Apocryphon of John

[citation needed] A book called the Apocryphon of John was referred to by Irenaeus in Adversus Haereses, written about 185, among "an indescribable number of secret and illegitimate writings, which they themselves have forged, to bewilder the minds of foolish people, who are ignorant of the true scriptures"[3]—scriptures which Irenaeus himself helped to establish (see the canonical four).

[4] Little more was known of this text until 1945, when a cache of thirteen papyrus codices (bound books) that had been hidden away in the 4th century, was fortuitously discovered at Nag Hammadi in Egypt (CG II).

Two of the versions are very similar and represent one manuscript tradition; they incorporate a lengthy excerpt from a certain Book of Zoroaster appended to the Apocryphon (as chapters 15:29 – 19:8f) A shorter version of the Apocryphon found at Nag Hammadi does not contain the interpolation and represents another manuscript tradition.

Still another version of this short edition of the text was discovered in an ancient Coptic Codex acquired by Dr. Carl Reinhardt in Cairo in 1896.

This manuscript (identified as the "Berlin Gnostic Codex" or BG 8502) was used along with the three versions found at Nag Hammadi to produce the translations now available.

The Apocryphon, set in the framing device of a revelation delivered by the resurrected Christ to John the son of Zebedee, contains some of the most extensive detailing of classic dualistic Gnostic mythology that has survived; as one of the principal texts of the Nag Hammadi library, it is an essential text of study for anyone interested in Gnosticism.

However, the Nag Hammadi Codex III closes its text with the prayer “Jesus Christ, Amen.” An additional distinction, with regards to the Christian framing of the texts, is that Nag Hammadi Codex III goes into greater detail about the descent of the Christ/Savior figure into the prison-world of Demiurge and his role in facilitating the reawakening and liberation of mankind.

The Savior then appears, takes various forms, and after banishing John's fears, provides the following cosmological narrative.

The Light and the Mind engage in further creative activity, aided by and glorifying the superior principles of Barbelo and the Monad.

Eventually, one of the Aeons, Sophia "of the Epinoia", disrupts the harmony of these processes by engaging in creative activity without the participation or consent of the Spirit of the Monad and without the aid of a male consort.

Despite the fact that Yaldabaoth possesses only a single parent and was created without the consent of the Spirit of the Monad, he is powerful enough to mimic the creative processes of the superior Aeons.

In forgiveness of her error, the Spirit of the Monad assists the other Aeons and powers in an attempt to redeem Sophia and her bastard creation.

While they are terrified by the voice, its echo leaves a trace of an image of the Spirit on the "waters" that form the roof of their realm.

Recognizing an opportunity to retrieve the light imprisoned in the darkness of Yaldabaoth and his world, Sophia and agents of the higher order, referred to variously as the "plenoria" or the "Epinoia", and later as the "pleroma", devise a scheme.

Seeing the luminosity, intelligence and general superiority of the now animate Adam, Yaldabaoth and the Archons regret their creation and do their best to imprison or dispose of him.

In this narrative, the Garden of Eden is a false paradise where the fruit of the trees is sin, lust, ignorance, confinement and death.

According to this narrative, the Tree of Knowledge actually represents the penetration of the positive forces of the higher world and the Epinoia into Yaldabaoth's realm.

At this point in the narrative, Christ reveals to John that it was he who caused Adam to consume the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

Additionally, it is revealed that Eve is a helper sent by agents of the higher order to help liberate the light imprisoned in Yaldabaoth's creation and in Adam.

The Nag Hammadi Codex III version of the text ends with the prayer, "Jesus Christ, Amen".