Baruch by Justin

The Oath of Secrecy
If you wish to know "what eye has not seen or ear heard, and what has not entered the heart of man" [1 Cor. 2:9], the One who is high above all good things, swear to keep secret the mysteries of the teaching; for our Father, having seen the Good and having been made perfect with him, kept secret the mysteries of silence, and he swore, as it is written, "The Lord swore and will not change his mind" [Ps. 110:4]. This is the oath: "I swear by the One above all, the Good, to keep these mysteries and to tell them to no one and not to return from the Good to the creation." When he takes this oath, he enters into the Good and sees "what eye has not seen or ear heard and what has not entered the heart of man," and he drinks from the living water, which is the washing, the spring of living water welling up [John 4:10, 14]. For there was a division between water and water [Gen. 1:6], and the water below the firmament belongs to the evil creation; in it are washed the earthly and psychical men. The water above the firmament belongs to the Good and is living; in it are washed the spiritual and living men, as Elohim was, when after washing he did not change his mind.

The Myth
There were three unbegotten principles of the universe, two male, one female. One of the male principles is called Good, the only one so called [Luke 18:19], who takes forethought for the universe; the other is called Father of all begotten beings, without foreknowledge, without knowledge, invisible. The female one is without foreknowledge, wrathful, double-minded, double bodied, a virgin above, and a viper below. She is called Eden and Israel. These are the principles of the universe, the roots and springs from which everything came; there was nothing else.

When the Father, without foreknowledge, saw that half-virgin Eden, he came to a desire for Her (this father is called Elohim); Eden desired Elohim no less, and desire brought them into a single union of love. From such a union the Father begot twelve angels for himself by Eden. The names of the paternal angels are these: Michael, Amen, Baruch ("blessed"), Gabriel, Esaddaeus [...]. And similarly, the names of the maternal angels which Eden made are listed; they are these: Babel, Achamoth, Naas, Bel, Belias, Satan, Sael, Adonaios, Kauithan, Pharaoth, Karkamenos, Lathen. Of these twenty-four angels, the paternal ones side with the Father and act entirely according to his will, the maternal ones with the mother, Eden. The total of all the angels together in Paradise, concerning which Moses says, "God planted Paradise in Eden to the east" [Gen. 2:8], that is, before the face of Eden, so that Eden might always see Paradise, that is, the angels. The angels of this Paradise are allegorically called trees, and the Tree of Life is the third of the paternal angels, Baruch, while the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil is the third of the material angels, Naas. Moses spoke these things covertly because not all hold the truth [cf. Matt. 19:11].

After Paradise came into existence from the mutual satisfaction of Elohim and Eden, the angels of Elohim took some of the most excellent earth, that is not from the bestial part of Eden but from the upper, anthropoid parts, the civilized regions of earth, and made man [cf. Gen 2:7]. From the bestial parts came wild beasts and the other animals. They made man, then, as a symbol of their unity and love and they gave him shares of their own powers; Eden provided the soul and Elohim the spirit. And man, the Adam, became a kind of seal and memorial of their love and an eternal symbol of the marriage of Eden and Elohim. Similarly, as it was written by Moses, Eve became an image and a Symbol, a seal of Eden to be kept forever; and similarly, the soul was set in the image, Eve, by Eden and the spirit by Elohim. And commandments were given them: "Increase and multiply and inherit the earth," that is, Eden. For Eden contributed all her power to Elohim, like a dowry in marriage. Therefore, in imitation of that first marriage, to this very day women present dowries to their husbands, in obedience to that divine and hereditary law which Eden obeyed in regard to Elohim.

When everything had been created, as it was written in the book of Moses, Heaven and earth and the things in them, the twelve angels of the mother were divided "into four principles" [Gen. 2:10], and each quadrant of these is called a river -- Phison, Geon, Tigris, and Euphrates, as Moses says. These twelve angels, closely embraced in four parts, circle around and govern the universe, having a satrapic authority over the world derived from Eden. They do not always remain in the same places, but circle around as in a circular chorus, changing from place to place and at various times and intervals, giving up the places assigned them. When Phison is in control of places, then famine, distress, and tribulation occurs in that part of the earth; for the injunction of these angels is niggardly. Similarly, there are evil times and formations of diseases in each part of the four in accordance with the power and nature of each. This torrent of evil, in accordance with the rivers, that is, the control of the various quadrants, circles ceaselessly around the universe by the wish of Eden.

The necessity of evil is due to this cause. When Elohim had fashioned and framed the universe out of mutual satisfaction, he wished to ascend to the highest parts of Heaven and to see if anything was lacking in the creation. He took his own angels with him, for he was by nature borne upwards. He left Eden below, for being earth, she did not wish to follow her husband upwards. When Elohim came to the upper limit of Heaven and saw a light greater than the one he had fashioned, he said, "Open the gates for me so that I may enter and acknowledge the Lord [Ps. 118:19]; for I thought that I was the Lord." A voice from the light was given him; it said, "This is the gate of the Lord; the just enter through it" [Ps. 118:20]. The gate was immediately opened, and the Father -- without his angels -- went into the Good and saw "what eye has not seen or ear heard, and what has not entered the heart of man." Then the Good said to him, "Sit at my right hand" [Ps. 110:1]. The Father said to the Good, "Lord let me destroy the universe which I made; for my spirit is imprisoned among men and I wish to take it back" [cf. Gen. 6:3]. Then the Good said to him, "Nothing which comes from me can be evil; you and Eden made the universe from mutual satisfaction; let Eden have the creation as long as she wants it; you stay with me" [cf. John 21;22]. Then Eden, knowing that She had been abandoned by Elohim, in grief set Her angels about Her and adorned Herself attractively [cf. Gen. 2:1], so that somehow Elohim might come to desire Her and return to Her. Under the control of the Good, however, Elohim no longer descended to Eden. Then Eden commanded Babel [Ishtar-Aphrodite] to fashion adulteries and divorces among men, so that just as She Herself was separated from Elohim, so the spirit of Elohim in men might be grieved and tormented and experience the same sufferings as did the abandoned Eden. And Eden gave great authority to Her third angel, Naas, so that he could torture the spirit of Elohim in men with all possible torments, and so that through the spirit Elohim might be tortured, he who had abandoned his wife in violation of the covenant he had made with his wife.

When the Father Elohim saw these things he sent forth Baruch, his own third angel, to help the spirit which is in the midst of the angels of Eden, that is, in the midst of Paradise [Gen. 2:9] -- Paradise means the angels, in whose midst he stood -- and commanded men "to eat from every tree in Paradise, but not to eat from that of the knowledge of good and evil" [Gen. 2:16-17]. This tree is Naas. He could obey the other eleven angels of Eden, for they have passions but not transgression of the commandment; Naas had transgression, for he approached Eve and seduced her and debauched her and he also approached Adam and used him as a boy. This was the origin of adultery and pederasty. From this time, evil and good things have ruled over men. They originated from a single source, for when the Father ascended to the Good he showed the way for those who wish to ascend, and by departing from Eden he made the origin of evils for the spirit of the Father in men.

Baruch was sent to Moses, and through him spoke to the sons of Israel so that they would return to the Good; but the third angel of Eden, Naas, through the soul given by Eden and dwelling in Moses, as in all men, overshadowed the commandments of Baruch and made his own commandments heard. For this reason, the soul was set against spirit and the spirit against the soul. For the soul is Eden, while the spirit is Elohim; and each is in all, both female and male.

After that Baruch was sent again to the prophets, so that through the prophets the spirit dwelling in men might hear and flee from Eden and the evil creation as the Father Elohim fled. And similarly, by the same idea, through the soul dwelling in man with the spirit of the Father, Naas beguiled the prophets, and they were all beguiled and did not follow the words of Baruch, which Elohim commanded.

Finally, Elohim chose a prophet from the uncircumcised, Heracles, and sent him to contend with the twelve angels of Eden and to free the spirit of the Father from the twelve evil angels of the creation. These are the twelve labors of Heracles in which Heracles contended in order from first to the last, the lion and hydra and the boar and the rest; for these are the names of the nations which they were given from the power of the maternal angels. As he seemed to have been victorious, Omphale [Babel-Aphrodite] attacked him and seduced him and took off his power, the commandments of Baruch while Elohim commanded, and put on him her own robe, the power of Eden, which is the power from below. Thus the prophecy of Heracles and his works became ineffectual.

Finally "in the days of king Herod" [Luke 1:5], Baruch was sent again by Elohim, and he came to Nazareth [Luke 1:26] and found Jesus, the son of Joseph and Mary, feeding sheep, a boy of twelve years [Luke 2:42], and he told him everything which had taken place from the beginning, from Eden and Elohim and everything which will take place after this. He said, "All the prophets before you were seduced; but, Jesus, son of man, try not to be seduced but proclaim this message to men and tell them about the Father and about the Good and ascend to the Good and sit there with Elohim, the Father of us all." And Jesus obeyed the angel; he said, "Lord, I will do all things," and he made the proclamation. Naas wished to seduce him too, but he was not able to do so for Jesus remained faithful to Baruch. Then Naas became angry because he could not seduce him, and had him crucified. He left his body to Eden by the tree and ascended to the Good. For he said to Eden, "Woman, you have your son" [John 19:26], that is, the psychical and earthly man, but he was "placing in the hangs" the spirit of the Father [cf. Luke 23:46] and ascended to the Good.

The Good is Priapus, who created before there was anything; he is called Priapus because he prefabricated everything. For this reason he is erected in every temple, is honored by all creation, and before him on the roads carries fruits, that is, the fruits of creation, of which he was the cause, prefabricating the creation before there was any.

Therefore, when you hear men say that the swan came upon Leda and produced offspring from her, the swan is Elohim and Leda is Eden. When men say that the eagle came upon Ganymede, the eagle is Naas and Ganymede is Adam. And when they say that the gold came upon Danae and brought forth a child from her, the gold is Elohim and Danae is Eden.

When the prophets say, "Hear, Heaven; and give ear, earth; the Lord has spoken" [Isa. 1:2], Heaven means the spirit of Elohim in men, earth the soul in man with the spirit, the Lord Baruch, Israel Eden; for the wife of Elohim is called Eden and Israel. "Israel did not know me" [Isa. 1:3]; for if it had known that I am with the Good, it would not have tortured the spirit which is in men because of the Father’s ignorance.

When the prophet says "to take for himself a woman of fornication because the earth has fornicated from behind the Lord" [Hos. 1:2], that is, Eden from Elohim, in these words the prophet clearly expressed the whole mystery, but he was not heard because of the wickedness of Naas.