[499]. See n. 2, p. [136] supra.
[500]. So Secundus, Valentinus’ follower, taught according to Hippolytus (v. [Chap. ΙΧ] supra) “that there is a right and a left tetrad, i.e. light and darkness.” This may be taken to mean that the constitution of the light-world was repeated point for point in the world of darkness. The middle world is of course that where light and darkness mingle.
[501]. Jeû is generally called the ἐπίσκοπος or overseer of the Light. He it is who has placed the Rulers of the Aeons so that they always “behold the left” (p. 26, Copt.). He is also said to have bound “in the beginning” the rulers of the Aeons and of Destiny and of the Sphere in their respective places (p. 34, Copt.), and that each and every of them will remain in the τάξις or order and walk in the δρόμος or course in which he placed them. We also hear in the Pistis Sophia proper of two “books of Jeû” “which Enoch wrote when the First Mystery spoke with him out of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge in the Paradise of Adam” (p. 246, Copt.). In the first part of the Μέρος τευχῶν Σωτῆρος, however Jeû is described as “the First Man, the ἐπίσκοπος of the Light, and the πρεσβευτής or Ambassador of the First Precept” (p. 322, Copt.); and it is further said in the same book that “the Book of Jeû (not books) which Enoch wrote in Paradise when I (Jesus) spoke with him out of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge” was placed by His means in “the rock Ararad.” Jesus goes on to say that He placed “Kalapataurôth the ruler who is over Skemmut in which is the foot of Jeû, and he surrounds all rulers and destinies—I placed that ruler to guard the books of Jeû from the Flood and lest any of the rulers should destroy them out of envy” (p. 354, Copt.).
[502]. Melchizidek is very seldom mentioned in the Pistis Sophia, but when he is, it is always as the great παραλήμπτωρ or “inheritor” of the Light (p. 34, Copt.). Jesus describes how he comes among the Rulers of the Aeons at certain times and takes away their light, which he purifies (p. 35, Copt.). He is said to have emanated from the light of the 5th Tree of the Treasure House, as Jeû did from that of the 1st (p. 193, Copt.). In the Μέρος τευχῶν Σωτῆρος, he is called the great παραλημπτής or “receiver” of the Light (p. 292, Copt.). In the 2nd part of the last named document he is called Zorocothora Melchizidek, an epithet which C. W. King in The Gnostics and their Remains translates “light-gatherer.” It is also said in the same 2nd part that “he and Jeû are the two great lights,” and that he is the πρεσβευτής or “Legate” of all the lights which are purified in the Rulers of the Aeons (p. 365, Copt.). We may perhaps see in him and Jeû the antitypes of which the Great Light and the First Precept are the paradigms. Hippolytus, op. cit. Bk VII. c. 36, p. 391, Cruice, says that there was a sect, the followers of one Theodotus, a τραπεζίτης or money-changer, who said that there was “a greatest power named Melchizidek who was greater than Christ.” Pseudo-Tertullian repeats the same story and adds that Melchizidek is “a celestial virtue of great grace,” who does for heavenly angels and virtues what Christ does for men, having made himself “their intercessor and advocate.” See auct. cit. (probably Victorinus of Pettau) Against all Heresies, c. XXIV. p. 279, Oehl. He doubtless founded his opinion on the passage in the Hebrews. The name seems to mean “Holy King” Cf. the “King of Glory” of the Manichaeans, see [Chap. XIII] infra.
[503]. p. 35, Copt.
[504]. He is said to have emanated from the 2nd Tree (p. 193, Copt.) and is nowhere distinctly named. But one may perhaps guess from the order in which he occurs in the 2nd part of the Μέρος τευχῶν Σωτῆρος that his name was Zarazaz, evidently a cryptogram like those mentioned in n. 1, p. [139] supra. It is also said that the Rulers call him “Maskelli after the name of a strong (i.e. male) ruler of their own place (p. 370, Copt.).” This name of Maskelli, sometimes written Maskelli-maskellô, is frequently met with in the Magic Papyri. Cf. Wessely, Ephesia Grammata, p. 28.
[505]. They are said to have emanated from the 3rd and 4th Tree respectively (p. 193, Copt.).
[506]. p. 193, Copt. He is evidently called the Good because there is a wicked Sabaoth sometimes called Sabaoth Adamas, and the Great because there is a Little Sabaoth the Good who seems to act as his messenger. It is this last who takes the power from the Great Sabaoth the Good which afterwards becomes the body of Jesus and “casts it into matter and Barbelo” (p. 127, Copt.). He seems to be set over or in some way identified with what is called the Gate of Life (p. 215, Copt.) both in the Pistis Sophia and the Μέρος τευχῶν Σωτῆρος (p. 292, Copt.).
[507]. p. 12, Copt., where he is oddly enough called the Little Iao the Good, I think by a clerical error. Later he is said to be “the great leader of the middle whom the Rulers call the Great Iao after the name of a great ruler in their own place” (p. 194, Copt.). He is described in the same way in the second part of the Μέρος τευχῶν Σωτῆρος (p. 371, Copt.).
[508]. See last note.