The rulers hate her for ceasing in their mystery ...

44 Arrogant uniteth himself with the rulers of the twelve seons and emanateth a lion-faced power to plague Sophia . . 45 Sophia taketh the lion-faced power of Arrogant for the true light 46 She descendeth to the twelve aeons and thence into chaos The emanations of Arrogant squeeze the light-powers out of I found Mary, who Mar yis called my mother, after the material body ; I spoke to her also in the form of Gabriel Adamas, being in sedition, have per-

BOOKS OF THE SAVIOUR. 361 sisted in congress and procreated rulers, and archangels, and angels, and workmen and decans. [So] leou, the father of my father, came forth from the right, arid bound them to the fate of the sphere. " For there are twelve aeons, Sabaoth Adamas ruling over six of them and his brother labraoth ruling over the remaining six. But labraoth and his rulers have believed in the mysteries of the light, and practising the mysteries of the light they have abandoned the mystery of congress. Whereas Sabaoth Adamas and his rulers have continued to practise [the mystery of] congress. " Arid when leou, the father of my father, saw that labraoth had believed, he took him up with all the rulers that had believed with him. Receiving [his soul] in the sphere, he brought him unto a pure atmosphere, near the light of the sun, between the regions of them of the midst and the regions of the invisible god. Thus he set him with the rulers that had believed. " But he took Sabaoth Adamas with his rulers, who had riot practised the mysteries of the light, but had persisted in practising the mysteries of congress, and bound them to the sphere. " He bound eighteen hundred rulers in every saeon, and set three hundred and sixty Of tho \ -i r/ i n r> hierarchies over them, (361) and [further] set five of the , 111 rulers and other great rulers to rule over the three the names hundredand sixty and all the other rulers regents.

362 PISTIS SOPHIA. that are bound. The [five] they call in the world of human kind by these names : the first is called Kronuos ; the second, Ares ; the third, Hermes ; the fourth, Aphrodite ; the fifth, Zeus." And Jesus continued in his conversation and Ofth , said: k ' Hearken further, that I may powers that J leou infused e }} y ou their mystery. It came to pass, five regents, therefore, when leou had thus bound them, that lie drew forth a mighty power from the great invisible, and bound it to him that is called Kronos ; and he drew another power out of Ipsantachoundiuinrhoucheoch, who is one of the three triple-powered gods, arid bound it to Ares ; and he drew u power out of (Jhai'ncliooodi, who is also one of the three triplepowered gods, and bound it to Hermes ; and again he drew a power out of Pistis Sophia, daughter of Barbelo, and bound it to Aphrodite. " Moreover, reflecting that they had need of a of the f unc- helm to steer the world and the reons tions of Zeus, the of the spheres, that they might not Cllicfr - ! l I ,,...'". , gent. wreck them through their iniquity, he ascended into the midst, and drew out a power from the little Sabaoth, the good, who is in the midst, and bound it to Zeus, for he is good, so that he might direct them by his goodness. And he set the revolution of his order, (362) so that he passeth three months in each [of the remaining four aeons], establishing it, so that

BOOKS OF THE SAVIOUR. 363 every ruler into which he cometh is freed from the evil of his iniquity. And he [leou] gave him [Zeus] two peons for his habitation, near those of Hermes. " I have first told you the names of these five great rulers, which the men of the world Tho mys . employ. Hearken further, I will now ^ r { h ^ ames

tell you their incorruptible names also : re s enU Orimouth is [the name] of Kronos; Mounicliouaphor, of Ares ; Tarpetunouph, of Hermes ; Uhosi, of Aphrodite ; Chonbal, of Zeus. These are their incorruptible names." When the disciples had heard these things, they bowed down, and worshipped Jesus, saying: "Blessed are we beyond all men, for thou hast revealed unto us these mighty wonders." They continued further, and besought him, saying : " We beseech thoe, reveal unto us why these ways exist." And Mary came unto him, she bowed herself, and worshipped his feet, and kissed J^ t U6B " his hands, say in 5- ; -'Yea, Master, fcsuson ' J & ' ' the ways of reveal unto us the need for the ways the midst. of the midst ; for we have heard thee say that they are set over great torments. How, then, Master, shall we go forth from them, or how shall we escape from them? (363) Or how do they seize hold of souls ? And how long are [souls] in their torments ? Have mercy upon

364 PISTIS SOPHIA. us, Master and saviour, lest the receivers carry off our souls to the judgments of the ways of the midst, and lest we be condemned in their evil torments, that we, too, may inherit the light of thy father, and may not be wretched and starving without thee." And when Mary had spoken these words in Ofthemys- tears, Jesus answered in great comwhich passion and said unto them : "Of very Jesus will give unto truth, my brethren and well-beloved, ye who have left father and mother

for my name's sake, unto you will I give all the mysteries arid every gnosis. " I will give unto you the mystery of the twelve aeons of the rulers, their seals, their numbers, and the manner of invocation to enter

into their regions. " I will give unto you, moreover, the mystery of the thirteenth aeon, and the manner of invocation to enter into their regions ; I will give unto you their seals and their numbers. "And I will give unto you the mystery of the baptism of them of the midst, and the manner of invocation to enter into their regions ; and I will teach you their numbers and their seals. " And I will give unto you the baptism of them of the right, its numbers and its seals, and the manner of invocation to enter into its region. " And I will give unto you the great mystery 146 PISTIS SOPHIA. " And the word which thy light-power uttered through David, ' He will give commandment to his messengers concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways, to bear thee in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone ' ; that is to say also, thou hast given commandment to Gabriel and Michael to guide Pistis Sophia in all the regions of chaos, to bear her in their hands until they had helped her rise up, so that her feet should not touch the lower darkness, and they of the lower darkness should not seize hold of her. " And the word which thy light-power spake through David, c Thou shalt trample on the serpent and the basilisk, and thou shalt tread under foot the lion and the dragon ; because he hath had trust in me, I will save him, and I will shelter him, because he hath known my name 7 ; that is to say, when Pistis Sophia was just leaving chaos, she trod under foot the emanations of Arrogant ; she trampled on them that had serpent heads, and basilisk heads, and seven heads ; and she trod under foot that lion-faced power, and that dragon-headed one, because she had trusted in the light, and it had saved her from them all. " This, Master, is the interpretation of the words which thou hast said." It came to pass, when the first mystery had

SECOND BOOK. 147

heard these words, that he said: "Well said, James, thou well beloved/' (148) And the first mystery again continued in his conversation, and said to his disciples : " It came to pass, when I had led Pistis Sophia out of chaos, that she cried out anew, saying : " ' I have been rescued from chaos ; I have been loosed from the bonds of dark- Sophia ness. I have come unto thee, light, |^S* for thou hast been for me light on all praise sides, preserving and helping me. And the emanations of Arrogant, which fought against me, thou hast kept therefrom by thy light, and they have not been able to draw nigh unto me ; for thy light was with me and preserved me through thy light-stream, because the emanations of Arrogant constrained me, they took away my power, and cast me into chaos deprived of my light, and I became as gross matter before them. Then came forth the power of the light-stream unto me from thee to save me ; it shone on my left and on my right, surrounding me on all sides, so that no part of my being was without light, and thou didst hide me in the light of thy stream. Thou didst purge in me all my evil matters, and I rose superior to all my matters, because of thy light and of thy light-stream, which hath raised me up, and hath kept far from

148 PISTIS SOPHIA. me the emanations of Arrogant which constrained me. (149) I became stout of heart in thy light, and in the pure light of thy stream. And the emanations of Arrogant which constrained me withdrew themselves from me, and I became radiant in thy great power. Thou hast saved me and hast preserved me for ever/ "This is the repentance which Pistis Sophia uttered, when she came forth from chaos and was freed from the bonds of chaos. Now, therefore, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear." It came to pass, therefore, when the first mystery had finished saying these words unto his disciples, that Thomas came forward, and said : " Master, my light-dweller hath ears, and my spirit understandeth the words which thou hast said. Now, therefore, give commandment

unto me to expound clearly the interpretation of the words." The first mystery answered, and said unto Thomas : " I give thee commandment to expound the interpretation of the song which Pistis Sophia sang in my honour." Thomas answered, and said : " My Master, concerning the song which Pistis Sophia uttered, because she was preserved from chaos, thy lightpower prophesied of old concerning thee, through Solomon, the son of David, in his Odes, saying :