

The Second Treatise of the Great Seth - Bullard & Gibbons - The Nag Hammadi Library

    (Above image of the Gospel of Thomas courtesy of the
    Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont Graduate University)

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The Nag Hammadi Library

    The Second Treatise of the Great Seth

Translated by Roger A. Bullard and Joseph A. Gibbons

            And the perfect Majesty is at rest in the ineffable light, in the truth of the mother of
            all these, and all of you that attain to me, to me alone who am perfect, because of the
            Word. For I exist with all the greatness of the Spirit, which is a friend to us and our
            kindred alike, since I brought forth a word to the glory of our Father, through his
            goodness, as well as an imperishable thought; that is, the Word within him - it is slavery
            that we shall die with Christ - and an imperishable and undefiled thought, an
            incomprehensible marvel, the writing of the ineffable water which is the word from us. It
            is I who am in you, and you are in me, just as the Father is in you in innocence.

Let us gather an assembly together. Let us visit that creation of his. Let us send
            someone forth in it, just as he visited (the) Ennoias, the regions below. And I said these
            things to the whole multitude of the multitudinous assembly of the rejoicing Majesty. The
            whole house of the Father of Truth rejoiced that I am the one who is from them. I produced
            thought about the Ennoias which came out of the undefiled Spirit, about the descent upon
            the water, that is, the regions below. And they all had a single mind, since it is out of
            one. They charged me since I was willing. I came forth to reveal the glory to my kindred
            and my fellow spirits.

For those who were in the world had been prepared by the will of our sister Sophia -
            she who is a whore - because of the innocence which has not been uttered. And she did not
            ask anything from the All, nor from the greatness of the Assembly, nor from the Pleroma.
            Since she was first, she came forth to prepare monads and places for the Son of Light and
            the fellow workers which she took from the elements below to build bodily dwellings from
            them. But, having come into being in an empty glory, they ended in destruction in the
            dwellings in which they were, since they were prepared by Sophia. They stand ready to
            receive the life-giving word of the ineffable Monad and of the greatness of the assembly
            of all those who persevere and those who are in me.

I visited a bodily dwelling. I cast out the one who was in it first, and I went in. And
            the whole multitude of the archons became troubled. And all the matter of the archons, as
            well as all the begotten powers of the earth, were shaken when it saw the likeness of the
            Image, since it was mixed. And I am the one who was in it, not resembling him who was in
            it first. For he was an earthly man, but I, I am from above the heavens. I did not refuse
            them even to become a Christ, but I did not reveal myself to them in the love which was
            coming forth from me. I revealed that I am a stranger to the regions below.

There was a great disturbance in the whole earthly area, with confusion and flight, as
            well as (in) the plan of the archons. And some were persuaded, when they saw the wonders
            which were being accomplished by me. And all these, with the race, that came down, flee
            from him who had fled from the throne to the Sophia of hope, since she had earlier given
            the sign concerning us and all the ones with me - those of the race of Adonaios. Others
            also fled, as if from the Cosmocrator and those with them, since they have brought every
            (kind of) punishment upon me. And there was a flight of their mind about what they would
            counsel concerning me, thinking that she (Sophia) is the whole greatness, and speaking
            false witness, moreover, against the Man and the whole greatness of the assembly.

It was not possible for them to know who the Father of Truth, the Man of the Greatness,
            is. But they who received the name because of contact with ignorance - which (is) a
            burning and a vessel - having created it to destroy Adam, whom they had made, in order to
            cover up those who are theirs in the same way. But they, the archons, those of the place
            of Yaldabaoth, reveal the realm of the angels, which humanity was seeking in order that
            they may not know the Man of Truth. For Adam, whom they had formed, appeared to them. And
            a fearful motion came about throughout their entire dwelling, lest the angels surrounding
            them rebel. For without those who were offering praise - I did not really die lest their
            archangel become empty.

And then a voice - of the Cosmocrator - came to the angels: "I am God and there is
            no other beside me." But I laughed joyfully when I examined his empty glory. But he
            went on to say, "Who is man?" And the entire host of his angels, who had seen
            Adam and his dwelling, were laughing at his smallness. And thus did their Ennoia come to
            be removed outside the Majesty of the heavens, i.e.,the Man of Truth, whose name they saw
            since he is in a small dwelling place, since they are small (and) senseless in their empty
            Ennoia, namely their laughter. It was contagion for them.

The whole greatness of the Fatherhood of the Spirit was at rest in his places. And I am
            he who was with him, since I have an Ennoia of a single emanation from the eternal ones
            and the undefiled and immeasurable incomprehensibilities. I placed the small Ennoia in the
            world, having disturbed them and frightened the whole multitude of the angels and their
            ruler. And I was visiting them all with fire and flame because of my Ennoia. And
            everything pertaining to them was brought about because of me. And there came about a
            disturbance and a fight around the Seraphim and Cherubim, since their glory will fade, and
            the confusion around Adonaios on both sides and their dwelling - to the Cosmocrator and
            him who said, "Let us seize him''; others again, "The plan will certainly not
            materialize.''

For Adonaios knows me because of hope. And I was in the mouths of lions. And the plan
            which they devised about me to release their Error and their senselessness - I did not
            succumb to them as they had planned. But I was not afflicted at all. Those who were there
            punished me. And I did not die in reality but in appearance, lest I be put to shame by
            them because these are my kinsfolk. I removed the shame from me and I did not become
            fainthearted in the face of what happened to me at their hands. I was about to succumb to
            fear, and I <suffered> according to their sight and thought, in order that they may
            never find any word to speak about them. For my death, which they think happened,
            (happened) to them in their error and blindness, since they nailed their man unto their
            death. For their Ennoias did not see me, for they were deaf and blind. But in doing these
            things, they condemn themselves. Yes, they saw me; they punished me. It was another, their
            father, who drank the gall and the vinegar; it was not I. They struck me with the reed; it
            was another, Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder. I was another upon Whom they
            placed the crown of thorns. But I was rejoicing in the height over all the wealth of the
            archons and the offspring of their error, of their empty glory. And I was laughing at
            their ignorance.

And I subjected all their powers. For as I came downward, no one saw me. For I was
            altering my shapes, changing from form to form. And therefore, when I was at their gates,
            I assumed their likeness. For I passed them by quietly, and I was viewing the places, and
            I was not afraid nor ashamed, for I was undefiled. And I was speaking with them, mingling
            with them through those who are mine, and trampling on those who are harsh to them with
            zeal, and quenching the flame. And I was doing all these things because of my desire to
            accomplish what I desired by the will of the Father above.

And the Son of the Majesty, who was hidden in the regions below, we brought to the
            height where I <was> in all these aeons with them, which (height) no one has seen
            nor known, where the wedding of the wedding robe is, the new one and not the old, nor does
            it perish. For it is a new and perfect bridal chamber of the heavens, as I have revealed
            (that) there are three ways: an undefiled mystery in a spirit of this aeon, which does not
            perish, nor is it fragmentary, nor able to be spoken of; rather, it is undivided,
            universal, and permanent. For the soul, the one from the height, will not speak about the
            error which is here, nor transfer from these aeons, since it will be transferred when it
            becomes free and when it is endowed with nobility in the world, standing before the Father
            without weariness and fear, always mixed with the Nous of power (and) of form. They will
            see me from every side without hatred. For since they see me, they are being seen (and)
            are mixed with them. Since they did not put me to shame, they were not put to shame. Since
            they were not afraid before me, they will pass by every gate without fear and will be
            perfected in the third glory.

It was my going to the revealed height which the world did not accept, my third baptism
            in a revealed image. When they had fled from the fire of the seven Authorities, and the
            sun of the powers of the archons set, darkness took them. And the world became poor when
            he was restrained with a multitude of fetters. They nailed him to the tree, and they fixed
            him with four nails of brass. The veil of his temple he tore with his hands. It was a
            trembling which seized the chaos of the earth, for the souls which were in the sleep below
            were released. And they arose. They went about boldly, having shed zealous service of
            ignorance and unlearnedness beside the dead tombs, having put on the new man, since they
            have come to know that perfect Blessed One of the eternal and incomprehensible Father and
            the infinite light, which is I, since I came to my own and united them with myself. There
            is no need for many words, for our Ennoia was with their Ennoia. Therefore they knew what
            I speak of, for we took counsel about the destruction of the archons. And therefore I did
            the will of the Father, who is I.

After we went forth from our home, and came down to this world, and came into being in
            the world in bodies, we were hated and persecuted, not only by those who are ignorant, but
            also by those who think that they are advancing the name of Christ, since they were
            unknowingly empty, not knowing who they are, like dumb animals. They persecuted those who
            have been liberated by me, since they hate them - those who, should they shut their mouth,
            would weep with a profitless groaning because they did not fully know me. lnstead, they
            served two masters, even a multitude. But you will become victorious in everything, in war
            and battles, jealous division and wrath. But in the uprightness of our love we are
            innocent, pure, (and) good, since we have a mind of the Father in an ineffable mystery.

For it was ludicrous. It is I who bear witness that it was ludicrous, since the archons
            do not know that it is an ineffable union of undefiled truth, as exists among the sons of
            light, of which they made an imitation, having proclaimed a doctrine of a dead man and
            lies so as to resemble the freedom and purity of the perfect assembly, (and)
            <joining> themselves with their doctrine to fear and slavery, worldly cares, and
            abandoned worship, being small (and) ignorant, since they do not contain the nobility of
            the truth, for they hate the one in whom they are, and love the one in whom they are not.
            For they did not know the Knowledge of the Greatness, that it is from above and (from) a
            fountain of truth, and that it is not from slavery and jealousy, fear and love of worldly
            matter. For that which is not theirs and that which is theirs they use fearlessly and
            freely. They do not desire, because they have authority, and a law from themselves over
            whatever they will wish.

But those who have not are poor, that is, those who do not possess him. And they desire
            him and lead astray those, who through them have become like those who possess the truth
            of their freedom, just as they bought us for servitude and constraint of care and fear.
            This person is in slavery. And he who is brought by constraint of force and threat has
            been guarded by God. But the entire nobility of the Fatherhood is not guarded, since he
            guards only him who is from him, without word and constraint, since he is united with his
            will, he who belongs only to the Ennoia of the Fatherhood, to make it Perfect and
            ineffable through the living water, to be with you mutually in wisdom, not only in word of
            hearing but in deed and fulfilled word. For the perfect ones are worthy to be established
            in this way and to be united with me, in order that they may not share in any enmity, in a
            good friendship. I accomplish everything through the Good One, for this is the union of
            the truth, that they should have no adversary. But everyone who brings division - and he
            will learn no wisdom at all because he brings division and is not a friend - is hostile to
            them all. But he who lives in harmony and friendship of brotherly love, naturally and not
            artificially, completely and not partially, this person is truly the desire of the Father.
            He is the universal one and perfect love.

For Adam was a laughingstock, since he was made a counterfeit type of man by the
            Hebdomad, as if he had become stronger than I and my brothers. We are innocent with
            respect to him, since we have not sinned. And Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were a
            laughingstock, since they, the counterfeit fathers, were given a name by the Hebdomad, as
            if he had become stronger than I and my brothers. We are innocent with respect to him,
            since we have not sinned. David was a laughingstock in that his son was named the Son of
            Man, having been influenced by the Hebdomad, as if he had become stronger than I and the
            fellow members of my race. But we are innocent with respect to him; we have not sinned.
            Solomon was a laughingstock, since he thought that he was Christ, having become vain
            through the Hebdomad, as if he had become stronger than I and my brothers. But we are
            innocent with respect to him. I have not sinned. The 12 prophets were laughingstocks,
            since they have come forth as imitations of the true prophets. They came into being as
            counterfeits through the Hebdomad, as if he had become stronger than I and my brothers.
            But we are innocent with respect to him, since we have not sinned. Moses, a faithful
            servant, was a laughingstock, having been named "the Friend," since they
            perversely bore witness concerning him who never knew me. Neither he nor those before him,
            from Adam to Moses and John the Baptist, none of them knew me nor my brothers.

For they had a doctrine of angels to observe dietary laws and bitter slavery, since
            they never knew truth, nor will they know it. For there is a great deception upon their
            soul, making it impossible for them ever to find a Nous of freedom in order to know him,
            until they come to know the Son of Man. Now concerning my Father, I am he whom the world
            did not know, and because of this, it (the world) rose up against me and my brothers. But
            we are innocent with respect to him; we have not sinned.

For the Archon was a laughingstock because he said, "I am God, and there is none
            greater than I. I alone am the Father, the Lord, and there is no other beside me. I am a
            jealous God, who brings the sins of the fathers upon the children for three and four
            generations." As if he had become stronger than I and my brothers! But we are
            innocent with respect to him, in that we have not sinned, since we mastered his teaching.
            Thus he was in an empty glory. And he does not agree with our Father. And thus through our
            fellowship we grasped his teaching, since he was vain in an empty glory. And he does not
            agree with our Father, for he was a laughingstock and judgment and false prophecy.

O those who do not see, you do not see your blindness, i.e., this which was not known,
            nor has it ever been known, nor has it been known about him. They did not listen to firm
            obedience. Therefore they proceeded in a judgment of error, and they raised their defiled
            and murderous hands against him, as if they were beating the air. And the senseless and
            blind ones are always senseless, always being slaves of law and earthly fear.

I am Christ, the Son of Man, the one from you who is among you. I am despised for your
            sake, in order that you yourselves may forget the difference. And do not become female,
            lest you give birth to evil and (its) brothers: jealousy and division, anger and wrath,
            fear and a divided heart, and empty, non-existent desire. But I am an ineffable mystery to
            you.

Then before the foundation of the world, when the whole multitude of the Assembly came
            together upon the places of the Ogdoad, when they had taken counsel about a spiritual
            wedding which is in union, and thus he was perfected in the ineffable places by a living
            word, the undefiled wedding was consummated through the Mesotes of Jesus, who inhabits
            them all and possesses them, who abides in an undivided love of power. And surrounding
            him, he appears to him as a Monad of all these, a thought and a father, since he is one.
            And he stands by them all, since he as a whole came forth alone. And he is life, since he
            came from the Father of ineffable and perfect Truth, (the father) of those who are there,
            the union of Peace and a friend of good things, and life eternal and undefiled joy, in a
            great harmony of life and faith, through eternal life of fatherhood and motherhood and
            sisterhood and rational wisdom. They had agreed with Nous, who stretches out (and) will
            stretch out in joyful union and is trustworthy and faithfully listens to someone. And he
            is in fatherhood and motherhood and rational brotherhood and wisdom. And this is a wedding
            of truth, and a repose of incorruption, in a spirit of truth, in every mind, and a perfect
            light in an unnameable mystery. But this is not, nor will it happen among us in any region
            or place in division and breach of peace, but (in) union and a mixture of love, all of
            which are perfected in the one who is.

It also happened in the places under heaven for their reconciliation. Those who knew me
            in salvation and undividedness, and those who existed for the glory of the father and the
            truth, having been separated, blended into the one through the living word. And I am in
            the spirit and the truth of the motherhood, just as he has been there; I was among those
            who are united in the friendship of friends forever, who neither know hostility at all,
            nor evil, but who are united by my Knowledge in word and peace which exists in perfection
            with everyone and in them all. And those who assumed the form of my type will assume the
            form of my word. Indeed, these will come forth in light forever, and (in) friendship with
            each other in the spirit, since they have known in every respect (and) indivisibly that
            what is, is One. And all of these are one. And thus they will learn about the One, as
            (did) the Assembly and those dwelling in it. For the father of all these exists, being
            immeasurable (and) immutable: Nous and Word and Division and Envy and Fire. And he is
            entirely one, being the All with them all in a single doctrine, because all these are from
            a single spirit. O unseeing ones, why did you not know the mystery rightly?

But the archons around Yaldabaoth were disobedient because of the Ennoia who went down
            to him from her sister Sophia. They made for themselves a union with those who were with
            them in a mixture of a fiery cloud, which was their Envy, and the rest who were brought
            forth by their creatures, as if they had bruised the noble pleasure of the Assembly. And
            therefore they revealed a mixture of ignorance in a counterfeit of fire and earth and a
            murderer, since they are small and untaught, without knowledge having dared these things,
            and not having understood that light has fellowship with light, and darkness with
            darkness, and the corruptible with the perishable, and the imperishable with the
            incorruptible.

Now these things I have presented to you - I am Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, who is
            exalted above the heavens - O perfect and incorruptible ones, because of the incorruptible
            and perfect mystery and the ineffable one. But they think that we decreed them before the
            foundation of the world, in order that, when we emerge from the places of the world, we
            may present there the symbols of incorruption from the spiritual union unto knowledge. You
            do not know it, because the fleshly cloud overshadows you. But I alone am the friend of
            Sophia. I have been in the bosom of the father from the beginning, in the place of the
            sons of the truth, and the Greatness. Rest then with me, my fellow spirits and my
            brothers, forever.

Second Treatise of the Great Seth

   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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