Pistis Sophia
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The important Gnostic text, the Pistis Sophia, in five books, which scholars date c. 250–300 AD, relates the Gnostic teachings of the transfigured Jesus to the apostles assembled (including Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, 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 title Pistis Sophia is obscure, and is sometimes translated "Faith 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":
- Again, his disciples said: "Tell us clearly how they came down from the invisibilities, from the immortal to the world that dies?"
- The perfect Savior said: "Son of Man consented with Sophia, his consort, and revealed a great androgynous light. His male name is designated 'Savior, Begetter of All Things'. His female name is designated 'All-Begettress Sophia'. Some call her 'Pistis'." (— The Sophia of Jesus Christ)
The best-known (only?) manuscript 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 in 1795 from a Dr. Askew. Until the discovery of the papyri at Nag Hammadi 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 sources, everything written about Gnosticism before World War II is based on quotes, references and inferences in the Patristic writings of the enemies of Gnosticism, a less-than-neutral source, where Gnostic beliefs were selected to present their absurdities, bizarre and inethical behavior, and heresy from the othodox Pauline Christian standpoint.
Pistis Sophia was also said to be the Bride of Christ, and in many ways the better of all the angels. There may be some correlation to the "Mother of Prostitutes" in the Book of Revelation 17:5.
In John Allen's independent film Fallen, Pistis Sophia takes on the leading role as a mortal woman—who just so happens to be the transfigured embodiment of the Bride of Christ, whom was tossed out of Heaven over a matter of her lesbian sexuality. She is hunted by the jealous archangel Uriel in hopes that his victory over her would admonish his own faults.
External links
- Gnostic Society Library (http://www.webcom.com/~gnosis/library/psoph.htm): G.R.S. Mead's introduction to Pistis Sophia
- Early Christian Writings (http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/pistis.html): Pistia Sophia