ll ye become gods, then shall ye know that ye came forth
from God, and then shall ye behold Him within yourselves, in your
eternities shall He dwell."

These words spake the Lord of the Universe unto them; then He withdrew
Himself from them and hid Himself from them. And those who had been
the births of matter rejoiced that their thought had been accomplished;
they rejoiced because they had come forth from the narrow and the sad.
They prayed unto the Hidden Mystery, saying, "Give us power to create
aeons and worlds according to the word which Thou hast sworn unto Thy
servants, for Thou alone art He who changest not, Thou alone art the
Infinite and Boundless One, Thou only art unengendered, born of
Thyself, Self-Father, Thou only art Unmoved and Unknowable, Thou only
Silence art and Love and Fount of the Universe, Thou only art
immaterial and hast no stain, ineffable in Thy generation and
inconceivable in Thy manifestation. Hear us, then, O Father
Incorruptible, Father Immortal, God of Hidden Beings, sole Light and
Life, Alone beyond Vision, only Unspeakable, only Unstainable, only
[Foundation] stone of Adamant (40), sole Primal Being, for before Thee
nothing was. Hearken unto this prayer which we make unto Him who is
concealed in every place. Hear us, send unto us incorporeal spirits
that they may dwell with us and teach us that which Thou hast promised
unto us; that they may dwell in us and that we may become bodies for
them, for it is Thy will that it should thus be. So may it be. Give
law unto our work and strengthen it according to Thy will and according
to the order of the hidden aeons; dispose us according to Thy will, for
we are Thine" (41).

And He heard them and sent unto them discerning Powers which knew the
order of those who are hidden. He established the Hierarchy like the
Hierarchies above and according to the concealed order. They began
from the base to the summit, so that the building might unite them to
their companions. He created the aerial earth as a place of habitation
for those who had come forth, so that they might dwell therein until
the strengthening of those who are below them; then created He the true
habitation in the interior of that, the place of repentance in the
interior of that, the antitype of Aerodios; then the place of
repentance in the interior of that, the antitype of Autogenes: in this
place they baptise themselves in the name of Autogenes, who is God over
them, and ther