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about me against destruction of their de ception and their foolishness, I did not give in to them as they had devised. And I was not afflicted at all. Those there punished me, yet I did not die in solid reality but in what appears, in order that I not be put to shame by them, because these are part of me. I cut off the shame from me and I did not become faint hearted at what happened to me at their hands. I was about to become a slave to fear, but I was struck (merely) according to their sight and thought, in order that no word might ever be found to speak about them. For my death which they think happened, (happened) to them in their error and blindness. They nailed their man up to their death. For their minds did not see me, for they were deaf and blind. But in doing these things, they render judgment against themselves. As for me, on the one hand they saw me; they punished me. Another, their fa ther, was the one who drank the gall and the vinegar; it was not I. They were hit ting me with the reed; another was the one who lifted up the cross on his shoul der, who was Simon. Another was the one on whom they put the crown of thorns. But I was rejoicing in the height over all the riches of the archons and the offspring of their error and their conceit, and I was laughing at their ignorance. And all their powers I brought into sub jection. For when I came down no one saw me. For I kept changing my forms above, transforming from appearance to appearance. And on account of this, when I was at their gates I kept taking their likeness. For I passed them by qui etly, and I was viewing the places, and I did not fear nor was I ashamed, for I was undefiled. And I was speaking with them, mixing among them through those who are mine, and I tread on those who are harsh to them jealously, and the fire I extinguished.
NON-CANONICAL GOSPELS
And all these things I kept doing on account of my will in order that this which I willed in the will of the Father above I might complete. And the Son of the Greatness, who was hidden in the region below, we brought to the height, where I am with all these aeons, which no one has seen nor understood, where the wedding of the wedding robe is, the new (wedding) and not the old, nor does it perish. For the new bridal chamber is of the heavens and perfect. I have revealed (that) there are three paths, (which are) an undefiled mystery in a spirit of this aeon, which does not perish, nor is it partial, nor is to be spoken of; rather, it is undivided, universal, and permanent. For the soul, which is from the height, will not speak about the error which is here, nor transport itself from these aeons, since it will be transported when it becomes a free person and expe rience nobility in the world, standing be fore the Father without trouble and fear, always mixed with the mind of ideal power. They will see me from every side without hatred. For while they see me, they are being seen, being mixed with them. As for me, since they did not put me to shame, they were not shamed. As for me, since they were not afraid before me, they will pass by every gate without fear, and they will be perfected in the third glory. I was the one whose cross the world did not accept, (my) apparent ex altation, my third baptism in an apparent image, when they had fled from the fire of the seven authorities. And the sun of the powers of the archons set, darkness over took them, and the world became poor. After they bound him with many re straints, they nailed him to the cross, and they fastened him with four nails of bronze. The veil of his temple he tore with his hands. There was a trembling that overcame the chaos of the earth, for the souls which were in the sleep below