The Gnostic Genesis: Eleleth’s Revelation

Posted on 2016-07-04by jimbelton

In 1945, a cache of apocrypha (non-canonical religious texts) written by Gnostic Christians was discovered near Nag Hammadi in southern Egypt. Among them was a Gnostic retelling of the first 6 chapters of the book of Genesis: The Hypostasis of the Archons. The seventh chapter is a revelation of Gnostic cosmology, attributed by the author to the angel Eleleth (“sagacity of God”):

I cannot speak of the power of the angel Eleleth. His skin was like fine gold and his clothing as white as snow. But truly, my mouth cannot bear to speak of his power and the appearance of his face. Eleleth, the great angel, spoke to Norea.

“I am understanding,” he said. “I am one of the four luminaries who stand in the presence of the great invisible spirit. Do you think the Archons have any power over you? None of them can prevail against the source of truth, for on its account one will appear in the final ages, and the Archons will be restrained. They cannot defile you and your race, for your home is in incorruptibility, where the virgin spirit lives, who is superior to the lords of chaos and to their universe.”

“Sir,” said Norea, “teach me about the Archons. How did they come into being? By what genesis, and out of what material, and who created them and their power?”

The great angel Eleleth spoke:

Incorruptibility inhabits limitless realms. Sophia, who is called Pistis, wanted to create something, alone, without her partner, and what she created was celestial. A veil exists between the world above and the realms below, and shadow came into being beneath the veil. That shadow became matter, and the shadow was blasted apart. And what she had created came to be in matter, like an aborted fetus. He assumed a shape molded out of shadow, and became an arrogant beast resembling a lion. He was androgynous, because he was derived from matter. Opening his eyes, he saw a vast quantity of endless matter, and he became arrogant.

“I am god, and there is no one but me,” he said.

When he said this, he sinned against everything. A voice came from above the realm of absolute power.

“You are wrong, Samael,” it said, naming him ‘god of the blind’.

“If any thing existed before me, let it become visible to me!” he said.

Immediately Sophia pointed her finger and introduced light into matter, and she pursued it down to the region of chaos. Then she returned up to her light, and once again darkness returned to matter.

Samael made himself a vast realm, an endless precinct. He contemplated creating offspring for himself, and created seven, androgynous like their parent.

“I am the god of all,” he said to his offspring.

“You are wrong, Sakla”, shouted Zoe, the daughter of Pistis Sophia.

She breathed into the face of Samael (whose  other name is Yaldabaoth), and her breath became a fiery angel. That angel bound Samael and cast him down into Tartaros, at the bottom of the abyss. Now, when Samael’s child Sabaoth saw the strength of that angel, he repented and condemned his father and his mother, matter.

He loathed Sophia, but he sang songs of praise up to her and her daughter Zoe. Sophia and Zoe found him and put him in charge of the seventh heaven, below the veil that lies between above and below. Sabaoth is called ‘god of the forces’ since he is above the forces of chaos, for Sophia placed him there.

Saboath made himself a huge four sided chariot of cherubim, and harps, and lyres, and an infinity of angels to act as his ministers. Sophia had her daughter Zoe sit on his right to teach him about the things that exist in the eighth heaven, and she placed the angel of wrath  at his left. Since that day, his right hand has been called life, and the left has signified the righteousness of the realm of absolute power above.

When Samael saw Saboath in this great splendor and at this height, he envied him, and the envy became something androgynous; this was the origin of envy. Envy engendered death, and death engendered his offspring, and gave each of them charge of its own heaven. All the heavens of chaos became full of their multitudes.

But it was by the will of the Father of everything that they all came into being, after the pattern of all the things above, so that the sum of chaos might be attained. And now I have taught you about the form of the archons and the matter in which it was made visible, along with their creator and their universe.

There is much of interest here:

• Eleleth predicts the coming of Christ, who will restrain the archons.
• A veil exists between the material universe (which includes seven heavens) and the perfect universe, which includes the eighth heaven, the Ogdoad.
• The author vacillates between calling Samael “it” and “he”. This is due to Samael’s androgynous nature.
• Samael created the material universe.
• Sophia appointed Saboath, a child of Samael, as ruler of the archons. Elsewhere in the book, Samael is said to be their ruler.
• Zoe, daughter of Sophia, plays an active role in the material universe:
  • she casts Samael into Tartaros (the Greek hell where Zeus imprisoned the titans).
  • she sits at Saboath’s right hand, teaching him about the eight heaven.
• Death sprang from Samael’s envy of Saboath.
• All of this was the will of the Father of All, the true God

The Gnostic Genesis: Eleleth’s Prophecy

Posted on 2016-07-05by jimbelton

In 1945, a cache of apocrypha (non-canonical religious texts) written by Gnostic Christians was discovered near Nag Hammadi in southern Egypt. Among them was a Gnostic retelling of the first 6 chapters of the book of Genesis: The Hypostasis of the Archons. The eight and final chapter is the conclusion of the dialog between Norea and the angel Eleleth:

“Sir, am I made from the same matter as the Archons?” asked Norea.

“You and your offspring come from the primeval father,” replied Eleleth. “Your souls come from above, out of the incorruptible light. Therefore, the Archons cannot approach them, since the spirit of truth resides in them, and all who know this exist deathless in the midst of dying people. Still, the children will not be revealed now. Instead, after three ages, the truth will be revealed and free them from the bondage of the Archons’ error.”

“Sir, how much longer will that be?” asked Norea.

“Until the moment when a true human, with a modeled form, reveals the existence of the spirit of truth that the father has sent,” he said. “He will teach them everything, and anoint them with the unction of  eternal life, given to him by the generation without a king. Then they will be free of blind thought, and they will trample on death, which comes from the Archons. They will ascend into the limitless light where they belong. The Archons will relinquish their lives, and their angels will weep over their destruction, and their demons will lament their death. All the children of the light will know the truth and their source, and the father of all, and the holy spirit. They will all say with a single voice, ‘The father’s truth is just, and the son presides over all.’ And everyone, through the ages of ages, will say ‘Holy, holy, holy! Amen!’”

More interesting stuff:

• Norea’s side of the dialog is (as in the previous chapter) written in the first person
• Norea’s descendents have souls from the incorruptible realm, the true heaven
• Knowledge (gnosis) of this truth gives immortality; this is the Gnostic doctrine
• After 3 ages, Jesus will reveal the truth and anoint people with immortality
• Who are the generation without a king who give Jesus the unction of eternal life?
• Rather than inheriting an earthly kingdom, those who are saved will ascend to heaven

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