Added also in the word Jesus, said he, It happened therefore after these (things), came the Father of my Father, namely, Ieou, he took away other three hundred with sixty Rulers among the Rulers also of the Adamas, these who did not believe the mysteries of the Light: he bound them in these [324 ] aery Places in which we are now below the Sphere, he placed five other great Rulers over them, namely, those who become upon the road of the Middle.
The first Ruler of the road of the Middle (added in upper margin) they are wont to call him The (feminine) Paraplex a Ruler being of shape of woman, with her (his, MS ) hair reaching down upon her (his, MS ) feet: with fifteen arch-demons under her (his, MS ) authority ruling over many other demons: and those demons they are those which are wont to go in unto the men, and cause 184 them to be angry and curse and slander.
And they are those which are wont to take away the souls by robbery, and send them through their smoke of darkness with their evil punishments.
Said she, Mariham, I shall not fail in seeking from thee, Be not angry with me, while I am seeking after every thing.
Said Jesus, Seek [324 ] after that which thou wilt.
Said she, Mariham, My Lord, reveal to us in what manner are they wont to take away the souls by robbery, that my brothers also should understand it (them, MS ).
Said Jesus, namely, Aberamentho, Since the Father of my Father, namely, Ieou, he is the Provider of all the Rulers with the Gods with the powers, these which became in the matter of the Light of the Treasury.
And Zorokothora Melkhisedek he also is the Legate of all the Lights which are purified among the Rulers, taking them in unto the Treasury of the Light.
These two only are the great Lights, their business being this, for them to come down unto the Rulers and purify them.
And Zorokothora Melkhisedek took away the purification of the Lights which they purified among the Rulers, and took it unto the Treasury [325 ] of the Light, whenever should become the ticket, and with the time of their array, for them to come down unto the Rulers and oppress them and afflict them, taking away the purification from the Rulers.
But in the hour in which they release them from the oppression of the afflicting, and withdraw unto the Places of the Treasury of the Light, when they should reach unto the Places of the Middle, is wont Zorokothora Melkhisedek, he is wont to take away the lights, and take them into the gate of those of the Middle, and take them unto the Treasury of the Light.
And is wont Ieou also to withdraw him(self) unto the Places of those on the Right until the time also of the ticket for them to come out.
Are wont the Rulers therefore to be disorderly through the anger of their evil doing.
Immediately they are walking up with the Lights, because that they (Ieou and M.
) are not with them at that hour.
And they are wont to take away the souls which they will be able to carry off by robbery [325 ] and waste them away by their smoke of darkness and their evil fire.
Then therefore the souls the quick-tempered (ones) with the cursers with the slanderers, is wont to take them away the authority called the Paraplex with the demons which are under her and send them through the smoke of darkness and destroy them by her evil fire, and they begin to be consumed and to be dissolved.
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 outlines a structured order of divine beings including the Father, Ieou, Zorokothora Melkhisedek, and Rulers.
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 narrative includes a judgment where Rulers are bound and souls are taken away by demons for evil punishments.
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.
Souls are described as being below the Sphere and bound in places away from the Father's presence.