Untitled Gnostic Work of the Bruce Codex 9–14

Translated by Claude from C. Schmidt's German translation (1905) of the Coptic; neither is shown

And in the place of the Indivisible there are twelve springs, over which are twelve fatherhoods, which surround the Indivisible like these depths or like these veils. And on the head of the Indivisible there is a crown, in which is every kind of life, and every thrice-powerful kind, and every incomprehensible kind, and every infinite kind, and every unutterable kind, and every kind of silence, and every unknown kind, and every still kind, and every unshakable kind, and every first-appearing kind, and every self-begotten kind, and every kind of truth — in which all is. And this is he in whom every kind and every knowledge is; and every power receives light from him, and every mind has been revealed in him. This is the crown which the Father of the All has given to the Indivisible, in which are 365 kinds, and they are shining and fill the All with incorruptible and unquenchable light. This is the crown which gives power to every power; and this is the crown for whose sake all the immortals pray; and from it those who first revealed themselves in the will of the Unknowable — that is, Protia, Pandia, Pangenia, they and their companions — will give to the Invisible on the day of joy. And after the Invisible all the aeons will receive their crown from it and hasten upward with the Invisible, as there all receive crowns from the crown of the Indivisible. And the All will receive its completion from the Indestructible; and therefore those who have received bodies pray, wishing to leave their body, to receive the crown which is laid up for them in the indestructible aeon. And this is the Indivisible who has fought the contest for the All, and all things were bestowed on him by him who is exalted above all things, and the immeasurable depth was bestowed on him, the fatherhoods in it being beyond counting. And this is he whose Ennead is without character. And in it are the characters of the whole creation, whose Ennead forms twelve Enneads, and in whose midst there is a place which is called the “God-bearing” or “God-begetting land”. This is the land of which it is said: “He who tills his land will be satisfied with bread and will raise up his threshing floor”, and again: “The king of the field, when it is worked, is over all.” And all these powers which are in this “God-begetting land” are crowned on their heads. Therefore the receivers are recognized by the crown on their heads, whether they come from the Indivisible or not. And in it there is also the All-mother, in whom are seven wisdoms and nine Enneads and ten Decads. And in their midst is a great basket, and a great Invisible stands by it, and a great Unbegotten and a great Incomprehensible, each having three faces. And the prayer, the praise and the hymn of the creatures are laid in that basket, which is in the midst of the All-mother and in the midst of the seven wisdoms and in the midst of the nine Enneads and in the midst of the ten Decads. And all these stand by the basket, perfected in the fruit of the aeons, which the Only-begotten hidden in the Indivisible commands them, before whom there is a spring, which twelve righteous ones surround. And each has a crown on his head and has twelve powers, which surround him and praise the king, the Only-begotten, and say: “For your sake we have borne the glory, and through you we have seen the Father of the All, [vowels], and the Mother of all things, hidden in every place, that is, the Thought of all the aeons. And she is the Thought of all the gods and all the lords; and she is the knowledge of all the invisibles; and your image is the Mother of all the incomprehensibles, and she is the power of all the infinites.” And they praise the Only-begotten and say: “Because of your image we saw you, fled to you, stood by you, and received the unfading crown which has been known through you. Glory to you for ever, O Only-begotten.” And all said together: Amen. And he became a body of light and entered the aeons of the Indivisible, until he reached the Only-begotten who is in the Monad, who dwells in a quiet or in a stillness. And he received the grace of the Only-begotten, that is, his goodness, and he received the eternal crown. This is the father of all sparks, and this is the head of all immortal bodies, and this is he for whose sake resurrection was granted to the bodies.

Translated by Claude from C. Schmidt's German translation (1905) of the Coptic; neither is shown

But outside the Indivisible and outside his characterless Ennead, in which all characters are, there are three other Enneads, each making nine Enneads, and in each there is a basket, by which three Fathers are gathered: an Infinite, an Unutterable and an Incomprehensible. And in the midst of the second (Ennead) there is a basket, and three fatherhoods are in it: an Invisible, an Unbegotten and an Unshakable. In the third too there is a basket, and three fatherhoods are in it: a Still One, an Unknown and a Thrice-powerful. And through these the All came to know God, and fled to him, and gave birth to many countless(?) aeons. And according to each Ennead they make myriads of myriads of praises; and each of these Enneads has in it a Monad. And in each Monad there is a place which is called “incorruptible, that is, the holy land”. In the land of each of these Monads there is a spring, and there are myriads of myriads of powers, which receive crowns on their heads from the crown of the Thrice-powerful. And in the midst of the Enneads and in the midst of the Monads there is the immeasurable depth, on which the All, the inner and the outer, looks; above it are twelve fatherhoods, and thirty powers surround each (Father). 1. The first fatherhood is an infinite face, which thirty powers surround, which are infinite. 2. The second fatherhood is an invisible face, and thirty invisibles surround it. 3. The third fatherhood is an incomprehensible face, and thirty incomprehensibles surround it. 4. And the fourth fatherhood is an invisible face; thirty invisible powers surround it. 5. The fifth fatherhood is an all-powerful face, and thirty all-powerful ones surround it. 6. The sixth fatherhood is an all-wise face, and thirty all-wise ones surround it. 7. The seventh fatherhood is an unknown face, and thirty unknown powers surround it. 8. The eighth fatherhood is a still face, and thirty still powers surround it. 9. The ninth fatherhood is an unbegotten face, and thirty unbegotten powers surround it. 10. The tenth fatherhood is an unshakable face, and thirty unshakable powers surround it. 11. The eleventh fatherhood is an All-mystery face, and thirty All-mystery powers surround it. 12. The twelfth fatherhood is a thrice-powerful face, and thirty thrice-powerful powers surround it. And in the midst of the immeasurable depth there are five powers, which are called by these unutterable names: (1.) The first is called “Love”, from which all love has come forth. 2. The second (is called) “Hope”; through it people have hoped in the only-begotten Son of God. 3. The third is called “Faith”; through it people have believed in the mysteries of the Indescribable. 4. The fourth is called “Knowledge”; through it people have known the first Father, for whose sake they exist, and (through it) they have known the mystery of the Silence, which speaks for all things and is hidden, the first Monad, for whose sake the All became without substance. This is the mystery on whose head the 365 essences form a crown like the hair of a man, and at whose feet the holy Pleroma is like these footstools. This is the gate of God. 5. The fifth is called “Peace”; through it peace has been given to each of the inner and the outer, for in it the All was created. This is the immeasurable depth; this is that in which the 365 fatherhoods are, and through these the year has been divided. This is the depth which surrounds the holy Pleroma outside; this is that above which the Thrice-powerful and his branches are like these trees, and this is that above which Musanios and all his are. And there is Aphredon with his twelve righteous ones; in their midst there is a basket, as they carry into it the praises and the hymns and the petitions and the prayers of the Mother of the whole, or the Mother of the All, that is, of the so-called Manifest One. And form is given to them through the twelve righteous ones; they are sent through him to the Pleroma of Setheus; they remember these in the outer aeon, in which matter is. This is the depth in which the Thrice-powerful was praised until he reached the Indivisible. And he received the grace of the Unknowable; through it he received so great a sonship that the Pleroma could not bear it because of the excess of its light and of the brightness in it.

Translated by Claude from C. Schmidt's German translation (1905) of the Coptic; neither is shown

And the whole Pleroma was troubled, and the depth with all its inhabitants was moved, and they fled to the aeon of the Mother. And the mystery commanded that the veils of the aeons be drawn back until the overseer had established the aeons anew. And the overseer established the aeons anew, as it is written: “He has established the world, and it will not be moved”, and again: “The earth is dissolved, and all who are on it.” And then the Thrice-powerful came forth; in him the Son is hidden, and on his head is the crown of firmness, as he prepares myriads of myriads of praises, and those who cry out: “Make straight the way for the Lord and receive the grace of God. And all the aeons which belong to you(?) he will fill with the grace of the only-begotten Son.” And the holy Father and the All-perfect, and he with whom the whole fullness is, stood over the immeasurable depth; “from his fullness we have received grace”. Then the aeon was established and ceased to be moved. The Father established it, so that it might never be moved. And the aeon of the Mother remained filled with what is in it, until the command came forth through the mystery hidden in the first Father, from which the mystery came forth, so that his Son might set up the All anew in his knowledge, in which the All is. Then Setheus sent a Logos-Demiurge, with whom are a multitude of powers crowned on their heads. Their crowns cast forth rays, and the brightness of their bodies is alive in the place to which they have come; and the Word that comes from their mouth is eternal life, and the light that comes from their eyes is rest for them, and the movement of their hand is their flight to the place from which they have come, and their looking into their face is the knowledge concerning themselves, and their going to themselves is their return again, and the spreading out of their hands is their establishment, and the hearing of their ears is the perception in their heart, and the uniting of their members is the gathering of the dispersion of Israel, and the taking hold of them is their establishment in the Logos, and the number in their fingers is the count or the number that has come forth, as it is written: “He who counts the countless stars and gives names to them all.” And the whole union of the Logos-Demiurge took place with those who had come in the movement that had taken place. And they all became one, as it is written: “They all became one in the one Alone.” And then this Logos-Demiurge became divine power and Lord and Saviour and Righteous One and King and Good One and Father and Mother; this is he whose work has brought benefit; he was honoured and became father of those who have believed. He became law in the … and mighty.

Translated by Claude from C. Schmidt's German translation (1905) of the Coptic; neither is shown

And the All-manifest came forth, on whose head was the crown; she placed it on those who had believed. And the Mother, the Virgin, and the power of the aeons gave an order to her worlds according to the command of the Inner, and placed in them the spark of light after the type of the Monad, and set up the Veiled One surrounding them; and she set up the Forefather after the type of the Indivisible, and the twelve righteous ones surrounding him. There are crowns on their heads and a seal of glory in their right hand, and in their midst a love, and in the spring a thrice-powerful face, and a basket which the twelve Fathers and a sonship hidden in them surround. And she set up the Self-father after the type of the characterless Ennead and gave him authority over everyone who is father to himself alone, and crowned him with all glory, and gave him love and peace and truth and myriads of powers, so that he might gather those who had been scattered in the confusion that took place at the time when the Thrice-powerful and the Joy and the Lord of the All, who has the power to give life and to destroy, had come forth. And she set up the first-begotten Son after the type of the Thrice-powerful and gave him an Ennead nine times and gave him five Decads ten times, so that he might complete the contest laid on him. And she gave him the first-fruits of the sonship, in which he was able to be thrice-powerful, and he received the vow of the sonship, in which the All had been sold, and received the contest entrusted to him. And he raised up all that was pure in matter and made it a world, an aeon and a city, which is called “Incorruption” and “Jerusalem”. And it is also called “the new earth”, and it is also called “self-sufficient”, and it is also called “without a king”. And that land too is a God-bearing and life-giving one. This is the one which the Mother asked to be set up; therefore she set up commandment and order, and set up providence and love in this land. This is the land of which it is written: “The land which drinks the rain-water countless times”, that is, which increases light in itself many times from its going out to its coming in; this is that for whose sake the sense-perceptible man was written(?), and he was formed and created after the type of this land. This is the one which the First-begotten saved from its own dispersion. Therefore the Father of the All, the Unbounded, sent a crown in which is the name of the All, whether infinite or unutterable or incomprehensible or incorruptible or unknown or still or all-powerful or indivisible. This is the crown of which it is written: “It was given to Solomon on the day of the gladness of his heart.” And the first Monad further sent him an unutterable garment, which is all light and all life and all resurrection and all love and all hope and all faith and all wisdom and all knowledge and all truth and all peace and all All-manifest and all All-mother and all All-mystery and all All-spring and all All-perfect and all invisible and all unknown and all infinite and all unutterable and all depth and all incomprehensible and all Pleroma and all silence and all unshakable and all unbegotten and all still and all Monad and all Ennead and all Dodecad and all Ogdoad and all Decad and all Hebdomad and all Hexad and all Pentad and all Tetrad and all Triad and all Dyad and all Monad. And in it is the All, and the All too has found itself here and known itself in it. And she (the Monad) gave light to them all in her indescribable light; myriads of myriads of powers were given to her, so that she might set up the All once for all. And she gathered her garments to herself and made them in the form of a veil which surrounds her on all sides, and poured herself out over them all and set them all up and separated them all according to order and according to commandment and according to providence. [13] And then the Existent separated itself from the Non-existent, and the Non-existent is the evil that has shown itself in matter. And the power of the garment separated the Existent from the Non-existent, and called the Existent “eternal” and the Non-existent “matter”; and in the middle it separated the Existent from the Non-existent and put veils between them, and put purifying powers, so that they might be purified and cleansed. And in this way it gave commandments to the Existent, and set up the Mother as head and gave her ten aeons, and in each aeon there are a myriad of powers, and in each aeon a Monad and an Ennead. And it put in her an All-mother and gave her a power, to lay it hidden in her, so that no one might know it. And it put in her a great basket, by which three powers stand: an Unbegotten, an Unshakable and the great Pure One. And it gave him twelve others, who were crowned and surrounded him, and it also gave him seven commanders, who had the all-perfect seal, and on whose heads there was a crown in which there were twelve precious stones, which come from Adamas, the man of light. And it set up the Forefather in the aeons of the Mother of the whole and gave him the whole authority of fatherhood, and gave him powers, so that people might listen to him as to a father and as to the first father of all who had come into being. And it put on his head a crown of twelve kinds, and gave him a power which is thrice-powerful and all-powerful, and gave him the sonship and myriads of myriads of praises, which it had given him, and surrounded him with the Pleroma (or “turned the Pleroma towards him”). And it gave him authority to do all things, to give life and to destroy, and gave him a power from the aeon which is called “Solmistos”, after which all the aeons search, where it has revealed itself. And myriads of myriads of praises were given to him and to the aeons which are with him. The power which is given to the Forefather is called “first-manifest”, because he is the one who first revealed himself. And he was called “Unbegotten”, because no one created him, and he was also called “the Indescribable” and “the Unnamed”, and he was also called “Self-begotten” and “Self-willed”, because he revealed himself by his will, and he was called “Self-glorified”, because he revealed himself with the glory which he had; and he was also called “Invisible”, because he is hidden and is not seen. And it gave him another power, which from the beginning revealed the spark in this same place, which is called by the holy and all-perfect names, namely Protia, that is, the first. She is called Pandia, that is, she who exists in them all; she is also called Pangenia, that is, she who has begotten all; she is also called Doxogenia, for she is the bearer of glory; she is also called Doxophania, for she is the revealer of glory; she is also called Doxokratia, for she rules over glory; she is also called Arseno…

Translated by Claude from C. Schmidt's German translation (1905) of the Coptic; neither is shown

… genia, that is, the bearer of the male; she is also called Loia(?), whose interpretation is “God with us”; she is also called Iouel, whose interpretation is “God for ever”; but she who commanded these powers to reveal themselves is called Phania, whose interpretation is “the revelation”. And the angel who revealed himself with them is called by the glories Doxogenes and Doxophanes, whose interpretation is “the begetter of glory” and “the revealer of glory”, because he is one of these glories which stand round this great power which is called Doxokrator, that is, at their revelation he ruled over great glories.

Translated by Claude from C. Schmidt's German translation (1905) of the Coptic; neither is shown

These are the powers which were given to the Forefather, who was placed in the aeon of the Mother. And myriads of myriads of glories and angels and archangels and liturgi were given to him, so that they might serve for him those who belong to matter. And authority over all things was given to him, and he created for himself a great aeon and placed in it a great Pleroma and a great sanctuary, and all the powers which he had received he placed in it. And he exulted with them, as he gave birth to his creatures anew at the command of the Father hidden in the Silence, who had sent him these riches. And the crown of fatherhood was given to him, for he had appointed him as father of those who had come into being after him. And then he cried out and said: “My children, whom I bring to birth until Christ is formed in you”, and again he cries out: “For I am ready to present to one husband, Christ, a holy virgin.” But since he had seen the grace which the hidden Father had granted him, he himself, the Forefather, wished to turn the All back to the hidden Father, for his wish is this, that the All should return to him. And when the Mother had seen these greatnesses which were granted to her Forefather, she rejoiced greatly and exulted. Therefore she says: “My heart is glad and my tongue rejoices.” Then she called upon the infinite power which stands by the hidden aeon of the Father and belongs to the great powers of glory, which is called by the glories Trigenethlos, that is, the thrice-begotten, who is also called Trigenes; and she is also called … . And she too asked the Hidden One before all things to send the Mother what she needs. And the hidden Father sent her the mystery which covers all the aeons and all the glories, which has an all-perfect, that is, a completed crown, and he placed it on the head of the great Invisible who is in him and is hidden, who is incorruptible and unbegotten, and (on the head) of the great power who is with him, who is called “bearer of the male” and will fill all the aeons with glory. And thus through him the All will be crowned.