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‘The One
Then he began to teach me, saying: the One has all power. Nothing rules over it. It is God and it is a Parent, the Father of the Fullness (Pleroma). It presides over the Fullness, the spotless light that no eyes can see. It is the Invisible Spirit.
To call it a god, or to say that it is like a god, is not fitting, for it transcends every god. Nothing is above it or greater than it. Nothing that is inferior to it can contain it, for it contains everything within itself. It is eternally self-sufficient. It is perfect fullness, and it has never lacked anything that would make it more complete. Its light is utter light.
The One is unlimited, because there was never anything that could limit it; unfathomable, because there was never anything that could fathom it; immeasurable, because there was never anything that could measure it; invisible, because it has never been seen; eternal, because it has always existed and always will exist; ineffable, because no one has ever understood it well enough to describe it; and unnamable, because there was never anything that could give it a name.
It is infinite light, holy and pure. Its perfection cannot be uttered or corrupted. Yet it is not just perfection, blessedness, or divinity – it is far greater than all of these. It is neither corporeal nor incorporeal, neither large nor small. No one can say how much of it there is, or how it can be classified, because no one can comprehend it. It does not exist in the way that other things exist, for it is far superior to them. But it is not superior to them; rather, it exists apart from them, apart from time. For whatever exists in time has been conditioned by another. No one gave it a span of time, for no one can give it anything. That which was first to exist does not need anything from anyone else in order to exist. All it sees is its own perfect light.’
gnosticismexplained.org
Then he began to teach me, saying: the One has all power. Nothing rules over it. It is God and it is a Parent, the Father of the Fullness (Pleroma). It presides over the Fullness, the spotless light that no eyes can see. It is the Invisible Spirit.
To call it a god, or to say that it is like a god, is not fitting, for it transcends every god. Nothing is above it or greater than it. Nothing that is inferior to it can contain it, for it contains everything within itself. It is eternally self-sufficient. It is perfect fullness, and it has never lacked anything that would make it more complete. Its light is utter light.
The One is unlimited, because there was never anything that could limit it; unfathomable, because there was never anything that could fathom it; immeasurable, because there was never anything that could measure it; invisible, because it has never been seen; eternal, because it has always existed and always will exist; ineffable, because no one has ever understood it well enough to describe it; and unnamable, because there was never anything that could give it a name.
It is infinite light, holy and pure. Its perfection cannot be uttered or corrupted. Yet it is not just perfection, blessedness, or divinity – it is far greater than all of these. It is neither corporeal nor incorporeal, neither large nor small. No one can say how much of it there is, or how it can be classified, because no one can comprehend it. It does not exist in the way that other things exist, for it is far superior to them. But it is not superior to them; rather, it exists apart from them, apart from time. For whatever exists in time has been conditioned by another. No one gave it a span of time, for no one can give it anything. That which was first to exist does not need anything from anyone else in order to exist. All it sees is its own perfect light.’
The Secret Book of John - Gnosticism Explained
(If you want to skip the introduction and just read the text itself, the full text of the Secret Book of John is below.) Introduction If there’s a single quintessential Gnostic text, it’s almost certainly the Secret Book of John, also sometimes called the Apocryphon of John. (“Apocryphon” is...
gnosticismexplained.org
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