GLOSSARY^807
excited state." See Bentley Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 43. Another version is also given:
Esthesis-Z-Ouch-Epi-Ptoe, which may mean "the seven senses (?) are not in an ex-
cited state."
Eve Legendary first mother of human beings in Genesis and many gnostic texts. The name
is sometimes said to be related to the Hebrew word for "life." In the Septuagint Eve is
called Zoe, Greek for "life."
Fate Greek heimarmene. In the Greco-Roman world fate was considered to be the over-
whelming force that determines the destiny of all that is earthly and heavenly. Coming
to expression in the inexorable movements of the heavenly bodies, fate was commonly
understood astrologically, and the power of fate was often thought to exceed that of the
gods and goddesses. Fate, then, may be the ultimate bondage. Referred to in the Secret
Book of John, On the Origin of the World, and elsewhere.
Father of greatness Eternal divine manifestation of good in Manichaean thought.
Fatima Daughter of Muhammad the prophet, figure of the divine realm of five in the
Mother of Books.
Female Gender category used symbolically to designate what is physical and earthly (for
example, the divine described as mother earth).
First thought See PROTENNOIA.
Five Pentad, quintet; realm of the divine father, consisting of Barbelo and four personified
attributes (foreknowledge, incorruptibility, life eternal, and truth) in Sethian texts.
Since the five is androgynous, it is also called the ten, and it constitutes the divine father
in emanation. In the Mother of Books the divine realm of five includes Muhammad,
Ali, Fatima, Hasan, and Husayn, and ten is a perfect number. In the Valentinian Gospel
of Philip there are five sacraments. Five trees of paradise are referred to in Gospel of
Thomas 19, Manichaean sources, and the Mother of Books. In Manichaean and neo-
manichaean texts many things are presented in groups of five. See also FIVE SEALS.
Five seals Part of the Sethian ritual of baptism. In Three Forms of First Thought the five
seals may be linked to gnostic ecstatic ascent to the divine.
Forethought Greekpronoia. See BARBELO.
Fullness Pleroma, or state of being filled with the divine.
Gabriel Angel and archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition. Gabriel is an an-
gelic minister to the luminary Oroiael in the Gospel of the Egyptians and elsewhere.
Gabriel plays a prominent role within Islam and is referred to, along with other angels,
in the Mother of Books.
Gamaliel Angelic minister to the luminary Harmozel in the Gospel of the Egyptians and a
prominent angelic figure in Sethian texts.
Ganymede Youth of great beauty kidnapped to become the cupbearer for Zeus in Greek
mythology. Referred to in the Book of Baruch.
Garment Symbol of the body that is put on at birth and taken off at death.
Gehenna Valley of Hinnom, an unholy ravine near Jerusalem, often identified with hell.
Referred to in the Gospel of the Great Supper and elsewhere.
Geradamas Geradama, heavenly Adam in Sethian texts. The name Geradamas probably
derives from Hebrew, and it may mean "Adam the stranger" (Hebrew, ger adam). See
Howard M. Jackson, "Geradamas, the Celestial Stranger"; Goehring and Robinson, "The
Three Steles of Seth," in Pearson, ed., NagHammadi Codex VII, 388. Another suggestion: