(1) And I saw three persons before me whose likeness I was unable to recognize. They were not from the powers of the god who created us. They surpassed glory, saying to me, "Rise, Adam, from the sleep of death, and hear about the eternal being and the seed of that person to whom life has come, who came from you and from Eve, your wife."

(4) [And] by means of a primary revelation of the universally prime Unknowable One-- the God who is beyond perfection--I saw him and the Triple-Powered One that exists in them all. I was seeking the ineffable and unknowable God of whom--should one know him--one would be completely incognizant, the one who mediates the Triple-Powered One, the one who subsists in stillness and silence and is unknowable.

(19) For that spirit springeth up out of all the powers of the angel, and goeth up into the mind, where it has five open doors; there it can look round about and see whatsoever is in God, and also whatsoever is in itself.

(24) And I, John, saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.

(14) And those who would know these things that were discussed with them, will become blessed. And they will reveal them, and they will become blessed, since they will come to know the truth. For you have found rest in the heavens.

(1) While I was listening to these things as as those there spoke them, there was within me a stillness of silence, and I heard the Blessedness whereby I knew proper self. And I ascended to the Vitality as I sought it. And I mutually entered it and stood, not firmly but quietly. And I saw an eternal, intellectual, undivided motion, all-powerful, formless, unlimited by limitation.

(1) I heard a voice saying to me, "Shem, since you are from an unmixed power and you are the first being upon the earth, hear and understand what I shall say to you first concerning the great powers who were in existence in the beginning before I appeared. There was light and darkness, and there was spirit between them. Since your root fell into forgetfulness—that which was the unconceived spirit—I reveal to you the truth about the powers. The light was thought, full of attentiveness and reason; they were united into one form. And the darkness was wind in waters. He possessed the mind wrapped in chaotic fire. And the spirit between them was a gentle, humble light. These are the three roots. They reigned each in themselves, alone. And they covered each other, each one with its power.

(1) It chanced once on a time my mind was meditating on the things that are, my thought was raised to a great height, the senses of my body being held back - just as men who are weighed down with sleep after a fill of food, or from fatigue of body. Methought a Being more than vast, in size beyond all bounds, called out my name and saith: What wouldst thou hear and see, and what hast thou in mind to learn and know?

(8) As I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying,

(1) And I subjected all their powers. For as I came downward, no one saw me. For I was altering my shapes, changing from form to form. And so when I was at their gates I assumed their likeness. For I passed them by quietly, and I was viewing the places, and I was neither afraid nor ashamed, for I was undefiled. And I was speaking with them, mingling with them through those who are mine, and trampling on those who are harsh to them with zeal, and quenching the flame. And I was doing all these things because of my desire to accomplish what I desired by the will of the father above.

(104) So also, when God moved himself and created the angels, there came to be three special angels out of the best kernel of nature, out of the being of the Ternary in the nature of God, and in such power, authority and might, as has the Ternary in the seven spirits of God; for the Ternary of God riseth up in the seven spirits of God, and is again the life and heart of all the seven spirits.

And when I was confirmed in these matters, the powers of the Luminaries said to me: "Cease dissipating the inactivity that exists in you by (further) inquiry after incomprehensible matters; rather hear about him insofar as it is possible by means of a primary revelation and a revelation:

(8) And concerning all these matters, you have heard certainly. And do not seek anything more, but go. We do not know whether the Unknowable One has angels or gods, or whether the One who is at rest contains anything within himself except that very stillness. For he , lest he be diminished. It is not appropriate to further dissipate through repeated seeking. It was appropriate that you know and that they speak with another. Instead, you will lead them [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]

(3) Then the Creator and the Maker asked them: "What do you think of your condition? Do you not see? Do you not hear? Are not your speech and manner of walking good? Look, then! Contemplate the world, look [and see] if the mountains and the valleys appear! Try, then, to see!" they said to [the four first men].

(6) just sent thee, is the glory of the name of the mystery of the Revealer, which is the First Commandment, and of the mystery of the five Impressions, and of the mystery of the great Envoy of the Ineffable, who is the great Light, and of the mystery of the five Leaders, who are the five Helpers. There is further in this vesture the glory of the name of the mystery of all orders of the emanations of the Treasury of the Light and of their saviours, and [of the mystery] of the orders of the orders, which are the seven Amēns and the seven Voices and the five Trees and the three Amēns and the Twin-saviour, that is the Child of the Child, and of the mystery of the nine guards of the three gates of the Treasury of the Light. There is further therein the whole glory of the name [of all those] which are in the Right, and of all those which are in the Midst. And further there is therein the whole glory of the name of the great Invisible, which is the great Forefather, and the mystery of the three triple-powers and the mystery of their whole region and the mystery of all their invisibles and of all those who are in the thirteenth æon, and the name of the twelve æons and of all their rulers and all their archangels and all their angels and of all those who are in the twelve æons, and the whole mystery of the name of all those who are in the Fate and in all the heavens, and the whole mystery of the name of all those who are in the sphere, and of its firmaments and of all who are in them, and of all their regions. "'Lo, therefore, we have sent thee this vesture, which no one knew from the First Commandment

(4) And immediately they [the four first men] began to see all that was in the world. Then they gave thanks to the Creator and the Maker: "We really give you thanks, two and three times! We have been created, we have been given a mouth and a face, we speak, we hear, we think, and walk; we feel perfectly, and we know what is far and what is near. We also see the large and the small in the sky and on earth. We give you thanks, then, for having created us, oh, Creator and Maker! for having given us being, oh, our grandmother! oh, our grandfather!" they said, giving thanks for their creation and formation. They were able to know all, and they examined the four comers, the four points of the arch of the sky and the round face of the earth.

(72) Now thou wilt say, Where then are these gracious, amiable and blessed spirits to be met with? Do they dwell only in themselves in heaven? Answer.

(84) And then the other six spirits speak it forth in the tone, out from God's animated or soulish spirit; understand, out from the Heart of God, out from the Son of God, which abideth standing in the centre as a compacted incorporated Word.

(9) But now look on undistractedly. Now the lights of all Five Orders, called the Lights of the Union of Four Wisdoms, will come to receive thee. Act so as to know them.

(1) And Mary again started forward and said: "Yea, my Lord, I understand in what manner thou dost discourse with me, and I will comprehend them all [ sc. thy words]. Now, therefore, concerning these words which thou sayest, my mind hath brought forward four thoughts in me and my light-man hath led me and exulted and seethed, desiring to come forth out of me and enter into thee. Now, therefore, my Lord, hearken that I may tell thee the four thoughts which have arisen in me.