Again also he added in the word, said he to his disciples, The fifth array, of which they are wont to call its Ruler, Iakhthanabas, being a strong Ruler, being under him many other demons: they are those who are wont to go in unto the men, and cause them to become acceptors of person, wronging the righteous, and they are accepting person of the sinners, receiving gifts against [329 ] the true judgment, they are destroying it (judgment), they are forgetting the poor with those who are in want, they are increasing the forgetfulness in their soul with the care in which there is not profit, that they should not remember their life, that whenever they should come out of the body they should take away by robbery the souls: (and those) which will take away by robbery this Ruler, they are wont to become in his punishments for hundred fifty years with eight months; and they are wasted away by his smoke of darkness with his evil fire, afflicting them greatly by the flame of his fire.
And whenever the Sphere should turn round, and (should) come the little Sabaoth, the good, this whom they are wont to call in the World, Zeus, unto the eleventh Aeon of the Sphere, this which they are wont to call, The water-bearer, and (should) come the Bubasti unto the fifth Aeon [330 ] of the Sphere, this which they are wont to call, The lion, they are wont to draw (back) the veils, which are between those of the Left with those of the Right, and (is wont) to look out of the height the great Iao, the good, he of the Middle, down upon the Places of Iakhthanabas whose Places dissolve and perish, and they take away all the souls which are in his punishments, and they throw them back unto the Sphere again, because that they were destroyed by his punishments.
These therefore are the actions of the roads of the Middle of which ye sought (from) me.
But having heard these (things) the disciples, they 188 prostrated, they worshipped to him, saying, Help us, our Lord, and have compassion upon us, that we should be saved from these punishments which are evil, which are prepared for the sinners!
Woe to them, Woe to them, the sons of men, because they are being [330 ] like to blind (men) groping in the darkness and seeing not!
Have compassion on us, O Lord, in this great blindness in which we are in, and have mercy on all the race of the mankind, because they laid snares for the souls as the lions for a prey, which they prepare for food for their punishments by the forgetfulness and the ignorance which is in them.
Have compassion therefore upon us, our Lord, our Saviour, and have mercy on us and deliver us in this great bewilderment.
Said Jesus to his disciples, Be of good cheer, fear not because ye are happy: because I shall make you for lord over all these, and I shall make them all subject to you.
Remember that I finished saying to you before that they crucified me, that I shall give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens.
Now also I say to you [331 ] that I shall give them to you.
These therefore having said them Jesus, he hymned in the great name.
Were hidden the Places of the road of the Middle and Jesus with his disciples remained upon air of light which is much greatly.
Said Jesus to his disciples, Draw near unto me.
And they drew near unto him: he turned unto the four corners of the World, he said the great name over their head: he blessed them, he breathed in unto their eyes.
Said Jesus to them, Look up, see what ye see.
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 souls are destroyed by punishments and thrown back to the Sphere, implying a resonant connection between cosmic levels.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The text describes a structured cosmic order where spheres turn, aeons come, and punishments are prepared for sinners by divine 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 passage details specific punishments for sinners and the destruction of souls by fire after crucifixion.
Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.
The instruction 'Look up' implies a disciplined inward attention toward the divine realm.
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.
The disciples are described as being in 'great blindness' and 'bewilderment,' reflecting a felt condition of exile from divine knowledge.
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
Jesus promises to make disciples lord over all and subject them to them, indicating a transformation into divine authority.
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.
The practice of hymning the great name is presented as an action that reveals hidden cosmic structures.