Codex Tchacos pp. 43–54 · heavily damaged here; translated from the edited Coptic, with some restorations informed by related Sethian texts (the Secret Book of John, the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit)
The Generation That Will Last
… has come … spring of the tree … of this aeon … for a time … but he has come to water God’s paradise, and the generation that will last, because he will not make the walk of that generation unclean, but … for all eternity.”
Judas said to him, “Rabbi, what kind of fruit does this generation have?”
Jesus said, “The souls of every human generation will die. When these people, however, have completed the time of the kingdom and the spirit leaves them, their bodies will die but their souls will be alive, and they will be taken up.”[11]
Judas said, “What will the rest of the human generations do?”
Jesus said, “It’s impossible to sow seed on rock and harvest its fruit. This is also the way … the unclean generation … and corruptible Sophia … the hand that has created mortal people, so that their souls go up to the eternal realms above.[12] I’m telling you, … angel … power will be able to see that … these to whom … holy generations …”
After Jesus said this, he departed.
Judas Recounts His Vision
Judas said, “Teacher, I saw myself in a vision, and the twelve disciples were stoning me and persecuting me severely. And I came also to the place … after me … I saw a house … and my eyes could not measure its size. Great people were surrounding it, and that house had a roof of greenery, and in the middle of the house was a crowd—”
[— about 2 lines missing —]
“… saying, ‘Teacher, take me in along with these people.’”[13]
Jesus answered, “Your star has led you astray, Judas. No person of mortal birth is worthy to enter the house you’ve seen, for that place is reserved for the holy ones. Neither the sun nor the moon will rule there, nor the day, but the holy ones will stay there always, in the eternal realm with the holy angels. Look, I’ve explained to you the mysteries of the kingdom.”[14]
Jesus Reveals the Cosmos
“And I’ve taught you about the error of the stars, and … sent … over the twelve aeons.”
Judas said, “Teacher, could my seed be under the control of the rulers?”
Jesus answered him, “Come, that I—”
[— about 2 lines missing —]
“… but that you will grieve much when you see the kingdom and all its generation.”
When Judas heard this, he said to him, “What good is it that I’ve received it? For you’ve set me apart from that generation.”
Jesus answered, “You will become the thirteenth, and you will be cursed by the other generations, and you will come to rule over them. In the last days they will curse your ascent to the holy generation.”[15]
Jesus said, “Come, that I might teach you about the things … that no person has seen. For there exists a great and boundless realm, whose extent no generation of angels has seen, in which there is a great invisible Spirit,
which no eye of an angel has ever seen,
no thought of the heart has ever grasped,
and it was never called by any name.[16]
And a luminous cloud appeared there. And he said, ‘Let an angel come into being as my attendant.’
And a great angel, the enlightened divine Self-Generated, emerged from the cloud. Because of him, four other angels came into being from another cloud, and they became attendants for the angelic Self-Generated.
The Creation of the Lower Realms
The Self-Generated said, ‘Let twelve angels come into being to rule over chaos and the underworld.’ And look, from the cloud there appeared an angel whose face flashed with fire and whose appearance was stained with blood. His name was Nebro (‘rebel’), also called Yaldabaoth. Another angel, Saklas, also came from the cloud.[17]
So Nebro created six angels—as did Saklas—to be assistants, and these produced twelve angels in the heavens, with each one receiving a portion in the heavens. The twelve rulers spoke with the twelve angels: ‘Let each of you … and let them … generation … five angels.’
Editor’s note — name variants in the manuscripts: Adonaios/Adoneus · Yobel/Iobel · Galila/Galilea · Harmathoth/Armathoth.
The first is Seth, who is called Christ. The second is Harmathoth. The third is Galila. The fourth is Yobel. The fifth is Adonaios.
These are the five who ruled over the underworld, and first of all over chaos.[18]
The Creation of Humanity
Then Saklas said to his angels, ‘Let us create a human being after the likeness and after the image.’ They fashioned Adam and his wife Eve, who is called, in the cloud, Zoe. For by this name all the generations seek the man, and each of them calls the woman by these names.
Now, Saklas didn’t … except … the generations … And the ruler said to Adam, ‘You shall live long, with your children.’”[19]
Judas said to Jesus, “What is the longest that human beings can live?”
Jesus said, “Why are you wondering about this, that Adam, with his generation, lived his span of life in the place where he received his kingdom, with longevity with his ruler?”
Judas said to Jesus, “Does the human spirit die?”
Jesus said, “This is why God ordered Michael to give the spirits of people to them as a loan, so that they might offer service, but the Great One ordered Gabriel to grant spirits to the great generation with no ruler over it—that is, the spirit and the soul.[20] Therefore, the rest of the souls …”
[— about a line missing —]
Notes
[11] ↩︎ back The gospel distinguishes bodily death from the soul’s survival: in its teaching, the enlightened soul ascends while the body perishes.
[12] ↩︎ back Sophia (Wisdom) in her corrupted state participated in creating the material world and mortal humans, yet souls can still ascend beyond her mistake.
[13] ↩︎ back In the vision the twelve stone Judas and drive him off. He then sees a great house he asks to be let into.
[14] ↩︎ back The house is thought to represent the eternal realm beyond material existence. Judas, on this reading, can see it but not enter while embodied.
[15] ↩︎ back Judas will be the “thirteenth”—outside the circle of twelve, cursed by conventional believers and, in one reading, ultimately transcending them through gnosis. “Thirteenth” indicates status and role, not just numerical count, representing exclusion from the apostolic circle that becomes spiritual transcendence.
[16] ↩︎ back The ineffable God transcends all names and concepts. This passage echoes negative theology—defining the divine by what it is not, since positive descriptions fail to capture the infinite.
[17] ↩︎ back The text itself glosses Nebro as “rebel.” Yaldabaoth — often explained as “child of chaos,” though the etymology is disputed — and Saklas are names for the Demiurge, the ignorant creator god who fashions the material world without knowing the realms above him.
[18] ↩︎ back The text names these five as the rulers of the underworld and of chaos. What the first of them, “Seth, who is called Christ,” is doing in a list of underworld rulers is much disputed — Seth is elsewhere a figure of light in these writings.
[19] ↩︎ back Saklas — the name means “fool” in Aramaic — makes humanity in ignorance. The ruler then promises Adam long life.
[20] ↩︎ back A crucial distinction: ordinary humans receive spirits “on loan” through Michael for service to the archons, while the enlightened generation receives true spirit and soul through Gabriel, free from rulership.