The nested order — Aeon in God, cosmos in Aeon; the imperishable world
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Nous — ἐνέργειαι δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ νοῦς καὶ ψυχή, τοῦ δὲ αἰῶνος διαμονὴ καὶ ἀθανασία, τοῦ δὲ κόσμου ἀποκατάστασις καὶ ἀνταποκατάστασις, τοῦ δὲ χρόνου αὔξησις καὶ μείωσις, τῆς δὲ γενέσεως ποιότης. ὁ οὖν αἰὼν ἐν τῷ θεῷ, ὁ δὲ κόσμος ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι, ὁ δὲ χρόνος ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ἡ δὲ γένεσις ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ. καὶ ὁ μὲν αἰὼν ἕστηκε περὶ τὸν θεόν, ὁ δὲ κόσμος κινεῖται ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι, ὁ δὲ χρόνος περαιοῦται ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ἡ δὲ γένεσις γίνεται ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ. πηγὴ μὲν οὖν πάντων ὁ Θεός, οὐσία δὲ ὁ αἰών, ὕλη δὲ ὁ κόσμος· δύναμις δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ αἰών, ἔργον δὲ τοῦ αἰῶνος ὁ κόσμος, γενόμενος οὔποτε καὶ ἀεὶ γινόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος· διὸ οὐδὲ φθαρήσεταί ποτε, αἰών γὰρ ἄφθαρτος, οὐδὲ ἀπολεῖταί τι τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, τοῦ κόσμου ὑπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐμπεριεχομένου.
And the activities of God are Mind and soul; of the Aeon, permanence and immortality; of the cosmos, restoration and counter-restoration; of time, increase and decrease; of becoming, quality. So the Aeon is in God, the cosmos in the Aeon, time in the cosmos, and becoming in time. And the Aeon stands still about God, and the cosmos moves in the Aeon, and time passes across in the cosmos, and becoming happens in time. The source, then, of all is God, the essence the Aeon, the matter the cosmos; and the power of God is the Aeon, and the work of the Aeon is the cosmos, come to be never once and always coming to be by the Aeon; wherefore neither will it ever be destroyed, for the Aeon is imperishable, nor will anything of the things in the cosmos perish, the cosmos being encompassed by the Aeon.
Nous continues the scheme. The activities of God are Mind and soul; of the Aeon, permanence and immortality; of the cosmos, restoration and counter-restoration; of time, increase and decrease; of becoming, quality. So the Aeon is in God, the cosmos in the Aeon, time in the cosmos, becoming in time. And the Aeon stands still about God, the cosmos moves in the Aeon, time passes across in the cosmos, becoming happens in time. The source of all is God; the essence, the Aeon; the matter, the cosmos. The power of God is the Aeon, and the work of the Aeon is the cosmos — which came to be never once and is always coming to be by the Aeon; wherefore it will never be destroyed, for the Aeon is imperishable, nor will anything in the cosmos perish, the cosmos being encompassed by the Aeon.
The scheme deepens from essences to 'activities (ἐνέργειαι)' — what each level does. God's activities are 'Mind and soul'; the Aeon's, 'permanence and immortality'; the cosmos's, the great astronomical rhythm of 'restoration and counter-restoration (ἀποκατάστασις καὶ ἀνταποκατάστασις)' — the return of the heavens to their starting-point and the answering swing back; time's, 'increase and decrease'; becoming's, 'quality.' Each rung acts according to its nature, and the actions descend from the changeless to the ever-shifting.
Then the same five terms are set in two spatial relations, and the repetition is the argument. First containment: 'the Aeon is in God, the cosmos in the Aeon, time in the cosmos, becoming in time' — a nest of vessels, each held by the one above. Then motion: 'the Aeon stands still (ἕστηκε) about God, the cosmos moves (κινεῖται) in the Aeon, time passes across in the cosmos, becoming happens in time.' The Aeon alone is at rest; everything below it moves, and moves within what is more stable than itself. Eternity is the still point about which the whole turns.
The passage closes on the consequence the tradition cares about most: the world does not die. God is 'the source (πηγή) of all,' the Aeon the essence, the cosmos the matter; the Aeon is 'the power of God,' the cosmos 'the work of the Aeon' — and here comes the paradox that only the Aeon makes possible: the cosmos is 'come to be never once and always coming to be (γενόμενος οὔποτε καὶ ἀεὶ γινόμενος).' It has no single moment of origin and no end of origination; it is perpetually being made. 'Wherefore it will never be destroyed, for the Aeon is imperishable (ἄφθαρτος), nor will anything in the cosmos perish, the cosmos being encompassed by the Aeon (ὑπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐμπεριεχομένου).' The world is safe because it is wrapped in eternity — a doctrine sharply against the Poimandres' own ascent-from-the-perishable, and a reminder that the corpus holds more than one voice.
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