Month: September 2014

From: The Apocryphon of John (The Secret Book of John — The Secret Revelation of John) Nag Hammadi Codex II,1 & Nag Hammadi Codex IV,1

[some parts of the Nag Hammadi scriptures were ruined & so the …]

And he said to me, “The Monad is a monarchy without any­thing existing over it. It exists as the God and Father of the All., the invisible which dwells above the All, … imperishableness which exists as the pure light upon which it is not possible for any eye to gaze.

It is the invisible Spirit, and It is not appropriate to consider It to be like the gods or that It is something similar. For It is more than divine, without anything existing over It. For nothing lords over It.

. . . not … in anything less … exists in It.

It alone is eternal since It does not need anything. For It is totally perfect. It does not lack anything such that anything would perfect It, but It is always completely perfect in light. It can­not be limited because there is nothing before It to limit It. It is inscrutable because there is no one who exists before It to scrutinine It. It is immeasurable because there is nothing which exists before It to measure It. It is invisible because there is no one to see It. It is an eternity existing eternally. It is ineffable because there is no one able to comprehend It in order to speak about It. It is unnameable because there is no one before It to name It. It is the immeasurable light, which is pure, holy, and unpolluted. It is ineffable being perfect in incorruptibility. (It does) not (exist) in perfection, blessedness, or divinity but It is far supe­rior (to these).

It is neither corporeal nor incorporeal. It is not large or small. It is not such that one could say that It has quantity or quality. For it is not possible for anyone to know It. It is not something among existing things, but It is far superior—not as being supe­rior (to others as though It is comparable to them) but as that which belongs to Itself. It does not participate in the aeons or in time (as a constitutive part of them). For that which participates in an aeon was first prepared (by others). It was not given a portion in time because It does not receive anything from another- for what­ever It received would be received as a loan. For what exists prior to anything else is not deficient such that It should receive from any­thing.

For this one gazes marveling at Itself alone in Its light. … For It is a vastness. It possesses the immeasurable simplicity. It is an aeon giving aeon, life giving life, a blessed one giving blessedness, a knowledge giving understanding, a good one giving goodness. It is mercy giving mercy and salvation. It is grace giving grace—not such that it possesses it but that It gives.

5 How am I to speak with you about the immeasurable, incomprehensible light? For Its aeon is indestructible, being tranquil and existing in si­lence, being at rest. It exists prior to the All, for It is the head of all the aeons and It gives them strength in Its goodness.

For we do not understand these ineffable matters, and none of us knows those immeasurable things except for the one who appeared from the Father. This is the one who spoke to us alone.

For (It is) the one who gazes at Itself alone in Its light that sur­rounds It, which is the spring of the living water.

And It provides for all the aeons.

And in every way It gazes upon Its image, seeing it in the spring of the Spirit, willing in Its light-water which is in the spring of the pure light-water which surrounds It.