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Manichaean Psalms of Thomas
Manichaean Psalms of Thomas
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I: Concerning the Light
My father, the glad light, the glad light, the glorious.
My father, the glad light, the glad and blessed light.
My father, the glad light, the glad and honored light.
He evoked the aeons of light, he appointed them to the joy of his greatness.
He evoked the aeons of peace, in whom there is no waning or diminution.
He evoked the aeons of light, he summoned his sons and set them up in them.
He evoked the aeons of peace, he summoned his richnessses and set them up in
them.
He evoked the aeons of rest, he summoned his angels and set them up in them.
They take arms against me, making war with me, crying out against me,
like men going to subdue a camp; they drew the swords against me,
like men going to kill lions; they stretched their hands to the bow against me,
like thieves going to attack a man, they did not stir from warring with me until
they had made a wall against me:
When therefore my shining robe comes and clothes him that shall wear it:
when my pleasant fragrance strips itself of their stink and returns to its place:
when my lightening light leaves the darkness:
when my brethren, the sons of light, are complete in their stature:
when my sister, the hour of light, goes up and sees the land of light:
then I will strike my foot on the earth and sink their darkness down.
I will smite their height with my head and shake their firmament
and the stars shall fall down like hail . . .
I will uproot the darkness and cast it out and plant the light in its place,
I will uproot the evil and cast it out and plant the good in its place.
The world shall be full of glory, the earth shall be without suspicion,
the whole world shall contain the righteous, they of the earth shall dwell in
peace,
there being no more rebel from henceforth,
no name of sin shall be uttered again,
the rich ones of light shall rejoice on every side without any grief.
That which the living ones took was saved, they will return again to that which
is their own.
III: Concerning the First Man
The ship whose keel is the dawn,
the ropes of light are they that are on it,
they that bring the treasure of the mighty one that is upon it,
immeasurable and countless,
laden with the wealth of the living ones which can never be counted.
They seized the treasure of the mighty one which is measureless and countless,
they stole the wealth of the mighty one which is measureless and countless,
they stole the wealth of the living ones which can never be counted.
The treasure which they stole from it they spread and scattered to their worlds,
they took roots and fragrant grasses and planted them in their land,
they filled it.
They took beryls and jewels,
nailed them and fixed them to their firmament.
The hungry ate and were sated,
the prostrate ones arose,
the naked were clothed,
they bound diadems upon their heads,
the poor became rich and gloried in things that were not theirs.
The report therefore reached the mighty one that an enemy had overtaken his
ship
and its helmsmen were wounded
and they that were entrusted with the treasure were endangered.
He called an envoy, a storehouse of life, which is the mind,
he called an envoy and sent him forth unto the ship, saying,
"Go to the place hither; tend its helmsmen;
set them up that were entrusted with the treasure;
dig up their land and upturn the fragrant roots;
destroy and tumble down their firmament and cast down the jewels and the
beryls;
gather all the treasure of the mighty one and take it and put it aboard the ship;
dishonour them, the poor ones, and cast the diadem from their head;
dishonour the poor ones that glory in things that are not theirs;
aid the righteous that there may be sent up to them the distilled part."
Then he armed himself and girt himself at once, the son of the lights and the
richnesses,
he armed himself and girt his loins;
he leapt and came forth unto the ship;
he tended its helmsmen;
he aided its faithful ones;
he dug up their land with the spade;
he tore up the fragrant roots and took them;
he destroyed their firmament;
he cast the beryls and the jewels down;
he dishonoured them, the poor ones;
he cast the diadem from their head;
he helped his righteous that all the distilled part might be sent up to them on
high;
he strengthened the ship and set a bulwark on it and took it up as a gift to the
mighty one;
he took it up as a gift to the mighty one;
peacefulness came to the land of light; the ship sent a palm forth;
its helmsmen came to that which is theirs.
IV: Concerning the First Man: That of the Cross of Light.
The youth groaned and wept in the pit which is at the bottom of Hades;
the youth groaned and wept, his cry rose up:
"Hast thou not heard, O great brightness?
Has none informed you that Hades has been stirred up
and rebelled
and they of the abyss have put their arms upon them?
The false gods that have rebelled
have taken their armor against me.
The goddesses, the daughters of shame, have set up their armor against me;
the goddesses, the daughters of shame, have set up their spears:
the stinking and foul demons have prepared to make war with me."
strengthen and encourage the youth who is beneath the pit which is Hades
below;
strengthen and encourage the youth, and go and come up before thy father".
O the great treasure of the living ones. Who are you from the storehouses?
Who are you from the storehouses?
He cast him beneath the dark mountain, the dwelling of them of the Hebdomad.
They of the Hebdomad came, they caused the treasure to run and it came forth.
They set sixty snares for me, they spread sixty traps;
they smeared madness on their snares;
they put fire in their traps,
the wretches thinking in their heart that I should fall into the snares and be
defeated.
But they know not, they of the Hebdomad, that my eyes see the snares,
my eyes see the snares, my heart marks the traps.
I joined my feet, I seized them, the traps . . . . . of the . . . .
I run, they run after me . . . . me in the world:
I run, they run after me, that . . . . . . . . . forth to the man, for he has escaped
from the snares,
he has got free from the traps.
I turned back, I said the them, the weaklings, the wretches that run after me,
"Go away, go, you of the . . . . ;
go, attend to your snares;
go, attend to your snares and let your snares attend to you.
Go, sink down in the madness and fall into the fire that is kindled;
I am not of the sons of the world that I should fall into the snares and be caught.
I am a . . . . of the living ones, a lamp of light entire". I
walked therefore, I . . . , I walked, until I reached the bank of the Euphrates:
on the bank of the river . . . . there is a youth sitting, making music,
the youth there sits and makes music in the scent of life which dwelt upon him.
He said, "My heart, be a mountain for me: my conscience, grow for me into a
mind.
My heart, be a mountain for me.
Be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and the living ones send after you . . . . . . . . how long,
for they took an envoy, they sent him after me,
he grasped the . . . . of my hand,
he brought me up to the land of peace.
VI: Concerning the Living Spirit
I was clothed, as I stood, in a robe without spot,
a robe without spot, wherein there was no waning or diminution ever.
He subdued the great sea, he subdued the rebels also that are in it,
he sank its rebels also in it, he set guards over them to watch them,
he set up them that fell,
he healed them that were wounded,
he awakened them that sleep,
he gave memory to them that forgot,
he gave the light to the eyes of the righteous, that they might go up and see the
land of light,
he gathered them that were scattered,
he enlightened the poor ones of darkness,
he appointed and made straight the course which his living father enjoined on
him,
he made smooth the royal road that the righteous might go upon it,
the righteous might go upon it and see the land of light.
Brightness is set upon them there,
a diadem is bound upon their head and they are added to the number of the
angels.
The worlds and they of the . . . gathered and came to see his image,
they grovelled,
they became mad because of his brightness,
they arose that they might mark his likeness,
they fell,
they became mad by reason of his beauty,
they arose that they might mark his beauty,
they were sweetened with his fragrance,
they grovelled, they bent their knees,
they worshipped him,
they set up their . . . . ,
they sang to him:
"You have come in peace, O son of the brightnesses, son of the lights and
richnesses.
You have come in peace, O son of the brightnesses, who shall be the illuminer
of our worlds.
Come and rule over our land and set peace in our city".
The demons were saying this with their mouth, yet planning evil nevertheless in
their heart:
Come, let us cast him into the stocks,
let us set a fetter on him,
let us shut him up in a cage and put him in the world and secure him.
Let us shut him up in the cage, that he may not return
and . . . . . . . the word that the demons spoke in truth,
the living ones desired to set it up,
they made it true, that which they planned, f
or . . . . . . his . . . . . . . . from them.
I took my daughter from them and set her high above them all;
I shot at their troxos until I had thrown it beneath them all,
in order that I and my daughter might together destroy all the nets,
we . . . . the great lion and the dragon out of the universe,
we reaching the time of the . . . . . . in to the land of the righteous,
and that we might . . . . . land which they . . . . . . . . . they know it;
from the midst of the second lair brought my daughter into the . . . . . . . . .
they also shall rejoice . . . . . . . . . . shall come to pass
and the bride shall go to her bride-chamber.
XII: . . . . of the Savior
Jesus dug a river in the world;
he dug a river, even he of the sweet name.
He dug it with the spade of truth,
he dredged it with the basket of wisdom,
the stones which he dredged from it are like drops of incense;
all the waters that are in it are roots of light and . . . . .
Woe to it, the empty one, that comes empty to the place of the customs:
it shall be asked, having nothing to give.
Woe to it, for it has nothing aboard: it shall be despoiled evilly as it deserves
and sent back to the metaaggismos.
It shall suffer what the corpses suffer, for they called into his ear, he did not
hear.