chapter 10 the monism of darkness and the dualism of limit and ...

MONISM OF DARKNESS - DUALISM OF LIMIT AND INDETERMINACY 53
Generator of the Physical Universe and its partial species and beings.
He firstly begets as his Son the perfect Intellect, the intellectual
Heaven, ultimate Boundary and binding Fastener of the World, the
Cosmic Intelligence. The Son is not in essence the same (homoousios)
with the Father: the Son is captivated inside the aroused undulation,
and this is according to the Sethians the Spirit that is suspended over
the Waters in Genesis I, 2. Hippolytus’ text 19 §§16-17 should be
read as follows: appleÄÛ· ÔsÓ ÊÚÔÓÙd˜ ηd âappleÈ̤ÏÂÈ· ÙÔÜ ºˆÙe˜ ôÓˆıÂÓ
(sc. Ùɘ appleÚÒÙ˘ àگɘ) âÛÙÈ, appleᘠηd Ù›Ó· ÙÚfiappleÔÓ àapplee ÙÔÜ ı·Ó¿ÙÔ˘
ÙÔÜ appleÔÓËÚÔÜ Î·› ÛÎÔÙÂÈÓÔÜ ÛÒÌ·ÙÔ˜ àappleÔÏ˘ıÂ›Ë ï NÔܘ àapplee ÙÔÜ
·ÙÚe˜ ÙÔÜ Î¿ÙˆıÂÓ, ¬ âÛÙÈÓ ï òAÓÂÌÔ˜, âÓ ‚ÚfiÌˇˆ ηd Ù·Ú¿¯ˇˆ âappleÂ-
Á›ڷ˜ ·̷ٷ ηd ÁÂÓÓ‹Û·˜ ÓÔÜÓ Ù¤ÏÂÈÔÓ YîeÓ ë·˘ÙÔÜ, ÔéÎ ùÓÙ·
ú‰ÈÔÓ ë·˘ÙÔÜ Î·Ù’ ÔéÛ›·Ó (ôÓˆıÂÓ ÁaÚ qÓ àÎÙd˜ àapplee ÙÔÜ ÙÂÏ›Ԣ
ºˆÙe˜ âΛÓÔ˘) âÓ Ùˇá ÛÎÔÙÂÈÓˇá ηd ÊÔ‚ÂÚˇá ηd appleÈÎÚˇá ηd ÌÈ·Úˇá
≈‰·ÙÈ ÎÂÎÚ·ÙË̤ÓÔÓ [sc. ÙeÓ NÔÜÓ ―not ÎÂÎÚ·ÙË̤ÓÔ˜ which is a
wrong ‘emendation’ of the right manuscript reading], ¬appleÂÚ âÛÙd
appleÓÂÜÌ· ʈÙÂÈÓeÓ âappleÈÊÂÚfiÌÂÓÔÓ âapple¿Óˆ ÙÔÜ ≈‰·ÙÔ˜.
With the generation of the world a radiance of the First Light and
a fragrance of the Spirit are captured therein so that the multiple
intermixtures of the principles’ powers with the powers of the third
principle and substance, namely water, create the entire cosmic
phantasmagoria. Moreover, what is at stake here is not only the
imposition of a specific type of characterising seal on a material
configuration that would concretise a particular thing, but also
specifically the confinement in the particular created thing of pure
bright spirit, i.e. of intellect, as happens in the world at large as a
whole. Not only does bright spirit as radiant fragrance penetrate the
remotest edges of the world as it is sown everywhere, it also gets
concentrated, in its fully fledged peculiar essentiality, thereby
constituting Man, as perfect God (v. 19 §15 supra).
The Intelligence of the World, the heavenly intellects and the
human Mind are the light-bearing and light-transferring spirit: they
are immortal gods because they possess perfect and absolute
Knowledge. The Luminous Spirit that moves over the Waters is also
the universal, Cosmic Intellect. This is born from the Wind in the first
phase of creation. The formation of the World consists in the creation
of the Cosmic Womb against which the particular animal wombs are
modelled (19 §11-12). In the second phase, the Wind as (Phallic)