[[1]] The title and the opening part of the work are lost.
NOTES
(1) The centre of the Universe, which is everywhere and nowhere; the ideal unity in diversity, from which all things flow out and into which all things return. Just as Jerusalem was held to be the centre of the earth, so was this "City" held to be the hidden centre of the Universe; hence it is often named "Jerusalem Above, who is the Mother of us all." It is the principle at once of universality and individuality, the real "ground" or centre of the soul. It is called the "House of the Father" because it is the abiding place of the Presence; the "Robe of the Son" because it is His Body of Manifestation (cp. 2 Clem. xiv.); the "Power of the Mother" because it is the "Energy" by which man is reborn into Divine consciousness; and the "Image or Archetype of the Plêrôma" (the World of Eternal Ideas in their "Fullness"), because it is the Wisdom which is the basis of all consciousness.
(2) This term rather suggests the use of a vibratory formula to induce certain interior states as a practice of the School to which the Greek MS. belonged. Perhaps this may have been ÏAÔ, the meaning of which is given elsewhere as "I, because the All (or Plêrôma) hath gone forth. A, because it will turn itself back again. Ô, because the consummation of all consummations will take place." This may be taken to mean exoterically, "Ï, the Incarnation of Jesus, Who is the Plêrôma. A, the Crucifixion. Ô, the Ascension." Taken esoterically, it may mean, "Ï, the Soul, has come forth from God into generation. A, it is started or "Initiated" on its return journey through the Life of the Cross. Ô, there is union with God in the Eternity of Eternities as the consummation of all things" (cp. note 18). The work we are studying might almost be considered an exposition of this formula, though I do not suggest that it literally is so. We begin by reading it from right to left, beginning with the God "beyond Name," that is He whose being cannot be expressed by any name, Ô. We pass to the Logos, the Divine Mind, He who can be named, and His Plêrôma, A, from which is "started" the Visible World by the going forth of the "Light-Spark" or "Man," Ï. After this we read from left to right, but this is the expounding of the mystical life, the "return," under a veil of symbolism. ÏAÔ is the great Name of God in three vowels, derived historically, no doubt, from the Great Name in Judaism, and is the counterpart of the Indian AUM. Probably, like this latter, it was pronounced in three ways: (1) audibly; (2) inaudibly to others, but with the lips; (3) mentally. It was a formula of a sacramental kind by which the life of the disciple was mystically identified with the Life of the Master, so that the knowledge of the real nature of the soul is given or restored by God. During its use the mind was, of course, concentrated on its inner meanings. Various aspects of mystical truth could be expressed by its permutations; ÏAÔ, ÔAÏ, AÔÏ, etc.
(3) Cp. Odes of Solomon, 27: "I stretched out my hands and worshipped the Lord, for the extension of my hands is His sign, and my expansion is the Upright Tree [or Pillar]."
The Cross of Calvary was taken, by the Gnôstics, to be the outward and visible sign of a concealed or Cosmic Cross, another aspect of the "City" or Monad, upon which the Logos or Light-Spark, as the "Son of Man," or the "Man," was crucified perpetually in an ineffable manner, thus communicating His Life and Light to the Universe. The substance or "strain" of this Cross is symbolised here by the Ennead or Ninefold Being, the members of which, Knowledge, Life, Hope, etc., are each in themselves Ideal Beings, Eternities, or Gods. Yet these Nine, a number typical of Initiation, are also one, as the Master and the Cross are also one. The Mystery is that of an Unbloody Sacrifice once and perpetually offered and also of Divine Espousal. [See further the "Hymn of Jesus" and the "Gnôstic Crucifixion" texts and commentaries by G. R. S. Mead, who renders the passage in the text by "The Source of the Cross is the Man whom no man can comprehend.">[
(4) "Twelve" seems to symbolise the Powers creative of all kinds of life in their totality, the creative imagination or raying forth power.
(5) "Truth" is another name for the Bride of the Logos, His "Great Surround" or Body. It is the Divine Concept or Conceiving Thought of the Cosmos and its processes, and hence it is also the seal of perfection or Body of Glory, the Life with which the Risen and Ascended Master is clad. While conferring character on all things, it is entirely transcendent, modeless, and "un-walled." Through it God is immanent in the Universe, hence it is also called "Mother." This is what the symbolism seems to imply.
(6) This implies the doctrine of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm, of the Universe and of the individual soul as a perfect compendium thereof. All the great cosmic processes are to be found within the soul.