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6. Mary answered and said: "My Lord, I have understood the mysteries of the things which
have fallen to this woman's lot. Concerning the things then which have fallen to her lot,

thou hast spoken unto us aforetime in similitude, saying:
7. 'A man owned a fig-tree in his vineyard; and he came to look for its fruit, and he
found not a single one on it. He said to the vine-dresser: Lo, three years do I
come to look for fruit on this fig-tree, and I have not any produce at all from it.
Cut it down then; why doth it make the ground also good for nothing?
8. But he answered and said unto him: My lord, have patience with it still this year,

until I dig round it and give it dung; and if it beareth in another year, thou hast
let it, but if thou dost not find any [fruit] at all, then hast thou [to] cut it down.'
Lo, my Lord, this is the solution of the word."

9. The Saviour answered and said unto Mary: "Well said, spiritual [one]. This is [the
solution of] the word."

CHAPTER 123
1. Mary continued again and said unto the Saviour: "My Lord, a man who hath received
mysteries and hath not done what is worthy of them, but he hath turned and hath
sinned, thereafter he hath again repented and hath been in great repentance,--is it then

lawful for my brethren to renew for him the mystery which he hath received, or rather
give him a mystery out of the lower mysteries,--is it lawful, or not?"
2. The Saviour answered and said unto Mary: "Amēn, amēn, I say unto you: Neither the
mystery which he hath received, nor the lower hearken unto him, to forgive his sins; but
it is the mysteries which are higher than those which he hath received, which hearken
unto him and forgive his sins.

3. Now, therefore, Mary, let thy brethren give him the mystery which is higher than that
which he hath received, and they are to accept his repentance from him and forgive his
sins,--the latter indeed, because he hath received it once more, and the former, because
he hath towered over them [the lower mysteries] upward,--the latter indeed

hearkeneth not unto him to forgive his sin; but it is the mystery which is higher than
that which he hath received, that forgiveth his sins.
4. But if on the other hand he hath received the three mysteries in the two spaces or in the
third from within, and he hath turned and transgressed, no mystery hearkeneth unto
him to help him in his repentance, neither the higher nor the lower, save the mystery of
the First Mystery and the mysteries of the Ineffable,--it is they which hearken unto him

and accept his repentance from him."