Pistis Sophia, which can be translated as “Faithful Wisdom,” is an allegorical Coptic text. It is a manuscript of 348 pages that was copied in the sixth or seventh century. Discovered in Luxor, Egypt, it remained in private hands until its aquisition by the British Museum. Over the centuries it remained practically unknown, until it was translated into Latin and Greek in 1851. In 1896, an English translation was published. It was soon identified as a Gnostic text tentatively attributed to Valentinus, an Egyptian heretic of the second century who is credited with founding the principal Gnostic sect before being expelled from the fold of Christianity.
Sophia’s Descent into the World
Pistis Sophia charts the progressive stages that Sophia goes through as she is beckoned by the Divine Light to free herself from the shackles of earthly existence. Sophia first describes her tormentors:
“And when I looked unto the height, I saw all the rulers of the aeons, how in their numbers they looked down on me and rejoiced over me, though I had done them no ill; but they hated me without a cause. And when the emanations of Self-willed saw the rulers of the aeons rejoicing over me, they knew that the rulers of the aeons would not come to my aid; and those emanations which sore pressed me with violence, took courage, and the light which I had not taken from them, they have taken from me.”
But later she addresses her savior in emotional terms:
“But I looked up unto the height toward thee and had faith in thee. Now, therefore, O Light of lights, I am sore pressed in the darkness of chaos. If now thou wilt come to save me- great is thy mercy- then hear me in truth and save me. Save me out of the matter of this darkness, that I may not be submerged therein, that I may be saved from the emanations of god Self-willed which press me sore, and from their evil doings. Let not this darkness submerge me, and let not this lion-faced power entirely devour the whole of my power, and let not this chaos shroud my power. Hear me, O Light, for thy grace is precious, and look down upon me according to the great mercy of thy Light. Turn not thy face from me, for I am exceedingly tormented. Haste thee, hearken unto me and save my power.”
Source: Scriptures: Sacred Writings of the World’s Religions by Arturo Marcelo Pascual, pgs. 73-5.
bennu rising 