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Origen records the formula one group recited to get past the rulers of the heavens, claiming to be sent out pure and already part of the light. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus tells the disciples to answer that they came from the light.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Gospel of Thomas 1:50
Nag Hammadi
49 Jesus said, “Blessed are the solitary and elect, for you will find the kingdom. For you have come from it, and to it you will return.” 50 Jesus said, “If they say to you, ‘Where did you come from?’ say to them, ‘We came from the light, from the place where the light came into being by itself, established itself, and appeared in their image.’ If they say to you, ‘Is it you?’ say, ‘We are its children, and we are the elect of the living Father.’ If they ask you, ‘What is the sign of your Father in you?’ say to them, ‘It is movement and repose.’” 51 His disciples said to him, “When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?” He said to them, “What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it.”
Origen, Contra Celsum 6.31
Against Celsus
Early Christian
Moreover, if any one would wish to become acquainted with the artifices of those sorcerers, through which they desire to lead men away by their teaching (as if they possessed the knowledge of certain secret rites), but are not at all successful in so doing, let him listen to the instruction which they receive after passing through what is termed the fence of wickedness, — gates which are subjected to the world of ruling spirits. (The following, then, is the manner in which they proceed): I salute the one-formed king, the bond of blindness, complete oblivion, the first power, preserved by the spirit of providence and by wisdom, from whom I am sent forth pure, being already part of the light of the son and of the father: grace be with me; yea, O father, let it be with me. They say also that the beginnings of the Ogdoad are derived from this. In the next place, they are taught to say as follows, while passing through what they call Ialdabaoth: You, O first and seventh, who art born to command with confidence, you, O Ialdabaoth, who art the rational ruler of a pure mind, and a perfect work to son and father, bearing the symbol of life in the character of a type, and opening to the world the gate which you closed against your kingdom, I pass again in freedom through your realm. Let grace be with me; yea, O father, let it be with me. They say, moreover, that the star Phænon is in sympathy with the lion-like ruler. They next imagine that he who has passed through Ialdabaoth and arrived at Iao ought thus to speak: You, O second Iao, who shines by night, who art the ruler of the secret mysteries of son and father, first prince of death, and portion of the innocent, bearing now my own beard as symbol, I am ready to pass through your realm, having strengthened him who is born of you by the living word. Grace be with me; father, let it be with me. They next come to Sabaoth, to whom they think the following should be addressed: O governor of the fifth realm, powerful Sabaoth, defender of the law of your creatures, who are liberated by your grace through the help of a more powerful Pentad, admit me, seeing the faultless symbol of their art, preserved by the stamp of an image, a body liberated by a Pentad. Let grace be with me, O father, let grace be with me. And after Sabaoth they come to Astaphæus, to whom they believe the following prayer should be offered: O Astaphæus, ruler of the third gate, overseer of the first principle of water, look upon me as one of your initiated, admit me who am purified with the spirit of a virgin, you who sees the essence of the world. Let grace be with me, O father, let grace be with me. After him comes Aloæus, who is to be thus addressed: O Aloæus, governor of the second gate, let me pass, seeing I bring to you the symbol of your mother, a grace which is hidden by the powers of the realms. Let grace be with me, O father, let it be with me. And last of all they name Horæus, and think that the following prayer ought to be offered to him: You who fearlessly leaped over the rampart of fire, O Horæus, who obtained the government of the first gate, let me pass, seeing you behold the symbol of your own power, sculptured on the figure of the tree of life, and formed after this image, in the likeness of innocence. Let grace be with me, O father, let grace be with me.
Date: 248 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... (4) This is Jesus’ preparation of the disciples for their post mortem heavenly ascent. This is probably the setting in many of the principal parallels elsewhere, e.g. in the Gospel of Mary, Epiphanius’ Gospel of Philip, the apolutrosis ritual described by Irenaeus and Epiphanius as well as in the First Apocalypse of James, Pistis Sophia, 2 Jeu and the Ophite diagramme as reported by Origen. This is thus the preparation which ensures that the reader ‘will not taste death’ (GTh 1). [...] 50.1 Say to them, “We have come from the light.” The kingdom from which the elect come in GTh 49 is identified here as ‘the light’, the pre-existent paradisal reality. Compare a similar element in Origen’s account of the Ophite diagramme (C. Cels. 6.31): ‘From you I am sent pure, already part of the light of the Son and the Father’ (φωτὸς ἤδη μέρος υἱοῦ καὶ πατρός). ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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