Allogenes
Translated by John D.Turner and Orval S. Wintermute
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... since they are perfect individuals and dwell all together, joined
with the mind, the guardian which I provided, who taught you (sg.). And
it is the power that exists within you that often extended itself as word
from the Triple-Powered One, that One of all those who truly exist with
the Immeasurable One, the eternal Light of the Knowledge that appeared,
the male virginal Youth, the first of the Aeons from a unique triple-powered
Aeon, the Triple-Powered-One who truly exists, for when he was stilled,
was extended and when he was extended, he became complete and he received
power from all of them. He knows himself and the perfect Invisible Spirit.
And he came to be in an Aeon who knows that she knows That One. And she
became Kalyptos, who acted in those whom she knows. He is a perfect, invisible,
noetic Protophanes-Harmedon. And empowering the individuals, she is a Triple-Male.
And being individually ...
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... individual on the one hand, they are together on the other hand,
since she is an existence of theirs, and she sees them all also truly.
She contains the divine Autogenes.
When she knew her Existence and when she stood, she brought
This One (masc.), since he saw them all existing individually as he is.
And when they become as he is, they shall see the divine Triple-Male, the
power that is higher than God. He is the Thought of all these who exist
together. If he ponders them, he ponders the great male [...] noetic Protophanes,
the procession of these. When he sees it, he sees also those who truly
exist and the procession of those who are together. And when he has seen
these, he has seen the Kalyptos. And if he sees one of the hidden ones,
he sees the Aeon of Barbelo. And as for the unbegotten offspring of That
One, if one sees how he lives ...
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... you have heard about the abundance of each one of them certainly.
But concerning the invisible, spiritual Triple-Powered-One,
hear! He exists as an Invisible One who is incomprehensible to them all.
He contains them all within himself, for they all exist because of him.
He is perfect, and he is greater than perfect, and he is blessed. He is
always One and he exists in them all, being ineffable, unnameable, being
One who exists through them all - he whom, should one discern him, one
would not desire anything that exists before him among those that possess
existence, for he is the source from which they were all emitted. He is
prior to perfection. He was prior to every divinity, and he is prior to
every blessedness, since he provides for every power. And he <is> a
nonsubstantial substance, since he is a God over whom there is no divinity,
the transcending of whose greatness and beauty ...
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... power. It is not impossible for them to receive a revelation of
these things, if they come together. Since it is impossible for the individuals
to comprehend the Universal One situated in the place that is higher than
perfect, they apprehend by means of a First Thought - not as Being alone,
but it is along with the latency of Existence that he confers Being. He
provides everything for himself, since it is he who shall come to be when
he recognizes himself. And he is One who subsists as a cause and source
of Being, and an immaterial material and an innumerable number and a formless
form and a shapeless shape and a powerlessness and a power and an insubstantial
substance and a motionless motion and an inactive activity. Yet he is a
provider of provisions and a divinity of divinity - but whenever they apprehend,
they participate the first Vitality and an undivided activity, an hypostasis
of the First One from the One who truly exists. And a second activity [...]
however, is the [...]. He is endowed with blessedness and goodness, because
when he is recognized as the traverser of the boundlessness of the Invisible
Spirit that subsists in him, it (the boundlessness) turns him to it (the
invisible spirit) in order that it might know what is within him and how
he exists. And he was becoming salvation for every one by being a point
of departure for those who truly exist, for through him his knowledge endured,
since he is the one who knows what he is. But they brought forth nothing
beyond themselves, neither power nor rank nor glory nor aeon, for they
are all eternal. He is Vitality and Mentality and That-Which-Is. For then
That-Which-Is constantly possesses its Vitality and Mentality, and Life
has Vitality possesses non-Being and Mentality. Mentality possesses Life
and That-Which-Is. And the three are one, although individually they are
three.
Now after I heard these things, my son Messos, I was afraid,
and I turned toward the multitude [...] thought [...] gives power to those
who are capable of knowing these things by a revelation that is much greater.
And I was capable, although flesh was upon me. I heard from you about these
things and about the doctrine that is in them, since the thought which
is in me distinguished the things that are beyond measure as well as the
unknowables. Therefore I fear that my doctrine may have become something
beyond what is fitting.
And then, my son Messos, the all-glorious One, Youel, spoke
to me again. She made a revelation to me and said: "No one is able to hear
these things except the great powers alone, O Allogenes. A great power
was put upon you, which the Father of the All, the Eternal, put upon you
before you came to this place, in order that those things that are difficult
to distinguish you might distinguish and those things that are unknown
to the multitude you might know, and that you might escape (in safety)
to the One who is yours, who was first to save and who does not need to
be saved ...
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... to you a form and a revelation of the invisible, spiritual Triple-Powered
One, outside of which dwells an undivided, incorporeal, eternal knowledge.
As with all the Aeons, the Aeon of Barbelo exists also endowed
with the types and forms of those who truly exist, the image of Kalyptos.
And endowed with the intellectual Word of these, he bears the noetic male
Protophanes like an image, and he acts within the individuals, either with
craft or with skill or with partial instinct. He is endowed with the divine
Autogenes like an image, and he knows each one of these. He acts separately
and individually, continuing to rectify the failures from nature. He is
endowed with the divine Triple-Male as salvation for them all, in cooperation
with the Invisible Spirit. He is a word from a counsel, <he> is the
perfect Youth. And this hypostasis is a ...
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... my soul went slack, and I fled and was very disturbed.
And I turned to myself and saw the light that surrounded me and the Good
that was in me, I became divine.
And the all-glorious One, Youel, anointed me again and she
gave power to me. She said, "Since your instruction has become complete,
and you have known the Good that is within you, hear concerning the Triple-Powered
One those things that you will guard in great silence and great mystery,
because they are not spoken to anyone except those who are worthy, those
who are able to hear: nor is it fitting to speak to an uninstructed generation
concerning the Universal One that is higher than perfect. But you have
<these> because of the Triple-Powered One, the One who exists in blessedness
and goodness, the One who is responsible for all these.
"There exists within him much greatness. Inasmuch as he is
one in a ...
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... of the First Thought, which does not fall away from those who dwell
in comprehension and knowledge and understanding. And That One moved motionlessly
in that which governs, lest he sink into the boundless by means of another
activity of Mentality. And he entered into himself and he appeared, being
all-encompassing, the Universal One that is higher than perfect.
"Indeed it is not through me that he is to such a degree anterior
to knowledge. Whereas there is no possibility for complete comprehension,
he is (nevertheless) known. And this is so because of the third silence
of Mentality and the second undivided activity which appeared in the First
Thought, that is, the Aeon of Barbelo, together with the Indivisible One
of the divisible likenesses and the Triple-Powered-One and the non-substantial
Existence."
<Then> the power appeared by means of an activity that is
at rest and silent, although it uttered a sound thus: zza zza zza. But
when she (Youel) heard the power and she was filled ...
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... "Thou art [...], Solmis! [...] according to the Vitality that is
thine, and the first activity which derives from divinity. Thou art great,
Armedon! Thou art perfect, Epiphaneus!
"And according to that activity of thine, the second power
and the Mentality which derives from blessedness: Autoer, Beritheus, Erigenaor,
Orimenios, Aramen, Alphleges, Elelioupheus, Lalameus, Yetheus, Noetheus,
thou art great! He who knows thee knows the Universal One! Thou art One,
thou art One, He who is good, Aphredon! Thou art the Aeon of the Aeons,
He who is perpetually!"
Then she praised the Universal One, saying "Lalameus, Noetheus,
Senaon, Asine[us, ...]riphanios, Mellephaneus, Elemaoni, Smoun, Optaon,
He Who Is! Thou art He Who Is, the Aeon of Aeons, the Unbegotten, who art
higher than the unbegotten (ones), Yatomenos, thou alone for whom all the
unborn ones were begotten, the Unnameable One! ... (10 lines missing) ...
knowledge."
Now after I heard these things, I saw the glories of the perfect
individuals and the all-perfect ones who exist together, and the all-perfect
ones who are before the perfect ones.
Again the greatly glorious One, Youel, said to me, "O Allogenes,
in an unknowing knowledge you know that the Triple-Powered One exists before
the glories. They do not exist among those who exist. They do not exist
together with those who exist nor those who truly exist. Rather, all these
exist as divinity and blessedness and existence, and as nonsubstantiality
and non-being existence."
And then I prayed that the revelation might occur to me. And
then the all-glorious one, Youel, said to me, "O Allogenes, of course,
the Triple-Male is something beyond substance. Yet were he insubstantial
...
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... those who exist in association with the generation of those who
truly exist. The self-begotten ones exist with the Triple-Male.
"If you seek with a perfect seeking, then you shall know the
Good that is in you; then you will know yourself as well, (as) one who
derives from the God who truly pre-exists. For after a hundred years there
shall come to you a revelation of That One by means of Salamex and Semen
and [...] the Luminaries of the Aeon of Barbelo. And that beyond what is
fitting for you, you shall not know at first, so as not to forfeit your
kind. And if so, then when you receive a conception of That One, then you
are filled with the word to completion. Then you become divine, and you
become perfect. You receive them ...
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... the seeking [...] the Existence [...] if it apprehends anything,
it is apprehended by that one and by the very one who is comprehended.
And then he becomes greater who comprehends and knows than he who is comprehended
and known. But if he descends to his nature, he is less, for the incorporeal
natures have not associated with any magnitude; having this power, they
are everywhere and they are nowhere, since they are greater than every
magnitude, and less than every exiguity."
Now after the all-glorious One, Youel, said these things, she
separated from me and left me. But I did not despair of the words that
I heard. I prepared myself therein and I deliberated with myself for a
hundred years. And I rejoiced exceedingly, since I was in a great light
and a blessed path because those whom I was worthy to see as well as those
whom I was worthy to hear (are) those whom it is fitting that the great
powers alone ... (5 lines missing) ... of God.
When the completion of the one hundred years drew nigh, it
brought me a blessedness of the eternal hope full of auspiciousness. I
saw the good divine Autogenes; and the Savior, who is the youthful, perfect
Triple-Male Child; and his goodness, the noetic perfect Protophanes-Harmedon;
and the blessedness of the Kalyptos; and the primary origin of the blessedness,
the Aeon of Barbelo, full of divinity; and the primary origin of the one
without origin, the spiritual, invisible Triple-Powered One, the Universal
One that is higher than perfect.
When <I> was taken by the eternal Light out of the garment
that was upon me, and taken up to a holy place whose likeness cannot be
revealed in the world, then by means of a great blessedness I saw all those
about whom I had heard. And I praised all of them and I stood upon my knowledge
and I inclined to the knowledge of the Universals, the Aeon of Barbelo.
And I saw holy powers by means of the Luminaries of the virginal
male Barbelo telling me that I would be able to test what happens in the
world: "O Allogenes, behold your blessedness, how it silently abides, by
which you know your proper self and, seeking yourself, withdraw to the
Vitality that you will see moving. And although it is impossible for you
to stand, fear nothing; but if you wish to stand, withdraw to the Existence,
and you will find it standing and at rest after the likeness of the One
who is truly at rest and (who) embraces all these silently and inactively.
And when you receive a revelation of him by means of a primary revelation
of the Unknown One - the One whom if you should know him, be ignorant of
him - and you become afraid in that place, withdraw to the rear because
of the activities. And when you become perfect in that place, still yourself.
And in accordance with the pattern that indwells you, know likewise that
it is this way in all such (matters) after this pattern. And do not further
dissipate, so that you may be able to stand, and do not desire to be active,
lest you fall in any way from the inactivity in you of the Unknown One.
Do not know him, for it is impossible; but if by means of an enlightened
thought you should know him, be ignorant of him."
Now I was listening to these things as those ones spoke them.
There was within me a stillness of silence, and I heard the Blessedness
whereby I knew <my> proper self.
And I withdrew to the Vitality as I sought <myself>, and
I joined into it, and I stood, not firmly but silently. And I saw an eternal,
intellectual, undivided motion that pertains to all the formless powers,
(which is) unlimited by limitation.
And when I wanted to stand firmly, I withdrew to the Existence,
which I found standing and at rest, like an image and likeness of what
is conferred upon me by a revelation of the Indivisible One and the One
who is at rest. I was filled with revelation by means of a primary revelation
of the Unknowable One. As though I were ignorant of him, I knew him, and
I received power by him. Having been permanently strengthened, I knew the
One who exists in me, and the Triple-Powered One, and the revelation of
his uncontainableness. And by means of a primary revelation of the First
One unknowable to them all, the God who is beyond perfection, I saw him
and the Triple-Powered One that exists in them all. I was seeking the ineffable
and Unknowable God - whom if one should know him, he would be absolutely
ignorant of him - the Mediator of the Triple-Powered One who subsists in
stillness and silence and is unknowable.
And when I was confirmed in these matters, the powers of the
Luminaries said to me, "Cease hindering the inactivity that exists in you,
by seeking incomprehensible matters; rather, hear about him in so far as
it is possible by means of a primary revelation and a revelation."
"Now he is something insofar as he exists in that he either
exists and will become, or acts or knows, although he lives without Mind
or Life or Existence or Non-Existence, incomprehensibly. And he is something
along with his proper being. He is not left over in some way, as if he
yields something that is assayed or purified or that receives or gives.
And he is not diminished in any way, whether by his own desire, or whether
he gives or receives through another. Neither does he have any desire of
himself nor from another; it does not affect him. Rather, neither does
he give anything by himself, lest he become diminished in another respect;
nor for this reason does he need Mind, or Life, is indeed anything at all.
He is superior to the Universals in his privation and unknowability, that
is, the non-being existence, since he is endowed with silence and stillness
lest he be diminished by those who are not diminished.
"He is neither divinity nor blessedness nor perfection. Rather,
it (this triad) is an unknowable entity of him, not that which is proper
to him; rather, he is another one superior to the blessedness and the divinity
and perfection. For he is not perfect, but he is another thing that is
superior. He is neither boundless, nor is he bounded by another. Rather,
he is something superior. He is not corporeal. He is not incorporeal. He
is not great. He is not small. He is not a number. He is not a creature.
Nor is he something that exists, that one can know. But he is something
else of himself that is superior, which one cannot know.
"He is primary revelation and knowledge of himself, as it is
he alone who knows himself. Since he is not one of those that exist, but
is another thing, he is superior to superlatives, even in comparison to
what is his and not his. He neither participates in age nor does he participate
in time. He does not receive anything from anything else. He is not diminishable,
neither does he diminish anything, nor is he undiminishable. But he is
self-comprehending, as something so unknowable that he exceeds those who
excel in unknowability.
"He is endowed with blessedness and perfection and silence
- not <the blessedness> nor the perfection - and stillness. Rather it
(these attributes) is an entity of him that exists, which one cannot know,
and which is at rest. Rather they are entities of him unknowable to them
all.
"And he is much higher in beauty than all those that are good,
and he is thus unknowable to all of them in every respect. And through
them all he is in them all, not only as the unknowable knowledge that is
proper to him. And he is united with the ignorance that sees him. Whether
<one sees> in what way he is unknowable, or sees him as he is in every
respect, or would say that he is something like knowledge, he has sinned
against him, being liable to judgment because he did not know God. He will
not be judged by That One who is neither concerned for anything nor has
any desire, but it (judgment) <is> from himself, because he did not
find the origin that truly exists. He was blind, apart from the eye of
revelation that is at rest, the (one) that is activated, the (one) from
the Triple-Power of the First Thought of the Invisible Spirit. This one
thus exists from ...
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... something [...] set firmly on the [...], a beauty and a first emergence
of stillness and silence and tranquility and unfathomable greatness. When
he appeared, he did not need time nor <did he partake> of eternity.
Rather of himself he is unfathomably unfathomable. He does not activate
himself so as to become still. He is not an existence, lest he be in want.
Spatially, he is corporeal, while properly he is incorporeal. He has non-being
existence. He exists for all of them unto himself without any desire. But
he is a greater summit of greatness. And he is higher than his stillness,
in order that ...
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... he saw them, and empowered them all, although they do not concern
themselves with That One at all, nor, if one should receive from him, does
he receive power. Nothing activates him in accordance with the Unity that
is at rest. For he is unknowable; he is an airless place of boundlessness.
Since he is boundless and powerless and nonexistent, he was not giving
Being. Rather he contains all of these in himself, being at rest (and)
standing out of the one who stands continually, since there had appeared
an Eternal Life, the Invisible and Triple-Powered Spirit which is in all
of these who exist. And it surrounds them all, being higher than them all.
A shadow ...
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... he was filled with power. And he stood before them, empowering
them all, and he filled them all."
And concerning all of these things you have heard certainly.
And do not seek anything more, but go. We do not know whether the Unknowable
One has angels or gods, or whether the One who is at rest was containing
anything within himself except the stillness, which is he, lest he be diminished.
It is not fitting to spend more time seeking. It was appropriate that you
(pl.) know, and that they speak with another one. But you will receive
them ...
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... and he said to me, "Write down the things that I shall tell you,
and of which I shall remind you, for the sake of those who will be worthy
after you. And you will leave this book upon a mountain and you will adjure
the guardian: "Come Dreadful One".
And after he said these (things), he separated from me. But
I was full of joy, and I wrote this book which was appointed for me, my
son Messos, in order that I might disclose to you the (things) that were
proclaimed before me in my presence. And at first I received them in great
silence, and I stood by myself, preparing myself. These are the things
that were disclosed to me, O my son Messos ...
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... proclaim them, O my son Messos, as the seal for all the books of
Allogenes.
Allogenes
.
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