Apocryphal books (New Testament); Christian heresies -- History -- Early church, ca. 30-600; Gnosticism
A great part of the Document is likewise taken up by the questions of
Mary Magdalene and the other disciples, among whom John is the most
insistent, as to the sinners to whom they shall give their mysteries and
the effect which they will have on them. We who hear in this Document of
a mystery or secret whereby the dead can be raised, the sick healed, and
other wonders performed, although Jesus tells His disciples that this
mystery belongs to the Archons or wicked Rulers of the Stars and is not
to be used save for the purpose of establishing the faith throughout the
world.[30] We also have much in this Document as to the soul or
incorporeal part of man which the disciples are told consists of the
Power, the Soul proper, the Spirit Counterfeit, and the Fate. Of these,
the Power is the most worthy and causes the man to seek after the
mysteries, and the soul is really the Life or Breath and is made either
out of the _ejecta_ of the Rulers or from the dregs or grosser parts of
the Light which is at certain periods squeezed out of them by certain
powers appointed for that purpose. The Spirit Counterfeit, on the other
hand, is the envelope or mask of the soul which constantly leads it to
commit sin and bears witness after death to its having done so, while
the Fate is the death to which the man is predestined, and which he can
never escape while uninitiate.[31] Incidentally, too, we hear a good
deal in this Document as to the Gnostic belief in the transmigration of
souls, reincarnation being obligatory on such souls as have not found
the more sublime mysteries.[32] Several formulas are also given whereby
the soul can cut itself loose from the Spirit Counterfeit and the Fate,
and we are told that even an uninitiated person can escape from the
torments of the Dragon of Outer Darkness if one of the names of the
reptile be said by or for him. Throughout this Document the tortures of
the different hells and the beast-shaped demons who administer them are
much dwelt upon. Finally, Jesus tells His disciples that He came to
earth to bring these mysteries, and that had He not done so neither
Patriarchs nor Prophets would have entered into the Light.[33]
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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