The Secret Writing According to John (Apocryphon of John), Codex II, 1 · 8 of 24 · tr. Samuel Zinner
The Four Lights
[IV, 11] Eternal Life also <with> his Will, and Mind with Precognition, attended and extolled the unseen Spirit and Barbelo, given that they had come into being on her account. The holy Spirit also completed the self- generated God, his Son, together with Barbelo, so that he would attend the great and unseen, virginal Spirit of the self-generated God, the Christ, whom he had extolled with a loud voice. He issued forth by means of Providence, and the unseen, virginal Spirit appointed the truly self-generated God over the All. He also subjected every authority under him, as well as the truth to be inside him, so that he
would know the All, he who had been named with a name exalted above every name, because that name [IV, 12] will be spoken to those who deserve it, given that from Light, which is Christ, and Indestructibilty, by means of the gift of the Spirit (*and the four [great] lights*) from the self-generated God [...]. He waited for them to attend [II, 8] him, even the three:
Will,
Idea,
and Life,
even the four powers:
Understanding,
Grace,
Perception,
Discretion.
Further, Grace pertains to the light- aeon Armozel – who is the first angel – and there are three more aeons together with this aeon:
Grace,
Truth,
Form;
also the second light, Oriael, who had been appointed over the second aeon. Further, there are three more aeons together with him:
Reflection,
Perception,
Memory.
Further, the third light is Daveithai, who has been appointed over the third aeon, and there are three more aeons together with him:
Understanding,
Love,
Ideal Form.
Further, the fourth aeon was appointed over the fourth [IV, 13] light, Eleleth. Further, there are three more aeons together with him:
Perfection,
Peace,
Sophia
These are the four lights who attend the self-generated God. These are the twelve aeons who attend the Son of the Mighty One, the self-generated, Christ, by means of the will and the gift of the unseen Spirit, and the twelve aeons pertain to the self-generated Son.
Further, everything was established by means of the will of the holy Spirit, by means of the self-generated one.
Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.
The text narrates the origin and establishment of the divine realm, detailing how the self-generated God was appointed over 'the All' and how the aeons were established.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
Light is a central motif, with the text identifying Christ as Light and structuring the divine realm around 'four great lights' (Armozel, Oriael, Daveithai, Eleleth).
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The passage details a cascading structure of divine beings flowing from the 'unseen Spirit' through Barbelo, the self-generated God, and down to the four lights and twelve aeons.
The divine fullness or totality of the highest realm, populated by aeons and divine attributes, contrasted with the deficient material world.
The text describes the divine fullness populated by the 'unseen Spirit,' Barbelo, Christ, and a specific arrangement of twelve aeons attending the Son.