And Jesus with his disciples remained in the midst of the aëry Place in the roads of the road of the Middle, this which is below the Sphere.
And they came unto the first array of the road (added in margin, MS ) which is in the Middle.
But Jesus stood (up) in the air of her (of the road) Place with his disciples.
Said the disciples of Jesus to him, What is this Place in which we are?
[320 ] Said Jesus, These are the Places of the road of the Middle: for it happened, having been disorderly the Rulers of the Adamas, they continued working intercourse, begetting Rulers and Archangels and Angels and Ministers and Dekans.
Came out on (the) Right Ieou the Father of my Father, he bound them in a Destiny of the Sphere: for there are twelve Aeons becoming, Sabaoth the Adamas ruling over six, and Iabraoth his brother ruling over other six.
Then therefore Iabraoth believed the mysteries of the Light with his Rulers, and he worked in the mysteries of the Light, he forsook the mysteries of the intercourse.
But Sabaoth indeed the Adamas remained working in the intercourse with his Rulers.
And Ieou the Father of my father, having seen, that believed Iabraoth, he took him away with all the Rulers who believed [321 ] with him: he received (him) unto him(self) from the Sphere, he took him unto a (Place of) air, which was purified in the presence of the light of the sun, between the Places of those of the Middle, and between the Places of the invisible God.
He put him there with the Rulers who believed him.
And he took away Sabaoth the Adamas with his Rulers, these who worked not in the mysteries of the Light, but who continued working in the mysteries of the intercourse.
He bound them in unto the Sphere.
He bound eighteen hundred Rulers in every Aeon: 182 he put three hundred and sixty over them.
He put another five great Rulers ruling over the three hundred sixty and over all the Rulers who are bound, these whom they are wont to call in all the World of the mankind by these names: the first they are wont to call him, Kronos; the second, Ares; the third, The hermes; the fourth, The aphrodite; the fifth, [321 ] The zeus.
Continued further Jesus, said he, Hear also that I may say unto you their mystery.
It happened therefore, Ieou, having bound them thus, he drew a power out of the great Invisible, he bound it in this which they are wont to call it, Kronos.
And also he drew another power out of Ipsantakhounkhainkhoukheokh, who is one among the three triple-powered gods, he bound it in Ares: and he drew a power out of Khainkhōōōkh, being one also among the three triple-powered gods.
He bound it in the hermes.
Again also he drew a power out of the Pistis the Sophia, the daughter of the Barbēlōs, he bound it in Aphrodite.
And also he noticed that they needed a rudder for him to steer the World and (with, MS ) the Aeons of the Sphere, that they should not destroy it in their evil doing, he went up unto the Middle, he drew a power out of [322 ] the Little Sabaoth the good, he of the Middle, he bound it in Zeus, because that good is (he), for him to steer them in his goodness.
Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.
A clear opposition is drawn between Sabaoth/Iabraoth who work in the mysteries of the Light versus those who continue working in the mysteries of the intercourse.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
The text mentions that Rulers are called upon by 'all the World of the mankind' by specific names, indicating a resonance between cosmic powers and human affairs.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The text repeatedly contrasts the mysteries of the Light with the mysteries of the intercourse and describes purification in the presence of the light of the sun.
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.
A descending order is implied from the Sphere to the Middle to the Roads and finally to mankind.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
The passage describes a binding of rulers into the Sphere and their separation from light based on belief or non-belief in mysteries.
The Gnostic myth of Wisdom's prolapse from the Pleroma — her unilateral desire or error producing the Demiurge and the entrapment of divine sparks in matter.
The Pistis the Sophia is mentioned as a source from which a power was drawn and bound.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
Sabaoth remains working in the mysteries of the intercourse rather than the Light, indicating a state of disconnection from divine order.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
Ieou draws powers from the great Invisible to bind them in specific rulers as a divine action.