Apocryphon of John

Sophia grieves for her error. The voice of the Father proclaims the Man. The archons plot to fashion their own Adam from the reflection.

1When the Mother perceived that the miscarriage of the darkness was not perfect — since her consort had not agreed with her — she repented with many tears.

2And the whole fullness heard the prayer of her repentance, and they praised on her behalf the Invisible Spirit.

3And the Holy Spirit consented; when he had consented, the Invisible Spirit poured upon her a spirit from the fullness.

4For her consort had descended to her to correct her deficiencies. And it was through Forethought that he was to correct her deficiency.

5She was not restored to her own aeon, but above her son, that she might dwell in the ninth, until she should correct her deficiency.

6A voice came forth from the exalted heaven, saying, "The Man exists, and the Son of Man."

7And the first archon Yaldabaoth heard, and he thought the voice had come from his Mother.

8And he did not know from whence it came. And the holy and perfect Father, the Mother-Father, the complete Forethought, the image of the Invisible — he who is the Father of the All, through whom every thing came into being — the first Man, taught them, for he had revealed his likeness in human form.

9And the whole aeon of the first archon trembled, and the foundations of the abyss were shaken.

10And of the waters which are above matter, the under side was illumined by the appearance of his image, which had been revealed.

11And when all the authorities and the first archon looked, they saw the whole region below illumined. And through the light they beheld the form of the image in the water.

12And he said to the authorities who were with him, "Come, let us make a man according to the image of God and according to our likeness, that his image may become a light for us."

13And they created through their united powers — each according to the signs which had been given.

14And each of the authorities supplied a property of the soul in the image of the likeness which he had beheld.

15He made a being according to the likeness of the first, perfect Man. And they said, "Let us call him Adam, that his name may be unto us a power of light."

16And the powers began from the lowest. The first is Goodness, who made a bone-soul. The second is Forethought, who made a sinew-soul. The third is Divinity, who made a flesh-soul. The fourth is Lordship, who made a marrow-soul. The fifth is Kingdom, who made a blood-soul. The sixth is Envy, who made a skin-soul. The seventh is Understanding, who made a hair-soul.

17And the multitude of angels stood by him, and from the seven substances of the soul that had been given by the authorities, they made the fitting of the joints of the body.

18And the whole assembly labored upon the arranging of the body, and each limb and each member.

19I shall tell thee the names of the angels assigned to the body. The first is Eteraphaope-Abron, who made the head. Meniggesstroeth made the brain. Asterechme made the right eye; Thaspomocha made the left eye; Yeronumos made the right ear; Bissoum made the left ear; Akioreim made the nose; Banen-Ephroum made the lips; Amen made the teeth; Ibikan made the molars; Basiliademe made the tonsils; Achcha made the uvula; Adaban made the neck; Chaaman made the spine of the neck; Dearcho made the throat; Tebar made the right shoulder; the left shoulder, N. N.; Mniarchon made the right elbow; of the left elbow, N. N.; Abitrion made the right underarm; Evanthen made the left underarm; Krys made the right hand; Beluai made the left hand; Treneu made the fingers of the right hand; Balbel made the fingers of the left hand; Kriman made the nails of the hands; Astrops made the right breast; Barroph made the left breast; Baoum made the right shoulder joint; Ararim made the left shoulder joint; Areche made the belly; Phthave made the navel; Senaphim made the abdomen; Arachethopi made the right ribs; Zabedo made the left ribs; Barias made the right hip; Phnouth made the left hip; Abenlenarchei made the marrow; Chnoumeninorin made the bones; Gesole made the stomach; Agromauma made the heart; Bano made the lungs; Sostrapal made the liver; Anesimalar made the spleen; Thopithro made the intestines; Biblo made the kidneys; Roeror made the sinews; Taphreo made the spine of the body; Ipouspoboba made the veins; Bineborin made the arteries; Atoimenpsephei — and theirs are the breaths which are in all the members; Entholleia made all the flesh; Bedouk made the right thigh; Arabeei made the left thigh; Eilo made the testicles; Sorma made the genitals; Gormakaiochlabar made the right leg; Nebrith made the left leg; Pserem made the toes of the right foot; Asaklas made the toes of the left foot; Ormaoth made the right knee; Emenun made the left knee; Kniks made the right shin; Knime made the left shin; Trachoun made the right ankle; Phiouthrom made the left ankle; Boabel made the right foot; Toechtha made the left foot; Arouph made the foot of the right; Miamai made the nails of the feet.

20And those who rule over these — they are seven: Michael, Ouriel, Asmenedas, Saphasatoel, Aarmouriam, Richram, Amiorps.

21And they who work over the members are the head Diolimodraza; the neck Yammeax; the right shoulder Yakouib; the left shoulder Verton; the right hand Oudidi; the left one Arbao; the fingers of the right hand Lampno; the fingers of the left hand Leekaphar; the right breast Barbar; the left breast Imae; the chest Pisandraptes; the right shoulder joint Koade; the left shoulder joint Odeor; the right ribs Asphixix; the left ribs Synogchouta; the belly Aruph; the navel Abenlenarchei; the abdomen Phneme; the upper parts of the back Phnouth; the lower parts of the back Khnoumeninorin; the stomach Gesole; the heart Agromauoma; the lungs Bano; the liver Sostrapal; the spleen Anesimalar; the intestines Thopithro; the kidneys Biblo; the sinews Roeror; the spine of the body Taphreo; the veins Ipouspoboba; the arteries Bineborin; the breaths of every member Atoimenpsephei; all the flesh Entholleia; the right thigh Bedouk; the left thigh Arabeei; the testicles Eilo; the genitals Sorma; the right leg Gormakaiochlabar; the left leg Nebrith; the toes of the right foot Pserem; the toes of the left foot Asaklas; the right knee Ormaoth; the left knee Emenun; the right shin Kniks; the left shin Knyme; the right ankle Trachoun; the left ankle Phiouthrom; the right foot Boabel; the left foot Toechtha.

22And seven have power over all of these: Michael, Ouriel, Asmenedas, Saphasatoel, Aarmouriam, Richram, Amiorps.

23And those who are over the senses are Archendekta; and over perception Deitharbathas; and over all imagination Oummaa; and over the instinct Aachiaram; and over the whole impulse Riaramnacho.

24And the source of the demons which are in the whole body is divided into four: heat, cold, wetness, and dryness; and the mother of them all is matter.

25He who rules over the heat is Phloxopha; and he who rules over the cold is Oroorrothos; and he who rules over the wet is Erimacho; and he who rules over the dry is Athuro.

26In the midst of these four demons, Pleasure dwells — and Desire, and Grief, and Fear. The mother of them all is Esthensis-Ouch-Epi-Ptoe.

27Out of the four demons, passions came into being. From Grief, envy, jealousy, distress, trouble, pain, hard-heartedness, anxiety, mourning, and the like.

28From Pleasure, much wickedness arises, and empty pride, and the like.

29From Desire: anger, wrath, bitterness, bitter passion, unsated desire, and the like.

30From Fear: dread, servility, anguish, and shame.

31All these are of the sort which, while they seem useful, are in truth evil.

32And the Understanding of their true nature is the one called Anaro, who is head of the material soul, for he dwells with Esthesis-Ouch-Epi-Ptoe.

33This is the number of the angels: together they are three hundred and sixty-five.

34They labored all together upon him, limb by limb, until the psychic and the material body were completed by them.

35Now there are others — those who preside over the remaining passions — whom I have not told thee; but if thou desire to know them, it is written in the book of Zoroaster.

36And all the angels and the demons worked until they had arranged the psychic body, and yet their work was entirely inactive and motionless for a long time.

37And when the Mother wished to regain the power which she had given to the first archon, she petitioned the Mother-Father of the All, the one most merciful.

38He sent, through a holy decree, the five Luminaries down upon the place of the angels of the first archon. They counseled him to bring forth the power of his Mother.

39And they said to Yaldabaoth, "Breathe into his face out of the spirit which is in thee, and the being will stand up."

40And he breathed into his face, from the spirit which is the power of his Mother; for he did not know, being in ignorance.

41And the power of the Mother came out of Yaldabaoth into the psychic body which they had fashioned after the likeness of him who is from the beginning.

42The body moved, and it was mighty, and shone.

43And at that moment the rest of the powers were envious. For although Adam had come into being through all of them, and they had given their power to this Man, his understanding proved stronger than that of those who had made him — indeed stronger than the first archon himself.

44And they recognized that Adam was free from wickedness, for he was wiser than they, and had entered into the light.

45They took him and cast him into the lowest place of all matter.

46But the blessed and Mother-Father, the merciful, the compassionate, had mercy upon the power of the Mother which had gone forth from the first archon. For the archons might yet gain power over the psychic, perceptible body.

47And he sent, through his merciful and most benevolent Spirit, a helper for Adam — the luminous Afterthought, which came forth from him, who is called Life.

48And she assists the whole creation, laboring with him, restoring him to his own fullness, teaching him concerning the descent of his seed, and teaching him concerning the way of ascent — the way by which he had come down.

49And the luminous Afterthought was hidden within Adam, that the archons might not know her; but that the Afterthought might be a correcting of the deficiency of the Mother.

50And the man shone because of the shadow of the light which was in him. And his Thought was exalted above those who had made him.

51And when they looked up, they saw that his thinking was exalted above theirs; and they took counsel with the whole array of the archons and the angels.

52They took fire, and earth, and water, and mingled them together with the four fiery winds.

53They wrought them together, and caused a great disturbance.

54They brought him into the shadow of death, that they might form him again out of earth, and water, and fire, and the spirit which is of matter — that is, the ignorance of darkness, and desire, and the counterfeit spirit.

55This is the cave of the remodeling of the body, with which the robbers clothed the man — the bond of forgetfulness. And he became a mortal man.

56This is the first descent, and the first separation. But the Afterthought of the Light which was in him — she is the one who would awaken his thinking.

57And the archons took him and placed him in Paradise, and said to him, "Eat, that is, leisurely" — for their enjoyment is bitter, and their beauty is lawless.