Editing Gnostic Text/The Secret Book of John (section)

==Prologue==

This is what the Savior taught, and the mysteries that he disclosed – things that are shrouded in silence, but which he uncovered for his disciple John.

John, the son of Zebedee and the brother of James, went to the temple one day. A Pharisee named Arimanios walked up to him and asked him, “Where is the teacher whom you used to follow?”

I, John, replied, “He has gone back to the place from which he came.”

The Pharisee then said to me, “The Nazarene has plugged your ears with his lies, closed your mind, and turned your back on the ways of your ancestors.”

When I heard this, I left the temple and fled to a mountain in the desert. I was filled with distress, and I wondered:

How was the Savior chosen?
Why was he sent into this world by his Father?
Who is the Father who sent him?
What is the eternal realm to which we will go?
Why did the Savior say that that eternal realm is modeled on the incorruptible Spirit, yet he did not tell us what that Spirit is like?

As I thought about these questions, the sky suddenly opened, and everything around me glowed and shook. And standing before me, surrounded by the light, was a boy. But as soon as I saw him, he became an elderly man. And then he became a youth. It was not that there were several people standing before me, but one person with several forms. Each of the three forms could be seen within the other.

This person said to me, “John, John, why do you doubt, and why are you afraid? Do you not know who I am? Do not be frightened. I am the one who is with you always. I am the Father, I am the Mother, and I am the Son. I am the one who is without any corruption or defilement. Now I have come to you to teach you about what is, what was, and what will be, so that you may understand what is visible and what is invisible, and so that you may know about the unshakeable race and the perfect man. Lift up your head and listen to what I have to say to you today. Then go and tell my words to your spiritual kin, those who are from the unshakeable race of the perfect man, so that they, too, might know these things.”