Seth

The Revelation Of Dositheos about The Three Steles Of Seth, the Father of the living and Unshakable Race, which he saw and understood. And after he had read them, he remembered them and gave them to the elect, just as they were inscribed there. Many times did I join in giving glory with the powers, and I became worthy of the immeasurable majesties. Now they, the Steles are as follows:

The First Stele of Seth

I bless you, Father Geradamas, I as your own Son, Emmacha Seth, begot without begetting, as a blessing of our God; for I am your own Son. You are my mind, O' Father. And I, I sowed and begot; but you have seen the majestic mysteries. You have stood imperishable! I bless You, Father. Father, Bless me. It is because of Iouo that I exist; and it is because of IOUO that You exist. Because of you I am with the very One! You are light, since you beheld light; and YOU have revealed the Light. You are Mirotheas; you are my Mirotheos. I bless you as God; I bless your divinity! Great is the Good, Self-Begotten who stood, the God who had already stood. You came in goodness; you appeared and you have revealed goodness! I shall utter unto You, for You are a first name! You are unbegotten; you have appeared in order that YOU might reveal the eternal ones. You are he who is; therefore you have revealed those who are! You are HE who is uttered by a voice, but within the mind are YOU glorified, YOU who have dominion everywhere. The perceptible world knows You because of you and your seed. YOU are merciful!

You are from another race and its place is over another race! Then you are from another race and its place over some other race. But alas, You are of a different generation; for you are not at all similar! YOU are merciful, for you are Eternal! Also, your place is over another race, for thou hast caused all these races to increase; and for the sake of My Seed. For it is Yew who knows His Place is in begetting. They are all from other races; none of them are similar either. But alas their place is over other races, for their place is in life. You are Mirotheos! I bless his power which was given to me, who caused the malenesses that are to become male three times; he who was divided into the pentad, the one who was given to us in triple power, the one who was begotten without begetting, the one who came from what is Chosen; because of what is humble, he went forth from the midst.

You are a Father through a Father, the Word from a command. We bless you Thrice Male, you have united all through them all, for you have empowered us. You have arisen from one, from one have you gone forth; and you have come to one. You have saved, you have saved; YOU have saved us, O Crown-Bearer, Crown-Giver! We bless you eternally! We bless you once we have been saved, as perfect individuals, perfect on your account, those who became perfect with Yew who are complete, You who complete; the One perfected through all these, who is similar everywhere! Thrice Male, you have stood, you have already stood. You were divided everywhere, but you continued being One. And those whom you have willed, you have saved. But they do well to be saved, all who are worthy. You are Perfect! You are Perfect! You are Perfect! 

The Second Stele of Seth

Great is the first aeon, male virginal Barbelo, first glory of the invisible Father, she who is called "perfect". You have seen first the One, who truly pre-exists because he is non-being. From him and through him, You pre-existed eternally, the non-being from one indivisible, triple power; you, a triple power, you a great monad from a pure monad, thou an elect monad, the first shadow of the holy Father, light from light. We bless you, producer of perfection, aeon-giver. Thou hast seen the eternal ones because they are from a shadow. And thou hast become numerable. And thou didst find, thou didst continue being one (fem.); yet becoming numerable in division, thou art three-fold. Thou art truly thrice, thou one (fem) of the One (masc). Thou art from a shadow of him, thou a Hidden One, thou a world of understanding, knowing those of the One, that they are from a shadow. And these are thine in the heart.

For their own sakes thou hast empowered the eternal ones in being; for thou hast empowered divinity in living; thou hast empowered knowledge in goodness; in blessedness thou hast empowered the shadows which pour from the One. Thou hast empowered this one in knowledge; thou hast empowered another one in creation. Thou hast empowered him who is equal and him who is not equal, him who is similar and him who is not similar. Thou hast empowered in begetting, and provided forms in that which exists to others. Thou hast empowered them! He is that One Hidden in the heart. And thou hast come forth to these and from these. Thou art divided among them, to become a great male noetic First-Appearer.

Fatherly God, divine child, begetter of multiplicity according to a division of all who really are, Youel hast appeared to them all in a Word and YOU possess all of them without begetting; eternally indestructible on account of Llewelyn. Salvation has come to us; from YOU is salvation. You are Wisdom, you knowledge; you are truthfulness. On account of you is life; from You is life! On account of you is mind; and from you is mind. You are mind, Youel a world of truthfulness, a triple power, You threefold. Truly YOU are Three, the aeon of aeons. It is You only who sees purely the first eternal ones and the unbegotten ones. And all of the first divisions are as you have divided them. 

Unite us as you have been united. Teach us those things which you have seen. Empower us that we may be saved to eternal life. For we are each a shadow of Yew, as You are a shadow of that first pre-existent One. Hear us first. We are eternal ones. Hear us as the perfect individuals. Thou art the aeon of aeons, the all-perfect one who is established. You have heard! You have heard! You have saved! You have saved! We give thanks! We bless you always! We shall glorify YOU! 

The Third Stele

We rejoice! We rejoice! We rejoice! We have seen! We have seen! We have seen the really pre-existent One; that HE really exists, that He is the First Eternal One! O' Unconceived, from You are the eternal ones and the aeons, the all-perfect ones who are established, and the perfect individuals. We Bless You, non-being, existence which is before existences, First Being who is before all beings, Father of divinity and life, creator of mind, giver of good, giver of blessedness!

We bless You O' Knower, in a glorifying blessing; You because of whom all these really are, who know you through YOU alone! For there is no one who was active before you; YOU, an only living Spirit. You know One, for this one who belongs to You, is on every side. We are not able to express him. For your light shines on us. Present us a command, to see YOU, that we may be saved. Knowledge of You is the salvation of all. Present us a command! When you do command, we have been saved! Truly we have been saved! We have seen you by mind! You are them all, for you do save them all; he who was not saved, nor was he saved through them. For You, You have commanded us!

You are one. You are one, just as there is one who says to you: 'You are one, You a single living Spirit'. How shall we give thee a name? We do not have it, For YOU are the existence of them all. You are the life of them all! You are the mind of them all. For You are HE in whom they all rejoice! Youel hast commanded all of these to be saved through thy Word; even that glory who was before him, the Hidden One, blessed Senaon, he who begat himself, Asineu(s), [...]ephneu(s), Optaon, Elemaon the great power, Emouniar, Nibareu(s), Kandephor(os), Aphredon, Deiphaneus, You who are Armedon to me, the Power-Begetter, Thalanatheu(s), Antitheus, You who exist within Yourself, YOU who are before Thyself - for after YOU, none of these ever sprang into activity.

As what shall we bless you? We are not empowered. But we give thanks, being humble toward you. For you have commanded us, as he who is Chosen, to glorify You to the extent we are able. We bless you because we are made whole. Always we glorify YOU! And unto this end shall we glorify you, that we may be saved to eternal salvation. We have blessed you, as we are empowered. We have been preserved, for you have willed always, that we all do this. We all did it, not through the First Aeon who was with you, but through YOU alone; we and those who live forever! He who will remember these and give glory always, will become perfect among those who are perfect and impassable beyond all things. For they all bless these individually and together. And afterwards they shall be silent. And just as they were ordained, they ascend. After the silence, they descend from the third. They bless the second; after these the first. The way of ascent is the way of descent. Know therefore, as those who live, what you have attained. And you taught yourselves the infinite things. Marvel at the truth which is within them, and (at) the revelation. 

End: The Three Steles of Seth

This book belongs
to The Fatherhood.

It is the son who wrote it.

Bless me O Father. I bless

you, O Father, in peace.

Amen.

Original translation of this text was prepared by members of the Coptic Gnostic Library Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont Graduate School. The Coptic Gnostic Library Project was funded by UNESCO, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and other Institutions. E. J. Brill has asserted copyright on texts published by the Coptic Gnostic Library Project. The translation presented here has been edited, modified and formatted for use in the Gnostic Society Library. For academic citation, please refer to published editions of this text.

further reading
The Second Treatise Of Great Seth