Pistis Sophia

--the latter indeed, because he hath received it once more, and the former, because he hath towered over them [the lower mysteries] upward,

“And the inner power stirreth the soul to seek after the region of the Light and the whole god-head;”

“I went to the Light and departed from her.” And all these adventures the First Mystery told to the disciples, that they should come to pass for Pistis Sophia. And he sat on the Mount of Olives, narrating all these adventures in the midst of the disciples.”

“--that ye all one with another are out of one and the same paste and the same matter and the same substance, and that ye all are out of the same Mixture. And at the commandment of the First Mystery the Mixture was constrained, until all the great [ones] of the emanations of the Light and all their glory purified themselves, and until they purified themselves from the Mixture. And they have not purified themselves of themselves,”

then will ye see the glory in which they are; the thirteen æons will count for you as the darkness of darknesses.

“And when the sphere turneth itself, she commandeth that it shall be cast into the outer darkness until the time when the darkness of the midst shall be upraised; it [the soul] will be destroyed and dissolved. This is the chastisement of the murderer.”

its interpretation is ooo; the fourth, which is fff, its interpretation is nnn; the fifth, which is ddd, its interpretation is aaa. He on the throne is aaa. This is the interpretation of the second: aaaa, aaaa, aaaa; this is the interpretation of the whole name.)

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

It is they which enter into men and bring it about that they have respect of persons,--treating the just with injustice, and favour the cause of sinners, taking gifts for a just judgment and perverting it, forgetting the poor and needy,--they [the demons] increasing the forgetfulness in their souls and the care for that which | bringeth no benefit, in order that they may not think of their life, so that when they come out of the body, they are carried in ravishment.

--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. 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,

“And he continued again and said unto them: And it came to pass again after this, while I was in the world of men”

and hated her exceedingly, that the great triple-powered Self-willed, of whom I have just now told you,

and the counterfeiting spirit leadeth away the soul and compelleth it continually to do all its lawless deeds, all its mischiefs and all its sin, and is persistently allotted to the soul and is hostile to it, and making it do all this evil and all these sins.

“that she again sang praises and cried out unto me, saying: 1. I will sing praises unto thee, O Light, for I desired to come unto thee. I will sing thee praises, O Light, for thou art my deliverer. 2. Leave me not in the chaos. Save me, O Light of the Height, for it is thou that I have praised.”

they have filled her with chaos. I have devoured the sweat of my own matter and the anguish of the tears from the matter of my eyes, so that they who oppress me may not take the rest.

And following this fashion the servitors of the rulers bring the power and the soul and the counterfeiting spirit, bring them down to the world, and pour [them] out into the world of the rulers of the midst. The rulers of the midst look after the counterfeiting spirit; and also the destiny, whose name is Moira, leadeth the man until it hath him slain through the death appointed unto him,

it stretched from under the earth right up to heaven.

“It came to pass, when Jesus had finished saying these words unto his disciples, that John came forward and said unto Jesus: My Lord and my Saviour, give me also commandment that I discourse before thee,”

“Now, therefore, I say unto you: | For every one who will renounce the whole world and all therein and will submit himself to the godhead,”

after the completion of the time up to which the mystery reacheth,--because he hath become negligent and hath not prayed in the prayer which taketh away the evil of the souls and purifieth them,

“but they have purified themselves by necessity according to the economy of the One and Only, the Ineffable. They indeed have not at all suffered”

And again ye will look at the twelve æons | and upon the whole Fate and the whole ordering and all the spheres and all the others in which they are; they will have for you the condition of a speck of dust because of the great distance it [sc. their region] is distant from it and because of the great condition it is considerably greater than the former.

“He is a man in the world, but he is not one of the world. And amēn, I say unto you: That man is I and I am that man. And at the dissolution of the world, that is when the universe will be raised up”

“Now, therefore, my Lord, do the mysteries of the baptisms wipe out the sins which are in the hands of the retributive servitors, so that they forget them? Now, therefore, my Lord, tell unto us the type, how they forgive sins; nay, we desire to know it with sureness.”

and lawless deeds in the mystery of their sorcery,'

“For this cause, therefore, when ye questioned me aforetime, | saying: 'If our brother sin against us, desirest thou that we forgive him unto seven times?'--I answered and spake unto you in a similitude, saying: 'Not only unto seven times, but unto seventy times seven.”

and when the numbering of the perfect souls will be raised up all together, and when I am king in the midst of the last Helper, being king over all the emanations of the Light and king over the seven Amēns and the five Trees and the three Amēns and the nine guards,

“Peter said: My Lord, let the women | cease to question, in order that we also may question.”

“and have not at all changed themselves in the regions, nor at all torn themselves asunder nor poured themselves into bodies of different kinds and from one into another, nor have they been in any affliction at all. Ye then in particular are the refuse of the Treasury”

“And it goadeth on the retributive servitors, so that they are witnesses in all the sins which it will make it do.”

that mystery is far easier than all the mysteries of the Light-kingdom and it is sooner to understand than them all and it is easier [?] than them all.

“And the Saviour answered and said unto Mary: Finely hast thou spoken. The servitors indeed are they who bear witness to all sins; but they abide in the judgments, seizing the souls and convicting all the souls of sinners who have received no mysteries; and they keep them fast in the chaos, chastizing them.”

--and that man is come out of the body before he hath repented anew and anew received the mysteries of the mysteries which [are] within the mysteries which he hath already received,--those which accept repentance from him and forgive his sins,

--in order then that they may no more from this hour accomplish their lawless deeds,

--And when the disciples saw that light, they fell into great fear and great agitation. |

“3. Thou has sent me thy light through thyself and hast saved me. Thou hast led me to the higher regions of the chaos.”

“--it is they which hearken unto him and accept his repentance from him.”

“The souls then which this ruler will carry off in ravishment, are in his chastisements one-hundred-and-fifty years and eight months; and he destroyeth them through his dark smoke and his wicked fire, while they are exceedingly afflicted through the flames of his fire.”

“that he said unto them: Understand ye in what manner I speak with you?”

joined himself to the rulers of the twelve æons, and also was enraged against Pistis Sophia and hated her exceedingly, because she had thought to go to the light which is higher than her. And he emanated out of himself a great lion-faced power, and out of his matter in him

“And if I lead you into the region of those of the Right, then will ye see the glory in which they are; the region of those of the Midst will count for you as the night which is in the world of men. And if ye look at the Midst,”

“and be not wroth with me if I question concerning all with precision and certainty; for thou, my Lord, hast promised me in a promise to make revelation unto us of all concerning which I shall question thee. Now, therefore, my Lord, hide nothing from us at all in the matter on which we shall question thee.”

and sat in the way, that is in this region which is the Mount of Olives, before my vesture was sent unto me, which I had deposited in the four-and-twentieth mystery from the interior, but the first from the exterior, which is the Great Uncontainable, in which I am enwrapped, and before I had gone to the Height to receive my second vesture,--while I sat with you in this region, which is the Mount of Olives,

“10. All this hath befallen me, O Light, by thy”

which the rulers of the great Fate have bound to the soul. And the servitors of the sphere bind the soul and the power and the counterfeiting spirit and the destiny. And they portion them all and make them into two portions and seek after the man and also after the woman in the world to whom they have given signs, in order that they may | send them into them. And they give one portion to the man and one portion to the woman in a victual of the world or in a breath of the air or in water or in a kind which they drink.

“Now, therefore, forgive him many times and every time give him the mysteries which are in the first space which is from without. Perchance ye win the soul of that brother and he inheriteth the Light-kingdom.”

it will have for you the condition of a speck of dust because of the great distance the region of those of the Right is considerably distant from it.

And those retributive receivers cannot overstep the chaos to reach to the orders which are above the chaos, and convict the souls which come forth out of those regions.

and being king over the Child of the Child, that is the Twin-saviours,

It came to pass then, when that light-power had come down over Jesus, that it gradually surrounded him entirely.

“And Jesus answered in great compassion and said unto John: To thee also, blessed John, and beloved, I give commandment to speak the word which pleaseth thee, and I will reveal it unto thee face to face without similitude, and I will say unto thee | all on which thou wilt question me with precision and certainty.” And John answered and said unto Jesus: “My Lord,”

“he emanated a host of other very violent material emanations, and sent them into the regions below, to the parts of the chaos, in order that they might there lie in wait for Pistis Sophia and take away her power out of her, because she thought to go to the height which is above them all, and moreover she had ceased to perform their mystery, and lamented continuously and sought after the light which she. had seen. And the rulers who abide, or persist, in performing the mystery, hated her, and all the guards who are at the gates of the æons, hated her also. It came to pass then thereafter by command of the First Commandment that the great triple-powered Self-willed, who is one of the three | triple-powers,”

“4. May the emanations of Self-willed which pursue me, sink down into the lower regions of the chaos, and let them not come to the higher regions to see me. “5. And may great darkness cover them and darker gloom come over them. And let them not see me in the light of thy power, which thou hast sent unto me to save me, so that they may not again get dominion over me. “6. And let not their resolution which they have formed, to take away my power, take effect for them. And as they have spoken against me, to take from me my light, take rather from them theirs instead of mine. 7. And they have proposed to take away my whole light and have not been able to take it, for thy light-power was with me. 8. Because they have taken counsel without thy commandment, O Light,”

“Amēn, amēn, I say unto you: He who shall keep in Life and save only one soul, besides the dignity which he possesseth in the Light-kingdom,”

Moreover also if it will rest in the night [or] by day, it stirreth it in dreams or in lusts of the world,

He who reacheth unto the gnosis of that mystery, renounceth this whole world and all the cares therein.

“And when the sphere turneth itself and the little Sabaōth, the Good, who is called in the world Zeus, cometh, and he cometh to the eleventh æon of the sphere which is called the Water-man, and when Boubastis cometh to the fifth æon of the sphere which is called the Lion, then the veils which are between those of the Left and those of the Right, draw themselves aside, and there looketh out of the height the great Iaō, the Good, he of the Midst, on the regions of Yachthanabas, so that his regions are dissolved and destroyed. And all the souls which are in his chastisements are carried off and cast back anew into the sphere, because they are ruined in his chastisements.”

“Mary answered and said: My Lord, a man who hath received mysteries up to two or three | in the second or third space, and he hath not transgressed, but is still in his faith in uprightness and without play-acting, [what will befall him]?”

“Jesus said unto Mary and the women: Give opportunity to your men brethren, that they also may question.”

“All this I will tell unto you and the species of every soul and the type, how they enter into the bodies, whether of men or of birds or of cattle or of wild beasts or of reptiles or of all the other species in the world. I will tell you their type, in what type they enter into men; I will tell it you at the expansion of the universe.”

that the time was completed of which I had said to Pistis Sophia: 'Adamas and all his rulers will constrain thee.'

because thou hast taken their power from them

--and when he I came forth out of the body and we knew with certainty that they have carried him into the midst of the dragon of the outer darkness because of the sins which he committed, and that that man hath no helper in the world nor any one compassionate, that he should perform the mystery of the Ineffable until he should be removed out of the midst of the dragon of the outer darkness and led into the Light-kingdom,--now, therefore, my Lord, what will befall him until he save himself from the chastisements of the dragon of the outer darkness?

“Mary said: Yea, Lord, I have understood the word which thou hast spoken. Concerning then the word which thou hast said: At the dissolution of the whole Mixture thou shalt take thy seat on a light-power and thy disciples, that is ourselves, shall sit on the right of thee, and thou shalt judge the tyrant gods, who have not given up the purification of their light, and the wise fire will bite into them, until they give up the last light in them,”

and ye are the refuse of the region of the Right and ye are the refuse of the region of those of the Midst and ye are the refuse of all the invisibles and of all the rulers; in a word, ye are the refuse of all these.

“and maketh it to lust after all the things of the world. In a word, it driveth [?] it into all the things which the rulers have commanded for it and it is hostile to the soul, making it do what pleaseth it not. Now, therefore, Mary, this is in fact the foe of the soul, and this compelleth it until it doeth all sins. Now, therefore, if | the time of that man is completed,”

Then Jesus ascended or soared into the height, shining most exceedingly in an immeasurable light.

“--concerning this word then thy light-power prophesied aforetime through David, in the eighty-first Psalm, saying: God shall sit in the assembly (synagogue) | of the gods and try the gods.”

“For this cause have I said to you aforetime: 'All ye who are heavy under your burden,”

and being king over the twelve saviours and over the whole numbering of the perfect souls who shall receive the mysteries in the Light,

By no means, O Lord, abandon him, because he hath endured sufferings in the persecutions and in the whole godhood in which he is.

“he will receive yet another dignity for the soul which he hath saved, so that he who shall save many souls, besides the dignity which he possesseth in the Light he will receive many other dignities for the souls which he hath saved.”

and from their horoscope-casters and their consulters and from those who declare to the men in the world all things which shall come to pass,

“therefore have they not been able to take away my light. 9. Because I | have had faith in the Light,”

“And if I lead you into the Light-land, that is into the Treasury of the Light, and ye see the glory in which they are, then will the region of those of the Right count for you as the light at mid-day in the world of men, when the sun is not out; and if ye look at the region of those of the Right, it will have for you the condition of a speck of dust because of the great distance the Treasury of the Light is distant from it.”

And ye are in great sufferings and great afflictions in your being poured from one into another of different kinds of bodies |

“Peter answered and said: My Lord, a robber and thief, whose sin is this persistently, when he cometh out of the body, what is his chastisement?”

“And the Saviour answered and said unto Mary: Every man who hath received mysteries in the second and in the third space, and hath not transgressed, but is still in his faith without play-acting, it is lawful for such an one to receive mysteries in the space which pleaseth him, from the first to the last, because they have not transgressed.”

“will then every one abide in the region up to which he hath received the mysteries, and hath he no power to go. into other orders which are above him; and hath he no power to go into the orders which are below him?”

“These then are the doings of the ways of the midst concerning which ye have questioned me.”

Now then it is not lawful to use force on the souls which receive mysteries, and lead them into the chaos, so that the retributive servitors may convict them. But the retributive servitors convict the | souls of the sinners and they keep fast those who have received no mysteries which may lead them out of the chaos.

“It came to pass then, when that time came on,”

pursued Sophia in the thirteenth æon, in order that she should look towards the parts below, so that she might see in that region his lion-faced light-power and long after it and go to that region, so that her light might be taken from her.

“Now, therefore, when the servitors of the rulers cast the one portion into the woman and the other into the man in the fashion which I have told you,”

--and I was in the world of men, | sitting with you in this region, which is the Mount of Olives,

“Jesus said: If the time of such an one is completed through the sphere, the receivers of Adōnis come after him, and lead his soul out of the body, and they spend three days circling round with it and instructing it concerning the creatures of the world. Thereafter they lead it down into the Amente before Ariēl, and he taketh vengeance on it in his chastisements three months, eight days and two hours.”

“Mary continued again and said: My Lord, a man who hath known the godhead and hath received of the mysteries of the Light, and hath turned and transgressed and done lawlessly and hath not turned to repent, and a man on the other hand who hath not found the godhead nor known it, and that man is a sinner and moreover impious, and they both have come out of the body,”

And the disciples gazed after him and none of them spake,

come hither unto me, and I will quicken you. For my burden is easy and my yoke is soft.'

The souls on the other hand which receive mysteries,--they have no power of convicting them, because they do not come forth out of their regions, and also, if they come forth into their regions, they are not able to obstruct them; nay, they cannot lead them into that chaos.

“And Jesus answered and said unto John: Finely indeed do ye question on all with precision and certainty.”

“Now, therefore, O Saviour, have mercy with me, lest one of our kinsmen should be in such a type, and have mercy with all the souls which shall be in this type; for thou art the key which openeth the door of the universe and shutteth the door of the universe, and thy mystery comprehendeth them all.”

“And if I lead you into the region of those who have received the inheritances and have received the mysteries of the Light, and ye see the glory of the Light in which they are,”

“Jesus said unto her: Well said, Mary.”

then the servitors secretly compel them, even if they are removed at very great distance from one another, so that they concert to be in a concert of the world.

--then will all men who shall receive the mysteries in the Ineffable, be fellow-kings with me and will sit on my right and on my left in my kingdom.

in order that they should no more from this hour know how to declare unto them any thing at all which will come to pass (for thou hast changed their spheres,

“And when the disciples had heard this, they fell down, adored him and said: Help us now, Lord, and have mercy upon us, in order that we may be preserved from these wicked chastisements which are prepared for the sinners.”

“It came to pass then thereafter”

“When then the Saviour had said this, John started forward and said: My Lord, bear with me if I question thee, for from now on I will begin to, question thee on all things concerning the manner, how we are to herald it to mankind.”