Greco-Christian stream·Pistis Sophia·Fourth Book — Books of the Saviour·Chapter 148
A sinner suffereth for each separate sin
Even the greatest of sinners, if he repent, shall inherit the kingdom · Light; she sendeth them anew that they may find the mysteries of the Light
Source context
- Theme
- eschatological sealing of the disciples and consummation of the Treasury-of-Light mysteries
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Valentinian GnosisValentinian soteriology parallels the chapter's structure: the final gathering of pneumatic souls into the Pleroma mirrors the sealing and reintegration of initiated disciples into the Light-treasury described here.
- Hermetic tradition (Corpus Hermeticum)The Hermetic ascent through planetary spheres toward the supreme Light shows cross-tradition congruence with the archontic-dissolution and Treasury-of-Light motifs that close this final chapter.
- Manichaean soteriologyManichaean teaching on the liberation of light-particles from matter and their return to the Father of Greatness exhibits cross-tradition congruence with the eschatological completion enacted in this concluding chapter.
Chapter 148
CHAPTER 148
Mary said: "A man who hath committed all sins and all iniquities and hath not found the mysteries of the Light, will he receive the chastisements for them all at once?"
A sinner suffereth for each separate sin.Jesus answered: "Yea, he will receive it; if he hath committed three sins, he will receive chastisement for three."
John said: "A man who hath committed all sins and all iniquities, but at last hath found the mysteries of the Light, is it possible for him to be saved?"
Even the greatest of sinners, if he repent, shall inherit the kingdom.Jesus said: "Such a man who hath committed all sins and all iniquities, and he findeth the mysteries of the Light, and performeth and fulfilleth them and ceaseth not nor doeth sins, will inherit the Treasury of the Light."
Of the time favourable for the birth of those who shall find the mysteries.Jesus said unto his disciples: "When the sphere turneth itself, and Kronos and Arēs come behind the Virgin of Light and Zeus and Aphrodite come in face of the Virgin, they being in their own æons, then the veils of the Virgin draw themselves aside and she falleth into joy in that hour when she seeth these two light-stars before her. And all the souls which she shall cast at that hour into the circuit of the æons of the sphere, that |390. they may come into the world, will be righteous and good and find at this time the mysteries of the Light; she sendeth them anew that they may find the mysteries of the Light.
"If on the other hand Arēs and Kronos come in face of the Virgin and Zeus and Aphroditē behind her, so that she seeth them not, then all the souls which she shall cast in that hour into the creatures of the sphere, will be wicked and wrathful and do not find the mysteries of the Light."
The disciples beseech Jesus to have mercy upon them.When then Jesus said this unto his disciples in the midst of the Amente, the disciples cried and wept, [saying]: "Woe, woe unto sinners, on whom the negligence and the forgetfulness of the rulers lie until they come out of the body and are led to these chastisements! Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, son of the Holy
[paragraph continues] [One], and have compassion with us, that we may be saved from these chastisements and these judgments which are prepared for the sinners; for we also have sinned, our Lord and our Light."
A Later Postscript
[A LATER POSTSCRIPT]
. . . . . .
The proclamation of the apostles.. . . the righteous [man]. They went forth three by three to the four zones of heaven and they proclaimed the goodness of the kingdom in the whole world, the Christ inworking with them through the words of confirmation and the signs and the wonders which followed them. And thus was known the kingdom of God on the whole earth and in the whole world of Israel as a witness for all the nations which are from the rising unto the setting [of the sun].
. . . . . . . . . . . .
[TWO LINES ERASED.]
THE END.