Protennoia's Self-Manifestation as the Masculine Voice of the First Thought

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Protennoia's Self-Manifestation as the Masculine Voice of the First Thought

(35,32-36,27)

 

I am a [softly resounding] voice.[10]

I exist from [the first].

[i am] in the silence [that surrounds] every [one] of them.

[it is] the hidden [voice] that [is in] me,

[in] the incomprehensible, immeasurable [thought],

[in] the immeasurable silence.[11]

I [descended to the] midst of the underworld

and I shone [down on the] darkness.[12]

I made the [water] surge.[13]

I am hidden in [radiant] waters.

I gradually made the All radiant by my thought.

I am laden with the voice.

Through me comes knowledge.[14]

I inhabit the ineffable and the unknowable.

I am perception and knowledge,

uttering voice by means of thought.

I am the real voice.

I resonate in everyone,

and they know it, since a seed is in [them].

I am the thought of the Father,

and through me came the voice,

the knowledge of everlasting things.

I exist as thought for all,

being joined to the unknowable and incomprehensible thought.

I, I revealed myself among all who recognize me,

for I am joined with everyone

through hidden thought and exalted <voice>,[15]

a voice from invisible thought.

 

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures (The International Edition)

Edited by Marvin Meyer; Advisory Board: Wolf-Peter Funk, Paul-Hubert Poirier,

James M. Robinson; Introduction by Elaine H. Pagels

Three Forms of First Thought, p.721-722

HarperCollins Publishers - New York

ISBN:978-0-06-052378-7

ISBN-10: 0-06-052378-6

 

Notes:

 

[10] Restoring hroo[u efs('superscript e')ns('superscript e')n ebol hes]ukhe.

Protennoia's thought is manifested in three forms of increasing articulateness,

first as Voice (masculine; Coptic 'hroou', Greek 'phthongos', 'psophos', or

'echos' in the sense of inarticulate sound), second as articulate Speech

(feminine; Coptic 'sme', Greek 'phone'), and finally as the fully articulate

Word, Discourse, or Reason (masculine; Coptic, from Greek, 'logos').

 

[11] Cf. 'Three Forms of First Thought' 37; 46; 'John' 1:5; 'Secret Book of

John' II, 30.

 

[12] Cf. the concluding hymn of the Savior found in the longer version of the

'Secret Book of John' II, 30-31.

 

[13] Water refers not only to the divine light (cf. 'Secret Book of John' II, 4)

and to enlightenment in general, but also to the " living water " (identified as

the spirit in 'John' 7:37-39) received in the Sethian baptismal rite of the Five

Seals.

 

[14] Note the Protennoia's progressive self-manifestation from thought to voice

to knowledge (gnosis).

 

[15] The Coptic text is emended [corrected] to read ou<h>roou.

 

 

(p.716) First, Protennoia is the divine but as yet inarticulate Voice of the

Invisible Spirit's First Thought who presides over the establishing of the

heavenly dwellings for her members and descends into the realm of chaos to give

shape to her " members, " fragments of her spirit that have fallen into the world

(35,32-36,27; 40,29-41,1). Second, Protennoia is the articulate Speech of the

Thought who descends to overthrow the old aeon [eternal realm] ruled by the evil

powers and empower her fallen members to prepare for the coming new age by

giving them spirit or breath (42,4-27; 45,2-12; 45, 21-46,3). Third, Protennoia

is the fully articulated Word, or Logos, of the Thought who descends in the

likeness of successively lower powers and, entering the " tents " of her members,

confers upon them the saving baptismal rite of the Five Seals by which they are

immersed in divine " living water " --whose divine luminescence washes away their

corporeal nature--whereupon they along with the crucified Jesus are raptured

into the light (46,5-6; 47,5-22; 49,15-22; 50,9-12.18-20).

 

(p.717) The unique contribution of the author of 'Three Forms of First Thought'

lies in the interpretation of the three revelatory descents: first, in terms of

a primal divine triad of Father, Mother, and Son (probably an adaptation of the

Father, Mother, Child triad developed by Plato in 'Timaeus' 50d); second, in

terms of a theory of progressive revelation in which each successive appearance

of the revealer is characterized by an increasing degree of articulateness and

finality (Voice, Speech, and Word); and third, the association of the final

descent with a Logos figure who confers final enlightenment in the form of the

transcendentalized baptismal rite called the Five Seals. "

 

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures (The International Edition)

Edited by Marvin Meyer; Advisory Board: Wolf-Peter Funk, Paul-Hubert Poirier,

James M. Robinson; Introduction by Elaine H. Pagels

Three Forms of First Thought, Excerpt, Introduction, p.716-717

HarperCollins Publishers - New York

ISBN:978-0-06-052378-7

ISBN-10: 0-06-052378-6