Hypostasis of the Archons

Hypostasis of the Archons

Because of the reality of the rulers, inspired by the spirit of the Father of truth, the great apostle spoke concerning the powers of darkness: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the universe and the spirits of wickedness.” I have sent this to you because you asked about the reality of the rulers.

Their chief is blind. Because of his power, his ignorance, and his arrogance, he said, “I am God, and there is no other beside me.” When he said this, he sinned against the Entirety. His word rose to Incorruptibility, and a voice came from Incorruptibility saying, “You are mistaken, Samael”—that is, “god of the blind.”

His thoughts became blind. Having cast forth his power—the blasphemy he had spoken—he pursued it down into chaos and the abyss, his mother, at the prompting of Pistis Sophia. She appointed each of his offspring according to its power, after the pattern of the realms above; for from the invisible world the visible world was fashioned.

As Incorruptibility looked down into the region of the waters, her image appeared in the waters. The rulers of darkness became enamoured of her, but because of their weakness they could not seize the image that appeared to them in the waters. Beings possessing only soul cannot seize one possessing spirit, for they are from below, while she is from above.

For this reason Incorruptibility looked down into that region: so that, according to the Father’s will, she might unite the Entirety with the light.

The rulers took counsel together and said, “Come, let us make a human being from the soil of the earth.” They fashioned their creature entirely as one of the earth.

[Text damaged] Their body [was formed] with the face of a beast. They took soil from the earth and fashioned their human being after their own body and after the image of God that had appeared to them in the waters.

They said, “Come, let us seize it through the form we have fashioned, so that it may see its male counterpart [and be drawn toward it], and we may seize it by means of the form we have fashioned.” They did not understand the power of God because of their weakness.

The chief ruler breathed into the human being’s face, and the human being received a soul and remained upon the ground many days. Yet because of their weakness they could not make him rise. Like storm winds they persisted in blowing, so that they might capture the image that had appeared to them in the waters. They did not know the identity of its power.

All these things occurred according to the will of the Father of the Entirety. Afterward the Spirit saw the soul-endowed human being lying upon the ground. The Spirit came forth from the Adamantine Land, descended, and came to dwell within him. That human being became a living soul.

He was called Adam because he was found moving upon the ground. A voice came from Incorruptibility to assist Adam. The rulers gathered all the animals of the earth and all the birds of heaven and brought them to Adam, to see what he would call them, so that he might give a name to every bird and every beast.

They took Adam and placed him in the garden so that he might cultivate it and keep watch over it. The rulers gave him a command, saying, “You may eat from every tree in the garden, but do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and do not touch it; for on the day you eat from it, you will surely die.”

They [said] this, not understanding what they had spoken to him. By the Father’s will they spoke in this way so that he might in fact eat, and so that Adam would not regard them as he would a being of merely material nature.

The rulers took counsel together and said, “Come, let us cause a deep sleep to fall upon Adam.” He slept. The deep sleep they caused to fall upon him is ignorance.

They opened his side as though it were a living woman. They built up his side with flesh in her place, and Adam came to possess only soul.

The spiritual woman came to him and spoke with him, saying, “Arise, Adam.” When he saw her, he said, “You are the one who has given me life. You will be called Mother of the Living. For she is my mother; she is the physician, the woman, and she who has given birth.”

Then the rulers came to their Adam. When they saw his female counterpart speaking with him, they became greatly agitated and enamoured of her. They said to one another, “Come, let us cast our seed into her,” and they pursued her.

She laughed at them because of their foolishness and their blindness. In their grasp she became a tree and left before them her shadowy reflection, which resembled her. They defiled it shamefully. They defiled the seal of her voice; and through the form they had fashioned, together with their own image, they made themselves liable to condemnation.

Then the female spiritual principle entered the serpent, the instructor. It taught them, saying, “What did he say to you? Was it, ‘You may eat from every tree in the garden, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat’?”

The fleshly woman said, “He not only said, ‘Do not eat,’ but also, ‘Do not touch it; for on the day you eat from it, you will surely die.’”

The serpent, the instructor, said, “You will not surely die. He said this to you out of jealousy. Rather, your eyes will open, and you will become like gods, knowing good and evil.”

Then the female instructing principle was taken away from the serpent, and she left it behind as merely a thing of the earth.

The fleshly woman took from the tree and ate. She gave also to her husband, and these beings who possessed only soul ate. Their deficiency became apparent in their lack of knowledge. They recognised that they were naked of the spiritual element, and they took fig leaves and bound them around their loins.

Then the chief ruler came and said, “Adam, where are you?” He did not understand what had happened.

Adam said, “I heard your voice and was afraid because I was naked, and I hid.”

The ruler said, “Why did you hide, unless you have eaten from the tree from which alone I commanded you not to eat? And you have eaten!”

Adam said, “The woman you gave me—she gave to me, and I ate.” The arrogant ruler cursed the woman.

The woman said, “The serpent led me astray, and I ate.”

They turned to the serpent and cursed its shadowy reflection, powerless and without understanding, not realising that it was a form they themselves had fashioned. From that day the serpent came under the curse of the rulers, until the all-powerful human being should come; that curse remained upon the serpent.

They turned to their Adam, took him, and expelled him from the garden together with his wife. They possessed no blessing, because they too were beneath the curse.

Moreover, they cast humanity into great distraction and a life of toil, so that their people might be occupied with worldly affairs and have no opportunity to devote themselves to the Holy Spirit.

Afterward she bore Cain, their son, and Cain cultivated the land. Then Adam knew his female counterpart again. She conceived and bore Abel. Abel was a shepherd of sheep. Cain brought an offering from the produce of his field, while Abel brought an offering from among his lambs. God looked upon Abel’s offerings, but he did not accept Cain’s offerings. Fleshly Cain pursued Abel his brother.

God said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He answered, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” God said to Cain, “Listen! The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me. You have sinned with your mouth. It will return upon you. Whoever kills Cain will release seven acts of vengeance, and you will exist groaning and trembling upon the earth.”

Adam knew his female counterpart Eve, and she conceived and bore Seth to Adam. She said, “I have borne another human being through God in place of Abel.”

Again Eve conceived and bore Norea. She said, “He has begotten upon me a virgin as a help for many generations of humanity.” She is the virgin whom the forces did not defile.

Then humanity began to multiply and improve.

The rulers took counsel together and said, “Come, let us bring a flood with our hands and wipe out all flesh, from human being to beast.”

But when the ruler of the forces learned of their decision, he said to Noah, “Make yourself an ark from wood that does not rot. Hide in it—you, your children, the beasts, and the birds of heaven, from the smallest to the largest—and set it upon Mount Sir.”

Then Norea came to him, desiring to enter the ark. When he would not permit her, she breathed upon the ark and caused it to be consumed by fire. Again he made the ark, a second time.

The rulers went to meet Norea, intending to lead her astray. Their chief said to her, “Your mother Eve came to us.”

But Norea turned to them and said, “You are the rulers of darkness. You are accursed. You did not know my mother; rather, it was your own female counterpart that you knew. I am not your descendant. I came from the world above.”

The arrogant ruler turned toward her with all his strength, and his face became like black [fire]. He spoke presumptuously to her: “You must serve us, as your mother Eve also did, for I have been given [authority].”

But Norea turned with the power of [the Spirit], and in a loud voice cried out to the Holy One, the God of the Entirety: “Rescue me from the rulers of unrighteousness, and save me from their grasp—at once!”

The great angel came down from the heavens and said to her, “Why are you crying out to God? Why do you act so boldly toward the Holy Spirit?”

Norea said, “Who are you?”

The rulers of unrighteousness withdrew from her.

He said, “I am Eleleth, Sagacity, the great angel who stands in the presence of the Holy Spirit. I have been sent to speak with you and to save you from the hands of the lawless. I will teach you concerning your root.”

[Text damaged] As for that angel, I cannot describe his power. His appearance was like fine gold, and his garment like snow. My mouth cannot bear to speak of his power or the appearance of his face.

Eleleth, the great angel, spoke to me: “I am Understanding. I am one of the four light-givers who stand in the presence of the great invisible Spirit. Do you think these rulers have any power over you? None of them can prevail against the root of truth. For on its account the One who is to appear has appeared in the last days. These rulers will be restrained, and their powers will perish. They cannot defile you or that generation, for your dwelling is in Incorruptibility, where the virgin Spirit dwells, above the rulers of chaos and above their world.”

I said, “Sir, teach me concerning the power of these rulers: how they came into being, from what matter, and who produced them and gave them their power.”

The great angel Eleleth, Understanding, said to me: “Within limitless realms dwells Incorruptibility. Sophia, who is called Pistis, desired to create something by herself, without her partner. What she produced became a celestial thing.

“A veil exists between the world above and the realms below. Beneath the veil a shadow came into being, and that shadow became matter. The shadow was cast apart, and what Sophia had produced became a work within matter, like a miscarried fetus. It received form from the shadow and became an arrogant beast resembling a lion.

“It was androgynous, for it had come forth from matter. Opening its eyes, it saw a vast quantity of matter without limit. It became arrogant and said, ‘I am God, and there is no other beside me.’

“When it said this, it sinned against the Entirety. A voice came from above the realm of absolute power, saying, ‘You are mistaken, Samael’—that is, ‘god of the blind.’

“It said, ‘If another exists before me, let that one appear to me.’ Immediately Sophia stretched forth her finger and introduced light into matter. She pursued it down into the region of chaos, then withdrew her finger and returned to her own light.

“When the ruler saw the light, he said, ‘I am God, and there is no other beside me.’ Yet when he saw the light, he knew that his thought had been judged. He said, ‘If another exists before me, let him appear to me.’

“He saw a reflection in the waters and said to it, ‘Come.’ The reflection came and became manifest. He named it Sabaoth, after the pattern of the one above. Then he made seven offspring for himself, and the offspring made seven for themselves. Thus there came to be forty-nine androgynous rulers.

“Their names and powers [are known in the realms below]. The chief ruler, because of the glory surrounding him, was called Yaldabaoth. His face was like that of a lion, and his body was like that of a serpent. He possessed great power, which he had taken from his mother.

“Pistis Sophia saw the impiety of the chief ruler and became angry. Without being seen, she said, ‘You are mistaken, Samael, blind god. An immortal human being of light has existed before you and will appear among your fashioned forms. He will trample you as a potter’s clay is trampled. You will descend with those who belong to you, into your mother, the abyss. At the completion of your works, all the deficiency that has become visible from the truth will be dissolved. It will cease to exist and will become as though it had never been.’

“When Pistis Sophia had said these things, she revealed the likeness of her greatness in the waters. Then she withdrew to her light.

“Sabaoth, the son of Yaldabaoth, heard the voice of Pistis. He worshiped her and condemned his father and his mother, matter. He was disgusted with her, but he sang praises to Sophia and to her daughter Zoe.

“Sophia and Zoe caught him up and placed him over the seventh heaven, beneath the veil between above and below. He was called ‘God of the Forces, Sabaoth,’ since he is above the forces of chaos because Sophia appointed him.

“When these things occurred, he made for himself a great four-faced chariot of cherubim and countless angels to minister to him, together with harps and lyres.

“Sophia took her daughter Zoe and seated her at his right hand, to teach him about the things that exist in the eighth heaven. She placed the angel of wrath at his left. From that day his right hand was called Life, and his left became the pattern of unrighteousness belonging to the realm of absolute power above. They came into being before you.

“When Yaldabaoth saw Sabaoth in this great glory and height, he envied him. His envy became an androgynous work. This was the origin of Envy. Envy gave birth to Death, and Death gave birth to his offspring, each of whom he appointed over its own heaven. All the heavens of chaos became filled with their multitudes.

“Yet all these things came to pass according to the will of the Father of the Entirety, after the pattern of all the things above, so that the number of chaos might be completed.

“Now I have taught you the pattern of the rulers, the matter in which it was expressed, their parent, and their world.”

I said, “Sir, do I also belong to their matter?”

He said to me, “You and your children belong to the Father who exists from the beginning. Your souls come from above, from the imperishable light. Therefore the rulers cannot approach them because the Spirit of truth dwells within them. All who have known this way exist deathless in the midst of dying humanity.

“Yet that seed will not become known now. After three generations it will become known, and it will free them from the bondage of the rulers’ error.”

I said, “Sir, how long will that be?”

He said to me, “Until the true Human Being appears within a fashioned body and reveals the Spirit of truth, which the Father has sent.

“Then he will teach them everything and anoint them with the anointing of eternal life, given to him from the generation without a king.

“Then they will be freed from blind thought. They will trample death, which belongs to the rulers, and ascend into limitless light, where this seed belongs.

“Then the rulers will surrender their ages. Their angels will weep over their destruction, and their demons will lament their death.

“Then all the children of light will truly know the truth and their root, the Father of the Entirety, and the Holy Spirit. With one voice they will say: ‘The Father’s truth is just, and the Son rules over the Entirety.’ From everyone, throughout the ages of ages: ‘Holy, holy, holy! Amen.’”

The Reality of the Rulers.