Pistis Sophia is an important Gnostic text, possibly written as
early as the 2nd century. The five remaining copies, which scholars
place in the 5th or 6th centuries, relate the Gnostic teachings of
the transfigured Jesus to the assembled disciples (including his
mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Martha), when the risen Christ had
accomplished eleven years speaking with his disciples. In it the
complex structures and hierarchies of heaven familiar in Gnostic
teachings are revealed. The female divinity of gnosticism is
Sophia, a being with many aspects and names. She is sometimes
identified with the Holy Spirit itself but, according to her
various capacities, is also the Universal Mother, the Mother of the
Living or Resplendent Mother, the Power on High,
She-of-the-left-hand (as opposed to Christ, understood as her
husband and he of the Right Hand), as the Luxurious One, the Womb,
the Virgin, the Wife of the Male, the Revealer of Perfect
Mysteries, the Holy Dove of the Spirit, the Heavenly Mother, the
Wandering One, or Elena (that is, Selene, the Moon). She was
envisaged as the Psyche of the world and the female aspect of
Logos. The title Pistis Sophia is obscure, and is sometimes
translated Faith wisdom or Wisdom in faith or Faith in wisdom. A
more accurate translation taking into account its gnostic context,
is the faith of Sophia, as Sophia to the gnostics was a divine
syzygy of Christ, rather than simply a word meaning wisdom. In an
earlier, simpler version of a Sophia, in the Berlin Codex and also
found in a papyrus at Nag Hammadi, the transfigured Christ explains
Pistis in a rather obscure manner: Again, his disciples said: Tell
us clearly how they came down from the invisibilities, from the
immortal to the world that dies? The perfect Saviour said: Son of
Man consented with Sophia, his consort, and revealed a great
androgynous light. Its male name is designated 'Saviour, begetter
of all things'. Its female name is designated 'All-begettress
Sophia'. Some call her 'Pistis'. The best-known of the five
manuscripts of Pistis Sophia is bound with another Gnostic text
titled on the binding "Piste Sophiea Cotice." This "Askew Codex"
was purchased by the British Museum (now British Library) in 1795
from a Dr. Anthony Askew. Until the discovery of the Nag Hammadi
library in 1945, the Askew Codex was one of three codices that
contained almost all of the gnostic writings that had survived the
suppression of such literature both in East and West, the other two
codices being the Bruce Codex and the Berlin Codex. Aside from
these primary sources, everything written about Gnosticism before
the Nag Hammadi library became available is based on quotes,
characterizations, and caricatures in the writings of the enemies
of Gnosticism. The purpose of these heresiological writings were
polemical, presenting Gnostic teachings as absurd, bizarre, and
self-serving, and as an aberrant heresy from a proto-orthodox and
orthodox Christian standpoint. The text proclaims that Jesus
remained on earth after the resurrection for 11 years, and was able
in this time to teach his disciples up to the first (i.e. beginner)
level of the mystery. It starts with an allegory paralleling the
death and resurrection of Jesus, and describing the descent and
ascent of the soul. After that it proceeds to describe important
figures within the gnostic cosmology, and then finally lists 32
carnal desires to overcome before salvation is possible, overcoming
all 32 constituting salvation. Pistis Sophia includes quotes from
five of the Odes of Solomon, found in chapters between 58 and 71.
Pistis Sophia was the only known source for the actual wording of
any of the Odes until the discovery of a nearly-complete Syriac
text of the Odes in 1909. Because the first part of this text is
missing, Pistis Sophia is still the only source for Ode 1.
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