Himself from them and hid Himself from them. And those who had been
the births of matter rejoiced that their thought had been accomplished;
they rejoiced because they had come forth from the narrow and the sad.
They prayed unto the Hidden Mystery, saying, "Give us power to create
æons and worlds according to the word which Thou hast sworn unto Thy
servants, for Thou alone art He who changest not, Thou alone art the
Infinite and Boundless One, Thou only art unengendered, born of
Thyself, Self-Father, Thou only art Unmoved and Unknowable, Thou only
Silence art and Love and Fount of the Universe, Thou only art
immaterial and hast no stain, ineffable in Thy generation and
inconceivable in Thy manifestation. Hear us, then, O Father
Incorruptible, Father Immortal, God of Hidden Beings, sole Light and
Life, Alone beyond Vision, only Unspeakable, only Unstainable, only
[Foundation] stone of Adamant (40), sole Primal Being, for before Thee
nothing was. Hearken unto this prayer which we make unto Him who is
concealed in every place. Hear us, send unto us incorporeal spirits
that they may dwell with us and teach us that which Thou hast promised
unto us; that they may dwell in us and that we may become bodies for
them, for it is Thy will that it should thus be. So may it be. Give
law unto our work and strengthen it according to Thy will and according
to the order of the hidden æons; dispose us according to Thy will, for
we are Thine" (41).
And He heard them and sent unto them discerning Powers which knew the
order of those who are hidden. He established the Hierarchy like the
Hierarchies above and according to the concealed order. They began
from the base to the summit, so that the building might unite them to
their companions. He created the aerial earth as a place of habitation
for those who had come forth, so that they might dwell therein until
the strengthening of those who are below them; then created He the true
habitation in the interior of that, the place of repentance in the
interior of that, the antitype of Aerodios; then the place of
repentance in the interior of that, the antitype of Autogênes: in this
place they baptise themselves in the name of Autogênes, who is God over
them, and there are Powers placed in this place over the Fount of the
Waters of Life which they make go forth. These are the names of the
Powers who are over the Waters of Life: Michar and Micheu; and they
baptise in the name of Barpharanges. In the interior of these Spaces
are the æons of Sophia; in the interior of these Spaces is the True
Truth, and Pistis Sophia is found there and also the pre-existent Jesus
the Living, Aerodios and his twelve æons. There are placed in this
space Sellaô, Eleinos, Zogenethêles, Selmelche, and the Autogênes of
the æons. There are placed in him four lights: Èlêlthêth, Daueithe,
Ôroiaêl ... (42). He saith (43):
O Alone-begotten of Light, I praise Thee.
O Light unengendered, I praise Thee.
O Light self-begotten, I praise Thee.
O Forefather of Light, more excellent than every Forefather, I praise
Thee.
O Light Invisible, who art before all those beyond vision, I praise
Thee.
O Thought of Light surpassing all Thought, I praise Thee.
O God of Light above all gods, I praise thee.
O Gnôsis of Light passing all knowledge, I praise Thee.
O Unknowable One of Light, who art beyond all that is unknown, I praise
Thee.
O Hermit of the Light, who art above all solitaries, I praise Thee.
O All-mighty of the Light, more excellent than the all-powered ones, I
praise Thee.
O Thou Thrice-mighty of the Light, greater than them of Triple-might, I
praise Thee.
O Light that none can separate, for Thou dividest all light, I praise
Thee.
O Thou Pure Light, surpassing all purity, I praise Thee.
O Thou who hast begotten [Thyself] in the absence of all generation,
Whom none has engendered, I praise Thee.
O Fount of the Universality of Æons, I praise Thee.
O True Self-born of Light, who art before all those self-born, I praise
Thee.
O Thou True Unmoved One of Light, who by Thy Will movest all things, I
praise Thee.
O Silence of all things, Silence of Light, I praise Thee.
O Saviour of all things, Saviour of Light, I praise Thee.
O Thou Unconquerable One of Light, I praise Thee.
O Thou Sole Space of all the places of the Universe, I praise Thee.
O Thou Only Universal Mystery, I praise thee.
O Thou Only All-perfect Light, I praise Thee.
O Thou Only Wise One and Sole Wisdom, I praise Thee.
O Thou Only Intangible, I praise Thee.
O Thou True Goodness, who hast made appear all good things, I praise
Thee.
O Thou True Light, who hast made all lights to shine, I praise Thee.
O Thou who sustainest all light and givest life to every soul, I praise
Thee.
O Thou Repose of them [? who seek repose], I praise Thee.
O Thou [Father] of all Paternity from the beginning unto this day, I
praise Thee.
They [? Thy children] search for Thee because Thou art their [Father].
Hear the prayer of [Thy children], for [Thou art He who is hidden] in
every place, He who is the [Desire] of all hearts.
[1] The title and the opening part of the work are lost.
NOTES
(1) The centre of the Universe, which is everywhere and nowhere; the
ideal unity in diversity, from which all things flow out and into which
all things return. Just as Jerusalem was held to be the centre of the
earth, so was this "City" held to be the hidden centre of the Universe;
hence it is often named "Jerusalem Above, who is the Mother of us all."
It is the principle at once of universality and individuality, the real
"ground" or centre of the soul. It is called the "House of the Father"
because it is the abiding place of the Presence; the "Robe of the Son"
because it is His Body of Manifestation (_cp._ 2 Clem. xiv.); the
"Power of the Mother" because it is the "Energy" by which man is reborn
into Divine consciousness; and the "Image or Archetype of the Plêrôma"
(the World of Eternal Ideas in their "Fullness"), because it is the
Wisdom which is the basis of all consciousness.
(2) This term rather suggests the use of a vibratory formula to induce
certain interior states as a practice of the School to which the Greek
MS. belonged. Perhaps this may have been ÏAÔ, the meaning of which is
given elsewhere as "I, because the All (or Plêrôma) hath gone forth.
A, because it will turn itself back again. Ô, because the consummation
of all consummations will take place." This may be taken to mean
exoterically, "Ï, the Incarnation of Jesus, Who is the Plêrôma. A, the
Crucifixion. Ô, the Ascension." Taken esoterically, it may mean, "Ï,
the Soul, has come forth from God into generation. A, it is started or
"Initiated" on its return journey through the Life of the Cross. Ô,
there is union with God in the Eternity of Eternities as the
consummation of all things" (_cp._ note 18). The work we are studying
might almost be considered an exposition of this formula, though I do
not suggest that it literally is so. We begin by reading it from right
to left, beginning with the God "beyond Name," that is He whose being
cannot be expressed by any name, Ô. We pass to the Logos, the Divine
Mind, He who can be named, and His Plêrôma, A, from which is "started"
the Visible World by the going forth of the "Light-Spark" or "Man," Ï.
After this we read from left to right, but this is the expounding of
the mystical life, the "return," under a veil of symbolism. ÏAÔ is the
great Name of God in three vowels, derived historically, no doubt, from
the Great Name in Judaism, and is the counterpart of the Indian AUM.
Probably, like this latter, it was pronounced in three ways: (1)
audibly; (2) inaudibly to others, but with the lips; (3) mentally. It
was a formula of a sacramental kind by which the life of the disciple
was mystically identified with the Life of the Master, so that the
knowledge of the real nature of the soul is given or restored by God.
During its use the mind was, of course, concentrated on its inner
meanings. Various aspects of mystical truth could be expressed by its
permutations; ÏAÔ, ÔAÏ, AÔÏ, etc.
(3) _Cp._ Odes of Solomon, 27: "I stretched out my hands and worshipped
the Lord, for the extension of my hands is His sign, and my expansion
is the Upright Tree [or Pillar]."
The Cross of Calvary was taken, by the Gnôstics, to be the outward and
visible sign of a concealed or Cosmic Cross, another aspect of the
"City" or Monad, upon which the Logos or Light-Spark, as the "Son of
Man," or the "Man," was crucified perpetually in an ineffable manner,
thus communicating His Life and Light to the Universe. The substance
or "strain" of this Cross is symbolised here by the Ennead or Ninefold
Being, the members of which, Knowledge, Life, Hope, etc., are each in
themselves Ideal Beings, Eternities, or Gods. Yet these Nine, a number
typical of Initiation, are also one, as the Master and the Cross are
also one. The Mystery is that of an Unbloody Sacrifice once and
perpetually offered and also of Divine Espousal. [See further the
"Hymn of Jesus" and the "Gnôstic Crucifixion" texts and commentaries by
G. R. S. Mead, who renders the passage in the text by "The Source of
the Cross is the Man whom no man can comprehend."]
(4) "Twelve" seems to symbolise the Powers creative of all kinds of
life in their totality, the creative imagination or raying forth power.
(5) "Truth" is another name for the Bride of the Logos, His "Great
Surround" or Body. It is the Divine Concept or Conceiving Thought of
the Cosmos and its processes, and hence it is also the seal of
perfection or Body of Glory, the Life with which the Risen and Ascended
Master is clad. While conferring character on all things, it is
entirely transcendent, modeless, and "un-walled." Through it God is
immanent in the Universe, hence it is also called "Mother." This is
what the symbolism seems to imply.
(6) This implies the doctrine of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm, of
the Universe and of the individual soul as a perfect compendium
thereof. All the great cosmic processes are to be found within the
soul.
(7) A "name" was held to be that which manifests the innermost essence
of a thing. Hence it symbolised the spiritual body or ideal vehicle of
manifestation, the life clothing. The bestowal of a new name is
therefore the sacramental sign of the gift of a new body or mode of
life. The real and ineffable Name of God is the Concept or Conceiving
Thought referred to in note 5. But this is the Name "Mother" or
"Bride" of the Logos, Providence. To "name" was a sacramental way of
invoking a presence or "spiritual vehicle."
(8) _Cp._ Codex Akhmim: "Of Him it is said, He thinketh His Image alone
and beholdeth it in the Water of Pure Light which surroundeth Him. And
His Thought energised and revealed herself, and stood before Him in the
Light-Spark--which is the Power which existed before the All--which is
the perfect Forethought of the All--the Barbêlô, the Æon perfect in
glory--glorifying Him, because she hath manifested herself in Him and
thinketh Him (_i.e._ gives Him birth). She is the first Thought, His
Image." Barbêlô seems to mean "In the Four is God": in other words, it
is the personified Tetragrammaton or Great Name commonly rendered by
Jehovah.
(9) Kanoun. This is a flat, broad basket, originally made of rush or
cane, but often manufactured in precious metals in later times. It was
used in the sacrificial rites of the gods and was hence classed among
sacred things (_v._ "Basket" in Hastings' _Ency. of Rel. and Ethics_).
What it signifies exactly I am unable to say. Possibly the rites of
the school, if we only knew them, would throw some light upon the
question. The offerings of bread and wine at the Eucharist may have
been made in the Kanoun. Sometimes in the MS. it seems to be connected
with prayer.
(10) The Temple of the Plêrômata or Fullnesses seems to be pictured as
being in the manner of that in Jerusalem. The Æons of the Inner Space
correspond to the Holy of Holies, the Æons of the Middle Space to the
Holy Place, and the Æons of the Outer Space to the Court. The various
Æons and their powers now described seem to be those of the Inner
Space. "Æon" and "Space" are practically equivalent terms, only Æon is
on the Mind or Spiritual side of things, Space or Extension (Topos) is
on the Life or Body side of things. "Space" is purely the space of
mind. It is a Spiritual Body with many members, each of which is a
god, having his own individual consciousness and being, and yet
partaking perfectly and wholly of a common consciousness or life. Each
Æon is a mighty Hierarchy in himself, and his "topos" is a Church or
Holy Assembly. The ideal union of these Spaces is in the Monad or
Indivisible Point, which is therefore the Church of Churches, the Body
of the Man whom no man can comprehend.
(11) Sêtheus and the twelve three-faced Paternities seem to be the
paradigms, or heavenly patterns, of the Sun, the signs of the Zodiac,
and the thirty-six Decans. He is the Invisible Sun of Righteousness
behind the visible flame which measures time. In other words, he is
the symbol of the Æon of Æons, the Æon _par excellence_. What time is
to the ordinary mundane mind that Sêtheus is to the Alone-begotten and
the Monad, whose ineffable union he encompasses. For he is the
manifested Sun of Eternity, (sun symbol). The Monad is the Indivisible
Point within the circle or sphere, and the Light-Spark or Logos is
within the Point, while Sêtheus himself is, strictly speaking, the
circle or sphere, the well-known symbol of Eternity. All the æons are
found in the "topos" of Sêtheus, as their divinity is not innate, but
comes from conscious participation, hence the name æon. I suggest the
name "Sêtheus" is formed from that of the god Seth, who was a solar
deity in some Egyptian traditions. No doubt the differentiation of the
name is intentional.
The twelve Paternities about the head are referable to the rays, to the
creative powers, the "Divine Imaginings" of the Mystic Sun in their
totality.
(12) Schmidt thinks that the name "Nicotheos"--"the Victor God"--is a
title of Christ, and that a quotation is given from some lost
Apocalypse, called, perhaps, "The Apocalypse of Nicotheos." The whole
passage seems to be a definite appeal to the experiences of attained
mystics concerning the Dark Ray. The "Perfect" was a technical name,
applied to those whose initiation or start had been consummated or
perfected. Having been regenerated, they were "gods" or "æons,"
conscious of their kinship with the Plêrômata. Each was now a
hierarchy in himself, a race, as it were. The passage is probably by a
later hand.
(13) _Cp._ Pseudo Dionysius Myst. Theol.:
"The super-unknown, the super-luminous and loftiest height wherein the
simple and absolute and unchangeable mysteries are cloaked in the
super-lucent darkness of hidden mystic silence, which super-shines most
super-brightly in the blackest night, and in the altogether intangible
and unseen, superfills the eyeless understanding with super-beautiful
brightnesses. And thou, dear Timothy, in thy intent and practice of
the mystical contemplations, leave behind both thy senses and thy
intellectual operations, and all things known by sense and intellect,
and set thyself, as far as may be, to unite thyself in unknowing with
Him who is above all being and knowledge; for by being purely free and
absolute, out of self and all things, thou shalt be led up to the _Ray
of the Divine Darkness_, stripped and loosed of all."
The above version is by Dom John Chapman, O.S.B., who says that this
passage was "cited throughout the Middle Ages as the _locus classicus_
for method of contemplation." This is, except for our text, the
earliest mention of the "Dark Ray" in literature. Evidently Pseudo
Dionysius did not invent the term himself, but followed a much older
Christian tradition. This fact is important for the history of
Christian mysticism.
(14) This seems to imply a doctrine of pre-existence. Perhaps the
passage is related to John 17:16: "They are not of the world, even as I
am not of the world.... As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so
sent I them into the world."
(15) _Cp._ Psalm 68:17 (R.V.): "The chariots of God are twenty
thousand, even thousands upon thousands. The Lord is among them, as in
Sinai, in the sanctuary."
(16) Further descriptions of this, "the oldest of the Æons," are given
later on. From these it will be gathered that the crown is the Crown
of Life, and that the twelve gates are also twelve deeps or firmaments,
over each of which a Paternity presides. She is called the Indivisible
One, either "Point," "Atom," or perhaps even "Body" or "Raiment." As
she is both the Spouse and Mother of the Light-Spark within the Æon, I
have generally called her the Indivisible Queen.
(17) Mr Mead suggests that Phôsilampes may be a mystery name of
Basilides. Has a commentary on the Gospel of St John been used here,
or a commentary on the prologue by Basilides [containing perhaps the
teachings of the alleged instructor of Basilides, Glaucias, whose name,
rather suggesting the "shining one," may equal "Phôsilampes"], which
interpreted "In the beginning" as meaning "In the First Concept or in
the Monad was the Word"?
(18) This repetition of the Seven Vowels gives the following meanings
to them:--AAA = Living of Living Ones, HHH = Holy of Holy Ones, EEE =
Being of Beings, III = Father of Fatherhoods, OOO = God of Gods,
YYY=Lord of Lords, +ÔÔÔ+ = Space of Spaces or Æon of Æons. The High
and Holy One, together with His Bride and Mother, the "Universal Church
or First Concept," are one in and with the Eternity that they inhabit.
Hence "Thou art the House and the Dweller in the House." Time (Æon)
and Space (Topos) are here one, or different aspects of the same mode
of being.
(19) _Cp._ "The Mind unto Hermes," 16: "The Cosmos is all-formed
[Pantomorphos]--not having forms external to itself, but changing them,
itself within itself"; also the "Perfect Sermon," xix. 3: "The
thirty-six, who have the name of Horoscopes, are in the self-same space
as the fixed stars; of these the essence chief or Prince is he whom
they call Pantomorph and Omniform, who fashioneth the various forms for
various species." The Pantomorphic Body is the Augoeidês or
Astroeidês, the ray-like or star-like glory (not to be confused with
the "astral body" of modern theosophy). _Cp._ Origen, Ep. 38 ad
Pammach: "Another body, a spiritual and aetherial one, is promised us:
a body that is not subject to physical touch, nor seen by physical
eyes, nor burdened with weight, and which shall be metamorphosed
according to the variety of regions in which it shall be.... In that
spiritual body the whole of us will see, the whole hear, the whole
serve as hands, the whole as feet." The Star-body is the body of
Resurrection and Ascension. _Cp._ Mark 16:12: "He was manifested in
_another form_ unto two of them." Also it was the body of "the
universal" descent, that which transmitted the Æons from the Plêrôma or
Ideal World to the Sensible World, hence it was considered to be
"scattered" or in a state of latency, or of mystical death in normal
man. To awaken it, to gather it together, or to "raise it from the
dead," was one of the first objects of the mystics, who followed the
way of the Gnôsis. Its partial resurgence was the first great step in
the processes of the Apotheosis. It was the possession of this body,
in some degree, which distinguished a man as "spiritual" from the
psychic and "hylic" men. The Astroeidês included the "natural" body in
its consummation, under a great transmutation, for it was the "Wisdom"
at the basis of material nature.
I have transferred the account of the "City of the Man" from where it
stands, at the end of the MS., to this place, as it seems more
intelligible here, and the exact order has been obscured by the
confusion of the leaves.
(20) _Cp._ "Poemandres," 15: "He [the Man], beholding the form like to
himself existing in her, in her water, loved it and willed to live in
it: and with the will came act, and so he vivified the form devoid of
reason. And Nature took the object of her love and wound herself
completely round him, and they were intermingled, for they were
lovers.... Thus, though above the Harmony (or Fate sphere), within the
Harmony he [The Man] hath become a slave, ... and though he is
sleepless from a sleepless Sire, yet is he overcome by sleep."
This is the Mystery of the concealment of God in Nature, a mystery that
was sometimes presented under the symbol of a self-scattering,
sometimes under the symbol of a magical sleep, or mystic death.
(21) "The Earth that brought forth the God" is the "ground of the
individual soul," and is also the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Universe,
the Hidden Sanctuary where the "Man" is raised from mystical death or
is reborn. No doubt the symbolism is drawn from Egyptian sources.
(22) This passage might be paraphrased, "Those who have received Life
and Light in the Concealed Sanctuary of the Soul know, through this
Crown of Perfection, that the Inheritors of the Kingdom of Light are
indeed reborn from the Indivisible Body, who is the Mother of us all.
(23) AAA +ÔÔÔ+ = The Living Space of Spaces, Æon of Æons. See note 18
and _cp._ Rev. 1:8, 17-18: "I am Alpha and Omega ... the First and the
Last, and the Living One; and I was dead, and, behold, I am alive unto
the æon of æons."
(24) The Body of Christ, which in its transcendental aspect is also His
Bride and Mother. _Cp._ 2 Clem. xiv.: "I do not suppose that you know
not that the living Church is the body of Christ; for the scripture
saith, 'God made Man, male and female; the male is Christ, the female
the Church; and the books and the Apostles belong not to the Church
that now is, but to the Church which is from above. For it is
spiritual, as is our Jesus, but is manifested in these last days to
save us. But the Church, being spiritual, is manifested in the flesh
of Christ.... Great is the Life and Immortality which this flesh can
partake of--that is, of the Holy Spirit which is joined to it--nor can
any declare or utter what the Lord has prepared for His chosen.'"