(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

(4) Then the savior continued and said, "O unsearchable love of the light! O bitterness of the fire that blazes in the bodies of men and in their marrow, kindling in them night and day, and burning the limbs of men and [making] their minds become drunk and their souls become deranged. [And that which is imprisoned] in them (bodies)—within males and females [by day and] night—and that moves them [powerfully, burns] secretly and visibly. For the males [move; they move upon the females] and the females upon [the males. Therefore it is] said, "Everyone who seeks the truth from true wisdom will make himself wings so as to fly, fleeing the lust that scorches the spirits of men." And he will make himself wings to flee every visible spirit." And Thomas answered, saying, "Lord, this is exactly what I am asking you about, since I have understood that you are the one who is beneficial to us, as you say." Again the savior answered and said, "Therefore it is necessary for us to speak to you, since this is the doctrine of the perfect. If, now, you desire to become perfect, you shall observe these things; if not, your name is 'Ignorant', since it is impossible for an intelligent man to dwell with a fool, for the intelligent man is perfect in all wisdom. To the fool, however, the good and bad are the same—indeed the wise man will be nourished by the truth and (Ps.1:3) "will be like a tree growing by the meandering stream"—seeing that there are some who, although having wings, rush upon the visible things, things that are far from the truth. For that which guides them, the fire, will give them an illusion of truth, [and] will shine on them with a [perishable] beauty, and it will imprison them in a dark sweetness and captivate them with fragrant pleasure. And it will blind them with insatiable lust and burn their souls and become for them like a stake stuck in their heart which they can never dislodge. And like a bit in the mouth, it leads them according to its own desire. And it has fettered them with its chains and bound all their limbs with the bitterness of the bondage of lust for those visible things that will decay and change and swerve by impulse. They have always been attracted downwards; as they are killed, they are assimilated to all the beasts of the perishable realm." Thomas answered and said, "It is obvious and has been said, '[Many are those who cry [out] to those who do not know [the repose of] [their] soul.'" And [the savior] answered, saying, "[Blessed is] the wise man who [sought after the truth, and] when he found it, he rested upon it forever and was unafraid of those who wanted to disturb him."

(4) Bartholomew said: "A man who hath intercourse with a male, what is his vengeance?" "Thereafter there cometh a receiver of the little Sabaōth, the Good, him of the Midst. He himself bringeth a cup filled with thoughts and wisdom, and soberness is in it; [and] he handeth it to the soul. And they cast it into a body which can neither sleep nor forget because of the cup of soberness which hath been handed unto it; but it will whip its heart persistently to question about the mysteries of the Light until it find them, through the decision of the Virgin of Light, and inherit the Light for ever."

(37) Those Gnostic sects maintaining a more rational attitude on the subject declared the very existence of the lower worlds to signify that the Supreme Creator had a definite purpose in their creation; to doubt his judgment was, therefore, a grievous error. The church, however, seemingly arrogated to itself the astonishing prerogative of correcting God in this respect, for wherever possible it continued to impose celibacy, a practice resulting in an alarming number of neurotics. In the Mysteries, celibacy is reserved for those who have reached a certain degree of spiritual unfoldment. When advocated for the mass of unenlightened humanity, however, it becomes a dangerous heresy, fatal alike to both religion and philosophy. As Christendom in its fanaticism has blamed every individual Jew for the crucifixion of Jesus, so with equal consistency it has maligned every member of the feminine sex. In vindication of Eve philosophy claims that the allegory signifies merely that man is tempted by his emotions to depart from the sure path of reason.

(2) Now Thomas said to the lord, "Therefore I beg you to tell me what I ask you before your ascension, and when I hear from you about the hidden things, then I can speak about them. And it is obvious to me that the truth is difficult to perform before men." The savior answered, saying, "If the things that are visible to you are obscure to you, how can you hear about the things that are not visible? If the deeds of the truth that are visible in the world are difficult for you to perform, how indeed, then, shall you perform those that pertain to the exalted height and to the pleroma which are not visible? And how shall you be called 'laborers'? In this respect you are apprentices, and have not yet received the height of perfection." Now Thomas answered and said to the savior, "Tell us about these things that you say are not visible, [but are] hidden from us." The savior said, "[Every human] body, [like] the the beasts, is begotten [irational]. Doesn't it appear like [a creature erect] [among other creatures? For] this very reason, those that are above [do not appear among] things that are visible, but they are visible in their own root, and it is their fruit that nourishes them. But these visible bodies survive by devouring creatures similar to them with the result that the bodies change. Now that which changes will decay and perish, and has no hope of life from then on, since that body is bestial. So just as the body of the beasts perishes, so also will these formations perish. Do they not derive from intercourse like that of the beasts? If it, too derives from intercourse, how will it beget anything different from beasts? So, therefore, you are babes until you become perfect."

(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."

(25) Isidore also, his son, resembled Basilides. He also [...] many, and he [...], but he did not [...] this [...] other disciple(s) [...] blind [...], but he gave them [...] pleasures ... ... (lines 16 through end-of-page unrecoverable) ... they do not agree with each other. For the Simonians take wives (and) beget children; but the [...] abstain from their [...] nature [...] a passion [...] the drops of [...] anoint them ... ... (1 line unrecoverable) ... which we [...] they agree with each other [...] him [...] they ... ... (lines 14 through end-of-page unrecoverable) ... judgment(s) [...] these, on account of the [...] them [...] the heretics [...] schism(s) [...] and the males [...] are men [...] will belong to the world-rulers of darkness ... ... (1 line unrecoverable) ... of the world ... ... (1 line unrecoverable) ... they have [...] the archons [...] power(s) ... ... (1 line unrecoverable) ... judge them [...]. But the [...] word(s) of ... ... (lines 20 through end-of-page unrecoverable) ... speak, while they [...] become [...] in a fire unquenchable [...] they are punished.

(12) The males dwell [...] the virgin, by means of [...] in the word [...]. But the word of [...] and spirit ... ... (4 lines unrecoverable) ... is the Father [...] for the man ... ... (1 line unrecoverable) ... like Isaiah, who was sawed with a saw, (and) he became two. So also the Son of Man divides us by the word of the cross. It divides the day from the night and the light from the darkness and the corruptible from incorruptibility, and it divides the males from the females. But Isaiah is the type of the body. The saw is the word of the Son of Man, which separates us from the error of the angels.

(45) The Perfect Savior said to them: "I want you to know that Sophia, the Mother of the Universe and the consort, desired by herself to bring these to existence without her male (consort). But by the will of the Father of the Universe, that his unimaginable goodness might be revealed, he created that curtain between the immortals and those that came afterward, that the consequence might follow ... [BG 118:] ... every aeon and chaos - that the defect of the female might , and it might come about that Error would contend with her. And these became the curtain of spirit. From aeons above the emanations of Light, as I have said already, a drop from Light and Spirit came down to the lower regions of Almighty in chaos, that their molded forms might appear from that drop, for it is a judgment on him, Arch-Begetter, who is called 'Yaldabaoth'. That drop revealed their molded forms through the breath, as a living soul. It was withered and it slumbered in the ignorance of the soul. When it became hot from the breath of the Great Light of the Male, and it took thought, (then) names were received by all who are in the world of chaos, and all things that are in it through that Immortal One, when the breath blew into him. But when this came about by the will of Mother Sophia - so that Immortal Man might piece together the garments there for a judgment on the robbers - then welcomed the blowing of that breath; but since he was soul-like, he was not able to take that power for himself until the number of chaos should be complete, (that is,) when the time determined by the great angel is complete.

(5) When then the Saviour had said this unto his disciples he said unto them: "Understand ye in what manner I discourse with you?" "The fourth thought on the other hand concerning the word which thou hast said: 'If the soul goeth forth out of the body and travelleth on the way with the counterfeiting spirit, and if it hath not found the mystery of the undoing of all the bonds and the seals which are bound to the counterfeiting spirit, so that it may cease to haunt or be assigned to it,--if it then hath not found it, the counterfeiting spirit leadeth the soul to the Virgin of Light, the judge; and the judge, the Virgin of Light, proveth the soul and findeth that it hath sinned and, as she also hath not found the mysteries of the Light with it, she handeth it over to one of her receivers, and her receiver leadeth it and casteth it into the body, and it cometh not out of the changes of the body before it hath yielded its last circuit,'--concerning this word, then, my Lord, thou hast said unto us aforetime: 'Be reconciled with thy foe as long as thou art on the way with him, lest perchance thy foe hand thee over to the judge and the judge hand thee over to the servant and the servant cast thee into prison, and thou shalt not come forth out of that region till thou hast yielded the last farthing.' "Because of this manifestly is thy word: Every soul which cometh forth out of the body and travelleth on the way with the counterfeiting spirit and findeth not the mystery of the undoing of all the seals and all the bonds, so that it may undo itself from the counterfeiting spirit which is bound to it,--that soul which hath not found mysteries of the Light and hath not found the mysteries of detachment from the counterfeiting spirit which is bound to it,--if then it hath not found it, the counterfeiting spirit leadeth that soul to the Virgin of Light, and the Virgin of Light, yea that judge, handeth over that soul to one of her receivers, and her receiver casteth it into the sphere of the æons, and it cometh not out of the changes of the body before it hath yielded the last circuit which is appointed for it. This then, my Lord, is the fourth thought."