The Apocalypse of Adam
(Courtesy of The Gnostic Society library at wwwdotgnosticdotorg/library)
Translated by George W. MacRae
Commentary by John Munter
The Apocalypse of Adam is an Egyptian Samaritan work that was probably produced late in the first century after the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of Thomas when it was possible to delineate the many splinter groups arising from the Baptist era but before Roman orthodoxy had succeeded in extinguishing them. It shows disappointment in the betrayal of “Micheu and Michar and Mnesinous, who are over the holy baptism and the living water” who apparently side or collaborate with Roman Christianity:
“…why were you crying out against the living God with lawless voices and tongues without law over them, and souls full of blood and foul (deeds)? You are full of the works that are not of the truth, but your ways are full of joy and rejoicing. Having defiled the water of life, you have drawn it within the will of the powers to whom you have been given to serve them.”
The “lawless voices” goes to the debate between Paul and James. The “souls full of blood and foul (deeds)” refers to the Herodian collaboration with Roman power. The “ways that are full of joy and rejoicing” refer to the Pauline charismatic worship that had features like speaking in tongues. “Will of the powers” refers to the Roman-Herodian power structure being influenced by the demiurge and archons just as the Jerusalem power structure was. Apoc. Adam can be seen clearly in the lineage of the Gospel of the Egyptians and Trimorphic Protennoia which must be earlier works since they contain only positive references to “Micheu and Michar and Mnesinous”.
Apoc. Adam wants to craft a short, engaging sacred story replete with quotes like the Gospel of Thomas and a simple story line like the Gospel of Mark to compete with these gospels, the Jewish-Christian ‘Gospel of the Hebrews’, and ‘Joseph and Asenath’ coming out of the Parthian Empire.
The Apoc. Adam is descended from the Egyptian Samaritan book ‘Eugnostos the Blessed’ which also speaks of three divine men which seem to be God, Adam, and Seth in both works. Both works posit an original androgenous divine state. Eugnostos the Blessed was most likely written after 170 BCE when the Greeks began imposing themselves upon the Samaritans in a scholarly effort working at a Platonizing harmonization of philosophies. The bitterness towards the evil demiurge reflected beginning in the second paragraph of the Apoc. Adam is not evident in ‘Eugnostos’ and probably developed after the destruction of the Samaritan Temple in 110 BCE by the Jewish state where the God of the Jews became easily identified as this malevolent demiurge.
Paragraphs two, three, and four are illuminating in revealing that Adam’s son, Seth, is not a divine man but only named after “the man who is the seed of the great generation”. Adam, himself, hosts the three divine men and doesn’t recognize them in his fallen state.
The story picks up quickly after the demiurge divides the androgenous Adam into male and female beings, has intercourse with Eve to create a fallen race, and Adam, himself, developed a lustful consciousness. This fallen consciousness destroyed Adam’s eternal knowledge and human lifespan. This led to the destruction of most human flesh in the time of Noah. Descendants of Noah survive that meditate upon the eternal knowledge who are created from a high aeon and are rescued from “the fire and wrath” of the “rulers of the powers”.
The “third illuminator” bears a great deal of resemblance to our picture of Jesus. He pre-existed since he was described to Adam as in the past although he was the seed of Adam.
Interesting, the third “illuminator of knowledge” will “pass by” as if he is not really physically incarnated but channeled as the ‘Son of Man’ in the ‘Dialogue of the Savior’ and the ‘Second Treatise of the Great Seth’ is channeled. He will perform “signs and wonders” and leave “fruit-bearing trees” behind which are Christian images. The ‘signs and wonders’, of course, is reminiscent of the Roman Gospels but also very much so of Jesus in the version of Josephus which was edited in to the Josephus corpus by an early Samaritan Christian called the ‘Slavonic Josephus’.
The illuminator: “will redeem their souls from the day of death. For the whole creation that came from the dead earth will be under the authority of death. But those who reflect upon the knowledge of the eternal God in their heart(s) will not perish.” What could be more reminiscent of the Pauline corpus?
The Apoc. Adam describes how a “great wrath” was roused against the illuminator so that he withdrew and “they will punish the flesh of the man upon whom the holy spirit came.” This perfectly describes the Adoptionist theology of the first century where the ‘Son of Man’ withdrew from Jesus during the crucifixion. Skeptical contemporary scholars complain that “punish the flesh” does not mean crucifixion but that is a pretty thin hook to hang heavy doubts on. It does refer to some torment of the flesh and a mere flogging would not have been a very impressive reference.
The real jewel in Apoc. Adam comes next in a hymn with thirteen stanzas each giving a slightly different view of the contemporary redeemer from the viewpoint of “the angels (or archons) and all the generations of the powers”. This would refer to the Jewish demiurge who had earlier oppressed Adam, raped Eve, and enslaved Noah in the Samaritan view and who transfers seamlessly to Roman Christianity as we shall see. See my commentary below on each of the thirteen hymn stanzas which delineate a separate first century viewpoint of Jesus from a Samaritan point of view which are defective from the viewpoint of the author of Apoc. Adam.
The revelation which Adam taught his son Seth in the seven hundreth year, saying:
Listen to my words, my son Seth. When God had created me out of the earth, along with Eve, your mother, I went about with her in a glory which she had seen in the aeon from which we had come forth. She taught me a word of knowledge of the eternal God. And we resembled the great eternal angels, for we were higher than the god who had created us and the powers with him, whom we did not know.
Then God, the ruler of the aeons and the powers, divided us in wrath. Then we became two aeons. And the glory in our heart(s) left us, me and your mother Eve, along with the first knowledge that breathed within us. And it (glory) fled from us; it entered into [...] great [...] which had come forth, not from this aeon from which we had come forth, I and Eve your mother. But it (knowledge) entered into the seed of great aeons. For this reason I myself have called you by the name of that man who is the seed of the great generation or from whom (it comes). After those days, the eternal knowledge of the God of truth withdrew from me and your mother Eve. Since that time, we learned about dead things, like men. Then we recognized the God who had created us. For we were not strangers to his powers. And we served him in fear and slavery. And after these things, we became darkened in our heart(s). Now I slept in the thought of my heart.
And I saw three men before me whose likeness I was unable to recognize, since they were not the powers of the God who had created us. They surpassed [earthly] glory, and [one of these] men [began] saying to me, "Arise, Adam, from the sleep of death, and hear about the aeon and the seed of that man to whom life has come, who came from you and from Eve, your wife."
When I had heard these words from the great men who were standing before me, then we sighed, I and Eve, in our heart(s). And the Lord, the God who had created us, stood before us. He said to us, "Adam, why were you (both) sighing in your hearts? Do you not know that I am the God who created you? And I breathed into you a spirit of life as a living soul." Then darkness came upon our eyes.
Then the God who created us, created a son from himself and Eve, your mother. I knew sweet desire for your mother, for [I slept] in the thought of my [desire and] I knew a sweet desire for your mother. Then the vigor of our eternal knowledge was destroyed in us, and weakness pursued us. Therefore the days of our life became few. For I knew that I had come under the authority of death.
Now then, my son Seth, I will reveal to you the things which those men whom I saw before me at first revealed to me: after I have completed the times of this generation and the years of the generation have been accomplished, then [...] slave [...]. (p.68 blank)
For rain-showers of God the almighty will be poured forth, so that he might destroy all flesh [of God the almighty, so that he might destroy all flesh] from the earth on account of the things that it seeks after, along with those from the seed of the men to whom passed the life of the knowledge which came from me and Eve, your mother. For they were strangers to him. Afterwards, great angels will come on high clouds, who will bring those men into the place where the spirit of life dwells [to be given great] glory [and to dwell] there, [and not again to] come from heaven to earth. Then the whole multitude of flesh will be left behind in the waters.
Then God will rest from his wrath. And he will cast his power upon the waters, and he will give power to his sons and their wives by means of the ark along with the animals, whichever he pleased, and the birds of heaven, which he called and released upon the earth. And God will say to Noah - whom the generations will call 'Deucalion' - "Behold, I have protected <you> in the ark, along with your wife and your sons and their wives and their animals and the birds of heaven, which you called and released upon the earth. Therefore I will give the earth to you - you and your sons. In kingly fashion you will rule over it - you and your sons. And no seed will come from you of the men who will not stand in my presence in another glory."
Then they will become as the cloud of the great light. Those men will come who have been cast forth from the knowledge of the great aeons and the angels. They will stand before Noah and the aeons. And God will say to Noah, "Why have you departed from what I told you? You have created another generation so that you might scorn my power." Then Noah will say, "I shall testify before your might that the generation of these men did not come from me nor from my sons [for they have no] knowledge.
And he will [take] those men and bring them into their proper land, and build them a holy dwelling place. And they will be called by that name and dwell there six hundred years in a knowledge of imperishability. And the angels of the great Light will dwell with them. No foul deed will dwell in their heart(s), but only the knowledge of God.
Then Noah will divide the whole earth among his sons, Ham and Japheth and Shem. He will say to them, "My sons, listen to my words. Behold, I have divided the earth among you. But serve him in fear and slavery all the days of your life. Let not your seed depart from the face of God the Almighty. [...] I and your [...] son of Noah, "My seed will be pleasing before you and before your power. Seal it by your strong hand, with fear and commandment, so that the whole seed which came forth from me may not be inclined away from you and God the Almighty, but it will serve in humility and fear of its knowledge."
Then others from the seed of Ham and Japheth will come, four hundred thousand men, and enter into another land and sojourn with those men who came forth from the great eternal knowledge. For the shadow of their power will protect those who have sojourned with them from every evil thing and every unclean desire. Then the seed of Ham and Japheth will form twelve kingdoms, and their seed also will enter into the kingdom of another people.
Then [the powers] will take counsel [among those] who are dead, of the great aeons of imperishability. And they will go to Sakla, their God. They will go in to the powers, accusing the great men who are in their glory.
They will say to Sakla, "What is the power of these men who stood in your presence, who were taken from the seed of Ham and Japheth, who will number four hundred <thousand> men? They have been received into another aeon from which they had come forth, and they have overturned all the glory of your power and the dominion of your hand. For the seed of Noah through his sons has done all your will, and (so have) all the powers in the aeons over which your might rules, while both those men and the ones who are sojourners in their glory have not done your will. But they have turned (aside) your whole throng."
Then the god of the aeons will give them (some) of those who serve him [...]. They will come upon that land where the great men will be who have not been defiled, nor will be defiled, by any desire. For their soul did not come from a defiled hand, but it came from a great commandment of an eternal angel. Then fire and sulphur and asphalt will be cast upon those men, and fire and (blinding) mist will come over those aeons, and the eyes of the powers of the illuminators will be darkened, and the aeons will not see them in those days. And great clouds of light will descend, and other clouds of light will come down upon them from the great aeons.
Abrasax and Sablo and Gamaliel will descend and bring those men out of the fire and the wrath, and take them above the aeons and the rulers of the powers, and take them away [to a place] of life [where they will dwell] and take them away [up to the] aeons [to a] dwelling place of the great [eternal spirit to live] there, with the holy angels and the aeons. The men will be like those angels, for they are not strangers to them. But they work in the imperishable seed.
Once again, for the third time, the illuminator of knowledge will pass by in great glory, in order to leave (something) of the seed of Noah and the sons of Ham and Japheth - to leave for himself fruit-bearing trees. And he will redeem their souls from the day of death. For the whole creation that came from the dead earth will be under the authority of death. But those who reflect upon the knowledge of the eternal God in their heart(s) will not perish. For they have not received spirit from this kingdom alone, but they have received (it) from a [...] eternal angel. [...] illuminator [...] will come upon [...] that is dead [...] of Seth. And he will perform signs and wonders in order to scorn the powers and their ruler.
Then the god of the powers will be disturbed, saying, "What is the power of this man who is higher than we?" Then he will arouse a great wrath against that man. And the glory will withdraw and dwell in holy houses which it has chosen for itself. And the powers will not see it with their eyes, nor will they see the illuminator either. Then they will punish the flesh of the man upon whom the holy spirit came.
Then the angels and all the generations of the powers will use the name in error, asking, "Where did it (the error) come from?" or "Where did the words of deception, which all the powers have failed to discover, come from?"
“Now the first kingdom says of him that he came from [a high aeon which sent] A spirit [of God] to heaven. He was nourished in the heavens. He received the glory of that one and the power. He came to the bosom of his mother. And thus he came to the water.”
Each stanza is ended with “And thus he came to the water” which would refer to his history prior to coming into the John the Baptist group. The inserts are a suggestion from this commentator but since this hymn speaks in metaphorical language they cannot be trusted to be accurate. The “mother” mentioned could be the real clue where it refers to Sophia or The Holy Spirit. If so, this would refer to the Wisdom community such as produced the ‘Q’ source making up the Gospels of Matthew and Luke in rejecting this model.
“And the second kingdom says about him that he came from a great prophet. And a bird came, took the child who was born, and brought him onto a high mountain. And he was nourished by the bird of heaven. An angel came forth there. He said to him ‘Arise! God has given glory to you.’ He received glory and strength. And thus he came to the water.”
The bird in the “second kingdom” is reminiscent of the dove alighting on or infilling Jesus at his baptism. However, these are both Egyptian imageries. The goddess, Isis, appeared in the form of a bird as she journeyed around to collect all the lost body parts of Osiris to make him whole again. The god, Set or Seth, who dismembered Osiris and was considered the god of foreigners and the Hebrew was also portrayed as having a falcon head. The “second kingdom” could be interpreted, then, that Jesus came from a great prophet who was Seth, the son of Adam and taken by the Holy Spirit/Isis up to a high mountain which would be his image of God metaphorically. This rejects the common Samaritan idea that he was just a great vessel for the ‘Son of Man’ or ‘Seth’ and so rejects the Egyptian Samaritan model
“The third kingdom says of him that he came from a virgin womb. He was cast out of his city, he and his mother. He was brought to a desert place. He was nourished there. He came and received glory and strength. And thus he came to the water.”
The rabbinical scholarship which survived the Roman war of 66-70 CE allege that Jesus was born out of wedlock to a Roman soldier named Pandera according to Peter Schafer who wrote ‘Jesus in the Talmud’ and decodes the code words in the Jerusalem Talmud as well in discussing the Babylonian Talmud which had more freedom under the Persians to write what they wanted. (8) The pagan Roman philosopher, Celsus, made the same claim a century and a half about Jesus. (9) Morton Smith cites one rabbi in the generation before the beginning of the second century and one rabbi after it using the name “ben Pantera” for Jesus. (10) These sources could be taken as typical anti-Christian propaganda however there is a reference in the Gospel of John in 8:41 showing these attacks are of long-standing: “…Then they said to him, ‘We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.” This rejects the Rabbinical model.
“The fourth kingdom says of him that he came from a virgin. [...] Solomon sought her, he and Phersalo and Sauel and his armies, which had been sent out. Solomon himself sent his army of demons to seek out the virgin. And they did not find the one whom they sought, but the virgin who was given them. It was she whom they fetched. Solomon took her. The virgin became pregnant and gave birth to the child there. She nourished him on a border of the desert. When he had been nourished, he received glory and power from the seed from which he was begotten. And thus he came to the water.”
The “fourth kingdom” may refer to Jesus being a ‘son of Solomon’ or of Wisdom but reflects the violence tendencies of the fundamentalist Essenes from Qumran who wanted to capture Wisdom and didn’t recognize Jesus who was raised in their desert environment who was the ‘son of Wisdom’. The ‘Wisdom of Solomon’ from the second century of this era that has been reconstructed in the past century is Trinitarian but viewing the Holy Spirit as feminine. The “seed” is an analogy to the higher self like the “drop” is in other stanzas or the “rock”. This rejects the view of the Essenes.
“And the fifth kingdom says of him that he came from a drop from heaven. He was thrown into the sea. The abyss received him, gave birth to him, and brought him to heaven. He received glory and power. And thus he came to the water.”
The “fifth Kingdom” may reference a Gentile, philosophical understanding in the idea of the “abyss” which would refer to material creation as distinct from ideal Platonic forms. Notice in this one he is nothing special but blessed. This stanza is one of three which references the soul as a “drop from heaven” which would refer to the idea of a piece of pure, transparent God consciousness that descends to matter but infused with the Holy Spirit he ascends to heaven. This rejects the Greek ‘wandering wise man’ model.
“And the sixth kingdom says that [she came] down to the aeon which is below, in order to gather flowers. She became pregnant from the desire of the flowers. She gave birth to him in that place. The angels of the flower garden nourished him. He received glory there, and power. And thus he came to the water.”
The “sixth kingdom” refers to a Samaritan version of the Sophia Mythos who conceived without her male consort. The “angels of the flower garden nourished him” may refer to him being raised by ascetic Essenes—since implications are he was a Nazarite (from ‘Nazareth’)—at least early in his career. The “flowers” would be souls enriched by earthly experience. This rejects the ascetic Nazirite model.
“And the seventh kingdom says of him that he is a drop. It came from heaven to earth. Dragons brought him down to caves. He became a child. A spirit came upon him and brought him on high to the place where the drop had come forth. He received glory and power there. And thus he came to the water.”
The “seventh kingdom” reflects knowledge of the psychomantium process used by Jesus-Simon. The “cave” is mentioned which could have referred to ‘The Cave of John the Baptist at Suba’. The sentence “He became a child” references the experience of Simon of his higher self that is conceptualized as the androgenous Primal Adam of the Gospel of Thomas such as L 22: “…Shall we then, as children, enter the Kingdom?...When you make the two one…so that the male not be male nor the female…then you will enter the kingdom”. (11) The “spirit came upon him and brought him on high to the place where the drop (soul) had come from” passage would be the ‘Son of Man’ in the Dialogue of the Savior. (12) The “dragon” reference would refer to spiritual initiates. The word ‘dragon’ in Greek is ‘drakein’ which means to ‘see clearly’. The conception of the ancients of a dragon was that of a large serpent. Serpents had connotations of wisdom and magic. The number ‘seven’ is an esoteric number relating dimensions. (13) This rejects the hierophantic mystery school model.
“And the eighth kingdom says of him that a cloud came upon the earth and enveloped a rock. He came from it. The angels who were above the cloud nourished him. He received glory and power there. And thus he came to the water.”
The “cloud” could reference Sofia. Alternately another interesting angle is that it could reference the soul desiring earthly experience--leaving out a feminine reference to the deity. See the tenth kingdom for another ‘cloud’ reference. The ‘cloud’ maybe references a degree of earth consciousness that angels in higher dimensions can minister to. The god, Mithras, was born from a rock and was a Christ—a divine man typology popular in the Roman military in the first centuries of the Common Era. The religion derived from Persia and probably took off after the state visit of the Parthian Armenian king, Tiridates, to Nero in 63 CE. Its mysteries were always celebrated secretly in caves. The initiate endured trials of cold and fasting. The mythology of Mithras killing a bull would have represented the victory over the physical body. The seven initiate levels would have represented soul travel through planetary spheres. Members feasted in reenacting the feast of Mithras with the Sun. Since Tiridates referred to Nero as the sun, the celebration could be regarded acceptably in the Roman context as a celebration of soldierly sacrifice of their bodies on the material plane and celebration with the Roman Emperor in the spiritual world. The visit of Tiridates to Nero with his magi is widely considered to have inspired the story of Matthew of the visit of the Magi to Jesus in Bethlehem. The water sprouting from the side of Jesus corresponds to the myth of Mithras sprouting water from a rock by shooting an arrow at it. Jesus, indeed, does Mithras one better in making water into wine in the ‘Marriage of Cana’. This rejects the Roman Mithras model
“And the ninth kingdom says of him that from the nine Muses one separated away. She came to a high mountain and spent (some) time seated there, so that she desired herself alone in order to become androgynous. She fulfilled her desire and became pregnant from her desire. He was born. The angels who were over the desire nourished him. And he received glory there, and power. And thus he came to the water.”
The “ninth kingdom” is clearly the Sophia Mythos of one of the aeons who loved God so much she wanted to create just like Him—without her male counterpart. The twist here is that it was Jesus who was born rather than the malevolent demiurge son who was identified as Jehovah. In the Sophia Mythos, of course, Jesus is her male counter-part who comes to redeem her. Although the tradition was, also, that she birthed him as well. This rejects the Egyptian Sophia Mythos model.
“The tenth kingdom says of him that his god loved a cloud of desire. He begot him in his hand and cast upon the cloud above him (some) of the drop, and he was born. He received glory and power there. And thus he came to the water.”
The “tenth Kingdom is the Roman Christian viewpoint where God “begot him in his hand” so that the Son pre-existed and then was born god and man or “drop” and man. The “cloud of desire” could reference Sophia or alternately it could refer to the soul—leaving out a female reference to the deity. Notice he seems to be the only and unique “drop”. This rejects the Roman Christian model.
“And the eleventh kingdom says that the father desired his own daughter. She herself became pregnant from her father. She cast [herself into a] tomb out in the desert. The angel nourished him there. And thus he came to the water.”
The “eleventh kingdom” is another defective Sophia Mythos stanza but incorporates the elements of Simon-Jesus birthed from Wisdom and out in the desert (Egypt). The tomb is an analogy for the material world in a Platonic image. This rejects the Platonic philosophical model.
“The twelfth kingdom says of him that he came from two illuminators. He was nourished there. He received glory and power. And thus he came to the water.”
The “twelfth Kingdom” can refer to Simon coming from Adam and Seth—a defective Samaritan viewpoint. This rejects the common-man Samaritan model.
“And the thirteenth kingdom says of him that every birth of their ruler is a word. And this word received a mandate there. He received glory and power. And thus he came to the water, in order that the desire of those powers might be satisfied.”
The “thirteenth kingdom” refers to the Jewish idea of the reincarnation of holy men as Jesus was thought to be the reincarnation of Elijah. There are thought to be thirty-six hidden tzaddiks or spiritual masters who uphold the world or at least ten living ones who preserve the earth from destruction. Note that he came from “powers” or from the demiurge which would be a deity short of ultimate divinity. This rejects the Jewish Christian model.
The ‘thirteen kingdoms’ refer to the powers of the demiurge referenced in other Nag Hammadi texts and makes the generalized point that there just isn’t one holy tradition regarding Simon but many defective viewpoints. The correct answer for Apoc. Adam follows in a few paragraphs: “But the generation without a king over it says that God chose him from all the aeons. He caused knowledge of the undefiled one of truth to come to be in him.”-- This last sentence would lend itself to the interpretation of the Dialogue of the Savior and the Second Treatise of the Great Seth that Simon-Jesus was over-shadowed by ‘The Son of Man’ or ‘Seth’. The “generation without a king” is considered a gnostic phrase but it can also be considered a polemical point of the Samaritans against the kings imposed by Rome and Jerusalem. .
Very soon Apoc. Adam begins describing the Gentile Roman Christians (“the peoples”): “We have done every deed of the powers senselessly. We have boasted in the transgression of (all) our works.” The telltale paragraph reads:
“…Micheu and Michar and Mnesinous, who are over the holy baptism and the living water, why were you crying out against the living God with lawless voices and tongues without law over them, and souls full of blood and foul {deeds}? You are full of the works that are not of the truth, but your ways are full of joy and rejoicing. Having defiled the water of life, you have drawn it within the will of the powers to whom you have been given to serve them.”
The “living water” was probably what was used by Samaritans instead of the communion wine by the Romans. The “waters of life” could refer to desecrating the sacraments of baptism and communion by doing the will of the archons and demiurge or “powers”. The emphasis on “lawless” can be read as Pauline. “Foul {deeds}” also references Paul and his Herodian relatives who were part of his community. The “full of joy and rejoicing” seems very descriptive of the Pauline love feasts and gifts of the Spirit worship. The three personages whose names begin with “M” perhaps were Samaritan collaborators in the Pauline communities. The following paragraph even accuses this probable Pauline community of persecuting others which goes on to refer to the Samaritan oral tradition that was not written down or put into a book—implying their difference from the Pauline communities.
The Apoc. Adam ends with the ‘generation without a king’ being “on a high mountain, upon a rock of truth” which is a description of the higher self that is comparable to the “drop” used earlier:
But the generation without a king over it says that God chose him from all the aeons. He caused a knowledge of the undefiled one of truth to come to be in him. He said, "Out of a foreign air, from a great aeon, the great illuminator came forth. And he made the generation of those men whom he had chosen for himself shine, so that they could shine upon the whole aeon"
Then the seed, those who will receive his name upon the water and (that) of them all, will fight against the power. And a cloud of darkness will come upon them.
Then the peoples will cry out with a great voice, saying, "Blessed is the soul of those men because they have known God with a knowledge of the truth! They shall live forever, because they have not been corrupted by their desire, along with the angels, nor have they accomplished the works of the powers, but they have stood in his presence in a knowledge of God like light that has come forth from fire and blood.
"But we have done every deed of the powers senselessly. We have boasted in the transgression of all our works. We have cried against the God of truth because all his works [...] is eternal. These are against our spirits. For now we have known that our souls will die the death."
Then a voice came to them, saying "Micheu and Michar and Mnesinous, who are over the holy baptism and the living water, why were you crying out against the living God with lawless voices and tongues without law over them, and souls full of blood and foul deeds? You are full of works that are not of the truth, but your ways are full of joy and rejoicing. Having defiled the water of life, you have drawn it within the will of the powers to whom you have been given to serve them.
"And your thought is not like that of those men whom you persecute [...] desire [...]. Their fruit does not wither. But they will be known up to the great aeons, because the words they have kept, of the God of the aeons, were not committed to the book, nor were they written. But angelic (beings) will bring them, whom all the generations of men will not know. For they will be on a high mountain, upon a rock of truth. Therefore they will be named "The Words of Imperishability and Truth," for those who know the eternal God in wisdom of knowledge and teaching of angels forever, for he knows all things."
These are the revelations which Adam made known to Seth, his son, And his son taught his seed about them. This is the hidden knowledge of Adam, which he gave to Seth, which is the holy baptism of those who know the eternal knowledge through those born of the word and the imperishable illuminators, who came from the holy seed: Yesseus, Mazareus, Yessedekeus, the Living Water.