pistis.sophia_book_3_part7 Chapter 1

and moreover the servitors withhold | the blood of all the food of the woman which she will eat and which she will drink, and they withhold [it] in the womb of the woman up to forty days.

“And after forty days they knead the blood of the power of all the food and knead it well in the woman's womb. After forty days”

they spend another thirty days in building its members in the image of the body of the man; each buildeth a member.

I will tell you the decans who will build it [sc. the body]; I will tell them you at the expansion of the universe.

“If then after this the servitors shall have completed the whole body and all its members in seventy days,”

after this the servitors summon into the body which they have built,

–first indeed they summon the counterfeiting spirit; thereafter they summon the soul within them;

“and thereafter they summon the compound of the power into the soul; and the destiny they put outside them all, as it is not blended with them, [but] following them and accompanying them. And after this the servitors seal them one to the other with all the seals which the rulers have given them. [And] they seal the day on which they have taken up their abode in the womb of the woman,–they seal [it] on the left hand | of the plasm;”

and they seal the day on which they have completed the body, on the right hand;

and they seal the day on which the rulers have handed it over to them, on the middle of the skull of the body of the plasm;

and they seal the day on which the soul hath come forth out of the rulers, they seal it on the [left of] the skull of the plasm;

and they seal the day on which they kneaded the members and separated them for a soul, they seal it on the right of the skull of the plasm;

and the day on which they have bound the counterfeiting spirit to it [the soul], they seal on the back of the skull of the plasm; and the day on which the rulers have breathed the power into the body, they seal on the brain which is in the midst of the head of the plasm and also on the inside [? the heart] of the plasm; and the number of years which the soul will spend in the body,

they seal on the forehead which is on the plasm. And so they seal all those seals on the plasm. I will tell you the names of all these seals at the expansion of the universe; and after the expansion of the universe I will tell you wherefor all hath come to pass.

And, if ye could understand it, I am that mystery.

“Now, therefore, the servitors complete the whole man. And of all these seals with which they have sealed the body, | the servitors carry the whole peculiarity and bring it to all the retributive rulers who [are] over all the chastisements of the judgments; and these hand it over to their receivers, in order that they may lead their souls out of the bodies,”

–they hand over to them the peculiarity of the seals, in order that they may know the time when they are to lead the souls out of the bodies, and in order that they may know the time when they are to bring to birth the body, so that they may send their servitors in order that they may draw near and follow the soul and bear witness of all the sins it shall do,–they and the counterfeiting spirit,–on account of the manner and way, how they shall chastize it in the judgment.

“And when the servitors have given the peculiarity of the seals to the retributive rulers, they withdraw themselves to the economy of their occupations which is appointed unto them through the rulers of the great Fate. And when the number of months of the birth of the babe is completed, the babe is born. Small in it is the compound of the power, and small in it is the soul; and small in it is the counterfeiting spirit.”

“The destiny on the contrary is large, as it is not mingled into the body for their economy, but followeth the soul | and the body and the counterfeiting spirit, until the time when the soul shall come forth out of the body, on account of the type of death by which it shall slay it [the body] according to the death appointed for it by the rulers of the great Fate. Is he to die by a wild beast, the destiny leadeth the wild beast against him until it slay him; or is he to die by a serpent, or is he to fall into a pit”

“by mischance, or is he to hang himself, or is he to die in water, or through such [kinds of death], or through another death which is worse or better than this,–in a word, it is the destiny which forceth his death. upon him. This is the occupation of the destiny, and it hath no other occupation but this. And the destiny followeth every man until the day of his death.”

“Mary answered and said: To all men then who are in the world, will all which is appointed them through the Fate, whether good or bad or sin or death or life,–in a word, will all which is appointed them through the rulers of the Fate, have to come unto them?”

“The Saviour answered and said unto Mary: Amēn, I say unto you: All which is appointed unto every one through the Fate, whether all good or all sins,–in a word, all which is appointed them, cometh unto them. For this cause, therefore, have I brought | the keys of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; otherwise no flesh in the world would be saved.”

“For without mysteries no one will enter into the Light-kingdom, be he a righteous or a sinner. For this cause, therefore, have I brought the keys of the mysteries into the world, that I may free the sinners who shall have faith in me and hearken unto me, so that I may free them from the bonds and the seals of the æons of the rulers and bind them to the seals and the vestures and the orders of the Light, in order that he whom I shall free in the world from the bonds and the seals of the æons of the rulers, may be freed in the Height from the bonds and seals of the æons of the rulers,”

and in order that he whom I shall bind in the world to the seals and the vestures and the orders of the Light, may be bound in the Light-land to the orders of the inheritances of the Light.

“For the sake of sinners, therefore, have I torn myself asunder at this time and have brought them the mysteries, that I may free them from the æons of the rulers and bind them to the inheritances of the Light, and not only the sinners, but also the righteous, in order that I may give them the mysteries and that they may be taken into the Light,”

“for without mysteries they cannot | be taken into the Light. For this cause, therefore, I have not hidden it, but I have cried it aloud clearly. And I have not separated the sinners, but I have cried it aloud and said it unto all men, unto sinners and righteous, saying: 'Seek that ye may find, knock that it may be opened unto you; for every one who seeketh in truth, will find, and who knocketh, to him it will be opened.”

“For I have said unto all men: They are to seek the mysteries of the Light-kingdom which shall purify them and make them refined and lead them into the Light. For this cause, therefore, hath John the Baptizer prophesied concerning me, saying:”

I indeed have baptized you with water unto repentance for forgiveness of your sins. He who cometh after me, is stronger than me. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will purify his floor.

“The chaff indeed he will consume with unquenchable fire, but the wheat he will gather into his barn.' The power in John hath prophesied concerning me, knowing that I would bring the mysteries into the world and purify the sins of the sinners who shall have faith in me and hearken unto me, and make them into refined light and lead them into the Light.”

“When then Jesus had said this, Mary answered and said: My Lord, if men go to seek and they come upon the doctrines of error, I whence then are they to know whether they belong to thee or not?”

“The Saviour answered and said unto Mary: I have said unto you aforetime: 'Be ye as skilful money-changers. Take the good, throw the bad away.”

“Now, therefore, say unto all men who would seek the godhead: 'If north wind cometh, then ye know that there will be cold; if south wind cometh, then ye know that there will be burning and fervent heat.”

Now, therefore, say unto them: 'If ye have known the face of the heaven and of the earth from the winds,

then know ye exactly, if then any come now unto you and proclaim unto you a godhead, whether their words have harmonized and fitted with all your words which I have spoken unto you through two up to three witnesses, and whether they have harmonized in the setting of the air and of the heavens and of the circuits and of the stars and of the light-givers and of the whole earth and all on it and of all waters and all in them.'

Say unto them: 'Those who shall come unto you, and their words fit and harmonize in the whole gnosis with that which I have said unto you, I will receive as belonging unto us.'

“This is what ye shall say unto men, if ye make proclamation unto them in order that they may guard themselves from the doctrines of error. | Now, therefore, for the sake of sinners have I rent myself asunder and am come into the world, that I may save them. For even for the righteous, who have never done any evil and have not sinned at all,”

it is necessary that they should find the mysteries which are in the Books of Yew, which I have made Enoch write in Paradise, discoursing with him out of the tree of the Gnosis and out of the tree of the Life. And I made him deposit them in the rock Ararad, and set the ruler Kalapataurōth, who is over Skemmūt, on whose head is the foot of Yew, and who surroundeth all æons and Fates,

“–I set up that ruler as watcher over the Books of Yew on account of the flood, and in order that none of the rulers may be envious of them and destroy them. These will I give you, when I shall have told you the expansion of the universe.”

“When then the Saviour had said this, Mary answered and said: My Lord,”

who now then is the man in the world who hath not sinned at all, who is pure of iniquities?

For if he is pure of one, he will not be able to be pure of another, so that he may find the mysteries which are in the Books of Yew?

For I say: A man in this world will not be able to be pure of sins;

“for if he is pure of one, he will not be able to be pure of another.” The Saviour answered and said unto Mary: “I say unto you: They will find one in a thousand and two in ten-thousand for the accomplishment of the mystery of the First Mystery.”

This will I tell unto you when I have explained to you the expansion of the universe.

“For this cause, therefore, I have rent myself asunder and have brought the mysteries into the world, because all are under sin and all are in need of the gift of the mysteries.”

“Mary answered and said unto the Saviour: My Lord, before thou didst come to the region of the rulers and before thou didst come down into the world, hath no soul entered into the Light?”

“The Saviour answered and said unto Mary: Amēn, amēn, I say unto you Before I did come into the world, no soul hath entered into the Light.”

And now, therefore, when I am come, I have opened the gates of the Light and opened the ways which lead to the Light.

“And now, therefore, let him who shall do what is worthy of the mysteries, receive the mysteries and enter into the Light.” Mary continued and said: “But, my Lord, I have heard that the prophets have entered into the Light.”

“The Saviour continued and said unto Mary: Amēn, amēn, I say unto you: No prophet hath entered into the Light; but the rulers of the æons have discoursed with them out of the æons and given them the mystery of the æons. And when I came to the regions of the æons, I have turned Elias and sent him into the body of John the Baptizer,”

“and the rest also I turned into righteous bodies, which will find the mysteries | of the Light, go on high and inherit the Light-kingdom. Unto Abraham on the other hand and Isaac and Jacob I have forgiven all their sins and their iniquities and have given them the mysteries of the Light in the æons”

and placed them in the region of Yabraōth and of all the rulers who have repented. And when I go into the Height and am on the point of going into the Light, I will carry their souls with me into the Light. But, amēn, I say unto you, Mary: They will not go into the Light before I have carried thy soul and those of all thy brethren into the Light.

“The rest of the patriarchs and of the righteous from the time of Adam unto now, who are in the æons and all the orders of the rulers,”

“when I came to the region of the æons, I have through the Virgin of Light made to turn into bodies which will all be righteous,–those which will find the mysteries of the Light, enter in and inherit the Light-kingdom.”

“Mary answered and said: Blessed are we before all men because of these splendours which thou hast revealed unto us.”

“The Saviour answered and said unto Mary and all the disciples: I will still reveal unto you all the splendours of the Height, from the interiors of the interiors to the exteriors of the exteriors, | that ye may be perfected in all gnosis and in all fulness and in the height of the heights and the depths of the depths.”

“And Mary continued and said to the Saviour: Lo, my Lord, we have openly, exactly and clearly known that thou hast brought the keys of the mysteries of the Light-kingdom, which forgive souls sins and purify them and make them into refined light and lead them into the Light.”

A PORTION OF THE BOOKS OF THE SAVIOUR