Autogenes

The **Autogenes** is the first child of Barbelo venerated in Gnosticism, being considered the equivalent of God the Son of Christianity among theologians, with Barbelo being the equivalent of God the Holy Spirit and the Bythos equivalent of God the Father.

## Overview

The Autogenes is the pre-existence state of the Jesus Christ in the Bet Universe, being the third emanation of the Unknown Father and the Ineffable Mother, whose consort and female counterpart is Sophia.

Autogenes was distinct and separate from the earthly Jesus Christ, with the earthly Messiah being only an imperfect and flawed shadow of the true form of Autogenes.

## Appearance

Their physical appearance is said to be similar to the appearance of Jesus Christ during his thirties, possessing dark skin, greasy hair and beard, and dressed in the simple clothing of the Hebrew people. However, the true appearance of the Autogenes is believed to be androgynous, having physical characteristics of both genders, due to the fact that it is the neutral aspect of God, while the Father is the positive masculine aspect and Barbelo the negative feminine aspect, the Autogenes would be the androgynous neutral aspect.

## Myths and Legends

The concept of the Autogenes seems to be inspired by the concept of the preexistence of Jesus Christ, which is the idea that God the Son already existed before his birth in 6-4 BCE (or His spiritual manifestation in 30-33 CE, as Gnosticism is a docetist).

The word Autogenes has different meanings, these being: "the Self-Generated One", "Self-Begotten" and "Self-Born", probably referring to the fact that the Unknown Father was not generated by anything or anyone, but was generated from himself.

In some Gnostic systems there was also the idea that the earthly Jesus was separate from the spiritual Son of God, with the earthly Messiah being only an imperfect and flawed shadow of the true, spiritual Khristós, with some Gnostics claiming that Jesus was just a human who achieved enlightenment through gnosis and taught his disciples to do the same.

This concept also exists in the goddess Sophia, who some Gnostics believed that there were two Sophia, one being the spiritual, perfect and virgin, while the other was the earthly Sophia, who "separated" from the spiritual Sophia and fell into the material world. This fallen Sophia becomes a world creative power.

## Quotes

*"And the mind wanted to perform a deed through the word of the invisible Spirit. And his will became a deed and it appeared with the mind; and the light glorified it. And the word followed the will. For because of the word, Christ the divine Autogenes created everything. And the eternal life (and) his will and the mind and the foreknowledge attended and glorified the invisible Spirit and Barbelo, for whose sake they had come into being." - The Apocryphon of John.*

*"In this world, Earthlings know me as Autogenes. But in your world I am known by another name. You must know me through it. Having known me a little here, you will get to know me better there." - Autogenes to Virgo.*

## Trivia

* They apparently has a connection to Jesus Christ, probably being an alter ego or even being its most primal aspect, personifying in an even simpler way the state of "God" as the "Son", which is the neutral androgynous aspect of God.