The Secret Writing According to John (Apocryphon of John), Codex II, 1 · 13 of 24 · tr. Samuel Zinner
The Authorities Create Adam-a
Further, through the light they saw the shape of the image inside the water, [II, 15] and he said to the authorities attending him: ‘Come, let us create a man according to the image of God, and according to our likeness, so that his image will become a light for us.’
Further, they created by means of their individual powers in agreement with the allotted attributes, and each authority provided an attribute by means of the shape of the image he had seen in its psychic (dimension). He created an entity according to the likeness of the perfect Primal Man, and they said: ‘Let us call him Adam, so that [IV, 24] his name will become for us a power of light,’ and the powers commenced:
The first one, Goodness, created a living bone;
and the second, Providence, created a living sinew;
the third, Divinity, created a living flesh;
and the fourth, Lordship, created a living marrow;
The fifth, Kingdom, created living blood;
The sixth, Jealousy, created a living skin;
The seventh, Understanding, created living hair.
However, the host of the angels attended him, and they obtained from the authorities the seven substances of the life-soul to be able to create the sizes of the limbs and the sizes of the torso, and the correct functioning of all the parts with each other.
The first one began creating the head;
Eteraphaope-Abron created his head;
Meniggesstroeth created the brain;
Asterechmen, the right eye;
Thaspomocham, the left eye;
Yeronumos, the right ear;
Bissoum, the left ear;
Akioreim, the nose;
[II, 16] Banen-Ephroum, the lips;
Amen, the teeth;
Ibikan, the molars;
Basiliademe, [IV, 25] the tonsils;
Achcha, the staphyle;
Adaban, the neck;
Chaaman, the vertebrae;
Dearcho, the throat;
Tebar, the *right shoulder;*
*N[..., the]* left shoulder;
Mniarchon, the *right elbow;*
*[...e, the]* left elbow;
Abilrion, the right underarm;
Evanthen, the left underarm;
Krys, the right hand;
Beluai, the left hand;
Treneu, the right-hand fingers;
Balbel, the left-hand fingers;
Kriman, the nails of the hands;
Astrops, the right breast;
Barroph, the left breast;
Baoum, the right shoulder joint;
Malevolent planetary rulers or demiurgic powers that govern the material world and obstruct the soul's ascent.
The text explicitly lists and names the 'authorities' (Goodness, Providence, Jealousy, etc.) and their angelic hosts who construct the physical form of Adam.
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 passage is a detailed narrative account of the origin of the human being (Adama), describing the specific steps and agents involved in his creation.
A secondary creator deity—often ignorant or malevolent—responsible for fashioning the material world, distinct from the supreme transcendent God.
The passage centrally depicts the 'authorities' (led by a figure distinct from the true God) fashioning the material human body, acting as the secondary creator deity.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
Light is a central motif, described as the medium through which the authorities see the image and the substance they seek to capture in the creation of man.
Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.
The text mentions the authorities creating a man 'according to the likeness of the perfect Primal Man' and intending his image to be a 'light for us,' implying the trapping or reflection of divine light within the material form.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
The creation of the human body by various cosmic powers and attributes suggests the human being is a composite reflection of the divine or cosmic structure.
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
The passage explicitly states that the name 'Adam' was chosen so that it would become a 'power of light,' attributing ontological efficacy to the name itself.