"And the Sophia of the Epinoia, being an aeon,
conceived a thought from herself and
the conception of the invisible Spirit and
foreknowledge. She wanted to bring forth
a likeness out of herself without the consent of the Spirit,
- he had not approved - and without her consort,
and without his consideration. And though the person of her
maleness had not approved,
and she had not found her agreement,
and she had thought without the consent of the Spirit
and the knowledge of her agreement, (yet) she brought forth.
And because of the invincible power which is in her,
her thought did not remain idle, and
something came out of her
which was imperfect and different from her appearance,
because she had created it without her consort.
And it was dissimilar to the likeness of its mother,
for it has another form.
"And when she saw (the consequences of) her
desire, it changed into a form
of a lion-faced serpent. And its eyes
were like lightning fires which
flash. She cast it away from her, outside
that place, that no one
of the immortal ones might see it, for she had created it
in ignorance. And she surrounded it with
a luminous cloud, and she placed a throne
in the middle of the cloud that no
one might see it except the holy Spirit
who is called the mother of the living.
And she called his name Yaltabaoth.
"This
is the first archon who took a great
power from his mother. And he
removed himself from her and moved
away from the places in which he was born. He
became strong and created for himself other aeons with
a flame of luminous fire which (still) exists
now. And he joined with his arrogance
which is in him and begot
authorities for himself. The name of the first one
is Athoth, whom the generations call
[the reaper]. The second one is Harmas,
who is the eye of envy. The third one
is Kalila-Oumbri. The fourth one is Yabel.
The fifth one is Adonaiou, who is called
Sabaoth. The sixth one is Cain,
whom the generations of men call
the sun. The seventh is Abel. The
eighth is Abrisene. The ninth is Yobel.
The tenth is Armoupieel. The eleventh
is Melceir-Adonein. The twelfth
is Belias, it is he who is over the depth
of Hades. And he placed seven kings
- each corresponding to the firmaments of heaven - over the
seven heavens, and five over the depth of the abyss,
that they may reign. And he shared his fire
with them, but he did not send forth from
the power of the light which he had taken from his mother,
for he is ignorant darkness.
"And
when the light had mixed with the darkness, it caused the
darkness to shine. And when the darkness had mixed with
the light, it darkened the light and it became
neither light nor dark, but it became
dim."
