Pistis Sophia

and it giveth the counterfeiting spirit to its own region, and it giveth the apology and the seals to every one of the rulers who are on the ways,

Thereafter they lead it up on the way of the midst, and every one of the rulers of the way of the midst chastizeth it in his chastisements another six months and eight days.

“I have cried unto thee, O Lord, the whole day and have stretched forth my hands unto thee. 10. Wilt thou not surely work thy wonders on the dead?”

“It came to pass then again, after all this, that Mary came forward, adored the feet of Jesus and said: My Lord, be not wroth with me, if I question thee, because we question concerning everything with precision and certainty.”

and the receivers will not be able to seize it and will not know how the way is fashioned upon which it will go. For it becometh a great light-stream and soareth into the height, and no power is able to hold it down at all, nor | will they be able to come nigh it at all.

“The Saviour answered and said unto Mary in the midst of the disciples: If to-day a king who is a man of the world, giveth a gift to men of his like, and also forgiveth murderers and those who have intercourse with males, and the rest of the very grievous sins which are deserving of death,”

Let them be enwrapped in shame and disgrace who seek evil against me.'

“19. Now, therefore, O Light, let not them who hate me and desire to take away my power from me, rejoice over me--who hate me and flash their eyes against me, though I have not done anything unto them. 20. For indeed they have fawned upon me with sweet words, asking me concerning the mysteries of the Light which I know not, and have craftily spoken against me and been enraged against me, because I have had faith in the Light in the height.”

Melchisedec carrieth off the lights and leadeth them unto | the gate of those of the Midst and leadeth them into the Treasury of the Light,

“Mary answered and said: Blessed are we before all men because of these splendours which thou hast revealed unto us.”

“And I took from all a third of their power, that they should no more be active in their evil doings,”

“7. When sentence is passed upon him, may he go forth condemned and his prayer become sin. “8. May his days be shortened and another receive his overseership. 9. May his children become orphans and his wife a widow. 10. May his children be carried away and be driven forth and beg;”

“and was about to go unto the Light and depart from her, that she said unto me: O Light of lights, thou wilt go to the Light and depart from me. And Tyrant Adamas will know that thou hast departed from me and will know that my saviour is not at hand.”

“It came to pass, when Jesus had finished speaking these words unto his disciples, that Mary Magdalene came forward and said: My Lord, how many years of the years of the world is a year of the Light?”

“And Jesus continued again in his discourse and said unto his disciples: Hearken concerning the things which befell me among the rulers of the twelve æons and all their rulers and their lords and their authorities and their angels and their archangels.”

“The Saviour answered and said unto Mary: If a sinner is deserving of the outer darkness, or hath sinned according to the chastisements of the rest of the chastisements and hath not repented, or a sinning man who hath completed his number of circuits in the changes of the body and hath not repented,”

--it is the word which Pistis Sophia hath spoken: 'I am saved in thy goodness; for thou savest every one.'

“nor did she any more tremble at the demon power of Adamas which had come out of the æons. And moreover by commandment of myself, the First Mystery which looketh without, the light-stream which surrounded Pistis Sophia on all her sides, shone most exceedingly, and Pistis Sophia abode in the midst of the light, a great light being on her left and on her right, and on all her sides, forming a wreath round her head. And all the emanations of Self-willed [could] not change their face again, nor could they bear the shock of the great light of the stream, which was a wreath round her head. And all the emanations of Self-willed,--many of them fell at her right, because she shone most exceedingly, and many others fell at her left, and were not able at all to draw nigh unto Pistis Sophia because of the great light; but they fell all one on another, or they all came near one another, and they could not inflict any ill on Pistis Sophia, because she had trusted in the Light. And at the commandment of my Father, the First Mystery which looketh within, I myself went down into the chaos, shining most exceedingly, and approached the lion-faced power, which shone exceedingly, and took its whole light in it”

and cease not, until ye find the mysteries of the Light which will lead you into the Light-kingdom.

“For this cause therefore, have I said unto you aforetime: 'He who doth not abandon father and mother and come and follow after me, is not worthy of me.”

“that he said: Well said, finely, Mary.”

“And he will come again to this region, he and all his rulers who hate me, and Self-willed also will bestow power unto his lion-faced emanation, so that they all will come and constrain me all together and take my whole light from me, in order that I may become powerless and again without light. Now, therefore, O Light and my Light, take from them the power of their light, so that they may not be able to constrain me from now on.' It came to pass then, when I heard these words which Pistis Sophia had spoken unto me,”

and it giveth the honour and the glory and the laud of the seals and the songs of praise to all those of the region of the Light,'

“I have, therefore, said at that time: Ye are to abandon your parents the rulers, that I may make you sons of the First Mystery for ever.”

“may they be thrown out of their houses. 11. May the money-lender sift out all that he hath, | and may strangers plunder all his best efforts. 12. Let there be no man to back him, and no one to take pity on his orphans.”

and held fast all the emanations of Self-willed, so that from now on they went not into their region, that is the thirteenth æon. And I took away the power of all the emanations of Self-willed, and they all fell down in the chaos powerless. And I led forth Pistis Sophia, she being on the right of Gabriēl and Michaēl. And the great light-stream entered again into her. And Pistis Sophia beheld with her eyes her foes, that I had taken their light-power from them. And I led Pistis Sophia forth from the chaos, she treading under foot the serpent-faced emanation of Self-willed, and moreover treading under foot the seven-faced-basilisk emanation, and treading under foot the lion- and dragon-faced power.

and who hath never committed any sin of any kind,

“--if it becometh him who is a man of the world, to have done this, much more then have the Ineffable and the First Mystery, who are the lords of the universe, the authority to act in all things as it pleaseth them, that they forgive every one who shall receive mysteries. Or if on the other hand a king to-day investeth a soldier with a royal vesture and sendeth him into foreign regions, and he committeth murders and other grievous sins which are deserving of death, then they will not impute them to him,”

“This then is the solution of the second repentance which Pistis Sophia hath uttered.”

“The Saviour answered and said unto Mary and all the disciples: I will still reveal unto you all the splendours of the Height, from the interiors of the interiors to the exteriors of the exteriors, | that ye may be perfected in all gnosis and in all fulness and in the height of the heights and the depths of the depths.”

“Will not surely the physicians arise and confess thee? 11. Will they not surely proclaim thy name in the | tombs, 12. And thy righteousness in a land which thou hast forgotten?”

--if then these men of whom I have spoken, shall come out of the body and be led into the outer darkness, now, therefore, if ye desire to remove them out of the chastisements of the outer darkness and all the judgments and to remove them into a righteous body which shall find the mysteries of the Light, that it may go on high and inherit the Light-kingdom,

for there existeth no type in this world, to describe them, for there existeth in this world no likeness which is like unto them, that I may compare them therewith, nor greatness nor light which is like unto them,

When then they had seen the vesture of light which was about me,

“and why renunciation of all hath arisen and love of possessions hath arisen. And that mystery knoweth why love of the belly hath arisen”

“Jesus answered and said unto Mary: A day of the Light is a thousand years in the world, so that thirty-six-myriads of years and a half-myriad of years of the world are a single year of the Light.”

For thou hast said unto us aforetime: 'Seek that ye may find, and knock that it may be opened unto you. For every one who seeketh shall find, and to every one who knocketh it shall be opened.'

“21. They have opened their chops against me”

Say unto them: Beware of the doctrines of error. For many will come in my name and say: It is I. And it is not I, and they will lead many astray.

--they said this to one another, while Jesus sat a little removed from them.

“and that Yew withdraweth himself into the regions of those of the Right. Up to the time of the cipher for them to come forth again,”

and that, if the men who are in the world, invoke them in their mysteries

“The other Mary came forward and said: My Lord, bear with me and be not wroth with me. Yea, from the moment when thy mother spake with thee concerning the solution of these words, my power disquieted me to come forward and like-wise to speak the solution of these words.”

“But it will pass through all the regions of the rulers and all the regions of the emanations of the Light, and it will not give answers in any region, nor giveth it any apologies, nor giveth it any tokens;”

“This then, O my Lord, is the whole solution of the repentance which Pistis Sophia hath uttered, when she was saved out of the chaos and loosed from the bonds of the darkness.”

Thereafter they lead it to the Virgin of Light, who judgeth the good and the evil, that she may judge it.

“13. May his children be exterminated and his name blotted out in a single generation. 14. Let the sin of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,”

“Jesus said unto her: I bid thee speak their solution.”

--then perform this same mystery of the Ineffable which forgiveth sins at every time, and when ye have finished performing the mystery

And it came to pass then, on the fifteenth day of the moon in the month Tybi,

“The Saviour answered and said unto Peter: Finely, Peter; this is the solution of her repentance. Blessed are ye before all men on the earth, because I have revealed unto you these mysteries.”

--those which the angels who transgressed have brought down, that is their sorceries,

“13. But I have cried unto thee, O Lord, and my prayer shall reach thee early in the morning. 14. Turn not thy face away from me. 15. For I am miserable, I am in sorrow from my youth up. And when I had exalted myself, I humbled myself and arose.”

“Now, therefore, unto all men who come unto you and have faith in you and hearken unto your words and do what is worthy of the mysteries of the Light,”

Now, therefore, my Lord, who is it whom I shall seek, or who is it at whom we shall knock? Or | who rather is able to give us the decision upon the words concerning which we shall question thee? Or who rather knoweth the power of the words concerning which we shall question? Because thou in the mind hast given us mind of the Light and hast given us sense and an exceedingly exalted thought;

“and said.: Well indeed, we will take from her her light. “22. Now, therefore, O Light, thou hast known their guile; suffer them not and let not thy help be far from me. “23. Quickly, O Light, vindicate and avenge me, “24. And give judgment on me according to thy goodness. Now, therefore, O Light of lights, let them not take away my light from me, “25. And let them not say in their heart: Our power is glutted with her light. And let them not say: We have consumed her power. “26. But rather let darkness come upon them, and let those who long to take away my light from me, become powerless, and let them be clothed with chaos and darkness, who say there: We will take away her light and her power. 27. Now, therefore, save me that I may rejoice, for I long for the thirteenth æon, the region of Righteousness, and | I shall say ever-more: May the light of thy angel Yew shine more and more. 28. And my tongue will sing praises to thee in thy gnosis my whole time in the thirteenth æon.”

“And when | the Saviour had said this, Salome started forward and said: My Lord, if our parents are the rulers, how standeth it written in the Law of Moses: 'He who shall abandon his father and his mother, let him die the death'?”

“and why satiety hath arisen. “And that mystery knoweth why the paired have arisen and why the unpaired have arisen. And that mystery knoweth why impiety hath arisen and why fear of God hath arisen. And that mystery knoweth why the light-givers have arisen”

and such an one who never hath received mysteries of the Light, if the time is at hand when he goeth forth out of the body, then straightway come the receivers of one of the great triple-powers,--those among whom there is a great [one],--snatch away the soul of that man from the hands of the retributive receivers and spend three days circling with it in all the creatures of the world. After three days

that I answered her, saying: 'My Father, who hath emanated me, hath not yet given me commandment to take their light from them; but I will seal the regions of Self-willed and of all his rulers who hate thee because thou hast had faith in the Light.

It came to pass then when the First Mystery had heard Thomas say these words,

not only in this world, but they also have no likeness with those of the Height of Righteousness from their region upwards.

“and are not able to do him any evil because he is invested with the royal vesture,--how much more then those who wear the mysteries of the vestures of the Ineffable and those of the First Mystery, who are lords over all those of the height and all those of the depth!”

“I made Pistis Sophia continue to stand upon the seven-headed-basilisk emanation of Self-willed; and it was more mighty than them all in its evil doings. And I, the First Mystery, stood by it and took all the powers in it, and made to perish its whole matter, so that no seed should arise from it from now on.” |”

--concerning this word, my Lord, thou hast spoken aforetime through the mouth of our brother Paul: 'Give tax to whom tax is due,

neither will any power of the rulers nor any power of the emanations of the Light be able to come nigh that soul.

“And Mary continued and said to the Saviour: Lo, my Lord, we have openly, exactly and clearly known that thou hast brought the keys of the mysteries of the Light-kingdom, which forgive souls sins and purify them and make them into refined light and lead them into the Light.”

the rulers mutiny through the wrath of their wickedness, going straightway up to the lights, because they [Yew and Melchisedec] are not with them at that time, and they carry off the souls which they may be able to snatch away in ravishment, and destroy them through their dark smoke and their evil fire.

“I shall, therefore, pass a thousand years of the Light being king in the midst of the last Helper, and being king over all the emanations of the Light and over the whole number of the perfect souls who have received the mysteries of the Light.”

they and their unpaired, then every one of them saw the mystery of his name, that it was on my vesture of light, which was about me. They fell down all together, adored the vesture of light which was about me,

And when the sphere turneth itself, she handeth it over to her receivers, that they may cast it into the coons of the sphere.

and cried out all together, saying: 'How hath the lord of the universe passed through us without our knowing it?' And they all sang praises together to the interiors of the interiors. And all their triple-powers and their great forefathers and their ungenerated and their self-generated and their generated and their gods and their light-sparks and their light-bearers--in a word all their great ones--

“And when the First Mystery said this unto his disciples, he answered and said: Understand ye in what manner I discourse with you?”

“Hath not thus the Law made statement thereon?”

On this account, therefore, there existeth in fact no manner of describing them in this world because of the great glory of those of the Height and because of the great immeasurable greatness.

A PORTION OF THE BOOKS OF THE SAVIOUR

“they lead it down into the chaos, so as to lead it into all the chastisements of the judgments and to dispatch it to all the judgments. The fires of the chaos do not trouble it greatly; but they will trouble it partly for a short time. And with haste they take pity on it quickly,”

“and why the sparks have arisen. And that mystery knoweth why the thrice-powerful have arisen”

“then say: The soul of such or such a man of whom I think in my heart,--if it is in the region of the chastisements of the dungeons of the outer darkness, or if it is in the rest of the chastisements of the dungeons of the outer darkness and in the rest of the chastisements | of the dragons,--then is it to be removed out of them all.”

And I will also seal the regions of Adamas and of his rulers, so that none of them may be able to fight with thee, until their time is completed

Thereafter Jesus saw a woman who came to make repentance. | He had baptized her three times, and yet she had not done what was worthy of the baptisms. And the Saviour desired to try Peter, to see if he was compassionate and forgiving, as he had commanded them.

“At that time then this authority, with name Paraplēx, along with the demons which stand under her, carrieth off the souls of the violently passionate, of cursers and of slanderers and dispatcheth them through the dark smoke and destroyeth them through her evil fire, so that they begin to be undone and dissolved.”

But all the regions of the rulers and all the regions of the emanations of the Light,--every one singeth unto it praises in their regions, in fear of the light of the stream which envelopeth that soul, until it passeth through them all, and goeth to the region of the inheritance of the mystery which it hath received,--that is to the mystery of the One and Only, the Ineffable,--and until it becometh one with its Limbs.

“And ye, my disciples, and every one who shall receive the mystery of the Ineffable, will | abide with me on my right and on my left, being kings with me in my kingdom.”

“It came to pass, when Jesus had finished saying these words unto his disciples, that he said unto them: Who is sober among you, let him proclaim their solution.”

which is the day on which the moon is full,

--in order that, therefore, if they invoke them in their evil doings, they may not be able to accomplish them.

“Mary said: My Lord, 'Grace and truth met together,”

for which cause, therefore, no one existeth in the world of men nor any one in the height of the æons, who can give the decision on the words concerning which we question, save thee alone, who knoweth [sic] the universe, who is perfected in the universe; because we do not question in the manner in which the men of the world question,

Amēn, amēn, I say unto you: | I will perfect you in all fulness from the mysteries of the interior to the mysteries of the exterior and fill you with the spirit, so that ye shall be called 'spiritual, perfected in all fulness.' And, amēn, amēn, I say unto you: I will give unto you all the mysteries of all the regions of my Father and of all the regions of the First Mystery, so that he whom ye shall admit on earth, shall be admitted into the Light of the height; and he whom ye shall expel on earth, shall be expelled from the kingdom of my Father in the heaven. But hearken, therefore, and give ear attentively to all the repentances which Pistis Sophia hath uttered.

give the mysteries of the Light and hide them not from them. And unto him who is worthy of the higher mysteries, give them, and to him who is worthy of the lower mysteries, give them, and hide not anything from any one.

“16. Thy angers are come upon me and thy terrors have brought me into delusion.”

And the servitors of the sphere lead it forth to a water which is below the sphere; and it becometh | a seething fire and eateth into it, until it purifieth it utterly.

and the sin of his mother be not blotted out.

“that he said unto him: Well said, finely, Thomas, blessed one. This is the solution of the song which Pistis Sophia hath uttered.”

give fear to whom fear is due, give tribute to whom tribute is due, give honour to whom honour is due, and give laud to whom laud is due, and owe not any other anything,' | --that is, my Lord: The soul which receiveth mysteries, giveth apology to all regions. This, my Lord, is the second thought.

“And the Fate and the sphere over which they rule, I have changed and brought it to pass that they spend six months turned to the left and accomplish their influences,”

“James came forward and said: My Lord, concerning then the solution of the words which thou hast said,”

saw the tyrants of their region, that their power was diminished in them. And they were in weakness and themselves fell into great and immeasurable fear. And they gazed on the mystery of their name on my vesture, and they had set out to come and adore the mystery of their name which was on my vesture, and they could not because of the great light which was about me; but they adored a little removed from me, and they adored the light of my vesture and all cried out together, singing praises to the interiors of the interiors.

“And they who shall receive the three mysteries of that Ineffable, will be fellow-kings with you in the Light-kingdom; but they will not be alike with you and with those who receive the mystery of the Ineffable, but they will rather abide behind you, being kings.”