www.metalogos.org/files/supremacy.html
The
Supremacy
.
(by Valentine of Alexandria?)
.
A preliminary version of Nag
Hammadi text I.5 (The
Tripartite Tractate)
1.1
Concerning
what we can say about the Supremacy, it is appropriate that we begin
with the Father who is the root of the totality, the one from whom we
have received grace—that we should say of him that he existed
before anything else came into being other than himself alone.
1.2
The
Father is a single one, who is in the essence of a number. For he is
the first, and he is the one who is alone—although he also is
not like a single one. For otherwise how is he a father? For every
father has a noun which follows, namely ‘son’. But the
single one who alone is the Father, is like a root and a tree and
branches and fruit—of whom it is said that he is a real father,
nor is there any like unto him. And he is immutable, because he is
one Lord and God in that no one is a god for him and no one is a
father to him. For he is unbegotten, nor is there any other who
engendered him, and it is no one else who created him.
1.3
For
anyone who is someone's father or his creator but who himself (in
turn) also has a father and one who created him, it is indeed
possible that he become a father and creator to him who originated
from him and whom he created—yet he is not a Father in reality
and not a God, because he has the one who begot him
1.4
In
reality, therefore, only the Father and God is the one whom no one
brought forth. The Totality, however, is what he generated and set in
order. He is without origin and without end. For not only is he
without terminus—for this reason he is immortal—but also
because he is unbegotten, he is moreover invariable in that which he
eternally is. And He-Is Who He-Is (Ex
3:14) and
the one who establishes himself and the one who is magnificent within
himself. Neither will he remove himself from that which he is, nor
will any other force him to come to a conclusion which he never
willed, because he had no one who initiated his existence. Likewise
he did not change himself, nor shall any other be able to remove him
from his being and from what he is and from his identity and from his
majesty—so that he cannot be removed, nor is it possible for
another to change him into a different modality nor to negate him nor
to alter him nor to diminish him. Whereas this really is the truth:
he is the immovable unchangeable One, because the immutable clothes
him.
1.5
For
this one is not only he who is called ‘without origin and
without end’ in that he is unbegotten and immortal, but in
addition—just because he has no origin and he has no ending—so
he is unsurpassed in his magnificence, inscrutable in his wisdom,
incomprehensible in his authority, unfathomable in his kindness. For
in reality he alone is the good—the unbegotten Father and the
perfectly flawless One.
1.6
This
is the Plenary One who is filled with his every begetting and every
excellence and everything which is of utility. And he possesses still
more—which is the absolute goodness, in order that the many
should find it. He possesses and he gives everything that he
possesses (Ph
41),
because he cannot be hindered. And he does not become depleted by his
giving, because his wealth consists in the gifts which he bestows and
he reposes in the granting of his favors.
1.7
For
such is this one—of both this essence and this immensity—that
no other is with him from the origin, nor is there any locale where
he is or from which he came or to which he will return, nor any
primordial form¹ which he uses as a model while he works, nor is
there any resistance to him which affects him in what he does, nor
material which is available to him and from which he constructs that
which he creates, nor any substance which is within him and from
which he engenders what he brings forth, nor any ally who cooperates
with him in his works—such that it could be said that he is
ignorant in any such regard. But rather as good without deficiency,
perfect and plentiful, he himself is the totality. (¹here
and thruout, Latin FORMA
rather
than Greek
ΜΟΡΦΗ:
see
Form in Tr Notes; this
idiosyncrasy strongly suggests that both texts are by the same
author, viz. Valentine of Alexandria)
1.8
None
of the names which are thought or spoken or perceived or
apprehended—none of them befits him, even when they radiate
brilliantly and are grandiloquent. But it is nonetheless possible to
say them to his honor and glory, relative to the potency of each one
of those names that extol him. He however as he is and exists and in
the essence within which he is—it is not possible for any mind
to conceive him, nor will any phrase be capable of interpreting him,
nor shall any eye be able to see him, nor will any body be able to
contain him (Jn
14:28),
due to his untraceable majesty and his unfathomable profundity and
his immeasurable grandeur and his illimitable volition.
1.9
This
is the nature of the Unbegotten: he does not lay his hand upon
anything separate or upon a duplicate, as does someone limited, but
rather he possesses this innateness without having facade (Th
84) or
shape such as people imagine regarding sensory things—because
the Incomprehensible is transcendental. If he is infinite then this
actuality is entailed: that he is unknowable—that is
inconceivable in any thought, invisible in any object, inexpressible
in any locution, untouchable by any hand. He alone knows himself as
he is, together with his modality and his majesty and his magnitude.
And he is able to conceive of himself, to perceive himself, to name
himself, to understand himself—for he is his own mind, his own
eye, his own mouth, his own characteristic, as well as the one who
contemplates himself (Ph
95),
who perceives himself, who enunciates himself, who comprehends
himself—namely the inconceivable ineffable incomprehensible
immutable One. (Tr
3)
1.10
He
is nourishment, gladness, truth, joy, repose. That which he thinks,
which he perceives, which he declares, which he has as an idea, is
exalted above all wisdom and it transcends every mind and it
surpasses every glory and it exceeds every beauty and every
pleasantness and every magnificence and every profundity and every
sublimity. Yet this one who is unknowable in his nature, to whom
belong all the superlatives which I have already mentioned—if
he wishes to bestow the recognition¹, so that the many may
experience him in the abundance of his kindness, he is capable
thereof. He has his potency, which is his volition. Yet now he keeps
himself in silence, he who is the majestic one, because he is the
cause of the generation of all beings to their eternal existence. (Lk
20:38, Jn 6:54; ¹see Ph
Notes)
1.11
He
himself in reality engenders himself as ineffable and only-begotten,
thinking himself and knowing himself as he is—he who is worthy
of his own admiration and glory and praise and honor. He engenders
himself because of the boundlessness of his majesty and the
unsearchableness of his wisdom and the immeasurability of his
authority and his untasteable sweetness. He begets himself in this
modality of generation, possessing glory and honor, admiration and
love. He is the one who glorifies himself, who admires himself in
order to honor himself, and who loves himself—he who has a Son
who is within him, and who is silent concerning him.
1.12
This
is the ineffable within the ineffable, the invisible, the
incomprehensible, the inconceivable within the inconceivable. Such is
the Father eternally, as we have previously stated: unbegotten,
self-known, self-engendered, existent, thinking this thought of his
which is his perception, which is the formation of his establishment
forever and ever—he who is genuine silence and wisdom and grace
and who is justly described in this manner.
1.13
Precisely
as the Father is, in the true sense of the phrase, the one preceding
whom there is no one else and succeeding whom there is no other—so
also it is with the Son who exists in the true sense of the term,
this one prior to whom there is no one else and after whom there is
no other begotten being. There is no Son ulterior to him. Because of
this, he is both first-born and he is an only Son—the
first-born because there is none prior to him, the only Son because
there is none after him. (Jn
1:3+14)
1.14
He
has his fruit, which is unrecognized due to the plenitude of his
majesty. And he willed it to be known because of the wealth of his
kindness. Moreover he revealed the incomprehensible power, and he
combined it with the superabundance of his jealouslessness. (Mk
15:10!)
1.15
Not
only does the Son exist from the origin (Jn
1:1),
but the Convocation also exists from the origin. (Ph
9) If
anyone thinks in himself that he is baffled by this remark concerning
the mystery of the topic—when in addition the Son has been
revealed to be an only Son—he need not be so. For just as the
Father is a single unity and has revealed himself as being a Father
for himself alone, so also with the Son. He was found to be a Brother
for himself, not procreated and without beginning. Yet the Father
admires him and honors him and glorifies and loves him. And likewise
he also is the one who thinks himself as a Son thru these
bequests—namely that this situation has been fused without
beginning and without end. In this manner, innumerable, unlimited and
indivisible are his progeny which exist and have come into being from
the Son with the Father, as kisses in the abundance of those who kiss
one another in a good and insatiable thought. (Ph
35 59) This
kiss is a single unity, even though it involves a multitude. Such is
the Convocation of many persons, which exists prior to the aeons. It
is rightfully called: the eternities of the eternities.
1.16
This
is the nature of the imperishable sacred spirits¹, the unity
within which the Son reposes, because his substance is the same as
that of the Father who reposes within the Son. The Convocation is in
the bequests and the excellences within which the Father and Son
are—as I have said from the beginning. Because of this, (the
Convocation) is in the begetting of the innumerable eternal beings.
And in infinite number they also procreate from the excellences and
the bequests in which (the Convocation) is. For these are its
governance, which they practice toward one another as well as toward
the outsiders—who also came forth from the Father for the Son,
to whose honor they too have come into being. (¹plural!)
1.17
It
is impossible for any mind to conceive of him in the perfection of
that place. Nor was it appropriate for the outsiders (even) to
mention the Convocation, for they are inexpressible and impossible to
name and impossible to conceive. But they, the Select [...], alone
are those who can receive a name for themselves and to conceive of
themselves as from the Father. For they have not been planted in the
world. Wherefore those of that place are ineffable and they are
innumerable in this combination, which is the eloquence and is of
this modality and this category.
1.18
Such
is the joy and the gladness of the unbegotten, non-denominated,
unnamable, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible. He is the
fullness of the Fatherhood, so that his abundance became a begetting.
Yet those who belong to the aeons were eternally in the thought of
the Father, he being as a thinking of them and a place for them. Now
when the begettings were to be established, the one who had power
over the plurality wished to take and to hold and to bring forth
those who are in need of the reunion, in order to beget those who are
within him. But He-Is Who He-Is. (Ex
3:14)
1.19
He
poured forth a spring which is not diminished by the water flowing
abundantly forth from it. When they were (still) in the thought of
the Father—which is when they were in the hidden depth—the
depth indeed knew them, yet they were not able to know the profundity
in which they were, nor were they able to know themselves, nor to
know another. (Th
3/67) That
is, they were indeed within the Father, and so did not exist for
themselves—but rather each had his origin in the manner of a
seed, so that they might be found to be like a conception. As the
Logos engendered them, they were set aside to germinate. So when they
had not yet come into being, whom he was to bring forth from this one
who first thought of them, the Father sowed a thought like a seed of
knowledge so that they might contemplate him who is the one who
exists for them(Ph
95, Su 1.9)—not
only that they should exist for him, but also that they should exist
for themselves, that they should indeed exist in his thought as
substance of thought, but also exist for themselves. He manifested
grace in order to provide the initial design, so that they might
become acquainted with the Father who exists for them.
1.20
The
name of the Father he did indeed bestow upon them, thru a voice which
called to them. (Jn
17:6 ff., Ph 11, Tr 45, etc.)
For
He-Who-Is exists thru that name which they possess in their origin.
Thus the exaltation of the name which they have forgotten (Tr
4) is
analogous to an embryo—the child having its self-sufficiency
before it has ever seen the one who seminated it. Hence they had this
sole task of seeking after him, indeed contemplating Him-Who-Is, yet
wishing to ascertain what he is who exists. But since the perfect
Father is good, just as he did not respond to them until they came
into being in his thought, but (yet) gave them the possibility of
themselves coming into being—so also he will show them grace,
so that they may know who he is who exists, in such a manner as they
are engendered in this place. When they are born they are within the
light, in order to see who begot them. (Ph
142-43)
1.21
The
Father begot the totality like a little child, like a drop from a
spring, like a blossom from a vine, like a fruit, like a
sprouting-forth. They need to receive acquaintance and increase and
faultlessness. He withheld these for a season, he who thought of them
from the origin. He indeed possessed such from the origin, he
conceived them, yet first he planted them in those who came forth
from him—not thru jealousy, but rather so that the eternal-ones
might not initially receive their faultlessness and therefore exalt
themselves to this glory, even up to the Father, and think of
themselves that they possess this on their own. But just as he willed
to give them their existence, so also with their becoming
faultless—when it pleased him, he gave to them this perfect
thought of beneficence toward them.
1.22
This
one whom he caused to appear as a Light for those who came forth from
Him, after whom they were named—he is the Son who is plenary,
perfect and flawless. He generated him united with him from whom he
came forth. He participates in giving glory to him, he participates
in receiving glory from the totality just as each one will receive
him individually. His majesty is not apparent when they had not yet
received him, but he is himself as he is in his mode and his form and
his magnificence. It is possible for them to see him and speak of him
whom they know. They wear him while he wears them. They can attain to
him. He is however as he is, the incomparable, so that he may be
glorified by each individual.
1.23
The
Father reveals himself, and in his ineffability he is hidden as an
invisible one while they marvel at him in the mind. Because of this,
the majesty of his exaltation becomes manifest when they speak of him
and perceive him. They will psalm him because of the abundance of his
kindness, yet thru grace and in the mode of the awe of the silences.
They are progeny for ever and ever, they are procreations of the
mind.
1.24
The
bequests of the Logos are radiations of the Spirit. Now they
conjointly, as belonging to meaningfulness, are seeds and thoughts of
his generating and roots which live forever. They are manifest
because they are births who came forth from him. They are minds and
spiritual births to the glory of the Father. For there is no further
need of a voice and a spirit or a mind and a meaning, nor is there
any need to work at that which they desire to do. But in the
innateness in which he was, so also they came forth from
him—engendering all that they wish and think and say, and
toward whom they move and within whom they are and whom they extol,
giving glory to him. He has Sons! For this is their power as
progenitors, just as with him from whom they came forth in their
coordination with each other when they coordinated in the image of
the unbegotten.
1.25
The
Father, according to his exaltation beyond the totality, is
unknowable and incomprehensible, possessing this magnificence and
grandeur of this quality, such that if he had previously or abruptly
revealed himself to all those sublimely eternal beings who emerged
from him, they would have perished. Therefore he withheld his power
and his indefatigability within that which he is in himself. Yet he
is inherently ineffable and unnamable and transcends every mind and
all terminology.
1.26
This
one spread himself out. And he who expanded himself is this one who
has provided solidity and location and dwelling-place to the
totality, thru which he is titled Father of the totality. Moreover,
he was impassioned for those who exist. He sowed himself in their
thought so that they might seek after him—someone surpassing
their participation in the contemplation that He Is—and thus
they might ask who he is who exists. Now this one was bestowed on
them for delight and nourishment and joy and abundance of
illumination, which is his fellowship in passion, the knowledge of
him, and his being blended with them.
1.27
This
is the one whom they call and who is the Son, who is the totality,
and concerning whom they came to know who he is, and who clothes
himself with them. This is the one whom they call the Son, and whom
they contemplate to exist, and after whom they were seeking. This is
the one who is Father, and concerning whom they will be unable to
speak, and whom they do not conceptualize. This is the one who first
exists. For it is not possible for anyone to conceptualize him or to
think of him, nor will they be able to approach thither toward the
exalted one, toward him who first existed in reality. But every name
which is conceived or spoken concerning him was brought forth for
honor, as a track of him, according to the potency of each one of
those who used the names to glorify him.
1.28
He
who arose from himself spread himself out for a begetting and an
acquaintance of the totality. Yet he is all the names without
falsehood and he alone is the first in truth—the manhood of the
Father, who is the one whom I call the form of the amorphous, the
embodiment of the incorporeal, the face of the invisible, the meaning
of the ineffable, the mind of the inconceivable, the spring which
flowed forth from itself, the root of those who have been planted,
the God of those who exist, the light of those whom he illumines,
compassion for those whom he loved, provision for those for whom he
had foresight, intelligence for those whom he made thoughtful, power
for those to whom he gives strength, the gathering together for those
he assembles unto himself, the revelation for those who seek after
him, the eye for those who see, spirit for those who breathe, the
life of the living, unity for those who are interfused—namely,
the Totality.
1.29
They
are all in the Single One, clothing him completely. And with this
single name of his they do not ever call him. In this one mode they
are identically the single unity and the totality. And he is not
divided into bodies, nor is he diversified into the names which he
has. He is indeed in one regard of this kind, but in another regard
he is also of a different kind. He does not change in a variable
mode, nor is he transformed among the names which he is. He is this
and simultaneously in another mode he is that, now this and at
another moment that—but
he it is in its totality to the uttermost, and he is each individual
of the totality eternally at the same time. He is what they all are.
He is the Father of the totality and he is the totality, for he is
the one who is acquaintance with himself and he is each one of the
qualities.
1.30
He
possesses the powers, and he transcends every thing that he knows,
perceiving himself completely, having a Son and a formation. Because
of this, his powers and his qualities are innumerable and unheard-of.
Due to the genesis thru which he begets them, they are numberless and
indivisible, the engenderings of his Logos and his commands and his
eternities. He knows them—which is his own self—because
they are in this single name and are all within him, speaking. And he
begets them in order that in unity they may find that they are
individually his qualities.
1.31
He
did not reveal the multiplicity to the totality all at once, nor did
he reveal his equality to those who emerged from him. For all those
who came forth from him, who are the aeons of the aeons, are
emanations, offspring of his natural begetting, themselves also
natural generators to the glory of the Father—just as he became
for them the cause of their foundation, of whom we have stated from
the origin that he made the eternal beings as roots and springs and
paternities. For this one whom they glorify, they found to possess
awareness and comprehension, and they came to know that they emerged
from this awareness and this comprehension of the totality. They
would have brought forth an honor which was only a semblance—it
is the Father who is the totality!—if the eternal beings had
one by one exalted themselves to give honor. Because of this, in the
song for the glorification and in the power of the unity of him from
whom they proceeded, they were drawn into an interfusing and a
concord and a union with each other. They produced an honor which was
worthy of the Father, by means of the united fullness which was a
single image yet plural, because they brought it forth for an honor
of the Single One, and because they emerged unto this unity who is
the totality.
1.32
This
was an honoring by those to this one who generated the totality. It
was a primal and eternal offering because it came forth from the
living aeons, being perfect and full due to the one who is perfect
and plentiful. It resulted in their being full and complete, those
who rendered honor in a perfect way from the communion. For as the
flawless Father, when they give honor to him he hears the
glorification by those who present honor to him in order to make them
manifest within that which he is.
1.33
The
cause of the secondary honor which they derived is this that was
reflected to them from the Father when they came to know the grace
thru which they bore fruit from the Father for each other, in order
that—just as they were begotten from the glory of the
Father—this also might be the manner for their manifestation as
perfect for a revelation as they participate in the glorification.
For they were progenitors of honor by the self-authoritating of the
will and power which was brought forth with them—although each
one of them was not as he—to render honor in unison to him who
loves, for they are plentiful, together with those who emerged, who
are perfect when they render indeed the honorings. And in this
process they are perfect in both their conjunction and their
fullness, for they are manifestations of the Father who is perfectly
honor to him who is perfect. As to the fruit, however, it consists in
glorifications of the will of each one of the eternal beings and each
one of the qualities.
1.34
The
Father indeed has power. He is a truly perfect plentifulness which
originates in a concord, because the participation of each one of the
eternal beings is that which he wills and over which he has power,
whereas each individual renders honor to the Father thru such
agreement. Thus they are minds of minds, and are found to be meanings
of meanings, and seniorities of seniorities, and hierarchies of
hierarchies, which are exalted one above the other. Each one of those
who render honor has his position and his superiority and his
dwelling-place and his repose, which is the honor that he
contributes. For all those who give honor to the Father have eternal
birth. (Ph
32) They
contribute in cooperation.
1.35
Limitless
and immeasurable are these emanations. There is no envy within the
Father toward those who radiated from him in that they might manifest
his imagery and his likeness. It is he who is within the totality,
begetting and revealing himself. And for him whom he wishes he
produces himself as Father for those whose Father he is, and as God
for those whose God he is. He composes them into the totality, those
whose entirety he himself is. Yet all the names which are set in
reality have no similarity to the eternal beings when the worldly
angels and officials utilize them.
1.36
The
entire compound of the eternal beings possesses a yearning and a
seeking for the whole perfect discovery of the Father. And this is
their blameless conjunction—the eternal Father reveals himself
in his desire that they recognize him, presenting himself so that
they might think of him to seek after him, keeping for himself his
original being which it is impossible to seek. For he the Father is
the one who provided the incentives for the roots of the eternal
beings. They are placed on the peaceful path to him, as in a school
of behavior. He extended to them faithfulness and communication
toward him whom they do not behold, and an ardent hope in the one
whom they do not contemplate, and a captivating love which awaits the
one whom it does not see, and an adequate understanding of this
eternal mind, and a blissfulness which is the wealth and the freedom,
and a wisdom for him who desires the honor of the Father for his own
thinking.
1.37
They
recognize the exalted Father by his volition, which is the Spirit who
breathes in the totality and provides them a thought so that they
might seek after the unknowable one, just as someone is drawn by a
perfume to seek after the one who conveys the fragrance—even
though the aroma of the Father is too much for these unworthy ones.
(Tr
37-38) For
his kindness sets the eternal beings in an inexpressible delight, and
gives them a thought so that they may be blended with him who wills
that they should be acquainted with him in unity and should help one
another thru the Spirit which burns in them. They have been in an
extreme chill, yet they are renewed in an indefinable manner. (Tr
38) It
is impossible for them to be separated from him in whom they have
been placed unawares.
1.38
They
will not give utterance, being silent concerning him who has power to
dictate that they receive form from him. He revealed himself, yet it
is impossible to mention him. As deriving from this one, they possess
him hidden within their thoughts. They indeed are silent concerning
the Father as he is in his form and his essence and his majesty. Yet
the eternal beings became worthy to know thru his Spirit that this
one is unnamable and incomprehensible, thru his Spirit which marks
the trail of the search after him, while he gives himself to them so
that they may think of him as speak of him.
1.39
Each
one of the eternal beings is a name, each is one of the qualities and
powers of the Father. He exists in many names, blended and in harmony
with one another. Because of the wealth of the Meaning, it is
possible for them to speak of him as the Father—which is one
unitary name because he is a single unity. Yet he is innumerable in
his qualities and names. For the emanation of the totality which
exists, issuing from him who exists, did not come into being by a
severance from one another—as if they were separated from him
who generated them—but rather their begetting is similar to an
unfolding. The Father unfolds himself to those whom he wills, in
order that those who emerged from him might become himself again. (Jn
16:28)
1.40
Just
as the present aeon, although it is a single unit, has been divided
into eras, and eras have been divided into years, and the years have
been divided into seasons, and the seasons into months, and the
months into days, and the days into hours, and the hours into
moments—so it is also with the eternal one of truth, who is a
single unity yet multiple. He is honored by the lesser and the
greater names according to the capability of each one to describe
him, yet by way of comparison like a spring, which is what it is,
which flows forth into streams and lakes and rivers and channels—like
a root which spreads up into trees and branches with fruit—like
a human body divided indivisibly into members of members, primary
members and secondary, into great and small.
1.41
The
eternal beings were engendered as fruit thru the autonomy of the
volition and the wisdom which he graciously gave to them for their
thinking. They had been unwilling to render honor to that one who
originated from harmony, since he was begotten for expressions of
praise by each of the plenitudes. Nor did they want to render honor
with the totality, nor again did they want to do so with anyone who
previously was from the profundity of him or his place—except
those who come to repose in the exalted name and in the exalted place
by receiving such from him who willed to elevate them above
themselves for himself.
1.42
He
begets them, so to speak, as himself. And he begets them by the Son
conjoined with the unity whom he is. He renews himself in conjunction
with those who came to him thru their Brother. He sees them, he
entreats them concerning this topic. For those who wished to ascend
toward him so that such might transpire in this manner—they do
not say anything about this even among themselves who desire to
render honor, except when they are alone. For there is a limit to
speaking in the fullness, so that they might be silent concerning the
incomprehensibility of the Father yet speak of the wish to comprehend
him....
3.1
Some
say that what exists has its being thru providence—these are
those who observe the regularity and conformity of the movement of
creation. Others say that it is accidental—these are those who
observe the diversity and the chaos and the evil of the forces.
Others say that the things which have occurred are what is fated to
happen—these are those who were preoccupied with such augury.
Others say that it exists solely as nature. Others say that it is
mechanical. Yet those of the general populace who considered the
elementary phenomena knew no more than these did.
3.2
Those
who were sophists among the Greeks and the barbarians progressed as
far as the forces which derived from their own fantasy and empty
speculation, which in activating them begot them in mutual conflict
and an affinity for apostasy. And they spoke in an enigma and an
arrogance and an illusion concerning that which they thought was
intelligent. The enigma deceived them because they thought they had
attained the truth when they really had reached only confusion, not
only in the nomenclature but also in the forces which they suppose to
compel everything.
3.3
Hence
it eventuated that the aforementioned group which was ensnared fought
against itself, because of the dissension and pride of their mentors.
Because of this, there was no one who agreed with his fellow in
anything—neither in philosophy, nor in medicine, nor in
rhetoric, nor in music, nor in semantics—but rather there were
opinions and theories. It transpired that they grappled with the
ineffability, being perplexed by their own inarticulousness. Such are
those who struggle, who burden themselves with such thoughts.
3.4
For
these ideas—which originally came from the race of the Hebrews,
and which are plagiarized by these materialists who speak in the
fashion of the Greeks—are the impetus of those who thought of
all such notions and spoke of them as correct, the forces which impel
all of them in order to induce them to contrive the terminology and
its imagery. And they grappled as if to lay hold on the truth by
making use of these confused forces which activate them. Yet
eventually they will attain to the status of the unalloyed, of him
who is established as the single unity, and be forged in the mirror
of the imagery of the Father. He is not invisible in his nature, but
rather it is wisdom which envelops him in order to safeguard the
innateness of the truly invisible singleness. That is why many angels
were unable to see him.
3.5
Yet
the men of the Hebrew race, who are the righteous ones and the
prophets, neither thought nor spoke nor contrived anything in fantasy
or thru imitation or thru esoteric ideas—but rather each, thru
the power that energizes within him and attending to what he has seen
and heard, has spoken of such in faith. They possess the accord of
concert with one another by the pattern of such being active in them,
preserving this cohesion and mutual concord, most principally in the
avowal of him who is exalted above them.
3.6
And
there is the one Messiah who is over them, who was ordained because
they needed him and whom the Logos of the Spirit had begotten among
them as needing the exalted one in a hope and an expectation
according to the thought which is the seed of salvation. And he is a
Logos of illumination, which is the thought and its procreations and
its emanations. These aforementioned righteous ones and prophets
preserve the avowal and the testimony of their ancestors concerning
the majestic one, those who are anticipating the hope and the
hearing. Sown in them is the seed of prayer and searching which has
been planted in the many who have sought for the confirmation. It
manifests itself and draws them to love the exalted one, to proclaim
these things of the unitary one. And it was a unity which energized
in them when they spoke.
3.7
Their
visions and their words do not differ just because of the multitude
of those who relayed this vision and this terminology. That is why
those who have listened to what they said do not reject any of it,
but nonetheless they understood the Scriptures differently in
interpreting them. Hence they founded many sects, which have
persisted to the present day among the Jews. Some say that the God
who was proclaimed in these ancient Scriptures is single; while
others say that he is plural. (Dt
6:4, Gen 1:26) Some
say that God is unitary and that there was one single mind in nature;
while others say that his activity is twofold as being the source of
good and evil. (Ps
5:4, Isa 45:7) Again
others say that it is he who creates what has come into being; while
yet others say that it is thru his angels that he works. (Job
38-39, Gen 18-19) For
many are the opinions of this sort, manifold and multifarious the
commentaries which their rabbis of the Torah have proposed.
3.8
Yet
the prophets themselves said nothing on their own, but rather each
proclaimed what he saw and heard thru the proclamation of the Savior.
The principal topic of their announcing is what each said concerning
the coming of the Savior, which is this advent. Sometimes the
prophets speak of it as future, yet sometimes as if the Savior spoke
thru their mouths—and that the Savior would come and be
merciful to those who were not acquainted with him nor agree with one
another in any regard in avowing.
3.9
Each
of the prophets, as a result of his work, received energy thru him to
speak of him. And although each saw the place which came into being
and apprehended that from thence is he who was to be born, and that
he would come from that place, yet none of them knew from whence he
would come nor of whom He-Who-Is was to be born. But this one alone
is he who is worthy to be spoken of, who was to be born and to endure
suffering.¹ Yet in regard to what is preexistent and eternal,
unbegotten and insusceptible within the Logos, if he had not come to
be incarnate¹ he would not have entered their thoughts. And this
is the terminology regarding which they were energized to speak of
his incarnation which was to be revealed, saying that he succeeds
them all yet that prior to them all he is from the Logos of the
Spirit who is the cause of that which came into being and the one
from whom the Savior received his flesh.¹ (¹conclusively
anti-Gnostic!)
3.10
The
Logos of the Spirit did indeed beget the Savior in the manifestation
of the light according to the declaration of the promise of his
revelation in the sowing. For He-Who-Is is thus not a seed of the
things that are, considering that he engendered him at the
culmination. Yet this one by whom the Father ordained the revelation
of salvation which is the fulfillment of the promise—all those
intermediaries of entering life belonged to him, and although he
descended thru them, his Father was unique. And he alone is truly
Father to him—the invisible, unknowable, incomprehensible in
his nature, who alone is God in his volition and his grace, and the
one who has given himself so that they might see him and be
acquainted with him and discern that this is what our Savior has
voluntarily become in compassion. For he was to be revealed for their
sake in an involuntary suffering.¹ They became flesh¹ and
soul, which eternally embraced them, whereas in perishability they
used to die. (¹anti-Gnostic)
3.11
As
for those who came into being, the invisible one invisibly taught
them about himself. For not only did he take death upon himself for
the sake of those whom he planned to save, but also their meagerness
for the sake of those who had become emaciated by fasting from body
and soul. Surmounting this, he allowed himself to be conceived and
born as a child in body¹ and soul. For among all the others who
in common were of body¹ and soul and who had fallen, when he
came as exalted among them they received the light because he had
himself been conceived without transgression or flaw or defilement.
He was begotten in life, being of life, in order that those who are
in suffering and changeable opinion might be restored by the Logos,
who acted so that they might regain body¹ and soul.
(¹anti-Gnostic)
3.12
The
Father took back to himself the Son who came on behalf of those whom
we have previously mentioned, for he originated from the radiant
vision and the unchangeable thought of the Logos who returned to him
after his accomplishment for the plan. In this way, those who
returned with him received body¹ and soul as well as stability
and confirmation and discernment. They indeed thought regarding
themselves that they would attain when they became acquainted with
the Savior, yet rather they attained when he had become acquainted
with them. They indeed attained exaltation in the incarnate¹
emanation, surpassing their having been brought forth in deficiency.
For they also emanated incarnately¹ with the Savior thru the
revelation and the union with him. These others are also of one
spiritual substance, and they grow. (¹anti-Gnostic)
3.13
Yet
the plan is twofold, containing one role and another. Some who came
forth in suffering and division are in need of healing. Others, who
are in prayer that the infirm may be healed, are therefore appointed
to cure those who have thus fallen—and these are the Apostles
and the Evangelists and the Disciples of the Savior, instructors who
themselves needed instruction. That is why they also participated in
the sufferings in which those partook who were brought forth in
suffering, being themselves products of the plan with the incarnate¹
Savior who took part in the sufferings. (¹anti-Gnostic)
3.14
For
he the Savior was a bodily¹ image of the single one who is the
all. Because of this, he preserved the essence of indivisibility from
which insusceptibility originated. Now such are the bodily¹
images of each one who was made manifest—yet they receive the
duality of both having been formed in the implanting which is under
heaven, and also participating in the evil which is amidst the places
which they occupy. For his volition confined everyone in error, so
that thru that volition he might have mercy on them all, and they
might be saved by means of one single individual appointed to give
life, all the remainder being in need of salvation. And hence
therefrom each originally received grace to convey the honors which
had been proclaimed by Yeshúa, and which were by him
considered worthy to be proclaimed to the remainder also.
(¹anti-Gnostic)
3.15
The
seed of the promise of Yeshúa the Christ has been implanted,
by whose manifestation and unity we have been served. Now the promise
contained their instruction and their return to that which they were
from the origin, from which they were droplets, in order that they
might return to him—which is what is called the redemption. And
it is the release from captivity and the gaining of freedom.
3.16
In
the regions of the captivity of those who were its slaves, ignorance
rules. Yet freedom is acquaintance with the truth which existed
before the ignorance came to be. The truth is sovereign forever,
without beginning and without end. It is goodness and it is salvation
and escape from the condition of slavery in which they suffered who
were brought forth in an inferior thought of vanity, which is
directed toward the things that are evil thru the idea which drags
them down to the lust for power. Yet they received the wealth which
is freedom from the abundance of the grace which oversaw the
children. And it is an elimination of their sufferings, and it is for
them abolition of what he set apart from himself in the origin, when
the Logos segregated such from himself—he who became for them
the cause of their origin and their catharsis. He retained the
sufferings until the culmination of the plan, and allowed such to
persist because they also were useful for what was ordained.
3.17
Thus
it transpired that mankind existed in three modes, according to
spiritual or psychic or materialist essence—representing the
imprint of the threefold modality of the Logos, by which were
produced the materialistic and the psychic and the spiritual, each
essence of these three classifications being recognized by its fruit.
And indeed they were not recognized initially, but rather only in the
advent of the Savior, who illumined the Saints and revealed each
individual as what he really was.
3.18
For
the spiritual type, because it is as light from Light and as spirit
from Spirit, when its head appeared it ran toward him to meet him and
to become his body. In the presence of its head it received
acquaintance directly in the revelation. Yet the psychic type, being
light from fire, delayed in accepting acquaintance from him who
revealed himself to it, and ultimately hesitated in running to him in
faith. Rather, being verbally instructed, by this means they also
were fulfilled. They were not far from the hope according to the
promise, since they received, so to speak, by way of pledge the
confirmation of the future. Yet the materialistic type is alien in
every regard. Because it is of the darkness, it will shun the
splendor of the Light. Therefore his revelation destroys it, because
it is no longer connected and it is hateful toward the revelation of
the Lord.
3.19
For
the spiritual type will receive the entire salvation in every regard.
Yet the materialistic will receive destruction in every regard,
according to the manner of one who is struck to the heart. Yet the
psychic type, as it is intermediate in its inception and also in its
composition, is polarized in its destiny toward goodness and away
from evil. It immediately undertakes its appointed departure from
evil and its ultimate flight toward what is good. Those whom the
Logos thus transported by means of his primal concept, when he
meditated upon the exalted one and prayed for their salvation, come
only gradually to possess salvation. Yet ultimately they will be
saved, due to the thought of salvation.
3.20
Just
as he was begotten, so also is the manner in which others were
begotten from him, whether angels or humans. According to the avowal
that the one exists who is exalted above them, and according to the
prayer to and the quest after him, they also will attain the
salvation of being begotten. They are good because they were products
of the plan. They were appointed to a ministry of heralding the
coming of the Savior which is to be, and his revelation which has
already come. When he was sent for the ministering of these, whether
angels or humans, they in fact received the substance of their being.
3.21
Yet
as for those others who derive from the notion of the lust for power,
and who came into being from the conflict among those who resist him,
yet who nonetheless are engendered by his thought—since they
are hybrid, they will receive their culmination suddenly. On the one
hand, those who will be transported from the lust for power, which is
allotted to them temporarily and for certain periods, and who render
honor to the Lord of Glory and abandon their wrath, will receive the
reward of their humility—which is to remain forever. Yet on the
other hand, those who pride themselves due to the desire of ambition,
and who love temporary glory and forget that the authority which they
possess was entrusted to them only for specified times and seasons,
and who therefore did not acknowledge that the Son of God is Lord of
All as well as Savior, and who were not transported from the wrath
and the assimilation to the evil beings—these will receive
judgment for their ignorance and their agnosticism, which is being
punished together with all those who went astray and turned
themselves away unto more evil, such that they moreover committed
against the Lord the indignities which the forces of the left
perpetrated against him, even unto his death in which they also
insisted, saying: We shall become rulers of the entirety if he can be
killed who was proclaimed King of the Universe! They strove to
accomplish this, the men and angels who did not derive from the right
and the good plan, but rather from the hybrid, and who chose first
for themselves vainglory and desire—which is an ephemeral wish.
3.22
The
path of eternal repose existed thru humility unto salvation for those
who will be saved, those of the right, after they have acknowledged
the Lord and the thought which delights the Convocation and the song
of those who humbled themselves therewith, unto the capacity of them
all for gladness, so that they may participate in its infirmities and
its pains, on the example of those who are thoughtful regarding what
is good for the Convocation. They will receive the communion in
hopefulness.
3.23
On
this topic of humans and angels, in the same manner this path exists
for those who derive from the group of the left unto error, not only
in that they denied the Lord and took evil counsel against him, but
also in that their hatred and their envy and their jealousy was
directed against the Convocation as well. And this is the cause of
the condemnation of those who deviated by arousing themselves to the
tribulations against the Convocation.
3.24
The
Convocation has a common body and a common substance with the Savior,
being like a Bridal Chamber because of its unity and its harmony with
him. For as the vanguard, the Christ has come for its sake. Yet the
calling of those who rejoice in the Bridal Chamber, and who are
gladdened and delighted at the fusion of the Bridegroom with the
Bride, possesses space. As to the calling, its future place is the
aeon of the images—the location where the plenitude has not yet
been reunited with the Logos. And the selected person rejoices and is
glad at this and sets his hope in it.
3.25
He
differentiated spirit, soul and body in the plan of this one who
thought himself as a single unity. Within him was this man who is the
Totality—and he is all of them (Th
77)—and
who possesses the effusion thru the calling which the places will
receive. And he has the bodily members which we previously mentioned
(Su
1.40).
When the redemption was proclaimed, the perfect man provided
acquaintance for each one so that each might return in haste to his
unity, the place from which each originated, that each might return
thither in gladness to the place from which each originated, to the
place from which each flowed forth. Now his members needed a place of
instruction, which is the locations provided so that each might
receive thru them a likeness to these images and these prototypes in
the manner of a mirror, until all the members of the body of the
Convocation should be in one place and should receive the restoration
at one time, when they have been made manifest as the whole
body—namely, the restoration into the fullness.
3.26
They
have a predisposition to concord, which is the preconception of the
Father until the eternal beings receive face-form in him. (Tr
8) Yet
the final restoration of the totality has already been made manifest
in him who is the Son, who is the salvation, who is the way unto the
incomprehensible Father, who is the return to him who preexisted, in
whom the totality was represented in truth, who is the inconceivable
and ineffable and invisible and incomprehensible One.
3.27
Each
individual receives the redemption, it being not only liberation from
the tyranny of those on the left, nor again was it only a release
from the authority of those on the right—respectively
concerning which we thought that we were slaves and offspring, and
from which no one ordinarily escapes without being quickly
recaptured—but the redemption is also an ascension thru the
hierarchies which are in the fullness, to all of which names are
given and which are contemplated according to the capacity of each of
the eternal beings. And it is an entering into the silent one, the
place where there is no need of verbalizing nor knowing nor
contemplating nor enlightenment, but rather everything is light and
there is no need of enlightening.
3.28
For
not do the men of earth need redemption, but the angels also require
redemption to the image of the fullness of the aeons plus the
wondrous powers which illumine. And so that we may not be in
uncertainty concerning any other, even he the Son—who is
established as a place of redemption for the totality—also
required redemption insofar as he became human when he bestowed
himself on each one, just as we men of flesh needed who are his
Convocation.
3.29
Now
when the Savior initially received redemption thru the Logos which
descended upon him, all the remainder who received him for themselves
thereby received redemption from him. For those who received him who
received, thereby received also him who is within him. For among
incarnate men he began to bestow the redemption—his first-born
and his beloved, the incarnate¹ Son. The angels who are citizens
of heaven aspired to be associated with him on earth. Therefore he is
called the redemption of the angels of the Father. He helpmated those
of the totality who strove for acquaintance with him. (¹anti-Gnostic)
3.30
This
grace was given to the Son before everyone else. For the Father knew
him antecedently, when he was within his thought before anything else
had yet come into being, and he also owned those to whom he revealed
him. He restored the deficiency unto the one who remains thru all
times and seasons to the glory of his fullness, since the fact that
they are not acquainted with him is the reason for his being brought
forth from his concord, just as the receipt of acquaintance with him
reveals his jealouslessness and is the revelation of the abundance of
his kindness, which is the gloriousness.
3.31
This
is the manner in which he was ascertained indeed to be the cause of
ignorance, while he was yet also the begetter of acquaintance. For in
a hidden and incomprehensible wisdom he reserved the acquaintance
until the conclusion, until the totality wearied of seeking after God
the Father—whom no one has found by means of his own wisdom and
capability. Rather he gives himself so that they might come to know
the abundant thought of his majestic glory which he has bestowed and
the purpose of his gift, which is his perpetual Eucharist. By his
immutable counsel he reveals himself forever to those who will be
worthy to receive acquaintance with the Father who in his innateness
is unknowable, according to his wish that they should come thru an
experience of the ignorance and its pains.
3.32
For
those of whom he primordially thought that they should attain to
acquaintance and the goodness which is in it, were scheduled by the
wisdom of the Father first to taste evil and then to strip themselves
of it as a transitory pleasure, so that they might receive the
delight of the good forever. They possess the transformation and the
continual renunciation of the pretext of disagreement, in favor of
embellishment and wonder in exaltation, so that it might be manifest
that the essence of those who are not acquainted with the Father was
their own ignorance.
3.33
He
who bestowed on them acquaintance with himself, was impetus for each
to cause them to obtain the knowledge which is justly called the
knowledge of everything which is thinkable, and the treasure, and
also the augmenting of knowledge, the manifestation of those who were
antecedently known, and the way into the concord and unto the
preexistent. This is the enhancement of those who had abandoned the
grandeur which was theirs in the plan, so that by the volition the
end might thereafter again become as the origin is.
3.34
For
the Baptism which is properly this, into which the totality will be
immersed and within which it will remain—there is no other
baptism except this alone, which is the redemption unto God the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit when avowal has been made thru
faith in these names which are one single name of the Gospel. They
believed that what had been said to them originated from this. And
they possess the salvation, those who come to believe that they—the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit—exist. This is the
comprehension in invisibility of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit in faith without doubt. And they attest to them, and in firm
hope they attained to them, so that the return to them might become
the perfecting of whose who trusted in them, and the Father be one
with them—God the Father, whom they avowed in faith and who
gave to them union with himself in acquaintance.
3.35
For
the Baptism which we previously mentioned is called the garment of
those who have not been deprived of it—for those who shall don
it and those who have received redemption wear it. And it is called
the confirmation of the truth which never falls, unwaveringly and
immovably—because he embraces them and they embrace him, those
who have received the restoration. It is called the silence—because
of the stillness and tranquility. It is also called the Bridal
Chamber—because of the concord and the inseparability of those
who have knowledge because they became acquainted with him. And it is
also called the light which does not set and is without flame—because
it does not supply light but rather those who wear it, who also are
those whom it wears, are themselves made into light. And it is also
called the eternal life—that is, the immortality. And it is
called that which is entirely, simply and properly itself, and that
which is inseparably and inalienably, flawlessly and unwaveringly
pleasing to him who exists for those who have received inception.
3.36
For
what else is there to call him, except the designation that he is the
totality? (Th
77) That
is, even if he is called by the innumerable names which have been
spoken in order to refer to him in this way, he surpasses every word,
and he surpasses every sound, and the surpasses every mind, and he
surpasses every object, and he surpasses every silence. This is the
way which exists, and this is the way which attends those who are
what he is. This is what they discover that he is, ineffably and
incomprehensibly, so that they may come to be among those who are
acquainted thru what they came to understand. It is this one whom
they have glorified in being chosen—even if there is much more
that we ought to say, as it is appropriate to express.
3.37
Yet
it is necessary that we consider further that which concerns those of
the calling—for such is the manner in which those of the right
(hand) are designated—and it is not appropriate that we should
fail to think about such topics as we have been speaking of. If the
limited amount that we have already stated suffices, did we not speak
nonetheless only in part? Because I have asserted that of those who
were engendered thru the Logos—whether by means of their
repudiation of evil, or by means of the wrath which opposes them and
segregates them, which however is their conversion toward the
supremacy and the communing and the remembrance of the preexistent,
as well as hope and faith that they might receive salvation thru good
deeds—all were deemed worthy, because they are beings from the
good plan, who thus possess the cause of their genesis, which is a
doctrine based upon Him who Is.
3.38
Furthermore,
before the Logos invisibly and willingly concerned himself with them,
the exalted one enhanced this thought, because they had come to be
devoid of him who had been the cause of their origin. They did not
exalt themselves when they were saved, as if there was no one prior
to them, but rather they avow that they have an origin of their
being, and that they desire to be acquainted with this one who exists
prior to them. Over all, they adored the manifestation of the Light
as splendor, and they attested that it was revealed for their
salvation.
3.39
For
not only those who came forth from the Logos, of whom alone we have
said that they will accomplish this good work, but also those whom
these in turn procured according to the plan for the good, will
participate in the repose according to the abundance of the grace.
And those who were rescued from this lust of ambition for power,
having possessed within themselves this germ which is the ambition
for power, shall receive the reward of goodness. Those who have
worked and who had the propensity for the good—if they yearn
with resolve and are willing to abandon the love of vain and
transitory glory, and keep the commandment of the Lord of Glory
instead of the honor which is fleeting—shall inherit the
Kingdom of Eternity.
3.40
Now
it is necessary for us to combine the causes and effects on them of
the grace and the incentives—since it is appropriate that we
say what we asserted previously concerning the salvation of all those
on the right (Su
3.22),
all the unalloyed (Su
3.4),
and the hybrid (Su
3.21)—to
unite them with one another. And also we must expound in an adequate
treatise the repose which is the manifestation of the design in which
they believed. For when we avowed the sovereignty which is in Christ,
we were liberated from all this multiplicity of moods and from
equality and from mutability. For the conclusion will regain the
essence of unity, even as the origin is a single one—the place
where there is no male and female (Th
22),
nor slavery and freedom, nor circumcised and uncircumcised, neither
angel nor human—but rather Christ is all within all.
3.41
What
is the circumstance of him who has not been existing in the origin?
It will be found that he will exist there at the conclusion. What is
the nature of him who is a slave? He will receive the place of a free
man. For they will increasingly receive the vision naturally, and not
only verbally so that they might believe merely thru speech. For this
is how he is—such that single is the restoration to what
formerly was. Even though some are exalted because of the
plan—because they are appointed as instigators for those who
came into being, exerting a greater influence by being naturally
desirous for them—yet angels and humans will receive the
Sovereignty and the confirmation and the salvation. Such are the
causes for why those who were made manifest as incarnate¹
believed without doubt that he is the Son of the unknowable God who
was not previously spoken of and could not be seen. (¹anti-Gnostic)
3.42
And
they abandoned their gods whom they had previously served and the
lords of the sky and the earth. Even before they were exalted, they
testified that while he was yet a child he had already begun to
proclaim, and at the time when he lay in the tomb as a dead man¹
the angels were yet of the thought that he was alive, and they
received life from him who died. Now humans had previously wished to
multiply their temple ceremonies and wonders—yet what remains
forever is the avowal. That is, it has power on their behalf to
establish them thru their recourse to him. For those rituals which
were not acceptable were rejected because of him who was never
separated from that place—wherefore Christ was acceptable, whom
they understood to be in that place from which they also came with
him, a divine and lordly place. They were served and healed and
propelled by means of the names which they derivatively received, and
which were bestowed on him who is properly designated by those names.
(¹anti-Gnostic)
3.43
Now
after his ascension they came to know by experience that he is their
Lord, he over whom no one is lord. A Sovereignty was bestowed on him.
They rose up from their thrones, they laid down their crowns. (Rev/Ap
4:10) Now
he appeared to them for the reasons of which we have previously
spoken—namely salvation and the return to the good thought unto
the companionship of the angels and the abundance of goodness. Thus
they were entrusted with the servitude which results in what is
beneficial for the chosen. By submitting unto heaven their
inequality, they were eternally refined unto an irreducible and
infallible qualification, persevering on behalf of others until they
all come into life, and leave behind their life on earth, serving
them all, making them participants in their persecutions which were
brought upon the saints everywhere.
3.44
As
for the servants of evil, even though their wickedness was worthy of
destruction, they themselves were brought forth thru the policy of
him who transcends the entire system. Those whose thought is the
goodness and the friendship, the Convocation, will remember such as
good friends and faithful servants. And when the Convocation has
received redemption, the others also will receive the reward.
3.45
Certainly
it is gladness which is in his Bridal Chamber, and love which is in
his dwelling, and joy which is in his thought. It is Christ who is
with the Convocation in its earnest expectation of the redemption of
the totality. He will produce angels as guides and servants for them,
and they will think delightful thoughts and be cared for. This will
give to them reward in all that the eternal beings will think and in
all that emanates thru them.
3.46
Christ
did his will, which he projected in order that he might exalt the
grandeurs which he will give in the manner of the dignity that is the
contemplating of the one. And he bestows on humans their eternal
dwelling-places in which they are to be, as they leave behind the
undertow of deficiency when the power of the fullness draws them up
to the majesty of the bounteousness and the kindness of the
preexistent aeon. This is the nature of the entire generation of
those whom he possessed when he shone forth to them in light, he
being the revelation....
3.47
At
the sound of a trumpet, he will proclaim a majestic and perfect
amnesty in the beautiful daybreak, in the Bridal Chamber which is
like a place prepared by the power which is the revelation of the
majesty of the Father and the kindness of his love, as he manifests
himself in the superabundance of his goodness. And his is the praise,
the power and the glory thru Yeshúa the Christ, the Lord and
Savior, the merciful redeemer, the fulfillment of love, thru the Holy
Spirit, from now to the end, to generations of generations and to
ages of ages. Amen.
—prepared by Thomas Paterson Brown, Ecumenical Coptic Project, 2003.