THE DEVIL (DEMIURGE) AND HIS MOTHER
Yaldabaoth[edit]
A lion-faced deity found on a Gnostic gem in
Bernard de Montfaucon's
L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures may be a depiction of the Demiurge.
In the
Ophite and
Sethian systems, which have many affinities with the teachings of Valentinus, the making of the world is ascribed to a company of seven
archons, whose names are given, but still more prominent is their chief, "Yaldabaoth" (also known as "Yaltabaoth" or "Ialdabaoth").
In the
Apocryphon of John c. AD 120–180, the demiurge arrogantly declares that he has made the world by himself:
Now the
archon ["ruler"] who is weak has three names. The first name is Yaltabaoth, the second is Saklas ["fool"], and the third is
Samael. And he is impious in his arrogance which is in him. For he said, 'I am God and there is no other God beside me,' for he is ignorant of his strength, the place from which he had come.
[24]
He is Demiurge and maker of man, but as a ray of light from above enters the body of man and gives him a soul, Yaldabaoth is filled with envy; he tries to limit man's knowledge by forbidding him the fruit of knowledge in paradise. At the consummation of all things, all light will return to the
Pleroma. But Yaldabaoth, the Demiurge, with the material world, will be cast into the lower depths.
[25]
Yaldabaoth is frequently called "the Lion-faced",
leontoeides, and is said to have the body of a serpent. The demiurge is also
[26] described as having a fiery nature, applying the words of Moses to him: "the Lord our God is a burning and consuming fire". Hippolytus claims that Simon used a similar description.
[27]
In
Pistis Sophia, Yaldabaoth has already sunk from his high estate and resides in Chaos, where, with his forty-nine demons, he tortures wicked souls in boiling rivers of pitch, and with other punishments (pp. 257, 382). He is an archon with the face of a lion, half flame, and half darkness.
Under the name of
Nebro (rebel), Yaldabaoth is called an angel in the
apocryphal Gospel of Judas. He is first mentioned in "The Cosmos, Chaos, and the Underworld" as one of the twelve angels to come "into being [to] rule over chaos and the [underworld]". He comes from heaven, and it is said his "face flashed with fire and [his] appearance was defiled with blood". Nebro creates six angels in addition to the angel
Saklas to be his assistants. These six, in turn, create another twelve angels "with each one receiving a portion in the heavens".