“The Secret Book of John” and "Thalia"

Did Arius of Alexandria compose “The Secret Book of John”? JESUS The words of Jesus from “The Secret Book of John” in the Nag Hammadi Library (NHC 3.1, 4.1) - translated by Stevan Davies ARIUS The words of Arius of Alexandria from “Thalia” in Rowan Williams’ Arius: Heresy and Tradition, Revised Edition, 62-66 and 98-116 The Secret Book of John (Apocryphon of John) (gnosis.org) Fourth Century Christianity » Arius – Thalia “The Secret Revelation of John assumes a process of creation similar to that of Plato’s Timaeus” [Karen King] "Arius' entire effort consisted precisely in acclimatizing Plotinic logic within biblical creationism." [Charles Kannengeisser] The Inexpressible One The Inexpressible One The One rules all. Nothing has authority over it. It is the God. It is Father of everything, Holy One The invisible one over everything. It is uncontaminated Pure light no eye can bear to look within. …And so God Himself, as he really is, is inexpressible to all. The One is the Invisible Spirit. It is not right to think of it as a God or as like God. It is more than just God. Nothing is above it. Nothing rules it. Since everything exists within it It does not exist within anything. Since it is not dependent on anything It is eternal. It is absolutely complete and so needs nothing. It is utterly perfect Light. The One is without boundaries Nothing exists outside of it to border He alone has no equal, no one similar (homoios), and no one of the same glory. We call him unbegotten, in contrast to him who by nature is begotten. We praise him as without beginning in contrast to him who has a beginning. We worship him as timeless, in contrast to him who in time has come to exist. He who is without beginning made the Son a beginning of created things. He produced him as a son for himself by begetting him. He [the son] has none of the distinct characteristics of God’s own being (kat’ hypostasis) For he is not equal to, nor is he of the same being (homoousios) as him. God is wise, for he himself is the teacher of Wisdom – Page 1 Did Arius of Alexandria compose “The Secret Book of John”? it The One cannot be investigated Nothing exists apart from it to investigate it The One cannot be measured Nothing exists external to it to measure it The One cannot be seen For no one can envision it The One is eternal For it exists forever The One is inconceivable For no one can comprehend it The One is indescribable For no one can put any words to it. The One is infinite light Purity Holiness Stainless, The One is incomprehensible Perfectly free from corruption. Not “perfect” Not “blessed” Not “divine” But superior to such concepts. Neither physical nor unphysical Neither immense nor infinitesimal It is impossible to specify in quantity or quality For it is beyond knowledge. The One is not a being among other beings It is vastly superior But it is not “superior.” It is outside of realms of being and time For whatever is within realms of being was created And whatever is within time had time allotted to it The One receives nothing from anything. It simply apprehends itself in its own perfect light The One is majestic. The One is measureless majesty Sufficient proof that God is invisible to all: He is is invisible both to things which were made through the Son, and also to the Son himself. I will say specifically how the invisible is seen by the Son: by that power by which God is able to see, each according to his own measure, the Son can bear to see the Father, as is determined So there is a Triad, not in equal glories. Their beings (hypostaseis) are not mixed together among themselves. As far as their glories, one infinitely more glorious than the other. The Father in his essence (ousia) is a foreigner to the Son, because he exists without beginning. Understand that the Monad [eternally] was; but the Dyad was not before it came into existence. It immediately follows that, although the Son did not exist, the Father was still God. Hence the Son, not being [eternal] came into existence by the Father’s will, He is the Only-begotten God, and this one is alien from [all] others [Williams suggests a section on the Holy Spirit may have been omitted here (p. 310).] Wisdom came to be Wisdom by the will of the Wise God. Hence he is conceived in innumerable aspects. He is Spirit, Power, Wisdom, God’s glory, Truth, Image, and Word. Understand that he is also conceived of as Radiance and Light. The one who is superior is able to beget one equal to the Son, But not someone more important, or Page 2 Did Arius of Alexandria compose “The Secret Book of John”? Chief of all Realms Producing all realms superior, or greater. At God’s will the Son has the greatness and qualities that he has. Light Producing light Life Producing life Blessedness Producing blessedness Knowledge Producing knowledge His existence from when and from whom and from then — are all from God. He, though strong God, praises in part (ek merous) his superior . In brief, God is inexpressible to the Son. For he is in himself what he is, that is, indescribable, So that the son does not comprehend any of these things or have the understanding to explain them. Good Producing goodness For it is impossible for him to fathom the Father, who is by himself. Producing mercy For the Son himself does not even know his own essence (ousia), Mercy Generous Producing generosity For being Son, his existence is most certainly at the will of the Father. [It does not “possess” these things.] It gives forth light beyond measure, beyond comprehension. What reasoning allows, that he who is from the Father should comprehend and know his own parent? For clearly that which has a beginning is not able to conceive of or grasp the existence of His realm is eternal, peaceful, silent, resting, that which has no beginning. before everything. He is the head of every realm sustaining each of them through goodness. [What can I say?] Page 3