2. Now, the Gospel is the revelation of the hopeful, it is the finding of themselves by those who seek him. For since the totality were searching for him from whom they came forth—and the totality were within him, the Inconceivable Incomprehensible, he who exists beyond all thought¹—hence unacquaintance with the Father caused anxiety and fear. Then the anxiety condensed like a fog so that no one could see. (¹Ph 125)
3. Wherefore confusion grew strong, contriving its matter in emptiness and unacquaintance with the truth, preparing to substitute a potent and alluring fabrication for truthfulness. But this was no humiliation for him, the Inconceivable Incomprehensible. For the anxiety and the amnesia¹ and the deceitful fabrication were nothing—whereas the established truth is immutable, imperturbable and of unadornable beauty. Therefore despise confusion! It has no roots and was in a fog concerning the Father, preparing labors and amnesia and fear in order thereby to entice those of the transition and take them captive. (Ph 68; ¹Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina: ‘That universal solution which life gives to all questions, even the most complex and insolvable: one must live in the needs of the day—that is, forget.’)
4. The amnesia of confusion was not made as a revelation, it is not the handiwork of the Father. Forgetfulness does not occur under his directive, although it does happen because of him. But rather what exists within him is acquaintanceshipº—this being revealed so that forgetfulness might dissolve and the Father be recognized. Since amnesia occurred because the Father was not recognized, thereafter when the Father is recognized there will be no more forgetting.
5. This is the Gospel of him who is sought, which he has revealed to those perfected thru the mercies of the Father as the secret mystery:
6. Therefore confusion was enraged at him and pursued him in order to suppress and eliminate him. He was nailed to a crossbeam,¹ he became the fruit of recognizing the Father. Yet it did not cause those who consumed it to perish, but rather to those who consumed it he bestowed a rejoicing at such a discovery. For he found them in himself and they found him in themselves²—the Inconceivable Incomprehensible, the Father, this perfect-one who created the totality, within whom the totality exists and of whom the totality has need. For he had withheld within himself their perfection, which he had not yet conferred upon them all. (¹anti-Gnostic: Dt 21:22-23, Jn 19:18, Ac 10:39; ²Jn 14:20)
7. The Father is not jealous, for what envy could there be between him and his members?¹ For if the way of this aeon had prevailed they would not have been able to come unto the Father, who retains within himself their fulfillment and bestows it upon them as a return to himself with a recognition which is single in perfection. It is he who ordained the totality, and the totality is within him² and the totality had need of him. It is like a person with whom some have been unacquainted, yet who desires that they recognize and love him. For what did they all lack except acquaintance with the Father? (Jn 14:9; ¹Mk 15:10!,Th 77; ²Jn 17:21, Ph 21)
8. Thus he became a reposeful and leisurely guide in the place of instruction. The Logos came to the midstº and spoke as their appointed teacher. There approached those who considered themselves wise, putting him to the test—yet he shamed them in their vanity. They hated him because they were not truly wise. Then after them all there also approached the little children, those who are acquainted with the Father. Having been confirmed, they learned of the face-formsº of the Father.¹ They recognized, they were recognized; they were glorified, they glorified. Revealed in their heart was the living book of life, this which is inscribed in the thought and mind of the Father and which has been within his incomprehensibility since before the foundation of the totality. No one can take this (book) away, because it was appointed for him who would take it and be slain.² (Isa 5:21, Mt 18:10; ¹Ps 17:15, Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, V.6: ‘The Son is said to be the Father's face, being the revealer of the Father's character to the five senses by clothing Himself with flesh’; ²anti-Gnostic)
9. No one of those who trusted in salvation could have become manifest unless this book had come to the midst. This is why the merciful and faithful-one—Yeshua!—patiently endured the sufferings in order to take this book, since he knew that his death is life for many.¹ Just as the fortune of the deceased master of the estate remains secret until his bequest is opened, so also the totality remained hidden so long as the Father of the totality was invisible—this-one thru whom all dimensions originate. This is why Yeshua appeared, clothed in that book. (Rev/Ap 5:1-5; ¹anti-Gnostic)
10. He was nailed to a crossbeam in order to publish the edict of the Father on the cross.¹ Oh sublime teaching, such that he humbled himself unto death while clad in eternal life! He stripped off the rags of mortality in order to don this imperishability which none has the power to take from him. Entering into the empty spaces of the terrors, he brought forth those who had been divested by amnesia.² Acting with recognition and perfection, he proclaimed what is in the heart [of the Father, in order to] make wise those who are to receive the teaching. Yet those who are instructed are the living, inscribed in this book of life, who are taught about themselves and who receive themselves from the Father in again returning to him. (¹anti-Gnostic: Tr 6 refs.; ²Ph 75)
11. Because the perfection of the totality is in the Father, it is requisite that they all ascend unto him. When someone recognizes, he receives the things that are his own and gathers them to himself. For he who is unacquainted has a lack—and what he lacks is great, since what he lacks is Him who will make him perfect. Because the perfection of the totality is in the Father, it is requisite that they all ascend unto him. Thus each and every one receives himself. (Mt 5:48)
12. He pre-inscribed them, having prepared this gift for those who emerged from him. Those whose names he foreknew are all called at the end. Thus someone who recognizes has his name spoken by the Father.¹ For he whose name has not been spoken remains unacquainted. How indeed can anyone hearken whose name has not been called? For he who remains unacquainted until the end is a figment of forgetfulness and will vanish with it. Otherwise why indeed is there no name for those wretches, and why do they not heed the call? (¹I-Sam 3:10, Lk 19:5)
13. Thus someone with acquaintance is from above. When he is called he hears and heeds and returns to Him who called, ascending unto him. And he discovers who it is that calls him. In recognition he does the volition of him who called. He desires to please him, and granted repose he receives the Name of the One. He who recognizes thus discovers from whence he has come and whither he is going. He understands like someone who was intoxicated and who has shaken off his drunkenness and returned to himself, to set upright those things which are his own. (Th 28)
14. He has brought many back from confusion. He went before them into the spaces thru which their hearts had migrated in going astray, due to the depth of Him who encompasses all dimensions without himself being encompassed. It is a great wonder that they were within the Father without recognizing him, and that they were able to depart unto themselves because they could neither comprehend nor recognize him in whom they were. For thus his volition had not yet emerged from within himself. For he revealed himself so that all his emanationsº would reunite with him in recognition.
15. This is acquaintance with the Living Book, whereby at the end he has manifested the eternal-onesº as the alphabet of his revelation. These are not vowels nor are they consonants, such that someone might read them and think of emptiness, but rather they are the true alphabet by which those who recognize it are themselves expressed. Each letter is a perfect thought, each letter is like a complete book written in the alphabet of unity by the Father, who inscribes the eternal-ones so that thru his alphabet they might recognize the Father. (Ps 139:16, Rev/Ap 1:8)
16. His wisdom meditates on the Meaning—his teaching expresses it—his acquaintance revealed it—his dignity is crowned by it—his joy unites with it—his glory exalted it—his appearance manifested it—his repose received it—his love embodied¹ it—his faith embraced it. (¹definitively anti-Gnostic)
17. Thus the Logos of the Father comes into the totality as the fruit of his heart and the face-form of his volition. But he supports them all, he atones them and moreover he assumes the face-form of everyone, purifying them, bringing them back—within the Father, within the Mother, Yeshua of infinite kindness. The Father uncovers his bosom,¹ which is the Sacred Spirit, revealing his secret. His secret is his Son!² Thus thru the compassions of the Father the eternal-ones recognize him. And they cease their toil of seeking for the Father and repose in him, recognizing that this is the repose. (¹Odes of St Solomon, 8:17, ‘My own breasts I prepared for them, that they might drink my holy milk and live thereby’; see also Ode 19; ²Ph 20b)
18. Having replenished the deficiency, he dissolved the schemeº. For the scheme is this world in which he served as a slave, and deficiency is the place of envy and quarreling. Yet the place of the unity is perfect. Since deficiency occurred because the Father was not recognized, thereafter when the Father is recognized there shall be no deficiency. Just as with ignorance: when someone comes to know, the ignorance dissolves of itself—and also as darkness dissipates when the light shines—so also deficiency vanishes when perfection appears. Thus from that moment on there is no more scheme, but rather it disappears in the fusion of the unity. For now their involvements are made equal at the moment when the fusion perfects the spaces. (Th 61b)
19. Each one shall receive himself in the unification and shall be purified from multiplicity unto unity in acquaintanceship—consuming matter in himself like a flame, darkness with light, and death with life. Since these things have thus happened to each one of us, it is appropriate that we think of the totality so that the household be holy and silent for the unity. (Ps 46:10, Zech 2:13)
20. It is like some who move jars from their proper places to unsafe places, where they are broken. And yet the master of the house suffered no loss but rather rejoiced, for those unsound jars were replaced by these which are fully perfect. This is the judgment which has come from above, like a double-edged sword drawn to cut this way and that as each one is judged. (Rev/Ap 1:16)
21. There came to the midst the Logos, which is in the heart of those who express it. This was not a mere sound, but rather he became a body.¹ A great disturbance occurred among the jars—for lo some were emptied, others were filled, some were supplied, others were overturned, some were cleansed, others were broken. All of the spaces quaked and were agitated, having neither order nor stability. Confusion was in anguish at not discerning what to do—distressed and lamenting and shearing² from understanding nothing. (¹anti-Gnostic!; ²Lev 19:27 & Num 6:5)
22. Then when recognition approached with all its emanations, this was the annihilation of confusion, which was emptied into nothingness. The truth came to the midst, and all his emanations recognized and embraced the Father in truth and united with him in a perfect power. For everyone who loves the truth attaches himself to the mouth of the Father with his tongue by receiving the Sacred Spirit.¹ The truth is the mouth of the Father, his tongue is the Sacred Spirit joined to him in truth. This is the revelation of the Father and his self-manifestation to his eternal-ones. He has revealed his secret, explaining it all. (Th Prolog/108; ¹Ac 2:1-4)
23. For who is the Existent-One, except for the Father alone? All dimensions are his emanations, recognized in coming forth from his heart like sons from a mature person who knows them. Each one whom the Father begets had previously received neither formº nor name. Then they were formed thru his self-awareness. Although indeed they had been in his mind, they had not recognized him. The Father however is perfectly acquainted with all the dimensions, which are within him.
24. Whenever he wishes he manifests whomever he wishes, forming him and naming him. And in giving him a name, he causes him to come into being. Before they came into being, these assuredly were unacquainted with him who fashioned them. I do not say however that those who have not yet come into being are nothings—but rather they pre-exist within him who shall intend their becoming when he desires it, like a season yet to come.¹ Before anyone is manifest (the Father) knows what he will bring forth. But the fruit that is not yet manifest neither recognizes nor accomplishes anything. Thus all dimensions themselves exist within the Father who exists, from whom they come forth, and who established them unto himself from that which is not. (Th 19; ¹Ph 1)
25. Whoever lacks root also lacks fruit, but still he thinks to himself: ‘I have become, so I shall decease—for everything that (earlier) did not (yet) exist, (later) shall no (longer) exist.’¹ What therefore does the Father desire that such a person think about himself?: ‘I have been like the shadows and the phantoms of the night!’ When the dawn shines upon him, this person ascertains that the terror which had seized him was nothing. They were thus unacquainted with the Father because they did not behold him. Hence there occurred terror and turmoil and weakness and doubt and division, with many deceptions and empty fictions at work thru these. (¹Wisd 2:2, ‘We were born by mere chance, and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been’; Victor Hugo, Les Misérables: ‘Did I exist before my birth? No. Shall I, after my death? No.’)
26. It was as if they were sunk in sleep and found themselves in troubled dreams—either fleeing somewhere, or powerlessly pursuing others, or delivering blows in brawls, or themselves suffering blows, or falling from a high place, or sailing thru the air without wings. Sometimes it even seems as if they are being murdered although no one pursues them, or as if they themselves are murdering their neighbors since they are sullied by their blood. (James Joyce, Ulysses, 2: ‘History ... is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake’)
27. Then the moment comes when those who have endured all this awaken, no longer to see all those troubles—for they are naught.¹ Such is the way of those who have cast off ignorance like sleep and consider it to be nothing, neither considering its various events as real, but rather leaving it behind like a dream of the night. Recognizing the Father brings the dawn! This is what each one has done, sleeping in the time when he was unacquainted. And this is how, thus awakened, he comes to recognition. (Isa 29:7-8; ¹Th 2)
28. How good for the person who returns to himself and awakens, and blest is he whose blind eyes have been opened! And the Spirit ran after him, resurrecting him swiftly. Extending her hand to him who was prostrate on the ground, she lifted him up on his feet who had not yet arisen. Now the recognition which gives understanding is thru the Father and the revelation of his Son. Once they have seen him and heard him, he grants them to taste and to smell and to touch the beloved Son. (the five senses: anti-Gnostic!!; Th 19)
29. When he appeared, telling them about the incomprehensible Father, he breathed into them¹ what is in the thought of doing his volition. Many received the light and returned to him. But the materialists were alien and did not behold his likeness nor recognize him, although he came forth incarnate² in form. Nothing obstructs his course—for imperishability is indomitable. Moreover he proclaimed beforehand that which was new, expressing what is in the heart of the Father and bringing forth the flawless Logos. (¹see ΕΜΦΥΣΑΩ [inflate] in Jn 20:22 [LSJ, Biblio. 22: ‘to blow in’], also Gen 2:7; Odes of St Solomon, 18:19—‘The Most High breathed into them’; ²anti-Gnostic, Jn 1:14)
30. Light spoke thru his mouth, and his voice gave birth to life.¹ He gave to them the thought of wisdom, of mercy, of salvation, of the Spirit of power from the infinity and the kindness of the Father. He abolished punishment and torment,² for these caused some who had need of mercy to go astray from his face in confusion and bondage. And with power he pardoned them, and he humbled them in acquaintanceship. (¹II-Sam 23:2; ²Lk 23:34, Jn 8:2-11!)
31. He became a path for those who had strayed; acquaintance for the unaware; discovery for those who seek; stability for the wavering; and immaculate purity for those who were defiled.
32. He is the shepherd who left behind the 99 sheep that were not lost, in order to go searching for this-one which had strayed. And he rejoiced when he found it. For 99 is a number that is countedº on the left hand, which tallies it. But when 1 is added, the entire sum passes to the right hand. So it is with him who lacks the One, which is the entire right hand—he takes from the left what is deficient in order to transfer it to the right, and thus the number becomes 100. Now, the signification within these words is the Father. (Mt 18:12-13, Th 107)
33. Even on the Sabbath he labored for the sheep which he found fallen into the pit. He restored the sheep to life, bringing it up from the pit, so that you Sons of heart-understanding may discern this Sabbath on which the work of salvation must never cease, and so that you may speak from this day which is above, which has no night, and from the perfect light which never sets. (Mt 12:11, Th 27/34, Ph 142)
34. Speak therefore from your hearts, for you are this perfect day and within you dwells this abiding light. Speak of the truth with those who seek it, and of acquaintanceship unto those who in confusion have transgressed. Support those who stumble, reach out your hand to the sick, feed those who are hungry, give repose to the weary, uplift those who yearn to arise, awaken those who sleep—for you are the wisdom that rescues! (Mt 25:31-46!)
35. Thus strength grows in action. Give heed to yourselves—be not concerned with those other things which you have already cast out of yourselves. Do not return to what you have regurgitated, be not moth-eaten, be not worm-eaten—for you have already cast that out. Do not become a place for the Devil, for you have already eliminated him. Do not reinforce those things that made you stumble and fall. Thus is uprightness!
36. For someone who violates the Torah harms himself more than the judgment harms him.¹ For he does his deeds illicitly, whereas he who is righteous does his deeds for the sake of others. Do therefore the volition of the Father, because you are from him. For the Father is kind, and things are good thru his volition. He has taken cognizance of whatever is yours, so that you may repose yourselves concerning such things—for in their fruition it is recognized whose they are. (¹St Augustine, Confessions, I: ‘Every disorder of the soul is its own punishment’; Jn 16:28, Lk 6:43-44)
37. The Sons of the Father are his fragrance, for they are from the grace of his face. Therefore the Father loves his fragrance and manifests it everywhere. And blending it with matter,¹ he bestows his fragrance upon the light, and in his repose he exalts it over every likeness and every sound. For it is not the ears that inhale the fragrance, but rather the breath² has the sense of smell and draws it to oneself—and thus is someone baptized in the fragrance of the Father. (¹anti-Gnostic!; ²spirit; Ph 118)
38. Thus he draws into harbor his original fragrance which had grown cold, unto the place from which it came. It was something which in psychic form had become like cold water permeating loose soil, such that those who see it think it to be dirt. Then afterward, when a warm and fragrant breeze blows, it again evaporates. Thus coldness results from separation.a This is why the Faithful-One came—to abolish division and bring the warm fullness of love, so that the cold would not return but rather there should be the unification of perfect thought. This is the Logos of the Gospel of the finding of the fullness by those who await the salvation which comes from on high. Prolonged is the hope of those who await—those whose likeness is the light which contains no shadow—at that time when the fullness finally comes. (II-Pet 3:3-13, Ph 85/112; aTh 11, Ph 86)
39. The deficiency of matter did not originate thru the infinity of the Father, who came in the time of inadequacy—although no one could predict that the indestructible would arrive in this manner. But the profundity of the Father abounded, and the thought of confusion was not with him. It is a topic for falling prostrate, it is a reposeful topic—to be set upright on one's feet, in being found by This-One who came to bring him back. For the return is called Repentanceº! (Mk 1:4+15, Tr 28)
40. This is why imperishability breathed forth—to seek after the transgressor so that he might have repose. For to forgive is to remain behind with the light, the Logos of the fullness, in the deficiency. Thus the physician hastens to the place where there is illness, for this is his heart's desire. But he who has a lack cannot hide it from him who possesses what he needs. Thus the fullness, which has no deficiency, replenishes the lack. (the Diatessaron [150 AD]: ‘Where there is suffering, [Christ] says, to there the physician hastens’)
41. (The Father) gave of himself to replenish whomever lacks, in order that thereby he may receive grace. In the time of his deficiency he had no grace. Thus wherever grace is absent, there is inferiority. At the time when he received this smallness which he lacked,¹ (then the Father) revealed to him a fullness, which is this finding of the light of truth that dawned upon him in unchangeability. This is why the Christ was invoked in their midst—so that they would receive their returning. He anoints with the Chrism those who have been troubled.² The anointing is the compassion of the Father who will have mercy upon them. Yet those whom he has anointed are those who are perfected³. (¹Mt 18:4, Th 21/22/46, Tr 8; ²Th 2; ³Mt 5:48, Ph 28)
42. For jars which are full are those which are sealedº. Yet when its sealant is destroyed, a jar leaks. And the cause of its being emptied is the absence of its sealant, for then something in the dynamics of the air evaporates it. But nothing is emptied if the sealant has not been removed, nor does anything leak away, but rather the perfect Father replenishes whatever is lacking.
43. He is good. He knows his seedlings, for it is he who planted them in his paradise. Now his paradise is his realm of repose. This is the perfection in the thought of the Father, and these are the logoiº of his meditation. Each one of his logoi is the product of his unitary volition in the revelation of his meaning. While they were still in the depths of his thought, the Logos was the first to come forth. Furthermore he revealed them from a mind that expresses the unique Logos in the silent grace called thought, since they existed therein prior to becoming manifest. So it occurred that (the Logos) was the first to come forth, at the time when it pleased the will of him who intended it. (Jn 1:1)
44. Now the volition of the Father is that which reposes in his heart and pleases him. Nothing exists without him, nor does anything occur without the volition of the Father.¹ But his volition is unfathomable.² His volition is his imprint³, and no one can determine it nor anticipate it in order to control it. But whenever he wills, what he wills exists—even if the sight does not please them. They are nothing before the face of God and the volition of the Father. For he knows the beginning and the ending of them all—at their finish he shall question them face-to-face. Yet the finish is to receive acquaintance with This-One who was hidden.¹ª Now this is the Father—this-one from whom the beginning came forth, this-one to whom all these shall return who came forth from him.²ª Yet they have been manifest for the glory and joy of his Name. (¹Ps 139:16, Pro 20:24, Jn 5:19; ²Isa 40:13; ³Coptic i`nos, i.e. Greek ΙΧΝΟΣ: lit. ‘footprint’; ¹ªClement of Alexandria, Stromata, V.6: ‘Having become Son and Friend, [the Disciple] is now replenished with insatiable contemplation face to face’; ²ªTh 77)
45. Now the Name of the Father is the Son. He first named him who came forth from himself, and who is himself. And he begot him as a Son. He bestowed his own Name upon him. It is the Father who from his heart possesses all things. He has the Name, he has the Son who can be seen. Yet his Name is transcendental—for it alone is the mystery of the invisible, which thru him comes to ears completely filled with it. (Mt 1:21, Lk 1:31, Jn 17:6-26!, Ph 11!)
46. For indeed the Name of the Father is not spoken,¹ yet rather it is manifested as a Son.² Accordingly, great is the Name! Who therefore could proclaim a Name for him, the supreme Name, except him alone whose Name this is, together with the Sons of the Name?—those in whose heart the Name of the Father reposes and who themselves likewise repose in his Name. Because the Father is immutable, it is he alone who begot him as his own Name before he fashioned the eternal-ones, so that the Name of the Father would be Lord over their heads—this-one who is truly the Name, secure in his command of perfect power. (Ex 3:14, Th 13; ¹see Ph 11, note 2; also Lao Tse, Tao Teh Ching, 1: ‘The name which can be named is not the Eternal Name’; ²Jn 17:6)
47. The Name is not mere verbiage, nor is it only terminology, but rather it is transcendental. He alone named him, he alone seeing him, he alone having the power to give him a name. Whoever does not exist has no name—for what names are given to nothings? But this existing-one exists together with his Name. And the Father alone knows him, and he alone names him.
48. The Son is his Name. He did not keep him hidden as a secret—but rather the Son came to be, and (the Father) alone named him. Thus the Name belongs to the Father, such that the Name of the Father is the Son. How otherwise would compassion find a name, except from the Father? For after all, anyone will say to his companion: ‘Whoever could give a name to someone who existed before him?—as if children do not thus receive their names thru those who gave them birth!’
49. Firstly, therefore, it is appropriate that we think on this topic: what is the Name? Truly (the Son) is the Name—thus also he is the Name from the Father. He is the existent Name of the Lord. Thus he did not receive the Name on loan as do others, according to the pattern of each individual who is to be created in his heart. For he is the Lordly Name. There is no one else who bestowed it upon him, but he was unnameable and it was ineffable until the time when He who is Perfect gave expression to (the Son) alone. And it is (the Son) who has the power to express his Name and to see him. Thus it pleased (the Father) in his heart that his desired Name be his Son, and he gave the Name to him—This-One who came forth from the profundity.
50. (The Son) expressed his secret, knowing that the Father is benevolent. This is exactly why (the Father) brought this-one forth—so that he might speak of the dominion and his place of repose from which he came, and render glory to the fullness, the majesty of his Name, and the kindness of the Father. He shall speak of the realm from which each one came—and each one who issued from that place shall thus be hastened to return unto it again, to share in receiving his substance in the place where he stood,¹ receiving the taste of that place, receiving nourishment and growth. And his own dominion of repose is his fullness. (¹Th 28)
51. Thus all the emanations of the Father are plenitudes, and the source of all his emanations is within the heart of Him from whom they all flourish. He bestowed their destinies upon them.¹ Thus is each one made manifest, such that thru their own meditation they [return to] the place to which they direct their thought. That place is their source, which lifts them thru all the heights of heaven unto the Father. They attain unto his head, which becomes their repose. And they are embraced as they approach him, so that they say that they have partaken of his face in embraces. Yet they are not thus made manifest by exalting themselves. They neither lack the glory of the Father, nor do they think of him as being trite or bitter or wrathful. But rather he is benevolent, imperturbable and kind—knowing all the dimensionalities before they come into existence, and having no need of edification. (¹Ps 139:16, Pro 20:24, Jn 5:19)
52. This is the manner of those who themselves belong on high thru the grandeur of the immeasurable, as they await the Unique and Perfect-One who makes himself there for them. And they do not descend unto the abode of the deadº. They have neither jealousy nor lamentation nor mortality there among them, but rather they repose within him who is reposeful. They are neither troubled nor devious concerning the truth, but rather they themselves are the truth. The Father is within them and they are within the Father, perfected and made indivisible in the truly good, not inadequate in anything but rather given repose and refreshed in the Spirit. And they shall obey their source in leisure, these within whom his root is found and who harm no soul. This is the place of the blest, this is their place! (Jn 17:21-23, Ph 102)
53. Wherefore let the remainder understand in their places that it is not appropriate for me, having been in the realm of repose, to say anything further. But it is within his heart that I shall be—forever devoted to the Father of the totality, together with those true Brothers and Sisters upon whom pours the love of the Father and among whom there is no lack of him. These are they who are genuinely manifest, being in the true and eternal life and speaking the perfect light which is filled with the seed of the Father, and who are in his heart and in the fullness and in whom his Spirit rejoices, glorifying him in whom they exist. He is good, and his Sons and Daughters are perfect and worthy of his Name. For it is children of this kind that he the Father desires.
Notes to Truth
The translation of the Gospel of Truth is concordant with that of Thomas and Philip, and therefore words discussed in the notes there are not duplicated here. Online are (1) the Coptic text: The Gospel of Truth; (2) Kendrick Grobel's detailed textual commentary (Biblio.16); and (3) a preliminary version of another extraordinary text from the Nag Hammadi library, which may also be by Valentine: The Supremacy.
Acquaintanceship (4): see Recognition in Th Notes.
Count (32): this refers to the ancient technique of finger-calculation, whereby numbers 1→99 were counted on the left hand but from 100 upward on the right hand; the number 100 itself was formed by touching the right forefinger-tip to the upper joint of the thumb (the Hindus call such a symbolic hand-posture a ‘mudra’).
Dead, Abode of the (52): Coptic emnte (C056a, C008b: ‘west’, as the entrance to the underworld) = Hebrew lw)# (sheol: ‘plead’) = Greek ΑΔΗΣ (hades: ‘unseen’).
Emanation (14/22/23/51): Coptic 5h (C392); Th 77; Grobel (Biblio.16) convincingly shows that this term is analogous to the Neo-Platonic notion of divine radiation, wherein all beings are likened to sunbeams emanating from the one God; see Plotinus,Enneads: ‘The analogy of light from a sun—the entire intellectual order may be figured as a kind of light, with the One in repose at its summit as its King’ (V.3.12); also A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Beyond Illusion and Doubt (1999): ‘In theBhagavad-gita, Krishna says, aham sarvasya prabhavah: “Everything is emanating from Me.” Christ says that he is the son of God, and this means that he emanates from God.’
Eternal-Ones (15): see Aeon in Ph Notes; all creatures considered as eternal, relative to the trans-dimensional mind of God (Lk 20:38, Jn 6:54, ‘Angel, Image and Symbol’).
Face-Form (8/17): Coptic moung n.6o (C175a, C646b: form of face); Gen 32:30/33:10, Th 76; here the idea seems similar to that expressed in those extraordinary Hindu religious paintings which show all men and creatures as countless manifestations of one transcendental Deity (the Brahman)—this metaphysic is found in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita; see Emanation.
Form (23/29/38/52): Latin FORMA; it is a noteworthy idiosyncrasy of both this text and the Supremacy that the Latin term is employed rather than the Greek ΜΟΡΦΗ.
Logoi (43): Greek ΛΟΓΟΙ; this is the plural of ΛΟΓΟΣ (see Logos in Th Notes), indicating that each Son-or-Daughter of God is a divine Logos like unto the Savior (see Lk 6:40 with Jn 1:1 & Th 108, also Ph 133 where John the Baptist is quoted as Logos!).
Midst (8): Coptic mhte (C190b: amidst, in transition, hence this transitory world); see Transition in Ph Notes and in Tr 3.
Recognize (1): see Recognition in Th Notes, Hos 6:6, Mt 5:8.
Repentance (39): see Repent in Th Notes.
Scheme (18): Greek ΣΧΗΜΑ; form, plan, appearance as opposed to the substantial reality.
Seal (42): Coptic tbbe (C398b); a sealant such as retsina, used to affix the top onto a jar/amphora to make it airtight (perhaps led to the tradition of retsina flavoring in Greek wine).
2. The slave seeks only to be set free, yet he does not seek after the estate of his master. Yet the son not only acts as a son, but also the father ascribes the inheritance to him. (Gen 15:2-3, Pro 17:2, Jn 8:35, Th 72;hyperlinear)
3. Those who inherit the dead are themselves dead, and they inherit the dead. Those who inherit the Living-One are alive, and they inherit both the living and the dead. The dead do not inherit anything. For how will the dead inherit? When the dead inherits the Living-One, he shall not die but rather the dead shall instead live. (Th 111; hyperlinear)
4. A nationalistº does not die, for he has never lived so that he could die.¹ Whoever has trustedº the truth (became) alive—and this-one is in danger of dying (as a martyr), for he is alive since the day that the Christº came. (Gen 12:1-3, Isa 40:17, Mt 24:9; ¹Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, Inferno, III.64: ‘These wretches, who had never truly lived’; Desiderius Erasmus, In Praise of Folly: ‘It really makes little difference when such a man dies; he has never lived’; hyperlinear)
5. The system is invented, the cities are constructed, the dead carried out. (asyndeta; Gen 4:17, Isa 40:17, Rev/Ap 18, Lk 9:60, Ph 105; Percy Bysshe Shelley, Peter Bell the Third, III.1: ‘Hell is a city much like London’; Thomas Merton, Raids on the Unspeakable: ‘[There is] one basic lie: only the city is real’; hyperlinear)
6. In the days when we were Hebrews we were left fatherless¹, having only our Mother (the Sacred Spiritº). Yet when we became Christics (Messianicsº), Father came to be with Mother for us. (¹Gk ΟΡΦΑΝΟΣ, [orphan] but the corresponding Heb Mwty and Aram )mty mean only ‘fatherless’, not also ‘motherless’; hyperlinear)
7. Those who sow in the winter reap in the summer. The winter is the world,¹ the summer is the other aeonº. Let us sow in the world so that we will harvest in the summer. Because of this, it is appropriate for us not to pray in the wintertime. What emerges from the winter is the summer. Yet if anyone reaps in the winter he will not harvest but rather uproot, as this method will not produce fruit. Not only does it [not come forth in winter], but in the other Sabbath also his field is fruitless. (¹asyndeton; Mt 6:1-6, Th 14/27/104!; hyperlinear)
8. The Christ came! Some indeed he ransoms, yet others he saves, yet for others he atonesº. Those who were alienated he ransomed,¹ he brought them to himself. And he saved those who came to him—these he set as pledges in his desire. Not only when he was revealed did he appoint the soul as he desired, but since the day of the world's origin he appointed the soul. At the time he desires he came first to fetch it, since it was placed among the pledges. It came to be under the bandits and they took it captive. Yet he saved it, and he atoned for both the good and the evil in the world. (¹asyndeton; Mk 10:45, Jn 10:17-18; St JustinMartyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 47 [ca. 160 AD]: ‘Our Lord Jesus Christ said: As I find you, thus shall I judge you’; hyperlinear)
9. The light with the darkness, life with death, the right with the left are brothers one to another. It is not possible for them to be separated from one another. Because of this, neither are the good good, nor are the evils evil, nor is the life a life, nor is death a death. Therefore each individual shall be resolved into his origin from (the) beginning. Yet those exalted above the world are immortal (and¹) are in eternityº. (¹asyndeton; Isa 45:7, Lam 3:38; Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or: ‘The true eternity is not located after either/or, but before it’; cp. the Chinese Tao; hyperlinear)
10. The names which are given by the worldly—therein is a great confusionº. For their hearts are turned away from the real unto the unreal. And he who hears the (word) ‘God’ does not think of the real, but rather he is made to think of the unreal. So also with (the words) ‘the Father’ and ‘the Son’ and ‘the Sacred Spirit’ and ‘the Life’ and ‘the Light’ and ‘the Resurrection’ and ‘the Convocationº’ [and] all the other (words)—they do not think of the real, but rather they are made to think of the [un]real. [...] Moreover they have learned the [all-human] reality of death. They are in the system,¹ [they are made to think of the unreal]. If they were in eternity, they would not have designated anything as a worldly evil, nor would they have been placed within worldly events. There is a destiny for them in eternity. (Isa 5:20!; ¹asyndeton; note this extraordinary analysis of commonplace religious language as itself both perverted and perverting; Samuel Beckett, Endgame: ‘I use the words you taught me. If they don't mean anything any more, teach me others. Or let me be silent’; see also Ph 13, and Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, V.14: ‘We are not to think of God according to the opinion of the multitude’; hyperlinear)
11. One single name they do not utter in the world—the Name which the Father bestowed upon himself by means of the Son, this existent Name of the Father, (which) he exalts over all.¹ For the Son could not become the Father, unless he were given the Name of the Father. This existing Name they are made to have in thought, yet nonetheless they speak it not.² Yet those who do not have it, cannot even think it. But the truth engendered words in the world for the our sake. It would not be possible to learn it without words. (! Jn 17; ¹Th 77, Tr 45; ²as in I-Ki 19:12, where hqd hmmd lwq means ‘calm silent voice’; hyperlinear)
12. She alone is the truth. She makes (the) multitude, and concerning us she teaches this alone in a love thru many. (Ph 6/18/40; hyperlinear)
13. The authoritiesº desired to deceive humankind, because they perceived him being in a kinship with the truly good. They took the word ‘good’, they applied it to the ungood, so that thru words they might deceive him and bind (him) to the ungood.¹ And subsequently, when these who have recognizedº themselves receive grace, the (words) are withdrawn from the ungood and applied to the good. For (the authorities) had desired to take the free (person), to keep him enslaved to themselves forever. There are powers entrusted to humans. (The authorities) do not want him [to recognize] (himself), so that they will become [masters] over him. For if there is mankind, there is [slavery]. (Isa 5:20, Ph 10; ¹Henry David Thoreau, Walden: ‘The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad’; Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The First Circle: ‘A prisoner ... who has risen to that stage of development where the bad begins to appear the good’; hyperlinear)
14. Sacrifices began [...], and animals were offered up to the powers. [...] They were offered up to them still alive—they were indeed offered up living. Yet (when¹) they were offered up, they died. (But) the human² was offered up dead to God—and he lived. (¹asyndeton; ²Christ/Christic; hyperlinear)
15. Before the Christ came, there was no bread in the world as (there had been) in paradiseº, the place where Adam was. It had many plants as nourishment for the wild animals, (but¹) it had no wheat as food for humankind; the human was nourished like the wild animals. But the Christ was sent, the perfectº person. He brought bread from heaven, so that humankind could be nourished with the food of humankind. (¹asyndeton; Ps 78:25, Jn 6:30-59; NB: ΕΠΙΟΥΣΙΟΝ in Mt 6:11—its sole occurrence in all of Greek literature—means literally ‘super-substantial’ and thus ‘essential’, not ‘daily’; hyperlinear)
16. The authorities were thinking that by their own power and volition they enact what they do. Yet the Sacred Spirit in secret was (all along) energizing everything thru them as she wishes. (e.g. Jer 25:8-9, Jn 19:11!; hyperlinear)
17. The truth, which exists from the origin, is sown everywhere, and the multitude see it being sown—while yet few who see it reap it. (Mt 22:14, Th 21; hyperlinear)
18. Some say that Mariam was impregnated by the Sacred Spirit. They are confused,¹ they know not what they say. Whenever has a femaleº been impregnated by a female? Mariam is the virgin whom no power has defiledº, as she is of grandeur among the consecrations for the Hebrew Apostlesº and for the Apostolicsº. Whoever of the powers (attempts to) defile this virgin, [... such] powers are (merely)defiling themselves. And the Lord was not going to say ‘my Father [in] the heavens’, as if he indeed had another father—but rather he said simply [‘my Father’]. (¹asyndeton; Lk 2:48-49!!, Ph 6; Odes of St Solomon, 19:6, ‘The Spirit opened the womb of the Virgin’; hyperlinear)
19. The Lord says to the Disciplesº: [...] Indeed come into the house of the Father, (but¹) do not possess (anything) nor likewise remove (anything/anyone) from the house of the Father. (¹asyndeton; Jn 14:2; Clement of Alexandria, in Stromata, V.10.64, attributes to the Savior this saying: ‘My mystery is for me and for the Sons of my House’; hyperlinear)
20a. ‘Yeshúa’ is a personal name, ‘the Christ’ is a common noun.¹ Thus ‘Yeshúa’ indeed does not occur in any (other) languages, but rather his name is ‘Yeshúa’ as he is called. Yet his name ‘Christ’ in Aramaicº is ‘Messiahº’, but in Ionianº is: Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ. Altogether, all of the remainder have (‘the Anointedº’) according to the particular language of each one. (Lk 1:31; ¹literally ‘secret/revealed name’, but the sense seems to be ‘proper/common noun’; hyperlinear)
20b. The revealed Nazareneº is the secret! (Lk 4:16-30, Th 108; hyperlinear)
21. The Christ has everything within himself—whether human or angelº or mysteryº, and (also) the Father. (Lk 17:21, Jn 17:21-23, Th 3; hyperlinear)
22. Those who say that the Lord first died and then arose are confused. For first he arose and (then) he died. If someone first acquires the resurrection, he will not die; (as) God lives, that one was [not] going to [die]. (Lk 20:36, Jn 11:26, Th 29; hyperlinear)
23. No one will hide a thing of great value in something conspicuous, but oftentimes has one placed (things worth) countless myriads in something worth a pittance. Thus it is with the soul—something precious came to be in a body scorned as shameful. (Porphyry, On the Life of Plotinus, 1: ‘Plotinus ... seemed ashamed of being in the body’; Gen 3:7, Job 10:11, Th 29/37; hyperlinear)
24. There are some made fearful lest they arise naked. Therefore they desire to arise in the flesh, and they do not know that those who wear the flesh are the denuded. These who are made [into light] (by) divesting themselves (of the flesh), are they who are not naked.¹ (¹because they are clad in the imagesº; Ph 26/85; Odes of St Solomon, 25:8, ‘I was clothed with the covering of thy Spirit, and thou removed from me my garment of skin’; hyperlinear)
25. (Paulº claims that) ‘flesh [and blood will not be able] to inherit the Sovereignty [of God].’¹ What is this which shall not inherit? This which is upon every one of us? Yet this is rather what will inherit—that which belongs to Yeshua with his blood. Therefore he says: He who eats not my flesh and drinks not my blood, has no life within him.² What is his flesh? It is the Logos; and his blood is the Sacred Spirit.³ He who has received these has food and drink and clothing. I myself rebuke those others who say that (the flesh) shall not arise. (For) both of these are in error: Thou say that the flesh shall not arise, but tell me what will arise so that I may honor thee; thou say it is the spirit in the flesh and this other light in the flesh—(but¹ª) this also is an incarnate saying. Whatever thou will say, thou do not say anything apart from the flesh!²ª It is necessary to arise in this flesh, (as¹ª) everything exists within it.³ª (¹=I-Cor 15:50!; ²=Jn 6:53!; ³Ph 106!; ¹ªasyndeton; ²ªan astonishing philosophical argument—emphatically anti-Gnostic and explicitly anti-Pauline; Job 19:25, Isa 26:19, Dan 12:2, Lk 24:39, Jn 5:25-26, Ac 4:33, Rev/Ap 20:11-13; Averroes, Tahafut al Tahafut, About the Natural Sciences, II: ‘The soul can only exist through the body’; Moses Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed, I.51: ‘Man is [essentially] a speaking animal’; ³ªNorman O. Brown, The Resurrection of the Body: ‘Eternal life can only be life in a body.... Hence the affirmation of Tertullian: Resurget igitur caro, et quidem omnis, et quidem ipsa, et quidem integra—The body will rise again, all of the body, the identical body, the entire body’; hyperlinear)
26. In this world they who wear garments¹ are more valuable than the garments. In the Sovereignty of the Heavens the garments² are more valuable than those whom they have clothed thru water with fire, which purify the entire place. (¹of materials; ²of sensory images; Ps 104:2!, Ph 28/71; hyperlinear)
27. The revelations thru those who reveal,¹ the secrets thru those who hide (them). Some (things) are kept secret by those who reveal. (¹asyndeton; Mt 13:10-15, Rev/Ap 10:4!, Th Prolog/62/108; Henry James, ‘The Death of the Lion’: ‘Wasn’t an immediate exposure of everything just what the public wanted?’; hyperlinear)
28. There is water in a (Baptism of) water, there is fire in a Chrismº. (asyndeton; Mt 3:11; hyperlinear)
29. Yeshua took them all by surprise. For he did not reveal himself as he [truly] had been, but rather he has revealed himself as [they will] be able essentially to perceive him. They were susceptible to dying,(but¹) he revealed himself to them. [He revealed himself] to the great as great, he revealed himself to the small as small, he [revealed himself to the] angels as an angel and to mankind as (a) man.² Thus his Logos concealed him from all beings. Some indeed saw him, thinking they were seeing themselves. But (when¹) he revealed himself to his Disciples in glory upon the mountain, he was not made small. He became great, but he (also) made the Disciples great so that they would be capable of beholding him made great. (¹asyndeton; ²Marco Polo, The Travels, I.13, re the Magi; Mt 17:1-8; hyperlinear)
30. He said on that day in the Eucharistº: Oh Thou who have matedº the Perfect Light with the Sacred Spirit,¹ mate also our angels with the imagesº! (¹NB in Hebrew/Aramaic the word ‘light’ [rw)] is masculine, while ‘spirit’ [xwr]is feminine; hyperlinear)
31. Do not disdain the Lamb, for without him it is not possible to see the door. No one divested will be able to enter unto the King. (Jn 1:36; hyperlinear)
32. The Sons of the Celestial Person are more numerous than those of the earthly person. If the sons of Adam are numerous although they invariably die, how many more are the Sons of the Perfect Person!—these who do not die but rather are continually being born. (Gen 2:17, Ecc 5:16, Jn 1:13/11:26; Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ: ‘We continue to be born’; Bob Dylan, It’s Alright Ma (video): ‘He not busy being born is busy dying’; hyperlinear)
33. The Father creates (a) Son, but it is not possible for the Son himself to create (a) son. For it is impossible for him who is begotten, himself to beget—but rather, the Son begets for himself Brothers, not sons. (Ps 2:7, Jn 20:17, Th 25, Ph 45!; hyperlinear)
34. All those who are begotten within the world are begotten physically, and the others are begotten [spiritually]. Those begotten in His heart [call forth] there to humankind, in order to nourish them in the promise [of the goal] which is above. (Jn 1:12-13; hyperlinear)
35. [Grace comes] forth from him thru the mouth, the place where the Logos came forth; (one) was to be nourished from the mouth and to become perfected. The perfect are conceived thru a kiss and they are born. Therefore we also are motivated to kiss one another—to receive conception from within our mutual grace. (I-Sam 20:41, Pro 24:26, Th 108, Ph 59; hyperlinear)
36. There were three Mariams who walked with the Lord at all times: his mother and [his] sister and (the) Magdaleneº—this one who is called his Companionº. Thus his (true) Mother and Sister and Mate¹is (also called) ‘Mariam’. (¹i.e. the Sacred Spirit; Mk 3:35, Th 101, Ph 59; hyperlinear)
37. ‘The Father’ and ‘the Son’ are single names, ‘the Sacred Spirit’ is a double name. For they are everywhere—above and below, secretly and manifestly. The Sacred Spirit is in the revealed, she is below, she is in the hidden, she is above. (Ph 74c; the Father is above and hidden, the Son is below and revealed, the Sacred Spirit is both above and below, both hidden and manifest; the Mundaka Upanishad: ‘That immortal Brahman alone is in front, that Brahman is behind, that Brahman is to the right and left; Brahman alone pervades everything above and below. This universe is that Supreme Brahman alone’; hyperlinear)
38. The Saints are served by the oppressive powers, for (the latter) are blinded by the Sacred Spirit, so that they will think they are assisting a human when they are serving the Saints. Because of this, (when¹) a Disciple one day made request of the Lord regarding a thing of the world, he says to him: Request of thy Mother, and she will give² to thee from that which belongs to another. (¹asyndeton; ²Mt 6:11,ΔΙΔΟΜΙ; hyperlinear)
39. The Apostles say to the Disciples: May our entire offering obtain salt! They called [wisdomº] ‘salt’—without it no offering becomes acceptable. (Lev 2:13, Num 18:19, II-Chr 13:5, Mk 9:49-50, Lk 7:35/11:49/21:15, Ac 6:3;hyperlinear)
40. Yet wisdom is barren [without (a)] Son—hence [she] is called [the Mother]. They [...]¹ in salt, the place where they shall [be as they were]—they themselves being found by the Sacred Spirit, [the True Mother who] multiplies her Sons. (Pro 8, Isa 54:1, Lk 7:35, Th 49/101; ¹??: see the hyperlinear)
41. That which the Father possesses belongs to the Son. And also he himself, the Son, as long as he remains small, those (things) which are his are not entrusted to him. (But) when he matures¹, all that his Father possesses he bestows upon him. (¹literally ‘becomes a man’; Th 61b, Ph 2; Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or: ‘An heir, even if he were heir to the treasures of the whole world, does not possess them before he has come of age’; hyperlinear)
42. Those who stray are begotten by the Spirit, and they also go astray thru her. Thus by this same breathº, the fire (both) blazes and is extinguished. (Pro 16:4, Isa 45:7, Lam 3:38, Jn 19:11!; Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub, VIII: ‘The same Breath which had kindled, and blew up the Flame of Nature, should one Day blow it out’; hyperlinear)
43. Wisdom¹ is one thing, and death² is another. ‘Wisdom’ (in Aramaic) is simply ‘wisdom’ (in Greek), yet the wisdom of death is (itself) dead. This which is the wisdom with death, which is from the acquaintance with death—this is called the minor wisdom. (¹Aramaic tmkx [khokmat] = Hebrew hmkx [khokmah]: wisdom; bHebrew twm [mut]: die; hyperlinear)
44. There are animals submissive to mankind, such as the calf and the donkey and others of this kind. There are others not submissive,¹ isolated in the wilds. The human plows in the field by means of the submissive animals, and by this he feeds himself as well as the animals—whether domesticated or wild.² So it is with the Perfect Person: thru the submissive powers he plows, providing to cause the existence of everything. For because of this the entire place stands—whether the good or the evil, both the right and the left. The Sacred Spirit pastures everyone and commands all the powers, the submissive as well as the rebellious and isolated. For truly she continues [at all times] to control them [beyond] the desire of their abilities. [...] (¹asyndeton; ²Pro 14:4, Jas 3:7!, Ph 62; Ecc 7:14, Ph 9/42/72; hyperlinear)
45. [Adam] was formed (and¹) [he begot], (but¹) thou will [not] find his sons to be noble formations.² If he were not formed but rather begotten, thou would have found his seed to be made noble. Yet now he has been formed, (and¹) he has begotten. What nobility is this? (¹asyndeton; ²Ph 46; Gen 2:7/4:1, Ph 33!; hyperlinear)
46. Adultery occurred first, then murder. And (Cainº) was begotten in adultery, for he was the son of the serpent.¹ Therefore he became a manslayer just like his other² father (the serpent), and he killed his brother (Abelº). Yet every mating which has occurred between those who are dissimilar is adultery. (¹i.e. born of the pretense called human, rather than divine, generation; ²that is, other than his true Father, God; in the context of the story in Gen 3-4, this ‘other father’ cannot be Adam—who could not have been a murderer at that point of time, there supposedly being as yet no other humans on the earth; Ecc 11:5!!, Jn 8:31-59!, I-Jn 3:12!, Th 105; see ‘Theogenesis’; hyperlinear)
47. God is a dyer. Just as the good pigments which are called permanent then label the things which have been dyed in them, so it is with those whom God has colored. Because his hues are imperishable, (those who are tinted) become immortal thru his hand's coloring. Yet whomever he baptizesº, God immerses in an inundation of waters.¹ (¹i.e. a flood of images; Ph 58; hyperlinear)
48. It is not possible for anyone to see anything of those that are established, unless he has become like them. Not as with the person in the world: he sees the sun without being made a sun, and he sees the sky and the earth and all other things without having been made into them.¹ But in the truth it is thus—thou saw something of that place, thou came to be among those there. Thou saw the Spirit,² thou became spiritual; thou saw the Christ,² thou became christlike; thou saw [the Father,² thou] shall become paternal. Thus [in the world] thou indeed see everything and [thou] do not [see thy self], yet thou see thy self in that [place]. For what thou see, thou shall become. (¹Ps 8:3-4; ²asyndeta; hyperlinear)
49. Faith receives,¹ love gives. [No one can receive] without faith,¹ no one can give without love. Therefore we believe so that indeed we shall receive, yet we give so that we shall love. Otherwise, if one gives without love, he derives no benefit from having given. (¹asyndeta; hyperlinear)
50. Whoever has not received the Lord, continues still among the Hebrews. (Th 43, Ph 6/108; hyperlinear)
51. The Apostles who preceded us called (him) thus: Yeshua the Naziriteº Messiah—this is Yeshua the Nazirite Christ. The last name is the Christ, the first is Yeshua, that in the middle is the Nazirite. ‘Messiah’ has two references: both the anointed and also the measuredº. ‘Yeshua’ in Hebrew is the atonement. ‘Nazara’ is the truth, therefore the Nazirite is the true. The Christ is the measured, the Nazirite and Yeshua are the measurement. (Num 6:1-8, Jud 13:5→Mt 2:23, Ph 20a; hyperlinear)
52. The pearl which is cast down into the mire is not despised, nor if it is anointed with balsam oil is it (more) valued, but rather it has its great worth to its owner at all times. So it is with the Sons of God—whatever happens to them, in their heart they still have honor with their Father. (Job 30:19, Jer 38:6; hyperlinear)
53. If thou say ‘I'm a Jew’—no one will be moved. If thou say ‘I'm a Roman’—no one will be disturbed. If thou say ‘I'm a Greek, a barbarian, a slave, a freeman’—no one will be troubled. If thou [say] ‘I'm a Christic’—[everyone] shall heed.¹ May it occur that I have [received from him] in this manner, this which [the worldly] shall not be able to withstand when [they hear] this name! (¹Th 2!; Ac 5:41 versus 22:25;hyperlinear)
54. (A) god is a cannibal. Because of this, mankind [is sacrificed] to it. Before mankind was sacrificed, animals were being sacrificed. For these to which they are sacrificed are not divinities. (Isa 44:9-20!, Ph 14;hyperlinear)
55. Vessels of glass and vessels of pottery always come forth thru fire. But if glass vessels break they are recast, (for¹) they had come to be by means of a breath². Yet if pottery vessels break they are destroyed, for they had come to be without breath. (Gen 2:7, Jn 20:22; ¹asyndeton; ²=spirit; ceramics can only be recast before firing: Jer 18:4-10/19:11; hyperlinear)
56. A donkey turning at a millstone did a hundred miles walking. (When¹) it had been released, it found itself still in the same place. There are persons who take many journeys and make no progress anywhere. When evening came upon them, they discerned neither city nor village, neither creation nor nature, neither power nor angel. In vain did the wretches toil! (¹asyndeton; Ps 127:2, Ecc 2:11; Clement of Alexandria, in Stromata, I.8.41, attributes to the Savior this saying: ‘These are they who ply their looms and weave nothing’; hyperlinear)
57. The Eucharist is Yeshua. For in Aramaic they call him farisatha (#rp)—this is, the outspread. For Yeshua came to crucify the world. (Odes of St Solomon, 27:1-2, ‘I stretched out my hands and sanctified my Lord; for the extension of my hands is his sign’; hyperlinear)
58. The Lord went into the dyeworks of Leviº. He took 72 complexionsº,¹ he threw them into the vat. He brought them all up white, and he says: This is how the Son of Mankind has come to you—as (a) dyer.²(Isa 1:18, Ph 47; ¹asyndeton; ²of the images; Gen 10 LXX lists 72 nations in all the world; also, Lk 10:1 in MSS p75 B D[05] mentions 72 Disciples; hyperlinear)
59. The wisdom which (humans) call barren is herself the Mother of the Angels.¹ And the companion of the [Christ] is Mariam the Magdalene. The [Lord loved] Mariam more than [all the (other)] Disciples, [and he] kissed her often on her [mouth].² The other [women] saw his love for Mariam,c they say to him: Why do thou love [her] more than all of us? || The Saviorº replied,³ he says to them: Why do I not love you as (I do) her? (¹Pro 8:12+32, Lk 7:35!!, Ph 40; ²Pro 24:26, S-of-S 1:2/6:9, Th 61b/107, Ph 35/36, Lewis Wallace, Ben Hur, V.16: ‘He kissed her. Was it only a kiss of peace?’; ³asyndeton; hyperlinear)
60. (While¹) a blind (person) and one who sees are both in the dark, they do not differ from one another. When the light comes, then he who sees shall behold the light, and he who is blinded shall remain in the darkness. (¹asyndeton; Jn 9, Th 34; hyperlinear)
61. The Lord says: ‘Blest is he who is before he comes into Being!’¹ For he who is, both was and shall be. (¹=Th 19!, Ph 1; Rev/Ap 1:8; hyperlinear)
62. The exaltation of mankind is not manifest but rather is implicit. Because of this he is master of the animals which are stronger than him—who is greater than them both manifestly and implicitly. And this gives to them their survival. Yet (when¹) mankind separates from them, they kill each other and gnaw each other and devour each other, because they find no food. Yet they have found food, now that mankind cultivated the earth. (¹asyndeton; Job 35:11, Mk 1:13, Jas 3:7!, Ph 44; hyperlinear)
63. If one goes down into the water (of Baptism) and comes back up without having received anything, saying ‘I'm a Christic’, he has taken the name on loan. Yet if he receives the Sacred Spirit, he has the gift of the name. He who has received a gift is not deprived of it, but he who has taken a loan has it demanded from him. (Jn 4:10, Th 41; hyperlinear)
64. This is how it is when one exists in a mystery: the Sacramentº of Marriage is grand. For the world is complex—[the system] is based upon mankind, yet [mankind is] based upon matrimony.¹ (Therefore) contemplate the Pure Mating, for it has [great] power! Its image consists in a defiling² [of bodies]. (Th 61b, Ph 79; ¹matrimony↔patrimonyº, human rather than divine generation and inheritance: see ‘Theogenesis’; ²Lev 15:18!!; hyperlinear)
65. (Among) the unclean spirits there are essentially male and female. The males indeed are those who thru an inequalityº mate with the souls inhabiting a female form, yet the females are those who (thus)uniteº with a male form.¹ And no one will be able to escape from these (once²) they seize him (unless²) he receives both male and female power—which is the Bridegroom with the Bride. Yet one receives them in the mirroredº Bridal-Chamberº. Whenever the foolish women see a male sitting alone, they are accustomed to leap upon him, to carouse with him and defile him. So also the foolish men when they see a beautiful female sitting alone, they seduce her (or²) coerce her in the desire to defile her. Yet if the man is seen sitting together with his woman, the females cannot intrude upon the man nor can the males intrude upon the woman. So it is (when²) the imagery and the angel are mated together, neither can anyone dare to intrude upon the male or the female.³ He who comes forth from the world cannot be detained any longer merely because he was (previously) in the world. He is revealed as beyond both the yearning and the fear of the [flesh]. He is master over [desire],² he is more precious than envy. And if [the multitude] come to seize him (and²) to strangle [him], how will this one not be able to escape [by the salvation] of God? How shall he be able [to fear them]? (Ps 3:6; ¹Th 61b!, Ph 46; ²asyndeton; ³Ph 30; hyperlinear)
66. Frequently there are some who come (and¹) [they say]: We are faithful, hide [us ... from unclean] and demonic spirits! But if they had possessed the Sacred Spirit, no unclean spirit would have clung to them. (¹asyndeton; Mk 1:39; hyperlinear)
67. Do not fear the essence of the flesh, nor love it. If thou fear it, it will become thy master; if thou love it, it will devour thee (and¹) strangle thee. (¹asyndeton; Ps 56:4, Jn 6:63; hyperlinear)
68. One exists either in this world or in the resurrection or in the transitionalº regions. May it not occur that I be found in (the latter)! (In) this world there is good and evil. Its goods are not good and its evils are not evil.¹ Yet there is evil after this world, which is truly evil: that which is called the transition—it is death. While we are in this world it is appropriate for us to be born in the resurrection, so that if we are divested of the flesh we shall find ourselves in the repose (and²) not wander in the transition. For many go astray on the way. Thus it is good to come forth from the world before humankind is caused to transgress. (¹Ph 9; ²asyndeton; Th 60, Rev/Ap 20:5; James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, 3: ‘It was better never to have sinned, to have remained always a child’; Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals: ‘Only that life end not before I am born’;hyperlinear)
69. Some indeed neither wish nor have the ability. Yet others if they wish receive no benefit, because they did not practice. For desire makes them transgressors. Yet not desiring righteousness shall conceal from them both the wish and (their) lack of accomplishment. (Hsün Tzu, 3rd century BC China: ‘An inferior man can become a superior man, but he does not want to’; hyperlinear)
70. An Apostolic¹ saw in a vision some who were confined in a house of fire, crying out [in the] air with a fiery [voice], cast in the flames [for an eraº]. There is water in [...], and they proclaim to themselves: [...] The waters can[not] save us [from death! Misled by] their desire, they received [death as] chastisement—this which is called the [outermost] darkness. (¹probably Philip himself; Ps 66:12, Mt 25:30, Lk 16:19-31!, Rev/Ap 20:14-15; hyperlinear)
71. The enemy [comes] forth in water with fire. The soul and the spirit have come forth [in] water and fire with light, which pertain to the Son of the Bridal-Chamber. The fire is the Chrism, the light is the fire. I do not speak of this fire that has no form, but rather the other one—whose form is white, which is made of beautiful light and which bestows splendor. (Isa 43:2, Ph 26/28; hyperlinear)
72. The truth did not come unto the world naked, but rather it has come in symbolicº images. (The world) will not receive it in any other fashion. There is a rebirthº together with a reborn image. It is truly appropriate not to be reborn thru the image.¹ What is the resurrection with its image?—it is appropriate to arise thru the image.¹ The Bridal-Chamber with its image?—it is appropriate to come into the truth thru the image, which is this Restorationº. It is appropriate for those born not only of the words ‘the Father with the Son with the Sacred Spirit’, but (moreover) are begotten of them themselves. Whoever is not begotten of them, will have the name also taken from him.² Yet one receives them in the Chrism of the fullness in the power of the cross³, which the Apostles call: the right with the left.¹ª For this-one is no longer a Christic but rather a Christ. (Isa 30:21, Ac 3:21; aJn 3: ‘spiritual rebirth’ ≠ ‘corporeal resurrection’: see Ph 130!; ²Ph 63; ³anti-Gnostic; ¹ªPh 9/44; hyperlinear)
73. The Lord [did] everything sacramentally: a Baptism with a Chrism with a Eucharist with an Atonement with a [Holy] Bridal-Chamber. (the Five Messianic Sacraments; hyperlinear)
74a. He says: ‘I came to make [the inner] as the [outer (and¹) the] outer as the [inner.’² He spoke of] everything in that place, which is there [above] this place, by means of symbolic [images....] (¹asyndeton; ²=Th 22!!; Ph 72; hyperlinear)
74b. Those who say [‘I'm a Christic’] come from the place beyond [all] confusion. (Ph 10/18/22/97/134, Tr 3 ff.; hyperlinear)
74c. He who is manifest [from that place] which is there above, is called ‘he who is below’. And He who is hidden, is He who is above him. For it is good that they say ‘the inner and the outer, together with what is outside of the outer’. Because of this, the Lord called destruction ‘the outer darkness’;¹ there is nothing beyond it. He says ‘my Father who is in secret’. He says ‘Go into thy inner chamber, shut thy door behind thee (and²) pray to thy Father who is in secret’:³ this is He who is within them all. Yet He who is within them all is the Fullness—beyond Him there is nothing further within. This is what is meant by ‘He who is above them’. (¹=Mt 8:12!; ²asyndeton; ³=Mt 6:6!; Th 77, Ph 37; Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali: ‘He it is, the innermost one, who awakens my being’; hyperlinear)
75. Before Christ some came forth. They were no longer able to enter into whence they emerged, and they were no longer able to exit from whither they entered. Yet the Christ came. Those who had gone in he brought out, and those who had gone out he brought in. (I-Ki 3:7; hyperlinear)
76. In the days when Eveº was within Adam,¹ there was no death. When she was separated from him, death came to be. If (she) again enters (and²) he receives (her) to him, death shall no longer be. (Ph 86; ¹or ‘when life was within mankind’, see the hyperlinear; ²asyndeton)
77. ‘My God, my God, why oh Lord [did] thou abandon me?’¹—he spoke these (words) on the cross². For he divided the place [below from the place above], having been begotten in the [Sacred] Spirit by God. (¹=Ps 22:1→Mk 15:34!; ²anti-Gnostic; hyperlinear)
78. The [Lord arose] from among the dead. [He became (again)] as he had been, but [his body] was made [entirely] perfect. He is incarnate, but this [flesh is indeed] a true flesh.¹ [Yet our flesh] is not true, but rather a mirror-image of the true [flesh]. (¹Jn 1:14/20:27, II-Jn 7; anti-Gnostic!; hyperlinear)
79. Let (the) Bridal-Chamber not be for the beasts nor for the slaves nor for impure women!—but rather it is for free men with virgins. (Gen 24:16, I-Ki 1:2, Ac 21:8-9!, Th 61b!, Ph 127!; Odes of St Solomon, 42:9-12, ‘Like the arm of the bridegroom over the bride, so is my yoke over those who know me; and as the bed that is spread in the house of the bridegroom and bride, so does my love cover those that believe in me’; hyperlinear)
80. Thru the Sacred Spirit we are indeed born, yet we are reborn thru the Christ. In both we are anointed thru the Spirit—(and¹) having been begotten, we were mated. (¹asyndeton; Gen 2:7, Jn 3:7, Ph 72; hyperlinear)
81. Without light, no one will be able to see himself either in water or in (a) mirror. Nor again without water or mirror will thou be able to see (thyself) in light. Therefore it is appropriate to be baptized in both—in the light as well as the water. Yet the light is the Chrism. (Pro 27:19, Isa 43:2, Mt 3:11; Odes of St Solomon, 13:1, ‘Behold! The Lord is our mirror; open thine eyes and see them in him—and learn the manner of thy face’; hyperlinear)
82. There were¹ three vestibules for places of giving offering in Jerusalemº—one open to the west called the holy, another open to the south called the holy of the holiness, the third open to the east called the holy of the holinesses where the High Priest alone enters. The Baptism is the holy vestibule, [the Atonement] is the holy of the holiness, the holy of the holinesses is the Bridal-Chamber. The Baptism has the resurrection [with] the Atonement entering into the Bridal-Chamber. Yet the Bridal-Chamber is more exalted than those. [...] Thou will find nothing that [compares with it].² (multiple asyndeta; Lev 16, Num 18:7; ¹‘Were.they’: Coptic ne.u, durative imperfect tense, P194: hence this entry, like saying 137, was written after the Roman conquest of 70 AD; ²Moses ben Nahman [1194-1270 AD], Letter on Holiness: ‘The sexual relationship is in reality a thing of great exaltation when it is appropriate and harmonious. This great secret is the same secret of those cherubim who copulate with each other in the image of male and female.... Keep this secret and do not reveal it to anyone unworthy, for here is where you glimpse the secret of the loftiness of an appropriate sexual relationship.... When the sexual relation points to the Name, there is nothing more righteous and more holy than it’; hyperlinear)
83. [The saints] are those who pray [always for] Jerusalem [and love] Jerusalem; they [are already in] Jerusalem (and¹) they see [Jerusalem now.] These are called ‘the saints of the holinesses’. (¹asyndeton; Ps 122:6, Rev/Ap 21:10; hyperlinear)
84. [... The] curtain (of the Temple) was torn [in order to reveal] the Bridal-Chamber, (which) is nothing other than the image [of the ...] place above. [...] Its curtain was torn from the top to the bottom, for it was appropriate for some from below to go above. (Mk 15:38, Th 84; hyperlinear)
85. Those who have been clothed in the Perfect Light—the powers can neither see them nor restrain them. Yet one shall be clothed with light in the Sacrament of the Mating. (Ps 104:2, Ph 24/26; Odes of St Solomon, 21:2, ‘I took off darkness and clothed myself with light’; hyperlinear)
86. If the female had not separated from the male, she would not afterward have died with the male. Their separation was the inception of death.¹ Therefore the Christ came, so that he might rectify to himself the separation that had obtained from (the) beginning, by his mating the two together. And by his mating them together, he shall give their lives to those who have died in the separation. Yet the woman mates with her husband in the bridal-chamber. Those however who have mated in the Bridal-Chamber will no longer be separated. Because of this, Eve separated from Adam²—because she did not mate with him in the Bridal-Chamber. (Th 11/22, Ph 30/76; ¹Gen 3:19; ²or ‘life separated from mankind’; hyperlinear)
87. The soul of Adam came into being by a Spirit¹, whose mate is the [Christ. The Spirit] bestowed upon (Adam) is his Mother, and [...] her place was given to him in his soul. (Yet) because he had [not yet] been mated in the Logos, the dominant powers bewitched him. [... Yet those who] mate with the [Sacred] Spirit [...] (in) secret [...] are invited individually [...] to the Bridal-Chamber, in order that [...] they shall be mated. (¹=breath, Gen 2:7; see Spirit in Th Notes; hyperlinear)
88. Yeshua revealed [beside the (River)] Jordanº the fullness of the Sovereignty of the Heavens, which existed before the totality. Moreover he was begotten¹ as Son, moreover he was anointed, moreover he was atoned, moreover he atoned. (¹manuscript dittography here omitted; hyperlinear)
89. If it is appropriate to tell a mystery, the Father of the totality mated with the Virgin who had come down—and a fire shone for him on that day. He revealed the power of the Bridal-Chamber.¹ Thus his body came into being on that day.² He came forth in the Bridal-Chamber as one who has issued from the Bridegroom with the Bride—this is how Yeshua established the totality for himself in his heart. And thru these³, it is appropriate for each one of the Disciples to enter into his repose. (¹Ph 64; ²anti-Gnostic!; ³i.e. the Bridegroom with the Bride; Odes of St Solomon, 33:5-8, ‘There stood a perfect Virgin who was proclaiming:... Return oh you sons of men, and come oh you daughters of men,... and I will enter into you’; hyperlinear)
90. Adam came into being from two virgins—from the Spirit and from the virgin earth. Therefore Christ was begotten from a virgin, so that the stumbling which occurred in the beginning shall be rectified to him. (Gen 2:7, Lk 1:26-35, Ph 18; hyperlinear)
91. There were two trees in paradise—the one produces beasts,¹ the other produces humans. Adam ate from the tree that produced beasts, (and¹) becoming bestial he begot beasts. Because of this, (the beasts) came to be worshiped. [... Humans] begot humans [and then] worshiped humans. [...] (¹asyndeton; Ph 54; hyperlinear)
92. God created mankind, and mankind created gods. This is how it is in the world—men create gods and they worship their creations. It would have been (more) appropriate for the gods¹ to worship the men! (¹plural, and thus also the previous two times; Isa 44:9-20, Jer 16:20, Hab 2:18-19, Ph 54; hyperlinear)
93. Thus is the real truth regarding the deeds of mankind—they essentially come forth thru his power. Therefore they are called (his) abilities. His (progeny) are his sons who came forth thru (his) repose. Because of this, his power governs in his works, yet his repose is manifest in (his) sons. And thou will find that this penetrates unto the image. And this is the Mirrored Person: doing his works in his power, yet in repose begetting his Sons. (Jn 5:19, Th 50!; hyperlinear)
94. In this world the slaves are forced to work for the free. In the Sovereignty of the Heavens the free shall act to serve the slaves: the Sons of the Bridal-Chamber shall serve the sons of marriage. The Sons of the Bridal-Chamber have [a single] name among them, the repose occurs among them mutually,¹ they are made to have no needs. [...] (Lk 20:34-36!, Ac 4:34-35, Ph 64; ¹asyndeton; hyperlinear)
95. The contemplationº [of the images is aware]ness in greatness of glory.¹ [Truly there is immortal]ity within those in the [Holy Bridal-Chamber, who receive] the glories of those who [are fulfilled].(¹Aristotle, Metaphysics, XII.7, 1072b.23; hyperlinear)
96. [He who goes down] to the water does not [...] go down to death,¹ [... for] (Christ) shall atone him [once he has come] forth—namely those who were [called to be fulfilled] in his Name. For he says: [Thus] we shall fulfill all righteousness. (¹this is contrary to Paul's doctrine in Rom 6:3-4; hyperlinear)
97. Those who say that first they shall die and (then) they shall arise are confused. If they do not first receive the resurrection (while¹) they live,² they will receive nothing (when¹) they die. Thus also it is said regarding Baptism,³ (that¹) Baptism is great, (for¹) those who receive it shall live. (¹asyndeton; ²Jn 11:26, Ph 22; ³manuscript dittography here omitted; hyperlinear)
98. Philipº the Apostle says: Josephº the Carpenter planted a grove because he had needed wood for his craft. He himself made the cross from the trees that he had planted, and his heirº hung on that which he had planted. His heir was Yeshua, yet the plant was the cross¹. But the tree of life is in the midst of paradise—and the olive tree, from the heart of which the Chrism came thru him of the resurrection.(¹anti-Gnostic; Mt 13:55, Ex 30:22-33, Dt 21:22-23, Rev/Ap 22:2; the Romans doubtless thus compelled Israelite artisans to make crosses; hyperlinear)
99. This world devours corpses—furthermore, those who eat in it themselves die. The true (person) consumes life—therefore no one nourished in [the truth shall] die. Yeshúa came from within that place, and he brought nourishment from there. And to those whom he wished he gave their lives, so that they not perish. (Jn 6:53, Th 11 60, Ph 15; hyperlinear)
100. God [created] a garden-paradise. Mankind [lived in the] garden, [... but] they were not in the [...] of God in [...] their hearts’ [...] given desire. [...] This garden [is the place] where it will be said to me: [Thou may eat] this or not eat [this, according to thy] desire.¹ This is the place (where) I shall consume every different (thing)—there, where is the tree of knowledge which slew Adam. Yet (in) this place the tree of knowledge gave life to mankind. The Torahº was the tree. It has (the) capability in itself to bestow the knowledge of good and evil. It neither cured him of the evil nor preserved him in the good, but rather it caused those who had ingested it to die. For death originated because of (the Torah's) saying: Eat this, but do not eat (that)! (Th 113, Gen 2:16-17; ¹Isak Dinesen, ‘Sorrow Acre’, Winter’s Tales: ‘The Garden of Eden, newly created; from every tree of which ... thou, my Adam, mayest freely eat’; hyperlinear)
101. The Chrism is made lord over the Baptism.¹ For from the Chrism we are called Christic(s, and²) not because of the Baptism. And (he) was called the Christ because of the Chrism. For the Father anointed the Son, yet the Son anointed the Apostles, yet the Apostles anointed us.³ He who has been anointed has the totality—he has the resurrection, the light, the cross,¹ª the Sacred Spirit. The Father bestowed this upon him in the Bridal-Chamber (and²) he received. (¹Mt 3:11; ²asyndeton; ³Lk 4:18, Jn 20:21-22, Ac 6:5-6!!; ¹ªanti-Gnostic, asyndeton; hyperlinear)
102. The Father was in the Son, and the Son in the Father. This is the Sovereignty of the Heavens! (Jn 14:10/17:20-23, Th 113!; Juan Rulfo, Pedro Páramo: ‘For me,... heaven is right here’; hyperlinear)
103. Excellently did the Lord say: Some have attained the Sovereignty of the Heavens laughing, and they came forth [rejoicing from the world]. The Christic [...] who went down into the water immediately came forth as master over everything; because [he did not consider (the Baptism) a] game, but rather he disdained this [changing world for] the Sovereignty of the Heavens. If he disdains (the world) and scorns it as a game, he [shall] come forth laughing. (Ph 96; hyperlinear)104. Furthermore, it is thus regarding the Bread with the Chalice, and the Chrism: there is nonetheless another (sacrament) exalted over these. (see Ph 73; hyperlinear)
105. The world began in a transgression, for he who made it had desired to make it imperishable and immortal. He fell away and did not attain (his) ambition. For there was no imperishability of the world, and there was no imperishability of him who has made the world. For there is no imperishability of things but rather of the Sons, and no one can obtain imperishability except by becoming (a) Son. Yet he who is unable to receive, how much (more) will he be unable to give! (Ph 5/49; Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit: ‘I can’t give and I can’t receive’; hyperlinear)
106. The chalice of communionº contains wine (and¹) it contains water. It is designated as the symbol of the blood,² over which thanks³ are given. And it is filled with the Sacred Spirit, and it belongs to the completely Perfected Person. Whenever we drink this, we shall receive the Perfect Person. (Mk 14:23-24, Jn 19:34, I-Jn 5:6-8; ¹asyndeton; ²anti-gnostic; ³Gk ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΕΙΝ; hyperlinear)
107. The Living Water is a body.¹ It is appropriate that we be clothed in the Living Person. Because of this, (when²) he comes to go down into the water he undresses himself, in order that he may be clothed with that. (¹anti-Gnostic!; ²asyndeton; Ph 3/26; hyperlinear)
108. A horse naturally begets a horse, a human begets (a) human,¹ a god begets (a) god.² Thus it is regarding the Bridegroom within the Bride—[their Sons] came forth in the Bridal-Chamber. (The) Jews had not derived [...] from the Greeks, [...] and [we Christics do not derive] from the Jews.³ [...] And these were called [...] the chosen generation of the [Sacred Spirit]—the True Man and the Son of Mankind and the seed of the Son of Mankind. This generation is named true in the world. This is the place where the Sons of the Bridal-Chamber are. (¹asyndeton; ²Miguel de Cervantes, Prologue to Don Quijote de la Mancha: ‘[In] Nature,... each thing engenders its likeness’; ³Th 43, Ph 50; hyperlinear)
109. Mating occurs in this world (as) man upon woman, the place of strength (joined) with weakness.¹ In eternity there is something else (in) the likeness of mating, yet we call them by these (same) names. Yet there are others which are exalted beyond every name which is named, and (which) transcend force. For (in) the place where there is force, there are those who are superior to force. (Ph 140; ¹Gen 3:16;hyperlinear)
110. The one is not, and the other one is—but they are together this single unity.¹ This is He who shall not be able to come unto (whomever) has the carnal heart. (Ph 9; ¹Chuang Tzu, 4th century BC China: ‘That which is one is one, and that which is not one is also one; he who regards all things as One, is a companion of Heaven’; hyperlinear)
111. Is it not appropriate for all those who possess the totality to understand themselves? Some indeed, who do not understand themselves, shall not enjoy those (things) which they have. Yet those who have understood themselves shall enjoy them. (Ecc 6:1-2, Th 2/67; hyperlinear)
112. Not only shall they be unable to seize the perfected person, but they shall be unable (even) to see him. For if they see him, they will seize him. In no other manner will one be able to be begotten of Him in this grace, unless he is clothed in the Perfect Light and Perfect Light is upon him. [Thus clad], he shall go [forth from the world]. This is the perfected [Son of the Bridal-Chamber]. (Mt 5:48, Ph 85; hyperlinear)
113. [It is appropriate] that we be made to become [perfected persons] before we come forth [from the world].¹ Whoever has received everything [without being made master] of these places, will [not be able to master] that place; but rather he shall [go] forth to the transition as imperfect. Only Yeshua knows the destiny of this one. (¹Mt 5:48; Mt 25:31-46, Jn 8:7, Ph 10/68/112; hyperlinear)
114. The saint is entirely holy, including his body.¹ For if he receives the bread he will sanctify it, or the chalice,² or anything else he receives he purifies. And how will he not purify the body also? (¹Jn 20:27;²this is the Eucharist: Mk 14:22-24; Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, 142: ‘Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch’; emphatically anti-Gnostic!; hyperlinear)
115. Yeshua poured death away by perfecting the water of Baptism. Because of this, we indeed are sent down into the water—yet not down unto death,¹ (but rather) in order that we be poured away from the spirit of the world. Whenever that blows, its winter occurs; (but²) when the Sacred Spirit breathes, the summer comes. (Mt 28:19, Ph 7/96/103; ¹this contradicts Paul's doctrine in Rom 6:3-4; ²asyndeton; hyperlinear)
116. Whoever recognizes the truth is liberated. Yet he who is liberated does not transgress, for ‘the transgressor is the slave of the transgression.’¹ The Mother is the truth, yet the conjoining is the recognition. The world calls liberated those to whom it is given not to transgress. The recognition of the truth exalts the hearts of these to whom it is given not to transgress. This is what liberates them and exalts them over the whole place. Yet love is inspirational. He however who has been liberated thru recognition is enslaved by love for these who have not yet been able to sustain being liberated by recognition. Yet recognition makes them competent, which liberates them. (¹=Jn 8:32-36!, I-Jn 3:9; hyperlinear)
117. Love [does not take] anything, for how [(can) it take anything when everything] belongs to it? It does not [say ‘This is mine’] or ‘(That) is mine’, [but rather it says] ‘They are thine.’ (Job 41:11, Lk 6:30;hyperlinear)
118. Spiritual love is [truly] wine with fragrance; all those who are anointed with it enjoy it. As long as the anointed remain, those (also) enjoy it who stand beside them. (But) if they who are anointed with the Chrism cease evangelizing them (and¹) depart, (then¹) those who are not anointed (but¹) only stand alongside remain still in their (own) miasma. The Samaritan gave nothing to the wounded (man) except wine with ointment—and he healed the blows, inasmuch as ‘love atones for a multitude of transgressions.’² (¹asyndeton; Lk 10:30-37, Th 24; ²=Pro 10:12→I-Pet 4:8; hyperlinear)
119. Those whom the woman will beget resemble him whom she loves. If (it is) her husband, they resemble her husband; if it is an adulterer, they resemble the adulterer. Often, if there is (a) woman (who) lays with her husband by compulsion, yet her heart is with the adulterer and she is accustomed to mate with him (also, then) he whom she bears in giving birth resembles the adulterer. Yet you who are with the Son of God—love not the world but rather love the Lord, so that those who shall be begotten not come to resemble the world, but rather will come to resemble the Lord. (Ex 20:14, Lev 20:10, II-Sam 11:1-5/12:1-10, Mt 5:27-28+32, Mk 7:21, Jn 8:3-11; hyperlinear)
120. The human naturally unites with the human, the horse unites with the horse, the donkey unites with the donkey; the species naturally unite with their like-species. Thus the Spirit naturally unites with the Spirit, and the Logos mates with the Logos, [and the] Light mates [with the Light. If thou] become human, (then) [mankind shall] love thee; if thou become [spiritual], (then) the Spirit shall mate with thee; if thou become rational, (then) the Logos shall unite with thee; if thou become enlightened, (then) the Light shall mate with thee; if thou transcend, (then) the Transcendental shall repose upon thee. (But) if thou are accustomed to become (like a) horse or donkey or calf or dog or sheep or other of the animals (which are) outside and inferior, (then) neither mankind nor the Spirit nor the Logos nor the Light nor those above nor those within shall be able to love thee. They shall not be able to repose in thee, and thy heritage shall not be among them. (Sir 13:16, Ph 108; Eccl [Ben Sirach] 13:19-20, ‘Every beast loves its like; so also every person him that is nearest to himself. All flesh shall consort with the like to itself, and every person shall associate himself to his like’; hyperlinear)
121. He who is enslaved without his volition, will be able to be freed. He who has been liberated by the grace of his master, and has sold himself (back) into slavery, shall no longer be able to be freed. (Ex 21:5-6 [but also Lev 25:10!], Ph 116; hyperlinear)
122. The cultivation in the world (is) thru four modesº—(crops) are gathered into the barn thru soil and water and wind and light. And the cultivation by God is likewise thru four: thru trust and expectationº and compassion and recognition. Our soil is the confidence in which we take root; the water is the expectation thru which we are nourished; the wind is the compassion thru which we grow; yet the light is the recognition thru which we are ripened. (Th 25, Ph 116; Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary: ‘Manure and rain and sun and wind bring on the flowers’; Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, V.3: ‘An ignorant man has sought; and having sought, he finds the teacher; and finding, has believed; and believing, has hoped; and henceforward, having loved, is assimilated to what was loved—such is the method Socrates shows’; hyperlinear)
123. Grace causes [the humble soul of the] person of earth to be made sovereign [over ...] what is above the sky.¹ They [received] thru [Him who] is blest; this one by his [Logos truly uplifts] their souls. (¹Th 2!/11!; hyperlinear)
124. This is Yeshua the Christ—he beguiled the entire place and did not burden anyone. Therefore, blest is this perfected person of this kind; for this one is the Logos. (Ph 29; hyperlinear)
125. Ask us concerning him, inasmuch as this (attempt to portray) him uprightly is difficult. How shall we be able to succeed in this great (task)? (Th 13!; César Vallejo, ‘A Man Passes By’, Human Poems: ‘How to write, afterward, of the Infinite?’; hyperlinear)
126. How will he bestow repose on everyone? First of all, it is not appropriate to aggrieve anyone—whether great or small, whether unbeliever or believer. Then, to provide repose for those who rest among the good. There are some whose privilege it is to provide repose for those who are ideal. He who does good cannot of himself give repose to these, for he does not come of his (own) volition. Yet neither can he aggrieve them, for he does not oppress them. But he who is ideal sometimes grieves them—not that he is thus (grievous), but rather it is their (own) wickedness which causes them grief. He who is naturalº gives joy to him who is good—yet from this some grieve terribly. (Pro 21:15, Th 90; hyperlinear)
127. A householder acquired everything—whether son or slave or cattle or dog or swine, whether wheat or barley or straw or hay or [bones] or meat (or) acorns. Yet he (was) wise and knew the food of each [one]. Before the sons he indeed set bread with [olive-oil and meat; before] the slaves he set castor-oil with grain; and before the cattle [he set barley] with straw and hay; to the dogs he cast bones; yet before [the swine] he threw acorns and crusts of bread. So it is with the Disciple of God—if he is wise, he is perceptive about the Discipleship. The bodily forms will not deceive him, but rather he will then observe the disposition of the soul of each one in order to speak with him. In the world there are many animals made in human form—these he is accustomed to recognize. To the swine indeed he will throw acorns; yet to the cattle he will cast barley with straw and hay; to the dogs he will cast bones; to the slaves he will give the elementary¹; to the Sons he will present the perfect². (¹the Torah; ²the Gospel; Mk 5:9-12!/7:27!, Mt 7:6!, Jn 7:24!, Th 93, Ph 79!; NB five spiritual levels and/or stages are here stipulated; hyperlinear)
128. There is the Son of Mankind and there is the Grandson of Mankind. The Lord is the Son of Mankind, and the Grandson of Mankind is he who is created thru the Son of Mankind. The Son of Mankind received from God the ability to create; (God alone) has the ability to beget. (Th 101; hyperlinear)
129. That which is created is a creature, that which is begotten is a progeny. A creature cannot beget, (but¹) a progeny can create. Yet they say that the creature begets. However, his progeny is a creature. Therefore (a person's) progeny are not his sons, but rather they are (Sons) of [God]. (¹asyndeton; Ecc 11:5, Isa 29:23, Jn 1:12-13/3:3, Ph 33; Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet: ‘Your children are not your children; they are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you; and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you’; hyperlinear)
130. He who creates works manifestly, and he himself also is manifest; he who begets [acts] in [secret], and he [hides himself from] the imagery [of others]. (Thus also) the Creator [indeed] creates visibly, yet in begetting [begets the] Sons in secret. (God as masculine creates the observable Universe without, God as feminine begets us from within; see Ph 93 and ‘The Maternal Spirit’; hyperlinear)
131. No [one will be able] to know on what day [the man] and the woman mate with each other, except themselves only. For marriage in the world is a sacrament for those who have taken a spouse. If the marriage of impurity¹ is hidden, how much more is the Immaculate Marriage a true sacrament!² It is not carnal but rather pure, it is not lustful but rather compassionate, it is not of the darkness or the night but rather of the day and the Light. A marriage which is exhibited becomes adultery³; and the bride has committed adultery³ not only if she receives the sperm of another man, but even if she escapes from the bedroomº and is seen. Let her display herself only to her father and her mother and the friend of the bridegroom¹ª and the sons of the bridegroom! To these it is given to enter daily into the bridal-chamber. Yet as for the others, let them be made to yearn even to hear her voice and to enjoy (her) fragrance, and let them feed like the dogs from the crumbs that fall from the table! (Those) being from the Bridegroom within the Bride belong in the Bridal-Chamber. No one will be able to behold the Bridegroom with the Bride unless he becomes this. (=Mk 7:27-28!; ¹!!; ²Ph 64/73; ³literally, prostitutionº/prostituted; ¹ªJn 3:29/15:14-15; hyperlinear)
132. When Abrahamº had [rejoiced] at seeing what he was to see, he circumcised the flesh of the foreskin—showing us that it is appropriate to renounce the flesh [which pertains to] this world. (anti-Gnostic;Gen 17:9-14, Dt 10:6, Jn 8:56, Th 53; hyperlinear)
133. [... As long as] the entrails of the person are enclosed, the person lives. If his entrails are exposed (and¹) he is disemboweled, the person will die. So also with the tree: it naturally sprouts and thrives while its root is covered, (but¹) if its root is exposed the tree withers.² Thus it is with everything begotten in the world, not only with the manifest but also with the covert. For as long as the root of evil is hidden, it is strong; yet if it is recognized it is destroyed (and¹) when it is exposed it perishes. This is why the Logos (John the Baptist!) says ‘Already the ax has reached the root of the trees!’³ It will not (merely) chop off, for that which is chopped off naturally sprouts again. But rather the ax delves down into the ground (and¹) uproots. Yet Yeshua pulled up the root of the entire place, but the others (had done so) only in part. Ourselves also—let each one of us delve down to the root of the evil that is within him (and¹) tear out its root from his own heart! Yet it will be uprooted if we but recognize it. But if we are unaware of it, it takes root within us and produces its fruits in our hearts. It makes itself master over us (and¹) we are made into its slaves. We are taken captive, which coerces us into doing what we do not want (and¹) into [not] doing what we do want.¹ª It is potent until we recognize it. While it is subliminal, it indeed impels. (Job 14:7-9, Pro 20:9; ¹asyndeton; ²Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 967: ‘When the root lives on, the new leaves come back’; ³=Mt 3:10!; ¹ªCharles Dickens, Great Expectations: ‘I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong’; hyperlinear)
134. Ignorance is the mother of [all evil;¹ and] ignorance (itself) results from [confusion]. Those things originating from [ignorance] neither were nor [are] nor shall be [among the truthful. Yet] they shall be perfected when the entire truth is revealed. For the truth is like ignorance—if it is hidden it reposes within itself, yet if it is revealed it is recognized. (The truth) is glorious in that it prevails over ignorance and liberates from confusion. The Logos says ‘You shall know the truth (and²) the truth will set you free!’³ Ignorance enslaves (butb) recognition is freedom. By recognizing the truth, we shall find the fruits of the truth within our hearts. By mating with it, we shall receive our fulfillment. (¹Lk 23:34!, Ac 3:17; ²asyndeton; ³=Jn 8:32!; hyperlinear)
135. At present we have the manifestation of creation. They say that (visible beings) are the powerful which are honorable, yet the invisible are the weak which are contemptible. (But) the truth is that visible beings are thus weak and inferior, whereas the invisible are the powerful and honorable. (St Bonaventure, De Plantatione Paradisi, I.t.v.575: ‘The wisdom of the invisible God cannot become known to us except by taking the form of the visible things with which we are familiar’; Søren Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific Postscript: ‘An omnipresent being should be recognizable precisely by being invisible’; Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince: ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye’; the I Ching, Hexagram 50, The Ritual Vessel: ‘All that is visible must grow beyond itself, extend into the realm of the invisible’; hyperlinear)
136. Yet the mysteries of the truth are revealed, composed in symbolic images.¹ But the Bedroom is hidden—it is the Saint within the Holiness. (Ph 82/83; ¹Ph 72; hyperlinear)
137. The veil (of the Temple) indeed at first concealed how God governs the creation. Yet (once) the veil was torn and the things within were revealed, then this house was to be forsaken (and¹) desolate, yet moreover to be destroyed. Yet the entire Divinity departed from these places not within the holies of the holies, for (the Divinity) was not (there) able to unite with the Light nor unite with the flawless fullness. But rather it was to be under the wings of the cross² [and in] its arms. (¹asyndeton; ²anti-Gnostic; Ex 26:31-34, Mt 27:51/23:38/24:2, Ph 84; this entry must be dated after 70 AD; hyperlinear)
138. This ark shall be salvation for us when the cataclysm of water has overwhelmed them. (Gen 6-9, Pro 10:25, Lk 17:22-37; hyperlinear)
139. If some are in the tribe of the priesthood, these shall be permitted to enter within the veil (of the Temple) with the High Priest. Therefore the veil was not torn at the top only, else it would have been opened only for those who are above; nor was it torn at the bottom only, else it would have been revealed only to those who are below. But rather it was torn from the top to the bottom. Those who are above opened to us who are below, in order that we shall enter into the secret of the truth. (Num 18:7, Mk 15:38, Ph 84/137; hyperlinear)
140. This strengthening is truly excellent. Yet we shall enter therein by means of despised symbols and weaknesses. They are indeed humble in the presence of the perfect glory. There is glory that surpasses glory,¹ there is power which surpasses power.² Therefore the perfect have opened to us with the secrets of the truth. Moreover, the saints of the holinesses have been revealed, and the Bedroom has invited us within. (¹asyndeton; ²Ph 109; Ph 83/137; hyperlinear)
141. As long as the evil indeed is covert, it (remains) potential, not yet truly purged from the midst of the seed of the Sacred Spirit. (Thus) they are enslaved by the oppression.¹ Yet when the Perfect Light is revealed, then it will pour forth upon everyone and all those within it shall receive the Chrism. Then the slaves shall be freed [and] the captives atoned. (Ps 19:12; ¹Th 45, Ph 133; hyperlinear)
142. ‘[Every] plant which my heavenly Father has not sown [shall be] rooted out.’¹ Those who are separated shall be mated (and) [the empty] shall be filled.² Everyone who [enters] the Bedroom shall be born in the Light. For they [are not begotten] in the manner of the marriages which we [do not] see, (which) are enacted by night, the fire (of which) [flares] in the dark (and then) is extinguished. Yet rather the Sacraments of this Marriage are consummated in the day and the light. Neither that day nor its light ever sets. (¹=Mt 15:13!; ²Th 40; multiple asyndeta; Ph 73/131, Tr 33; hyperlinear)
143. If someone becomes a Son of the Bridal-Chamber, he shall receive the Light. If one does not receive it in these places, he will not be able to obtain it in the other place. He who has received that Light shall not be seen, nor shall they be able to seize him; nor shall anyone be able to disturb this one of this nature, even if he socializes in the world. And furthermore, (when) he leaves the world he has already received the truth via the images. The world has become eternity, because the fullness is for him the eternal. And it is thus revealed to him individually—not hidden in the darkness (or) the night, but rather hidden in a Perfect Day and a Holy Light. (Ph 85; hyperlinear)
The reader is urged to consult the hyperlinear for every entry in Philip, as (a) the text is conceptually complex, and (b) the papyrus is somewhat deteriorated—thus, any interpretation must necessarily remain provisional. The translation is concordant with of Thomas, and therefore words discussed in the notes there are not repeated here. Complete references are listed for selected terms; otherwise only the first occurrence is given. The three phases of this translation: 1990/2004/2008.
Abel (46): Hebrew lbh (vapor, breath; see Isa 57:13); second son of Adam and Eve; killed, out of envy, by his brother Cain; Gen 4:1-16.
Abraham (132): Hebrew Mhrb) (father of many); the original Hebrew patriarch (Gen 11:26).
Aeon (7): Coptic ene6 (C057a) = Greek ΑΙΩΝ (unconditional); designates either a specific limited era of time, or a transtemporal eternity—not only, as generally translated, the latter.
Angel (21/29/30/56/59/65): Greek ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ = Hebrew K)lm (malak: emissary, messenger); here the pure ego of the individual, who is both born of God and observes (reflects) the images created by God; Mt 18:10, Lk 20:36, Th 88; see ‘Angel, Image and Symbol’.
Anointed (20a): Hebrew xy#m (mashiakh: Messiah) = Greek ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ; in ancient Israel priests, prophets and monarchs were installed by crowning with an olive-oil ointment (Ex 29:7, I-Ki 19:16, II-Sam 2:4—hence Lk 4:18, Mt 26:6-7); see Gen 28:18, Ex 30:22-33.
Apostle (18): Greek ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΟΣ (sent forth); one who is commissioned; compare Disciple.
Apostolic (18): Greek ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΙΚΟΣ (follower of the Apostles).
Aramaic (20a): Semitic language of the ancient world, dated by extra-Biblical records to 3000 BC, source of Hebrew square-letter alphabet, the language of Abraham (Dt 26:5) as well as of Christ in his ministry (Mk 5:41/7:34/15:34, Mt 27:46); Gen 22:20-21,II-Ki 18:26, Isa 36:11.
Atone (8/51/73/82/88/96/141): Coptic swte (C362a) = Greek ΛΥΤΡΟΩ = Hebrew rpk (kpr: cover, substitute; as in ‘Yom Kippur’: Day of Atonement); suffering which serves to reconcile the guilty (Lev 1:1-4/16:1-34, Isa 53, Mt 5:10-12/20:28, Th 58/68/69a); see Sacrament and Tr 1; Anne Frank, Diary: ‘Maybe our religion will teach the world and all the people in it about goodness, and that's the reason, the only reason, we have to suffer.’
Authority (13): Greek ΑΡΧΩΝ (original-being); an official within society; see World-System in Th Notes.
Baptism (47/73/81/82/96/97/101/115): Greek ΒΑΠΤΙΣΜΑ (immersion); the sacrament of spiritual cleansing re the Torah—see Sacrament, Isa 1:16-17, Mk 1:4, Mt 28:19, Ac 1:22, Tr 37, John the Baptist in Th Notes.
Bedroom (131/136/140/142): Greek ΚΟΙΤΩΝ; see also Bridal-Chamber.
Breath (42): see Spirit in Th Notes.
Bridal-Chamber (65/71/72/73/82/94/95/101/108/112/131/143): see Bridal-Chamber in Th Notes; (79/84/86/87/89: Greek ΠΑΣΤΟΣ); see also Bedroom, Sacrament, and Ph 64 (the Sacrament of Marriage, the Pure Mating), 85 (the Sacrament of the Mating),104/109/131 (the Immaculate Marriage), 142 (the Sacraments of this Marriage).
Cain (46): Hebrew Nyq (product and hence possession); that is, ‘my or our product’ rather than ‘product of God’, perhaps indicating that the ‘original transgression’ of humans consisted in claiming (Godlike) to create and hence to judge their offspring; Gen 2:15-4:1, Ecc 11:5!—see Abel, Adam, Eve, Ph 93/129, as well as ‘Theogenesis’.
Chrism (28/51/52/71/72/73/80/81/88/98/101/118/141): Greek ΧΡΙΣΜΑ (unguent) = Coptic ne6 (C240b), so2n (C388b), tw6s (C461b); the sacrament of anointing with olive oil, christification; see Anointed, Sacrament, Tr 41.
Christ (4): Greek ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ; see Anointed.
Christic (6/14/48/53/63/72/101/103/108): Greek ΧΡΙΣΤΙΚΟΣ (follower of Christ) = Hebrew ‘Messianic’ (follower of the Messiah).
Communion (106): Coptic 4lhl (C559a); communicating with God, prayer: The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition, CD-ROM version 2.0: ‘Communion: 3. Intimate mental or spiritual communing’, i.e. silent prayer—see Mt 6:6; (note that inLk 18:1, ΠΑΝΤΟΤΕ ΠΡΟΣΕΥΧΕΣΘΑΙ enjoins praying continually).
Companion (36/59); Greek ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ (associate, partner; NB plural at Lk 5:10!); see Mate; the feminine of this Greek word does not mean ‘wife’; moreover, contrary to the claim made in the popular novel The Da Vinci Code (2003), neither does the underlying Aramaic, rbx (khaver: female companion), mean ‘spouse’; regarding Leonardo's famous painting, in his own highly secretive Notebooks, I.665, ‘Notes on the Last Supper’, he unambiguously refers to that figure as a male!; see also the video presentation.
Complexion (58): Greek ΧΡΩΜΑ (the color of the skin) = Sanskrit varna (complexion, thus caste!).
Conjoin (116): see Union/Unite.
Confusion (10/18/22/74b/97/134): Greek ΠΛΑΝΗ (straying; hence ‘planet’ as a celestial body which appears to stray relative to the fixed stars); see also Tr 3 ff.
Contemplation (95): Greek ΘΕΩΡΙΑ; here meaning to behold one's sensory images as God's own manifested imagination (Mt 18:10, ‘Angel, Image and Symbol’); the quote in Aristotle is: Η ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΤΟ ΗΔΙΣΤΟΝ ΚΑΙ ΑΡΙΣΤΟΝ, ‘Contemplation [of the intelligible (ΝΟΗΤΟΝ) is] the most delightful and excellent.’
Convocation (10): Greek ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ (called-out); the assembly of those ‘called forth’ from the world (Mt 16:18/18:15-20); this had been the term for the Athenian Assembly; Ps 22:22.
Defilement (18/64/65): Coptic `w6m (C797b) = Greek ΜΙΑΣΜΑ = Hebrew )m+ (tame); ritual uncleanness (Lev 15), as opposed to transgression of the Torah (Lev 19)—a vital distinction; see Torah, compare Transgression in Th Notes.
Disciple (19): Greek ΜΑΘΗΤΗΣ (learner; a word notably absent from Paul's Epistles); in Attic Greek, used of the pupils of the philosophers and rhetoricians, as in Plato's Protagoras, 315A; compare Apostle.
Era (70): see Aeon.
Eternal (9/10/109/143): see Aeon.
Eucharist (30/57/73/106/114): Greek ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΙΑ (well-joying, thanksgiving); the sacrament of bread and wine (Lk 22:14-20); see Sacrament.
Eve (76): Hebrew hwx (living; Gen 3:20); see Abel, Adam, Cain and Female.
Expectation (122): Greek ΕΛΠΙΣ = Hebrew hwqt (tiqvah); not mere hoping or wishing, but rather anticipation—Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, II.6: ‘Hope is the expectation of the possession of good; necessarily, then, is expectation founded on faith’;Isa 42:9, Jn 16:13!
Female (18): Coptic s6ime (C385a); here emphasizing the Sacred Spirit as our Mother, as in Isa 49:15/66:13, Lk 13:34; see Spirit in Th Notes and ‘The Maternal Spirit’.
Hebrew (1/6/18/50): Hebrew rb( (eber: cross over, beyond, passer-by, transient; Th 42!); the lineage of Shem and especially of Abraham (Gen 10:21/14:13/16:15—thus Ishmael also was a Hebrew!).
Heir (98): Coptic 2ro2 (C831b: seed, sperm); in light of Ph 18, and as with Greek ΣΠΕΡΜΑ in Ph 108, this term must here be a metaphor for ‘heir’ rather than meaning literally ‘progeny’.
Image(s) (24n/26n/30/47n/58n/72/84/93/95/130/136/143): see Image in Th Notes.
Inequality (65): Coptic at.twt (P063d, C438a: not in agreement, not conjoined); see Union and Th 61b!
Ionian (20a): Greek ΙΟΝΙΟΣ (violet) = Hebrew Nyy/Nwy (yayin/yavan: wine); Hebrew name for the Greeks (Gen 10:2-5, Dan 8:21); the coast of Asia Minor (now Turkey) was where Greeks met the ancient middle-eastern civilizations, acquiring the alphabet via the Semitic-speaking Phoenicians (ΦΟΙΝΙΞ: purple—Greek name for the Canaanites [Hebrew: ‘merchants’] of Gen 9:18-10:19/12:5-7, I-Ki 5, Ezek 27-28; cp. Mt 15:22 with Mk 7:26; according to Herodotus' Histories, I, Thales of Miletus—the first ‘pre-Socratic’—was a Phoenician/Canaanite).
Jerusalem (82): Hebrew Myl#wry (foundations/city of peace); note that Hebrew hry (yarah: directive) is the root of both ‘Jeru-’ and ‘Torah’.
Jordan (88): Hebrew Ndry (descender); the river of the Holy Land, in the northern extension of Africa's Great Rift Valley; NB apparently the River Pishon of Gen 2:11!; thus, could the Flood have swept down thru the Jordan Rift Valley?!—topologically more intelligible, except for the puzzling Ararat (which, however, means merely ‘sacred/high land’); this would of course place all of Gen 2-9 in the Jordan Valley, with Gen 10 the first human (i.e. linguistic?!) dispersion, and Gen 11 thereafter in Mesopotamia.
Joseph the Craftsman (98): Joseph = Hebrew Pswy (addition); craftsman = Coptic 6am4e (C546b), Greek ΤΕΚΤΩΝ (Mt 13:55); husband of the Virgin Mariam; notably silent thruout the Gospels; see Ph 18.
Levi (58): Hebrew ywl (join, convert); the OT patriarch of the priestly line; Ph 58 could thus be interpreted: ‘The Lord went into the dyeworks of conversion [or, of the priesthood]....’ (Isa 14:1, Zech 2:11).
Magdalene (36/59): Hebrew ldgm (migdal: watchtower); Christ’s companion; Pro 18:10, Isa 5:1-2, Mic 4:8, Lk 8:2, Jn 20:1-18; it should be noted that ΑΠΤΩ in Jn 20:17 means not merely ‘touch, cling to’ but also ‘kindle, ignite’ (as in Lk 8:16) and thus ‘caress’, as also in Lk 7:39; see Mariam and ‘The Paul Paradox’, II.15.
Mate (30/36/64/65/80/86/87/89/119/120/131/134/142): Coptic 6wtr (C726b) = Greek ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΑ (common-being); sexual union; cp. Israelite ‘concubinage’, non-marital sexual union (in which any offspring do not inherit), as Abraham with Hagar and Ketura (Gen 16 & 25:1-6) or King David (II-Sam 15:16)—forbidden neither by the Torah nor by Christ (Ex 20:14, Lev 20:10, Mt 5:28 refer only to the wife of another man, not to an unmarried woman or a widow); see Companion, Prostitution, Sacramentand Unite.
Measurement (51): Hebrew lq#-m (m-shql: of-shekel/weighing) is apparently here being punned with xy#m (mashiakh: Messiah).
Messiah (20a): Hebrew xy#m (mashiakh); see Anointed.
Messianic (6): Hebrew ‘Messiah’ with Greek suffix -ΙΚΟΣ (thus ‘follower of the Messiah’); see Christic.
Mirrored (65/93): Greek ΕΙΚΟΝΙΚΟΣ: imaged; see Image in Th Notes.
Mode (122): Greek ΕΙΔΟΣ; the term for the Platonic forms (often as ΙΔΕΑ) as well as the Aristotelian species; note also the evident allusion to the four primary elements of ancient physics: earth, water, air and fire (recast in modern formulation as the four basic states of matter: solid, liquid, gas and plasma).
Mystery (21/64/73/85/89/104/131/136/142): Greek ΜΥΣΤΗΡΙΟΝ; secret or sacrament, a term from the ancient Mediterranean mystery religions; see Sacrament, Mk 4:11, Th 62, Tr 5/45.
Nationalist (4): Hebrew ywg (goy: corpse!) = Greek ΕΘΝΙΚΟΣ; non-Israelite, pagan, Gentile, as in Ps 2, Mt 18:17/20:25/24:9, Ac 4:25-26.
Natural (126): see Vintage/Kind/Natural in Th Notes.
Nazarene (20b): Hebrew ‘of Nazareth’ (NT Greek spelling ΝΑΖΑΡΗΝΟΣ, as in Mk 1:24); to be carefully distinguished from:
Nazirite (51): Hebrew ryzn (nazir: crowned, consecrated; LXX and NT Greek spelling ΝΑΖΩΡΑΙΟΣ, as in Num 6:1-8 LXX, Jud 13:5→Mt 2:23); Hebrew holy man or woman (1) with uncut hair, (2) abstaining from products of the grapevine, and (3)avoiding corpses—the latter two rules of which Christ implicitly abrogated (Lk 7:11-17/22:17-18).
Novice (1): Greek ΠΡΟΣΗΛΥΤΟΣ (proselyte, toward-comer); a Torah convert (Num 9:14, Tob 1:8, Mt 23:15, Ac 2:10) such as St Nicholas of Antioch (‘Santa Claus’, the first Gentile Disciple!) at Ac 6:5 and Cornelius at Ac 10:1-2; ‘A proselyte is a full Jew’: Abraham Chill, Biblio.35.
Paradise (15): Greek ΠΑΡΑΔΕΙΣΟΣ; a term introduced into Greek by Xenophon, from Sanskrit ‘paradesa’ (garden) via Persian ‘pardes’ (park); see Gen 2:8 LXX where it translates the Hebrew Ng (gan, garden), Lk 23:43!
Patrimony (64): attribution of the begetting of children to human parents rather than directly to God; ‘matrimony↔patrimony’ (or ‘marriage↔inheritance’) signifies mutual logical entailment, as in Gen 25:5-6 and also laws 170-71 of the Code of Hammurabi; Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace: ‘An illegitimate son cannot inherit’; see Cain, Dt 14:1, Hos 1:10, Mt 23:8-9, Lk 20:34-36, Jn 1:12-13/11:52, Th 105, as well as ‘The Maternal Spirit’ and ‘Theogenesis’.
Paul (25/96n/115n): Latin ‘small’; the supposed Apostle (but see ‘The Paul Paradox’); remarkably, Mt 5:19 can thus be read ‘Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments [much less all of them, as per Rom 7:6!] ... shall be called Paul (i.e. small) in the Kingdom of Heaven.’
Perfect (15): Greek ΤΕΛΕΙΟΣ (completed); it is essential to note that Biblical morality exhibits a three-valued rather than a binary logic: (1) evil/wrong [in violation of the Torah], (2) good/right [in accordance with the Torah], and (3) perfect [in accordance with the Messiah]; see Mt 5:48/19:16-21, T.P. Brown, ‘God and the Good’ (Religious Studies, 1967).
Philip The Apostle (98): (Philip = Greek ΦΙΛΙΠΟΣ-ΙΠΠΟΣ→ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΣ: friend of horses) Mk 3:18, Jn 1:43-46/12:21/14:8; to be distinguished from:
Philip The Evangelist (Colophon): Ac 6:1-6/8:4-40/21:8-14!; prominent early Disciple, one of the Seven and author of this text.
Prostitution (131n): Greek ΠΟΡΝΕΙΑ (from ΠΕΡΝΗΜΙ: to sell) does not mean ‘fornication’* (non-adulterous sexual relations outside of marriage, including importantly concubinage [Hebrew #glp, pilegesh] as in Gen 16:3/25:6), but rather ‘prostitution’ (cultic or commercial sexual relations, as in ‘porno-graphy’; or more generally, any sexuality expressly forbidden by the Torah, as in Mt 5:32, such as incest, male homosexuality or adultery—i.e. infidelity by a wife, monandry being one of the female’s punishments at Gen 3:18; Gen 38, Josh 2, Pro 6:26; see Mk 7:21!!, Th 105; prostitution is forbidden by Dt 23:17 (cultic) & Lev 19:29 (commercial)—note that the blame falls solely on her parents, her procurer and her clients, and not on the prostitute herself, who is a victim, Mt 21:31; Bruce Malina, ‘Does PORNEIA Mean Fornication?’, Novum Testamentum, 1972, notes that ‘there is no evidence in traditional or contemporary usage of the word porneia that takes it to mean pre-betrothal, pre-marital, heterosexual intercourse of a non-cultic or non-commercial nature, i.e. what we call “fornication” today’; see Mate, Gen 25:1-6, II-Sam 3:2-5/5:13/15:16, Mt 5:32, Jn 8:2-11. (*as importantly and doubtless intentionally mistranslated at Mk 7:21 in Jerome'sLatin Vulgate [405 AD], as well as in William Tyndale’s English NT [1525]—whereas Martin Luther’s German NT [1522] has it translated correctly as ‘harlotry’)
Rebirth (72): Coptic `po n.ke.sop (birth another time: C778b, C090b, C349b) ≠! Greek ΓΕΝΕΣΗ ΑΝΩΘΕΝ (generation from above [up-place]; the Greek can equally mean ‘birth from above’ or ‘birth again’; compare Jn 3:3 with 3:31).
Recognition (13/116/122/127/133/134): see Recognition in Th Notes.
Restoration (72): Greek ΑΠΟΚΑΤΑΣΤΑΣΙΣ (from-down-stand), as in Ac 1:6/3:21—in the secular papyri this term is used for the repair of buildings, returning estates to their rightful owners and balancing accounts.
Sacrament (64/73/85/104/131/142): see Mystery and Ph 127; Ph 73 gives a sequential and hierarchical list of five Sacraments: (1) Baptism [moral cleansing re the Torah]; (2) Chrism [the Messianic Discipleship]; (3) Eucharist [the communal meal, commemorating Yeshua's sacrifice]; (4) Atonement [suffering for Salvation]; and (5) Holy Bridal-Chamber [uniting of the male with the female Disciples, to celebrate their eternal birth thru the mating of the Father with the Sacred Spirit].
Sacred Spirit (6): see Spirit and Sacred Spirit in Th Notes.
Savior (59): Greek ΣΩΤΗΡ = Coptic nou6m (C243b) = Hebrew (#y (ysha); see Yeshua in Th Notes, Tr 1.
Symbol (72/74a/106/136/140): Greek ΤΥΠΟΣ (type, alphabetical letter, pattern, model, general idea).
Torah (100): Hebrew hrwt (arrow, directive); the 613 commandments or mitzvot of the OT Law, also specifically the five books of Moses (Gen→Dt); Ps 9:7-10, Mal 4:4, Mt 5:17-19/23:23, Lk 16:31, Tr 36; in what script was the Decalogue written at Sinai?—regarding the origin of the (Semitic) alphabet; see Baptism and Perfect, also Abraham Chill, Biblio.35.
Transition (68): Coptic htmle (C190b) = Greek ΜΕΣΟΤΗΣ (middle); between alternatives, neither the one nor the other (Rev/Ap 3:16!); see Wickedness 12 in Th Notes.
Trust (4/122): Greek ΠΙΣΤΙΣ (faith); not mere factual opinion, but rather personal confidence in someone or something.
Union/Unite (65/116/120/137): Coptic tw6 (C438a: combine or couple, copulate); NB First Mt 19:12 (celibacy) in the context of the previous four Sacraments, and only then the fifth Sacrament! (Ph 73); see Companion, Mate and Sacrament.
Wisdom (39/40/43/59): Greek ΣΟΦΙΑ = Aramaic tmkx (khokmát, Ex 35:35); see Tr 16/30/34, Philosopher in Th Notes.