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I

ALLOGENES (XI,3)

Introduced by

ANTOINETTE CLARK WIRE

. Translated by

JOHN D. TURNER and ORVAL s. WINTERMUTE

The tractate Allogenes is a revelation discourse in which a certain Allogenes · receives divine auditions and visions and records them for his "son" Messos. The

fictive nature of this repeated address of Allogenes to Messos is indicated by the name Allogenes, which means "stranger," "one of another race," and often in this period designates Seth or a representative of the Sethian spiritual race. The reader is thus encouraged to identify with Messos and learn from Allogenes how to overcome the fear and ignorance Allogenes initially feels, how to meditate on each step of revealed knowledge, and ultimately how to ascend into full realiza-tion of one's spiritual self within the divine. · Aithough A /lo genes presents itself as a single revelation discourse, it can be.di-vided into two parts. Part One (45, 1-57 ,23) highlights five revelations of the ·fe-male diety Youel to Allogenes. Her revelations are complex mythological de-scriptions of th.e divine. powers, particularly the aeon of Barbelo. Part Two (57,24-69,19) describes in more philosophical language the ascent of Allogenes as a progressive revelation by the heavenly luminaries. Its final stage, the "pri-mary revelation of the Unknown One," reveals the transcendent God as invis-ible, unfathomable, incomprehensible, "the spiritual, invisibie Triple Power" which is "the best of the best" and exists, paradoxically, as "the nonbeing Exis--tence."

The differences between these two parts of Allogenes can be explained in terms of different sources being used or in terms of the one writer's purpose. Source theories try to determine where certain traditions come from and how they have already developed. The Barbelo mythology of Part One is found also in The Apocryphon of John (BG 8502,2; NHC 11,1; III,l; ·1v,l) where it is associated with an account of how Sophia brought deficiency into the universe. Allogenes' Barbelo Gnosticism, like that of Zostrianos (VIII,]) and The Three Ste/es of Seth (VII,5), is not interested in how evil began but in positive revelation of divine reality. Part Two of Allogenes also parallels The Apocryphon of John to the ex-tent of a full-page description of the transcendent God in terms of what God is not. But again it departs from this tradition in the same direction as do Zostrianos and The Three Ste/es of Seth by presenting this knowledge as an as-cent ritual in a way parallel to Hermetic Gnosticism (Corp. Herm. I,24-26 and NHC Vl,6). Apparently the author has taken both Barbelo Gnosticism and philosophical monism from the same general tradition as The _Apocryphon of John and put them in sequence With certain linking passages for a single purpose.

d

AU .. OGENES (XI,.l} 491

Assuming that the reader has already been released from evil, the writer in the persona of Allogenes leads ~n ~p the ~eavenfy path, praisi~g.the divine, into· the blessing of knowledge, the v1tahty of hf e and finally the existence that is nonexi-stence. The ascent rituals of Hermeti"sm refer occasionally ro community Hf e, and The Three Ste/es of Seth uses the first person plural to· praise God at each ascent level. But here the instructions are spoken to a single person who, is reading and could be meant as self-help in an individual's search for God.

This tractate has attracted wide interest because the Neopiatonist Porphyry said that Plotinus attacked certain Gnostics who "produced revelations by Zoro-aster and Zostrianos and Nicotheos and Allogenes and Messos and other such people" (Vit. P/01. 16). If this quote does indeed refer to this book named Allo-genes, and to documents close to it (Zostrianos VIII,/ bears a coded subtitle, " Words of Zoroaster") as many are proposing, it suggests a somewhat different relation of the Gnostics to later Platonism than is commonly assumed. Not only did Gnostics clearly borrow many philosophical themes from Platonism, but Platonists and Neoplatonists were being forced to deal with Gnostic schools as. rivals to their own. And though Plotinus in his own tractate· against the Gnostks does his best to ridicule their dualism, cult, and jargon, it is clearly the monistic Gnostics of the Allogenes sort who challenge him most. It is they who attribute to revelation the truths he is convinced that they have derived from Plato; it is they who believe that through self-knowledge they become superior to the heavenly bodies (Enn . II. 9.5-11) . The question that remains is whether the Gnos-tics may not have had a reverse influence on Neoplatonism, specifically whether these gnostic texts could be the source of a certain existence-life-thought triad which is not attested in Neoplatonism before Proclus in the fifth century (Theo/. 101-03).

An Alexandrian origin of the original Greek text of Allogenes not long after 300 C.E. would allow time for its Greek circulation and its Coptic translation be-fore it was placed in the Nag Hammadi library early in th~ next century.

ALLOGENES

XI 45, 1-69, 20

[ • • • ] 6 since they are 1 [perfect individuals and dwell] 1 all [together, joined with] the 1 [mind], the guardian [which I provided,

10 who]

taught you (sg.) . [And] it is [the power that I exists] within you that often [extended itself I as word] 1 from the Triple-Powered One, [that One I of] all [those] who [truly] exist 15 with the [Immeasurable One]~ the I eternal [Light of] the Knowledge I that appeared, the I male virginal [Youth, 1 the first] of the Aeons from 20 [a] unique triple-[powered Aeon], 1 [the]' Triple-Powered One who 1 [truly exists], for when [he was stilled, 1 (he) was extended] and 1 [when he was extend-ed], he became (complete 25 and] he received · [power] from I all of

THE N~G tHil1MAIDll LIBRAR¥; 1lN 1ENG1JISH

[tthem] .. He 'knows ,[himself I :.and the p,r£ect] ln~is~le JSpirivJ. 'I &:cd lhe J.came t:o h e I in a1 Aemn whe lmows 30 [:that] 'she mowcs 11hat O.me:. ·1

[And') ,she became Kalytpos 1 [-wbo1.acted in th0se whmn 'She I ktt0Ws.. 1

H:e Js a perfect, 35 invisible, noetic 1 1Protophanes-H~medon. '[And~ 'em-powering I the individuals, .she is ,a Triple-Male . . 1 And -being indhiidmal-ly 46 [ ... 6 Indiv.id1:1al on the one hand, they are together] 1 on the other hand, ·[since she]' is an existence of [theirs], and she [sees] 1 them all [ilso] truly (existing). 10 [She] ·contains the I divine Autogenes.

'·'When she [knew] 1 her [Existence] 1 and when she stood, [she brought] 1 This One (masc.), since he saw them [all] 1_5 existing in-dividually as [he] 1 is. And [when they] 1 become as he is, [they shall] 1

see the divine Triple-Male, 1 the power that is [higher than] 20 God. [He is] the [Thought] 1 of all these who [exist] 1 together. If he {ponders them, 1 he] ponders [the] 1 great male [ ... ) 25 noetic Protophanes, the [procession I of] these. When '[he] 1 sees it, [he sees I also those who tru-ly exist] 1 and the procession [of those who are] 30 together. And when he [has seen I these], he has seen the [Kalyptos]. 1 And if he [sees] 1 one of the hidden ones, [he] 1 sees the Aeon of Barbelo. And as for {the] 35

unbegotten offspring of [That One], 1 if one [sees] 1 how he [lives 47 ... 5

you have heard about the I abundance of] each one I of them · [certain-ly]..

[But] concerning I the invisible, spiritual I Triple-Powered One, hear! [He exists] as an 10 Invisible One who is incomprehensible I to them all. He I contains them all within [himself], 1 for [they] all exist because of 1 [him]. He is perfect, and he is 15 [greater] than perfect, and he is 1

blessed. [He is] always [One] 1 and [he] exists 1 [in] them all, being inef-fable, 1 unnameable, 20 [being One] who exists through 1 [them all] -he whom, 1 [should] one discern 1 [him, one would not desire] anything that 1 [exists] before him among those 25 [that possess] existence, 1 for [he is] the [source I from which they were all emitted. 1 He is prior to 1

perfection. He was prior 30 to every] divinity, ) [and] he is prior [to] 1

every blessedness since he I provides for every power. And I he (is) a nonsubstantial substance, 35 since he is a God over whom there is no 1

divinity, the I transcending or'whose I greatness and (beauty) 48 [ ... 6

power. It is not impossible for them] 1 to receive a [revelation of] these things I if [they]_ come together. 1 Since it is impossible for 10 the [indi-vid~alsj to comprehend the Universal One 1 [situated in the] place that is higher than perfect, 1 they apprehend by means of I a First [Thought] ,-_

1 (it is) not as Being (alone), [but] 15· it is along with the I latency of

! Existenc, e that he confer•s Being. He [provides] 1 everythiag for [himself) [ I

.I

ALLOGENES (XI,3 ). 493

. e it is I he who shall come to be when he I recognizes himself]. And sine • , · . [One] 20 who subsists as a [cause] and source [of Bemg] and [an] he 1s • • 1

• material [material and an] 1 innumerable [number and a formless] 1

/;rn and a [shapeless] 25 shape and [a powerlessness and 1 ·a pcwer and insubstantial I substance and a motionless motion and an inactive

1

\tivity. [Yet he is 30 a] provider of [provisions I and] a divinity [of] 1

~ivinity - but whenever I they apprehend, they participate I

the first Vitality and 35 an undivided activity, 1 an hypostasis of the First One

1

from the One who truly exists. 1 And a second 49 activity [ . . . J 1

however, is the [ . .. ] . 5 He is endowed with I blessedness] and 1

goodness, because [when he is] 1 recognized [as the] traverser I

of the boundlessness of the 10 Invisible Spirit [that I subsists] in him, it (the boundlessness) turns him to [it (the Invisible Spirit) 1 in] order that it might know what is I within him and I how he exists. And

15 he. was be-

coming salvation for I every one by being a I point of departure for those who truly exist, 1 for through him I his knowledge endured,

20

since he is the one who knows what I he is. But they brought forth noth-ing I beyond themselves, neither I power nor rank nor I glory nor aeon, 25 for they are all I eternal. He is Vitality and I Mentality and That-Which-Is . 1 For then That 1-Which-Is constantly possesses its

30 Vitality

and Mentality, 1 and (Life has} 1 Vitality possesses 1 (non}-Being and 1 Mentality. Mentality 35 possesses Life and That-Which-Is.

1 And the

three are one, 1 although individually they are three. Now after I I heard these things, my son SO [Messos, I was] afraid,

and 1 [I turned toward the] multitude 1 [ ••• ] thought [ . .. 6

gives] power to [those who] are capable of knowing I these things [by] a revelation

1

that is much [greater] . And I I was capable], although flesh was 10

upon [me. I] heard from you about these things I and about the doctrine

1

that is in them since the thought I which is in me distinguished [the things that are] 1 beyond measure as well as the unknowables.

15 There-

fore I fear that I my doctrine may have become I something beyond what is fitting.

And I then, my I son Messos, the all-glorious One, 20 Youel, spoke to me again. She made a revelation I to me and said, "No I one is able to hear [these things] 1 except the great powers alone, 1 0 Allogenes.

25 A

great power was put upon you, which I the Father I of the All the Eter-n~l, put upon you I before you came to this place, in ord

1

er that I those th~ngs that are difficult to distinguish 30 you might distinguish and those thmgs I th ' at are unknown to I the multitude you might know I and that

· you m· h . ' ig t escape (m s~fety) 1 to the One who is yours, who 35 was first

I

494 1HE NAG' ~li J!,:tiBJMRY. JiN ENGI!.ISH

to save· and I wnoi does, not need to be sa,ve<il. 5,l [. .. . 6 to~ y,ou [a). 1 fonn (and a revelation Ml I the invisible, spiritual 'F"dple-J>owered1 One I our. side of which [dweUsJ, 10 an undivided, incorporear, 1 [eternal] knowl-edge .. 1

'' As with all the Aeons,- 1 the Aeon of Barbelo exists, 1 also endowed. with the type·s 15 and form~ of those who truly I exist,-the image of I Ka-lyptos .. And endowed I with the intellectual Word of I these,. he bears the 20 noetic male Protophanes like I an image, and he acts I within the individuals either with I craft or with skill I or with partial instinct. 25

He is endowed with the I divine. Autogenes like I an image, and he knows I each one of these. He I acts .separately and 30 individually; con-tinuing to rectify I the failures I from nature. He is endowed with I the divine Triple-Male I as salvation for thern all 35 (and) in cooperation with the Invisible Spirit. 1 He is a word from a I counsel, (he) is the perfect Youth. 1 And this hypostatis is a 52 [ ... ].

[ ••• 7

my soul went slack] and I I fled [and was] very disturbed. 1 And [I] turned to myself 10 [and] saw the light I that [surrounded] me and the 1 Good that was in me, I became divine. 1

And I the all-glorious One, Youel, anointed me again 15 and she gave power to me. She said, "Since I your instruction has become complete 1 and you have known the Good that is within you, 1 hear concerning 1

the Triple-Powered One those things that you will 20 guard in great 1

silence and great mystery, 1 because they are not spoken to I anyone ex-cept those who are worthy, 1 those who are able 25 to hear; nor is it fit-ting I to speak to an I uninstructed generation concerning I the Univer-sal One that is higher than perfect. 1 But you hav.e (these) because of 30

the Triple-Powered One, the One who exists I in blessedness I and good-ness, the One I who is responsible for all these. 1

"There exists within him 35 much greatness. 1 Inasmuch as he is One in a 53 [ ... ] 6 of the [First Thought, which] 1 does not fall away [from those who dwell] 1 in comprehension [and knowledge] 1 and [under-standing. And] 10 That One moved motionlessly I in that which I gov-erns, lest he sink I into the boundless by means of I another activity of

· 15

Mentality. And he entered I into himself and he appeared, 1 being all-encompassing, 1 the Universal One that is higher than perfect. 1

, "Indeed it is not through me 20 that he is to such a degree anterior to knowledge. 1 Whereas there is no possibility for complete I comprehen-sion, he is (nevertheless) known. 1 And this is so because of the I third silence of Mentality 25 and the second I undivided activity which ap-peared I in the First Thought, 1 that is, the Aeon: of Barbelo, 1 together

49p

With the Indivisible One of 30 the divisible likenesses and th· "" ,1 1 1 ,. e ,, fap ~-powered One anc! the none-substantial E~istence. ,, , - ·- ·· · · · . I d /

(And_) the power ~ppe~re ~Y meaQs of an activity- ' th@.t is at J't.§t 35 and sden

1t, although 1t uttered a so~nd thus: zia , iz@. zia. llut wb,~n.

she h_ear~ the . powe~ and she w~s ~llled · 54 [ ... ] .6 th~u art , I. , . ] Solmis! _ [ . .. ] accordmg to the V1tahty, 1 [that is tbine, and:] the fi ~t

10 • h d . f , . . . rs activity wh1c enve~ rom divinity: Thou art gr:eat, , Armedon! Thou art perfect, 1 Epiphaneus! . · . . "And according to I that activity of thine, the second power 15 and the Mentality I whi,ch derives from blessedness: 1 Autoer, Beritheus, ·, Erigenaor, Orimenios, Aramen, 1 Alphleges, Elelioupheus, 20 L.ala~ meus, Yetheus, Noetheus! 1 Thou art great! He wh6 knows [thee] ' knows the Universal One! Thou art' One, 1 thou art One, He who is good, Aphredon! 1 Thou art the Aeon of 25 Aeons, He who is perpet-ually!" r

Then she praised I the Universal One, saying, 1 "Lalameus, Noethe-. us, Senaon, 1 Asine[us, ... ]riphanios, 30 Mellephaneus, Elemaoni, 1

Smoun, Optaon, He Who I Is! Thou art He Who Is, 1 the Aeon of Aeons, the I Unbegotten, who art higher than the unbegotten (ones), 35

Yatomenos, thou alone I for whom all the unborn ones were begotte~, 1 the Unnameable One! 55 [ ... ] 11 knowledge." 1

[Now after I] heard these things, I 1 [saw the glories of the perfect] in-dividuals 1 [and] the all-perfect ones 15 [who exist] together, and the 1

[all-perfect ones who] are before the perfect I ones. · [Again the greatly] glorious One, 1 Youel, said to me, 1 "[0 Allo-

genes], in an 20 [unknowing knowledge] you know that the 1 [Triple-Powered One] exists before 1 [the glodes]. They ·do not exist 1 [among those who exist]. They do not exist 1 [together] with those who exist 25

[nor (with) those who] truly exist. 1 [Rather all these] exist 1 [as divinity) and 1 [blessedness and] existence, 1 [and as] nonsubstantiality and 30

non-being [existence]." 1

[And then I] prayed that 1 [the revelation] might occur to me. 1 [And then I the all-[glorious One]; Youel, said to me, 35 "[0 Allogenes],. of course, 1 [the Triple-] Male 1 [is something beyond] substance. 1 Y•et [were he insubstantial 56 .· .. ] 10 those who exist [in association] 1 with . the [generation of those] 1 who [truly] exist. 1 [The self-begotten ones exist) 1 with the [Triple-Male]. 15

"If you [seek with a ' perfect) seeking, [then] 1 you shall know [the Good that is] , in you; then (you will know yourself] 1 as well, (as) one who [derives from] 20 the God [who truly pre-exists]. 1 [For] after [a

t

I

496 THE NAG HAMMADI 1mRARY IN ENGLISH

hundred] , years there shall [come to you] ' a reve~ation [of That One] , by means of [Salamex] 25 and Semen [and ... the] 1 Luminaries. [o( the Aeon of] 1 Barbelo,. And [that beyond what] 1 is fitting for you, (You shall not know] 1 at first, so as not [to forfeit your]

30 kind. [And if so],

' then when (you receive] 1 a conception [of That One, then I you] are filled [with] 1 the word [to completion]. 35 Then [you become divine] I

and [you become perfect. You receive] 1 them [ ... 1 575

the seeking [ •• ·.] 1 the Existence [ ... ] 1 if it [apprehends] 1 anything, it is [appre-hended by] 1 that one and by 10 the very one who is comprehended. 1

And then he I becomes greater I who comprehends and knows than I he who is comprehended and 15 known. But if I he descends to his nature, 1 he is less, for the I incorporeal natures have not associated with I any magnitude; having 20 this power, · they are everywhere I and they are no-where, 1 , since they are greater than every magnitude, 1 and less than every exiguity.'' 1

Now after 25 the all-glorious One, Youel, said these things, 1 she sep-arated from me and left I me. But I did not despair I of the words that I heard. 1 I prepared myself 30 therein and I deliberated I with myself for a hundred years. 1 And I rejoiced exceedingly, 1 since I was in a great I light and a ·blessed path 35 because those whom I was I worthy to see as well I as those whom I was worthy to hear 1 (are) those whom it

· is fitting I that the great powers alone 58 [ ... ] 6 of [God]. 1

[When I the completion of] the one hundred years [drew nigh, 1 it brought] me a blessedness 10 of the eternal hope I full of auspiciousness. ' I saw the good divine Autogenes; 1 and the Savior I who is the 15

youthful, perfect Triple-Male Child; and his I goodness, the I noetic perfect Protophanes-Harmedon; 1 and the blessedness I of the Kalyp-tos; and the 20 primary origin of the blessedness, 1,_ the Aeon of Barbelo 1 full of divinity; 1 and the primary origin of I the one without origin, the 25 spiritual, invisible Triple-Powered I One, the Universal One that 1 is higher than perfect .

. When <I) was taken by the I eternal Light out of I the garment that was upon 30 me, and taken up to I a holy place whose I likeness can not

. . be I revealed in the world, 1 then by means of a 35 great blessedness I 1

saw all those about whom I had I heard. And I I praised all of them and I 59 [stood] upon my knowledge and [1 1 inclined to] the knowledge [of] 1 the Universals, the Aeon of Barbelo. 1

, •

And I saw [h<;,ly] powers 5 by means of the (Luminaries] 1 of the virginal male Barbelo 1 [telling me I that] I would be able to test what

1

happens in the world: "O 10 Allogenes, behold your blessedness I

how

ALLOGENES (Xt,J) 497

it silently abides, 1 by which you know I your proper self and, 1 seeking yourself, withdraw to the Vitality 15 that you will I see moving. And al-though it is I impossible for you to stand, fear I nothing; but if you 1

wish to stand, withdraw 20 to the Existence, and you will I find it stand-ing and I at rest after the likeness of the One I who is truly at rest I and embraces all these 25 silently and I inactively. And when you receive I a revelation of him by I means of a primary revelation I of the Unknown one - 30 the One whom if you should I know him, be ignorant I of him _ and you become I afraid in that place, 1 withdraw to the reat because of the 35 activities. And when you become I perfect in that place, 1 still yourself. And I in accordance with the pattern that indwells I you, know liJ<ewise 60 [that] it is this way in [all such (matters)] 1 after this (very) pattern. And 1 [do not] further dissipate, [so that] 1 you may be able to stand, 5 and do not desire to [be active] 1 lest you fall [in any way]

1

from the inactivity in (you] 1 of the Unknown One. Do not 1

[know] him, for it is impossible; 10 but if by·means of an I enlightened thought you should know I him , be ignorant of him. " 1

, I

Now I was listening to these things as I those ones spoke them. There 15 was within me a stillness I of silence, and I heard the I Blessedness

1

whereby I knew (my) proper self. 1

And I withdrew to the 20 Vitality as I sought (myself) , and I I joined into it, 1 and I stood, 1 not firmly but I silently. And I saw

25 an eternal,

intellectual., undivided motion I that pertains to all the I formless pow-ers, (which is] unlimited I by limitation.

And when I I wanted to stand firmly, 30 I withdrew to I the Existence, which I found I standing and at rest I like an image and I likeness of what is conferred upon 35 me by a revelation I of the Indivisible One and the One who I is at rest. I was filled I with revelation by means

I of

a primary revelation 61 of the Unknowable One. [As though] 1

I were ignorant of him, I [knew] 1 him and I received power (by] 1 him. Having been permanently strengthened 5 I knew the One who I exists in me and the Triple-Powered One I and the revelation of I his uncontainableness. [And] 1 by means of a primary 10 revelation of the First One (who is) unknowable I to them all, the God I who is beyond perfection, I

I saw

him and the Triple-Powered One that exists I in them all. I was seeking 15 the ineffable I and Unknowable God - 1 whom if one should I know him, he would be absolutely I ignorant of him - the Mediator of

20 the

Triple-Powered One who subsists in I stillness and silence and is I un- , knowable.

And when I was confirmed I in these matters, 1 the powers of the

498 THE NAG HAMMAD! LIBRARY IN ENGLISH

Luminaries said to me, 25 "Cease hindering the inactivity I that exists-in you I by seeking I incomprehensible matters; rather hear I about him i so far as it is ~0 possible by means of a primary I revelation and a reve~ lation. 1

· "Now he is I something insofar as ·he exists in that he either I exists and will become, 35 or ~cts or knows, although he lives I without Mind 1 or Life or Existence I or Non-Existence, 1 incompr.ehensibly. 62 And he is something along with I his proper being. 1 He is not left over in 1_

some way, as if he.yields 5 something that is assayed or purifie,d [or that] 1 receives _or gives. And he is not I diminished in any way, 1 [whether] by his own desire I or whether he gives or receives through 10 another. Neither does [he] have I any desire of himself I nor from another; 1 it does not affect him. 1 Rather neither does he give 15 anything by himself 1 lest he become diminished I in another respect; 1 nor for this reason does he need. 1 Mind, or Life, or 20 indeed anything at all. He is supe-rior to the I Universals in his privation I and imknowability, 1 that is

' ' ' the non-being existence, 1 since he is endowed with 25 silence and still-ness lest I he be diminished by I those who are not diminished. 1

"He is neither divinity I nor blessedness 30 nor perfection. Rather I it (this triad) is an unknowable entity of him, 1 not that which is proper to him; rather I he is another one I superior to the blessedness and 35 the divinity and I perfection. For· he is not I perfect but he is another thing

_:_ 63 that is superior. He is neither I boundless, nor I is he bounded by 1

another. Rather he is something [superior]. 5 He is not corporeal. 1 He is not incorporeal. 1 He is not great. [He is not] small. 1 He is not a number. He is not a [creature]. 1 Nor is he something 10 that exists, that 1 one can know. But I he is something else of himself that is superior,

·which I one cannot know. 1

· "He ·is primary revelation -15 and knowledge of himself, 1 as it is .he alone who knows himself. 1 Since he is not one of those I that exist but is another thing, 1 he is superior to (all) superlatives 20 even in com-pariso·n to (both) what is (properly) his and I not his. ·He neither partici-pates in I age nor I does he participate in time. 1 He does not receive anything from anything 25 else. He is not diminishable, 1 nor does he di-

. rninish I anything, nor is · he undiminishable. 1 But he is I self-compre-hending, as something 30 so unknowable I that he exceeds those who ex-cel I in unknowability. I

"He is endowed with blessedness I a'.nd perfection 35 and silence -. I 't not (the blessedness) 1 nor the perfection - 1 and stillness. Rather 1

(these attributes) is an entity of him that exists, 1 w~ich one canrot 64

Al:LOGENES ,(XI.,j) 499

[know], and which is .at rest. 1 Rather they are en:tnies , ;of him unknowable to them I all.

"And he is much higher in 5 beauty than ail t~ose 1 [that] are good, and he is thus I unknowable to all of them I in every respect. And 1

through them aH he is 10 in them all, not I only as the ·unknowable knowledge I that is proper to him. And I he is united with the I ig-norance that sees him. Whether (one se·es) 15 in what way he is unknow-able, 1 or sees I him as he is I in every respect, or I would say that 20 he is something like I knowledge, he has sinned against him, ' being liable to judgment because he did not I know God. He will not I be judged by 25 That One who I is neither concerned for anything nor I has any de-sire, 1 but it (judgment) (is) from I himself because he did not find the origin 30 that truly exists. He was blind I apart from the eye I of revela-tion that is at rest, 1 the (one) that is activated, 1 the (one) from the Triple- 35 Power of the First Thought I of the Invisible Spirit. 1 This one thus exists from 65 [ ... ] 16 something [ ... set firmly on the ... a] 1

beauty and a [first emergence] 1 of stillness and silence 20 and tranquility and I unfathomable greatness. When he appeared, 1 he did not need 1

time nor ( did he partake) of eternity. 1 Rather of 25 himself he is un-fathomably I unfathomable. He does not activate I himself so as to be-come I still. He is not an I existence lest he 30 be in want. Spatially he is corporeal, 1 while properly he is incorporeal. 1 He has I non-being exis-tence. 1 He exists for all of them unto himself 35 without any desire. 1

But he is a greater summit I of greatness. And he is I higher than his stillness in order that 66 [ ... 16 he] saw [them] 1 and [empowered them all], although they do not I concern [themselves] with That One at I all, nor, if one should 20 receive from him, does he receive power. 1 Nothing activates him in accordance with I the Unity that is at rest. 1 For he is unknowable; 1 he is an airless place of 25 the boundlessness. Since I he is boundless and power.less I and nonexistent, he was not giving I Being. Rather he contains I all of these in himself, being at rest 30 (and) stand-ing out of I the one who stands I continually, since there had appeared 1 an Eternal Life, the I Invisible and Triple-Powered Spirit 35 which is in all of these I who exist. And it surrounds I them all, being higher than 1 them all. A shadow 67 [ ... ] 17 he [ was filled with power. And I he) stood [before them], 1 empowering them all, and he filled 20 them all."

And I concerning all of these (things) you have heard I certainly. And do not I seek anything more, 1 but go, 25 We do· not know whether I the Unknowable One has I angels or I gods, or whether the One who is at rest 1 . was containing 30 anything within himself except I the stillness,

5,00 THE NAO HAMMAD1 LIBRARY IN ENGLISH

which is he; 1 lest he be diminished. 1 It is not fitting to 1· spend more ls

time seeking. It was I appropriate that you (pl.) (alone) know I and that they speak I with another one. But you wm receive them 6& E ••• 6

and he said to me], "Write down 1 [the things that I} shaU fteU} you and 1 of which I shall remind you for the sake of I those who will li>e worthy 20 after you. And you will leave I this bpok upon a moun~ain I and you will adjure the guardian: 1 'Come Dreadful One."' 1

And after he said these (things), he separated 25 from me. But I was full I of joy, and I wrote I this book which was appointed I foF me, my . son Messos, in order I that I might disclose to you the (things) 30 that were proclaiined before me in I my presence. And at first I received 1

them in great silence and I I stood by myself, preparing I myself. These are the things that 35 were disclosed to me, ·o my son 69 [Messos ... 14

proclaim I them, 0 my] 1 son [Messos, as the] 1 seal [for} all [the I book~ · of) 1 Allogenes. 20

Allogenes