[59] So in the Pistis Sophia the great ruler of the material world is only spoken of as the Great Propatôr or Forefather, but his personal name is never mentioned. The word Ἄρχων here applied to this power is never used by later Gnostics except in a bad sense.
[60] δεσπότης = autocrat or ruler having unlimited power.
[61] καθ’ ἕκαστα.
[62] This idea of a Power bringing into being a son greater than himself seems peculiar to Basilides among Gnostic teachers. Its origin may, perhaps, be sought among Pagan religions like the Greek worship of Isis. See Forerunners, I, p. 63.
[63] This ἐντελεχεία or Quintessence Aristotle defines (Metaphys., X, 9, 2) as actuality or the property of a thing in posse which lends to its motion or activity in esse.
[64] ἀποτέλεσμα. The word is much used in astrology.
[65] μεγαλειότητος. The word is post-classical and used in its modern sense as an epithet of the Emperor in Byzantine times. Cf. LXX, Jer. xxxiii. 9; Luke ix. 43; Acts xix. 27.
[66] ῥητός as opposed to ἄρῥητος, “ineffable.”
[67] That is to say, our world.
[68] ὡς φθάσαντα τεχθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ τὰ μέλλοντα γενέσθαι ὁτε δεῖ καὶ οἷα δεῖ καὶ ὡς δεῖ λελογισμένου. The reading is very uncertain. Cf. Cruice, p. 356 nn. 9, 10.