Pistis Sophia
Coptic Gnostic text of the 3rd–4th c., translated into English by G.R.S. Mead (1896). Records dialogues of the risen Christ with his disciples in the years following the resurrection.
Source context· Greco-Christian stream · Greco-Latin cultural age
- Stream
- Greco-Christian
- Cultural age
- Greco-Latin (4th post-Atlantean cultural age)
- Composed
- c. 300 CE
First Book — Post-Resurrection Discourses
Chapters 1–62 — the descent and first repentances of Pistis Sophia
Jesus's eleven post-resurrection years of teaching on the Mount of Olives; the great light-power that descends upon him; his ascent into the heavens; and the unfolding myth of Pistis Sophia — her fall, her oppression by Self-willed and the lion-faced power, and the first repentances by which she begins to ascend.
62 sections · 30,308 words
Read →Second Book — The Repentances of Pistis Sophia
Chapters 63–101 — the remaining repentances and the disciples' interpretations
Pistis Sophia's twelve further repentances; her songs of praise; Jesus's rescue and re-ascent of Sophia through the æons. Mary, John, Philip, Thomas, and the other disciples interpret Solomon's Odes and the Psalms in light of Sophia's journey.
39 sections · 30,525 words
Read →Third Book — Mysteries of the Light
Chapters 102–135 — the Mysteries of the Ineffable
The mysteries of the Light-kingdom; the proclamation entrusted to the disciples; the limits and the unending forgiveness of those initiated; the apportioning of mysteries; the soul's path through the chastisement-places and the dragons of the outer darkness.
34 sections · 24,995 words
Read →Fourth Book — Books of the Saviour
Chapters 136–148 — the Books of the Saviour proper
The detailed cosmology of the rulers and the avenging angels; the mystic offering at the altar; the spheres through which the soul passes after death; the rebirth-cycles of sinners; and the unfailing mercy that even the greatest of sinners, repenting, inherits the kingdom.
13 sections · 8,484 words
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