

The Apocalypse of Peter -- The Nag Hammadi Library

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    Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont Graduate University)

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The Nag Hammadi Library

    The Apocalypse of Peter

Translated by James Brashler and Roger A. Bullard

            As the Savior was sitting in the temple in the three hundredth (year) of the covenant and
            the agreement of the tenth pillar, and being satisfied with the number of the living,
            incorruptible Majesty, he said to me, "Peter, blessed are those above belonging to
            the Father, who revealed life to those who are from the life, through me, since I reminded
            they who are built on what is strong, that they may hear my word, and distinguish words of
            unrighteousness and transgression of law from righteousness, as being from the height of
            every word of this Pleroma of truth, having been enlightened in good pleasure by him whom
            the principalities sought. But they did not find him, nor was he mentioned among any
            generation of the prophets. He has now appeared among these, in him who appeared, who is
            the Son of Man, who is exalted above the heavens in a fear of men of like essence. But you
            yourself, Peter, become perfect in accordance with your name with myself, the one who
            chose you, because from you I have established a base for the remnant whom I have summoned
            to knowledge. Therefore be strong until the imitation of righteousness - of him who had
            summoned you, having summoned you to know him in a way which is worth doing because of the
            rejection which happened to him, and the sinews of his hands and his feet, and the
            crowning by those of the middle region, and the body of his radiance which they bring in
            hope of service because of a reward of honor - as he was about to reprove you three times
            in this night."

And as he was saying these things, I saw the priests and the people running up to us
            with stones, as if they would kill us; and I was afraid that we were going to die.

And he said to me, "Peter, I have told you many times that they are blind ones who
            have no guide. If you want to know their blindness, put your hands upon (your) eyes - your
            robe - and say what you see."

But when I had done it, I did not see anything. I said "No one sees (this
            way)."

Again he told me, "Do it again."

And there came in me fear with joy, for I saw a new light greater than the light of
            day. Then it came down upon the Savior. And I told him about those things which I saw.

And he said to me again, "Lift up your hands and listen to what the priests and
            the people are saying."

And I listened to the priests as they sat with the scribes. The multitudes were
            shouting with their voice.

When he heard these things from me he said to me, "Prick up your ears and listen
            to the things they are saying."

And I listened again, "As you sit, they are praising you".

And when I said these things, the Savior said, "I have told you that these
            (people) are blind and deaf. Now then, listen to the things which they are telling you in
            a mystery, and guard them, Do not tell them to the sons of this age. For they shall
            blaspheme you in these ages since they are ignorant of you, but they will praise you in
            knowledge."

"For many will accept our teaching in the beginning. And they will turn from them
            again by the will of the Father of their error, because they have done what he wanted. And
            he will reveal them in his judgment, i.e., the servants of the Word. But those who became
            mingled with these shall become their prisoners, since they are without perception. And
            the guileless, good, pure one they push to the worker of death, and to the kingdom of
            those who praise Christ in a restoration. And they praise the men of the propagation of
            falsehood, those who will come after you. And they will cleave to the name of a dead man,
            thinking that they will become pure. But they will become greatly defiled and they will
            fall into a name of error, and into the hand of an evil, cunning man and a manifold dogma,
            and they will be ruled without law."

"For some of them will blaspheme the truth and proclaim evil teaching. And they
            will say evil things against each other. Some will be named: (those) who stand in (the)
            strength of the archons, of a man and a naked woman who is manifold and subject to much
            suffering. And those who say these things will ask about dreams. And if they say that a
            dream came from a demon worthy of their error, then they shall be given perdition instead
            of incorruption."

"For evil cannot produce good fruit. For the place from which each of them is
            produces that which is like itself; for not every soul is of the truth, nor of
            immortality. For every soul of these ages has death assigned to it in our view, because it
            is always a slave, since it is created for its desires and their eternal destruction, in
            which they are and from which they are. They love the creatures of the matter which came
            forth with them."

"But the immortal souls are not like these, O Peter. But indeed, as long as the
            hour is not yet come, it (the immortal soul) shall resemble a mortal one. But it shall not
            reveal its nature, that it alone is the immortal one, and thinks about immortality, having
            faith, and desiring to renounce these things."

"For people do not gather figs from thorns or from thorn trees, if they are wise,
            nor grapes from thistles. For, on the one hand, that which is always becoming is in that
            from which it is, being from what is not good, which becomes destruction for it and death.
            But that which comes to be in the Eternal One is in the One of the life and the
            immortality of the life which they resemble."

"Therefore all that which exists not will dissolve into what exists not. For deaf
            and blind ones join only with their own kind."

"But others shall change from evil words and misleading mysteries. Some who do not
            understand mystery speak of things which they do not understand, but they will boast that
            the mystery of the truth is theirs alone. And in haughtiness they shall grasp at pride, to
            envy the immortal soul which has become a pledge. For every authority, rule, and power of
            the aeons wishes to be with these in the creation of the world, in order that those who
            are not, having been forgotten by those that are, may praise them, though they have not
            been saved, nor have they been brought to the Way by them, always wishing that they may
            become imperishable ones. For if the immortal soul receives power in an intellectual
            spirit -. But immediately they join with one of those who misled them."

"But many others, who oppose the truth and are the messengers of error, will set
            up their error and their law against these pure thoughts of mine, as looking out from one
            (perspective) thinking that good and evil are from one (source). They do business in my
            word. And they will propagate harsh fate. The race of immortal souls will go in it in
            vain, until my Parousia. For they shall come out of them - and my forgiveness of their
            transgressions, into which they fell through their adversaries, whose ransom I got from
            the slavery in which they were, to give them freedom that they may create an imitation
            remnant in the name of a dead man, who is Hermas, of the first-born of unrighteousness, in
            order that the light which exists may not believed by the little ones. But those of this
            sort are the workers who will be cast into the outer darkness, away from the sons of
            light. For neither will they enter, nor do they permit those who are going up to their
            approval for their release."

"And still others of them who suffer think that they will perfect the wisdom of
            the brotherhood which really exists, which is the spiritual fellowship of those united in
            communion, through which the wedding of incorruptibility shall be revealed. The kindred
            race of the sisterhood will appear as an imitation. These are the ones who oppress their
            brothers, saying to them, "Through this our God has pity, since salvation comes to us
            through this," not knowing the punishment of those who are made glad by those who
            have done this thing to the little ones whom they saw, (and) whom they took
            prisoner."

"And there shall be others of those who are outside our number who name themselves
            bishop and also deacons, as if they have received their authority from God. They bend
            themselves under the judgment of the leaders. Those people are dry canals."

But I said " I am afraid because of what you have told me, that indeed little
            (ones) are, in our view, the counterfeit ones, indeed, that there are multitudes that will
            mislead other multitudes of living ones, and destroy them among themselves. And when they
            speak your name they will be believed."

The Savior said, "For a time determined for them in proportion to their error they
            will rule over the little ones. And after the completion of the error, the never-aging one
            of the immortal understanding shall become young, and they (the little ones) shall rule
            over those who are their rulers. The root of their error he shall pluck out, and he shall
            put it to shame so that it shall be manifest in all the impudence which it has assumed to
            itself. And such ones shall become unchangeable, O Peter."

"Come therefore, let us go on with the completion of the will of the incorruptible
            Father. For behold, those who will bring them judgment are coming, and they will put them
            to shame. But me they cannot touch. And you, O Peter, shall stand in their midst. Do not
            be afraid because of your cowardice. Their minds shall be closed, for the invisible one
            has opposed them."

When he had said those things, I saw him seemingly being seized by them. And I said
            "What do I see, O Lord? That it is you yourself whom they take, and that you are
            grasping me? Or who is this one, glad and laughing on the tree? And is it another one
            whose feet and hands they are striking?"

The Savior said to me, "He whom you saw on the tree, glad and laughing, this is
            the living Jesus. But this one into whose hands and feet they drive the nails is his
            fleshly part, which is the substitute being put to shame, the one who came into being in
            his likeness. But look at him and me."

But I, when I had looked, said "Lord, no one is looking at you. Let us flee this
            place."

But he said to me, "I have told you, 'Leave the blind alone!'. And you, see how
            they do not know what they are saying. For the son of their glory instead of my servant,
            they have put to shame."

And I saw someone about to approach us resembling him, even him who was laughing on the
            tree. And he was <filled> with a Holy Spirit, and he is the Savior. And there was a
            great, ineffable light around them, and the multitude of ineffable and invisible angels
            blessing them. And when I looked at him, the one who gives praise was revealed.

And he said to me, "Be strong, for you are the one to whom these mysteries have
            been given, to know them through revelation, that he whom they crucified is the
            first-born, and the home of demons, and the stony vessel in which they dwell, of Elohim,
            of the cross, which is under the Law. But he who stands near him is the living Savior, the
            first in him, whom they seized and released, who stands joyfully looking at those who did
            him violence, while they are divided among themselves. Therefore he laughs at their lack
            of perception, knowing that they are born blind. So then the one susceptible to suffering
            shall come, since the body is the substitute. But what they released was my incorporeal
            body. But I am the intellectual Spirit filled with radiant light. He whom you saw coming
            to me is our intellectual Pleroma, which unites the perfect light with my Holy
            Spirit."

"These things, then, which you saw you shall present to those of another race who
            are not of this age. For there will be no honor in any man who is not immortal, but only
            (in) those who were chosen from an immortal substance, which has shown that it is able to
            contain him who gives his abundance. Therefore I said, 'Every one who has, it will be
            given to him, and he will have plenty.' But he who does not have, that is, the man of this
            place, who is completely dead, who is removed from the planting of the creation of what is
            begotten, whom, if one of the immortal essence appears, they think that they possess him -
            it will be taken from him and be added to the one who is. You, therefore, be courageous
            and do not fear at all. For I shall be with you in order that none of your enemies may
            prevail unto you. Peace be to you, Be strong!"

When he (Jesus) had said these things, he (Peter) came to himself.

Apocalypse of Peter

   Original translation of this text was prepared by members of the

Coptic Gnostic Library Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont Graduate School.

The Coptic Gnostic Library Project was funded by UNESCO, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and other Institutions.

 E. J. Brill has asserted copyright on texts published by the Coptic Gnostic Library Project.

The translation presented here has been edited,  modified and formatted for use in the Gnostic Society Library.

For academic citation, please refer to published editions of this text.

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