Pistis Sophia

“and said: Yea, my Lord, reveal unto us: What is the use of the ways of the midst? For we have heard from thee that they are set over great chastisements.”

“and still sang praises in a second repentance, saying thus: 1. Light of lights, in whom I have had faith,”

And all their bonds were unloosed and their regions and their orders; and every one left his order,

“have not taken for themselves from the lights of Pistis Sophia, which they had spoiled from the emanations of Self-willed, but they have poured them into Pistis Sophia. “And again the word which it hath spoken: They whose power was taken away, have gotten joy of heart,'--that is: All the other powers of Pistis Sophia, which the emanations of Self-willed have not taken, are become exceedingly merry and have filled themselves with light from their light-fellows, for these have poured it into them. | And the word which thy power hath spoken: 'They have quickened souls, having poured in the breath, so that they should not die,'--that is: When they had poured the lights into Pistis Sophia, they quickened the body of her matter, from which they had before taken its lights, and which was on the point of perishing. And again the word which thy power hath spoken: 'They have raised up limbs which were fallen, or that they should not fall,'--that is: When they poured into her her lights, they raised up all her powers which were on the point of being dissolved.”

“All this then which I have said unto you, will not take place at this time, but it will take place at the consummation of the æon, that is at the ascension of the universe; that is at the dissolution of the universe and at the total ascension of the numbering | of the perfect souls of the inheritances of the Light.”

“They will not return to the changes of the bodies from that hour onwards and will not be able to do anything, but they will be cast out into the outer darkness and perish and be non-existent for ever.”

But if it is one out of the refuse of the purification of the Light, then Melchisedec, the great Receiver of the Light, taketh it [sc. the refuse] up from the rulers, or far rather if it is out of the tears of their eyes or out of the breath of their mouth,--in a word, out of such souls,

“Lo, this is it on which ye question me.”

and that soul giveth the Virgin of Light the seals and the glory of the songs of praise.

Truth' on the other hand is the power which went forth out of thee, when thou wast in the lower regions of the chaos. For this cause thy power hath said through David 'Truth sprouted out of the earth,' because thou wert in the lower regions of the chaos. 'Righteousness' on the other hand which hath 'looked down from heaven,'

“The third mystery of that Ineffable on the other hand,”

and they cast them into this world of mankind, and they become souls in this region, as I have just said unto you.

(Selah.)

“anēmph. Forgive [sing.] the sins of these souls, blot out their iniquities which they have knowingly and unknowingly committed, which they have committed in fornication and adultery unto this day; forgive them then and make them worthy to be reckoned with the kingdom of my father, so that they are worthy to receive of this offering, holy Father.”

“and wherefor it hath come forth from the twelfth Pro-thrice-spiritual, which is in the last region of the Fatherless. And that mystery knoweth wherefor all the regions which are in the space of the Ineffable, and all those in them, have expanded themselves,”

“Because of thy commandment, the light in me is distracted and my power and my understanding. “10. My power hath begun to wane whiles I am in these afflictions, and the number of my time whiles I am in the chaos. My light is diminished, for they have taken away my power from me, and all the powers in me are tossed about. “11. I am become powerless in the presence of all the rulers of the æons, who hate me, and in the presence of the four-and-twenty emanations, in whose region I was. And my brother, my pair, was afraid to help me, because of that in which they have set me. 12. And all the rulers of the height have counted me as matter in which is no light. I am become as a material power which hath fallen out of the rulers, 13. And all who are in the æons said: She hath become chaos. And thereafter all the pitiless powers encompassed me together and proposed to take away the whole light in me.”

“and I have made wroth the commandment of the Light, because I had gone out of my region. 12. And when I | had gone down, I failed of my light and became without light,”

“and why everlasting eternity hath arisen. And that mystery knoweth why the reptiles have arisen and why they will be destroyed. And that mystery knoweth why the wild beasts have arisen |”

“Say unto those who abandon the doctrines of truth of the First Mystery: Woe unto you, for your chastisement is sad compared with [that of] all men. For ye will abide in the great cold”

When then Jesus had spoken these words unto his disciples,

“and no one had helped me. 13. And in my affliction I sang praises unto the Light, and it saved me out of my afflictions. 14. And it hath also broken asunder all my bonds”

“and wherefor they have come forth from the last Limb of the Ineffable. And that mystery knoweth itself, wherefor it hath rent itself asunder to come forth from the Ineffable,--that is from That which ruleth them all and which expanded them all according to | their orders.”

nor as to the seven Amēns, that is the seven Voices, what is their region, how they are expanded.

who saveth thee from all the afflictions with which the emanations of Self-willed have constrained thee;

when the five rulers portion it and make it into different souls,--or far rather if it is an old soul, then the ruler who is in the head of the æons, himself mixeth the cup of forgetfulness with the seed of wickedness, and he mixeth it with every one of the new souls at the time when he is in the region of the head.

“This is what ye shall say unto men, if ye make proclamation unto them in order that they may guard themselves from the doctrines of error. | Now, therefore, for the sake of sinners have I rent myself asunder and am come into the world, that I may save them. For even for the righteous, who have never done any evil and have not sinned at all,”

“And the First Mystery answered and said unto Thomas: I give thee commandment to set forth the solution of the song”

leave me not in the darkness until the end of my time.

How then, my Lord, will we remove or escape from them? Or in what way do they seize the souls? Or | how long a time do they spend in their chastisements? Have mercy upon us, our Lord, our Saviour, in order that the receivers of the judgments of the ways of the midst may not carry off our souls and judge us in their evil judgments,

and they fell down all together, adored before me, or before my vesture, and all sang praises together to the interiors of the interiors, being in great fear and great agitation.

“And again as thy light-power hath spoken: They have received again their light and have become as they were before ';”

“Before the consummation, therefore, this which I have said unto you, will not take place, but every one will be in his own region, into which he hath been set from the beginning, until the numbering of the ingathering of the perfect souls is completed. The seven Voices and the five Trees and the three Amēns and the Twin-saviours and the nine guards and the twelve saviours and those of the region of the Right and those of the region of the Midst, every one will abide in the region in which they have been set, until the numbering of the perfect souls of the inheritances of the Light shall be raised up all together. And also all the rulers who have repented,”

And the Virgin of Light and also the seven other virgins of the Light together prove that soul and find together their signs in it and their seals and their baptisms and their chrism.

“--it is the power which hath come down from the height through the First Mystery and hath entered into Pistis Sophia.”

“And Mary answered and said: Now, therefore, my Lord, hast thou then not brought mysteries into the world that man | may not die through the death which is appointed him by the rulers of the Fate,--be it that it is appointed one to die by the sword or die by the waters or through tortures and torturings and acts of violence which are in the law, or through any other evil death,”

“If thou then, Father, hast heard me and forgiven the sins of these souls | and blotted out their iniquities, and hast made them worthy to be reckoned with thy kingdom, mayest thou give me a sign in this offering.”

“and why they will be destroyed. And that mystery knoweth why the cattle have arisen and why the birds have arisen.”

“This then they accomplished continuously before their power was diminished in them and they waned and became exhausted, or powerless.”

and ice and hail in the midst of the dragon and of the outer darkness, and ye will never from this hour on be cast [up] into the world,

“6. The righteous will see and be afraid, and they will mock at him and say: 7. Lo, a man who made not God for his helper, but trusted to his great riches and was mighty in his vanity.”

“14. But I have trusted in thee, O Light, and said: Thou art my saviour. 15. And my commandment, which thou hast decreed for me, is in thy hands.”

--the man indeed who shall accomplish that mystery,

“And when the Saviour had said this, he said unto his disciples: Understand ye in what manner I speak with you?” Mary answered | and said: “I have seized on the words which thou hast said.”

“he said unto them: Who hath ears to hear, let him hear; and let him whose spirit seetheth up in him, come forward and speak the solution of the thought of the fifth repentance of Pistis Sophia.”

And Jesus had not told his disciples of what type are the five Helpers, nor into what region they are brought;

“4. Who hath saved thy light | from the emanations of Self-willed which belong to destruction; who hath wreathed thee with light in his compassion, until he saved thee;”

not only if he [himself] cometh forth out of the body, will he inherit the kingdom of the mystery, but if he complete that mystery and accomplish it with | all its figures, that is if he go through with that mystery and accomplish it finely and pronounce the name of that mystery over a man who cometh forth out of the body and hath known that mystery,--let the former have delayed or rather not have delayed,--one who is in the dire chastisements of the rulers and in their dire judgments and their manifold fires,

it is necessary that they should find the mysteries which are in the Books of Yew, which I have made Enoch write in Paradise, discoursing with him out of the tree of the Gnosis and out of the tree of the Life. And I made him deposit them in the rock Ararad, and set the ruler Kalapataurōth, who is over Skemmūt, on whose head is the foot of Yew, and who surroundeth all æons and Fates,

“And that cup of forgetfulness becometh the counterfeiting spirit for that soul, and bideth outside the soul, being a vesture for it and resembling it in every way, being envelope as vesture outside it. And the five great rulers of the great Fate of the æons and the ruler of the disk of the sun and the ruler of the disk of the moon”

“Of all these then will I speak unto you at the expansion of the universe--in a word, all those whom I have spoken of unto you: those who will arise and those who will come,”

“which Pistis Sophia sang unto me.”

“2. Help me and save me through thy mysteries; incline thine ear unto me and save me. “3. May the power of thy light save me and carry me to the higher æons; for thou wilt save me and lead me into the height of thy æons. “4. Save me, O Light, from the hand of this lion-faced power and from the hands of the emanations of god Self-willed. “5. For it is thou, O Light, in whose light I have had faith and in whose light I have trusted from the beginning. “6. And I have had faith in it from the time when it emanated me, and thou thyself didst make me to emanate; and I have had faith in thy light from the beginning. “7. And when I had faith in thee, the rulers of the æons mocked at me, saying: She hath ceased in her mystery. Thou art | my saviour and thou art my deliverer and thou art my mystery, O Light. “8. My mouth was filled with glorifying, that I may tell of the mystery of thy grandeur at all times. “9. Now, therefore, O Light, leave me not in the chaos for the completion of my whole time; forsake me not, O Light. 10. For all the emanations of Self-willed have taken from me my whole light-power and have surrounded me. They desired to take away my whole light from me utterly and have set a watch on my power, 11. Saying one to another together: The Light hath forsaken her, let us seize her and take away the whole light in her.”

“And I left that region behind me and came to the gate of the second sphere, which is the Fate.”

“so that we ourselves may inherit the Light of thy father and not be wretched and destitute of thee.”

“and again the word which it hath spoken: 'They have given light unto their eyes,'--that is: They have received sense in the Light and known the light-stream, that it belongeth to the Height. And again the word which it hath spoken: 'They all have known themselves in the Lord,'--that is: All the powers of Pistis Sophia have known one another through the light-stream.”

It came to pass then, when Jesus had heard these words,

And the sign which Jesus had said [? besought] happened.

And the Virgin of Light | sealeth that soul and the receivers of the Light baptize that soul and give it the spiritual chrism;

“And that mystery knoweth why the mountains have arisen and why the precious stones therein have arisen. And that mystery knoweth why the matter of gold hath arisen”

It came to pass then, when they became powerless, that their power began to cease in them, so that they became exhausted in their power, and their light, which was in their region, ceased

hast thou then not brought mysteries into the world that man may not die with them through the rulers of the Fate, but that he may die by a sudden death, so that he endure no sufferings through such kinds of death?

“8. But I am as a fruit-bearing olive-tree in the house of God. I have trusted in the grace of God from all eternity.”

but ye shall be frozen up [?] in that region and at the dissolution of the universe ye will perish and become non-existent eternally.

“Save me out of the hands of the emanations of Self-willed, which oppress me and persecute me. “16. Send thy light over me, for I am as naught before thee, | and save me according to thy compassion. 17. Let me not be despised, for I have sung praises unto thee, O Light. Let chaos cover the emanations of Self-willed, let them be led down into the darkness. 18. Let the mouth of them be shut up, who would devour me with guile, who say: Let us take the whole light in her,--although I have done them no ill.”

“they also will abide in the region into which they have been set, until the numbering of the souls of the Light shall be raised up all together. [The souls] will all come, every one at the time when he will receive the mysteries;”

and led me up out of the darkness and the affliction of the chaos.

Now, therefore, my Lord, this is the word which thou hast said: 'They who shall receive the mysteries of the Ineffable,--blessed indeed are those souls;

And when Jesus had finished saying these words, Philip started forward, held up and laid down the book in his hand,

“15. I will give thanks unto thee, O Light, that thou hast saved me and that thy wondrous works have been wrought in the race of men. “16. And thou hast shattered the upper gates of the darkness and the mighty bolts of the chaos. “17. And thou didst let me depart out of the region in which I had transgressed, and my light was taken, because I have transgressed. 18. And I ceased from my mysteries and went down to the gates of the chaos. 19. And when I was constrained,”

nor had he told them how the great Light hath expanded itself, nor into what region it hath been brought;

“5. Who hath filled thee with purified light; and thy beginning will renew itself as an invisible of the Height.”

“--I set up that ruler as watcher over the Books of Yew on account of the flood, and in order that none of the rulers may be envious of them and destroy them. These will I give you, when I shall have told you the expansion of the universe.”

--amēn, I say unto you: The man who hath come forth out of the body,--if the name of this mystery is pronounced on his behalf, they will hasten quickly to bring him over

inbreathe within into that soul, and there cometh forth out of them a portion out of my power which the last Helper hath cast into the Mixture.

“Thomas answered and said: “My Lord, concerning the song which Pistis Sophia hath uttered, because she was saved out of the chaos, thy light-power prophesied aforetime thereon through Solomon, the son of David, in his Odes: 1. I am saved | from the bonds and am fled unto thee, O Lord. 2. For thou hast been on my right hand, saving me and helping me.”

“12. Therefore then, O Light, cease not from me; turn thee, O Light, and save me from the hands of the merciless.”

Then were all its gates thrown into agitation and opened of themselves. And I entered into the houses of the Fate, shining most exceedingly, and there was no measure for the light that was about me,

those who emanate, and those who come forth, and those who are without over them, and those who are implanted in them, those who will contain the region of the First Mystery and those who are in the space of the Ineffable--of these will I speak unto you, because I will reveal them unto you, and I will speak of them unto you according to every region and according to every order, at the expansion of the universe.

“And again the word which it hath spoken: 'They are saved through water of Life eternal,'--that is: They are saved through the whole light-stream. And again the word which it hath spoken: 'The light-stream tore all to itself and drew it over the temple,'--that is: When the light-stream had taken all the light-powers of Pistis Sophia and had spoiled them from the emanations of Self-willed, it poured them into Pistis Sophia | and turned itself about and went out of the chaos and came over thee,--thou who art the temple. This is the solution of all the words which thy light-power hath spoken through the Ode of Solomon.”

“When then Mary said this weeping, Jesus answered in great compassion and said unto them: Truly, my brethren and beloved, who have abandoned father and mother for my name's sake, unto you will I give all mysteries and all gnoses.”

“that he said: Well said, Mary, blessed one, who shalt inherit the whole Light-kingdom.”

“Say rather to the men of the world: Be calm, that ye may receive the mysteries of the Light and go on high into the Light-kingdom.”

“Jesus said unto his disciples: Rejoice and exult, for your sins are forgiven and your iniquities blotted out, and ye are reckoned with the kingdom of my father.”

and their kingdom was destroyed, and the universe became quickly raised up.

and every one of the virgins of the Light sealeth it with her seals.

“9. And I will confess unto thee, for thou hast dealt faithfully with me; and I will wait on thy name, for it is auspicious in the presence of thy holy [ones].”

“For they are exceedingly numerous who persecute us because of thee, and numerous those who persecute us because of thy name, in order that, if they torture us, we may speak the mystery and straightway go out of the body without having endured any sufferings at all.”

“and why the matter of silver hath arisen. “And that mystery knoweth why the matter of copper hath arisen and why the matter of iron and of stone hath arisen. And that mystery knoweth why the matter of lead hath arisen. And that mystery knoweth why the matter of glass hath arisen”

And when Jesus had spoken this,

and all the rulers who have repented, will pass through

“--for he is the scribe of all the discourses which Jesus spake, and of all of that which he did,--Philip then | came forward and said unto him: My Lord,”

but if they turn, transgress, and cease in their faith, and if they go forth out of the body without having repented, they are no more fit from this hour onwards to return to the changes of the body, nor for anything at all, but they are cast out into the outer darkness, they will perish in that region and be non-existent for ever,'--concerning [this] word thou hast spoken unto us aforetime, saying: 'Salt is good;

nor had he told them of the five Impressions,

“And the portion of that power remaineth within in the soul, | unloosed and existing on its own authority for the economy unto which it hath been inset, to give sense unto the soul, in order that it may seek after the works of the Light of the Height always. And that power is like the species of the soul in every form and resembleth it.”

“With these words Pistis Sophia sang praises, because she was saved and remembered all things which I had done unto her.”

“surely then it is not on me alone that thou hast enjoined to take care for the world and write down all the discourses which we shall speak and [all we shall] do? And thou hast not suffered me to come forward to speak the solution of the mysteries of the repentance of Pistis Sophia. For my spirit hath ofttimes seethed in me and been unloosed and constrained me to come forward and speak the solution of the repentance of Pistis Sophia; and I could not come forward because I am the scribe of all the discourses.”