apoc-johnnag-hammadi
Apocryphon of John 1
John, grieved by a Pharisee's accusation against the Savior, withdraws to a desert place and receives a vision in which a luminous figure appears successively as youth, elder, and servant — one being in three forms. The figure identifies himself as Father, Mother, and Son, then unfolds a cosmogony: the Monad, pure and self-sufficient, emanates Forethought (Barbelo), who in turn receives Foreknowledge, Incorruption, Eternal Life, and Truth, and conceives the Only-Begotten, who is anointed, given Mind and the Word, and set over all as the Christ. The chapter presents a Gnostic emission-theology that departs structurally from the Jehovah-as-Father frame; the Invisible Spirit here displaces rather than fulfills the covenant pattern of Jehovah revealing himself to his servants.
1
The teaching of the Savior, and the revelation of the mysteries, and the things hidden in silence — even these things which he taught to John, his disciple.
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It came to pass one day, when John the brother of James — who are the sons of Zebedee — had gone up to the temple, that a Pharisee named Arimanius approached him and said to him, "Where is your master whom you followed?"
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And he said to him, "He has gone back to the place from which he came."
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The Pharisee said to him, "With deception did that Nazarene deceive you, and he filled your ears with lies, and closed your hearts, and turned you from the traditions of your fathers."
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When I, John, heard these things, I turned away from the temple to a desert place.
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And I grieved greatly in my heart, saying, "How was the Savior appointed? Why was he sent into the world by his Father? Who is his Father who sent him? And what manner of aeon is it to which we shall go?
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For what did he mean when he said to us, 'This aeon to which you will go is of the form of the imperishable aeon,' yet he did not teach us what manner of aeon it is?"
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Immediately, while I was considering these things, behold, the heavens opened, and the whole creation beneath the heaven shone with light, and the world was shaken.
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I was afraid, and behold — I saw in the light a youth who stood beside me.
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And while I gazed at him, he became like an old man; and again he changed his likeness and became as a servant.
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There were not many beings before me, but one likeness with many forms in the light, and the forms appeared through one another, and the likeness had three forms.
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He said to me, "John, John, why do you doubt, and why are you afraid? Are you not a stranger to this image?
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That is, do not be fainthearted. I am he who is with you always. I am the Father. I am the Mother. I am the Son.
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I am the undefiled and unpolluted one. Now I have come to teach you what is, and what has been, and what shall come to pass,
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that you may understand the things invisible as well as those visible, and that I may teach you concerning the perfect Man.
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Therefore, lift up your face to me and hearken, and receive the things which I shall tell you this day, that you may make them known to your fellow spirits, who are of the unwavering race of the perfect Man."
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And I asked, that I might understand, and he said to me: "The Monad is a sovereignty with nothing ruling over it.
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He is the God and Father of the All, the Invisible, the Holy One, who is above the All, who is in his own incorruption, dwelling in the pure light upon which no eye can gaze.
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He is the Invisible Spirit, of whom it is not fitting to think as a god, nor as one of any particular kind.
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For he is more excellent than the gods. He is a Majesty over whom there is nothing. There is none before him, neither does he stand in need of anything.
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He has no need of life, for he is eternal. He has no need of anything, for he is unattainable in all things, lacking nothing that could be given unto him.
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Rather, at all times he provides unto the All, since he is himself the fullness. He is pure, immeasurable light, which no eye can behold.
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He is the Spirit. It is not fitting to think of him as bodily, nor as wholly incorporeal.
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He is not great, nor is he small. There is no one who can say, 'What is his quantity?' or, 'What is his quality?' — for none can know him.
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He is not among the things that exist, but is far more excellent. Yet he is not excellent as though he could be compared; for he is unsearchable, not such as partakes in any age.
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For whatever partakes of an age was prepared for it. Time was not apportioned unto him, for he receives nothing from any other, since whatever he might receive would be as a loan.
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For he who goes before lacks nothing, that he should receive from another; for he beholds himself alone in the light which encompasses him,
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that is, the fountain of the living water, the light which is full of purity.
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The fountain of the Spirit flowed forth from the living water of light, and it furnished all aeons and worlds.
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In every way he perceived his own image, beholding it in the pure water of light which surrounds him.
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And his Thought became a work. She appeared, she stood before him out of the brilliance of the light: she is the first power which came forth before the All from his Thought — the perfect Forethought of the All, the Light, the likeness of the Light, the image of the Invisible, the perfect power Barbelo, the perfect aeon of glory.
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She glorifies him, for she came forth from him and conceived of him. She is the first Thought, his image.
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She became a womb of the All, for she is before them all: Mother-Father, first Man, holy Spirit, thrice-male, thrice-powerful, thrice-named, the androgynous one, the eternal aeon among the invisible ones, the first to come forth.
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She — that is, Barbelo — requested of the Invisible Virgin Spirit that he grant her Foreknowledge; and he consented.
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When he had consented, Foreknowledge came forth, and it stood with Forethought. It glorified the Invisible One, and the perfect power Barbelo, for whose sake it had come into being.
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Again she requested that he grant her Incorruption, and he consented. When he had consented, Incorruption came forth, and it stood with Thought and Foreknowledge, glorifying the Invisible One and Barbelo, for whose sake they had come into being.
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She asked further that he grant her Eternal Life, and he consented. When he had consented, Eternal Life came forth, and they stood and glorified him and Barbelo, for whose sake they had come into being.
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Again she asked that Truth be given her, and he consented. When he had consented, Truth came forth, and they stood and glorified the good Invisible Spirit and his Barbelo, for whose sake they had come into being.
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This is the fivefold of the aeons of the Father: the first Man, which is the image of the Invisible Spirit — that is, Forethought, namely Barbelo — and Thought and Foreknowledge and Incorruption and Eternal Life and Truth.
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This is the androgynous fivefold of the aeons, which is the tenfold of the aeons — which is the Father.
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He gazed into Barbelo with the pure light which surrounds the Invisible Spirit, and with his spark; and she conceived of him.
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He begot a spark of light in a light resembling the blessed likeness, yet not equal to his own greatness.
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This was the Only-Begotten who came forth from the Father, the divine Self-Begotten One, the firstborn Son of the All, the Spirit of the pure Light.
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The Invisible Spirit rejoiced over the Light which had come to be — the Light whom the first power of his Forethought, Barbelo, had brought forth.
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And he anointed him with his own goodness, so that he became perfect, lacking nothing of goodness, for he had been anointed with the goodness of the Invisible Spirit.
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And the Spirit poured himself forth upon him. As soon as he had received from the Spirit, he glorified the Holy Spirit and the perfect Forethought, for whose sake he had come forth.
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He requested that a companion be given him, namely Mind; and the Spirit consented. When the Invisible Spirit had consented, Mind came forth, and he stood with the Christ, glorifying him and Barbelo.
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And all these came into being in silence and Thought.
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And the Invisible Spirit willed to perform a work, and his Will became a reality, and it stood with the Mind and the Light, glorifying him.
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And the Word followed the Will. For through the Word, the Christ — the divine Self-Begotten — created all things.
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And Eternal Life, together with the Will, and Mind, and Foreknowledge, stood and glorified the Invisible Spirit and Barbelo, for whose sake they had come into being.
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And the Holy Spirit brought to completion the divine Self-Begotten — his Son — together with Barbelo, that he might stand beside the great Invisible Spirit as the divine Self-Begotten, the Christ, whom he honored with a great voice.
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He came forth through the Forethought. And the Invisible Spirit set the divine Self-Begotten — the True God — over the All, and he subjected all authorities unto him.
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And Truth, which is within him, became known unto him; and he became a great God, the Christ.
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He gave unto him the name of the Father, that by his word every thing might be established.
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For through him all things were made, and without him was not anything made that was made.
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And the Self-Begotten asked that there be given him one fellow worker, even Mind; and the Spirit consented gladly.
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When the Invisible Spirit had consented, Mind came forth and stood with the Christ, glorifying him and Barbelo. And these all came into being in silence.
