BarbÃÂlà  (Greek: ÃÂñÃÂò÷ûÃÂ) refers to the first emanation of God in several forms of Gnostic cosmogony. BarbÃÂlà  is often depicted as a supreme female principle, the single passive antecedent of creation in its manifold. This figure is also variously referred to as 'Mother-Father' (hinting at her apparent androgyny), 'The Triple Androgynous Name', or 'Eternal Aeon'. So prominent was her place amongst some Gnostics that some schools were designated as Barbeliotae, BarbÃÂlà  worshippers or BarbÃÂlà  gnostics.
In the Apocryphon of John, a tractate in the Nag Hammadi Library containing the most extensive recounting of the Sethian Gnostic creation myth, the BarbÃÂlà  is described as "the first power, the glory, BarbÃÂlà Â, the perfect glory in the aeons, the glory of the revelation". All subsequent acts of creation within the divine sphere (save, crucially, that of the lowest aeon Sophia) occurs through her coaction with God. The text describes her thus:
BarbÃÂlà  is found in other Nag Hammadi writings:
In Zostrianos, Barbelo has three sublevels or subaeons that represent three distinct phases:
In The Gospel of Judas, Jesus challenges the Twelve Apostles to stand up and face him if they are "[strong enough] among humans to bring out the perfect Humanity. Only Judas is able to meet Jesus' challenge, standing before him and saying "I know who you are and where you've come from. You've come from the immortal realm of Barbelo, and I'm not worthy to utter the name of the one who's sent you." Jesus responds by commanding him to "Step away from the others and I shall tell you the mysteries of the kingdom." The scene is modeled after the Confession of Peter in the synoptic Gospels, where Jesus asks the Disciples who people say he is, and then who the disciples themselves think he is; Peter correctly states that he is the Messiah, and Jesus responds by giving him favored status among the Apostles (). There is a similar scene in the Gospel of Thomas, which climaxes with Thomas saying "Teacher, my mouth is utterly unable to say what you are like."
In the Pistis Sophia BarbÃÂlà  is named often, but her place is not clearly defined. She is one of the gods (p. 359), "a great power of the Invisible God" (373), joined with Him and the three "Thrice-powerful deities" (379), the mother of Pistis Sophia (361) and of other beings (49); from her Jesus received His "garment of light" or heavenly body (13, 128; cf. 116, 121); the earth apparently is the "matter of BarbÃÂlà Â" (128) or the "place of BarbÃÂlà Â" (373).
She is obscurely described by Irenaeus as "a never-aging aeon in a virginal spirit", to whom, according to certain "Gnostici", the Innominable Father wished to manifest Himself, and who, when four successive beings, whose names express thought and life, had come forth from Him, was quickened with joy at the sight, and herself gave birth to three (or four) other like beings.
She is noticed in several neighbouring passages of Epiphanius, who in part must be following the Compendium of Hippolytus, as is shown by comparison with Philaster (c. 33), but also speaks from personal knowledge of the Ophitic sects specially called "Gnostici" (i. 100 f.). The first passage is in the article on the Nicolaitans (i. 77 f.), but is apparently an anticipatory reference to their alleged descendants the "Gnostici" (77 A; Philast.). According to their view BarbÃÂlà  lives "above in the eighth heaven"; she had been 'put forth' (ÃÂÃÂÿòõòûá¿ÂÃÂøñù) "of the Father"; she was mother of Yaldabaoth (some said, of Sabaoth), who insolently took possession of the seventh heaven, and proclaimed himself to be the only God; and when she heard this word she lamented. She was always appearing to the Archons in a beautiful form, that by beguiling them she might gather up her own scattered power.
Others, Epiphanius further seems to say (78 f.), told a similar tale of Prunikos, substituting Caulacau for Yaldabaoth. In his next article, on the "Gnostici", or Borborites (83 C D), the idea of the recovery of the scattered powers of BarbÃÂlà  recurs as set forth in an apocryphal Book of Noria, Noah's legendary wife.
In both places Epiphanius represents the doctrine as giving rise to sexual libertinism. Mircea Eliade has compared these Borborite beliefs and practices involving BarbÃÂlà  to Tantric rituals and beliefs, noting that both systems have a common goal of attaining primordial spiritual unity through erotic and the consumption of menses and semen.
In a third passage (91 f.), enumerating the Archons said to have their seat in each heaven, Epiphanius mentions as the inhabitants of the eighth or highest heaven "her who is called BarbÃÂlà Â", and the self-gendered Father and Lord of all things, and the virgin-born (ñá½ÂÃÂÿûÃÂÃÂõàÃÂÿý) Christ (evidently as her son, for according to Irenaeus her first progeny, "the Light", was called Christ); and similarly he tells how the ascent of souls through the different heavens terminated in the upper region, "where BarbÃÂrà  or BarbÃÂlà  is, the Mother of the Living" ().
Theodoret (H. F. f. 13) merely paraphrases Irenaeus, with a few words from Epiphanius. Jerome several times includes BarbÃÂlà  in lists of portentous names current in Spanish heresy, that is, among Priscillianists; Balsamus and Leusibora being three times associated with it (Ep. 75 c. 3, p. 453 c. Vall.; c. Vigil. p. 393 A; in Esai. lxvi. 4 p. 361 c; in Amos iii. 9 p. 257 E).
In Gnostic accounts of God, the notions of impenetrability, stasis and ineffability are of central importance. The emanation of BarbÃÂlà  may be said to function as an intermediary generative aspect of the Divine, or as an abstraction of the generative aspect of the Divine through its Fullness. The most transcendent hidden invisible Spirit is not depicted as actively participating in creation. This significance is reflected both in her apparent androgyny (reinforced by several of her given epithets), and in the name BarbÃÂlà  itself. Several plausible etymologies of the name (ÃÂñÃÂò÷ûÃÂ, ÃÂñÃÂò÷ÃÂÃÂ, ÃÂñÃÂò÷ûÃÂø) have been proposed.