On the Origin of the World 23

1So, when Sophia Zoe saw the archons of darkness placing a curse on her companions, she became furious. Leaving the first heaven with full power, she pursued those archons, drove them out of [their] heavens, and threw them down into the world of transgression, making them dwell there as wicked demons on the earth.

2[She sent out a bird], [] which would spend its thousand years in Paradise in their world—a living creature endowed with soul, called the “phoenix.” It kills itself and comes back to life in order to bear witness to the judgment (decreed) against them, because they mistreated Adam and his race, even to the consummation of the age.

3There are three kinds of men, along with their descendants, until the consummation of the world: those endowed with spirit, those endowed with soul, and the earthly. Similarly, there are three phoenixes <inside> Paradise: the first is deathless, and the second lives for 1,000 years. Concerning the third, it is written in the sacred Scripture that it is consumed. Similarly, there are also three baptisms: the first is spiritual, the second is with fire, and the third is with water.

4Just as the phoenix symbolizes the angels, so also does the water hydri in Egypt symbolize those who descend into the baptism of a true man.

5The two bulls in Egypt have a symbolic meaning, namely, the sun and the moon. This is a symbol of Sabaoth, because Sophia obtained the universe from the day she fashioned the sun and the moon, placing a seal on her heaven until the age ends.

6The worm born from the phoenix also symbolizes a human being, concerning whom it is written, “The just man will blossom like a phoenix,” and the phoenix first appears alive, then dies and rises again, serving as a symbol of what will happen at the consummation of the age.

7These powerful symbols appeared only in Egypt and nowhere else, to indicate [] that it resembles the Paradise of God.