THREE ADAMS 1. CREATION OF THE ANTHROPOS - In the Upper Aeons, the One created the Anthropos in its own image, as an androgynous angel (i.e. male and female). This was the First Adam, which was spirit-endowed (pneumatic Anthropos). - Seeing this image in the Upper Aeons, Yaltabaoth and his Archons created the Second Adam, which was soul-endowed (psychic Anthropos). Like the First Adam, the Second Adam was androgynous. - After Yaltabaoth accidentally breathed his own spirit (pneuma) into Adam, he and his Archons tried to retrieve it. They created the Third Adam, which was flesh-endowed (hylic Anthropos). - The three Adams became the prototypes for the three different types of humans: the spirit-endowed (pneumatics), the soul-endowed (psychics), and the flesh-endowed (hylics). See THREE TYPES OF HUMANS. - Although the Third Adam was also androgynous, Yaltabaoth divided it into male and female. This was the creation of Adam and Eve. - For the division of the Anthropos into Adam and Eve, then their temptation and fall, see ADAM AND EVE. 2. THE SPIRITUAL, PSYCHIC AND HYLIC ANTHROPOS. - In Origin of the World, three Adams appear, which correspond to the three types of humans – spiritual, psychic and hylic: “Now the first Adam, (Adam) of Light, is spirit-endowed and appeared on the first day. The second Adam is soul-endowed and appeared on the sixth day (…). The third Adam is a creature of the earth (choikos), that is, the man of the law, and he appeared on the eighth day.” (Origin of the World 117:28) - In the Apocryphon of John, the One created Man (the Anthropos) by speaking and naming him: “And a voice came forth from the exalted aeon-heaven: ‘The Man exists and the son of Man.’” (Apocryphon of John) This is the creation of ‘the first Adam’, which is spirit-endowed (pneumatic Anthropos). - Yaltabaoth and his Archons saw the glowing image of the Anthropos in the Upper Aeons and tried to copy it: “When all the authorities and the chief archon looked (…) they saw the form of the image in the water (of the Upper Aeons). And he (Yaltabaoth) said to the authorities which attend him, ‘Come, let us create a man according to the image of God and according to our likeness, that his image may become a light for us.’ (…) He created a being according to the likeness of the first, perfect Man.” (Apocryphon of John) - In Hypostasis of the Archons, the Anthropos is named ‘Incorruptibility’ (a feminine word): “As incorruptibility looked down into the region of the waters, her image appeared in the waters.” (Hypostasis of the Archons) - The Anthropos which Yaltabaoth and his Archons created was the Second Adam, which is soul-endowed (psychic Anthropos): “And the powers began: the first one (…) created a bone-soul; and the second one (…) created a sinew-soul; the third one (…) created a flesh-soul; and the fourth one (…) created a marrow-soul; the fifth one (…) created a blood-soul; the sixth one (…) created a skin-soul; the seventh one (…) created a hair-soul.” (Apocryphon of John) - Although Yaltabaoth created the Second Adam, which is soul-endowed, it was still lacking in spirit. At the behest of Sophia, Christ and the Four Lights tricked Yaltabaoth into blowing his own spirit (which had come from his mother Sophia) into Adam: “And they (Christ and the Four Lights) said to Yaltabaoth, ‘Blow into his face something of your spirit and his body will arise.’ And he blew into his face the spirit which is the power of his mother (…) The body moved and gained strength, and it was luminous.” (Apocryphon of John 19:22) - In Hypostasis of the Archons, Yaltabaoth blew a soul into Adam, and then the Spirit (i.e. the One) sent Adam his spirit (pneuma): “And he (Yaltabaoth) breathed into his face; and the man came to have a soul (and remained) upon the ground (…) Afterwards, the Spirit saw the soul-endowed man upon the ground. And the spirit (…) descended and came to dwell within him, and that man became a living soul. It called his name Adam,” (Hypostasis of the Archons) - To retrieve his spirit, Yaltabaoth and his Archons created the Third Adam, which is material and hylic: “They (the demons) all worked on it until, limb for limb, the natural and the material body was completed by them.” (Apocryphon of John) - The third Adam was made of the earth: “The rulers laid plans and said, ‘Come, let us create a man that will be soil from the earth.’ They modeled their creature as one wholly of the earth.” Hypostasis of the Archons 87:24 - Specifically, the third Adam is a compound of earth, air, water and fire, making him mortal: “And they took counsel with the whole array of archons and angels. They took fire and earth and water and mixed them together with the four fiery winds. And they wrought them together and caused a great disturbance. And they brought him (Adam) into the shadow of death (…) and he became a mortal man.” (Apocryphon of John 20:33) - For the division of the Anthropos into Adam and Eve, then their temptation and fall,
Posted on: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 17:25:48 +0000
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