The Apocryphon of John — The Master Text
The Apocryphon of John (Secret Book of John) is the most important Sethian text — a comprehensive cosmological revelation given by the Risen Christ to the apostle John, covering creation, the fall, and salvation.
The Apocryphon of John (NHC II, 1; III, 1; IV, 1; BG 8502,2) is the most important and widely copied Sethian text — surviving in four manuscripts (three at Nag Hammadi and one in the Berlin Codex). It consists of a revelation given by the Risen Christ to John in response to his confusion after Jesus's death. The revelation covers: the nature of the Invisible Spirit (the apophatic description of the highest God), the divine Triad (Invisible Spirit, Barbelo, Autogenes), the descent of Sophia and the creation of Yaldabaoth, the creation of the material world and of Adam, the implantation of the divine spark in humanity by Sophia, and the subsequent history of salvation (Noah's flood, Abraham, Moses) as the Demiurge's attempts to reclaim humanity and the divine realm's counter-measures. The text ends with Christ's promise of salvation to John and a damnation of those who trade on his words. The Apocryphon of John became the template cosmology from which most subsequent Gnostic systems derived their basic structure.
Do not be afraid! I am the one who is with you always. I am the Father, I am the Mother, I am the Son.
Scholar Michael Waldstein and Frederik Wisse (The Apocryphon of John: Synopsis of Nag Hammadi Codices II,1; III,1; and IV,1 with BG 8502,2) produced the definitive critical edition of this text, documenting the complex manuscript tradition and establishing that the Apocryphon of John circulated in both long and short versions from very early in the Gnostic tradition.
Nag Hammadi Library