Gnostic Cosmology

"This is the invisible Spirit, of whom it is not right to think of him as a god or as like god. For he is greater than a god, because he has nothing over him and no one lords it over him. He does not exist within anything inferior to him, since everything exists within him. He is eternal, since he does not need anything. For he is absolutely complete: he has never lacked anything in order to be completed by it. Rather he is always completely perfect in light." — The Apocryphon of John (The Secret Book of John)

"All the aeons and their worlds glorified the invisible, virginal Spirit, and Barbelo, for they had come into being through her. She gave them indestructible aeons, so they stand firmly, they endure forever, by unchanging thought and ineffable voice. They praise the invisible and virginal Spirit and Barbelo. This was the completion of thirty in the eternal realm, the Pleroma - the fullness of divine perfection." — The Apocryphon of John

"But Sophia did not bring forth anything like the light that was hers; instead she brought forth something incomplete and different in appearance. She had created it without her consort, and so the offspring did not resemble its mother and was misshapen. When Sophia saw what her desire had produced, it took on the form of a serpent with the face of a lion. Its eyes were like flashing bolts of lightning. She cast it away from her, outside that realm so that none of the immortals would see it. For she had created it in ignorance." — The Apocryphon of John

"And I said to the Savior, 'Lord, was it not the serpent that taught Adam to eat?' The Savior smiled and said, 'The serpent taught them to eat from the wickedness of begetting and lust and destruction, that he might be useful to him. And he knew that he was disobedient to him due to light of the knowledge, which he did not have. For she who is called Sophia, she is the one who is sent to give knowledge to Adam.'" — On the Origin of the World

"Now when Pistis Sophia desired to cause the thing that had no spirit to be formed into a likeness and to rule over matter and over all her forces, there appeared for the first time a ruler, out of the waters, lion-like in appearance, androgynous, having great authority within him, and ignorant of whence he had come into being. When Pistis Sophia saw him moving about in the depth of the waters, she said to him, 'Child, pass through to here,' whose equivalent is 'Yaldabaoth.'" — On the Origin of the World

"And when he saw the creation which surrounds him, and the multitude of the angels around him which had come forth from him, he said to them, 'I am a jealous God, and there is no other God beside me.' But by announcing this he indicated to the angels who attended him that there exists another God. For if there were no other one, of whom would he be jealous?" — The Apocryphon of John

"The Demiurge said to the archons with him, 'Come, let us create a human being after the image of God and with a likeness to ourselves, so that this human image may give us light.' They created by means of their respective powers, according to the features that were given to them. And each one of the authorities contributed a psychical feature corresponding to the figure of the image they had seen. They created a being like the perfect first Human and said, 'Let us call it Adam, that its name may give us power of light.'" — On the Origin of the World

"The archons took counsel with one another and said, 'Come, let us cause a deep sleep to fall upon Adam.' And he slept. Now the deep sleep that they caused to fall upon him, and he slept, is his ignorance. They opened his side like a living woman. And they built up his side with some flesh in place of her, and Adam came to be entirely psychical. This is the tomb." — The Apocryphon of John

"These are the names of the angels: the first is Athoth, he is the one whom the great generations of people call the Reaper; the second is Harmas, who is the eye of envy; the third is Kalila-Oumbri; the fourth is Yabel; the fifth is Adonaios, who is called Sabaoth; the sixth is Cain, whom the great generations call the sun; the seventh is Abel; the eighth is Akramas; the ninth is Yobel. And these are the ones who preside over Hades and chaos." — The Hypostasis of the Archons

"But Sophia of the Epinoia, being an aeon, conceived a thought from herself with the reflection of the invisible Spirit and foreknowledge. She wanted to bring forth a likeness out of herself without the consent of the Spirit - he had not approved - and without her consort... And Sophia sent Zoe, her daughter, who is called Eve, as an instructor to raise up Adam... She said to him, 'Adam, live! Rise up upon the earth!' Immediately her word became a deed. For when Adam rose up, immediately he opened his eyes. When he saw her, he said, 'You will be called 'the mother of the living,' because you are the one who gave me life.'" — The Apocryphon of John

"I entered into the midst of their prison, which is the prison of the body. And I said, 'He who hears, let him awaken from the heavy sleep.' And he wept and shed tears. Bitter tears he wiped from himself and he said, 'Who is it that calls my name, and from where has this hope come to me, while I am in the chains of the prison?' And I said, 'I am the Pronoia of the pure light; I am the thinking of the virginal Spirit, who raised you up to the honored place. Arise and remember that it is you who hearkened, and follow your root, which is I.'" — The Apocryphon of John

"I changed myself into many forms on their account. I appeared in glory and in immortality, and I entered into their kingdom, into a dark region that is now shining. And I saved the whole place. I delivered all those who were bound in dark prisons. I became like one of them in their midst. And I revealed to them the hidden things, and I told them about the ineffable things. All this happened through the mystery of my will, I, the Savior." — The Apocryphon of John

"And I said to the Savior, 'Lord, is there then a place that is lacking the truth?' The Savior said to me, 'The place where I am not is lacking the truth. But he who has known the truth, he has known the light of the Father. The Father sent me from on high out of his father realms, I who am from beyond the world, who am above all the aeons. When I willed it, I took on the likeness of all of them. I passed through all of them, and I revealed to them the hidden things.'" — The Dialogue of the Savior

"When the soul has put off the world, having left it behind her back like a worn-out garment, she arrives at the boundary of the eighth sphere. The archon of that sphere will try to prevent her from passing, demanding to know by what right she seeks to ascend. But she who has gnosis speaks thus: 'I recognize myself. I am from the light which is pure, the Father's light. Therefore I return to my own place from which I came.' And hearing this, he is ashamed and turns away, and she passes through to the ninth, and the tenth, and so on until she reaches the place of her rest." — Excerpt from Valentinian Teaching

"Then all the children of the light will truly know the truth and their root and the Father of the Totality and the Holy Spirit. They will all cry out with a single voice: 'The Father's justice is righteous, and his will is holy!' They will all praise him. And the archon will repent of his error and say, 'I have been a fool.' And he will acknowledge the God of Truth. And when he acknowledges him, he will rise up, and he will say, 'I know that I am the light that has shone forth from the light.' And then the consummation will come, when all is returned to the Father." — The Apocryphon of John (Final Vision)