Introduction.
This is an abbreviated translation of a gnostic text discovered at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1946, and published recently in The Nag Hammadi Library (ed. J. Robinson). The text is probably from the 3rd cent. a.d., and was written in Coptic (an Egyptian language), using however many Greek loan-words. The translation here is basically that of Bentley Leighton. I have rearranged it in verse form, because I think it is easier to read that way, and I’ve smoothed out the English in someplaces. I present here a very abbreviated version, eliminating what seem to me many side comments distracting from the main points. I’ve added a few interpretive comments in italics.
The title of this text is usually left largely in Greek, “The Hypostasis of the Archons”. “Archon” means simply “ruler” in Greek — the gnostics use it as a term for the evil “rulers of this world”. “Hypostasis” means “substance”. The title seems best explained by Norea’s question toward the end of the treatise, “How did [the Rulers] come into existence … of what kind of matter” — i.e. the question about the “substance” of the rulers is the question about where they come from, what kind of beings they are. I think the best translation is then “The Nature of the Rulers”.
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Concerning the Nature of the Rulers
I have sent you this writing because you inquire about the Nature of the Authorities.
Their chief is blind –
It is because of his Power and his ignorance and his arrogance that he said with his Power,
“It is I who am God, there is none apart from me.”
When he said this he sinned against the All.
This is Gnostic criticism of the Jewish creator God, Lord of the material world in which the heavenly soul is trapped.
And these words came up to Incorruptibility,
And then there was a voice that came forth from Incorruptibility, saying, “You are mistaken, Samael”,
(which means “God of the blind.” His thoughts became blind.)…
In this writing, the highest being is female, called “Incorruptibility”.
The Archons [Rulers] laid plans and said,
“Come let us create a man that will be soil from the earth.”
And they modeled their creature as one wholly of the earth.
They took some soil from the earth and modeled their Man after their body,
And after the Image of God [Incorruptibility] that had appeared to them in the Waters.
And they breathed into its face,
And the Man came to have a [dead] soul,
And remained upon the ground for many days.
But they could not make him arise because of their powerlessness.
The Archons are supernatural Rulers of the material world.
Afterwards, the Spirit saw the soul-endowed Man upon the ground.
And the Spirit came forth from the Adamantine Land.
It descended and came to dwell within him, and that Man became a living soul.
Then the Female Spiritual Force came in the Snake, the Instructor.
It taught them, saying,
“What did he say to you?
Was it, ‘From every tree in the Garden shall you eat,
But from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil [i.e. gnosis] do not eat’?”
The carnal woman said,
“Not only did he say, ‘Do not eat’,
But, ‘Do not touch it. For the day you eat from it,
With death you will die.”‘
And the Snake, the Instructor, said,
“With death you shall not die.
It was out of jealousy that he said this to you.
Rather your eyes shall opened, and you shall come to be like gods,
recognizing evil and good.”
This is another criticism of the Genesis story: The snake which appears as a tempter in Genesis, is now a savior, transmitting to Adam and Eve true “knowledge” gnosis)
Eve became pregnant and she bore Norea.
And she said, “He has begotten in me a virgin,
An assistance for many generations of mankind.”
(She is the virgin whom the Forces did not defile.)
……
The Rulers went to meet her, intending to lead her astray.
Their supreme chief said to her, “Your mother Eve came to us.”
But Norea turned to them and said to them,
“You are the Rulers of Darkness, you are accursed.
You did not know my mother,
It was your female counterpart that you knew.
I am not your descendant,
I have come from the World Above.”
The arrogant Ruler turned with all his might.
His face became like black fire.
He said to her presumptuously,
“You must render service to us, as also did your mother Eve.”
But Norea turned in the strength of her passion,
And in a loud voice she cried out, up to the Holy One, the God of the All,
“Rescue me from the Rulers of Unrighteousness,
Save me from their clutches, quickly.”
The Great Angel came down from the heavens and said to her, “Why are you crying up to God?
Norea said, “Who are you?”
He said,
“I am Eleleth, Wisdom, the Great Angel who stands in front of the Holy Spirit.
I have been sent to speak with you, and to save you from the grasp of the Lawless.
I shall teach you about your Root.
Then Eleleth the Great Angel spoke to me:
“I am Understanding.
I am one of the Four Light-givers who stand before the Great Invisible Spirit.
Do you think that these Rulers have any power over you?”
They cannot defile you,
Because your abode is in Incorruptibility, where the Virgin Spirit dwells,
Who is superior to the Rulers of Chaos and to their universe.”
And I said,
“Sir, teach me about the Nature of these Authorities.
How did they come into being, by what kind of genesis,
And of what kind of material,
And who created them and their force?”
And the Great Angel Eleleth, Understanding, spoke to me:
“Within limitless realms dwells Incorruptibility.
Sophia, who is called Pistis, wanted to create something, alone without her consort,
And her product was a celestial thing.
A veil exists between the World Above and the realms that are below.
Shadow came into being beneath the veil,
And that Shadow became Matter.
And that Shadow was projected apart,
And what she created became a product in the Matter, like an aborted fetus.
And it assumed a plastic form molded out of Shadow,
And became an arrogant beast resembling a lion.
Opening his eyes he saw a vast quantity of Matter without limit,
And he became arrogant, saying,
“It is I who am God, and there is none other apart from me.”
When he said this, he sinned against the All.
And a voice came forth from the realm of absolute power, saying, “You are mistaken, Samael” (which is, “God of the blind”).
Another criticism of the Jewish creator-God.
[Eleleth says to Norea]
There, I have taught you about the pattern of the Rulers,
And the Matter in which it was expressed,
And their parent, and their universe.
“But am I from their Matter”, I said.
You, together with your offspring, are from above.
From Above, out of the imperishable Light, their souls are come.
Thus the Authorities cannot approach them,
Because of the Spirit of Truth present within them.
And all who have become acquainted with this Way exist deathless in the midst of dying mankind.
