by Simone Weil

Simone Weil (1909–1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist whose notebooks, written during the last years of her life, contain some of the most extraordinary theological reflections of the twentieth century. These pages from her thirteenth notebook (Cahier XIII, designated K13), dated October 1942, show Weil collecting and meditating upon Greek scripture — particularly the promises to "the one who conquers" in the Book of Revelation — alongside Stoic philosophy, Pre-Socratic cosmology, and Aeschylean tragedy.

The notebook is a private commonplace book: reading lists, scripture quotations in the original Greek, theological aphorisms in French, numerological exercises in Hebrew Kabbalistic method, and stray notes all share the same pages. What unifies them is Weil's attention — her characteristic practice of holding disparate traditions in a single field of vision until their deep structures become visible.

Translated from the French and Greek by the New Tianmu Anglican Church. Source text from Simone Weil's original manuscript notebooks (1942).

Belief is aroused by the beauty of texts and the light one gains upon the human condition by meditating on them.

Genesis separates creation and original sin because of the necessities of a narrative told in human language. But the creature, in being created, preferred itself to God. Otherwise, would there have been creation? God created because he was good, but the creature let itself be created because it was evil. It redeems itself by persuading God, through the force of prayer, to destroy it.

Read the Excerpta Theodoti of Clement of Alexandria. The Gnostics — also Irenaeus and Hippolytus. Theodotus, disciple of Valentinus. Irenaeus, contemporary of Marcus Aurelius, born in Asia, around 140. His Adversus Haereses is the Latin translation of his Against Heresies. Hippolytus wrote The Labyrinth.

Read Origen. Read Justin the Martyr — second century — born in Samaria, but an enthusiast of philosophy.

Weil covers the remainder of this page with calculations based on the numerical values of Greek letters, applying the method of Hebrew Kabbalistic numerology. She evaluates several key words — Ἰησοῦς (Jesus), Καίσαρα (Caesar), Διόνυσος (Dionysus) — and attempts to interpret certain numbers, including the 666 of the Apocalypse.

The desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life.

— 1 John 2:16

Who is the one who conquers the world if not the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ — not by water alone, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies.

— 1 John 5:5–6

The One Who Conquers

Weil's notebook gathers every promise made to "the one who conquers" (ὁ νικῶν) across the Seven Letters to the Churches in Revelation 2–3. She copies them in the original Greek across the inside and outside covers of the notebook, assembling them as a single sequence.

To the one who conquers I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

— Revelation 2:7

The one who conquers shall not be harmed by the second death.

— Revelation 2:11

To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except the one who receives it.

— Revelation 2:17

The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end — I will give him authority over the nations, and he will shepherd them with an iron rod, as earthen vessels are shattered, as I also received from my Father. And I will give him the morning star.

— Revelation 2:26–28

The one who conquers shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

— Revelation 3:5

The one who conquers — I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall never go out of it. And I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from heaven from my God, and my new name.

— Revelation 3:12

The one who conquers — I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

— Revelation 3:21

Become approved money-changers.

— Extra-canonical saying of Jesus

The Notebook Covers

On the outside back cover of Cahier XIII, Weil copies passages from three Greek sources — Stoic, Pre-Socratic, and tragic — alongside a line from Paul. Read together, they form a meditation on divine order, cosmic love, the education of mortals through suffering, and the nature of light.

For you this whole cosmos, spinning around the earth,
obeys wherever you lead, and willingly is ruled by you.
Such a servant you hold in your unconquerable hands —
the double-edged, fiery, ever-living thunderbolt;
for under its stroke all the works of nature shudder.
With it you direct the universal Reason, which through all things
moves, mingling with the great and the lesser lights,
since you were born so great, the highest king through all eternity.

— Cleanthes, Hymn to Zeus, vv. 7–14

Zeus, when about to create, was transformed into Eros, because in composing the cosmos from opposites he brought it into agreement and friendship, and sowed sameness in all things, and a unity pervading the whole.

— Pherecydes, fr. 3 Diels-Kranz

Whoever cries out to Zeus with full heart, singing victory,
shall hit the mark of understanding entirely —
Zeus, who set mortals on the road to wisdom,
who established as a firm law:
by suffering, learning.

— Aeschylus, Agamemnon, vv. 170–173

All things being exposed by the light are made manifest; for everything that is made manifest is light.

— Paul, Ephesians 5:13–14

Colophon

This text is drawn from Simone Weil's thirteenth notebook (Cahier XIII, K13), written in October 1942 during her stay in New York before her departure for London. The notebook mixes French theological reflection with extensive Greek quotation — scripture, Stoic philosophy, Pre-Socratic cosmology, and Attic tragedy — held together by Weil's distinctive attention, which sought the same divine structure across all traditions.

Weil died on 24 August 1943 at the age of thirty-four.

Translated from the French and Greek by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Produced at the request of a friend of the archive.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

🌲

Source Text

French and Greek from Simone Weil's manuscript notebooks (Cahier XIII, K13), October 1942.

La croyance est suscitée par la beauté des textes et la lumière qu'on acquiert sur la condition humaine en méditant sur eux.

La Genèse sépare création et péché originel à cause des nécessités d'un récit fait en langage humain. Mais la créature en étant créée s'est préférée à Dieu. Autrement, y aurait-il eu création ? Dieu a créé parce qu'il était bon, mais la créature s'est laissé créer parce qu'elle était mauvaise. Elle se rachète en persuadant Dieu à force de prières de la détruire.

lire les Excerpta Theodoti de Clément d'Alexandrie. Gnostiques (aussi Irénée et Hippolyte). Théodotus, disciple de Valentinius. Irénée, contemporain de Marc Aurèle, né en Asie (en 140 ?). Adversus Haereses (traduction latine de son Πρὸς αἱρέσεις). Hippolyte « Le Labyrinthe ».

Lire Origène. Lire Justin le martyr. (2e siècle) — Né à Samarie, mais enthousiaste de philosophie.

[...] ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, καὶ ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου [...].

— 1 Jean 2:16

Τίς [δέ] ἐστιν ὁ νικῶν τὸν κόσμον εἰ μὴ ὁ πιστεύων ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ; Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἐλθὼν δι' ὕδατος καὶ αἵματος, Ἰησοῦς Χριστός· οὐκ ἐν τῷ ὕδατι μόνον, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ ὕδατι καὶ ἐν τῷ αἵματι· καὶ τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν τὸ μαρτυροῦν [...].

— 1 Jean 5:5–6

γίνεσθε δόκιμοι τραπεζῖται.

— Agraphon

Τῷ νικῶντι δώσω αὐτῷ φαγεῖν ἐκ τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς, ὅ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τοῦ θεοῦ.
— Ap 2:7

Ὁ νικῶν οὐ μὴ ἀδικηθῇ ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου τοῦ δευτέρου.
— Ap 2:11

Τῷ νικῶντι, δώσω αὐτῷ τοῦ μάννα τοῦ κεκρυμμένου καὶ δώσω αὐτῷ ψῆφον λευκήν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ψῆφον ὄνομα καινὸν γεγραμμένον, ὃ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν εἰ μὴ ὁ λαμβάνων.
— Ap 2:17

[Καὶ] ὁ νικῶν καὶ [ὁ] τηρῶν ἄχρι τέλους τὰ ἔργα μου δώσω αὐτῷ ἐξουσίαν ἐπὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ ποιμανεῖ αὐτοὺς ἐν ῥάβδῳ σιδηρᾷ, ὡς τὰ σκεύη τὰ κεραμικὰ συντρίβεται, ὡς κἀγὼ εἴληφα παρὰ τοῦ πατρός μου, καὶ δώσω αὐτῷ τὸν ἀστέρα τὸν πρωινόν.
— Ap 2:26–28

Ὁ νικῶν οὕτως περιβαλεῖται ἐν ἱματίοις λευκοῖς, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐξαλείψω τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς βίβλου τῆς ζωῆς, καὶ ὁμολογήσω τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐνώπιον τοῦ πατρός μου καὶ ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ.
— Ap 3:5

Ὁ νικῶν, ποιήσω αὐτὸν στῦλον ἐν τῷ ναῷ τοῦ θεοῦ μου, καὶ ἔξω οὐ μὴ ἐξέλθη ἔτι, καὶ γράψω ἐπ' αὐτὸν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ μου, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῆς πόλεως τοῦ θεοῦ μου, τῆς καινῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἡ καταβαίνουσα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ μου, καὶ τὸ ὄνομά μου τὸ καινόν.
— Ap 3:12

Ὁ νικῶν, δώσω αὐτῷ καθίσαι μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ μου, ὡς κἀγὼ ἐνίκησα καὶ ἐκάθισα μετὰ τοῦ πατρός μου ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ αὐτοῦ.
— Ap 3:21

σοὶ δὴ πᾶς ὅδε κόσμος ἑλισσόμενος περὶ γαῖαν
πείθεται ᾗ κεν ἄγης καὶ ἑκὼν ὑπὸ σεῖο κρατεῖται
τοῖον ἔχεις ὑποεργὸν ἀνικήτοις ὑπὸ χερσίν
ἀμφήκη πυρόεντα ἀειζώοντα κεραυνόν·
τοῦ γὰρ ὑπὸ πληγῆς φύσεως πάντ' ἐρρίγασιν·
ὧ σὺ κατευθύνεις κοινὸν λόγον, ὃς διὰ πάντων
φοιτᾷ μειγνύμενος μεγάλῳ μικροῖς τε φάεσσι
ὡς τόσσος γεγαώς, ὕπατος βασιλεὺς διὰ παντός.

— Cléanthe, Hymne à Zeus, vv. 7–14

... εἰς Ἔρωτα μεταβεβλῆσθαι τὸν Δία μέλλοντα δημιουργεῖν, ὅτι δὴ τὸν κόσμον ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων συνιστὰς εἰς ὁμολογίαν καὶ φιλίαν ἤγαγε καὶ ταυτότητα πᾶσιν ἐνέσπειρε καὶ ἕνωσις τὴν δι' ὅλων διήκουσαν.

— Phérécyde, fr. 3 Diels-Kranz

Ζῆνα δέ τις προφρόνως ἐπινίκια κλάζων
τεύξεται φρενῶν τὸ πᾶν·
τὸν φρονεῖν βροτοὺς ὁδώ-
σαντα, τῷ πάθει μάθος
θέντα κυρίως ἔχειν.

— Eschyle, chœur d'Agamemnon, vv. 170–173

τὰ δὲ πάντα ἐλεγχόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ φωτὸς φανεροῦται· πᾶν γὰρ τὸ φανερούμενον φῶς ἐστιν.

— Paul, Épître aux Éphésiens 5:13–14

Source Colophon

French text and Greek quotations from Simone Weil's manuscript notebooks (Cahier XIII, K13), dated October 1942. Weil's original manuscripts are held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, département des Manuscrits. Her writings entered the public domain in 2013 (life + 70 years; d. 24 August 1943).

🌲