According to the Johannine tradition referred to by Clement of Alexandria, it was believed that "Christ imparted the truth to James the Just, to John and Peter, after His resurrection". These three disciples were said to share the threefold task of continuing His work - it was said that James the Just as Bishop of Jerusalem, carried on traditional Christianity, Peter was the organiser and ruled the Church, and John was said to have understood and preserved the spirit of the teaching. They formed the Triad, which springs from and is closest to the One. There was a similar Triad in the Hermetic tradition in which three disciples of Hermes Trismegistus, Asclepius, Ammon and Tat, represented knowledge, power and love.
    The Johannine tradition also says that the secret spiritual teaching received by John from Christ was handed down orally and survives to this day. Hints of this teaching are found in the Fourth Gospel, the First Epistle of St.John and in a cypher in the Revelation of St.John.