| |
"The body moved and gained strength, and it was luminous..."
"And in that moment the rest of the powers became jealous, because he
had come into being through all of them and they had given their power
to the man, and his intelligence was greater than that of those who had
made him, and greater than that of the chief archon. And when they
recognized that he was luminous, and that he could think better than
they, and that he was free from wickedness, they took him and threw him
into the lowest region of all matter.
"But the blessed One, the Mother-Father, the beneficent and merciful
One, had mercy on the power of the mother which had been brought forth
out of the chief archon, for they (the archons) might gain power over
the natural and perceptible body. And he sent, through his beneficent
Spirit and his great mercy, a helper to Adam, luminous Epinoia which
comes out of him, who is called Life. And she assists the whole
creature, by toiling with him and by restoring him to his fullness and
by teaching him about the descent of his seed (and) by teaching him
about the way of ascent, (which is) the way he came down. And the
luminous Epinoia was hidden in Adam, in order that the archons might not
know her, but that the Epinoia might be a correction of the deficiency
of the mother.
"And the man came forth because of the shadow of the light which is in
him. And his thinking was superior to all those who had made him. When
they looked up, they saw that his thinking was superior. And they took
counsel with the whole array of archons and angels. They took fire and
earth and water and mixed them together with the four fiery winds. And
they wrought them together and caused a great disturbance. And they
brought him (Adam) into the shadow of death, in order that they might
form (him) again from earth and water and fire and the spirit which
originates in matter, which is the ignorance of darkness and desire, and
their counterfeit spirit. This is the tomb of the newly-formed body with
which the robbers had clothed the man, the bond of forgetfulness; and he
became a mortal man. This is the first one who came down, and the first
separation. But the Epinoia of the light which was in him, she is the
one who was to awaken his thinking.
"And the archons took him and placed him in paradise. And they said to
him, 'Eat, that is at leisure,' for their luxury is bitter and their
beauty is depraved. And their luxury is deception and their trees are
godlessness and their fruit is deadly poison and their promise is death.
And the tree of their life they had placed in the midst of paradise.
"And I shall teach you (pl.) what is the mystery of their life, which is
the plan which they made together, which is the likeness of their
spirit. The root of this (tree) is bitter and its branches are death,
its shadow is hate and deception is in its leaves, and its blossom is
the ointment of evil, and its fruit is death and desire is its seed, and
it sprouts in darkness. The dwelling place of those who taste from it is
Hades, and the darkness is their place of rest.
"But what they call the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which is the
Epinoia of the light, they stayed in front of it in order that he (Adam)
might not look up to his fullness and recognize the nakedness of his
shamefulness. But it was I who brought about that they ate."
And to I said to the savior, "Lord, was it not the serpent that taught
Adam to eat?" The savior smiled and said, "The serpent taught them to
eat from wickedness of begetting, lust, (and) destruction, that he
(Adam) might be useful to him. And he (Adam) knew that he was
disobedient to him (the chief archon) due to light of the Epinoia which
is in him, which made him more correct in his thinking than the chief
archon. And (the latter) wanted to bring about the power which he
himself had given him. And he brought a forgetfulness over Adam."
And I said to the savior, "What is the forgetfulness?" And he said "It
is not the way Moses wrote (and) you heard. For he said in his first
book, 'He put him to sleep' (Gn 2:21), but (it was) in his perception.
For also he said through the prophet, 'I will make their hearts heavy,
that they may not pay attention and may not see' (Is 6:10).
"Then the Epinoia of the light hid herself in him (Adam). And the chief
archon wanted to bring her out of his rib. But the Epinoia of the light
cannot be grasped. Although darkness pursued her, it did not catch her.
And he brought a part of his power out of him. And he made another
creature, in the form of a woman, according to the likeness of the
Epinoia which had appeared to him. And he brought the part which he had
taken from the power of the man into the female creature, and not as
Moses said, 'his rib-bone.'
"And he (Adam) saw the woman beside him. And in that moment the luminous
Epinoia appeared, and she lifted the veil which lay over his mind. And
he became sober from the drunkenness of darkness. And he recognized his
counter-image, and he said, 'This is indeed bone of my bones and flesh
of my flesh.' Therefore the man will leave his father and his mother,
and he will cleave to his wife, and they will both be one flesh. For
they will send him his consort, and he will leave his father and his
mother ... (3 lines unreadable)
"And our sister Sophia (is) she who came down in innocence in order to
rectify her deficiency. Therefore she was called Life, which is the
mother of the living, by the foreknowledge of the sovereignty of heaven.
And through her they have tasted the perfect Knowledge. I appeared in
the form of an eagle on the tree of knowledge, which is the Epinoia from
the foreknowledge of the pure light, that I might teach them and awaken
them out of the depth of sleep. For they were both in a fallen state,
and they recognized their nakedness. The Epinoia appeared to them as a
light; she awakened their thinking.
"And when Yaltabaoth noticed that they withdrew from him, he cursed his
earth. He found the woman as she was preparing herself for her husband.
He was lord over her, though he did not know the mystery which had come
to pass through the holy decree. And they were afraid to blame him. And
he showed his angels his ignorance which is in him. And he cast them out
of paradise and he clothed them in gloomy darkness. And the chief archon
saw the virgin who stood by Adam, and that the luminous Epinoia of life
had appeared in her. And Yaltabaoth was full of ignorance. And when the
foreknowledge of the All noticed (it), she sent some and they snatched
life out of Eve. |
|