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THE BEGINNING AND THE CREATION
The Evil entity is the King of Darkness, and he dwelt in the Land of Darkness with his five aeons: the aeon of smoke, the aeon of fire, the aeon of wind, the aeon of water, and the aeon of darkness.
When the King of Darkness contemplated ascending to the Region of Light, those five shekinahs there became agitated, and at that time the Father of Greatness took thought and said: ‘I will not send from my worlds any of these five shekinahs to do battle because they were created by me for tranquility and peace. Instead, I myself will go and do battle.’
‘Each one of them is uncreated and without beginning, both the good, which is light, and the evil, which is darkness and matter. And there is no contact between them. The good, which is light and the tree of life, occupies the regions in the east, west and north; but the tree of death which is matter, being very wicked and uncreated, occupies the regions towards the south and the meridian.
The difference and gulf between the two principles are as great as that between a king and a pig.
The one moves in a royal palace in chambers fitting for him; the other wallows like a pig in filth, feeds on its foul stench and takes pleasure in it, or is like a snake, coiled inside its den.
The beings which have existed for ever and at all time from the beginning, each one of them exists in its own nature. Thus is the tree of life, which is decorated there with all its beauties and with all its shining splendours, which is filled and clothed with all its excellence, which stands fast and is fixed in its nature.
Its territory includes three regions, that of the north which is external and below, that of the east and that of the west which is external and below.
There is not anything which is penetrated or occluded by it from below, not even in one region, but it stretches infinitely outside and below.
No foreign body is around it (the tree of life) or below it, nor at another place of the three regions, but below and outside belong to it, to the north, to the east and to the west.
There is nothing which surrounds and encloses it on these three sides; but it is in itself, of itself and to itself, arrayed in itself with its fruits.
And the kingdom consists of it.
And it (the good) is not seen in the southern region, and that is because it is hidden in that which is within its bosom (the region of light); for God has built a wall around that place.
Its light and its grace are invisible, so that it does not give the evil tree, which is in the south, an occasion for desire; and so that it should not be the cause for it to be provoked and harassed and to get into danger, but it is enclosed in splendour and gives no occasion because of its goodness.
Yet it has preserved itself by its righteousness and is in this splendour, existing continually in the nature of its greatness in these three regions.
The tree of death, however, according to its nature has no life or any fruits of goodness on its branches. It is always in the southern region. It has its own place, which is above it.
The tree of death is divided into many trees.
War and embitterment exist in them.
They are strangers to peace and are full of all wickedness and never have good fruits.
It (the tree of death) is divided against its fruits and its fruits too stand against the tree.
They are not at one with the one who produced them, but they all produce the worm for the destruction of their place.
They are not subject to the one who produced them, but the whole tree is bad.
It never does any good but is divided in itself and each individual part destroys what is nearby.
Let this be said about matter and about its fruits and members: Because of the unrest – therein was the reason – it happened, that they ascended even to the worlds of light.
For these members of that tree of death did not even know each other, and were not even aware of each other.
For none of them knew more than its own voice and saw only that which was before their own eyes. And when it (the voice) called out something, then they heard it and were aware of it and set off to the voice with violence.
They did not know anything else.
And so they were stimulated and spurred on by each other to press forward even as far as the frontiers of the splendid land of light; but when they realised that its wonderful and exceedingly beautiful appearance was far better than their own, then they assembled – i.e. that dark matter – and took counsel against light to mix themselves with it.
On account of their madness they did not know that a strong and powerful God dwelt therein; but they strove to ascend to the heights, because they had never recognized anything of the excellence of the Godhead, nor had they realised who God was.
And they looked there, full of foolishness, urged on by the desire for the appearance of those blessed worlds and believed that it would belong to them.
There arose therefore all the members of that tree of darkness, that is matter which creates ruin, and ascended with many, countless armies.
Yet they were all clad in the matter of fire.
The members however of matter were varied.
Some had a firm body and were of infinite size, the others incorporeal and untouchable, having a keen perception like the demons and apparitions of phantoms.
When, now, the whole of matter had arisen, it ascended with its winds and storms, with water and fire, with its demons and apparitions, the rulers and powers; and this was while they were all in the depths, so that they could associate themselves with the light.
On account of this disturbance, which was prepared out of the depths against the land of light and against the holy fruits, it was necessary that a part should come out of the light and be mingled with the evil ones, so that the enemies would be captured by this mingling, and the good would have peace and the nature of the good would be preserved, after that blessed nature had been delivered out of the fire of matter; and out of that ruinous decay, and thereby again the luminous ones would be divested of matter by the power which has been intermingled, so that the matter will be destroyed from the midst and the tree of life be God in all and over all.
For in that world of light there is no burning fire, to be set against evil, nor cutting iron, nor water which drowns, nor any other evil which is like it.
For everything is light and free space.
And no harm comes to it; but rather this exodus or crossing-over takes place in order that, by virtue of the part which came from the light, the enemies, being scattered, might cease their attack and are captured by the mingling.
The Father of Greatness evoked the Mother of Life, and the Mother of Life evoked the Primal Man, and Primal Man evoked his five sons, like a man who puts on armor for battle.
An angel whose name was Nḥšbṭ went out in front of him, holding in his hand a crown of victory, and he says that he spread (or shed) light before Primal Man.
When the King of Darkness saw him, he (the King) took thought and said, ‘The thing that I desired which was distant, I have discovered nearby!’ Then Primal Man gave himself and his five sons as food to the five sons of Darkness, just as a man who has an enemy mixes deadly poison in a cake and gives it to him.
This portion of light was given to matter in the guise of tempting bait and a deception, so that after this the mixture would be purified, the light would be found pure, and after the purification, matter will be completely reduced to destruction so that matter would be obliterated from the midst.
When they had eaten them, the reasoning power of the five luminous deities was removed, and they became like a man bitten by a rabid dog or a serpent due to the venom of the sons of Darkness.
Primal Man regained his rationality and prayed seven times to the Father of Greatness, and he (the Father) evoked the Second Evocation, the Beloved of the Lights.
The Beloved of the Lights evoked the Great Ban, and the Great Ban evoked the Living Spirit.
The Living Spirit evoked his five sons: the Ornament of Splendor from his mind, the Great King of Honor from his knowledge, the Adamos of Light from his intellect, the King of Glory from his thought, and the Porter from his reflection.
They came to the Land of Darkness and found Primal Man and his five sons engulfed by Darkness.
Then the Living Spirit cried out with his voice, and the voice of the Living Spirit was like a sharp sword, and it uncovered the form of Primal Man, and he said to him: ‘Greetings to you, O Excellent One among evil entities, O Luminous One in the midst of Darkness, O Divine One dwelling among wrathful beasts who have no knowledge of his glory!’ Then Primal Man answered him and said: ‘Come in peace, O bringer of the merchandise of tranquility and peace!’ And he said: ‘How do our Fathers, the sons of Light, fare in their city?’ The Caller answered him: ‘They are faring well!’ The Caller and the Respondent joined together and ascended to the Mother of Life and the Living Spirit.
The Living Spirit clothed himself with the Caller, and the Mother of Life clothed herself with the Respondent, her beloved son, and they descended to the Land of Darkness where Primal Man and his sons were.
Then the Living Spirit commanded three of his sons, that each should kill and should skin the archons, the sons of Darkness, and bring them to the Mother of Life.
The Mother of Life stretched out the heavens from their skins, and she made eleven heavens.
They threw down their bodies to the Land of Darkness, and they made eight earths.
And the five sons of the Living Spirit each completed their task—the Ornament of Splendor is the one who holds the five luminous deities by their loins, and below their loins the heavens were spread out, and the Porter is the one who bends upon one of his knees and supports the earths.
After the heavens and earths were made, the Great King of Honor took a seat in the midst of the heavens and kept watch over the whole.
Then the Living Spirit revealed his forms to the sons of Darkness, and he strained out some light from the light that these had consumed from those five luminous deities, and made from it the sun and the moon, and from the light which remained after making these vessels he made wheels of wind, water, and fire.
He descended and forged them near the Porter.
The King of Glory evoked and raised over them a covering so that they (the sun and moon) can ascend over those archons who are subjugated in the earths, so that they may serve the five luminous deities and not be harmed by the venom of the archons.
The Mother of Life and Primal Man and the Living Spirit rose in prayer and beseeched the Father of Greatness.
The Father of Greatness hearkened to them and evoked the Third Evocation, the Messenger.
The Messenger evoked twelve virgins with their garments, crowns, and attributes—the first is majesty, the second wisdom, the third victory, the fourth persuasion, the fifth chastity, the sixth truth, the seventh faith, the eighth patience, the ninth uprightness, the tenth grace, the eleventh justice, and the twelfth light.
When the Messenger came to those vessels (sun and moon), he appointed three servants to make the vessels move.
He commanded the Great Ban to construct a new earth and three wheels for their (the vessels’) ascending.
When the vessels moved and reached the midst of heaven, the Messenger then revealed his male and female forms and became visible to all the archons, the sons of Darkness, both male and female.
At the appearance of the Messenger, who was attractive in his forms, all of the archons became excited with desire, the males for the female image and the females for the male image.
Due to their lust, they began to eject the light which they had consumed from the five luminous deities. Then the sin that was in them devised a plan.
It mixed itself with the light that came forth from the archons like a portion of yeast in bread-dough, and sought to enter within the emitted light.
Then the Messenger concealed his forms, and separated the light of the five luminous deities from the sin that was with them, and it (the sin) fell back upon the archons from whom it had issued, but they did not receive it back, just like a man who feels loathing for his own vomit.
It (the sin) thereupon fell upon the earth, half of it upon moist ground and half of it upon dry.
(The half which fell upon moist ground) became an odious beast in the likeness of the King of Darkness, and the Adamos of Light was sent against her and he did battle with her and defeated her, and turned her over upon her back, and struck her with a spear in her heart, and thrust his shield over her mouth, and set one of his feet upon her thighs and the other upon her breast.
That half which fell upon dry ground sprouted up into five trees.
He says that these daughters of Darkness were previously pregnant of their own nature, and when they beheld the attractive forms of the Messenger, their embryos aborted and fell to the earth.
These ate the buds of the trees.
Then the abortions took counsel together and recalled the forms of the Messenger that they had seen and said: ‘Where is the forms that we saw?’ And Ašaqlūn, son of the King of Darkness, said to the abortions: ‘Give me your sons and daughters, and I will make for you a form like the one you saw.’ They brought them and gave them to him.
He ate the males, and the females he gave to Namrāēl his wife.
Namrāēl and Ašaqlūn then united together, and she became pregnant from him and gave birth to a son, naming him Adam.
She again became pregnant and bore a daughter, naming her Eve.
Jesus the Splendor approached the unsuspecting Adam and roused him from the sleep of death so that he might be delivered from the ‘Great Spirit.’
As when one who is righteous comes across a man possessed by a strong demon and calms him by his skill, so likewise it was with Adam when the Beloved One found him prostrate in deep sleep.
He roused him, shook him, and woke him up.
He chased the deceptive demon away from him, and bound the great (female) archon apart from him. Then Adam examined himself and recognized who he was, and (Jesus) showed him the Fathers on high, and revealed to him regarding his own self (i.e., Jesus’s) all that into which he (i.e., Jesus) had been cast—into the teeth of leopards and the teeth of elephants, swallowed by voracious ones and absorbed by gulping ones, consumed by dogs, mixed and imprisoned in all that exists, and bound in the stench of Darkness.
Jesus raised him (Adam) up and made him taste of the Tree of Life.
Then Adam saw and wept, and raised his voice loudly like a lion that roars and tears prey. He cast himself down, beat his breast, and said: ‘Woe, woe to the one who formed my body, and to the one who bound my soul, and to the rebels who have enslaved me.’
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