Revelation ✦ Wisdom ✦ Gnostic Origins
The Apocryphon of John, also known as the Secret Book of John, is one of the most influential texts associated with early Gnostic Christianity. Preserved in multiple recensions within the Nag Hammadi Library, it presents a revelatory discourse attributed to the risen Christ and addressed to John the Apostle.
The text sets out a detailed mythological account of divine emanation, the disruption introduced through error and ignorance, and the formation of the material cosmos. Figures such as Sophia, the demiurgic creator, and subordinate powers are employed to articulate the text’s understanding of creation, alienation, and restoration.
Within Codex II, the Apocryphon of John functions as a foundational cosmological framework for several other Nag Hammadi writings. It is presented here as part of Codex Reborn in The Vault to support careful reading, comparison, and historical inquiry into the development of Gnostic thought.
The foundational revelation text delivered by the Saviour to John.
114 sayings revealing the inner path to the Kingdom.
A sacramental and mystical exploration of union, image, and resurrection.
The mythic anatomy of the rulers and the defence of the Soul.
A sweeping cosmology describing Sophia, Yaldabaoth, and the ordering of reality.
The Soul’s fall into forgetfulness and its return to the Bridegroom.
A dialogue on mastery, self-knowledge, and spiritual combat.