(6) Thomas answered and said, "What have we to say in the face of these things? What shall we say to blind men? What doctrine should we express to these miserable mortals who say, "We came to [do] good and not to curse," and yet [claim], "Had we not been begotten in the flesh, we would not have known [iniquity]"?" The savior said, "Truly, as for [those], do not esteem them as men, but regard them [as] beasts, for just as beasts devour one another, so also men of this sort devour one another. On the contrary, they are deprived of [the kingdom] since they love the sweetness of the fire and are servants of death and rush to the works of corruption. They fulfill the lust of their fathers. They will be thrown down to the abyss and be afflicted by the torment of the bitterness of their evil nature. For they will be scourged so as to make them rush backwards, whither they do not know, and they [will recede] from their limbs not patiently, but with despair. And they rejoice over [their] [involvement with life in] madness and derangement, since they are [fools]. [They] pursue this derangement without realizing [their madness, thinking] that they [are] wise. [They love] [the beauty] of their body [...] Their mind is directed to their own selves, for their thought is occupied with their deeds. But it is the fire that will burn them." And Thomas answered and said, "Lord, what will the one thrown down to them do? For I am most anxious about them; many are those who fight them." The savior answered and said, "What is your own opinion?" Judas - the one called Thomas - said, "It is you, lord, whom it befits to speak, and me to listen." The savior replied, "Listen to what I am going to tell you and believe in the truth. That which sows and that which is sown will dissolve in the fire - within the fire and the water - and they will hide in tombs of darkness. And after a long time they shall show forth the fruit of the evil trees, being punished, being slain in the mouth of beasts and men at the instigation of the rains and winds and air and the light that shines above."

(3) Jesus continued again in the discourse and said unto his disciples: "It came to pass then, when this lion-faced power saw me, how I drew nigh unto Pistis Sophia, shining very exceedingly, that it grew still more furious and emanated from itself a multitude of exceedingly violent emanations. When this then befell, Pistis Sophia uttered the eleventh repentance, saying: "'1. Why hath the mighty power raised itself in evil? It came to pass then, when Jesus had heard these words which Salome spake, that he said: "Well said, Salome. Amēn, amēn, I say unto you: I will perfect you in all mysteries of the kingdom of the Light."

(12) One of them that sat at meat with Jesus said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then said Jesus,

(2) Jesus said unto him: "Well said, Andrew, blessed one. This is the solution of her repentance. Amēn, amēn, I say unto you: I will perfect you in all mysteries of the Light and all gnoses from the interiors of the interiors to the exteriors of the exteriors, from the Ineffable down to the darkness of darknesses, from the Light of lights down to the . . . . of matter, from all the gods down to the demons, from all the lords down to the decans, from all the authorities down to the servitors, from the creation of men down to [that] of the wild-beasts, of the cattle and of the reptiles, in order that ye may be called perfect, perfected in all fulness. Amēn, amēn, I say unto you: In the region where I shall be in the kingdom of my Father, ye will also be with me. And when the perfect number is completed, so that the Mixture shall be dissolved, I will give commandment that they bring all tyrant gods, who have not given up the purification of their light, and will give commandment to the wise fire, over which the perfect pass, to eat into those tyrants, until they give up the last purification of their light."

(1) Jesus said: "The measure of the man who hath intercourse with males and of the man with whom he lieth, is the same as that of the blasphemer. "When then the time is completed through the sphere, the receivers of Yaldabaōth come after their soul, and he with his forty-and-nine demons taketh vengeance on it eleven years. "Thereafter they carry it to the fire-rivers and seething pitch-seas, which are full of demons with pigs' faces. They eat into them and take vengeance on [?] them in the fire-rivers another eleven years. "Thereafter they carry them into the outer darkness until the day of judgment when the great darkness is judged; and then they will be dissolved and destroyed." Thomas said: "We have heard that there are some on the earth who take the male seed and the female monthly blood, and make it into a lentil porridge and eat it, saying: 'We have faith in Esau and Jacob.' Is this then seemly or not?" Jesus was wroth with the world in that hour

(2) Jesus said: "Such a man who hath committed all sins and all iniquities, and he findeth the mysteries of the Light, and performeth and fulfilleth them and ceaseth not nor doeth sins, will inherit the Treasury of the Light."

(64) Blessed are you, O soul, if you find this one in your temple. Blessed are you still more if you perform his service. But he who will defile the temple of God, that one God will destroy. For you lay yourself open, O man, if you cast this one out of your temple. For whenever the enemies do not see Christ in you, then they will come into you armed in order to crush you.

(11) "Do not let the kingdom of heaven become a desert within you. Do not be proud because of the light that enlightens. Rather, act toward yourselves as I myself have toward you. I have put myself under a curse for you to save you."

(1) Our holy Saviour applied poverty and riches, and the like, both to spiritual things and objects of sense. For when He said, "Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake," He clearly taught us in every circumstance to seek for the martyr who, if poor for righteousness' sake, witnesses that the righteousness which he loves is a good thing; and if he "hunger and thirst for righteousness' sake," testifies that righteousness is the best thing. Likewise he, that weeps and mourns for righteousness' sake, testifies to the best law that it is beautiful. As, then, "those that are persecuted," so also "those that hunger and thirst" for righteousness' sake, are called "blessed" by Him who approves of the true desire, which not even famine can put a stop to. And if "they hunger after righteousness itself," they are blessed. "And blessed are the poor," whether "in spirit" or in circumstances - that is, if for righteousness' sake. It is not the poor simply, but those that have wished to become poor for righteousness' sake, that He pronounces blessed - those who have despised the honours of this world in order to attain "the good;" likewise also those who, through chastity, have become comely in person and character, and those who are of noble birth, and honourable, having through righteousness attained to adoption, and therefore "have received power to become the sons of God," and "to tread on serpents and scorpions," and to rule over demons and "the host of the adversary." And, in fine, the Lord's disciplines draws the soul away gladly from the body, even if it wrench itself away in its removal. "For he that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life shall find it," if we only join that which is mortal of us with the immortality of God. It is the will of God [that we should attain] the knowledge of God, which is the communication of immortality. He therefore, who, in accordance with the word of repentance, knows his life to be sinful will lose it - losing it from sin, from which it is wrenched; but losing it, will find it, according to the obedience which lives again to faith, but dies to sin. This, then, is what it is "to find one's life," "to know one's self."

(19) Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

(3) Jesus said: "If the time of such an one is completed through the sphere, the receivers of Ariēl come after him and lead out his soul [out of the body] and spend three days travelling round in the world [with it] and instructing it concerning the creatures of the world. "Thereafter they lead it down into the Amente before Ariēl; and he taketh vengeance on it with his chastisements twenty months. "Thereafter they lead it into the chaos before Yaldabaōth and his forty-and-nine demons; and he and his demons, one by one, take vengeance on it another twenty months. "Thereafter they carry it on to the way of the midst; and every one of the rulers of the way of the midst taketh vengeance on it another twenty months. "And thereafter they lead it unto the Virgin of Light, that she may judge it. And when the sphere turneth itself, she handeth it over to her receivers, that they may cast it into the æons of the sphere. And the servitors of the sphere lead it into a water which is below the sphere; and it becometh a seething fire and eateth into it until it purifieth it. "And Yaluham, the receiver of Sabaōth, the Adamas, cometh and bringeth the cup with the water of forgetfulness and handeth it to the soul; and it drinketh and forgetteth all things and all the regions to which it had gone. And they cast it up into a lame and deformed body, so that all despise it persistently. "This is the chastisement of the arrogant and overweening man." Thomas said: "A persistent blasphemer, what is his chastisement?"