Herein we continued, from part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, a series regarding paranormal entities in text generally termed the Apocrypha, Deutero Canonical, Pseudepigrapha, Gnostic Texts, etc. (see my article on the Apocrypha here). The quotations are of those sections within the text that refer to Angels, Cherubim, Seraphim, Devil, Satan, demons, serpent and dragon. The point is not to elucidate these references but to provide relevant partial quotations and citations.
Angels in the apocryphal texts Apocryphon of John & Gospel of Truth.
Apocryphon of John – 120-180 AD
For from the light, which is the Christ, and the indestructibility, through the gift of the Spirit the four lights (appeared) from the divine Autogenes. He expected that they might attend him. And the three (are) will, thought, and life. And the four powers (are) understanding, grace, perception, and prudence. And grace belongs to the light-aeon Armozel, which is the first Angel…And the archons created seven powers for themselves, and the powers created for themselves six Angels for each one until they became 365 Angels. And these are the bodies belonging with the names: the first is Athoth, a he has a sheep’s face; the second is Eloaiou, he has a donkey’s face; the third is Astaphaios, he has a hyena’s face; the fourth is Yao, he has a serpent’s face with seven heads; the fifth is Sabaoth, he has a dragon’s face; the sixth is Adonin, he had a monkey’s face; the seventh is Sabbede, he has a shining fire-face. This is the sevenness of the week…
…the power in him, which he had taken from his mother, produced in him the likeness of the cosmos. 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?…[see note for a reply to this claim]…And the arrogant one took a power from his mother. For he was ignorant, thinking that there existed no other except his mother alone. And when he saw the multitude of the Angels which he had created, then he exalted himself above them…And the multitude of the Angels attended him and they received from the powers the seven substances of the natural (form) in order to create the proportions of the limbs and the proportion of the rump and the proper working together of each of the parts…
This is the number of the Angels: together they are 365. They all worked on it until, limb for limb, the natural and the material body was completed by them. Now there are other ones in charge over the remaining passions whom I did not mention to you. But if you wish to know them, it is written in the book of Zoroaster. And all the Angels and demons worked until they had constructed the natural body…the Mother-Father of the All…sent, by means of the holy decree, the five lights down upon the place of the Angels of the chief archon…[The aforementioned “natural body” was a man, Adam, whose] thinking was superior to all those who had made him. When they looked up, they saw that his thinking was superior. And they took counsel with the whole array of archons and Angels…And they brought him (Adam) into the shadow of death, in order that they might form (him) again…and he became a mortal man…He [Yaltabaoth, who “called himself God”] was lord over her, though he did not know the mystery which had come to pass through the holy decree. And they were afraid to blame him. And he showed his Angels his ignorance which is in him…
And I said, “Lord, these also who did not know, but have turned away, where will their souls go?” Then he said to me, “To that place where the Angels of poverty go they will be taken, the place where there is no repentance…”…
He made a plan with his authorities, which are his powers, and they committed together adultery with Sophia, and bitter fate was begotten through them, which is the last of the changeable bonds. And it is of a sort that is interchangeable. And it is harder and stronger than she with whom the gods united, and the Angels and the demons and all the generations until this day…
And he made a plan with his powers. He sent his Angels to the daughters of men, that they might take some of them for themselves and raise offspring for their enjoyment…And the Angels changed themselves in their likeness into the likeness of their mates (the daughters of men), filling them with the spirit of darkness, which they had mixed for them, and with evil…
…guard yourself against the Angels of poverty and the demons of chaos and all those who ensnare you, and beware of the deep sleep and the enclosure of the inside of Hades.
Within the, clearly, Gnostic text of Apocryphon of John the creator God, stated “I am a jealous God, and there is no other God beside me.” It is fascinating how some will take such a clear statement meant to convey such a clear concept and conclude the exact opposite such as that “by announcing this he indicated to the Angels who attended him that there exists another God” and here is the reasoning behind the exact opposite conclusion, “For if there were no other one, of whom would he be jealous?” From ancient time until this very day, some have not understood what jealousy means and have also confused it with envy. Envy is ill thoughts and/or actions due to someone having something that you do not have, something that you want. Jealousy has been much misunderstood because someone can be jealous of and/but also jealous for. Being jealous of is very much like envy. However, being jealous for can be well understood via the illustration of a wife who is straying from her husband and he, rightly, feels jealous for her.
In every biblical instance of wherein God’s jealousy is specified, God is always jealous for and never jealous of. That is to say that God is jealous for, for example, His people whom He likens to a wife straying from her husband (for examples see, Joel 2:18; Zechariah 1:14, 8:2; Ezekiel 39:25). Yet, He is never jealous of anyone or anything.
Gospel of Truth – 140-180 AD
Do not return to what you have vomited, to eat it. Do not be moths. Do not be worms, for you have already cast it off. Do not become a (dwelling) place for the devil, for you have already destroyed him. Do not strengthen (those who are) obstacles to you, who are collapsing, as though (you were) a support (for them). For the lawless one is someone to treat ill, rather than the just one. For the former does his work as a lawless person; the latter as a righteous person does his work among others. So you, do the will of the Father, for you are from him.
In the next segment, we will consider the Sibylline Oracles and the Latin Life of Adam and Eve aka Vita Adae et Evae.