97. „'Geliebte, nachdem der Herr mit uns getanzt hatte, ist er hinausgegangen. Und wir, wie Verwirrte oder Schlafende, sind geflohen, ein jeder mit sich. Ich selbst habe, als ich ihn leiden sah, sein Leiden nicht aushalten können und bin auf den Ölberg geflohen, über das weinend, was geschehen war. Als er am Freitag zur sechsten Stunde aufgehängt wurde, kam eine Finsternis über die ganze Erde; und mein Herr stand mitten in der Höhle, erleuchtete mich und sagte: ‚Johannes, für die Menge dort unten, in Jerusalem, werde ich gekreuzigt und mit Lanzen und Rohren gestoßen und mit Essig und Galle getränkt. Doch mit dir werde ich sprechen, und höre, was ich sagen werde. Ich habe dir die Idee gegeben, auf diesen Berg zu steigen, damit du hörst, was ein Jünger von seinem Meister lernen muss und ein Mensch von seinem Gott.'
98. Als er das gesagt hatte, zeigte er mir ein festes Lichterkreuz, und um dieses Kreuz herum eine Menge, die nicht eine einzige Form hattet. In ihm war eine einzige Form und eine einheitliche Gestalt. Den Herrn selbst sah ich oberhalb des Kreuzes: er hatte keine äußere Erscheinung, nur eine Stimme —nicht aber diese Stimme, die uns bekannt war, sondern eine süße Stimme, wohltuend und wahrhaftig von Gott — die mir sagte:
Text English
97 Thus, my beloved, having danced with us the Lord went forth. And we as men gone astray or dazed with sleep fled this way and that. I, then, when I saw him suffer, did not even abide by his suffering, but fled unto the Mount of Olives, weeping at that which had befallen. And when he was crucified on the Friday, at the sixth hour of the day, darkness came upon all the earth. And my Lord standing in the midst of the cave and enlightening it, said: John, unto the multitude below in Jerusalem I am being crucified and pierced with lances and reeds, and gall and vinegar is given me to drink. But unto thee I speak, and what I speak hear thou. I put it into thy mind to come up into this mountain, that thou mightest hear those things which it behoveth a disciple to learn from his teacher and a man from his God.
98 And having thus spoken, he showed me a cross of light fixed (set up), and about the cross a great multitude, not having one form: and in it (the cross) was one form and one likenesst [so the MS.; I would read: and therein was one form and one likeness: and in the cross another multitude, not having one form]. And the Lord himself I beheld above the cross, not having any shape, but only a voice: and a voice not such as was familiar to us, but one sweet and kind and truly of God, saying unto me: John, it is needful that one should hear these things from me, for I have need of one that will hear. This cross of light is sometimes called the (or a) word by me for your sakes, sometimes mind, sometimes Jesus, sometimes Christ, sometimes door, sometimes a way, sometimes bread, sometimes seed, sometimes resurrection, sometimes Son, sometimes Father, sometimes Spirit, sometimes life, sometimes truth, sometimes faith, sometimes grace. And by these names it is called as toward men: but that which it is in truth, as conceived of in itself and as spoken of unto you (MS. us), it is the marking-off of all things, and the firm uplifting of things fixed out of things unstable, and the harmony of wisdom, and indeed wisdom in harmony [this last clause in the MS. is joined to the next: 'and being wisdom in harmony']. There are of the right hand and the left, powers also, authorities, lordships and demons, workings, threatenings, wraths, devils, Satan, and the lower root whence the nature of the things that come into being proceeded.
99 This cross, then, is that which fixed all things apart (al. joined all things unto itself) by the (or a) word, and separate off the things that are from those that are below (lit. the things from birth and below it), and then also, being one, streamed forth into all things (or, made all flow forth. I suggested: compacted all into ). But this is not the cross of wood which thou wilt see when thou goest down hence: neither am I he that is on the cross, whom now thou seest not, but only hearest his (or a) voice. I was reckoned to be that which I am not, not being what I was unto many others: but they will call me (say of me) something else which is vile and not worthy of me. As, then, the place of rest is neither seen nor spoken of, much more shall I, the Lord thereof, be neither seen .
100 Now the multitude of one aspect (al. of one aspect) that is about the cross is the lower nature: and they whom thou seest in the cross, if they have not one form, it is because not yet hath every member of him that came down been comprehended. But when the human nature (or the upper nature) is taken up, and the race which draweth near unto me and obeyeth my voice, he that now heareth me shall be united therewith, and shall no more be that which now he is, but above them, as I also now am. For so long as thou callest not thyself mine, I am not that which I am (or was): but if thou hear me, thou, hearing, shalt be as I am, and I shall be that which I was, when I thee as I am with myself. For from me thou art that (which I am). Care not therefore for the many, and them that are outside the mystery despise; for know thou that I am wholly with the Father, and the Father with me.