The thirteen seals
Birger A. Pearson (composite) · Public domain / scholarly composite. Reproduced for educational and religious commentary.
1The words of Marsanes the prophet, who, by means of the holy Spirit, has revealed the things that he learned.
2Listen, all of you who have ears to hear. There are thirteen seals — thirteen stages of the soul on its way back to the Father. The soul that ascends must pass each seal, and each seal demands a sign and a name.
3[Lines damaged.] The first seal is the worldly soul; the second is corporeal; the third is the seal of the senses; the fourth, of the soul that has been baptized in water; the fifth, of the soul that has been baptized in fire; the sixth, of the soul that has begun to know.
4The seventh seal is the Self-Generated. The eighth, the Aeon. The ninth, Barbelo, the Mother. The tenth, the Three-Powered. The eleventh, the Pre-Existent. The twelfth, the Silent One. The thirteenth, the Unknowable.
5The soul that passes the thirteenth seal returns to the Father, and is named with the holy Name, which is unutterable. He has learned to be silent. He has learned to be at rest.