(2) "And all the angels of the æons and their archangels and their rulers and their gods and their lords and their authorities and their tyrants and their powers and their light-sparks and their light-givers and their unpaired and their invisibles and their forefathers and their triple-powers saw me, shining most exceedingly, and there was no measure for the light which was about me. And they were thrown into agitation the one over against the other and great fear fell upon them, when they saw the great light that was about me. And in their great agitation and their great fear they withdrew as far as the region of the great invisible Forefather, and of the three great triple-powers. And because of the great fear of their agitation, the great Forefather, he and the three triple-powers, kept on running hither and thither in his region, and they could not close all their regions because of the great fear in which they were. And they agitated all their æons together and all their spheres and all their orders, fearing and being greatly agitated because of the great light which was about me--not of the former quality that it was about me when I was on the earth of man-kind, when the light-vesture came over me,--for the world could not bear the light such as it was in its truth, else would the world at once be destroyed and all upon it,--but the light which was about me in the twelve æons was eight-thousand-and-seven-hundred-myriad times greater than that which was about me in the world among you.

(3) "And all rulers and all authorities and all angels therein were thrown all together into agitation because of the great light which was on me. And they gazed at the radiant vesture of light with which I was clad, and they saw the mystery which contains their names, and they feared most exceedingly. And all their bonds with which they were bound, were unloosed and every one left his order, and they all fell down before me, adored and said: 'How hath the lord of the universe passed through us without our knowing?' And they all sang praises together to the interiors of the interiors; but me they saw not, but they saw only the light. And they were in great fear and were exceedingly agitated and sang praises to the interiors of the interiors.

(26) And he will release the souls that are being punished, and they will come to be in purity. And they will see the saints and cry out to them, "Have mercy on us, O Power who art above all powers!" For [...] and in the tree of iniquity that exists [...] to him their eyes. And they do not seek him because they do not seek us, nor do they believe us, but they acted according to the creation of the archons and its other rulers. But we have acted according to our birth of the flesh, in the creation of the archons, which gives law. We also have come to be in the unchangeable aeon.

But I said, “Sir, am I also from their matter?” “You, together with your offspring, are from the primeval father. Their souls come from above, out of the incorruptible light. Therefore, the authorities cannot approach them, since the spirit of truth resides in them, and all who have known this way exist deathless in the midst of dying people. Still, the offspring will not become known now. Instead, after three generations it will come to be known and free them from the bondage of the authorities’ error.” Then I said, “Sir, how much longer?” He said to me, “Until the moment when the true human, within a modeled form, reveals the existence of the spirit of truth that the father has sent. “Then he will teach them about everything. And he will anoint them with the unction of life eternal, given him from the generation without a king. “Then they will be free of blind thought. And they will trample on death, which comes from the authorities. And they will ascend into the limitless light where this offspring belongs. “Then the authorities will relinquish their ages. And their angels will weep over their destruction, and their demons will lament their death. “Then all the children of the light will truly know the truth and their root and the father of all and the holy spirit. They will all say with a single voice, ‘The father’s truth is just, and the child presides over all.’ And from everyone, till the ages of ages, ‘Holy, holy, holy! Amen!’”

(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) "This then they accomplished continuously before their power was diminished in them and they waned and became exhausted, or powerless. It came to pass then, when they became powerless, that their power began to cease in them, so that they became exhausted in their power, and their light, which was in their region, ceased and their kingdom was destroyed, and the universe became quickly raised up. "It came to pass then, when they had perceived this at the time, and when the number of the cipher of Melchisedec, the Receiver [of the Light], happened, then had he to come out again and enter into the midst of the rulers of all the æons and into the midst of all the rulers of the Fate and of those of the sphere; and he threw them into agitation, and made them quickly abandon their circles. And forthwith they were constrained, and cast forth the power out of themselves, out of the breath of their mouth and the tears of their eyes and the sweat of their bodies. "And Melchisedec, the Receiver of the Light, purifieth them, as he doth continually; he carrieth their light into the Treasury of the Light. And all the rulers of the æons and the rulers of the Fate and those of the sphere turn to the matter of their refuse; they devour it and do not let it go and become souls in the world. They devour then their matter, so that they may not become powerless and exhausted and their power cease in them and their kingdom become destroyed, but in order that they may delay and linger a long time until the completion of the number of the perfect souls who shall be in the Treasury of the Light.

(30) Some, Indeed, (who are) in dwellings and in chariots, being in ineffable glory and not able to be sent into any creature, provided for themselves hosts of angels, myriads without number for retinue and glory, even virgin spirits, the ineffable lights. They have no sickness nor weakness, but it is only will: it comes to be in an instant. Thus were completed the aeons with their heavens and firmaments for the glory of Immortal Man and Sophia, his consort: the area which every aeon and their worlds and those that came afterward, in order to provide the types from there, their likenesses in the heavens of chaos and their worlds.

The light will cover the darkness and obliterate it. It will become like something that never existed. And the source of the darkness will be dissolved. The deficiency will be plucked out at its root and thrown down to the darkness. And the light will withdraw up to its root, and the glory of the unconceived will appear, and it will fill all the eternal realms, when the prophetic utterances and the writings of those who are rulers are revealed and are fulfilled by those who are called perfect. Those who were not perfected in the unconceived father will receive their glories in their realms and in the kingdoms of immortals. But they will not ever enter the kingless realm. For it is necessary that everyone enter the place from which he has come. Each one by his deeds and his gnosis will reveal his nature.

Now I come to the main points about immortal humankind. I shall explain why the beings belonging to the immortal human are here. When a multitude of people came into being through Adam, who was fashioned, and from matter, and when the world was filled, the rulers reigned over it, that is to say, they held it in ignorance. What is the cause? It is this. Since the immortal father knows that deficiency of truth came into being among the eternal realms and their worlds, when he wanted to bring to naught the rulers of destruction by means of their fashioned creatures, he sent your likenesses, namely, the blessed little guileless spirits, down to the world of destruction. They are not strangers to knowledge. For all knowledge is in an angel who appears before them, who stands in front of the father and is not powerless to give them knowledge. Immediately, whenever they appear in the world of destruction, they will first reveal the pattern of incorruptibility for condemnation of the rulers and their powers. Moreover, when the blessed ones appeared in the fashioned bodies of the authorities, they were envied. And because of envy, the authorities mixed their seed with them to defile them, but they were not able. Moreover, when the blessed ones appeared in their light, they appeared distinctively. And each one of them from their land revealed their knowledge to the assembly that appeared in the fashioned bodies of destruction. The assembly was found to have every seed because of the seed of the authorities that was mixed with it. Then the savior made all of them one. And the spirits of these appeared, being superior and blessed but varying in election, and many others are kingless and superior to everyone who was before them. Consequently, four races exist. There are three that belong to the kings of the eighth heaven. But the fourth race is kingless and perfect, above them all. For these will enter into the holy place of their father, and they will reside in rest, and eternal, ineffable glory, and ceaseless joy. They are already kings, immortal within the mortal realm. They will pass judgment on the gods of chaos and their powers.

Then when Sophia Zoe saw that the rulers of darkness cursed her companions, she was angry. And when she came out of the first heaven with every power, she chased the rulers from their heavens, and she cast them down to the sinful world, that they might dwell there as evil demons upon the earth. She sent the bird that was in paradise so that, until the consummation of the age, it might spend the thousand years in the rulers’ world: a vital living being with soul, called the phoenix, which kills itself and reanimates itself for a witness to their judgment, because they dealt unjustly with Adam and his race. There are three human beings and their descendants in the world until the consummation of the age: the spiritual and the psychical and the earthly. This is like the three kinds of phoenixes of paradise: the first is immortal; the second attains one thousand years; as for the third, it is written in the Holy Book that it is consumed. Likewise three baptisms exist: the first is spiritual, the second is by fire, the third is by water. Just as the phoenix appears as a witness for the angels, so too the water serpents in Egypt have become a witness to those who go down for the baptism of a true person. The two bulls in Egypt, insofar as they indicate the sun and the moon as a mystery, exist for a witness to Sabaoth, that Sophia of the world has been exalted above the sun and the moon, from the day when she created them and sealed her heaven until the consummation of the age. And the worm that is brought forth from the phoenix is also a human being. It is written of it, “The just will sprout like the phoenix.” The phoenix first appears alive, and dies, and rises again, as a sign of what appears at the consummation of the age. These great signs appeared only in Egypt, not in other lands, signifying that it is like the paradise of god.

(25) Then the souls will appear, who are holy through the light of the Power, who is exalted, above all powers, the immeasurable, the universal one, I and all those who will know me. And they will be in the aeon of beauty of the aeon of judgment, since they are ready in wisdom, having given glory to him who is in the incomprehensible unity; and they see him because of his will, which is in them. And they all have become as reflections in his light. They all have shone, and they have found rest in his rest.

(6) "But if ye come forth out of the body and come on high and reach unto the region of the rulers, then will all the rulers be seized with shame before you, because ye are the refuse of their matter and have become light more purified than them all. And if ye reach unto the region of the Great Invisible and unto the region of those of the Midst and of those of the Right and unto the regions of all the great emanations of the Light, then will ye be revered among them all, because ye are the refuse of their matter and are became light more purified than them all. And all the regions will sing praises before you, until ye come to the region of the kingdom. "This is the answer to the words on which ye question. Now, therefore, Andrew, art thou still in unfaith and unknowing?" 1

"This is the paraphrase : For you did not remember that it is from the firmament that your race has been protected. Elorchaios is the name of the great light, the place from which I have come, the word that has no equal. And the likeness is my honored garment. And Derdekeas is the name of his word in the voice of the light. And Strophaia is the blessed glance, which is the spirit. And Chelkeach is my garment, who has come from the astonishment, who was in the cloud of the hymen that appeared as a cloud with three forms. And Chelkea is my garment that has two forms, he who was in the cloud of silence. And Chelke is my garment that was given him from every region; it was given him in a single form from the greatness, and he was in the cloud of the middle region. And the star of the light that was mentioned is my invincible garment, which I wore in Hades; this, the star of the light, is the mercy that surpasses the thought and the testimony of those who bear witness. And the testimony was mentioned: the first and the last, faith, the mind of the wind of darkness. And Sophaia and Saphaina are in the cloud of those who have been separated from the chaotic fire. And the righteous spark is the cloud of light that has shone in your midst. For in the cloud of light my garment will go down to chaos. But the impure light, a power, appeared in the darkness and belongs to dark nature. And the upper air and the lower air, and the powers and the authorities, the demons and the stars, these possessed a particle of fire and a light from the spirit. And Moluchthas is a wind, for without it nothing is brought forth upon the earth. He has a likeness of a serpent and a unicorn. His protrusions are manifold wings. And the remainder is the womb that has been disturbed.

(9) Jesus said: "These are the regions of the way of the midst. For it came to pass, when the rulers of Adamas mutinied and persistently practised congress, procreating rulers, archangels, angels, servitors and decans, that Yew, the father of my father, came forth from the Right and bound them to a Fate-sphere. "For there are twelve æons; over six Sabaōth, the Adamas, ruleth, and his brother Yabraōth ruleth over the other six. At that time then Yabraōth with his rulers had faith in the mysteries of the Light and was active in the mysteries of the Light and abandoned the mystery of congress. But Sabaōth, the Adamas, and his rulers have persisted in the practice of congress. "And when Yew, the father of my father, saw that Yabraōth had faith, he carried him and all the rulers who had had faith with him, took him unto himself out of the sphere and led him into a purified air in face of the light of the sun between the regions of those of the midst and between [?] the regions of the invisible god. He posted him there with the rulers who had had faith in him. "But he carried Sabaōth, the Adamas, and his rulers who had not been active in the mysteries of the Light, but have been persistently active in the mysteries of congress, and inbound them into the sphere.

Now, from the foreknowledge of the perfect mind, through the expressed will of the invisible spirit and the will of the self-conceived one, came the perfect human, the first revelation, the truth. The virgin spirit named the human Geradamas and appointed Geradamas to the first eternal realm with the great self-conceived, the anointed, by the first luminary, Harmozel. Its powers dwell with it. The invisible one gave Geradamas an unconquerable power of mind. Geradamas spoke and glorified and praised the invisible spirit by saying, “Because of you everything has come into being, and to you everything will return. “I shall praise and glorify you, and the self-conceived, and the eternal realms, the three—father, mother, child, the perfect power.” Geradamas appointed his son Seth to the second eternal realm, before the second luminary, Oroiael. In the third eternal realm were stationed the offspring of Seth, with the third luminary, Daveithai. The souls of the saints were stationed there. In the fourth eternal realm were stationed the souls of those who were ignorant of the fullness. They did not repent immediately but held out for a while and repented later. They came to be with the fourth luminary, Eleleth, and they are creatures that glorify the invisible spirit.

(23) And I shall withdraw with everyone who will know me. And they will enter into the immeasurable light, (where) there is no one of the flesh nor the wantonness of the first to seize them. They will be unhampered (and) holy, since nothing drags them down. I myself protect them, since they have holy garments, which the fire cannot touch, nor darkness nor wind nor a moment, so as to cause one to shut the eyes.

(3) The following, also, will be no small indications to you [of the difference of these powers]. With the Gods matter is immediately consumed. With archangels it is consumed in a short time. With angels there is a solution of, and elevation from, matter. By dæmons matter is elegantly adorned. With heroes there is a coadaptation to it, in appropriate measures, and a skilful providential attention to it. And with respect to archons, those that are the governors of the world are present with matter in a transcendent manner, and in this way unfold themselves into light. But those that are material, exhibit themselves as entirely replete with matter. With respect to souls, also, those that are pure, present themselves to the view out of matter, but those of a contrary description are seen surrounded with it.

(1) "It came to pass then, when all those who are in the twelve æons saw the great light which was about me, that they were all thrown into agitation one over against the other, and ran hither and thither in the æons. And all æons and all heavens and their whole ordering were agitated one over against the other on account of the great fear which was on them, for they knew not the mystery which had taken place. And Adamas, the great Tyrant, and all the tyrants in all the æons began to fight in vain against the light, and they knew not against whom they fought, because they saw nothing but the overmastering light. "It came to pass then, when they fought against the light, that they were weakened all together one with another, were dashed down in the æons and became as the inhabitants of the earth, dead and without breath of life.

Now, from the light, which is the anointed, and from incorruptibility, by the grace of the spirit, the four luminaries that derive from the self-conceived god gazed out in order to stand before it. The three beings are: will, thought, life. The four powers are: understanding, grace, perception, thoughtfulness. Grace dwells in the eternal realm of the luminary Harmozel, who is the first angel. There are three other realms with this eternal realm: grace, truth, form. The second luminary is Oroiael, who has been appointed over the second eternal realm. There are three other realms with it: afterthought, perception, memory. The third luminary is Daveithai, who has been appointed over the third eternal realm. There are three other realms with it: understanding, love, idea. The fourth eternal realm has been set up for the fourth luminary, Eleleth. There are three other realms with it: perfection, peace, Sophia. These are the four luminaries that stand before the self-conceived god; these are the twelve eternal realms that stand before the child of the great self-conceived, the anointed, by the will and grace of the invisible spirit. The twelve realms belong to the child of the self-conceived one, and everything was established by the will of the holy spirit through the self-conceived one.

(4) "Up to the time of the cipher for them to come forth again, the rulers mutiny through the wrath of their wickedness, going straightway up to the lights, because they [Yew and Melchisedec] are not with them at that time, and they carry off the souls which they may be able to snatch away in ravishment, and destroy them through their dark smoke and their evil fire.