism, and therefore of Christianity, of which very

little knowledge has been handed down to us."

Finally, I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to the scholarship of Mr

G. R. S. Mead, whose labours in the field of Hellenistic Theology have

to my mind received insufficient recognition, and whose admirable

translations I have often used in the notes.

[1] Not to be confused with the "astral body" of modern theosophy.

The Gnôsis of the Light

[1]This is the Father of all Fathers, the God of all ... Gods, Lord of

all Lords, Sonship of all Sons, Saviour of all Saviours, Invisible of

all Invisibles, Infinity of all Infinities, Uncontainable of all

Uncontainables, Beyond-the-Deep of all Beyond-the-Deeps, Space of all

Spaces. This is the Spiritual Mind which existed before all Spiritual

Minds, the Holy Place comprehending all Holy Places, the Good

comprehending all Goods. This is the Seed of all good things. It is

He who has brought them all forth, this Autophues or Being who has

produced Himself, who existed before all the beings of the Plêrôma

which He Himself has brought forth, Who is in all time. This is that

Ingenerable and Eternal One who has no name and who has all names; who

was the first to know those of the Universe, who has looked upon those

of the Universe, who has heard those of the Universe. He is mightier

than all might, upon whose incomprehensible Face no one is able to

gaze. Beyond all mind does He exist in His own Form, Solitary and

Unknowable. The Universal Mystery is He, the Universal Wisdom, of all

things the Beginning. In Him are all Lights, all Life, and all Repose.

He is the Beatitude of which all in the Universe are in need, for that

they might receive Him they are. All beings of the Universe does He

behold within Himself, that One Uncontainable, who parts those of the

Universe and receives them all into Himself. Without Him is nothing,

for all the worlds exist in Him, and He is the boundary of them all.

All of them has He enclosed, for in Him is all. No Space is there

without Him, nor any Intelligence; for without that Only One there

exists nothing. The Eternities (æons) contemplate His

incomprehensibility which is within them all, but understand it not.

They wonder at it because He limits them all. They strive towards the

City in which is their Image. In this City (1) it is that they move

and live [and have their true being]; for it is the House of the

Father, the Robe of the Son, and the Power of the Mother, the Image of

the Plêrôma. He is the First Father of all things, the First Eternal,

the King of those that None can Touch; He in whom all things lose

themselves, He who has given all things form within Himself; the Space

which has grown from Itself, He who is born of Himself, the Abyss of

all being, the Great and True One who is in the Deep; He in whom the

Fullnesses (Plêrômata) did come, and even they are silent before Him.

They have not named Him, because Unnamable and beyond thought is He,

that First Fount whose Eternity stretches through all Spaces, that

First Tone (2) whereby all things hearken and understand. He it is

whose limbs make a myriad, myriad Powers, and every Power is a being in

itself.

The Second Space is that which is called Creator, Father, Word, Source,

Mind, Man, Eternal, Infinite. He is the Pillar, the Overseer, the

Father of all. He it is upon whose Head the æons form a crown, darting

forth their rays. The Fullness of His Countenance is unknown to the

external worlds who seek His Face, for evermore yearning to know It;

for unto them His Word has run forth and to behold It is their desire.

The Light of His Eyes pierces to the spaces of the external Plêrôma and

the Word goes forth from His Mouth to those who dwell in Heaven and to

those who dwell beneath it. The hairs of His Head are the number of

the Hidden Worlds, and the Features of His Face are the type of the

Eternities; the hairs of His Beard are the number of the External

Worlds. The stretching out of His Hands is the manifestation of the

Cross (3). The strain of the Cross is the Ennead, the Ninefold Being.

He who springs up [? or is nailed] to the right and to the left of the

Cross is the Man whom no man can comprehend. He is the Father, the

Fount whence Silence wells, He for whom the Quest is everywhere. The

Father is He from whom went forth the Monad and the Spark of Light, and

before this all the Worlds were dark nothings. For it is that Spark of

Light which has placed all things in the rays of Its Splendour, so they

have received Knowledge [Gnôsis], Life, Hope, Peace, Faith, Love and

Resurrection, the Second Birth and the Seal. Now these things are the

Ennead, the Ninefold Being, which has come forth from the Father

without beginning, who alone has been His own Father and His own

Mother, whose Plêrôma surrounds the twelve (4) Deeps.

The First Deep is the Universal Fount, from whom all fountains have

gone forth.

The Second Deep is the Universal Wisdom, from whom all wisdoms have

gone forth.

The Third Deep is the Universal Mystery, from whom all mysteries have

gone forth.

The Fourth Deep is the Universal Gnôsis, from whom all Gnôses have gone

forth.

The Fifth Deep is the Universal Purity, from whom all purity has gone

forth.

The Sixth Deep is the Silence that contains all silences.

The Seventh Deep is the Universal Super-essential Essence, from whom

all essences have gone forth.

The Eighth Deep is the Forefather from whom and by whom all forefathers

exist.

The Ninth Deep is the All-Father, Self-Father, in whom is the

All-Paternity of those who are Self-Fathers of the all.

The Tenth Deep is the All-Power, from whom all powers have gone forth.

The Eleventh Deep is that in which there is the First Invisible, from

whom have gone forth all invisibles.

The Twelfth Deep is the Truth, from whence all truths have sped forth.

Now the Truth (5) which envelops all things is the Image of the Father,

the End of all things. She is the Mother of all Eternities, who

surrounds all Deeps, the Monad beyond knowledge who cannot be known,

without seal-mark and having all seal-marks within, blessed for ever

and ever. To the Father Ineffable, Inconceivable, Unthinkable,

Unchangeable, all things have been made like in their being. They

rejoiced and have been filled with life-giving powers. They engendered

myriads and myriads and myriads of æons, and in Joy, because they

rejoiced with the Father (6).

These are the worlds from which the Cross upsprang, and from their

incorporeal limbs the Man has come forth. It is the Father and Fount

of all being who has produced the limbs.

Now from the Father are all names (7), whether Ineffable One, or

Incorruptible One, or Invisible One, or Simple One, or Solitary One, or

Powerful One, or Triple-powered One, or the names that in Silence alone

are named. In the Father are they all, and He it is whom the Outer

Worlds behold [as men behold] the starry sky at night. Even as men [so

gazing into the night] desire to see the Sun, so do the Outer Worlds

desire to see Him because of the very Invisibility which surrounds Him.

He it is who to the æons gives life perpetually, and by His Word hath

the Indivisible ... the Monad in order to know it. For it is by His

Word that the Holy Plêrôma exists. This is the Father, the Second

Creator, by the breath of whose Mouth Providence (Pronoia) has been in

travail of those who were not, and it is by His Will that they are....

This is the Father, Ineffable, Unspeakable, Beyond Knowledge,

Invisible, Immeasurable, Infinite. He has produced those that are in

Him within Himself. The Thought of His Greatness has He brought forth

from non-being that He might make them to be. Incomprehensible is He

in His limbs. A Space has He made for His limbs that they might dwell

in Him and know Him for their Sire. From His First Thought (8) has He

made them come forth, and she has become a Space for them and given

them being....

In this wise has He created the Temple of the Plêrôma. At the four

gates of the [Temple of] the Plêrôma are four Monads, a Monad at each

gate, and six Supporters at each gate, in all four and twenty

Supporters, and four and twenty myriads of powers at each gate, nine

Enneads at each gate, ten Decads at each gate, twelve Dodecads at each

gate, and five Pentads of Powers at each gate. At each gate there is

an Overseer of triple aspect having countenances Ingenerable, True, and

Ineffable. Of these faces one gazes upon the external æons without the

gate; another beholds Sêtheus, and the third looks upward to the

Sonship contained in every Monad. There it is that Aphrêdon is

discovered with his twelve Holy Ones and the Forefather, and in that

Space abides also Adam, the Man of the Light, with his three hundred

æons. There also is the Perfect Mind. All these surround a Basket (9)

that knows no death. The Ineffable face of the Overseer, who is the

Warden of the Holy Place, gazes into the Holy of Holies upon the

Boundless One. Now this Warden has faces twain. One is disclosed from

the side of the Deep, the other from the side of the Overseer called

the Child (or Servant). For there is a Deep [within the Holy of

Holies] which is named "Light" (10), or "He who gives the Light," and

in this Abyss there is concealed an Alone-begotten Son. He it is who

manifests the Three Powers, who is mighty amongst all Powers.

This (? the Holy of Holies) is the Indivisible One, [the atom--Body or

Church] that can never be divided, in whom the All is discovered,

because all powers are hers.

He who is the Triple Power has three faces, an Aphrêdonian face that is

called Aphrêdon Pêxos, in which is found a latent Only-begotten One.

When the (?) Idea comes out of the Deep, Aphrêdon takes the Thought to

conduct her to the Alone-begotten of Alone-begottens, to lead her to

the Child, so that she may be brought to the Space of the Triple Power

for self-perfecting, and be escorted in the Space of the Five

Ingenerables.

There is also another Space called the Deep, where there are three

Paternities. In the first thereof is Kaluptô, the Hidden God. In the

Second Paternity there are Five Trees, and in the midst of them an

altar. An Alone-begotten Word stands upon the altar, having the twelve

countenances of the Mind of all things, and before him are the prayers

of all beings placed. The Universe rejoices over him because he has

manifested himself. He it is that the Invisible World has struggled to

know, and it is on his account that the Man has appeared. In the Third

Paternity is Silence and the Fount which twelve Anointed Ones

contemplate, beholding themselves therein. In him are also found Love

and the Universal Mind and furthermore the Universal Mother from whom

has gone forth that Ennead whose names are Prôtia, Pantia, Pangenia,

Loxophania, Loxogenia, Loxokrateia, Lôia, and Iouêl. She is the First

Beyond Knowledge, the Mother of the Ennead, who completes a Decad, come

forth from the Monad of the Unknowable.

Following there is another Space, more stretched out, where is hidden a

great treasure which the Universe surrounds. [This Space] is the

Immeasurable Deep where is an altar whereon three Powers are gathered:

a Solitary being, an Unknowable being, and an Infinite being, in the

midst of whom is revealed a Sonship called the Anointed Glorifier.

This is he who glorifies everyone and impresses upon him the seal of

the Father, who brings everybody into the eternity of the First Father

who is the One, He for whose sake all is and without whom nothing is.

Now this Anointed One has twelve faces, visages Unbounded,

Uncontainable, Ineffable, Simple, Imperishable, Solitary, Unknowable,

Invincible, Thrice-powerful, Unshakable, Ingenerable, and Pure. These

Spaces, where are these twelve founts, named Founts of Reasons, full of

eternal life, are called Deeps as well as the Twelve Countenances,

because they have received in them all Spaces of Paternity on behalf of

the Plêrômata and the Fruit which the Plêrôma emanated, who is Christ

who has received the Plêrôma in Himself.

Beyond all these Spaces comes the Deep of Sêtheus. This he who is in

them all and is surrounded by twelve Paternities, even in the midst of

these is he. Each Paternity has three faces. The first of them is an

Indivisible One, and three faces has he, Infinite, Invisible, and

Ineffable faces. The Second Father has Uncontainable, Unshakable, and

Incorruptible faces. The Third Father has faces Beyond Knowledge,

Imperishable, and Aphrêdonian. The Fourth Father has a countenance of

Silence, a face of Founts, and a visage Impalpable. The Fifth Father

has Solitary, Omnipotent, and Ingenerable faces. The Sixth Father has

the face of an All-Father, the face of a Self-Father, and the face of a

Forefather. The Seventh Father has countenances of Universal Mystery,

of Universal Wisdom and Universal Origin. Visages has the Eighth

Father of Light, Repose, and Resurrection. The Ninth Father has faces

Knowable, First Visible, and... The Tenth Father has Triple-fleshed,

Adamic, and Pure faces. The Eleventh Father has faces Triple-powered,

Perfect, and Sparkling. The Twelfth Father has a face of Truth, a face

of Fore-thought, and a face of After-thought. These are the twelve

Paternities which encircle Sêtheus. [Their faces] make in all a

[mystic] number thirty-six. These are they from whom those of the

exterior have received a seal-mark, that is why they glorify them for

evermore (11).

In that Space there are yet twelve other paternities who encircle the

head [of Sêtheus] and support a crown there. They dart out rays upon

the surrounding worlds by the Grace of the Alone-begotten Word,

concealed in him, He that is sought for.

[_The passage enclosed within brackets has been so mutilated by the

Coptic scribe that what follows is of the nature of a paraphrase rather

than of a translation_:--(As to the mysteries of the Word that are so

much beyond us, it is not possible to describe them otherwise than as

follows. Not possible for us, that is. It is impossible to describe

Him as He really is with a tongue of flesh. There are glories too

exalted for descriptions moved by thought and for intuition that comes

through symbols, except one finds a master who is a kinsman of the

deathless race yonder. From such an one can be learned something of

the Spaces from whence he came; for he finds the root of all things.

The mighty powers of the great æons of the Power that was in Marsanes

have said in adoration, "Who is he who hath seen aught in the presence

of His Face?" That is because thus does He manifest Himself [? the

Alone to the Alone], Nicotheos has spoken of Him [the Alone-begotten]

and seen Him, for he is one of these. He [Nicotheos] said, "The Father

exists exalted above all the perfect." Nicotheos has revealed the

Invisible and the perfect Triple-power. All perfect men have seen Him,

they have declared Him and have given Him glory with their own lips)

(12).] That is the Alone-begotten Word hidden in Sêtheus, He who is

called the Dark Ray (13), for it is the excess of His light alone that

is darkness. Sêtheus reigns by Him.

The Alone-begotten holds in His right hand twelve Paternities, the

types of the twelve Apostles (14), while in His left hand are thirty

Powers. Each of them emanates twelve two-faced æons after the type of

Sêtheus. One of these faces beholds the Deep which is in the Interior

[of the Temple of the Plêrôma]; the other looks without upon the

Triple-Power. Each of the Paternities in His right hand emanates three

hundred and sixty-five powers, according to the word that David spake,

saying, "I will cherish the crown of the year in Thy Righteousness."

For all these Powers encircle the Alone-begotten Son as a crown,

illuminating the æons with the light of the Alone-begotten, as it is

written, "In Thy light shall we see light." And the Alone-begotten is

lifted up upon [the powers], as again it is written, "The Chariot of

God is a myriad of multiplications"; and again, "There are millions of

beings who rejoice; the Lord is in them" (15).

This is He who dwells in the Monad in Sêtheus, which comes from the

place concerning which one does not ask, "Where is it?" She comes from

Him who is before these Fullnesses. From the One and Only, even from

Him has come forth the Monad, as a ship laden with all good things, or

as a full field planted with every manner of tree, or as a city filled

with men of every race and with all the statues of the king. Thus it

is with the Monad where the Whole is found.

Upon her head twelve Monads form a crown; each has emanated another

twelve. Ten Decads encircle her neck, nine Enneads are about her

heart, and seven Hebdomads are under her feet, and each has emanated a

Hebdomad. The firmament which surrounds her is like a tower with

twelve gates, and at every gate are twelve myriads of powers;

archangels are they called, or angels. This is the metropolis of the

Alone-begotten Son (16).

Now it is of the Alone-begotten that Phôsilampes (17) has said, "Before

all things is He." He it is who has come forth from the Infinite; He

who has engendered Himself there and has no seal nor form and has given

birth to Himself. This is He who is come forth from the Ineffable One,

the Immeasurable One, who truly is, and in whom is found all that truly

is, who is the Father Incomprehensible. He is in His Alone-begotten

Son, while the All reposes in the Ineffable and Unspeakable King, whom

none can move and whose Divinity no one can declare, whose kingdom is

not of this world. Meditating upon Him, Phôsilampes has said, "Through

Him is That-which-really-is and That-which-really-is-not, through which

the Hidden-which-really-is and the Manifest-which-really-is-not exists."

He is the true Alone-begotten God, and all the Fullnesses (Plêrômata)

know that it is by Him that they have become gods and that they have

become rulers in this name--God. This is He of whom John has said, "In

the beginning was the Word, and the Word was in God and the Word was

God, and without Him was not anything made. That which was made in Him

was Life."

The Alone-begotten is found in the Monad, dwelling in her as in a city,

and the Monad is in Sêtheus as a concept, and Sêtheus dwells in the

Temple as King and as God. He is the Word creative, who has commanded

the Fullnesses to labour; the Creative Mind after the order of God the

Father, whom all creation worships as God and Lord, to whom all is

subjected.

The Fullnesses wonder at Him [Sêtheus] because of His beauty and grace.

Around His head those of the Inner Spaces of the Universe form a crown;

those of the external spaces are beneath His feet, while those of the

middle spaces encircle Him, all praising Him and saying, "Holy, Holy,

Holy, AAA, HHH, EEE, III, OOO, YYY, +ÔÔÔ+"--that is to say, "Thou art

the Living One of Living Ones, Holy of Holies, Being of Beings, Father

of Fathers, God of Gods, Lord of Lords, Space of Spaces" (18). They

praise Him, saying, "Thou art the House and the Dweller in the House."

They praise Him, saying unto the Son concealed in Him, "Thou art: Thou

art, O Alone-begotten, Light and Life and Grace."

When Sêtheus sent the Light-Spark from the Indivisible [Body], it

burned and gave light to all the Space of the Temple of the Plêrômata.

And they, beholding the light of the Spark, rejoiced and uttered

myriads and myriads of praises in honour of Sêtheus and of the

Light-Spark which was manifested, seeing that in it were all their

images, and they fashioned the Spark among themselves as a Man

light-giving and true. They named Him "Pantomorphos," and Pure, and

Unshakable, and all the eternities also called him "All-powered." He

is the Servant of the Æons and serves the Fullnesses (19). And the

Father sealed the Man His Son in their interior so that they might know

Him interiorly, and the Word moved them to contemplate the Invisible

One beyond knowledge, and they gave glory to this One and Only One, to

the Concept which is in Him and to the Intelligible Word, praising

these Three who are One, because by Him have they been made essential

beings. The Father took their total image and made of it a City or a

Man and figured in Him all those of the Plêrôma, that is to say, all

the powers. Each one of them knew his image in the City, for everyone

of the myriads of glories found himself in the Man or City of the

Father which is in the Plêrôma. The Father took His radiant glory and

made thereof an outer vesture for the Man....

He created in Him the type of the Temple of the Plêrôma. He made His

shoulders, which came out one from the other, after the type of those

hundred myriads of powers, less four myriads. He created His fingers

and toes like the two Decads, the hidden Decad and the manifest Decad.

He created His organ like the Monad concealed in Sêtheus. He created

the great reins like Sêtheus. He made His breast like the Interior of

the Temple and His feet after the type of the Solitary and Unknowable

Ones who serve the Plêrôma, rejoicing with those that rejoice. He made

His limbs after the type of the Deep which encloses three hundred and

sixty-five Paternities after the type of the Paternities. He fashioned

His hair after the type of the Worlds of the Plêrôma and filled Him

with wisdom like the Universal Wisdom, and filled Him with interior

mystery like Sêtheus and with exterior mystery like the Indivisible

[Body]. Incomprehensible created He Him like the Incomprehensible One,

who is in every Space, unique in the Plêrôma. His sides created He

after the type of the Four Gates and His two thighs after the type of

the Myriarchs who are to the right and left, and His members after the

type of those who go forth and those who enter. He created companions

surrounding Him after the type of concealed mysteries....

[This was the Man or City that the Plêrômata beheld in the Light-Spark

and saw their likenesses therein. They fashioned the Man called

Pantomorphos in His likeness, or clothed the Light-Spark in the

Star-body.]

The Indivisible Point sent the Light-Spark without the Plêrôma, and

[He] descended [as] the Triple-Power into the Spaces of Autogènes, the

Self-generated One, and [these Spaces] beheld the grace of the

Eternities of Light which had been given unto them, and they rejoiced

because that-which-is had come among them.

Then they opened the firmaments and the Light descended below to the

lower regions and to those who were without form, having no [true]

likeness. It was thus that they got the likeness of the Light for

themselves. Some rejoiced because the Light had come to them, and that

they had been made rich thereby. Others mourned because they were made

poor and that which [they thought] they had was taken away from them.

Thus came He, who went forth full of grace, and was taken captive with

a captivity (20). A light of glory was given to the æons who had

received the Spark, and guardian spirits were sent to them who are

Gamanêl, Etrempsouchos, and Agramas, and those who are with them. They

bring help to those who have believed in the Spark of Light.

Now in the Space of the Indivisible Atom are twelve Founts, above which

are the twelve Paternities who surround the Indivisible [Queen] like

Deeps or like Skies and make for Her a crown in which is every kind of

life: all modes of Triple-powered life, of Uncontainable life, of

Infinite life, of Ineffable life, of Silent life, of Unknown life, of

Solitary life, of Unshakable life, of First-manifested life, of

Self-born life, of True life. All is therein. Every species is in it,

all Gnôses and every power which has received the Light, yea, all Mind

manifests itself therein. This is the Crown which the Father of the

Universe has placed upon the Indivisible [Queen] with three hundred and

sixty-five kinds in it, brilliant and filling the Universe with an

incorruptible and unfailing light. This is the Crown which crowns all

dominion, the Crown that the Deathless pray for, and by it and in it

they will become Invisible Ones [in the world beyond manifestation] on

the Day of Joy, who by the Will of the Inscrutable One have from the

first been manifested, that is to say, Prôtia, Pantia, Pangenia, and

their company. Then shall all the Invisible Eternities receive from

Him their crown, so that they may cast themselves among the Invisibles,

who shall receive there their crown in the Crown of the Indivisible

[Queen], and the Universe shall receive its perfection of incorruption.

Because of this it is that those who have taken bodies pray, desiring

to abandon the body that they may receive the crown laid up for them in

the Incorruptible Eternity.

This is the Indivisible [Queen and Mother], the first æon of all, who

has been given all good things by Him who is above all good things, and

she has been given the Immeasurable Deep, wherein are found innumerable

Paternities, whereof is the Ennead without seal-mark and having in her

the seal-marks of all creatures, and by whom the Ennead emanates twelve

Enneads. She [the Indivisible Mother it is] who has in the midst a

Space called "The Land productive of Gods," or "The Land which gives

birth to the Gods" (21). This is the land of which it has been said,

"He who ploughs his soil shall be satisfied with bread and he shall

make large his threshing floor," and also, "The Master of the Field,

when they shall plough it, shall possess all good things." And all

those Powers which are in this land which brought forth the God have

received the Crown. That is why they know, because of the Crown upon

their heads, if the Inheritors of the Kingdom of Light have [? in

truth] been born from the Indivisible Body or not: that is, from Her

who is the Universal Mother (22). She has within Her seven Wisdoms,

nine Enneads, ten Decads, and in the midst a great Basket is revealed.

A mighty Invisible [Hierarch] stands above it with a mighty Ingenerable

[Hierarch] and a mighty Unbounded [Hierarch], each one

triple-countenanced, and the prayer, the blessing, and the hymn of

creatures are given place in this Basket which is in the midst of the

Universal Mother, in the midst of the seven Wisdoms, in the midst of

the nine Enneads, and in the midst of the ten Decads. For all these

[creatures] stand upright in the Basket, made perfect by the Fruit of

the Æons, He who has been ordained for them by the Alone-begotten

concealed in the Indivisible [Atom]. He [the Fruit of the Æons] has a

Fount before Him surrounded by twelve Holy Ones, each one wearing a

Crown on his head and having twelve powers, who surround Him within,

praising the Alone-begotten king and crying, "It is because of Thee

that we ray forth glory, and it is by Thee that we behold the Father of

the Universe, AAA, +ÔÔÔ+ (23), and the Mother of all the good, She who

is hidden in every space"--that is to say, the contriving thought

(Epinoia) of all the Eternities, the conceiving thought of all gods and

of all lords--"She is the Gnôsis of all the Unseen beings, and Thy

Image is the Mother of all the Boundless Ones, the Power of all the

Infinites."

Praising the Alone-begotten, they cry, "It is because of Thy Image (24)

that we have seen Thee, that we have run to Thee, that we have clung to

Thee, that we have received the Incorruptible Crown which is known

through Her. Glory be to Thee, O Alone-begotten, for ever and ever."

Then together do they all say Amen.

For [? Jesus, the Fruit of the Æons] became a Body of Light, He crossed

the Æons of the Indivisible [Body] until He came to the Alone-begotten

who is in the Monad and who dwells in Peace and Solitude. He received

the Grace of the Alone-begotten--that is to say, His Christhood or His

Perfecting. Also He received the Eternal Crown. He is the Father of

all Light-Sparks, the chief of all Immortal bodies, and this is He for

whose sake resurrection is given to the body (25).

But besides the Indivisible Queen and besides her Ennead without

seal-mark, in which is found all seal-marks, there are three other

Enneads, of which each emanates nine Enneads. In the first of these is

revealed a Basket round which three Fathers are gathered: an Infinite

Father, an Ineffable Father, and an Uncontainable Father. In the

middle of the second Ennead is a Basket, and three Fathers are there:

an Invisible Father, an Ingenerable Father, and an Unshakable Father.

In the third Ennead is also revealed a Basket which encloses three

Paternities: a Solitary Father, an Unknown Father, and a Triple-Powered

Father. It is through these that the Universe has known God. They ran

towards Him and have engendered an innumerable multitude of æons, and

in each Ennead they offered myriads and myriads of praises.

In each of these Enneads there is a Monad, and in each Monad a Space

called "Incorruptible": that is to say, "Holy ground." There is a

Fount in the ground of each of these Monads, and myriads and myriads of

Powers who have received on their heads a crown of the Crown of the

Triple-Power. In the middle of these Enneads and of these Monads is an

immeasurable Deep towards which all the Universe looks, those that are

internal as well as those that are external, having above it twelve

Paternities, each surrounded by thirty Powers.

The First Paternity is a face of the Infinite One, and thirty infinite

powers surround him.

The Second paternity is a face of the Invisible One and thirty

invisible powers surround him.

The Third paternity is a face of the Uncontainable One, and thirty

uncontainable powers surround him.

The Fourth paternity is a face of the Invincible One and thirty

invincible powers surround him.

The Fifth Paternity is a face of the All-powerful One and thirty

1ll-powerful powers surround him.

The Sixth paternity is a face of the All-Wise One and thirty all-wise

powers surround him.