The Apocalypse of Peter

Translated by James Brashler and Roger A. Dullard

As the Savior was sitting in the temple in the three hundredth year of the covenant and the agreement of the tenth pillar, and being satisfied with the number of the living, incorruptibleMajesty, he said to me , " Peter, blessed are those above belonging to the Father, whorevealed life to those who are from life, through me, since I reminded them, they who are builton what is strong, that they may hear my word, and distinguish words of unrighteousness andtransgression of the law from righteousness, as being from the height of every word of thisPleroma of truth, having been enlightened in good pleasure by him whom the principalitiessought. But they did not find him, nor was he mentioned among any generation of the prophets.He has now appeared among these, in him who appeared, who is the Son of Man who is exaltedabove the heavens in fear of men of like essence. But you yourself, Peter, become perfect in accordance with your name with myself, the one who chose you, because from you i establisheda base for the remnant whom I have summoned to knowledge. Therefore be strong until the imitationof righteousness - of him who had summoned you, having summoned you to know him in a way whicheorth doing because of the rejection which happened to him , and the sinews of his hands and his feet, and the crowning by those of the middle region, and the body of his radiance which they bringin hope of service becase of a reward of honor - as he was about to reprove you three times in thisnight". And as he was saying these things i saw the priests and the people running up to us with stones, as if they would kill us ; and I was afraid that we were going to die. And he said to me. "Peter, I have told you many times that they are blind ones who have no guide. If you want to know theirblindness, put your hands before your eyes - your robe - and say what you see....." But when I had done it, I did not see anything. I said "No one sees this way" And he said to me, "Do it again". And there came in me fear with joy, for I saw a new light greater than the light of day. Then it came downupon the savior. And I told him about those things which I saw. And he said to me again, "Lift up your hands and listen to what the priests and the people are saying" And I listened to the priests as they sat with the scribes. The multitudes were shouting with their voice. When he heard these things from me he said to me "prick up your ears and listen to the things they are saying." And i listened again, "As you sit, they are praising you". And when i said these things , the Saviorsaid "I have told you that these people are blind and deaf. Now then, listen to the things which they aretelling you in a mystery, and guard them, Do not tell them to the sons of this age. For they shall blasphemeyou in these ages since they are ignorant of you, but they will praise you in knowledge" "For many will accept our teaching in the beginning. And they will turn from them again by the will of theFather of their error, because they have done what he wanted. And he will reveal them in his judgment,i.e the servants of the Word. But those who became mingled with these shall become their prisoners,since they are without perception. And they praise the men of propagation of falsehood, those whowill come after you. And they will cleave to the name of a dead man, thinking that they will become pure.But they will become greatly defiled and they will fall into a name of error, and into the hand of an evil,cunning man and a manifold dogma, and they will be ruled without law." "For some of them will blaspheme the truth and proclaim evil teaching. And they will say evil things againsteachother. Some will be named : those who stand in the strenght of the archons, of a man and a nakedwoman who is manifold and subject to much suffering. And those who say these things will ask about dreams.And if they say that a dream came from a demon worthy of their error, then they shall be given perdition insteadof incorruption." "For evil cannot produce good fruit. For the place from which each of them is produces that that which islike itself ; for not every soul is of the truth, nor of immortality. For every soul of these ages has death assignedto it in our view, and their eternal destruction, in which they are and from which they are. They love the creatures of the matter which came forth with them." "But the immortal souls are not like these, O Peter. But indeed, as long as the hour is not yet come, the immortal soul shall resemble the mortal one. But it shall not reveal its nature, that it alone is the immortalone, and thinks about immortality, having faith, and desiring to renounce these things" "For people do not gather figs from thorns or from thorn trees, if they are wise, nor grapes from thistles.For on the one hand, that which is always becoming is in that from which it is, being from what is not good,which becomes destruction for it and death. But that which comes to be in the Eternal One is in the Oneof the life and the immortality of the life which they resemble." "Therefore all that which exists not will dissolve into what exists not. For deaf and blind ones join only withtheir own kind." "But others shall change from evil words and misleading mysteries. Some who do not understand mysteryspeak of things which they do not understand, but they boast that the mystery of the truth is theirs alone.And in haughtiness they shall grasp at the pride to envy the immortal soul which has become a pledge.For every authority rule, and power of the aeons wishes to be with these in the creation of the world, in order that those who are not, having been forgotten by those that are, may praise them, though they have not been saved, nor have they been brought to the Way by them, always wishing that they may becomeimperishable ones. For if the immortal soul receives power in an intellectual spirit - . But immediatelythey join with one of those who mislead them." "But many others, who oppose the truth and are the messengers of error, will set up their error and their law against these pure thoughts of mine, as looking out from one perspective, thinking that good and evil are from one source. They do business in my word. And they will propagate harsh fate. The race of immortal souls will go in it in vain, until my Parousia. For they shall come out of them, andmy forgiveness of their transgressions into which they fell through the adversaries, whose ransom I gotfrom the slavery in which they were, to give them freedom that they may create an imitation remnant inthe name of a dead man, who is Hermas, of the first-born of unrighteousness, in order that the lightwhich exists may not believed by the little ones. But those of this sort are the worker who will be castinto the outer darkness, away from the sons of light. For neither will they enter, nor do they permit those who are going up to their approval for their release." "And still others of them who suffer think that they will perfect the wisdom of the brotherhood which really exists, which is the spiritual fellowship of those united in communion, through which the weddingof incorruptibility shall be revealed. The kindred race of the sisterhood will appear as an imitation.These are the ones who oppress their brothers, saying to them, "Through this our God has pity,since salvation comes to us through this" , not knowing the punishments of those who are made gladby those who have done this thing to the little ones whom they saw, and whom they took prisoner." "And there shall be others of those who are outside our number who name themselves bishop andalso deacons, as if they have received their authority from God. They bend themselves under thejudgment of the leaders. Those people are dry canals." But I said " I am afraid because of what you have told me, that indeed little ones are, in our view, the counterfeit ones, indeed, that there are multitudes that will mislead other multitudes of living ones, and destroy them among themselves. And when they speak your name they will be believed." The Savior said , "For a time determined for them in proportion to their error they will rule over the little ones.And after the completion of the error, the never-aging one of the immortal understanding shall become young,and the little ones shall ruler over those who are their rulers. The root of their error he shall pluck out, andhe shall put it to shame so that it shall be manifest in all the impudence which it has assumed to itself. And such ones shall become unchangeable, O Peter." "Come therefore, let us go on with the completion of the will of the incorruptible Father. For behold, those whowill bring them judgment are coming, and they will be put to shame. But me they cannot touch. And you,O Peter, shall stand in their midst. Do not be afraid because opf your cowardice. Their minds shall be closed,for the invisible one has opposed them." When he said those things, I saw him seemingly being seized by them. And I said "What do I see, O Lord, that it is you yourself whom they take, and that you are grasping me Or who is this one, glad and laughingon the tree And is it another one whose feet and hands they are striking" The Savior said to me, "He whom you saw on the tree, glad and laughing, this is the living Jesus. But thisone into whose hands and feet they drive the nails is his fleshly part, which is the substitute being put toshame, the one who came into being in his likeness. But look at him and me." But I, when I had looked, said "Lord, no one is looking at you. Let us flee this place." But he said to me, "I have told you, "Leave the blind alone!". And you, see how they do not know what theyare saying. For the son of their glory instead of my servant, they have put to shame." And I saw someone about to approach us resembling him, even him who was laughing on the tree.And he was filled with a Holy Spirit, and he is the Savior. And there was a great, ineffable light around them,and the multitude of ineffable and invisible angels blessing them. And when I looked at him, the one who gives praise was revealed. And he said to me, "Be strong, for you are the one to whom these mysteries have been given, to knwo themthrough revelation, that he whom they crucified is the first-born, and the home of demons, and the stony vessel,in which they dwell, of Elohim, of the cross, which is under the Law. But he who stands near him is the living Savior, the first in him, whom they seized and released, who stands joyfully looking those who did him violence,while they are divided among themselves. Therefore he laughs at their lack of perception, knowing that they are born blind. So then the one suspectible to suffering shall come, since the body is the substitute.But what they released was my incorporeal body. But I am the intellectual Spirit filled with radiant light.He whom you saw coming to me is our intellectual Pleroma , which unites the perfect light with my Holy Spirit." "These things, then, which you saw you shall present to those of another race who are not of this age. For there willbe no honor in any man who is not immortal, which has shown that it is able to contain him who gives his abundance.Therefore I said, "Every one who has, it will be given to him, and he will have plenty, " But he who does not have,that is, the man of this place, who is completely dead, who is removed from the planting of the creation of what isbegotten, whom, if one of the immortal essence appears, they think that they possess him - it will be taken from himand be added to the one who is. You, therefore, be courageous and do not fear at all. For I shall be with you in orderthat none of your enemies may prevail unto you. Peace be to you, Be strong!" When he had said these things, Peter came to himself.

Selection made from James M.Robinson(ed): The Nag Hammadi Library, revised edition. HarperCollins, San Fransisco 1990.ISBN 0-06066935-7