(3) And Thomas answered, "Therefore I say to you, lord, that those who speak about things that are invisible and difficult to explain are like those who shoot their arrows at a target at night. To be sure, they shoot their arrows as anyone would - since they shoot at the target - but it is not visible. Yet when the light comes forth and hides the darkness, then the work of each will appear. And you, our light, enlighten, O lord." Jesus said, "It is in light that light exists." Thomas, spoke, saying, "Lord, why does this visible light that shines on behalf of men rise and set?" The savior said, "O blessed Thomas, of course this visible light shines on your behalf - not in order [that] you remain here, but rather that you might come forth - and whenever all the elect abandon bestiality, then this light will withdraw up to its essence, and its essence will welcome it, since it is a good servant."

(1) "The light was astonished, the one that was in the middle region and that was beginning and end. Therefore his thought gazed directly up at the exalted light. And he called out and said, 'Lord, have mercy on me, for my light and my effort went astray. For if your goodness does not establish me, I do not know where I am.' And when the majesty had heard him, he had mercy on him.

(50) Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where did you come from?', say to them, 'We came from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord and established [itself] and became manifest through their image.' If they say to you, 'Is it you?', say, 'We are its children, we are the elect of the Living Father.' If they ask you, 'What is the sign of your father in you?', say to them, 'It is movement and repose.'"

(16) Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, that he was alive, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

(3) "Return henceforth, O Shem, and rejoice greatly over your race and faith, for without body and necessity it is protected from every body of darkness, bearing witness to the holy things of the greatness that were revealed to them in their thought by my will. And they shall rest in the unconceived spirit without grief. But you, Shem, because of this, you remained in the body outside the cloud of light, that you might remain with faith. And faith will come to you. Her thought will be taken and given to you with a consciousness of light. I told you these things for the benefit of your race from the cloud of light. And likewise, what I shall say to you concerning everything, I shall reveal to you completely, that you may reveal it to those who will be upon the earth the second time.

(6) "So I appeared that I might get an opportunity to go down to the nether world, to the light of the spirit that was burdened, that I might protect him from the evil of the burden. And through his looking down at the dark region the light once more came up, that the womb might again come up from the water. The womb came up by my will. Guilefully, the eye opened. And the light, which had appeared in the middle region and which had separated from the astonishment, rested and shone upon her. And the womb saw things she had not seen before, and she rejoiced joyfully in the light, although this one that appeared in the middle region, in her wickedness, is not hers. When the light shone upon her, and the womb saw things she had not seen, and she was brought down to the water, she was thinking that she had reached the power of light. And she did not know that her root was made idle by the likeness of the light, and that it was to the root that he had run.

(2) "And in her ignorance, as if she were doing a great thing, she granted the demons and the winds a star each. For without wind and star nothing happens upon the earth. For every power is filled by them after they were released from the darkness and the fire and the power and the light. For in the place where their darkness and their fire were mixed with each other, beasts were brought forth. And in the place of the darkness and the fire, and the power of the mind, and the light, human beings came into existence. Being from the spirit, the thought of the light, my eye, does not exist in every person. For before the flood came from the winds and the demons, rain came to people. But then, in order that the power that is in the tower might be brought forth and might rest upon the earth, nature, which had been disturbed, wanted to harm the seed that will be upon the earth after the flood. Demons were sent to them, and a deviation of the winds, and a burden of the angels, and a fear of the prophet, a condemnation of speech, that I may teach you, O Shem, from what blindness your race is protected. When I have revealed to you all that has been spoken, then the righteous one will shine upon the world with my garment. And night and day will be separated. For I shall hasten down to the world to take the light of that place, the one that faith possesses. And I shall appear to those who will acquire the thought of the light of the spirit. For because of them my majesty appeared.

(1) "I had pity on the light of the spirit that the mind had received. I returned to my position to pray to the exalted, infinite light that the power of the spirit might increase there and might be filled without dark defilement. And reverently I said, You are the root of the light. Your hidden form has appeared, O exalted, infinite one. May the whole power of the spirit spread and may it be filled with its light, O infinite light. Then he will not be able to join with the unconceived spirit, and the power of the astonishment will not be able to mix with nature. According to the will of the majesty, my prayer was accepted.

(5) "Then you don't think that I have sought?" "Yes, if you think you do not know." So with the lamps of the wise virgins, lighted at night in the great darkness of ignorance, which the Scripture signified by "night." Wise souls, pure as virgins, understanding themselves to be situated amidst the ignorance of the world, kindle the light, and rouse the mind, and illumine the darkness, and dispel ignorance, and seek truth, and await the appearance of the Teacher.

(24) His disciples said to Him, "Show us the place where You are, since it is necessary for us to seek it." He said to them, "Whoever has ears, let him hear. There is light within a man of light, and he (or "it") lights up the whole world. If he (or "it") does not shine, he (or "it") is darkness."

(83) If now thou wilt behold the Virgin Mary, with her son Jesus Christ, then thou shalt find that she has been justified and saved through her Son; although she is come into great Perfection, as a bright Morning-Star, above other Stars. And therefore also the Angel called her blessed among Women, and said; The Lord is with thee: But she has not the divine Omnipotence.

(77) Jesus said, "It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the All. From Me did the All come forth, and unto Me did the All extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find Me there."

(28) The perfect Savior said: "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear. First Begetter Father is called 'Adam, Eye of Light,' because he came from shining Light, and his holy angels, who are ineffable (and) shadowless, ever rejoice with joy in their reflecting, which they received from their Father. The whole Kingdom of Son of Man, who is called 'Son of God,' is full of ineffable and shadowless joy, and unchanging jubilation, (they) rejoicing over his imperishable glory, which has never been heard until now, nor has it been revealed in the aeons that came afterward, and their worlds. I came from Self-begotten and First Infinite Light, that I might reveal everything to you."

(44) Mary said to him: "Holy Lord, where did your disciples come from, and where are they going, and (what) should they do here?"

(101) When the light riseth up in this striving, then the Holy Ghost moveth in the power of the light, in the play of the other six spirits, and so in the seventh spring up all manner of fruits of life, and all manner of colours and vegetations, or ideas and forms.

(4) "The light of the infinite spirit came down to feeble nature for a short time until all the impurity of nature became void, and in order that the darkness of nature might be exposed. I put on my garment, which is the garment of the light of the majesty—which I am. I came in the appearance of the spirit to consider the whole light, which was in the depths of the darkness, according to the will of the majesty, in order that the spirit by means of the word might be filled with his light independently of the power of the infinite light. And at my wish the spirit arose by his own power. His greatness was granted to him that he might be filled with his whole light and depart from the whole burden of the darkness. For what was behind was a dark fire that blew and pressed on the spirit. And the spirit rejoiced because he was protected from the frightful water. But his light was not equal to the majesty. What he was granted by the infinite light was given so that in all his members he might appear as a single image of light. And when the spirit arose above the water, his dark likeness became apparent. And the spirit honored the exalted light: 'Surely you alone are the infinite one, because you are above every unconceived thing, for you have protected me from the darkness. And at your wish I arose above the power of darkness.'

(1) When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her.

(6) Thus by some one among those holy spirits Was spoken, and by Beatrice: "Speak, speak Securely, and believe them even as Gods." "Well I perceive how thou dost nest thyself In thine own light, and drawest it from thine eyes, Because they coruscate when thou dost smile, But know not who thou art, nor why thou hast, Spirit august, thy station in the sphere That veils itself to men in alien rays." This said I in direction of the light Which first had spoken to me; whence it became By far more lucent than it was before. Even as the sun, that doth conceal himself By too much light, when heat has worn away The tempering influence of the vapours dense, By greater rapture thus concealed itself In its own radiance the figure saintly, And thus close, close enfolded answered me In fashion as the following Canto sings.

(7) Mary answered and said, What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you.

(10) When he finished praising, he called out, "Father Trismegistos, what shall I say? We have received this light, and I myself see this same vision in you. I see the eighth, and the souls in it, and the angels singing a song to the ninth and its powers. I see the one with the power of them all, creating those in the spirit."