Prologue

[II, 1; IV 1] The teaching [of the] savior, and [the revelation] of the mysteries, [and the] sayings concealed in silence, [even these sayings that] he taught John, [his] disciple. It, [however], came to pass [one day], when John, [the brother] of James – they being the sons of Zebedee – had gone up to the temple, that a Pharisee named Arimanios [came to] him [and] said to him: “[Where] is your teacher, [whom] you were following?” And he [said] to him: “He has returned to the [place] he [came] from.” The Pharisee [said to him: “With deceit this Nazarene] fooled all of you, and he filled [your ears with lies], and sealed off [your hearts, turning you] away from the traditions [of your fathers].” [When] I, [John], had heard these sayings, [I turned] away from the temple [toward a place full of mountains and desert], and I lamented [much in my heart, asking]: [IV, 2] “How [was] the savior [appointed], and why was he dispatched [to the world] by [his Father, and who is his] Father, who [dispatched him, and to what kind] of aeon is [it to which we will go]? “Because what did he [mean, saying to us]: ‘That aeon to [which you will go is the] kind that is an [indestructible] aeon’? [He, however, did not] inform us about [what kind it is].”