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Searchable Full Text of Pistis
Sophia- A Gnostic Gospel
PISTIS
SOPHIA
A
GNOSTIC GOSPEL
A
GNOSTIC GOSPEL (WITH EXTEACTS FROM THE BOOKS OF
THE
SAVIOUE APPENDED) ORIGINALLY TRANSLATED
FROM
GREEK INTOCOPTIC AND NOW FOE THE FIRST
TIME
IN ENGLISH FROM SCHWAETZE'S LATIN VERSION
OF
THE ONLY KNOWN COPTIC MS. AND CHECKED BY
AMELINEAU'S
FRENCH VERSION
WITH
AN INTRODUCTION BY G. R. S. MEAD
The
Secret Doctrine by H P Blavatsky
Return to Searchable Text Index
The Theosophical Publishing Society
26
NEW YOBK: THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING
SOCIETY, 65 FIFTH
AVENUE
TABLE OF SUMMARIES.
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
The documents and general literature of
Gnosticism . xvii
The method of the best Gnostic doctors ....
xxiii
Description and criticism of the MS xxv
General analysis of contents xxix
The date and authorship of the Greek original
. . xxx
The Books of the Saviour xxxi
The probable history of the treatise xxxiii
The translator's apologia .......
The work that has been previously done ....
THE FIRST BOOK OF
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Wales-------
206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24 - !DL
PISTIS SOPHIA
Jesus hitherto instructeth his disciples
only up to the region
of the first mystery ........ 1
What the first mystery surroundeth .....
The regions of the great invisible 2
The treasure of light
The light-world 3
Jesus and his disciples are seated on the
A great light-stream descendeth on Jesus
....
It surroundeth him entirely 5
Jesus ascendeth into heaven
The confusion of the powers and the great
earthquake . . 6
The dismay of the disciples
Jesus descendeth again
The nature of his glory 7
Jesus addresseth them ........
He draweth his light unto himself ...... 8
He promiseth to tell them all things
How the vesture of light was sent unto him
.... 9
Of the souls of the disciples and their
incarnation ... 10
Of the incarnation of John the Baptist . .
. . .11
That John was Elias in a former birth 12
IV CONTENTS.
PAGE
Of his own incarnation through Mary 13
More concerning the light-powers in the
disciples .
Why they should rejoice that the time of his
investiture had
come 14
The mystery of the five words on the
vesture .... 15
The interpretation thereof 16
The three robes of light
The first vesture 17
The second vesture
The third vesture
The day of " Come unto us " 18
Jesus putteth on his vesture 19
He entereth the firmament
The powers of the firmament are amazed and
fall down and
worship him 20
He entereth the first sphere
The powers of the first sphere are amazed
and fall down and
worship him
He entereth the second sphere 21
The powers of the second sphere are amazed
and fall down
and worship him
He entereth the aeons 22
The powers of the aeons are amazed and fall
down and wor-
ship him
Adamas and the tyrants fight against the
light ... 23
He taketh from them a third of their power
.... 24
He changeth the motion of their spheres
....
Mary asketh and receiveth permission to
speak ... 25
Mary interpreted the above from the words
of Isaiah . . 26
Jesus commendeth Mary. She further questioneth
him on
the changing of the spheres 28
Jesus oxplaineth further the conversion of
the spheres . . 29
Philip questioneth Jesus 31
Why the path of the aeons was changed 32
Mary questioneth him again 33
The coming of Melchisedcc 34
Of the fabrication of the souls of men
The rulers devour their matter so that
souls may not be fabri-
cated 36
Adamas and the tyrants battle against the
light-vesture . . 37
Jesus taketh from them a third of their
power and changeth
their course 38
They no more have the power of devouring
their matter . 39
The powers adore the light-vesture 40
CONTENTS. V
PAGE
The tyrants become as the dead 41
Jesus entereth the thirteenth aeon and
findeth Pistia Sophia 42
Sophia and her fellow-powers behold the
light
Mary desireth to hear the story of Sophia
.... 48
The rulers hate her for ceasing in their
mystery ... 44
Arrogant uniteth himself with the rulers of
the twelve seons
and emanateth a lion-faced power to plague
Sophia . . 45
Sophia taketh the lion-faced power of
Arrogant for the true
light 46
She descendeth to the twelve aeons and
thence into chaos
The emanations of Arrogant squeeze the
light-powers out of
Sophia 47
The first repentonce of Sophia
Mary interpreted the first repentance from
Psalm Ixviii. . 52
The second repentance of Sophia 55
Peter complaineth of Mary 57
Peter interpreteth the second repentance
from Psalm Ixx. . 58
Jesus promiseth to perfect the disciples in
all things . . 59
The third repentance of Sophia 60
Martha asketh and receiveth permission to
speak .
Martha interpreteth the third repentance
from Psalm Ixix. . 61
The fourth repentance of Sophia 62
John asketh and receiveth permission to
speak ... 64
John interpreteth the repentance^from Psalm
ci. . . 65
Jesus cominendeth John ........ 66
The emanations of Arrogant again squeeze
the light out of
Sophia 67
The fifth repentance of Sophia
Philip, the scribe, complaineth 69
Jesus explaineth that the appointed scribes
are Philip and
Thomas and Matthew 70
Mary interproteth the words of Jesus
concerning the three
witnesses
Philip is now given permission to speak 71
Philip interproteth the fifth repentance
from Psalm xlvii. . 72
Philip is commended and continueth writing
.... 73
The sixth repentance of Sophia 74
Andrew interpreteth the sixth repentance
from Psalm cxxix. . 75
Jesus cominendeth Andrew. He promiseth that
the tyrants
shall be judged and consumed by the fire of
wisdom
Mary interpreteth the words of Jesus 76
The repentance of Sophia is not yet
accepted. She is mocked
by the aeons 77
The seventh repentance of Sophia 78
VI CONTENTS.
PAGE
Thomas interpreteth the seventh repentance
from Psalm
xxiv 80
Jesus commendeth Thomas 82
Jesus leadeth Sophia to a less confined
region, hut without
the command of the first mystery
The emanations of Arrogant cease for a time
to constrain
Sophia 83
The eighth repentance of Sophia 84
The emanations of Arrogant constrain her
again ... 85
She continueth her repentance
Matthew interpreteth the repentance from
Psalm xxx. . . 87
Jesus commendeth Matthew, and promiseth his
disciples that
they shall sit on thrones with him 88
Mary interpreteth the words of Jesus 89
The ninth repentance of Sophia
James interpreteth the repentance from
Psalm xxxiv. . . 93
Jesus commendeth James, and promiseth the
first place unto
the disciples 95
Mary interpreteth the words of Jesus 96
The repentance of Sophia is accepted. Jesus
is sent to help
her
The tenth repentance of Sophia 98
Peter interpreteth the repentance from
Psalm cxix.
Jesus commendeth Peter 99
The eleventh repentance of Sophia
Arrogant aideth his emanations, and they
again constrain
Sophia 102
The twelfth repentance of Sophia 103
Andrew interpreteth the repentance from
Psabn cviii. . . 105
The thirteenth repentance of Sophia 108
Martha interpreteth the repentance from
Psalm 1. . . . 109
Jesus sendeth forth a light-power to aid
Sophia
Sophia uttereth a song of praise 110
Salome interpreteth the song of Sophia from
the Odes of
Solomon 112
The power sent by Jesus formeth a crown of
light on Sophia's
head . . -
Sophia uttereth another song of praise 113
Mary, the mother, asketh and receiveth
permission to speak . 114
Mary, the mother, interpreteth the song of
Sophia from the
nineteenth Ode of Solomon 115
Jesus commendeth his mother
The statute of the first mystery is fulfilled
for taking Sophia
entirely out of chaos
CONTENTS. Vll
PAGE
The first mystery and Jesus send forth two
streams of light-
powers to help Sophia 116
Mary interpreteth the mystery
Mary, the mother, further interpreteth the
scripture . . 118
The story of the phantom spirit
Of the spiritual and material hodies of
Jesus .... 119
The other Mary further interpreteth the
same scripture from
the baptism of Jesus 121
Mary, the mother, again further
interpreteth the same
scripture from the meeting of herself with
mother of John the Baptist 122
Of the incarnation of Jesus
THE NOTE OF A SCRIBE.
A note by a later hand 128
THE SECOND BOOK OF
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Wales-------
206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24 - !DL
PISTIS SOPHIA
John further explaineth the same scripture
.... 125
Of Saba6th, Barb&o, labraoth and the
light-vesture . . 126
Gabriel and Michael are summoned to help
Pistis Sophia . 127
The light-stream rostoreth the light-powers
into Sophia . . 128
The light-stream, having accomplished its
purpose, departeth
from Sophia 129
Peter interpreteth the narrative from the
Odes of Solomon . 130
The emanations of Arrogant cry aloud to him
for help . . 134
He sendeth forth another more violent
power, like unto a
winged arrow 135
The creation of the serpent, basilisk and
dragon powers .
The dffimonial power of Adamas dasheth
Sophia to the ground 186
Sophia again crieth to the light 137
Gabriel and Michael and the light-stream
again go to her aid .
The transfiguration of Sophia 138
Jesus, the first mystery, looking without,
causeth Sophia to
triumph 139
James interpreteth the narrative from Psalm
xc. . . . 140
Sophia bingeth a song of praise 147
Thomas interpretcth the song of Sophia from
the Odes of
Solomon 149
Sophia singeth another song of praise 153
Matthew interpreteth the song of Sophia
from the Odes of
Solomon 155
Sophia continueth to sing 160
Vlll CONTENTS.
PAGE
Mary is afraid of Peter 160
Mary interpreted the song of Sophia from
the Psalms . . 161
Sophia continueth her song 162
Martha interpreteth from the Psalms
Sophia continueth her song
Mary iuterpreteth from the Psalms 163
Sophia is led to a region below the
thirteenth 83on and given
a new mystery 164
She continueth her song
Andrew interpreteth from the Psalms 166
The conversation of Sophia and the Light
.... 166
The Light promiseth to seal the regions of
Arrogant . . 167
How Sophia shall know that the time of her
final deliverance
hath como
What shall come to pass at that time 168
The time for the final deliverance of
Sophia is fulfilled . . 169
Adanias sondeth forth two emanations of
darkness to plague
Sophia 170
Sophia again singcth a song to the Light .
. . .171
James interpreteth the song from Psalm vii
173
Sophia addresseth Adamas and his rulers
.... 174
Sophia yet again singeth to the Light 175
Martha interpreteth the words of Sophia
from Psalm vii. . 176
Jesus bringeth Sophia again to the
thirteenth a?on .
Sophia singeth the praises of the Light to
her fellow-invisibles 177
Philip interpreteth the song from Psalm cvi
180
Mary questioneth Jesus 182
Of the four and twenty invisibles ......
184
Of the twelve aeons 186
Of the thirteenth jpon ........
Of the midst 187
Of the right
Of the treasure
Of the inheritance 188
Mary again questioneth Jesus 189
Of the twelve saviours and their regions in
the inheritance . 190
Of the ascension of them of the treasure
into the inheritance . 192
Of their respective ranks in the kingdom
193
Of the powers of the light and their
emanation and ascension
Of the powers of the midst and their
ascension . . . 194
But this shall not take place till the end
of the aeon . . 195
Of the ascension of the souls of the
perfect . . . .196
Of the rank of the souls of the perfect 197
Mary interpreteth the narrative from the
Scriptures . . 198
CONTENTS. IX
PAGE
Of the last supporter 199
That the region beyond the supporters is
indescribable . . 200
Mary further questioneth Jesus 201
Of the second supporter
Of the third, fourth, and fifth supporters
202
Mary again questioneth Jesus
Of them that receive the mystery in the
last supporter . . 203
John questioneth Jesus 204
Of the first statute
Of the first space 205
Of the second space
Of the third space
Of the tri'-spirituals in the third space,
i.e., the first space of
the ineffable 206
Of the absolute mystery
Of the gnosis of the absolute mystery 207
The gnosis of the mystery of the ineffable
continued . . 210
Of the hierarchies of powers 212
The disciples lose courage 215
Jesus cxplaineth that that mystery is
really simpler than all
mysteries 216
Of the fission and emanation of the powers
of the pleroma . 218
Of them of the second space of the
ineffable ....
Of them of the first space of the ineffable
. . . .221
Jesus promise th to explain further all in
detail . . . 223
Of the mystery succinctly
Of the one and only word of the ineffable
.... 224
Of the ascension of the soul of him who
shall receive the abso-
lute mystery 225
Of tho rank of such a soul 226
Such souls are " christs," and
shall be kings in the kingdom 228
Of the dignity of the thrones in the
kingdom .... 229
Of the gnosis of the word of the ineffable
.... 230
Of the distinction between the absolute
gnosis and the mys-
teries of light 231
Of the ascension of the souls of them that
receive the twelve
mysteries of the first mystery 233
Mary questioneth Jesus 235
Of the three mysteries and five mysteries
....
Of tho first of the three mysteries 236
Of the second of the three mysteries
Of its efficacy with regard to the
uninitiated . . . .237
Of the third of the three mysteries 238
Of its efficacy with regard to the
uninitiated .... 239
X CONTENTS.
PAGE
Further concerning the three and five
mysteries . . . 239
Of the one and only mystery 240
Of the mysteries of the second space 241
Of the mystery of the third space, the
first from without
Of the reign of a thousand years of light
242
What is a year of the light
Of them of the first space in the kingdom
of the thousand
years 248
Of them of the second space 244
Of them of the third space, the first from
without .
Of the Books of leou 245
Andrew questioneth Jesus 246
That all men are potentially all powers 247
As to how men differ from the powers
Of the purifying mysteries 248
That all who are purified shall be saved
250
That finally they shall be higher than all
powers ,
Jesus pardoneth the ignorance of Andrew
.... 251
EXTRACT FROM THE BOOKS OF THE SAVIOUR.
Of the members of the ineffable 252
Jesus the great initiator is all the
mysteries ....
Of the dignity of them who are initiated
into the mysteries . 253
THE SECOND BOOK OF PISTIS SOPHIA
(CONTINUED).
Of the preaching of the disciples 254
What men should avoid
What men should practise 259
Unto such the mysteries of light are to be
given . . . 260
The mysteries are for the remission of sins
.... 261
Mary again questioneth Jesus
Of the soul of the righteous man who is not
initiated when it
passeth from the body
John questioneth Jesus 263
Of the initiated who sinneth and repcnteth
until seven times 265
A former saying explained
Of the reward of the savers of souls
John continueth his questioning 266
That the mysteries shall be given unto a
repentant brother
even up to the three of the second space
....
The limit of the power of the disciples to
remit sins . , 268
A former saying explained
CONTENTS. xi
PAGE
Of the absolute mystery of the remission of
sins . . . 269
John contimieth his questioning
The teaching with regard to sinners who
receive the mysteries
further extended 270
John continueth his questioning 272
Of hypocrites who receive the mysteries 273
A former saying explained 274
Mary again questioneth Jesus 275
How the souls of them that have passed from
the body may
be helped by those on earth 276
Mary continueth her questioning 277
How an initiate can escape from the death
of the body with -
out pain
Mary continueth her questioning 279
The mystery of the resurrection of the dead
....
The disciples became frenzied at the
sublimity of the teaching 280
How the disciples shall preach
What mysteries they shall give 281
The mystery of the resurrection not to be
given to any .
Of the constitution of man 282
Of the counterfeit of the spirit 283
The state of the sinful soul after death
284
How a sinful soul is brought back to
rebirth .... 285
Of the glorious ascension after death of
the righteous soul
that hath received the mysteries 286
Of the state after death of one that hath
received the mysteries
and yet hath transgressed 288
The apology of the rulers of the midst 290
The apology of the rulers of the fate
Of the ascension of that soul into the
inheritance . . . 291
Mary interpreteth the teaching from former
sayings . . 292
The piece of money that was brought unto
Jesus . . . 293
A baying of Paul 294
The foes of one's own house
A saying concerning rebirth 295
Mary continueth to question Jesus 297
Of the workmen of wrath 298
How the soul of the sinner is stamped with
its sins . . 299
How the baptisms purify sins
The separation of the " principles
" by the mystery of baptism 300
Mary interpreteth the same from a former
saying .
Mary further questioneth Jesus 302
Of the remission of sins according to the
mysteries
Mary interpreteth the same from the Psalms
.... 303
Xll CONTENTS.
PAGE
Of the forgiveness oven unto twelve times
of them who have
received the mystery of the first mystery
.... 304
Of such initiated who die without
repentance .... 305
Of the unending forgiveness of them that
have received the
mystery of the ineffable 306
Of such initiated who die without repentance
.... 307
Mary interpreteth the same from a former
saying .
Of the absolute compassion of the absolute
mystery . . 309
That the initiated are watched over in
passing from the body
Mary intcrpreteth the same from a former
saying . . . 310
If even men on earth are compassionate, how
much more then
the highest mystery 311
Jesus trieth Peter 312
Mary interpreteth the incident from a
former saying . . 313
In the case of repentance only higher
mysteries than those
previously received can remit sins 314
There is no limit to the number of
mysteries the faithful may
receive .......... 315
The fate of the initiated who sinneth is
more terrible than that
of the ignorant sinner ....... 31G
Mary interpreteth the same from a former
saying .
Of them who procrastinate, saying they have
many births
before them 317
They who procrastinate are excluded from
the light . . 318
Their entreaties at the gates of light
Mary interpreteth the same 319
Of the dragon of outer darkness ...... 320
Of the rulers of the twelve dungeons and
their names
Of the doors of the dungeons 322
The angels that watch at the doors ......
What souls pass into the dragon, and how
....
The nature of the names of the dragons
..... 323
Of the severity of the torments of the
dragon .... 324
Of the various degrees of the fires of the
torments .
The disciples bewail the fate of sinueis
..... 325
Mary further questioneth Jesus
How to save the souls of the uninitiated
after death . . 326
How the mystery will even save them that
have no more
chance of rebirth ........ 327
Of the light-streams 329
Mary pleadeth for them who have neglected
the mysteries . 330
Of the efficacy of the names of the twelve
rulers of the dun-
geons 332
The souls who know the names escape from
the dragons and
are taken to leou 333
CONTENTS.
Of their subsequent fate
Mary interpreted the same from a former
saying , . . 335
Of the light of the sun and the darkness of
the dragon
Of the rulers of the fate and the draught
of oblivion . . 336
The meaning of the term " counterfeit
of the spirit " . . 337
Of the fashioning of a new soul ......
Of the inbreathing of the power ...... 333
Jesus promiseth to reveal all in detail
..... 339
The teaching as to the light-power and
counterfeit of the
spirit summarised ........ 340
Who are the " parents " we are to
abandon .... 341
Salome is in doubt as to the matter ......
Mary removeth the doubt of Salome ..... 342
Of the charge given unto the counterfeit of
the spirit . . 343
Of the charge given unto the builders .....
344
Of the embryonic stages of incarnation
..... 345
Of the karmic compulsion of the parents
..... 346
The occult process of gestation .......
Of the incarnation of the " principles
" ..... 347
Occult physiognomy .........
Of the nature of the destiny ....... 349
Of how a man comcth by his death ......
There is no escape from destiny ...... 350
Of the nature of the mysteries .......
The mysteries are for all men ....... 351
A prophecy of John the Baptist ...... 352
The criterion of orthodoxy ....... 353
The Books of leou .........
Few only will really comprehend the
mysteries . . . 354
No soul had entered into the light before
the coming of the
first mystery ......... 355
None of the prophets had been initiated
.....
The patriarchs have not yet entered into
the light . . . 356
Of the souls of the righteous from Adam to
Jesus .
The disciples know of a surety that Jesus
is the Great
Initiator .......... 357
EXTEACT FROM THE BOOKS OF THE SAVIOUR.
The disciples ask a boon of Jesus 359
The prayer of Jesus
The grouping of the disciples
The interpretation of the word ia& 359
He prayeth for a boon to be given to his
disciples .
XIV CONTENTS.
PAGE
He commandeth the veils of the heavens to
be withdrawn . 359
The figure of the disk of the sun 360
The figure of the disk of the moon
Jesus and the disciples are transported to
the ways of the
midst
Of the repentant and unrepentant rulers
Of the hierarchies of the rulers and the
names of their five
regents 361
Of the powers that leou infused into the
five regents . . 362
Of the functions of Zeus, the chief regent
....
The mystery names of the regents 363
Mary questioneth Jesus on the ways of the
midst .
Of the mysteries which Jesus will give unto
his disciples . 364
Of the constitution of the ways of the
midst .... 365
Of the regent of the first dsemonial
hierarchy ....
Of leou and Melchisedec 366
How the dsemonial rulers carry off souls
367
The length of their torments
Of the time when souls are freed from the
torments of their
rulers 368
The regent of the second dsemonial
hierarchy ....
The length of their torments 369
Of the time when souls are freed from their
torments
The regent of the third dasmonial hierarchy
....
The length of their torments 370
Of the time when souls are freed from their
torments
The regent of the fourth dcemonial
hierarchy .... 371
The length of their torments
Of the time when souls are freed from their
torments
The regent of the fifth daemonial hierarchy
.... 372
The length of their torments
Of the time when souls are freed from their
torments . . 373
The disciples beseech Jesus to have mercy
upon sinners
Jesus encourageth his disciples 374
Jesus and his disciples ascend higher
He breatheth on their eyes
Their eyes are opened 375
Jesus explaineth the vision of fire and
water, and wine and
blood
The same further explained from former
sayings . . . 376
Jesus and his disciples descend to the
earth ....
Jesus promiseth to give them the mystery of
remission . . 377
The mystic sacrament
The sacramental invocation 378
CONTENTS. XV
PAGE
The rite is consummated 379
Directions as to the future use of the rite
.... 880
Of three other great rites
Of the highest of all mysteries and of the
great name
Of the efficacy of that name 381
The punishment of him that curseth .....
382
Of the punishment of the slanderer 383
The punishment of the murderer ...... 385
Peter protesteth against the women 386
The punishment of the contemptuous .....
387
The'.punishment of the blasphemer 389
The punishment of him that hath intercourse
with males
The punishment of a foul act of sorcery
..... 390
Of the after-death state of the righteous
391
The cup of wisdom ......... 392
A man suffereth for each separate sin
Even the greatest of sinners, if he repent,
shall inherit the
kingdom 393
Of the time favourable for the birth of
thorn who shall find
the mysteries
The disciples beseech Jesus to have mercy
upon them . . 394
The preaching of the disciples .......
INTRODUCTION.
IT is with somewhat of the feelings of one
setting forth
on a forlorn hope that the writer ventures
to T ^ do
plunge into the chaos of syncretism
generally ments
classified under the vague term Gnosticism.
a ^ cral
Indeed no subject connected with the
history literature
of religion is fraught with greater
difficulty, as f s ^ nosti "
may be seen from the comparative paucity of
general works on Gnosticism from the pens
of European
scholars. In fact the English reader,
outside of a few
translations, must content himself with
Lectures, MansePs Gnostic Heresies,
Norton's History of the
Gnostics, King's Gnostics and their
Remains, and an article
by Salmon.
Not only did the persecution of the early
Gnostics cause
the loss of nearly all their documents, but
also some of the
most important writings of the Fathers,
which might have
thrown more light on the subject, have
disappeared ; among
these may be mentioned the Syntagma of
Justin, and the
Syntagma of Hippolytus.
Our chief authorities among the Fathers are
Justin Martyr,
Irenfeus, Clement of
lytus, Thilastcr, Epiphanius, Jerome and
Theodoret. But
as all, with the solitary exception of
Hippolytus, quote the
Gnostic documents in the briefest possible
manner, and
devote almost all their space to the refu
tation of heretical
opinions, it is exceedingly difficult to
make out from such
controversial writings what the real views
of the various
Gnostic schools were ; and this in spite of
the immense
labour and acumen which have been brought
to the task
b
XV111 INTEODUCTION.
by such raen as Massuet, Beausobre and
Mosheim in the
last century, and in the present by
Neander, Matter, Baur,
Moller, Lipsius and others who will be
mentioned later.
(The general literature of the subject
consists of the
Church Histories of Neander, Baur and
Sehaff ; Neander :
Genet. Entw. d. Gnost, Tub., 1831 ;
Lectures on Heresies of the Apost. Age,
Oxf., 1830; Mohler:
Ursprung d. Gnost., Tub., 1831 ; Baur : D.
christl. Gnosis,
Tub., 1835; Norton: Hist, of the Gnostics,
Boat., 1845;
Moller : Gesch. d. Kosmologie,
Gnosticismus, Leip., 1860; Harnack : Zur
Quellcncritik d.
Gesch. d. Gnost., Leip., 1873^ Mansel :
Gnostic Heresies,
Lond., 1875.)
In fact, research into this obscure subject
has given
rise to one of the most brilliant feats of
scholarship on
record. This was achieved by R. A. Lipsius,
the learned
professor of divinity in the
Quellencritik des Epiphanios (1865). From
the accounts
of Epiphanius and Philaster he reconstructs
to some ex-
tent the lost Syntagma of Hippolytus, of
which a description
is given by Photius. This treatise was
founded on certain
discourses of Ireiueus. By comparing
Philaster, Epiphanius,
and the Pseudo-Tortullian, he recovers Hippolytus
; and by
comparing his restored Hippolytus with
Irenams he infers
a common authority, probably the lost
Syntagma of Justin,
or, as I ventured to suggest in my essay on
Simon Magus
(1892 ; p. 41), the work from which Justin
obtained his
information.
This brilliant attempt was owing to the
revival of interest
in Gnostic studies aroused by a lucky find.
In 1842
Minoides Mynas, a learned Greek, sent on a
literary mission
by the French government, discovered what
is said to be a
fourteenth century MS. in one of the
monasteries on Mount
Athos. This purported to be a Refutation of
all Heresies
in ten books, the first three and a half of
which were un-
fortunately missing. Emmanuel Miller
published the first
edition of this literary treasure at
INTRODUCTION. XIX
erroneously attributing it to Origen.
Further research,
however, demonstrated beyond a doubt that
the author was
Hipppljtus Romanus, Bishop of Ostia, in the
first quarter
of the third century. (See Bunsen,
Hippolytus and His Age,
1852 ; Dollinger, Hippolytus und Kallistus,
1853, of which
there is an English translation by Plummer
; and Words-
worth, St. Hippolytus and the Church of
Rome, 1880, 2nd
ed.) As this treatise, entitled
Philosophumena or the Refu-
tation of all Heresies, iw by far the most
important work on
Gnosticism from the pen of any Church
Father, owing to
its lengthy quotations from original
Gnostic documents, it
may be useful to state hei^ that in 1859
Duncker, after
Schneidewin's death, edited and published
his colleague's
excellent text and moderate Latin
translation at
in 1860 Cruice published a less reliable
text and Latin
translation at
a passable translation by J. H. Macmahon in
the Aute-
Niceiie Christian Library entitled The
Writings of Hippo-
lytuis, vol. i., 1868.
Curiously enough it was in the same year in
which the
text of the Philosophumena was published,
1851, that our
present document, Pistis Sophia, was first
brought into
general notice.
Of Gnostic works that have come down to us,
undoubtedly
the most valuable is the Coptic codex, of
which we are
treating in the present work. In fact, the
only other im-
portant relic of the Gnosis which is so far
known to have
withstood the ravages of time and escaped
the destruction
of Christian and Mohammedan vandalism, is
the Coptic
papyrus, known as the Codex Brucianus and
preserved in the
Bodleian at
In the same library there is also another
Coptic MS., a
small quarto of 236 pages, entitled
Treatise on the Mysteries
of the Greek Letters, to which an Arabic
translation is
appended. The author was a priest called
Atasius, who,
somewhat in the fashion of the Gnostic
doctor Marcus,
deduces from the form of the letters of the
Greek alphabet
XX INTBODUCTION.
and the meaning of their names, the
development of the
dogmas of creation, providence and
redemption, as Dulaurior
tells us (op. inf. cit., p. 538). Dulaurier
in 1847 promised to
publish the text and a French translation
of this work, but
his labours have never seen the light.
To this may be added, as connected with the
magical side
of the subject, some Greek Papyri mostly in
fragments.
Two of the Leyden Papyri of the third
century have
recently been edited, translated, and
commentated upon
by A. Dieterich (Abraxas : Studien zur
Religionsgeschichte
des Spatorn Altertums ;
Parisian Papyri, of the third or fourth
century, have been
edited by Wessely ; in 18. r >2 C. W.
Goodwin also did some
good work on the subject (Fragment of a
Gra?co-Kgyptian
Work upon Magic from a Papyrus in the
Goodwin edited, translated and annotated
this fragment).
Aim'linoiu (P. S., Intr. iv.) says that
Rossi (F.), the
Egyptologist of Turin, has published a
papyrus containing
an invocation similar to those in the
Pistis Sophia, but I
have not been able to find this work. It is
not in I Papyri
Copti
and translated (Turin, 1887-1892).
There is also a short Hebrew treatise, The
Sword of
Moses (CM.,
(Master's text and translation, Journal of
Royal Asiatic
Society, 1896, i. and ii.).
The above magical works, however, arc more
connected
with the superstitions of sorcery than with
magic proper,
and when attached to Gnosticism
characterise its degrada-
tion in the hands of the superstitious and
ignorant.
We may also mention the Codex Nazarams,
although it
is said at earliest to be post-Mohammedan,
of which there
are no less than four MS, copies, dated
respectively 15GO,
1632, 1688 and 1730, in the Bibliothcuue
Nationale alone.
This Codex is the scripture of the
so-called Sahacana, or
Christians of St. John, or Mandaites, and
is known aa
INTEODUCTION. xxi
Sidra Adam or The Book of Adam. The text,
in a strange
Chald30-Syrinc idiom, was first published
at
1816), by Matth. Norberg, the learned
Swede, together
with a vocabulary and a Latin translation,
in four quarto
volumes. There is also a French translation
by F. Tempes-
tini in Mignc's Dictionnaire des Apocryphes
(185G). Compare
also the thesis, Stclkc Nasaneorum /Eoncs
ex Sacro Gent is
Codice, by Olof Svanander, presumably a
pupil of Norberg
(
Finally we may mention the .Ethiopic
Enochian litera-
ture. In 1773 Bruce brought back from
copies of the /
Archbishop Laurence issued a translation in
1821 (2nd ed.,
1833 ; 3rd, 1838), under the title The Book
of Enoch.
Hoffman published a German translation, Das
Buch Henoch
(
1840) ; Dillmann a critical text and also a
German version
(Leip/ig, 1S51 ; 2nd ed., 1853); Migne's
Dictioimahv des
Apocryphes (1856) contains an anonymous
French transla-
tion ; there is also an anonymous reprint
of Laurence's
translation, with a controversial
introduction (
1883); and finally Charles recently (1893)
published an
English translation from Dillmann's text.
This year Charles
has also published The Book of the Secrets
of Enoch (Oxford),
a translation from Slavonic, which presents
us with a new
tradition entirely, namely, the Slavonic
Enoch, from a Greek
original which he places from B.C. 30 to
A.D. 70, the Greek
having in its turn a Hebrew background of a
still earlier
date. In an Appendix is a translation from
the Slavonic of
a fragment of Melchisedecian literature.
For more than
1200 years this version of Enoch has been
unknown save in
Russia, and in Western Europe >\as not
known to exist
even in Kussia till 1892.
Outside of apocryphal scriptures and the ^
orld-biblcs,
these arc all the documents connected
directly or indirectly
with the Gnosis, which, to my knowledge, we
possess ; and,
in spite of the good work that has been
done since 1850,
INTRODUCTION.
the chaos of Gnosticism still remains to a
large extent in-
tractable, refusing to submit to the
ordering of even the
most praiseworthy and painstaking industry
.
Nor is the reason of this ill-success
mostly due to the
paucity of material, but rather to the
intrinsic difficulty of
the subject itself, which is not only
replete with the most
involved mysticism, but also bound up with
magic and
mystery and occasionally sorcery of every
kind. It is,
therefore, not a matter of gre"at
surprise, when we remember
thefabsojute disbelief of scholarship in
magic of any kind,
and the distaste of the present age for
everything connected
with mysticism, to find that no single
writer on the subject,
except perhaps King in a very feeble
fashion, has really
grappled with the problem. The point of
view of the most
liberal-minded scholars with regard to this
tabooed subject
may be seen from the remarks of Dr.
(taster, who would
have magic treated after the fashion of
folklore. The
translator of The Sword of Moses in the
second paragraph
of his introduction Hoc. sup. cit.) writes
: " it is remarkable
that we do not possess a good work, or
exhaustive study,
on the history and development of magic. It
is true that
we find allusions to it, and sometimes
special chapters
devoted to the charms and incantations and
other super-
stitious customs prevailing among various
nations in books
dealing with such nations. But a
comprehensive study
of magic is still a pious (or impious)
wish." And, even
were such a task attempted by some
venturesome scholar,
the result, we may venture to suggest,
would at best be
merely a guess-work compilation, and of no
real value,
unless the compiler in addition to his
scholarship had not
only a belief in but also a knowledge of
the art.
To treat of Gnosticism, then, in a really
comprehensible
manner, requires not only a writer who at
least believes
in the possibilities of magic, but also a
mystic or at least
one who is in sympathy with mysticism a person
difficult
to find nowadays, when the very names of
magic and
mysticism evoke nothing but a smile of
contempt and
INTRODUCTION . xxiii
a frown of disapproval from the world of
science and
letters.
The present Introduction, however, is only
concerned
with the purely historical and critical
side of the subject,
and even this is restricted to the
consideration of one
document.
Though it would be highly presumptuous to
endeavour
to define Gnosticism without a previous
analysis The
and classification of the various schools,
sects method of
and offshoots which have been grouped under
Gnostic
this vague heading, we may nevertheless
venture doctors,
to suggest the probable point of view which
led the best
of the Gnostic doctors, pre-eminently
Valentinus, to compile
their various treatises. Let us then
consider the movement
about the year 150 A.D. By that time the
original Logia
or the Urevangelmm of Christianity had
disappeared, and
the Synoptic Gospels were all set, in the
framework of the
traditional life of the great Master of the
Faith. The
popular tidal-wave of the new religion had
come exclusively
from the ocean of Jewish tradition, and was
engulfing
a more universal view of Christianity in
the same flood of
intolerance and exclusiveness which had
characterised the
Hebrew nation throughout the whole of its
previous
history.
This startling phenomenon was now
attracting the
attention of minds which were not only
skilled in the
philosophy of the schools, but also imbued
with the eclectic
spirit of a universal theosophy and a
knowledge of the
inner doctrines of the ancient religions,
Such men
thought that they saw in the Christian
Gospel a similarity
of doctrine and a uni versalism which was
consanguineous
with these inner teachings of the ancient
faiths, and set to
work to endeavour to check the exclusive
and narrowing
tendencies which they saw so rapidjy
developing among
the less instructed, who made faith
superior to knowledge,
even to such an extent as to openly
cojnclemn eyjery other
form of religion and scoff at all
philosophy and education.
INTRODUCTION.
It is true that about this time such meii
arose as Clement
of
views and laid the foundations of Christian
theology, but
they were exceptions to the rule.
The Gnostic doctors could not believe that
the Jews were
the only nation in the past to whom God had
revealed
himself, and that the scriptures of the nations
were to be
cast on the dustheap of falsehood and
error. And yet they
saw that the old order of things had
received a rude shock,
and that the fierce faith which had been
aroused among the
people in the personality of Jesus, and the
social revolution
which was rushing along with leaps and
bounds under their
very eyes, could never be dammed back
again. All they
could hope to do was to turn the energy
generated into a
more universal channel. Accordingly they
used the tradi-
tional story of Jesus which had roused such
mighty enthu-
siasm, as the framework into which they
wove the u wisdom"
of the great religions. Believing, as they
did, that truth
was one, and at no time a respecter of
persons or nations ;
that all the nations had received of that
truth in proportion
to their needs and capacities, they wove
these ideas into
the Christian tradition, and compiled
gospels and apocalypses
of that veiled and mysterious wisdom which
had been
guarded so carefully in the temples
throughout the ages,
and into which they believed Jesus had been
initiated and
was in his turn an initiator. Nor did they
so much invent
these things out of their own heads as it
would appear, but
rather compiled them from, existing
scrijjtures, many of
which have since disappeared. Tliey drew
from the wisdom
of
the books of Orpheus, Pythagoras and Plato,
of the Magi
and Zorojister ; and even perhaps in some
indirect way from
those of the Brfihnmns. Their source of
information was for
the most part the Orient. : "' '''-*-
^ . / '
Believing as they did, that the orthodox
life of Jesus was
legendary and allegorical, and finding many
other legends
current which were not included in the
Synoptic account ;
INTRODUCTION. XXV
devoted to the mystic life, and making
light of the historical
side of religion, with faith alone in the
watchword " now
and within," it is evident that their
views met with little
favour among the orthodox who clung above
all things to
what they held to be the greatest fact of
all history. The
ancient wisdom, however, proved far too
difficult for
popular comprehension, and being also
misunderstood even
by the followers of the great doctors
themselves in many
cases, often degenerated into superstition
and the wildest of
speculations.
But, as we are not attempting to trace the
evolution of
the movement, but simply presenting one of
the better
sides of the endeavour, we will proceed to
a consideration of
the document we are especially interested
in, at the same
time reminding the reader that in this
Introduction only a
brief outline of the MS. will be attempted,
and all further
considerations will be postponed for a
further Commentary
which the writer has the intention of
undertaking.
The only MS. of the Pistis Sophia known to
exist was
bought by the
Dr. Askew at the end of the last century,
and is t j on ai ,<j
now catalogued as MS. Add. 5114. The title
on criticism
the back of the binding is Piste Sophia
Coptice,
and below is printed Mus. Brit. Jure
Emptionis. On the
top of the first page of the MS. is the
signature A. Askew,
M.I). On the first page of the binding is
the following note,
probably in Woide's hand : "Codex
dialecti Supcrioris ^Egypti,
quam Sahidicam seu Thebaidicam vocant, en
jus titulus
exstat pagina 115: Pinch suaou ntomos
htpiste Sophia
Touios secundus fidelis Sapient he Deest
pagina 337-344."
The title Piste Sophia is incorrect ;
nowhere is this form
found in the book, and the suggested
emendation of
Dulaurier and Renan from Pistis Sophia to
Piste Sophia
" La fidele Sagessc," has
received no support from other
scholars.
Where Askew found it or bought it, I cannot
discover.
It is not mentioned in his biography, and
the reference
XXVI INTRODUCTION.
given by Kostlin (v. i.) is unverifiable.
When the Museum
bought it is not stated. It was evidently
before the great
sale of the Askew library which lasted
twenty days in 1785,
for the Pistis Sophia is not mentioned in
the catalogue
(Bibliotheca Askeviana Manuscripta, etc.,
1785; v. Askew,
A., Cat. B.M.). The MS. is written on
vellum in Greek
uncial letters, and is in the Upper
Egyptian dialect, called
Thebaidic or Sahidic. It consists of 346
quarto pages
written in double column, and for the most
part is in an
excellent state of preservation ; several
pages, however, are
badly defaced, and a number faint. Perhaps
the most
competent expert who has yet given a
decided opinion as
to its date is Woide, whose knowledge of
such matters was
very extensive, and cannot be easily
surpassed. It was by
Woidc that the New Testament, according to
the text of
the famous Codex Alexandrinus, was edited,
in uncial types
cast to imitate those of the MS., in 1786.
In an Appendix
to this great undertaking, in 1799, he
added certain frag-
ments of the New Testament in the
Thebaico-Coptic dialect,
together with a dissertation on the Coptic
version of the
New Testament. The date of the Codex
Alexandrinus is
pretty generally assigned to the fifth
century, and with the
exception of the Codex Vaticanus and the
Codex Sinaiticus,
which are sometimes assigned to the fourth
century, is the
oldest extant MS. of the New Testament.
This being
the case, it is of interest to read Woidc's
description
and opinion of the MS. of Pistis Sophia,
which was lent to
this ripe scholar by Dr. Askew and his
heirs long enough
for him to copy it out from the first word
to the last.
Woide was, therefore, eminently fitted in
every way to form
an opinion ; in fact, no one of equal
fitness seems to have
appeared in the field since his time. In
Cramer's Beytrage
(op. inf. cit., pp. 82 sq.), Woide wrote as
follows in 1778 :
"It [P. S.J is a very old MS. in 4 to
on parchment in Greek
uncial characters, which are not so round
as those in the
Alexandrine MS. in
in Paris [Codex Regius Parisiensis, also an
Alexandrine text].
INTEODUCTION. XXV11
The characters of the MS. [P. S.] are
somewhat longer and
more angular, so that I take them to be
older than both the
latter MSS., in which the letters eta,
theta, omicron, rho
and sigma are much rounder. There are no
capital letters
in the whole book ; the letters are all
equal, only at the end
of the lines there are sometimes smaller
letters to bring the
word in. There are no other marks of
distinction than a
full stop or colon. The words are not
separated from each
other ; the paragraphs arc not
distinguished by breaks, but
by full stops. At the beginning of the
book, of the second
part and of the two appendices, the first
letter is not in
advance of the line. If the paragraph
begins with the line,
1 have sometimes, though seldom, remarked
that the first
letter is in advance of the line. If the
paragraph begins in
the middle of a line sometimes, but not
often, the first letter
of the following line is somewhat advanced.
Here and
there also a section is noted on the edge
by a mark that
looks almost like a Greek zeta, or by a
line from the edge
to above the word. If the paragraph begins
at the
beginning of the line, the marks arc on the
same line ; if
it begins in the middle of the line, they
are at the beginning
of the following line. The folios are
numbered in Greek
letters."
Thus we see that Woide places the date of
the MS. at
latest about the latter end of the fourth
century. It is also
quite evident that the whole MS. from first
to last is by the
same hand, and that it is a copj\of another
MS. There
are also a few corrections at the top or
bottom of the
columns by a hand of the same date. An
inspection of its
contents reveals the further indisputable
fact that the Coptic
text was not only a translation from a
Greek original, but
that it has preserved an enormous quantity
of the original
Greek terms without any attempt at
translation. This
may at once be seen from Schwartze's Latin
version, in
which he has also preserved these
innumerable Greek
words without translation.
The whole style of the work, moreover, is
foreign to
XXV111 INTRODUCTION.
the Coptic idiom, as may be seen from
Amelineau's Intro-
duction to his French version (p. x), where
he writes :
"Whoever has any knowledge of the
Coptic language
knows that this idiom is foreign to long
sentences ; that
it is a tongue eminently analytic and by no
means syn-
thetic ; that its sentences are composed of
small clauses
exceedingly precise, and almost independent
of each other.
Of course all Coptic authors are not
equally easy, some of
them are even exceedingly difficult to
understand ; but this
much is certain, that never under any
circumstances in
Coptic do we come across those periods with
complicated
incidental sentences, of three or four
different clauses,
whose elements are synthetically united
together so that
the sense of the entire sentence cannot be
grasped before
we arrive at the last clause. Nevertheless,
this is just
what the reader meets with in this work.
The sentences
are so entangled with incidental and
complicated propo-
sitions, that often, indeed very often, the
Coptic translator
has lost the thread, so to say, and made
main propositions
out of incidental clauses, so that we find
the continuation
of the first proposition three or four
pages further on.
This peculiarity is not calculated to
facilitate the trans-
lation of a work, the ideas in which are in
themselves very
difficult to comprehend ; the one thing
that it conclusively
proves is that the book w;is originally
written in a learned
language ; that consequently none of the
idioms spoken in
the Orient could have been the original
language in which
the work in question was conceived and
written ; that we
must accordingly choose between Greek and
Latin ; that
only one of these languages at this period,
the second
century [the date assigned to the original
by Amelineau] ,
is at all likely in Egypt, namely,
Greek."
Amelineau makes rather too much of the
abstruse nature
of the subject ; for, though many passages
are transcendent-
ally mystical, nevertheless the whole is
conceived in a
narrative or descriptive style. There is no
attempt at
philosophical argument, no involved logical
propositions ;
INTEODUCTION.
there may also be another reason, as we
shall suggest later
on, for the " losing of the
thread." Nevertheless the main
argument of this learned Coptic scholar is
unanswerable.
And not only is it evident that we are
dealing with a
translation into Coptic from Greek, but
also that
^ i i- . i . , , General
we are not dealing with a single work, but
at analysis
least with two treatises, fragments of one
of which of con '
have been in two places inserted in the
body of
the main treatise, and a larger fragment
appended at the
end of the MS. The main narrative also is
broken by
several important lacuna;, due in one case
to the loss of
several leaves of the MS., and generally to
the carelessness
of the scribe ; the MS. is, moreover,
evidently incomplete.
A general analysis of the contents reveals
the following
general outline of contents, the references
being to the
pagination of the MS. adopted in
Schwartze's text, which
is retained between brackets in the present
translation.
Pistis Sophia, Book I 1-124
Pistis Sophia, Book II. . . . 126-357
From the Books of the Saviour . . 357-390
There is, however, no title to Book 1., nor
does there
seem to be any reason why the title "
The Second Book of
Pistis Sophia " should be inserted
where it is, right in the
middle of the narrative.
Book II. ends halfway down page 357, and
the whole
subject abruptly changes with the heading,
" Extract from
the Books of the Saviour."
In addition to these three main divisions
of the MS., two
pages (253-254:), with the same heading,
" Extract from the
Books of the Saviour/' are inserted at
haphazard in the
middle of Book II. They have no reference
to what goes
before or what follows ; nor are they quite
of the same
nature as the lengthier Extract at the end
of the MS.
There is, moreover, a note which occupies
the last column
of Book I., and which has not the slightest
reference to the
rest of the narrative ; why it is inserted
in this place is a
XXX INTRODUCTION.
mystery. It was probably copied in by
mistake, or the
Coptic translator for some reason or other
added a note
from some other book, most probably one of
the Books of
the Saviour.
At the end of the MS., and after the
conclusion of the
narrative, there is an extra loaf which has
only the left-hand
column partially filled with writing. The
subject is here
again completely changed, and leads us to
suppose that
some leaves are missing before it.
Finally, at page 379 eight pages or four
leaves of the
MS. have disappeared.
A general view of the nature of the
subjects treated of
may be seen from the contents table, which
consists of the
indented summaries I have added to the
text.
The question that next arises is what was
the original
Greek work from which the Coptic
translation of
and a C the Pistis Sophia was made. I am
convinced that
author- ^ or jg ma i W as no other than the
famous Apoca-
thc P Greek lypse of Sophia, composed by
Valentinus, the most
origiual. ] earnec i doctor of the Gnosis,
who lived for thirty
years in
was also a master of the Greek language, in
which he wrote
hi* treatises. But the further
consideration of this point
must be postponed for the Commentary I
propose to write,
and in which a comparison between the
Pistis Sophia and
the rest of the fragments of the writings
of Valentinus
which have come down to us, will be
attempted. It is
sufficient to state here that this view is
supported by
Woide, Jablonski, La Croze, Scholtze,
Dulaurier, Schwartze,
Renan, Revaillaiit, Usener, and Amclineau,
the last of whom,
in his Essay on Egyptian Gnosticism and in
the introduction
to his translation of the Pistis Sophia,
has dealt at length
with the matter. The guarded opinion of
Harnack also
allows for the date of Valentinus. In his
essay on the
subject in 1891 (op. inf. cit., pp. 95
sq.), the famous Biblical
critic gives the terminus a quo as 140, and
the terminus
ad quern as 302. He bases the earliest
limit on the fact
INTRODUCTION. XXXI
that the Gospels and Pauline Epistles are
regarded in the
text as Holy Scripture, and even a passage
from the Epistle
to the Romans is quoted by the author as a
saying of Jesus
by the mouth of Paul. Now, the Pauline
writings \yere
never spoken of as Holy Scripture before
the time of
Antoninus Pius (138). The latest limit is
arrived at by the
passage about persecution on page 277,
which leads Harnack
to conjecture that the author was writing
at a time when
the Christians were still lawfully
persecuted ; but on the
other hand the author does not seem to have
written in a
persecution he had gone through. Thus
Harnack eliminates
the persecution of Maximin and arrives at
the 302 limit.
But all this is very unsatisfactory ; and
deductions made
from internal evidence, though an essential
part of the
higher criticism, arc in this case based on
too slender
premises. The method of Ameliueau, who
compares the
known fragments of Valeiitinus with the
text of Pistis
Sophia, is the only really satisfactory
test.
But what of the fragments from the Books of
the
Saviour which have been iiisertgd in and
added _to
the text of the Pistis Sophia proper ? On
pages Books
246 and 354 mention is made of certain
Books f t l ie
Saviour.
of leou, which Jesus promises to give to
his disciples
when he has finished the teaching on which
he is engaged.
In the first case, a fevs pages later on
(253) the lirst short
extract is inserted in the text, and in the
second,
almost immediately after, the Pistis Sophia
treatise is
concluded (page 357), and we find the rest
of the MS.
devoted to a far longer extract from the
Books of the Saviour.
These extracts bear a remarkable similarity
to the contents
of the Coptic Papyrus, which the famous
Scottish traveller
Bruce brought to England in 1769 from Upper
Egypt,
and bequeathed to the care of the Bodleian
Library. This
Papyrus consists of 78 leaves, each
containing from 27
to 34 lines, 29 centimetres high by 17
wide, not in roll
but in book form. It is written in Greek
characters and
is in the Thebaico-Coptic dialect like the
Pistis Sophia.
XXX11 INTBODUCTION.
Some twenty leaves at least are missing,
and even when
Bruce found it it was in a very dilapidated
condition.
It was further injured by neglect and damp
in the
Bodleian, when Woide found it and carefully
copied it.
Woide considered that it was the Egyptian
form of the
Pistis Sophia written by Valentinus in
Coptic. It is, how-
ever, evidently a translation like the
Pistis Sophia from
the Greek, and like the Pistis Sophia is
crammed full of
the Greek original technical terms.
Schwartze also copied
it. Tn 1891 Amelineau published a text and
a French
translation at Paris, and in 1892 Schmidt
published a text
and a German translation at Leipzig.
Schmidt has sorted out this puzzling chaos
of leaves
with the following results :
The Codex consists of two treatises quite
distinct in
matter and character. The first is divided
into two parts,
the two Books of Icon, under the general
title, The Book
of the Great Logos according to the Mystery
[? of IcouJ.
The second treatise has no title, and is
followed by a long
Hymn to the Gnosis, also without title. The
First Book of
leou opens with the title, "This is
the Book of the Know-
ledge of the Invisible God."
One thing is abundantly clear on every
page, namely,
that we are dealing with a MS. which
contains the ideas
of the same school as that to which the
Pistis Sophia and
the Books of the Suviour belong. In fact,
the longer Extract
from the Books of the Saviour practically
gives the same
account of the three baptisms as that found
in far greater
fulness in the Codex Brucianus.
Whether or not the Extracts from the Books
of the
Saviour appended to the MS. of the Pistis
Sophia belong
to the miswing portions of the Codex
Brucianus, or
whether the translator from the Greek
abridged some
portion of the Books of Icon to give his
readers an idea of
these books to which the text of the Pistis
Sophia had
just made reference, it is impossible to
say ; this much is
certain, that the Books of the Saviour and
the treatises of
INTRODUCTION. XXxiii
the Codex Brucianus are united by the
closest ties of con-
sanguinity, and that a commentator on the
one mast be
intimately acquainted with the contents of
the other.
The frequent mention of the name
Melchisedec through-
out the text of the Pistis Sophia reminds
us of the frag-
ment of Melchisedecian literature
translated by Charles
(v. s.), and its close connection with the
Enochian literature,
and points perhaps to one of the sources of
the Greek
original of the Books of the Saviour, and
also of Pistis
Sophia.
The disconnected column at the end of Book
I. un-
doubtedly belongs to the same collection of
writings
as the Books of the Saviour, and also the
two pages (253,
254) inserted in the middle of Book II.
Finally the odd
column at the end of the MS. may either
come from the
same source or be an unaided effort of the
translator or
scribe.
Let us now run over the probable history of
our
treatise, and suggest the accidents which
may have The pro-
befallen it before it reached the hands of
Antony t^of the
Askew. treatise.
The original Greek treatise of the Pistis
Sophia was
compiled by Valentinus in the latter half
of the second
century, perhaps in Alexandria. By
"compiled" I mean
that the Apocalypse of Sophia, or whatever
its title may
have been, was not invented from first to
last by Valentinus.
The traditional framework of the narrative,
the selection of
texts and passages from qtl^er scriptures,
Hebrew, Christian,
Egyptian, Chaldrean, ^Ethiopic, etc., or
whatever they may
have been, and the adaptation of nomenclature,
were his
share of the task ; but it is evident that
in many places he
was translating or paraphrasing himself,
and that he had
great difficulty in turning some of the
Oriental terms into
Greek, the original of the name Pistis
Sophia being not
the least difficult of such n[ \\ i\y hj'mg
left in its
present barbaric and un-Greek form.
Of this original of Valentinus doubtless
several copies
XXXiv INTRODUCTION.
were made, and mistakes may have crept in.
One of these
copies was carried up the Nile and
translated into the
vernacular, Greek being but little
understood so high up
the river. The translator was evidently not
a very accurate
person, as may be seen from his casual
insertion of scraps
from other books ; moreover, his knowledge
of the subject
was so superficial that he had to leave
many terms in the
original, and doubtless made guesses at
others. It is also
probable that he added some things and
subtracted others
on the score of orthodoxy, as may be seen
by an inspection
of the rest of the fragments of Valentinus.
The wearisome
length of the Psalms, for instance, which
Pistis Sophia
recites in her repentances, followed by the
shorter excerpts
from the Salornonic Odes, leads one to
suppose that Valen-
tinus quoted only a few striking verses
from each Psalm ;
and that the more orthodox translator, with
that love of
wearisome repetition so characteristic of
monkish piety,
added the other less apposite verses, with
which he was
very familiar, while he was compelled to
leave the Salomonic
Odes as they stood owing to his lack of
acquaintance with
the originals.
Moreover, the translator must have either
translated, or
possessed a translation of, The Books of
the Saviour and
The Books of Teou. These were also most
probably a com-
pilation of Valentinus, or perhaps The
Books of the Saviour
were a compilation of Valentinus from the
older Books of
leou, which may have belonged to the
vEthiopic Enochian
literature, for they are stated in the
Pistiw Sophia (pages
246 arid 354) to have been written down in
Enoch, and preserved from the Flood.
The MS. of the Coptic translator was copied
towards the
end of the fourth century by some ignorant copyist,
who
made many mistakes of orthography. It was
copied by
one man, as a task, and hurriedly executed
; and I should
suggest that two copies were then made and
occasionally
a page of one copy substituted for a page
of the other ; and,
as the pages were not quite exact to a word
or phrase,
INTRODUCTION. XXXV
we thus may account for some puzzling
repetitions and for
equally puzzling lacunre.
What was the history of the MS. after that
date is
almost impossible even to conjecture. Its
history must,
however, have been exciting enough for it
to have escaped
the hands of fanatics both Christian and
Mohammedan, it
was during this period also that some of
the pages, as we
have seen, were lost. May we not also hope
that
and
throw further light on this obscure but
most interesting
subject? In fact, I was told in 1891 by
Achinoff, chief of
the Free Cossacks, a resident in the
country, that the
monasteries of
ancient MSS. which would be of exceeding
great value to the
scholarship of
In presenting the following translation- to
the English-
reading public, I may say that I should not
have The
ventured on wiich an undertaking if any
Coptic
scholur had undertaken the task, or I had
heard apolo-
that such a task was contemplated. In a
matter gia -
of such difficulty every possible liability
to error should be
eliminated, and it stands to reason that
the translation of a
translation must needs be but an apology
for a first-hand
version. Nevertheless I am not without
predecessors. The
Coptic MS. itself is in the first place a
translation, so that
even Coptic scholars must give us the
translation of a
translation. I am persuaded also that the
anonymous and
imperfect French translation in the
Appendix to Migne's
Dictionnaire des Apocryphes (vol. i.) is
made from Schwartze's
Latin version and not from the Coptic text.
C. W. King
in his Gnostics and their Remains has also
translated a
number of pages of the Pistis Sophia from
Schwartze.
Some three or four years ago Mr. Nutt,
King's publisher,
sent out a notice for the publication of
the whole of King's
translation, but the project fell through.
Last year I
offered to edit this translation of King's,
but was informed
that the literary legatee of the deceased
scholar was of
XXXVI INTRODUCTION.
the opinion that it would be unfair to his
memory to publish
a MS. that was in so incomplete a
condition.
In 1890 I had already translated
Schwartze's Latin
version into English and published pages 1
to 252, with a
commentary, notes, etc., in magazine form
from April, 1890,
to April, 1891. But I hesitated to put it
forward in book
form, and should not have done so, but for
the appearance
of Ame'lineaii's French version in 1895. I
then retranslated
the whole book again and checked it by
Ani61incau's version.
1 was further induced to venture 011 this
undertaking,
because the narrative, though dealing with
mystical and
therefore obscure subjects, is in itself
exceedingly simple,
and therefore mistakes cannot so readily
creep in as into a
difficult philosophical work. I, therefore,
present my trans-
lation with all hesitation, but at the same
time think that
the English public, which is steadily
increasing its interest
in mysticism and allied subjects, will be
better satisfied with
half a loaf than with no bread.
In conclusion it only remains for me to
append a brief
Thc summary of the work that has already
been done
work on the subject. This may best be seen
by treating
beenpre- ^ from a chronological point of
view. In addition
viously to a few scattered articles in
magazines which are
not of the first importance, the chief
contributions
to the subject are :
a. 1770. Article in Brittnche Theol.
Ma^azin; st-e Kostl in infra.
b. 1773. Woide (C. A.). Article in Journal
<le .Savants.
c. 1778. Woide. Article in J. A. Cramer'n
Beylriige zur 15efo-
(lei-ung theologisther und audrer wiclitigen
Remit -
nisse (
d. 1799. Woide. Appendix ad Editionem Novi
Testament!
Grajci e Cudice MS. Alexandnno a Carol o
God-
fredo Wuide Description qua conthientur
Fragmenta
appellatur e Codicibus Oxoniensibus maxima
ex
parte Desumpta. cum Dissertatione de
Vereione
INTRODUCTION. XXXvii
Bibliorum ^E^yptiaca quibua subjictur
Codicis
Woide not only carefully copied the whole
of the MS.
but also the Codex Brucianus at
of the MS. as about the fourth century, and
considers the
writer to have been Valcntinus. He,
however, published
no work on the subject.
e. 1812. Milliter (F.). CM*, Gnosticre
Salomoni Tiibuta?, The-
buice et Latine, Prefatione et
Adnotatiouibus Philo-
logicis Illustrate* (Hafnisp).
Bishop Munter, a learned Dane, probably got
his text
from Woide's copy ; his brief pamphlet is
of no particular
importance, nevertheless it was solely upon
these few brief
selections, the seven Odes of Solomon,
that, with the ex-
ception of Dulaurier, scholars formed their
opinion of the
Pistis Sophia up to the time of the
publication of Schwartze's
work in 1851. Munter believes that the
original treatise
belongs to the second century.
/. 1843. Matter (J.). Histuire Critique du
Gnosticism^ et de son
Influence zur le^ Series religieiiHes et
philosophises
ties six premier* Sieeles de 1'fere
cliretienne (
2nd ed. ii. 41 t<q., 350 sq. The tirst
edition appeared
in 1828 and contains no reference to P. S.
In Dor-
ner's German tran^lat ion llie references
tire, n. CD w|.
and 1<>3 sq.
Matter rejects the idea of Valentinus, but
he had no
acquaintance whatever with the text and
bases himself
entirely on Woide. He states that the MS.
can scarcely
be prior to the fourth century, and (p.
352) places the date
of the original treatise between the end of
the second and
the end of the fifth. He gives no opinion
as to the school
to which it belongs.
g. 1838. Dulaurier (E). Article in the
Moniteur (27th Sept.).
h. 1847. Dulaurier. Article in the Journal
Asiatique, Quatneme
Serie, Tome ix., juin, pp. 534-548 ;
entitled 4t Notice
XXXV111 INTBODUCTION .
pur le Manuscript copte-thebain, intituld
La Fiddle
Sagesse ; et sur la Publication projet^e du
Texte et
de la Traduction franchise de ce
Manuscript."
On page 542 Dulaurier tells us that he had
made a
French translation from the Coptic in the
following words :
" The translation of the Pistis Sophia
and the glossary
which forms a complement to it are
finished, and will be
sent to the printers, when I have convinced
myself that I
have fulfilled the requirements that this
task imposes, taking
into consideration the present state of
science and my own
capabilities. The MS. from which I have
made my transla-
tion is a copy which I have taken from the
original, during
my stay in
MM. de Salvandy and Villemaiu, successive
ministers of
public instruction, with the commission of
proceeding to
how r ever, did not publish his labours,
nor have I as yet
come across any record of the fate of his
MSS. He ascribes
the treatise to Valentino*.
i. 1851. Schwartze (M. G.). Pisti^ Sophia,
Opus Gnosticnm
Valentino adjudication, e Codice
Manuscripto
Coptico Londmensi descriptum, Latine vertit
M. (T. Schwartze, edidit J. II. Peterinann
(Bero-
lini).
Schwartze died at an early age before the
completion of
his labours on the Pistis Sophia, and the
MS. translation
he left behind contained a number of blanks
and passages
which he intended to fill up and correct.
Petermaim has
confined himself in his notes strictly to
verbal corrections
and suggestions as to variee lectiones. The
consequence
is that we have a translation without the
notes of the trans-
lator, and without a word of introduction,
Petermann
says the task of editing was so severe that
he frequently
suffered from fits of giddiness. Schwartze
copied out the
whole of the Coptic MS. of Pistis Sophia
and also the
Oxford Codex Brucianus. He considers the
original treatise,
INTRODUCTION. XXXIX
as we see from the title of his work, to be
written by
the hand of Valentinus ; but Petermann is
of the opinion
that it is the work of an Ophite, and
promises to set forth
his reasons at length in a treatise, which
has unfortunately
never seen the light. Kostlin and Schmidt
also hold this
view, and as far as the Extracts from the
Books of the
Saviour are concerned, I see no reason why
there should not
be some truth in the idea. For we may
connect these
Books closely with the Books of leou, and
the latter connect
us at once with the Enochian literature.
The Ophites
were pre-Valentinian and mostly Syrian.
They were the
first to take the distinct name of
Gnostics. Some of their
books were translated into Greek. This fits
in with the
hypothesis put forth above that Valentinus
compiled the
Books of the Saviour from a prior set of
Gnostic writings.
The Melchisedecian ideas would also come
through the
Syrian Gnosis, and be cognate to the
Enochian tradition.
A review of Schwartze's work appeared in
the Journal des
Savants of 1852 (p. 333).
j. 1852. Bunsen (C. C. J.). Hippulytus und
.seine Zeit, Anfange
und Aussichten des Christenthums und der
Men&ch-
heit (Leipzig), i. 47, 48. Hippulytus and
hit? Age
(London, 185'J), i. Gl, G2.
"Great, therefore, were my hopes in
1842, that the
ancient Coptic manuscript of the British
Museum, inscribed
Sophia, might be a translation, or at least
an extract, from
that lost text-book of Gnosticism [the work
quoted by
Hippolytus, sub Valent.] : but
unfortunately the accurate
and trustworthy labours of that patient and
conscientious
Coptic scholar, Dr. Schwartzc, so early
taken away from
us, have proved to me (for 1 have seen and
perused his
manuscript, which I hope will soon appear),
that this
Coptic treatise is a most worthless (I
trust, purely Coptic)
offshoot of the Marcosian heresy, of the
latest and stupidest
mysticism about letters, sounds, and
words." Bunsen
stands absolutely alone in this opinion,
and we doubt
whether he could have read Schwartze's MS.
with any care.
Xl INTBODUCTION.
k. 1853. Baur (F. C.). Dae Christenthum und
die christliche
Kirche der drei ersten Jahrlmnderte
(Ttibingen)
notes on pp. 185, 186, and 205, 206.
Baur evidently added these notes at the
last moment
before publication. On page 206 n., he
leans to the idea
of an Ophite origin.
/. 1854. Kostlin (K. R.). Two articles in
Baur and Zeller's
Theologische Jalirbucher (Tubingen), xiii.
1-104 and
137-196 ; entitled " Das gnostische
System des
Buches Pistis Sophia."
Kostlin was the first to make an exhaustive
analysis of
the contents of the treatise, and his
labours are used by
Lipsius in his article in Smith and Waco's
Dictionary of
Christian Biography. He assigns its date to
the first half
of the third century, and assumes that it
is of Ophite
origin.
In a note to page 1, Kostlin writes :
" The MS. from which the work is
published belongs
to the collection of MSS. collected by Dr.
Askew of London
during his travels in Italy and Greece, of
which the
British Theological Magazine (das
Brittischc theol. Magazin)
for the year 1770 (vol. i. part 4, p. 223)
gives more particu-
lars."
There is 110 such magazine in the catalogue
of the
British Museum. The Theological Repository
for 1770
contains no information on the subject; and
no permutation
of names solves the mystery. There were
very few
magazines published at that early date, so
that the choice
is limited.
ra. 1856. An anonymous translation in
Migne's Dictionnaire
des Apocryphes, torn. i. app. part ii.
coll. 1181-
1286 ; this tome forms vol. xxiii. of his
third
Encyclopedic
The translation is a sorry piece of work,
more frequently
a mere paraphrase from Schwartze's version
than a trans-
lation ; there are also frequent omissions,
sometimes as
INTRODUCTION. xli
many as 40 pagesof the Coptic Codex; e.g.,
pp. 18, 19,
36 sq., 50, 51, 72, 73, 86-90, 108-135,
139, 157-160, 162,
171, 179, 180, 184-186, 221-243, 245-255,
281-320, 324-
342. These are some of the omissions ; but
there are many
more. It is, therefore, entirely useless to
the student. The
anonymous writer vaguely suggests a late
date for the
treatise because of the complicated nature
of the system.
71. 1860. Lipsius(R. A.). Article "
Gnosticism us " in Erach and
Gruber's Encyclopaedic, separately
published at
Leipzig, 1860, pp. 9,5 sq. and 157 sq. ;
also Article
" Pistis Sophia " in Smith and
Wace's Dictionary
of Christian Biography (London), vol. iv.,
1887.
Lipsius considers Pistis Sophia an
Egypto-Ophite treatise,
and with Kostlin assigns its date to the
first half of the
third century.
o. 1877. Jacobi. Article " Gnosis
" in Herzog's Theolog. Real
Enryclopadie (Leipzig) ; 2nd ed., 1888 ;
Translation,
New York ; 1882, 1883.
Jacobi believes in an Ophite origin.
p. 1875-1883. The Palaeograpliical Society,
Facsimiles of MSS.
and Inscriptions, Oriental Series, ed. by
William
Wright (London).
Plate xlii. The editor, or whoever is
responsible for the
letter-press, says that the original is
later than Valentinus,
and places the MS. in the seventh century.
There is a care-
ful analysis of the text from the technical
standpoint, and
the facsimile is of f . 11 a.
q. 1887. King(C. W.). The Gnostics and
their Remains, Ancient
and Medieval (London), 2nd ed. The first
ed.
appeared in 1864, but contains no reference
to
P. S.
King regards the Pistis Sophia as the most
precious
relic of Gnosticism. Besides many
references scattered
throughout the volume, there are
translations from
C*
Xlii INTRODUCTION.
Schwartze ofvpages 227-239, 242-244,
247-248, 255-259,
261-263, 282-^298-308, 341, 342, 358, 375
of the Codex.
King, who was moreNrf a numismatologist and
antiquarian
than a critic, does not venture an opinion
either on the date
or author.
r. 1887. Amelineau (E.). Essai aur lo
Gnosticisme gyptien,
ses D6veloppementa et son Origitie
c*gyptienne, in
the Annals du MustSe Quiinet (Paris), torn.
xiv. Of.
especially the third part for system of
Valeutinus
and Pirtis Sophia, pp. 166-322.
s. 1880. Amelineau. Article "Lea
Trait*** gnostiques d'Oxford ;
iStude critique," in the Revue dc
1'Hiatoire des
Religions (Paris, edited by Rdville), an
essay of 72
pp., 8vo.
t. 1891. Ame'lineau. Notice sur les Papyrus
gnostique Bruce,
Texte et Traductiun (Paris), 305 pp., 4to.
u. 1895. Amliiieau. Pistis Sophia, Ouvrage
gnostique de
Valentin, traduit du copte en fraucois,
avec urie
Introduction (Paris), pp. xxxii. and 204,
8vo.
Amelineau goes thoroughly into the
Valentinian origin
of the treatise, but leans almost
exclusively to an Egyptian
origin of the ideas. The MS. itself,
however, he places very
late, writing on page xi. of his
Introduction as follows:
" After an examination of the enormous
faults which the
scribe has committed, I cannot attribute to
the MS. which
has preserved the Pistis Sophia to us, a
date later than the
ninth or tenth century, and that too the
minimum. For
this 1 have several reasons. Firstly, the
MS. is written on
parchment, and parchment was hardly ever
commonly used
in Egypt before the sixth or seventh
century. Secondly,
the writing, which is uncial, though
passable in the first
pages of the MS., becomes bastard in a
large number of
leaves, when the scribe's hand is fatigued
; no longer is it
the beautiful writing of the Egyptian
scribes of the great
periods, but slack, inconsistent, almost
round and hurried.
Thirdly, the faults of orthography in the
use of Greek words
INTRODUCTION. xliii
evidently show that the scribe belonged to
a period when
Greek was almost no longer known."
In a footnote Amelineau says that he is
perfectly aware
that this opinion of his will " raise
a tempest," and begs
for a suspension of judgment till he has
published his
reasons as to the late use of parchment, at
greater length.
Now it was Ptolemy II. (Philadelphia), King
of Egypt
from 283-247 B.C., who forbade the
exportation of papy-
rus from Egypt, and forced the rival
bibliophiles at
Pergamus to copy their books on parchment.
The library
of Pergamus was bequeathed to the Senate of
Rome, and
Antony handed it over to Cleopatra
somewhere about 35
B.C. ; this library, consisting for the
most part of parchment
rolls and books, was placed in the new
Bruchei6n at
Alexandria, to replace the old Library
which was totally
destroyed by the fire of Caesar's fleet in
47. Parchment,
then, was common enough as a book-fabric in
Alexandria,
at least 600 years before Amolineau's
limit.
An examination of the MS. does not entirely
substantiate
the strictures of Amelineau on the careless
writing of the
scribe ; the writing though hurried is
fairly consistent,
while the first dozen pages are most
admirably written.
The faults of spelling only prove that this
particular scribe
did not know Geeek, a likely enough thing
if the copy was
made in Upper Egypt and not at Alexandria.
I am, there-
fore, far from convinced by any one of the
reasons Ame"-
lineau brings forward.
v. 1891. Hfirnack (A.). Ub<;r das
gnostische Buch Pistis
Sophia
T have already given Haruack'a views on the
date ; he
attributes the authorship to a modified
Ophite origin. He
suggests that Book I. only is properly
Pistis Sophia ; Book
II. should be called the Questions of Mary
(p. 94).
w. 1892. Schmidt (C.). Gnostische Scbriften
in koptischer
Sprache aus dem Codex Bruciauus,
herausgegeben,
ubersetzt und bearbeitet, pp. 680, 8vo ; in
von
xliv INTBODUCTION.
Gebhardt and Harnack'sTexte und
Uiitersuchungen
zur Geschichle der alt christlichen
Literatur (Leip-
zig), viii. Band.
Schmidt agrees with Harnack as to date, and
thinks that
the Pistis Sophia may be attributed to an
Ophite school.
In the works of the three writers referred
to above there is a
mass of information with regard to the
Pistis Sophia, but as
only the date and to some extent the
authorship are being
dealt with in this Introduction, the
further consideration of
their views must be postponed until a
Commentary to form
a complement to the present translation is
attempted.
[THE FIRST BOOK OF PISTIS SOPHIA.]
(l) IT came to pass, when Jesus had risen
from
the dead, that he passed eleven years
. Jesus
speaking with his disciples, and in-
hitherto
. . . . instructed
structing them up to the regions of hisdis-
j_i_ r* * , . , i i j_ ciples only
the first statutes only, and up to up to
the
the regions of the first mystery, the
thirst
mystery within the veil, within the mys ery
'
first statute, which is the four and
twentieth
mystery, and below those which are in the
second space of the first mystery, which is
before all mysteries the father in the
likeness
of a dove.
And Jesus said to his disciples : "I
am come
from that first mystery, which is also what
the
the last mystery, the four and twen-
^|S"
tieth mystery." For his disciples knew
roundeth -
not that mystery, nor did they understand
that
there was anything within that mystery ;
but
they thought that that mystery indeed was
the
chief of the pleroma, and the head of all
that
exists ; and they thought it was the end of
all
ends, for Jesus had said to them concerning
2
-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in
Wales-------
206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24 - !DL
PISTIS SOPHIA
that mystery : " It surroundeth the
first statute,
(2) and the five impressions, and the great
light, and the five supporters, and even
the
whole treasure of light."
Moreover, Jesus had not told his disciples
the
The regions whole distribution of all the
regions of
of the great . . M , , , ,
invisible, the great invisible, and of the
three
triple powers, and of the four and twenty
in-
visibles, with all their regions, their
seons, and
their orders, according to the manner of
their
distribution, for they are the emanations
of the
great invisible ; nor of their ungenerated,
self-
generated, and generated, their
light-givers and
unpaired, their rulers and authorities,
their lords
and archangels, their angels and decans,
their
workmen and all the habitations of their
spheres, and all the orders of each one of
them.
Nor had Jesus told his disciples the whole
The tna- distribution of the emanations of
the
sure of light, treasure, nor their orders,
according to
which they are distributed ; nor had he
told
them their saviours, according to the
orders of
each as they are ; nor had he told them
what
are the guardians which are beside each
[gate]
of the treasure of light ; nor had he told
them
the region of the saviour of the twins, (3)
who
is the child of the child ; nor had he told
them
the regions of the three amens, in what
regions
they are distributed ; nor had he told them
in
FIRST BOOK. 3
what region are the five trees, or the
seven
amens, which are also the seven voices,
what
is their region, according to the manner of
their
distribution.
Nor had Jesus told his disciples of what
type
are the five supporters, or from what The
light-
region they were brought forth; nor
world>
had he told them how the great light had
emanated, or from what region it had been
brought forth ; nor had he told them of the
five
impressions, nor of the first statute, from
what
region they had been brought forth ; but he
simply spoke of them, and taught them that
they existed, without speaking of their
emana-
tion and the order of their regions. And
this
is why they did not know that there were
other
regions within that mystery.
Nor had he told his disciples : " I
pass through
such or such a region until I enter that
mystery,
or [when] I leave it " ; but, in
instructing them,
he merely said : " I have come from
that mys-
tery." And this is why they thought
concern-
ing that mystery, that it was the end of
ends, (4)
and that it was the chief of the pleroma,
and
even that it was the pleroma itself. For
Jesus
said to his disciples : " It is that
mystery which
surroundeth all the pleromas of which I
have
spoken, from the day on which I first met
with
you even unto this day." And this is,
there-
4
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PISTIS SOPHIA
fore, why the disciples thought there was
nothing
within that mystery.
It came to pass, therefore, that the
disciples
Jesus and were sitting together on the
Mount of
aresiate 9 ] 68 0^ ves j speaking of these
things, re-
Mount of J icin g with s reat Jy> and
bein g ex -
oiives. ceeding glad and saying one to
another :
" Blessed are we before all men who
are on the
earth, for the saviour hath revealed this
unto
us, and we have received all fulness and
all
perfection." And while they were
saying these
things the one to the other, Jesus sat a
little
removed from them.
It came to pass, therefore, on the
fifteenth
A great da 7 ^ ^6 month of Tobe, the day of
de^cendetlb 1 t^e ^ u ^ m IJ > on that
day, when the
on Jesus. sun ^ad r j gen j n jt s going,
that there
came forth after it a great stream of light
shining exceedingly ; there was no measure
to
the light with which it was surrounded, for
it
came forth from the light of lights, and it
came forth from the last mystery, (5) that
is to
say, the four and twentieth mystery, from
the
interiors to the exteriors which are in the
orders
of the second space of the first mystery.
And
this stream of light poured over Jesus, and
surrounded him entirely. He was seated
apart
from bis disciples, and was shining
exceedingly ;
there was no measure^o the light in which
he was.
FIRST BOOK.
But the disciples saw not Jesus because of
the great light in which he was, or i t8Ur
.
which proceeded from him ; for their im en*
h
eyes were blinded by the great light
tirely>
in which he was. They saw the light only,
shooting forth great rays of light. And the
rays of light were not equal together, but
the
light was of every kind, and of every type,
from the lower to the higher part thereof ;
each
[ray] more admirable than its fellow, in
in-
finite manner, in a great glory of
immeasurable
light, which stretched from the earth to
the
heavens. And when the disciples saw the
light,
they were in great fear and great
confusion.
(6) It came to pass, therefore, when this
stream
of light had come upon Jesus, and had Jesus
as _
gradually surrounded him, that Jesus ^t^
was borne upward or soared aloft, heaven -
shining exceedingly in an immeasurable
light.
And the disciples gazed after him, none of
them
speaking, until he had entered into the
heaven.
They were all in great silence. These
things
then .came to pass on the fifteenth day of
the
moon, the day on which it is full in the
month
of Tobe.
It came to pass, when Jesus had ascended
into
heaven, after the third hour, that all the
powers
of the heavens were confused, and all were
thrown one on another in turn, they and all
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PISTIS SOPHIA
their seons, all their regions, and all
their orders,
^ and the whole earth was shaken, and
The confu-
sion of the a ll the inhabitants thereof.
And con-
the great fusion was upon all men in the
world,
earthquake. * . in
and also upon the disciples, and all
thought that the world would surely be
destroyed.
And all the powers which are in the heavens
did not cease to be in confusion, they and
the
whole world, and all were shaken the one on
the
other in turn, from the third hour of the
fifteenth
day of the moon of Tobe, until the ninth
hour
of the morrow.
And all the angels with their archangels,
and
The dismay all the powers of the height,
(7) all
ofthedis- r , . . - ,
cipies. sang from the interior of the
interiors,
so that the whole world heard their voice ;
they
ceased not till the ninth hour of the
morrow.
But the disciples sat together in fear, and
were
in the greatest possible distress. They
feared
because of the great earthquake which was
taking place, and they wept together,
saying :
" What will be ? Surelv the saviour
will riot
v
destroy all the regions?" Thus saying,
they
wept together.
On the ninth hour of the morrow, the
heavens
Jesus de- were opened, and they saw Jesus
de-
soendeth . . ,. , ,
again. scendmg, shining exceedingly ; there
was no measure to the light which
surrounded
PIBST BOOK. 7
him, for he shone more brightly than when
he
had ascended to the heavens, so that it is
impossible for any in this world to
describe the
light in which he was. He shot forth rays
shining exceedingly ; his rays were without
measure, nor were his rays of light equal
to-
gether, but they were of every figure and
of
every type, some being more admirable than
the others in infinite manner. And they
were
all pure light in every part at the The
nature
same time. It was of three degrees, Ofhi8 g
lor y-
one surpassing the other in infinite
manner. The
second, which was in the midst, excelled
the
first which was below it, and the third,
the most
admirable of all, surpassed the two below
it.
The first glory was placed below all, like
to the
light which came upon Jesus (8) before he
as-
cended into the heavens, and was very
regular
as to its own light. And the three degrees
of
light were of every variety of light and
type,
each excelling the others in infinite
manner.
It came to pass, when the disciples had
seen
these things, that they feared exceed-
ingly, and were troubled. But Jesus, them.
the compassionate and merciful-minded, when
he saw that his disciples were troubled
with
great confusion, spake unto them, saying:
"Take courage. It is I, be not
afraid."
It came to pass, when the disciples heard
8
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PISTIS SOPHIA
these words, that they said : "
Master, if it be
thou, withdraw thy glorious light that we
may
be able to stand, so that our eyes be not
blinded.
We have been dismayed, and the whole world
hath been dismayed, by the greatness of the
light
which is in thee."
Then Jesus drew to himself the glory of his
He draweth tight ; and when this was done,
all the
untoMm- disciples took courage and came to
self> Jesus, and cast themselves
together at
his feet and worshipped him, rejoicing with
great
joy. They said unto him : " Master,
whither
didst thou go ? or on what ministry wentest
thou ? or wherefore are all these
confusions and
shakings which have taken place ? "
Then Jesus, the compassionate, said unto
them:
He pro- "Rejoice and be glad from this
hour,
tSuhem f r I h ave gone to the regions
whence
ail things, i came forth ( 9 ) F rom t hi s
day
forth, therefore, will I speak with you
freely,
from the beginning of the truth unto the
com-
pletion thereof; and I will speak to you
face to
face without parable. From this hour will I
hide nothing from you of the things which
pertain to the height, and of those of the
region
of truth ; for authority hath been given me
by
the ineffable and by the first mystery of
all
mysteries to speak to you, from the
beginning
to the end, from the interiors to the
exteriors,
FIEST BOOK. 9
and from the exteriors to the interiors.
Hearken, therefore, that I may tell you all
things.
" It came to pass, as I was sitting a
little re-
moved from you on the Mount of Olives,
medi-
tating on the duties of the ministry for
which I
was sent, which they said was completed,
and
[how] the last mystery had not yet sent me
my
vesture it is the four and twentieth
mystery
from the interiors to the exteriors, of
those
which are in the second space of the first
mys-
tery, in the orders of that space it came
to
pass, therefore, when I understood that the
duty
of the ministry for which I had come was
ful-
filled, and that that mystery had not yet
sent
me my vesture, which I had placed in it,
until
its time should be fulfilled I was
meditating
on this on the Mount of Olives, a little
removed
from you it came to pass, when the sun rose
in the place of its rising, that then
through the
first mystery, which was from the
beginning, on
account of which the universe hath been
created,
(10) from which also now 1 am come, now and
not formerly before they had crucified me ;
it
came to pass, by order of that mystery,
, . -. ,. , How the
that this vesture of light was sent vesture
of
me, which he had given me from the sent
unto
beginning, and which I had placed lim
"
in the last mystery, which is the four and
10 PI8TIS SOPHIA.
twentieth mystery, from the interior of
those
which are in the orders of the second space
of
the first mystery. This is the vesture,
then,
which I had left in the last mystery, until
the
time should be fulfilled when I should take
it
again, and should begin to speak to the
human
race, and reveal to them all things from
the
beginning of the truth to its completion,
and
speak to them from the interiors of the
interiors
to the exteriors of the exteriors, and from
the
exteriors of the exteriors to the interiors
of the
interiors. Rejoice, therefore, and be glad
and
rejoice more than greatly, for it is to you
that it
hath been given, that I first speak from
the
beginning of the truth to its completion.
"For this cause have I chosen you from
the
beginning through the first mystery.
Ofthesouls * . 6 . . . . ; , ,
of the disci- Rejoice, therefore, and be
glad, in that
their incar- when I came into the world,
(11) from
the beginning, I brought with me
twelve powers, as I told you from the
begin-
ning. I took them from the hands of the
twelve saviours of the treasure of light,
accord-
ing to the command of the first mystery.
These
powers, therefore, 1 cast into the wombs of
your
mothers, when I came into the world, and
they
are those which are in your bodies this
day.
For these powers have been given unto you
before the whole world, for it is ye who
are to
FIBST BOOK. 11
save the whole world, and that ye may be
able
to bear the threat of the rulers of the
world,
and the calamities of the world, and their
dangers, and all the persecutions which the
rulers of the height must bring upon you.
Many times have I said unto you, the power
which
is in you, I have brought it from the
twelve
saviours which are in the treasure of
light. For
which cause I said unto you from the beginning
that ye were not of this world. And I also
am
not of this world, for all men who are of
this
world have taken their soul from the rulers
of
the seons. But the power which is in you is
from me. Ye are souls which pertain to the
height, which I have brought from the
twelve
saviours of the treasure of light, and
which I
have received as a share of my power, which
I
received from the beginning. (12) And when
I set forth to come into this world, I
passed
through the midst of the rulers of the sphere
;
I assumed the likeness of the angel
Gabriel, in
order that the rulers of the seons might
not
recognise me, but think that I was the
angel
Gabriel.
" It came to pass, when 1 had passed
through
the midst of the rulers of the aeons,
that I looked down on the world of
men, by order of the first mystery ; Ba P
tist -
I found Elizabeth, mother of John the
Baptist,
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PISTIS SOPHIA
before she had conceived him ; I cast into
her a
power which I had received from the hand of
,the little Ia6, the good, who is in the
midst,
that he might preach before me and prepare
my
way, and baptise in the water of the
remission
of sins. This power, then, is in the body
of
John.
"Moreover, in the region of the soul
of the
That John rulers, destined to receive it, I
found
Holder 5 in the soul of the prophet Elias,
in the
birth. aeons of the sphere, and I took him,
and receiving his soul also, I brought it
to the
virgin of light, and she gave it to her
receivers ;
they brought it to the sphere of the
rulers, and
cast it into the womb of Elizabeth.
Wherefore
the power of the little lao, who is in the
midst,
and the soul of Elias the prophet, are
united
with the body of John the Baptist. (13) For
this cause have ye been in doubt aforetime,
when I said unto you, 'John said, I am not
the Christ ' ; and ye said unto me, ' It is
written
in the Scripture, that when the Christ
shall
come, Elias will come before him, and
prepare
his way/ And I, when ye had said this unto
me, replied unto you, ' Elias verily is
come,
and hath prepared all things, according as
it
is written ; and they have done unto him
what-
soever they would/ And when I perceived
that
ye did not understand that I had spoken
con-
FIRST BOOK. 13
cerning the soul of Elias united with John
the
Baptist, I answered you openly and face to
face
with the words, ' If ye will receive it,
John the
Baptist is Elias who, I said, was for to
come.' "
And Jesus continued his conversation, and
said: "It came to pass, after these O
f his own
things, that I looked down again into ^^ xm
'
the world of men ; I found Mary, who Mar y-
is called my mother, after the material
body ; I
spoke to her also in the form of Gabriel ;
and
when she had betaken herself into the
height
towards me, I implanted in her the first
power
which I had received from the hands of
Barbelo,
that is to say, the body which I bore in
the
height, and instead of the soul, I
implanted
in her the power which I had received from
the hands of the great Sabaoth, the good,
(14)
who is in the region of the right.
" And the twelve powers of the twelve
saviours
of the treasure of light, which I had More
con-
received from the twelve ministers of
the midst, I cast into the sphere of
the rulers ; and the decans of the P les -
rulers, with their workmen, thought that
they
were the souls of the rulers ; and the
workmen
brought them, and I bound them into the
bodies
of your mothers. And when your time was
full,
ye were brought forth into the world, no
soul
of the rulers being in you. Ye have
received
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PISTIS SOPHIA
your portion from the power which the last
supporter breathed into the mixture, which
[power] was blended with all the invisibles
and
rulers, and all the seons. Once only was it
blended
with the world of destruction, which is the
mix-
ture. This [power] I brought out from
myself
from the beginning; I cast it into the
first
statute, and the first statute cast a
portion
thereof into the great light, and the great
light
cast a portion of that which it received
into the
five supporters, and the last supporter
took a
portion of that which it received, and cast
it
into the mixture. (15) And this [power]
dwelleth
in all those who dwell in the mixture, in
the
manner in which I have just told you."
When Jesus, therefore, had said these
things
, , , to his disciples on the Mount of
Why they r
should re- Olives, he continued in his
conversa-
joice that . ... -^
the time of tion to his disciples, and said
: " Re-
his invest!- . . .
turehad joice, and be glad, and add joy to
joy, for the times are fulfilled for me
to put on my vesture, which hath been
prepared
for me from the beginning; the same which I
laid up in the last mystery, until the time
of
its completion. The time of its completion
is
the time when I shall receive commandment
from the first myster)* to speak to you
from
the beginning of the truth to the end
thereof,
and from the interiors of the interiors,
for the
FIEST BOOK. 15
world is to be saved by you. Rejoice,
therefore,
and be glad, for ye are more blessed than
all
men who are on the earth, for it is ye who
shall
save the whole world."
It came to pass, when Jesus had finished
speaking these things to his disciples,
that he
again continued in his conversation, and
said
unto them : " Lo, I have put on my
vesture,
and all power hath been given me by the
first
mystery. Yet a little while and I will tell
you
the mystery of the pleroma and the pleroma
of
the pleroma ; I will conceal nothing from
you
from this hour, but in perfectness will I
perfect
you in the whole pleroma, and all
perfection,
and every mystery, (16) which things,
indeed,
are the perfection of all perfections, the
pleroma
of all pleromas, and the gnosis of all
grioses,
which are in my vesture. I will tell you
all
mysteries from the exterior of the
exteriors, to
the interior of the interiors. Hearken, I
will
tell you all things which have befallen me.
"It came to pass, when the sun had
risen in
the regions of the east, that a great
stream of light descended in which
teryofthe
five words
was my vesture, the same which 1 had on the
vesture.
laid up in the four and twentieth
mystery, as I have said unto you. And I
found a mystery in my vesture, written in
these five words which pertain to the
height,.
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PISTIS SOPHIA
zama zama ozza racharna $zai. And this is
the interpretation thereof:
" The mystery which is beyond the
world,
The inter- that whereby all things exist :
It is
pretation . in- -, .
thereof. all evolution and all involution ;
it
projected all emanations and all things
therein.
Because of it all mysteries exist and all
their
regions.
" ' Come unto us, for we are thy
fellow -mem-
bers. We are all one with thee. We are one
and the same, and thou art one and the
same. This is the first mystery, (17) which
hath existed from the beginning in the in-
effable, before it came forth ; and the
name
thereof is all of us. Now, therefore, we
all live
together for thee at the last limit, which
also is
the last mystery from the interior. That
also is
a part of us. Now, therefore, we have sent
thee
thy vesture, which, indeed, is thine from
the be-
ginning, which thou didst leave in the last
limit,
which also is the last mystery from the
interiors,
until its time should be fulfilled,
according to
the commandment of the first mystery. Lo,
its
time being fulfilled, I will give it thee.
" 'Come unto us for we all stand near
to clothe
The three thee with the first mystery and
all his
robes of
light. glory, by commandment of the same,
in that the first mystery gave us two
vestures
to clothe thee, besides the one we have
sent
FIRST BOOK. 17
thee, since thou art worthy of them, and
art
prior to us, and came into being before us.
For this cause, therefore, the first
mystery hath
sent for thee through us the mystery of all
his
glory, two vestures.
" c The first hath in it the whole
glory of all
the names of all the mysteries, and of The
^^
all the emanations of the orders of the
vesturo -
spaces of the ineffable.
(18) "'And the second vesture hath in
it
the whole glory of the name of all the The
Becond
mysteries, and of all the emanations
vesture -
which are in the orders of the two spaces
of the
first mystery.
" ' And in this [third] vesture, which
we have
now sent thee, is the glory of the The
third
name of the mystery, the revealer, vesture
-
which also is the first statute, and the
mystery
of the five impressions, and the mystery of
the
great legate of the ineffable, which is
this
great light, and also the mystery of the
five
leaders, which are the five supporters.
There
is also in the vesture the glory of the
name
of all the orders of the emanations of the
treasure of light, with their saviours and
the
orders of their orders, to wit, the seven
amens,
which are the seven voices, and the five
trees
and the three amens, and the saviour of the
twins, which is the child of the child; and
2
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PISTIS SOPHIA
also the mystery of the nine guardians of
the three gates of the treasure of light.
There
is also therein all the glory of every name
which
is on the right, and of all those which are
in
the midst. Moreover, there is also therein
all
the glory of the great invisible, (19) that
is to
say, of the great forefather, and all the
mystery
of the three triple powers, and the mystery
of their whole region, and also the mystery
of
all their invisibles and of all those who
are in
the thirteenth aeon, and the name of the
twelve
*eons, with all their rulers, all their
archangels,
all their angels, and all who are in the
twelve
aeons, and every mystery of the name of all
those who are in the [sphere of] fate, and
in all
the heavens, and the whole mystery of the
name
of those in the spheres and their
firmaments, and
all that they contain, and their regions.
" ' Lo, therefore, we have sent thee
this ves-
The day of ture, without any knowing it
from
unto us." the first statute downwards,
because
the glory of its light was hidden in it
[the
first statute], aod the spheres with all
their
regions from the first statute downwards
[knew
it not]. Make haste, therefore, clothe
thyself
with this vesture. Come unto us ; for ever,
until the time appointed by the ineffable
was
fulfilled, have we been in need of thee, to
clothe
thee with two of the vestures, by order of
the
FIRST BOOK. 19
first mystery. (20) Lo, then, the time is
ful-
filled. Come, therefore, to us quickly,
that we
may put them on thee, until thou hast
accom-
plished the full ministry of the
perfections of
the first mystery, the ministry appointed
for
thee by the ineffable. Come, therefore, to
us
quickly, in order that we may clothe thee,
ac-
cording to the commandment of the first
mys-
tery ; for yet a little while, a very
little while,
and thou shalt come to us, and shalt leave
the world. Come, therefore, quickly, that
thou
mayest receive the whole glory, the glory
of the
first mystery/
" It came to pass, therefore, when I
saw the
whole mystery of those words in the Jesus
vesture which had been sent me, that MS
vesture.
I at once clothed myself therewith. I
became
exceedingly radiant, and soared into the
height.
" I drew nigh to the gate of the
firmament,
shining exceedingly; there was no He enter-
measure to the light in which I was.
firmament.
The gates of the firmament were shaken one
above the other in turn, and all were
thrown
open together.
"And all the rulers, all the powers,
and all
the angels therein, were at once thrown
into
confusion because of the great light which
was in
me. They gazed at the vesture of light with
which I was clothed, and which was
brilliantly
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PISTIS SOPHIA
shining ; they saw the mystery which
contained
The powers their names ; they feared
exceedingly;
mentw' ( 21 ) and a11 tlie bonds with which
^^
amazed, were bound were loosed ; each left
his
and fall
down and ran k and they bowed down before
me,
worship ' J
him - and worshipped me, saying, 'How
hath the lord of the pleroma changed us
without
our knowing ? ' And they sang together to
the
interior of the interiors, but me they saw
not; but
they saw only the light, and they were in
great
fear, and were exceedingly troubled, and
sent
forth their song to the interior of the
interiors.
"And having left that region behind
me, I
He enter- came unto the first sphere,
shining
first sphere, exceedingly, far more
brightly than 1
shone in the firmament, forty and nine
times.
It came to pass, therefore, when I had come
to
the gate of the first sphere, that its
gates were
shaken, and opened of themselves all
together.
" I entered into the mansions of that
sphere,
The powers shining exceedingly; there was
no
of the first measure to the light that was
in me.
sphere are
"T!^' And all the rulers, with all
those who
and lall
down and were [ u that sphere, were in
confusion
worship Jr
M- one with another ; they saw the great
light that was in me, and they gazed upon
my
vesture ; they saw in it the mystery of
their
name, and were more and more distressed.
And
they were in great fear, saying, ' How hath
the
FIRST BOOK. 21
lord of the pleroma changed us without our
knowing?' (22) And all their bonds were un-
loosed, as well as their regions and their
orders ;
and each abandoned his order, they bowed
them-
selves all together, they worshipped before
me or
before my vesture, and they all sang
together to
the interior of the interiors, being in
great fear
and great confusion.
"And having left that region behind
me, I
came unto the second sphere, which He
enter-
is the fate. All its gates were thrown
^cond
into confusion, and opened one after 3 P
here -
another in turn ; and I entered into the
man-
sions of the fate, shining exceedingly ;
there was
no measure to the light that was in me, for
I
shone in the fate more than in the sphere
forty
and nine times.
" And all the rulers and all those who
were in
the fate were thrown into confusion ; The
powerg
they fell on one another, they were
in exceeding great fear on seeing the
great light that was in me. They gazed
on my shining vesture, they saw the him -
mystery of their names on my vesture, and
were
more and more confused, and were in great
fear,
saying, ' How hath the lord of the pleroma
changed us without our knowing?' And all
the bonds of their regions, of their
orders, and
of their mansions were unloosed ; they drew
22
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PISTIS SOPHIA
nigh all together, they bowed themselves,
they
worshipped before me, and sang all together
to
the interior of the interiors, (23) being
in great
fear and great confusion.
" And having left that region behind
me, I
Heenteroth ascended to the great aeons of
the
theaxms.
their gates, shining exceedingly ; there
was no
measure to the light which was in me. It
came
to pass when I came unto the twelve aeons,
that
their veils and their gates were shaken one
on
another; their veils were drawn aside of
their
own accord, and their gates opened of them-
selves. And I entered into the aeons,
shining
exceedingly ; there was no measure to the
light
that was in me, which was brighter than the
light with which I shone in the regions of
the
fate, forty and nine times.
" And all the angels of the aeons,
their arch-
angels, their rulers, their gods, their
The powers o > > & >
of the seons lords, their authorities,
their tyrants,
are amazed, . . J
and fail their powers, their sparks, their
light-
down and . , . i i - .i,
worship givers, their unpaired, their
invisibles,
their forefathers, and their triple
powers, saw me, shining exceedingly ; there
was
no measure to the light which was in me.
They
were thrown into confusion the one on the
other ;
great fear fell upon them when they saw the
great light that was in me. And their great
FIRST BOOK. 28
confusion (24) and great fear reached to
the
region of the great invisible forefather,
and of
the three great triple powers. Because of
the
great fear of their confusion, the great
forefather
himself, and the three triple powers, began
to
run hither and thither in their region, and
they
could not close all their regions because
of the
great fear in which they were. They threw
into
confusion all their aeons together, with
all their
spheres and orderings, fearing and being
greatly
troubled because of the great light that
was in
me far different from what it was when I
was
on the earth of human kind, when my shining
vesture came upon me, for the earth could
not
have borne the light such as it was in
reality,
else would the world be resolved and all
upon it
at the same time. But the light which was
in
me in the twelve aeons was . . . myriad,
and seven thousand and eight hundred times
greater than when I was in the world among
you.
" It came to pass, therefore, when all
those
who are in the twelve aeons had seen
the great light which was in me, that
they were all thrown into confusion ^Lt the
one on another, and ran from one side li %
hi '
to the other in the aeons ; and all the
aeons,
with all their regions and all their ordering,
were shaken on account of the great fear
24
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PISTIS SOPHIA
which came upon them, (25) because they
knew not the mystery which had taken place.
And Adamas, the great tyrant, and all the
tyrants which are in all the aeons, began
to fight
in vain against the light, and they knew
not
with what they fought, for they saw nothing
be-
yond the exceeding great light. It came to
pass,
when they fought against the light, that
they
expended their strength one against the
other,
they fell down in the aeons, they became as
the
inhabitants of the earth who are dead, and
who
have no breath in them.
" And I took from all of them a third
of their
power, in order that they should no
Hetaketh r ' . m J
from them more prevail in their evil doings
; and
a third of f , . , ,
their in order that, if the men who are in
the world should invoke them in
their mysteries which the transgressing
angels
brought down from above that is to say,
their
magic rites in order that, therefore, if
they
should be invoked in evil practices, they
should
not accomplish them.
" And the fate and sphere of which
they are
the lords I changed, and I brought
changeth it to pass that for six months
they
the motion *
of their should turn to the left and accom-
plish their influences, and for six
months turn to the right and accomplish
their
influences. For by order of the first
statute, and
FIBST BOOK. 25
by order of the first mystery, (26) leou,
the over-
seer of the light, had placed them facing
the left
for all time, accomplishing their
influences and
actions. It came to pass, therefore, that
when
I had entered into their regions, they
rebelled
and fought against the light. I took from
them
the third part of their power, in order
that they
should not accomplish their evil actions.
And
the fate and sphere over which they rule I
changed, and set them facing the left for
six
months, accomplishing their influences, and
set
them to turn six months to the right,
accom-
plishing their influences."
And when he had spoken these things unto
his disciples, he said unto them : "
He that hath
ears to hear, let him hear."
It came to pass, when Mary had heard the
words which the saviour said, that she
gazed,
as one inspired, into the air for the space
of an
hour. She said unto him : " Master,
give com-
mandment unto me to speak freely."
And Jesus, the compassionate, answered and
said unto Mary : " Speak freely, Mary,
thou blessed one, whom I will perfect
asketh and
receiveth
in all the mysteries of the dwellers on
permission
high, thou, whose heart is right for the
kingdom of the heavens more than all thy
brethren."
Then said Mary to the saviour : "
Master,
26
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PISTIS SOPHIA
the word that thou hast spoken, to wit, (27)
' he that hath ears to hear, let him hear/
thou
hast said it unto us, in order that we may
understand the word which thou hast spoken.
Give ear, therefore, Master, that I may
speak freely.
"The word which thou hast spoken, to
wit,
' I changed their fate and their
Mary inter-
preteth the spheres over which they rule,
in order
same from * .
the words that, if the race of men should
invoke
of Isaiah. . . .
them, in the mysteries which the
transgressing angels taught them for the
accom-
plishing of their evil deeds, and all that
is un-
lawful in the mystery of their magic ' in
order
[then], that they might no more from this
hour
accomplish their impious works, (for thou
hast
taken from them their power, and their or-
dainers of the hour, and diviners, and
those who
teach the men of the world all that shall
come
to pass,) in order that they should no more
from
this hour have a mind for teaching them
what
will come to pass, (for thou hast changed
their
revolution, and thou hast made them turn to
the left for six months, accomplishing
their
influences, and thou hast made them face to
the right for the six remaining months,
accom-
plishing their influences) concerning this
word,
Master, the power which was in Isaiah, the
prophet, spake as follows, and delivered it
in a
FIRST BOOK. 27
spiritual parable, at the time when he
spake of
the vision of Egypt, saying, * Where, then,
Egypt, where are thy diviners and ordainers
of
the hour, (28) and those whom they evoke
from
the earth, and those whom they evoke from
themselves ? Let them show thee from this
hour the deeds which the lord Sabaoth shall
do!'
"Thus then the power which was in
Isaiah,
the prophet, prophesied before thy coming ;
it
prophesied concerning thee that thou
shouldst
take away the power of the rulers of the
aeons ;
that thou shouldst change their sphere and
their fate, in order that they might know
no-
thing from henceforth. This is why it said,
' Ye shall know nothing of that which the
lord
Sabaoth shall do ' ; that is to say, none
of the
rulers shall know what thou wilt do unto
them
henceforth from this hour ; that is to say,
with
' Egypt,' for they are the inefficacious
matter.
The power, therefore, which was in the
prophet
Isaiah, prophesied concerning thee
aforetime,
saying, 'Henceforth, from this hour, ye
shall
not know what the lord Sabaoth shall do
unto
them/ because of the light-power which thou
didst receive from the hand of Sabaoth, the
good, who is in the region of the right,
the
power which is in thy material body to-day.
For
this cause, therefore, Jesus, my master,
thou
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PISTIS SOPHIA
hast said unto us, 'He that hath ears to
hear, let
him hear,' since thou wouldst know whose
heart
is earnestly set on the kingdom of the
heavens."
It came to pass, when Mary had finished
saying these things, that Jesus said unto
her:
" Well said, Mary, since thou art
blessed before
all women who are on the earth, (29) for
thou
shalt be the pleroma of all pleromas, and
the
perfection of all perfections."
When Mary heard the saviour speak these
Jesus com- words, she rejoiced greatly, and
came
Mary. et she to J esus > an( ^ bowed
herself before him,
anc * worshipped his feet, and said unto
him " Master, give ear unto me, that
the spheres, j ma y question thee on this
matter,
before that thou tellest us the regions
whither
thou hast gone."
And Jesus answered and said unto Mary :
" Speak freely, and fear not. All
things thou
seekest, I will reveal unto thee."
Mary said : " Will all men who know
the
mystery of the magic of all the rulers of
all the
aeons of the fate, and of those of the
sphere, in
the way in which the transgressing aiigels
have
taught them ; if they invoke them in their
mysteries, that is to say, in their evil
magic
rites, to the hindering of good deeds will
they
accomplish them, henceforth from this hour,
or
not?"
FIRST BOOK. 29
And Jesus answered and said unto Mary :
"They will not accomplish them as j
esuaex .
they accomplished them from the be-
ginning, for I have taken from them
the third of their power; but they 8 P
heres -
will make use of those who know the mysteries
of the magic of the thirteenth aeon ; (30)
they
will accomplish them perfectly and at their
ease, for I have not taken away the power
in
that region, according to the command of
the
first mystery."
It came to pass, when Jesus had finished
saying these words, that Mary insisted
further,
and said : " Master, surely the
ordainers of the
hour, and diviners, will no more tell men
what
will come to pass, henceforth from this
hour ? "
But Jesus answered and said unto Mary :
" If the ordainers of the hour chance
upon the
fate, and the sphere, turning towards the
left,
according to their first emanation, their
words
shall come to pass, and they will say what
is
to take place ; but if they chance on the
fate, or
the sphere, turning to the right, they
cannot
obtain any truth, since I have changed
their
influences, their four angles, their three
angles,
and their eight configurations; for
originally
their influences were constant, then when
they
turned to the left, as well as their four angles,
their three angles, and their eight
configura-
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PISTIS SOPHIA
tions ; but now that I have made them turn
to
the left for six months and turn to the
right for
six months, he who, verily, shall find
their
numbering from the time when I changed
them, and when I set them for six months to
face their left hand, and for six months to
face their right hand course, (31) he who,
verily, shall thus observe them, will
discover
their influences with certainty ; he will
fore-
tell all that a man shall do. In the same
way,
also, the diviners, if they invoke the name
of
the rulers, if they meet with them facing
the left,
all things which they shall ask of their
decans,
the latter will tell them with accuracy.
But if
the diviners invoke their names at the time
when their revolution is to the right, they
will
not give ear unto them, because they are
facing
in another way from the first figure in
which
leou had placed them ; for other are their
names
when they turn to the left, and other are
their
names when they turn to the right ; and if
they
are invoked when they turn to the right,
the
truth will not be obtained, but confusion
will
seize upon them, and with threatening they
will
threaten them. Those, therefore, who do not
know their revolution, when they turn to
the
right, their three angles, and their four
angles,
and all their configurations, will find no
truth,
but will be greatly confused, and will be
in
PIEST BOOK. 31
great error, 'because the operations which
they
were accustomed formerly to effect in their
four angles, at the time when they turned
to
the left, and in their three angles, and in
their
eight configurations, the operations in
which
they were constant, at the time when they
turned to the left these I have now
changed,
and I have caused them to make all their
con-
figurations turning to the right for six
months,
in order that they may be confused in all
their
extent; (32) on the other hand, I have made
them turn to the left for six months,
accom-
plishing the actions of their influences
and of
all their configurations, in order that
they may
be thrown into confusion, and wander in
error
the rulers who are in the aeons, in their
spheres, in their heavens, and in all their
regions, so that they may not, even them-
selves, understand their path."
It came to pass, that when Jesus had said
these words Philip was sitting writ- Philip
Q| *- -
ing all the words that Jesus spake it J<
came to pass, therefore, after this, that
Philip
drew nigh, bowed himself, and worshipped
the
feet of Jesus, saying : " Master and
saviour,
grant me permission to speak before thee
and
to question thee on this word, before that
thou
tellest us of the regions whither thou
didst go
for thy ministry."
uostioneth
esus.