The gospel of truth is joy to those who have received from the Father of truth the gift
of knowing him by the power of the Logos, who has come from the Pleroma and who is in the
thought and the mind of the Father; he it is who is called "the Savior," since
that is the name of the work which he must do for the redemption of those who have not
known the Father. For the name of the gospel is the manifestation of hope, since that is
the discovery of those who seek him, because the All sought him from whom it had come
forth. You see, the All had been inside of him, that illimitable, inconceivable one, who
is better than every thought.
This ignorance of the Father brought about terror and fear. And terror became dense
like a fog, that no one was able to see. Because of this, error became strong. But it
worked on its hylic substance vainly, because it did not know the truth. It was in a
fashioned form while it was preparing, in power and in beauty, the equivalent of truth.
This then, was not a humiliation for him, that illimitable, inconceivable one. For they
were as nothing, this terror and this forgetfulness and this figure of falsehood, whereas
this established truth is unchanging, unperturbed and completely beautiful.
For this reason, do not take error too seriously. Thus, since it had no root, it was in
a fog as regards the Father, engaged in preparing works and forgetfulnesses and fears in
order, by these means, to beguile those of the middle and to make them captive. The
forgetfulness of error was not revealed. It did not become light beside the Father.
Forgetfulness did not exist with the Father, although it existed because of him. What
exists in him is knowledge, which was revealed so that forgetfulness might be destroyed
and that they might know the Father, Since forgetfulness existed because they did not know
the Father, if they then come to know the Father, from that moment on forgetfulness will
cease to exist.
That is the gospel of him whom they seek, which he has revealed to the perfect through
the mercies of the Father as the hidden mystery, Jesus the Christ. Through him he
enlightened those who were in darkness because of forgetfulness. He enlightened them and
gave them a path. And that path is the truth which he taught them. For this reason error
was angry with him, so it persecuted him. It was distressed by him, so it made him
powerless. He was nailed to a cross. He became a fruit of the knowledge of the Father. He
did not, however, destroy them because they ate of it. He rather caused those who ate of
it to be joyful because of this discovery.
And as for him, them he found in himself, and him they found in themselves, that
illimitable, inconceivable one, that perfect Father who made the all, in whom the All is,
and whom the All lacks, since he retained in himself their perfection, which he had not
given to the all. The Father was not jealous. What jealousy, indeed, is there between him
and his members? For, even if the Aeon had received their perfection, they would not have
been able to approach the perfection of the Father, because he retained their perfection
in himself, giving it to them as a way to return to him and as a knowledge unique in
perfection. He is the one who set the All in order and in whom the All existed and whom
the All lacked. As one of whom some have no knowledge, he desires that they know him and
that they love him. For what is it that the All lacked, if not the knowledge of the
Father?
He became a guide, quiet and in leisure. In the middle of a school he came and spoke
the Word, as a teacher. Those who were wise in their own estimation came to put him to the
test. But he discredited them as empty-headed people. They hated him because they really
were not wise men. After all these came also the little children, those who possess the
knowledge of the Father. When they became strong they were taught the aspects of the
Father's face. They came to know and they were known. They were glorified and they gave
glory. In their heart, the living book of the Living was manifest, the book which was
written in the thought and in the mind of the Father and, from before the foundation of
the All, is in that incomprehensible part of him.
This is the book which no one found possible to take, since it was reserved for him who
will take it and be slain. No one was able to be manifest from those who believed in
salvation as long as that book had not appeared. For this reason, the compassionate,
faithful Jesus was patient in his sufferings until he took that book, since he knew that
his death meant life for many. Just as in the case of a will which has not yet been
opened, for the fortune of the deceased master of the house is hidden, so also in the case
of the All which had been hidden as long as the Father of the All was invisible and unique
in himself, in whom every space has its source. For this reason Jesus appeared. He took
that book as his own. He was nailed to a cross. He affixed the edict of the Father to the
cross.
Oh, such great teaching! He abases himself even unto death, though he is clothed in
eternal life. Having divested himself of these perishable rags, he clothed himself in
incorruptibility, which no one could possibly take from him. Having entered into the empty
territory of fears, he passed before those who were stripped by forgetfulness, being both
knowledge and perfection, proclaiming the things that are in the heart of the Father, so
that he became the wisdom of those who have received instruction. But those who are to be
taught, the living who are inscribed in the book of the living, learn for themselves,
receiving instructions from the Father, turning to him again.
Since the perfection of the All is in the Father, it is necessary for the All to ascend
to him. Therefore, if one has knowledge, he gets what belongs to him and draws it to
himself. For he who is ignorant, is deficient, and it is a great deficiency, since he
lacks that which will make him perfect. Since the perfection of the All is in the Father,
it is necessary for the All to ascend to him and for each one to get the things which are
his. He registered them first, having prepared them to be given to those who came from
him.
Those whose name he knew first were called last, so that the one who has knowledge is
he whose name the Father has pronounced. For he whose name has not been spoken is
ignorant. Indeed, how shall one hear if his name has not been uttered? For he who remains
ignorant until the end is a creature of forgetfulness and will perish with it. If this is
not so, why have these wretches no name, why do they have no sound? Hence, if one has
knowledge, he is from above. If he is called, he hears, he replies, and he turns toward
him who called him and he ascends to him and he knows what he is called. Since he has
knowledge, he does the will of him who called him. He desires to please him and he finds
rest. He receives a certain name. He who thus is going to have knowledge knows whence he
came and whither he is going. He knows it as a person who, having become intoxicated, has
turned from his drunkenness and having come to himself, has restored what is his own.
He has turned many from error. He went before them to their own places, from which they
departed when they erred because of the depth of him who surrounds every place, whereas
there is nothing which surrounds him. It was a great wonder that they were in the Father
without knowing him and that they were able to leave on their own, since they were not
able to contain him and know him in whom they were, for indeed his will had not come forth
from him. For he revealed it as a knowledge with which all its emanations agree, namely,
the knowledge of the living book which he revealed to the Aeons at last as his letters,
displaying to them that these are not merely vowels nor consonants, so that one may read
them and think of something void of meaning; on the contrary, they are letters which
convey the truth. They are pronounced only when they are known. Each letter is a perfect
truth like a perfect book, for they are letters written by the hand of the unity, since
the Father wrote them for the Aeons, so that they by means of his letters might come to
know the Father.
While his wisdom mediates on the logos, and since his teaching expresses it, his
knowledge has been revealed. His honor is a crown upon it. Since his joy agrees with it,
his glory exalted it. It has revealed his image. It has obtained his rest. His love took
bodily form around it. His trust embraced it. Thus the logos of the Father goes forth into
the All, being the fruit of his heart and expression of his will. It supports the All. It
chooses and also takes the form of the All, purifying it, and causing it to return to the
Father and to the Mother, Jesus of the utmost sweetness. The Father opens his bosom, but
his bosom is the Holy Spirit. He reveals his hidden self which is his son, so that through
the compassion of the Father the Aeons may know him, end their wearying search for the
Father and rest themselves in him, knowing that this is rest. After he had filled what was
incomplete, he did away with form. The form of it is the world, that which it served. For
where there is envy and strife, there is an incompleteness; but where there is unity,
there is completeness. Since this incompleteness came about because they did not know the
Father, so when they know the Father, incompleteness, from that moment on, will cease to
exist. As one's ignorance disappears when he gains knowledge, and as darkness disappears
when light appears, so also incompleteness is eliminated by completeness. Certainly, from
that moment on, form is no longer manifest, but will be dissolved in fusion with unity.
For now their works lie scattered. In time unity will make the spaces complete. By means
of unity each one will understand itself. By means of knowledge it will purify itself of
diversity with a view towards unity, devouring matter within itself like fire and darkness
by light, death by life.
Certainly, if these things have happened to each one of us, it is fitting for us,
surely, to think about the All so that the house may be holy and silent for unity. Like
people who have moved from a neighborhood, if they have some dishes around which are not
good, they usually break them. Nevertheless the householder does not suffer a loss, but
rejoices, for in the place of these defective dishes there are those which are completely
perfect. For this is the judgement which has come from above and which has judged every
person, a drawn two-edged sword cutting on this side and that. When it appeared, I mean,
the Logos, who is in the heart of those who pronounce it - it was not merely a sound but
it has become a body - a great disturbance occurred among the dishes, for some were
emptied, others filled: some were provided for, others were removed; some were purified,
still others were broken. All the spaces were shaken and disturbed for they had no
composure nor stability. Error was disturbed not knowing what it should do. It was
troubled; it lamented, it was beside itself because it did not know anything. When
knowledge, which is its abolishment, approached it with all its emanations, error is
empty, since there is nothing in it. Truth appeared; all its emanations recognized it.
They actually greeted the Father with a power which is complete and which joins them with
the Father. For each one loves truth because truth is the mouth of the Father. His tongue
is the Holy Spirit, who joins him to truth attaching him to the mouth of the Father by his
tongue at the time he shall receive the Holy Spirit.
This is the manifestation of the Father and his revelation to his Aeons. He revealed
his hidden self and explained it. For who is it who exists if it is not the Father
himself? All the spaces are his emanations. They knew that they stem from him as children
from a perfect man. They knew that they had not yet received form nor had they yet
received a name, every one of which the Father produces. If they at that time receive form
of his knowledge, though they are truly in him, they do not know him. But the Father is
perfect. He knows every space which is within him. If he pleases, he reveals anyone whom
he desires by giving him a form and by giving him a name; and he does give him a name and
cause him to come into being. Those who do not yet exist are ignorant of him who created
them. I do not say, then, that those who do not yet exist are nothing. But they are in him
who will desire that they exist when he pleases, like the event which is going to happen.
On the one hand, he knows, before anything is revealed, what he will produce. On the other
hand, the fruit which has not yet been revealed does not know anything, nor is it anything
either. Thus each space which, on its part, is in the Father comes from the existent one,
who, on his part, has established it from the nonexistent. [...] he who does not exist at
all, will never exist.
What, then, is that which he wants him to think? "I am like the shadows and
phantoms of the night." When morning comes, this one knows that the fear which he had
experienced was nothing. Thus they were ignorant of the Father; he is the one whom they
did not see. Since there had been fear and confusion and a lack of confidence and
doublemindness and division, there were many illusions which were conceived by him, the
foregoing, as well as empty ignorance - as if they were fast asleep and found themselves a
prey to troubled dreams. Either there is a place to which they flee, or they lack strength
as they come, having pursued unspecified things. Either they are involved in inflicting
blows, or they themselves receive bruises. Either they are falling from high places, or
they fly off through the air, though they have no wings at all. Other times, it is as if
certain people were trying to kill them, even though there is no one pursuing them; or,
they themselves are killing those beside them, for they are stained by their blood. Until
the moment when they who are passing through all these things - I mean they who have
experienced all these confusions - awake, they see nothing because the dreams were
nothing. It is thus that they who cast ignorance from them as sheep do not consider it to
be anything, nor regard its properties to be something real, but they renounce them like a
dream in the night and they consider the knowledge of the Father to be the dawn. It is
thus that each one has acted, as if he were asleep, during the time when he was ignorant
and thus he comes to understand, as if he were awakening. And happy is the man who comes
to himself and awakens. Indeed, blessed is he who has opened the eyes of the blind.
And the Spirit came to him in haste when it raised him. Having given its hand to the
one lying prone on the ground, it placed him firmly on his feet, for he had not yet stood
up. He gave them the means of knowing the knowledge of the Father and the revelation of
his son. For when they saw it and listened to it, he permitted them to take a taste of and
to smell and to grasp the beloved son.
He appeared, informing them of the Father, the illimitable one. He inspired them with
that which is in the mind, while doing his will. Many received the light and turned
towards him. But material men were alien to him and did not discern his appearance nor
recognize him. For he came in the likeness of flesh and nothing blocked his way because it
was incorruptible and unrestrainable. Moreover, while saying new things, speaking about
what is in the heart of the Father, he proclaimed the faultless word. Light spoke through
his mouth, and his voice brought forth life. He gave them thought and understanding and
mercy and salvation and the Spirit of strength derived from the limitlessness of the
Father and sweetness. He caused punishments and scourgings to cease, for it was they which
caused many in need of mercy to astray from him in error and in chains - and he mightily
destroyed them and derided them with knowledge. He became a path for those who went astray
and knowledge to those who were ignorant, a discovery for those who sought, and a support
for those who tremble, a purity for those who were defiled.
He is the shepherd who left behind the ninety-nine sheep which had not strayed and went
in search of that one which was lost. He rejoiced when he had found it. For ninety-nine is
a number of the left hand, which holds it. The moment he finds the one, however, the whole
number is transferred to the right hand. Thus it is with him who lacks the one, that is,
the entire right hand which attracts that in which it is deficient, seizes it from the
left side and transfers it to the right. In this way, then, the number becomes one
hundred. This number signifies the Father.
He labored even on the Sabbath for the sheep which he found fallen into the pit. He
saved the life of that sheep, bringing it up from the pit in order that you may understand
fully what that Sabbath is, you who possess full understanding. It is a day in which it is
not fitting that salvation be idle, so that you may speak of that heavenly day which has
no night and of the sun which does not set because it is perfect. Say then in your heart
that you are this perfect day and that in you the light which does not fail dwells.
Speak concerning the truth to those who seek it and of knowledge to those who, in their
error, have committed sin. Make sure-footed those who stumble and stretch forth your hands
to the sick. Nourish the hungry and set at ease those who are troubled. Foster men who
love. Raise up and awaken those who sleep. For you are this understanding which
encourages. If the strong follow this course, they are even stronger. Turn your attention
to yourselves. Do not be concerned with other things, namely, that which you have cast
forth from yourselves, that which you have dismissed. Do not return to them to eat them.
Do not be moth-eaten. Do not be worm-eaten, for you have already shaken it off. Do not be
a place of the devil, for you have already destroyed him. Do not strengthen your last
obstacles, because that is reprehensible. For the lawless one is nothing. He harms himself
more than the law. For that one does his works because he is a lawless person. But this
one, because he is a righteous person, does his works among others. Do the will of the
Father, then, for you are from him.
For the Father is sweet and his will is good. He knows the things that are yours, so
that you may rest yourselves in them. For by the fruits one knows the things that are
yours, that they are the children of the Father, and one knows his aroma, that you
originate from the grace of his countenance. For this reason, the Father loved his aroma;
and it manifests itself in every place; and when it is mixed with matter, he gives his
aroma to the light; and into his rest he causes it to ascend in every form and in every
sound. For there are no nostrils which smell the aroma, but it is the Spirit which
possesses the sense of smell and it draws it for itself to itself and sinks into the aroma
of the Father. He is, indeed, the place for it, and he takes it to the place from which it
has come, in the first aroma which is cold. It is something in a psychic form, resembling
cold water which is [...] since it is in soil which is not hard, of which those who see it
think, "It is earth." Afterwards, it becomes soft again. If a breath is taken,
it is usually hot. The cold aromas, then, are from the division. For this reason, God came
and destroyed the division and he brought the hot Pleroma of love, so that the cold may
not return, but the unity of the Perfect Thought prevail.
This is the word of the Gospel of the finding of the Pleroma for those who wait for the
salvation which comes from above. When their hope, for which they are waiting, is waiting
- they whose likeness is the light in which there is no shadow, then at that time the
Pleroma is about to come. The deficiency of matter, however, is not because of the
limitlessness of the Father who comes at the time of the deficiency. And yet no one is
able to say that the incorruptible One will come in this manner. But the depth of the
Father is increasing, and the thought of error is not with him. It is a matter of falling
down and a matter of being readily set upright at the finding of that one who has come to
him who will turn back.
For this turning back is called "repentance". For this reason, incorruption
has breathed. It followed him who has sinned in order that he may find rest. For
forgiveness is that which remains for the light in the deficiency, the word of the
pleroma. For the physician hurries to the place in which there is sickness, because that
is the desire which he has. The sick man is in a deficient condition, but he does not hide
himself because the physician possesses that which he lacks. In this manner the deficiency
is filled by the Pleroma, which has no deficiency, which has given itself out in order to
fill the one who is deficient, so that grace may take him, then, from the area which is
deficient and has no grace. Because of this a diminishing occurred in the place which
there is no grace, the area where the one who is small, who is deficient, is taken hold
of.
He revealed himself as a Pleroma, i.e., the finding of the light of truth which has
shined towards him, because he is unchangeable. For this reason, they who have been
troubled speak about Christ in their midst so that they may receive a return and he may
anoint them with the ointment. The ointment is the pity of the Father, who will have mercy
on them. But those whom he has anointed are those who are perfect. For the filled vessels
are those which are customarily used for anointing. But when an anointing is finished, the
vessel is usually empty, and the cause of its deficiency is the consumption of its
ointment. For then a breath is drawn only through the power which he has. But the one who
is without deficiency - one does not trust anyone beside him nor does one pour anything
out. But that which is the deficient is filled again by the perfect Father. He is good. He
knows his plantings because he is the one who has planted them in his Paradise. And his
Paradise is his place of rest.
This is the perfection in the thought of the Father and these are the words of his
reflection. Each one of his words is the work of his will alone, in the revelation of his
Logos. Since they were in the depth of his mind, the Logos, who was the first to come
forth, caused them to appear, along with an intellect which speaks the unique word by
means of a silent grace. It was called "thought," since they were in it before
becoming manifest. It happened, then, that it was the first to come forth - at the moment
pleasing to the will of him who desired it; and it is in the will that the Father is at
rest and with which he is pleased. Nothing happens without him, nor does anything occur
without the will of the Father. But his will is incomprehensible. His will is his mark,
but no one can know it, nor is it possible for them to concentrate on it in order to
possess it. But that which he wishes takes place at the moment he wishes it - even if the
view does not please anyone: it is God`s will. For the Father knows the beginning of them
all as well as their end. For when their end arrives, he will question them to their
faces. The end, you see, is the recognition of him who is hidden, that is, the Father,
from whom the beginning came forth and to whom will return all who have come from him. For
they were made manifest for the glory and the joy of his name.
And the name of the Father is the Son. It is he who, in the beginning, gave a name to
him who came forth from him - he is the same one - and he begat him for a son. He gave him
his name which belonged to him - he, the Father, who possesses everything which exists
around him. He possess the name; he has the son. It is possible for them to see him. The
name, however, is invisible, for it alone is the mystery of the invisible about to come to
ears completely filled with it through the Father`s agency. Moreover, as for the Father,
his name is not pronounced, but it is revealed through a son. Thus, then, the name is
great.
Who, then, has been able to pronounce a name for him, this great name, except him alone
to whom the name belongs and the sons of the name in whom the name of the Father is at
rest, and who themselves in turn are at rest in his name, since the Father has no
beginning? It is he alone who engendered it for himself as a name in the beginning before
he had created the Aeons, that the name of the Father should be over their heads as a lord
- that is, the real name, which is secure by his authority and by his perfect power. For
the name is not drawn from lexicons nor is his name derived from common name-giving, But
it is invisible. He gave a name to himself alone, because he alone saw it and because he
alone was capable of giving himself a name. For he who does not exist has no name. For
what name would one give him who did not exist? Nevertheless, he who exists also with his
name and he alone knows it, and to him alone the Father gave a name. The Son is his name.
He did not, therefore, keep it secretly hidden, but the son came into existence. He
himself gave a name to him. The name, then, is that of the Father, just as the name of the
Father is the Son. For otherwise, where would compassion find a name - outside of the
Father? But someone will probably say to his companion, "Who would give a name to
someone who existed before himself, as if, indeed, children did not receive their name
from one of those who gave them birth?"
Above all, then, it is fitting for us to think this point over: What is the name? It is
the real name. It is, indeed, the name which came from the Father, for it is he who owns
the name. He did not, you see, get the name on loan, as in the case of others because of
the form in which each one of them is going to be created. This, then, is the
authoritative name. There is no one else to whom he has given it. But it remained unnamed,
unuttered, `till the moment when he, who is perfect, pronounced it himself; and it was he
alone who was able to pronounce his name and to see it. When it pleased him, then, that
his son should be his pronounced name and when he gave this name to him, he who has come
from the depth spoke of his secrets, because he knew that the Father was absolute
goodness. For this reason, indeed, he sent this particular one in order that he might
speak concerning the place and his place of rest from which he had come forth, and that he
might glorify the Pleroma, the greatness of his name and the sweetness of his Father.
Each one will speak concerning the place from which he has come forth, and to the
region from which he received his essential being, he will hasten to return once again.
And he want from that place - the place where he was - because he tasted of that place, as
he was nourished and grew. And his own place of rest is his Pleroma. All the emanations
from the Father, therefore, are Pleromas, and all his emanations have their roots in the
one who caused them all to grow from himself. He appointed a limit. They, then, became
manifest individually in order that they might be in their own thought, for that place to
which they extend their thoughts is their root, which lifts them upward through all
heights to the Father. They reach his head, which is rest for them, and they remain there
near to it so that they say that they have participated in his face by means of embraces.
But these of this kind were not manifest, because they have not risen above themselves.
Neither have they been deprived of the glory of the Father nor have they thought of him as
small, nor bitter, nor angry, but as absolutely good, unperturbed, sweet, knowing all the
spaces before they came into existence and having no need of instruction. Such are they
who possess from above something of this immeasurable greatness, as they strain towards
that unique and perfect one who exists there for them. And they do not go down to Hades.
They have neither envy nor moaning, nor is death in them. But they rest in him who rests,
without wearying themselves or becoming involved in the search for truth. But, they,
indeed, are the truth, and the Father is in them, and they are in the Father, since they
are perfect, inseparable from him who is truly good. They lack nothing in any way, but
they are given rest and are refreshed by the Spirit. And they listen to their root; they
have leisure for themselves, they in whom he will find his root, and he will suffer no
loss to his soul.
Such is the place of the blessed; this is their place. As for the rest, then, may they
know, in their place, that it does not suit me, after having been in the place of rest to
say anything more. But he is the one in whom I shall be in order to devote myself, at all
times, to the Father of the All and the true brothers, those upon whom the love of the
Father is lavished, and in whose midst nothing of him is lacking. It is they who manifest
themselves truly since they are in that true and eternal life and speak of the perfect
light filled with the seed of the Father, and which is in his heart and in the Pleroma,
while his Spirit rejoices in it and glorifies him in whom it was, because the Father is
good. And his children are perfect and worthy of his name, because he is the Father.
Children of this kind are those whom he loves.
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