powers surround him.
The Eighth paternity is a face of the Solitary One and thirty solitary
powers surround him.
The Ninth paternity is a face of the Ingenerable One, and thirty
ingenerable powers surround him.
The Tenth paternity is a face of the Unshakable One and thirty
unshakable powers surround him.
The Eleventh Paternity is a face of the Universal Mystery, and thirty
universal mysteries surround him.
The Twelfth Paternity is a face of the Triple-Powered One, and thirty
triple-powers surround him.
And in the midst of the Immeasurable Deep there are five Powers which
are called by these ineffable names:
The first is called Love, and from her comes all love.
The second is called Hope, and it is by her that we hope in the
Alone-begotten, the Son of God.
The third is called Faith, and it is by her that we believe the
mysteries of the Ineffable One.
The fourth is called Gnôsis, and it is by her that we know the First
Father, Him because of whom we live that we may know Him. [Gnôsis] the
Mystery of Silence, who spake before all things, that which is hidden,
the First Monad, for whom the Universe became being. It is upon the
head of this Mystery that the three hundred and sixty-five substances
form a crown like the hair of human kind, and the Temple of the Plêrôma
is as a stairway beneath her feet. This is the Gate of God (26).
The fifth is called Peace, and it is by her that we give Peace to all,
to those within and to those without, for it is in her that all things
have been created.
This is that Abyss Immeasurable in which is found three hundred and
sixty-five Paternities, thanks to whom they have devised the year.
This is the Abyss which surrounds the Temple of the Plêrôma, where is
revealed the Triple-Power with his branches and his trees, and
Mousanios and those which belong to him. There also is Aphrêdon and
his twelve Holy Ones, and a Basket is in the midst of them. They come
to carry in it the praises, the hymns, the prayers and supplications of
the Mother of the Universe, the Mother of the (manifested?) worlds who
is called Phanerios (27), and to give them a form, thanks to the twelve
Holy Ones. They send them into the Plêrôma of Sêtheus, by which act
they call to mind those of the external world in which there is matter.
This is the Deep where the Triple-Power rayed out the splendours of His
glory, after He had been to the Indivisible Mother and had received the
Grace of the One Beyond Knowledge, by which He had gotten such a
Sonship that the Fullnesses were not able to stand upright before Him
because of the excess of His light and brilliancy thereof. The whole
Plêrôma was troubled, the Abyss and all it contained was moved, and the
[æons] fled to the world of the Mother [Phanerios], and the Mystery
ordained that the veils of the æons should be drawn until the Overseer
had established them once more. And the Overseer established the æons
once more, as it is written, "He has established the Earth, and it
shall not be moved," and again, "The Earth has been dissolved and all
that therein is" (28).
Then the Triple-Power went forth: the Son was concealed in him, and the
crown of confirmation was upon his head, making myriads and myriads of
glories. They cried, "Make straight the way of the Lord and receive
the grace of God: every æon which is empty shall be filled with the
grace of the Alone-begotten Son."
The Father holy and all-perfect stood above the Deep Immeasurable. It
is in Him that all perfection is found, and in His fullness have we
received grace. Then the world was established; it ceased to shake;
the Father fashioned it so that it might nevermore be shaken, and the
æon of the Mother remained full of those that were in it until the
ordering came from the Mystery concealed in the First Father, He from
whence came the Mystery; when His Son re-established the Universe once
more in His Gnôsis, that which re-enforms the Universe.
Then Sêtheus sent the Logos Dêmiourgos, having with him a multitude of
Powers, wearing the crowns on their heads; and their crowns darted
forth rays. The brilliancy of their bodies is as the life of the Space
into which they are come; the word that comes out of their mouths is
life Æonian, and the light that comes from their eyes is a rest for
them; the movement of their hands is their flight to the place from
whence they have come, and their gazing on their own faces is Gnôsis of
their interior nature; their going towards them is their return once
more within; the stretching forth of their hands establishes them; the
hearing of their ears is the intuition in their hearts; the union of
their limbs is the regathering of the dispersal of Israel; their
self-understanding is their contemplation of the Logos; the writing
upon their fingers is the number which has gone forth, even as it is
written, "He counteth the number of the Stars and calleth them all by
their names."
And the whole union was made by the Logos Dêmiourgos with those who had
come out of the turmoil that had been: altogether they became one and
the same body, as it has been written, "They have all become one and
the same body in this One and Only One." Then this Logos Dêmiourgos
became a mighty God, Lord, Saviour, Christ, King, the Good, Father,
Mother. This is He whose work was good: He was glorified and became
Father to those that believed: He became Law in Aphrêdonia and mighty.
Then went forth Pandêlos [All-manifest]; she had a crown on her head,
and she placed it upon them who had believed (29).
The Power of the Æons [? the Indivisible Queen, the Mother within the
Plêrôma] ordered the Hierarchy of the World of the Virgin Mother
[Phaneia, the Mother without the Plêrôma, she who brings into
manifestation] according to the Order of the Inner Space. She placed
in it the Light-Spark after the pattern of the Monad and placed therein
the concealment which surrounds Him. She ordained the Propatôr after
the Order of the Indivisible Body and the twelve Holy Ones which
surround it, having crowns on their heads and seals of glory in their
right hands, after the type found in the Indivisible Point. In the
midst of these is Love; a face of the Triple-Power is in the Fount, and
there is a Basket which twelve Paternities surround, in whom a Sonship
is concealed.
She ordained the Autopatôr according to the order of the Ennead without
seal-mark and gave him authority over all that is only self-fathered,
and gave him a crown of all-glory and love, and Peace, Truth, and
myriads of powers, so that he might gather together those who had been
dispersed by the troubling which had taken place when the [Light Spark]
went forth with joy. As for the Prince of the Universe, he who has the
triple-power to make alive and to destroy, she ordained the Son
Prôtogennêtôr after the order of the Triple-Power. She gave him a
ninefold Ennead and five tenfold Decads, and that he might have power
to accomplish the warfare imposed upon him, she gave him the
first-fruits of the Sonship concealed in her that he might be able to
become a Triple-Power. He received the Vow of the Sonship because the
Universe (30) had been sold [? into slavery], and took upon him the
warfare entrusted to him and made arise all that was pure in matter. A
world made he, an æon, a town; the world which is called
"Incorruptibility" and "Jerusalem." It is also called "The New Earth,"
and "Self-Perfect," and "Without King." This earth is an earth that
brings forth gods, a life-giving earth indeed. This is the earth that
the Mother (? Phaneia) asked to have established. That is why she (?
the Mother Above) has placed orders or hierarchy in this earth and has
placed in it Providence and Love. This is the earth of which it has
been written, "The earth which drank the rain a multitude of times":
that is to say, which has multiplied the light in her multitudes and
multitudes of times, since the (light) went forth until its return;
that is to say, it is that from which the Man is named "Sensible." He
is fashioned, He has been created according to the type of this earth,
He who has been saved from His Self dispersion by the Prôtogennêtôr
(31). Because of that, the Father of all those of the Universe, He who
has no [bridal] bed has sent [Him,? the Man] a crown bearing the names
of all those of the Universe, whether Infinite or Ineffable, or
Uncontainable, or Incorruptible, or Unknown, or Solitary, or
All-powerful, or Indivisible. This is the crown of which it is
written, "They gave it unto Solomon on the day of his exultation of
heart."
The First Monad sent Him [the Man] an ineffable vesture which is all
Light, all Life, all Love, all Hope, all Faith, all Wisdom, all Gnôsis,
all Truth, all Peace, all Witness, all Universal Mother, all Universal
Mystery, all Fount, all Universal Perfection, all Invisible, all
Unknown, all Infinite, all Ineffable, all Abyss, all Uncontainable, all
Fullness, all Silence, all Unshakable, all Unengendered, all Universal
Solitary, all Monad, all Ennead, all Dodecad, all Ogdoad, all Decad,
all Hebdomad, all Hexad, all Pentad, all Tetrad, all Triad, all Dyad,
all Monad. The whole Universe is in it, and the Universe has found
itself therein and knows itself therein (29). It gave light to all in
its ineffable light, and it was given myriads and myriads of powers, so
that the Universe might be established once and for all. It gathered
together its skirts and gave them the form of a veil which surrounded
it [the Universe] on every side. It poured itself over all things,
raised them up and divided them according to the Hierarchies, according
to the orders, and according to Providence. Then that-which-was
separated itself from that-which-was-not, and that-which-was-not was
the evil manifested in matter; and the Robe of Power severed
that-which-was from that-which-was-not. That-which-was it called
Æonian, and that-which-was-not it called Hyle (matter). It separated
by the Midst that-which-was from that-which-was-not, and placed veils
between these twain. It placed purifying powers, so that they might
purge them and make them clean. It gave in this manner an order to
that-which-is and made of the Mother the chief. It gave it ten æons,
and each æon has a myriad powers; there is also a Monad and an Ennead
in each æon.
The [Robe of Power] placed in her [? Phaneia] an Universal Motherhood
and therewith a Power that had hitherto been concealed therein, so that
none knew thereof. [? The Robe] placed a great Basket, above which
stand three Powers, an Ingenerable One, an Unshakable One, and the
Great Pure One. It gave to [? the world order] the twelve other Powers
who have received the crown and who surround it. It gave it also the
Seven Stratelatai (32), who have the seal of the All-completing
[Panteleios], and have on their heads crowns in which there are twelve
stones of Adamant, which come from Adam, the Man of Light.
[The Robe of Power] established the Propatôr in all the æons of the
Mother of [the Manifestation] of all things, and gave him the full
power of Paternity, and Powers to obey him as Father and as First
Father of all that exists. It placed upon his head a crown of twelve
kinds; it gave him a Power which is Triple-powered and All-powered; it
gave him Sonship and myriads and myriads of Glories. It turned the
Plêrôma towards him and gave him power to make live and to destroy. It
gave him a power of the æon so that he might manifest it, with the
myriads and myriads of out-rayed Glories, like the other æons that were
with him. The Power which has been given to the Propatôr is called
Prôtophanes, because he is the first to be manifested, and Agennêtos,
because no one has engendered him. Also Ineffable and "Without Name"
is he called, and also Autogênes and Autotheletos, because he has
manifested himself by his own will. Yet again is he named
Autoloxastos, for he manifested himself with the Glories that were his.
Yet again is he termed Invisible, for he is hidden and none can see him.
Now [the Robe of Power] gave unto the Propatôr another Power, that
which since the beginning has caused the Light-Spark to appear in this
Space, and who is named with names Holy and All-perfecting. Who is
Prôtia, that is to say, the First, and is also called Pantia--she who
is found in all--and Pangenia--she who has brought forth all in the
world--and Loxogenia--she who has brought Glory to birth--and
Loxophania--Manifester of Glory--and Loxokrateia--she who has dominion
over Glory--and Arsenogenia--she who brings forth males--and Lôia--of
which the interpretation is God with us--and Jouêl--of which the
interpretation is God for ever--she it is who has ordained that these
Powers should appear whose name is called Phaneia, of which the
translation is Manifestation. The angel who has appeared with them is
he whom the Glories name Loxogenes and Loxophanes, of which the
interpretation is "He who engenders Glory" and "He who manifests
Glory," for he is one of those Glories who stand about that mighty
power called Loxokrator, because in his manifestation he has had
dominion over the great Glories.
Such are the Powers that were given to the Propatôr when he was placed
in the æon of the Mother, and myriads and myriads of Glories, Angels,
Archangels, and Liturgies were bestowed upon him, so that they might
serve him, those of matter. They gave him power over everything. He
made for himself a mighty æon and placed therein a mighty Plêrôma and a
great temple and all the Powers that he had taken and placed within
himself, and he rejoiced with them, bringing forth his creatures again
according to the commandment of the Father hidden in the Silence, Who
had sent him these riches; and the Crown of Fatherhood was given to him
because he had been made the Father of all those who came after him.
Then he cried out and said, "My children, with whom I travail again
until Christ be formed in you"; and again he cried, "Yea, I would set
beside a holy virgin an only husband, Christ."
But when he had seen the Grace that the Father in secret had given unto
him (that is Himself a Propatôr), he wished to turn the Universe to the
Father in secret, for it is His will that the Universe should turn to
Him. And when the Mother saw all the grandeurs which had been given
unto her Propatôr, she rejoiced greatly, she exulted; that is why she
said, "My heart has rejoiced and my tongue has been in exultation."
Then she cried to the Power Infinite who stands hard by the æon of the
Father, that mighty Power of Glory that the Glories call Trigenielos
(33), that is to say, Three Engendered, and who is named also Trigenes
and also Harmes. She prayed also unto Him who is concealed in every
Space that He would send him the Mother of Him who has withdrawn
Himself. The Father in secret sent him the Mystery who reclothes all
the æons like the Glories who form the Crown Panteles, that is to say,
of Perfection, so that he [the Propatôr] might place the Crown upon the
head of the Indivisible [Body] hidden within her, Incorruptible and
Unengendered. With [her He sent] the mighty Power which is in her
company, she who is called Arsenogenia, who replenishes all the æons of
Glory. Thus from him shall the Universe receive the Crown.
Then she established the Autopatôr Father and Æonian One; and gave unto
him the æon of the Concealed One in which are found all things, such as
species, faces, images, forms, questions, dissemblances, and changes,
that which counts and that which is counted, that which thinks and that
which is thought. She made a vesture thereof over all which is in him,
so that he might give to him who asked him. She gave unto him ten
Powers, and nine Enneads, five Æons, and she gave unto him Light; and
that gave him power over all secret things, so that he might show mercy
to those who had fought, who had towards the æon fled from matter,
leaving it behind them. They have fled to the æon of the Autopatôr;
they have made their own the promise which has been promised by Him who
said, "He who forsakes father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children,
and riches, and takes up his cross and follows Me, shall receive the
promises that I have promised unto him, and I will give unto them the
Mystery of the Father in Secret, because they have loved that which was
truly theirs and have fled from him who pursues them with injustice."
And he [Autopatôr] gave them Glory, Joy, Exaltation, Jubilation, Peace,
Hope, Faith, Love, and the Truth which changes not. This is the Ennead
with which he rewarded those that fled from matter; they became happy,
they became perfect, they knew God and the Truth, they comprehended the
Mystery which works in the Man; for what cause He has revealed Himself,
that they might see Him, for He is in truth Invisible; and for their
sakes He has revealed in words His Logos, so that they might know Him
and become gods and perfect.
When the Mother established the Prôtogennêtôr as her son, she gave unto
him the Power of the Sonship; she gave unto him armies of Angels and
Archangels; she gave unto him twelve Powers who served him; she gave
unto him a robe to consummate all things in him, for in it is revealed
every kind of body: the body of fire, the body of water, the body of
air [? spirit], the body of earth, the body of wind, the body angelic,
the body archangelic, the body of Powers, the body of Dominions, the
body of Gods, the body of Lords--in a word, every kind of body, so that
nothing might hinder him from mounting into the heights or descending
into the depths of Noun. This is the Prôtogennêtôr to whom those of
the internal and external Spaces have promised all things that please
him, and it is he who separates all matter; for he brooded over it like
a bird who stretches her wings over her eggs. Even thus did the
Prôtogennêtôr unto matter, and made myriads and myriads of species and
kinds come forth. When Matter was warmed she produced the multitudes
of Powers that were in her, and he separated them into species and
kinds. He gave them a law to love one another, to honour God and to
praise Him, and to seek for Him, who He is and what He is, and to
wonder at the place from whence they had come forth, so narrow and so
sad, and not to return thither again, but to follow him who had given
them a law and made them come out of the darkness; of Matter, their
Mother. He had said to them, "Let there be light." For they did not
know if there were such a thing as light or not. Then he gave them the
command not to hurt one another, and left them to go to the Space of
the Mother of the Universe beside the Propatôr and the Autopatôr, so
that together they might draw up those who had come forth from matter.
Then the Mother of the Universe (34), the Propatôr, the Autopatôr, the
Prôtogennêtôr, and the Powers of the æon of the Mother sang a great
hymn to the One and Only God, praising Him and saying:
"Thou alone art Boundless, Thou only art the Deep, Thou only art the
Incomprehensible One, for Thou art He whom all beings seek and [without
Thy grace] find Thee not, for none can know Thee against Thy will, and
none can praise Thee against Thy will. For Thy will only is a Space
for Thee, for nothing can contain Thee who art the Space for all. Thee
I pray that Thou mayest give an holy ordering to those of the World,
that Thou mayest dispose my offspring according to Thy will. Grieve
not my offspring, for never has anything been grieved by Thee; yet no
one knows Thy Counsel. Of Thee all beings of the Inner and the Outer
Worlds have need, Thou only Incomprehensible, Thou only beyond All
vision, beyond All mind. Thou only hast given character to all
creatures and hast manifested them in Thyself. Of that which is not
yet manifested art Thou the Creator, and Thou alone dost know these
things, for we know them not [of ourselves]. Thou alone revealest them
unto us [through Symbols and Images], so that we may supplicate Thee on
their behalf, so that Thou mayest make them manifest, and we may know
them [as they are in themselves apart from all Symbols] by Thy Grace
alone. Thou alone hast raised up the Secret Worlds to Thyself, so that
they might know Thee, for Thou hast given unto them the boon of knowing
Thee, for Thou hast given birth unto them from Thy Incorporeal Body and
hast taught them that from Thy Self-productive Mind Thou hast the Man
brought forth in Contemplation and in a perfect Concept, yea, even the
Man brought forth by Mind to whom Contemplation has given a form. Thou
it is who hast bestowed all good things upon the Man, and He weareth
them like vestures. He putteth them on like garments and wrappeth
Himself with Creation as with a robe (35). This Man is He whom all the
Universe yearneth to know, for Thou alone it is who hast ordained unto
the Man to manifest Himself, so that in Him Thou mightest be known and
that all might learn that it is Thou who hast brought Him forth and
that Thou art manifested according to Thy Will.
"Thee do I invoke, and I pray Thee, O Father of all Fatherhood, Lord of
all Lords, to give an holy ordering unto my kinds and to my offspring,
that I may rejoice in Thy Name and in Thy goodness, O Thou Sole King, O
Thou who changest not. Bestow upon me from Thy goodness, and I will
make known unto my children that Thou art their Saviour" (36).
When the Mother had finished praying to the Boundless One Beyond
Knowledge, who fills the whole Universe and gives life unto all, He
heard her and those with her, for all of them were His own, and He sent
unto her a Power who came forth from the Man whom they desired to
behold.
From Being Unbounded came forth the Infinite Spark of Light, at whom
all the æons wondered, asking themselves where He had been concealed
before manifesting Himself from the Infinite Father, He from whom the
Universe was manifested and who was latent therein. The Powers of the
Secret Worlds followed Him when they were manifested and came into the
Temple of the Plêrôma. He hid Himself amidst the Powers who came forth
from the Father in Secret (37). He made a world and bore it into the
Temple. Then the Powers of the Plêrôma beheld Him and loved Him and
praised Him in hymns ineffable, unspeakable to tongues of mortal flesh,
and good to dream of in the heart of man. He received their hymn and
made a veil surrounding their world like a wall; then went He to the
borders of the Universal Mother [without] and stood above the Universal
Æon (38). The Universe was moved at the presence of the Lord of the
whole Earth; the Æon was troubled and in suspense because it had seen
that which it knew not. The King of Glory was seated, He divided
matter into two halves and into two parts (39). He fixed the borders
of each part and taught them that they came from One Father and from
One Mother. To those who ran unto Him and adored Him He gave the place
at the right hand, and gave them Life for ever and ever and
Immortality. He named the place on the right "The Land of Life," and
the place on the left "The Land of Death"; He named the Earth on the
right "The Earth of Light," and the Earth on the left "The Earth of
Darkness"; He named the Earth on the right "The Earth of Repose," and
the Earth on the left "The Earth of Sorrow." He placed boundaries
between them and veils, so that they might not see each other; He gave
many Glories to those who had adored Him and gave them dominion over
those who had resisted and opposed Him. He extended the World of the
Right into many places and placed them [who followed Him] in each
hierarchy, in each æon, in each world, in each heaven, in each
firmament, in many heavens, in each region, in each space, in each
receptacle. He gave them [who had followed Him] laws and delivered
unto them commandments, saying, "Keep My sayings and I will give unto
you eternal life; I will send Powers unto you, yea, I will strengthen
you with mighty spirits, and will give unto you the dominion of your
desire: no one shall hinder your will, and you shall bring forth æons,
worlds, and heavens. When the intellectual spirits come to dwell in
you then shall ye become gods, then shall ye know that ye came forth
from God, and then shall ye behold Him within yourselves, in your
eternities shall He dwell."