Pistis Sophia

“He is a man in the world, but he towereth above the emanations of the Treasury of the Light and will raise himself above them all.”

Adamas will attempt this. But I will take all thy powers from him and give them unto thee, and I will come to take them.

But they saw only the light, which shot forth many light-rays.

the soul on the other hand senseth to seek after the region of righteousness which is mixed, which is the region of the commixture; the counterfeiting spirit on the other hand seeketh after all evils and lusts and all sins;

“The Saviour answered and said unto him: Question concerning that on which thou desirest to question, and I will reveal it unto thee face to face without similitude.”

“It came to pass then, when Jesus had heard his mother Mary speak these words, that he said: Well said, and finely.”

and again renounceth the whole world and the whole matter therein

“Moreover I have transgressed, that thy commandment may be accomplished.' This then Pistis Sophia said. Now, therefore, let him whom his spirit urgeth to understand her words, come forward and proclaim her thought.”

“Jesus said unto him: Well said, Andrew, blessed one. This is the solution of her repentance.”

“4. May all who seek thee, be joyful and exult because of thee, and they who love thy salvation, say ever: May God be exalted.”

“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,”

“that Mary came forward and said: My Lord, I have heard thee say aforetime: 'Pistis Sophia is herself one of the four-and-twenty emanations, how then is she not in their region? | But thou hast said: 'I found her below the thirteenth æon.”

“But if they are sinners and are come out of the body and have not repented, and if ye perform for them the mystery of the Ineffable, in order that they may be removed out of all the chastisements and be cast into a righteous body, which is good and inheriteth the Light-kingdom or is brought into the last order of the Light,”

[But] if it sayeth the mysteries and undoeth all the seals and all the bonds and [sayeth] the apology of the region, and if it cometh, then let it go forth, for it belongeth to those of the Light of the Height and hath become a stranger unto us and unto thee, and thou wilt not be able to seize it from this hour onwards.

thou sayest in order that we may understand the word which thou hast spoken.

The souls then which this ruler will carry off in ravishment, pass one-hundred-and-twenty-and-eight years in his regions, while his demons torment them through his dark smoke and his wicked fire, so that they begin to be ruined and destroyed.

“Jesus answered and said: A murderer who | hath never committed any sin but murdering, if his time is completed through the sphere, that he cometh out of the body, the receivers of Yaldabaōth come and lead his soul out of the body and bind it by its feet to a great demon with a horse's face, and he spendeth three days circling round with it in the world.”

“5. But I am wretched, I am poor; O Lord, help me. Thou art my helper and defence; O Lord, delay not.”

“And Jesus answered and said unto his disciples: It came to pass, when Pistis Sophia was in the thirteenth æon, in the region of all her brethren the invisibles, that is the four-and-twenty emanations of the great Invisible,--it came to pass then by command of the First Mystery”

“It cometh to pass then, when the sphere turneth itself and the little Sabaōth, the Good, he of the Midst, who is called Zeus,”

“And Andrew answered and said: My Lord, I am astonished and marvel exceedingly, how the men who are in the world and in the body of this matter, if they come forth out of this world, will pass through these firmaments and all these rulers and all lords and all gods and all these great invisibles and all those of the region of the Midst and those of the whole region of the Right and all the great [ones] of the emanations of the Light, and enter into them all and inherit the Light-kingdom.”

“then they will not be able to penetrate the regions, because they do not perform the mystery [themselves]. But the receivers of Melchisedec follow them and lead them before the Virgin of Light. And | the servitors of the judges of the rulers make frequent haste to take those souls and hand them over from one to the other until they lead them before the Virgin of Light.”

“Thereafter they lead it into the regions of the cold and of the snow, and they take vengeance on it there three years and six months.”

Now, therefore, if they constrain thee at that time, then sing praises to the Light, and I will not delay to help thee. And I will quickly come unto thee to the regions which are below thee.

“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?”

“7. Thou hast freed them out of the tombs and hast removed them from the midst of the corpses. “8. Thou hast taken dead bones and hast clothed them with a body and to them who stirred not, hast thou given the activity of life. 9. Thy way is become indestructibleness and thy face [also]. 10. Thou hast led thy æon above decay, so that they all may be loosed and renewed and thy light become a foundation for them all.”

“Martha came forward and said: “My Lord, my spirit urgeth me to proclaim the solution of that which Pistis Sophia hath spoken; thy power hath prophesied aforetime concerning it through David in the fiftieth Psalm, saying thus: “1. Be gracious unto me, O God, according to thy | great grace; according to the fulness of thy mercy blot out my sin. “2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. 3. And may my sin be ever present to thee, 4. That thou mayest be justified in thy words and prevail when thou judgest me.”

and again is in great repentance, and we know it with certainty that he is not a play-actor, so that we turn and give him the mysteries of the beginning,

It came to pass then, when Jesus had finished saying these words unto his disciples,

the body on the contrary senseth nothing unless it taketh up force out of the matter.

--this word, therefore, which thou saidest, thou hast not gone forward to complete the word.

Amēn, amēn, I say unto you: I will perfect you in all mysteries of the Light and all gnoses from the interiors of the interiors to the exteriors of the exteriors, from the Ineffable down to the darkness of darknesses, from the Light of lights down to the . . . . of matter, from all the gods down to the demons, from all the lords down to the decans, from all the authorities down to the servitors, from the creation of men down to [that] of the wild-beasts, of the cattle and of the reptiles, in order that ye may be called perfect, perfected in | all fulness.

If on the contrary it sayeth not the mysteries of the undoing of thy bonds and of thy seals and of the apologies of the region, then seize it and let it not out; thou shalt transfer it to the chastisements and all the regions of the judgments on account of all the sins which thou hast made it do.

“He is a man in the world, but he towereth above the Mixture | and will raise himself entirely above it.”

“And if I lead you into the twelve æons, then will ye see the glory in which they are; and because of the great glory the region of the rulers of the Fate will count for you as the darkness of darknesses, and it will have for you the condition of a speck of dust because of the great distance it is far distant from it and because of the great condition it is considerably greater than them, as I have already said unto you at another time.”

And the light-rays were not like one another,

Hearken, therefore, my Lord, that I may discourse in openness.

“This is the solution of all the words concerning which my light-power hath prophesied aforetime through the prophet David.”

“For this cause, therefore, my brethren have heard and have let go and ceased to sense in what manner thou discoursest with them. Concerning the word which thou saidest unto them, now, therefore, my Lord, if the gnosis of all this is in that mystery, where is the man who is in the world, who hath the ability to understand that mystery with all its gnoses and the type of all these words which thou hast spoken concerning it?”

“This matter, therefore, is hard for me.”

“This then is the solution of the third repentance which Pistis Sophia hath uttered, singing praises to the height.”

“Thereafter they lead it down into the chaos before Yaldabaōth and his forty-and-nine demons, and every one of his demons scourgeth it another three years and six months.”

“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,”

“And Mary continued and said unto the Saviour: My Lord, if a man hath received the mysteries of the Light which [are] in the first space from without,”

“which [are] in the first space from without;--in like manner, if he turneth again and sinneth and is in every type [of sin];--desirest thou that we forgive him unto seven times and give him the mysteries which are in the first space from without, unto seven times or not?”

Amēn, amēn, I say unto you: In the region where I shall be in the kingdom of my Father,

“that Pistis Sophia gazed into the height. She saw the light of the veil of the Treasury of the Light, and she longed to reach to that region, and she could not reach to that region. But she ceased to perform the mystery of the thirteenth æon, and sang praises to the light of the height, which she had seen in the light of the veil of the Treasury of the Light. It came to pass then, when she sang praises to the region of the height, that all the rulers in the twelve æons, who are below, hated her, because she had ceased from their mysteries, and because she had desired to go into the height and be above them all.”

but the light was of divers kind,

“This is then the solution of the words which Pistis Sophia hath uttered.” Jesus said unto her: “Well said, finely, Martha, blessed [one].”

cometh, and when he cometh to the ninth æon of the sphere which is called the Archer, and when Boubastis, who is called in the world Aphroditē, cometh, and she cometh to the third æon of the sphere which is called the Twins,

And I will come down to their regions to take their light from them. And I will come to this region whither I have removed thee, and which is below the thirteenth | æon, until I bring thee to thy region whence thou art come.'

| (Now these are the names which I will give from the Boundless onward. Write them with a sign, that the Sons of God may be revealed from here on.

“11. Thou hast piled thy riches upon them and they have become a holy dwelling-place.”

“that Mary Magdalene came forward again, continued and said unto Jesus: My Lord, in what type will be those who have received the mystery of the Light, in the midst of the last Helper?”

“And straightway the three develop sense, every one according to its nature. And the retributive receivers assign the servitors to follow them and be witnesses of all the sins which they commit, with a view to the manner and method how they will chastize them in the judgments.”

“The word which thou hast spoken: 'I have taken a third from the power of the rulers of all the æons,”

“He is a man in the world, but he towereth above the whole region of the Treasury and will raise himself entirely above it.”

“And if I lead you moreover into the thirteenth æon, then will ye see the glory in which they are;”

“After this lead [such souls] before the Virgin of Light, who sendeth them once more into the circuit.' The rulers of the great Fate of the æons hand these over to the counterfeiting spirit; and the rulers summon the servitors of their æons, to the number of three-hundred-and-sixty-and-five, and give them the soul and the counterfeiting spirit, which are bound to one another. The counterfeiting spirit is the without of the soul, and the compound of the power is the within of the soul, being within both of them, in order that they may be able to stand, for | it is the power which keepeth the two up-right.”

ye will also be with me.

“And Jesus continued again in the discourse and said unto his disciples: It came to pass then, when Pistis Sophia had said these words, that the time was fulfilled that she should be led out of the chaos. And of myself, without the First Mystery, I despatched out of myself a light-power, and I sent it down to the chaos, so that it might lead Pistis Sophia forth from the deep regions of the chaos, and lead [her] to the higher regions of the chaos, until the command should come from the First Mystery that she should be led entirely forth out of the chaos. And my light-power led Pistis Sophia up to the higher regions of the chaos. It came to pass then, when the emanations of Self-willed had noticed that Pistis Sophia was led forth into the higher regions of the chaos, that they also sped after her upwards, desiring to bring her again into the lower regions of the chaos. And my light-power, which I had sent to lead up Sophia out of the chaos, shone exceedingly.”

and changed their Fate and their sphere over which they rule,

This is the name of the Immortal: aaa, ōōō; and this is the name of the Voice, for the sake of which the Perfect Man hath set himself in motion: iii. And these are the interpretations of the names of these mysteries: the first [name], which is aaa, its interpretation is fff;

“The Saviour answered again and said unto John: Not only forgive him unto seven times,”

and it was of divers type, from below upwards,

“And Mary answered and said: My Lord, in what type then do | the baptisms forgive sins? I heard thee say:”

And the rulers give commandment to the servitors, saying unto them: This is the type which ye are to put into the body of the matter of the world.' They say unto them indeed: 'Put the compound of the power, the within of the soul, within them all, that they may be able to stand, for it is their up-rightness,

“This then, my Lord, is the solution of the song which Pistis Sophia hath uttered. Hearken, therefore, that I may say it in openness. The word which thy power hath spoken through Solomon: 'Who hath led me down out of the higher regions which are above, he hath also led me up out of the regions which are in the bottom below,”

“He is a man in the world, but he will rule with me in my kingdom.”

“then the veils which are between those of the Left and those of the Right, draw themselves aside, and there looketh forth Zarazaz, whom the rulers call with the name of a mighty ruler of their regions 'Maskelli,' and he looketh on the dwellings of Parhedrōn Typhōn, so that his regions are dissolved and destroyed. And all the souls which are in his chastisements are carried and cast back anew into the sphere, because they are reduced through his dark smoke and his wicked fire.”

“the twelve æons will count for you as the darkness of darknesses, and ye shall look at the twelve æons, how it [sc. their region] will have for you the likeness of a speck of dust because of the great distance it is far distant from it, and because of the great condition it is considerably greater than the former. Of the glory of the Midst.''And if I lead you into the region of those of the Midst,”

“It came to pass then, when Jesus had heard Martha speak these words, that he said unto her: Well said, Martha, and finely.” And Jesus continued again in the discourse and said unto his disciples: “Pistis Sophia again continued in the fourth repentance, reciting it before she was oppressed a second time, in order that the lion-faced power and | all the material emanations with it, which Self-willed had sent into the chaos, might not take away her total light in her. She uttered then this repentance as follows: 1. O Light, in whom I have trusted, give ear to my repentance, and let my voice reach unto thy dwelling-place. 2. Turn not away thy light-image from me, but have heed unto me,”

“And after this the counterfeiting spirit | contriveth and senseth all sins and the evil which the rulers of the great Fate have commanded for the soul, and it maketh them for the soul.”

and when the time of the mysteries up to which they reach, is completed,

which hearken unto him and forgive his sins. 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,

“When then Andrew had said this, the spirit of the Saviour was roused in him; he cried out and said: How long am I to endure you? How long am I to bear with you? Have ye then not even yet understood and are ye ignorant? Know ye then not and do ye not understand that ye and all angels and all archangels and the gods and the lords and all the rulers and all the great invisibles | and all those of the Midst and those of the whole region of the Right and all the great [ones] of the emanations of the Light and their whole glory,”

“It came to pass then, when Jesus had heard Mary say these words and knew that the disciples had heard and had begun to let go, that he encouraged them and said unto them: Grieve no more, my disciples, concerning the mystery of, the Ineffable, thinking that ye will not understand it. Amēn, I say unto you: That mystery is yours,”

“And Jesus answered and said unto Mary in the midst of the disciples: They who have received the mystery of the Light, if they come out of the body of the matter of the rulers, then will every one be in his order according to the mystery which he hath received. Those who have received the higher mysteries, will abide in the higher order; those who have received the lower mysteries will be in the lower orders.”

For this cause then they were enraged against her and hated her, [as did] the great triple-powered Self-willed, that is the third triple-power, who is in the thirteenth æon, he who had become disobedient, in as much as he had not emanated the whole purification of his power in him,

“Thereafter they lead it down into the chaos before Persephonē and take vengeance on it with her chastisements another three years and six months. Thereafter they carry it on to the way of the midst, and every one of the rulers of the way of the midst taketh vengeance on it with the chastisements of its regions another three years and six months.”

“It came to pass then, when Pistis Sophia had heard me say these words unto her, that she rejoiced with great joy. But I removed her to the region which is below the thirteenth æon.”

and every one's who will give ear unto you, so that they renounce this whole world and the whole matter therein and renounce all the evil thoughts therein and renounce all the cares of this æon.

“Thereafter they lead it unto the Virgin of Light, who judgeth the righteous and the sinners, that she may judge it.”

“Again he continued in the discourse and said unto this disciples: The fifth order, whose ruler is called Yachthanabas, is a mighty ruler under whom standeth a multitude of other demons.”

“He is a man in the world, but he is king in the Light.”

The retributive servitors follow the soul, being witnesses to it for all the sins which it committeth, that they may convict it in the judgments.'

one [ray] more excellent than the other, . . ., in one great immeasurable glory of light;

“In a word, up to what region every one hath received mysteries, there will he abide in his order in the Inheritance of the Light. For which cause I have said unto you aforetime: 'Where your heart is, there will your treasure be,'--that is up to what region every one hath received mysteries, there shall he be.”

“if they oppress me; and save me quickly at the time when I shall cry unto thee. “3. For my time is vanished like a breath and I am become matter. “4. They have taken my light from me, and my power is dried up. I have forgotten my mystery which heretofore I was wont to accomplish. “5. Because of the voice of the fear and the power of Self-willed my power is vanished. “6. I am become as a demon apart, who dwelleth in matter and light is not in him, and I am become as a counterfeiting spirit, which is in a material body and light-power is not in it. “7. And I am become as a decan who is alone in the air. 8. The emanations of Self-willed have sore oppressed me, and my pair hath said unto himself: 9. Instead of with light which was in her,”

but amēn, I say unto you: Forgive him unto many times seven times, and every time give him the mysteries from the beginning onwards which are in the first space from without. Perchance ye win the soul of that brother and he inheriteth the Light-kingdom.

“And when the perfect number is completed, so that the Mixture shall be dissolved, I will give commandment that they bring all tyrant gods, who have not given up the purification of their light, and will give commandment to the wise fire, over which the perfect pass, to eat into those tyrants, until they give up the last purification of their light.”

“and had not given the purification of his light at the time when the rulers gave their purification, in that he desired to rule over the whole thirteenth æon | and those who are below it. It came to pass then, when the rulers of the twelve æons were enraged against Pistis Sophia, who is above them,”

It came to pass then, when the emanations of Self-willed pursued Sophia, | when she had been led into the higher regions of the chaos,

in order that, if the race of men invoke them in the mysteries--those which the angels who transgressed have taught them for the accomplishing of their evil

“and after the soul put the counterfeiting spirit.' Thus they give commandment to their servitors, that they may deposit it into the bodies of the antitype.”

and if that man continueth anew to receive mysteries of the mysteries which [are] within the mysteries which he hath already received, and moreover that man hath become negligent, not having prayed in the prayer which taketh away the evil of the victuals which he eateth and drinketh, and through the evil of the victuals he is bound to the axle of the Fate of the rulers and through the necessity of the elements he hath sinned anew

the second, which is mmm or ōōō, its interpretation is aaa; the third, which is ps ps ps,