An Introduction to Pistis Sophia

 AN INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION TO PISTIS SOPHIA by Raul Brancoi For over two centuries  Pistis Sophia (PS) eluded students and scholars of the esoteric tradition who, for the most part, struggled to no avail to apprehend the important message that it was always felt this text veiled. veiled. After all, the book book purports purports to contain esoteric esoteric instructions instructions delivered by Jesus to his disciples after his return from the dead. Some scholars, like Jean Doreseii, could not hide their frustration at the impenetrable language pregnant with symbolism. Othersiii would just advance broad descriptions of the text, without venturing analytical or  hermeneutic comments. But in recent years new authors have attempted to interpret the text. While the character of  their contributions to elucidate the meaning of the text has varied, it seems that their main objective has been to allure members to their organizations. Jan van Rijckenborgh, a serious studen studentt of Gnostic Gnosticism ism and a very very influe influenti ntial al Rosicru Rosicrucia cian n from from the Nether Netherlan lands, ds, left left an unfinished text with the title of  Les of  Les Mysteres Gnostiques de la Pistis Sophia, Sophia, by the time of his death in 1968. J.J. Hurtak and his wife Desiree Hurtak, published a book, in 1999, with the title  PISTIS  SOPHIA, A Coptic Gnostic Text with Commentary iv. Although Hurtak claimed to have received a lot of inspiration from the Height in his earlier work v, The Book of Knowledge: THE KEYS  OF ENOCH , his commentaries on the Pistis Sophia, while showing considerable erudition seems to lack inner inspiration. This conclusion stems from his assumption that the personages of the story are outside beings and not aspects of each and every human being, as was usual in Gnos Gnosti ticc lite litera ratu ture re deal dealin ing g with with the the soul soul’s ’s jour journe ney. y. As a resul result, t, his his expl explan anat atio ions ns of the the cosmological system of the PS leave much to be desired. Another similarly unusual author is the Colombian Victor Manoel Gomes Rodrigues,  better known as Samael Aun Weor, a self-proclaimed Gnostic master and supposed member of  the Great White Fraternity, who, he says, is the Avatar of the Aquarium Age. With all these qualifications, Samael Aun Weor produced a dull and uninspiring study, in Spanish, called  Pistis Sophia Develada, Develada, explaining all of Jesus mysteries in terms of sexual magic. The author of this article published in Brazil, in 1997, a version of Pistis Sophia with suggested interpretations of the text and a summary of the apparently complex, but most  profound and coherent cosmology of the work, with the help of some little known notes of  Blavatskyvi. This article attempts to describe a Gnostic jewel veiled in the text relating to the expansion of consciousness attained by Jesus as part of his s upreme Initiation. Gnostic Practice

Since the early days of Gnosticism, the existence of an apocryphal manuscript was an indication that the author had attained the Gnosis, namely, that inner knowledge reached under a state of expanded expanded or altered altered consciousne consciousness. ss. Many Gnostic documents documents were of a cosmologica cosmologicall nature, indicating the visions of the author regarding the process of creation of the Universe. Given the considerable number of Gnostic authors, during the first centuries of our era, relating their inner experiences in his own way, “heresiologists” were fond of belittling the profusion of  cosmological views among Gnostics. For those familiar with the nature of mystical experiences, those differences could be easily explained by the intensity of the illuminative experience and the personal ability of the Gnostic to translate into words the meaning of his symbolic inner  vision. Some Gnostic documents, however, were of a different character. They were the product of  Gnostic masters who had reached the highest levels of spiritual realization, and were intended to serve as guidelines to neophytes in their search for the inner light. They used the time-tested

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method of writing in symbolic language in such a way as to stimulate the awakening of the intuition. Those texts would provide several hints for the understanding of the inner processes of  transformation, and would serve as a guide and facilitator for meditation. The Pistis Sophia manuscript is an obvious example of this kind of text, like the Apocalypse or Revelation in the Bible, and other apocryphal texts such as the Gospels of  Thomas and of Philip found in the Nag Hammadi Library. One of their objectives is to force the student to search in the inner recesses of his consciousness for the meaning of the symbols used in the texts and, in this way, to generate a vibration conducive to a sudden flash of insight. We can safely assume that, when those manuscripts were written, many neophytes knew the meaning of the basic symbols used by their masters and were constantly reminded of the law of  correspondences. According to this law in the unforgettable formulation presented by Hermes Trismegistus: “As above so is below”, all events related to the macrocosm would also apply to the microcosm, namely to man. The Gnostic texts provide profound insights on the inner nature of man and their   psychological implications. They seem to have provided the inspiration for one of the most remarkable modern psychologists, namely Carl G. Jung. vii Thus, a myth would have macro as well as microcosmic dimensions, although one of these would generally be the focus for the teaching provided therein. In the case of the Pistis Sophia the inner dimension seems to be the main focus. Almost every entity in the story, i.e., Pistis Sophia, Jesus, the Self-centered one, the Power with a Lion Face, the eons, etc, can be interpreted as inner aspects of man. The PISTIS SOPHIA manuscript

The document, originally written in Greek and believed to having been lost, was kept by Divine providence in a translation into Copt, the Sahidic dialect of Southern Egypt at the  beginning of our era. The codex was brought to England around 1772 and later sold to the British Museum. The complete text was translated into Latin by mid 19th century, by M.G. Schwartze viii but it was only by the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20 th century that it was translated into modern European languages, such as French (Amélineau, 1895), German (Carl Schmidt, 1905) and English ( G.R.S. Mead, 1921 and Violet MacDermot ix, 1978). The work of  Carl Schmidt provided the editorial framework for the translations into English. The text is divided into three major settings. In the first, Jesus is with his disciples after his return from the dead, at the Mount of Olives. Suddenly, in the midst of thunder and lighting, he is elevated to the height in the midst of intense blinding light. It is reiterated that his glorious ascension to the height took place on the date of the full moon of Thebet, that is, the full moon of May, when the Wesak Festival takes place. This period is known as the most favorable for  inner contacts and initiations. After thirty hours, Jesus returns, surrounded by three robes of  lightx, with a brighter glow than when he had ascended. After his return from the height he starts to instruct his disciples about his experiences and other occult matters. The other two settings of the text are the narrative of the story of Pistis Sophia and additional instructions to the disciples in the usual form of dialogue. A wealth of information is  provided, including the esoteric interpretation of several parables and the nature of the mysteries. In view of space limitations, this article will endeavor to provide the main features of  the Sophia myth, which is a most profound revelation made directly by Jesus of the pilgrimage of the soul xi. A summary of the Sophia Myth

Upon his return, Jesus describes to the disciples the hierarchies of the various pl anes that he saw as he passed through them on his way up. This long enumeration of spiritual entities is, at first, quite confusing, since nowhere in the text is there any explanation of this terminology nor  of the cosmological system into which those entities fit.

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After several incidents with the entities of the lower planes, Jesus finds Pistis Sophia below the Thirteenth Eon, her original home. She was alone, without her pair and her brothers, sorrowful and grieving on account of the torments that Self-centered xii had inflicted on her with the help of his emanations and the twelve eons. Here we have the heart of the story: Pistis Sophia was at first in the Thirteenth Eon with her  twenty-three brothers and sisters. Once she saw the Light of the Height on the veil of the Treasury of the Light, she started singing praises to that light. From then on the Self-centered one started to hate her and so did the twelve eons that are below. Self-centered conceived a ruse to trick her, emanating from himself a power with a lion’s appearance and a host of other  violent material emanations sending them to the regions below. Pistis Sophia was then led to look below and there she saw the light of the lion-faced power. Not knowing that it was an emanation of Self-centered, she decided to go after it, without her pair , to take its light, thinking that it would enable her to go to the Light of the Height. Once she descended from her place of origin, she was dragged further and further down into chaos, with the emanations of Self-centered and the twelve eons constantly chasing after  her, tormenting her and taking her light away. When she finally saw Jesus surrounded by light, she cried to the Light of Lights and uttered a series of ‘metanoias’. The ‘metanoias’ of Pistis Sophia are the key to her eventual salvation. Although they are generally translated as ‘repentances’, that Greek word actually has the meaning of ‘change of  mind’ or ‘inner transformation’. In her thirteen ‘inner transformations’ followed by eleven songs of praise to the light, she unfolds her story and reiterates her faith in the light and the longing to be free from the afflictions in chaos. She is eventually released from chaos with the help of her pair, Jesus, acting on the authority of the First Mystery with the assistance of the Archangels Gabriel and Michael. The symbolism

In all esoteric traditions the most important inner instructions are always transmitted in symbolic languagexiii, thus veiling the sacred from the eyes of the profane, while offering a method for training the development of intuition in disciples with the unveiling of the instructions. With few exceptions, the names used in the PS for the different entities and planes have no connections with the Jewish tradition that preceded it nor with the Christian one that succeeded it. But the symbolism of Pistis Sophia is, in fact, most ingenuous for its simplicity. The unusual terminology used actually provides a peephole through which we can visualize the role played by each entity. These entities stand for the principles of man, therefore disclosing the psychological system underlying Jesus’ teachings. An additional level of symbolism is built into the text, by means of Gematria, or the numerical correspondence of words, providing clues for understanding several incidents in the story. Pistis Sophia represents the soul, or more specifically, that part of the soul that incarnates; in the Vedanta and Theosophical traditions it would correspond to the part of the concrete mind that is man’s unit of consciousness in this world. Her name is a key to her role:  Pistis is the Greek word for ‘faith’. Not blind faith, but faith arising from total conviction of inner  knowledge. This faith gave her strength to keep on fighting the powers that tried to take away her light. Sophia is Greek for ‘wisdom’. Thus, her compound name indicates the fundamental  principle (faith in the Light - an aspect of God) that enables her to undertake her mission, namely, the development of wisdom in both worlds (material and spiritual). Her pair is Jesus, the aspect of the soul that unfolds the triple-natured higher Self, in line with PS progress in the material world. He remained behind in the higher planes when PS descended into chaos. This separation is most informative, because it expresses the split in consciousness between the higher and lower nature of man. Although man is really one with his divine self, the usual level of man’s consciousness cannot reach the spiritual planes, thus, in the myth Pistis Sophia and Jesus are presented as separate entities.

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The role of Jesus in the myth is one of the most difficult parts to understand, in view of our  mental conditioning regarding Jesus’ role in orthodox Christianity. In the text we have the term ‘Jesus’ one moment standing for the compassionate Master instructing his disciples and, at another, standing for one of the three aspects of the higher nature of man: the undefiled concrete mind (PS’s pair), the abstract mind (the Savior) and the Buddhic principle or intuition (the First Mystery Looking Without), which we also know as ‘the inner Christ’. This initial confusion regarding the role of Jesus gives way to amazement and clear understanding once we perceive the gist of the narrative. The villain of the story is Self-centered, standing for the ego, a most appropriate name for  our egotistic, self-centered, vain and futile “I”, always demanding to be the center of attention, striving for the gratification of the senses, causing with this behavior great affliction to the soul. The regents or  archons of the eons are the main allies of Self-centered, and they stand for the emotions and passions of man. Leading them is the lion-faced power, an emanation of Selfcentered, thus a mental power, standing for egoism, the strongest force driving man away from God and into chaos. These evil and dark powers are not so much outer ‘demons’ as they are inner aspects of man. Their role is to seize and hold man’s consciousness on to the strong heavy vibrations of emotions, passions and fantasies associated with sense gratification and mental delusions such as attachment, pride and ambition. Thus, they are described as actively engaged in trying to pull man down, or in the language of the text, in taking away Pistis Sophia’s light. This goes on unremittingly until Pistis Sophia’s final liberation from chaos. While ‘chaos’ is actually a region of the Underworld in PS’s system, the term is used mostly to convey the image of a psychological state, namely that of disorder. Since Pistis Sophia is that part of the mind which acts as man’s unit of consciousness, when it is said that she falls into chaos, what is meant is that she becomes prey to mental disorders which ensue when she is overcome by emotions, desires and passions and becomes conditioned by names and forms, by cultural values and mores - in short by a whole gamut of conditions that represent a virtual prison to a soul incarnated in the world. Thus, PS’s descent into chaos is a symbolic description of man’s entrance into the cycle of incarnation, where he will remain until his mission is accomplished. Moreover, when incarnate man is deprived (or, more appropriately, deprives himself) of his inner light he is likely to spend a period after death at the level of  ‘chaos’, one of the most unfortunate planes in the afterlife. The Cosmology

The cosmological system of Pistis Sophia is presented in summary form in the table included below. The major entities are shown in their respective planes and regions, together  with their main titles. It should be kept in mind that an entity can be active in her plane and in the regions below it. Thus, Pistis Sophia and the Self-centered, whose region of origin is the Thirteenth Eon (Left of the Psychic Plane), are seen quite active in the Hylic Plane (the Astral Plane) just below. The same can be said of Jesus acting as the First Mystery Looking Without, who is active all the way along the three planes below its original region. PS’s cosmological system is most enlightening, once the terminology is stripped off its mystery. Two clear cut stages are indicated, the unmanifested and the manifestation. When the Ineffable manifests Itself in the process of self-expression to carry out Its  purposes, It projects from Itself a whole series of entities which are disposed along five planes in increasing order of density. These planes could be called in modern language: Divine (The Mysteries of the Ineffable), Spiritual (Treasury of the Light), Concrete Mind (Psychic Plane), Astral (Hylic) and Physical (Material). The novel feature of PS’s cosmology is that each plane is divided into three regions: right, middle and left. The right is synonym of superior and the left of inferior. The entities of the right have the function of establishing ideals or archetypes, those of the middle of  sustaining  or ensuring proper conditions and, finally, those of the left are engaged in the implementation of the functions set for that plane. Their roles could be seen as that of father, mother and son, or conversely, as the seed, the earth and the fruit.

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The unmanifested Godhead is not called God, but simply the Ineffable, the One about Whom nothing is known and Who is infinitely beyond any characterization by man. Within the Ineffable, and as an intrinsic part of Its Being, are found the Limbs of the Ineffable, conveying the implicit idea of unity, as occurs with the limbs of a man, which are parts of a whole endowed with specific functions. Among the last members of the Ineffable are the ungenerated , or  unbegotten ones, which correspond to the Monads, also referred to in the Vedanta and Theosophy by the Sanskrit term Anupaduka xiv, which actually means ‘without parents’. The highest entity on the Divine Plane is called the Mystery of the Ineffable or the Logos. He is the source of all that exists, visible and invisible, having established the archetype of the whole plan of manifestation. Immediately below him is found the First Mystery, in its double aspects as Looking Within and Looking Without xv. The First Mystery is the mystery of unity, and its aspect as First Mystery Looking Within is  Atma or Spirit, which encompasses and interpenetrates all that exists, providing the divine characteristic of immanence. The First Mystery Looking Without is the vehicle of  Atma, namely  Buddhi, also known in the Western tradition as the Christ. The Plane below is the Spiritual Plane, Pleroma or Treasury of the Light, which corresponds to the Plane of Abstract or Superior Mind. It corresponds also to our orthodox concept of Heaven, where souls finally liberated from the world find their bliss. The top entity of this plane is IEU, referred to by the titles of Supervisor of the Light and First Man. This last expression actually reveals its role as Adam Kadmon, or the Manu xvi of the Human Race, who is said to have incarnated in order to establish the archetype for the first human race. Also in the right of the spiritual plane is Melchisedec, the Manu of the Fifth Race (the  present one), the Great Receiver of Light. It is interesting to note, in this connection, that the Primitive Church revered the figure of Melchisedec as indicated in Hebrews, where it is said that Jesus was ‘made an High-Priest for ever of the order of Melchisedec ’ (Hb 6:20). The characterization of that entity in the Epistle is quite similar to that of PS. ‘ For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God ’. His name means, ‘ first King of Justice and after  that also King of Salem, which is King of Peace. Without father, without mother, without  descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life! ’ (Hb 7:1-3). Another interesting characteristic of PS’s cosmology is that each plane is a reflection of the  planes above it. Thus, the entities of the right in every plane act as delegates of the Logos, unfolding the fundamental model or archetype for its own plane. From this model the process of  manifestation takes place, from ideation to creation, at every ensuing plane. Interpretation of the Myth

The myth is a highly esoteric version of the soul’s pilgrimage to the distant land, the material world, and its eventual Return to the F ather’s House. But it is far more. It seems to be a most astounding revelation about the process involved in the supreme Initiation that turns a man into a Master of Wisdom xvii. And this revelation is hidden in the only place that we will never  look for, namely, right in front of our eyes in the narrative proper. In the text, after Jesus returns from the height ‘ shining most exceedingly’, the disciples ask  him to ‘withdraw his light-glory’ and then took courage and asked ‘ Rabbi, where didst thou go, or what was thy ministry in which thou didst go ’. And Jesus replied ‘rejoice and exult from this hour on, for  I have gone to the regions from whence I came forth ’. He revealed then that, “ I  will speak with you face to face, without parable. I will not conceal from you, from this hour  onwards, anything of the things of the height and of the place of the truth. For I have been  given authority through the Ineffable and through the First Mystery of all the mysteries that I  should speak with you from the beginning until the Pleroma ” (chap. 6).

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THE COSMOLOGY OF THE PISTIS SOPHIA THE INEFFABLE (unmanifested) The Interior of the Interiors ( ADI and ANUPADUKA) THE MYSTERIES OF THE INEFFABLE (DIVINE PLANE) 1rst Space of the Ineffable, or the Mystery of the Ineffable (the One Word or  LOGOS ) 2nd Space of the Ineffable, or 1rst Space of the First Mystery ( ATMA) First Mystery Looking Within 3rd Space of the Ineffable, or 2nd Space of the First Mystery ( BUDDHI ) First Mystery Looking Without The First Statute The Five Impressions The Great Light of Lights The Five Auxiliaries or Supporters TREASURY OF THE LIGHT, PLEROMA ( HIGHER MANAS ) Region of the Right Ieu, Supervisor of the Light, the First Man Melchisedec The Great Sabaoth, the Good Seven Amens or Voices Five Trees Three Amens Region of the Middle Twin Saviors (Child of the Child) Region of the Left

Twelve Saviors with Twelve Powers PSYCHIC PLANE or MIXTURE ( LOWER MANAS ) Region of the Right Sabaoth, the Good Five Planetary Regents (Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter) with 360 Powers Region of the Middle Small Iao, the Good Virgin of Light Region of the Left, Region of Righteousness, Region of the Thirteenth Aeon The Great Invisible Forefather and his pair Barbelo The Two Great Triple Powers 24 Invisibles (including Pistis Sophia and her pair) The Third Great Triple Power, The Self-centered One HYLIC PLANE ( ASTRAL PLANE ) The Twelve Eons The first six sons or emanations of the Self-centered one Sabaoth-Adamas, also called the Great Tyrant, the Power with a li on face, Ialdabaoth The second group of six sons, the Regents of the Inferior Eons Providence (Heirmarmene) The Sphere MATERIAL PLANE ( PHYSICAL PLANE ) Firmament ( Etheric) World of Men (Cosmos) Underworld: Orcus or Amente, Chaos and Outer Darkness  Note: The words in italic are the equivalent modern theosophical terminology. Manas is Sanskrit for Mind.

Jesus started then to recount his entire journey, region after region, starting from the moment that he saw Mary, his mother ‘according to the material body’ and then going through the Firmament, the Sphere, the Providence and the Twelve Eons. He narrates that all the archons and the powers therein were agitated and afraid because of his exceeding light. And he went on bringing order into their regions until he came to the thirteenth eon. At that point he found the Pistis Sophia below her place of origin alone, without her brothers. ‘ She was  sorrowful and grieving because she had not been taken to the thirteenth eon, her place in the height. And she was sorrowful on account of the torments which the Self-centered inflicted on her ’. And he went on describing how the Pistis Sophia worked her way out of chaos with his help. The narrative is, of course, a-temporal. Present, past and future unfold as the eternal now in which Jesus spins his tale. While this story looks like the unraveling of a myth, Jesus seems to be actually recounting one aspect of his experience at the Initiation which probably took place during the thirty hours that he remained at the height. His recollection of the incidents on his way up has a surprising  parallel with the revision that takes place in the process of dying of every human being. We learn that the rapid but thorough revision process at the end of each incarnation teaches us the implications of our actions in this world. If we recall that the Law of Correspondence tells us that “What is above is like that which is below and that which is below is like what is above ”, we can infer that the Pistis Sophia tale seems like a monumental revision of the actions of the soul throughout its long journey in this world. This review process is actually mentioned in the  Mahatma Letters xviii: “The full remembrance of our lives will return back at the end of all the seven Rounds”, but it seems also to take place when the evolutionary process is speeded up as in the case of Adepts that reach the Fifth Initiation in advance of the race. Jesus seems to be revealing to his disciples his own journey in consciousness throughout his many lives in this world until his final process of ‘death’ as a human being. He actually warns us that he will make a revelation, at the very point when he finds Pistis Sophia below her   place of origin: ‘ I will tell you the mystery of how these things happened ’. Thus, the Pistis Sophia myth is actually the story of Jesus’ soul in the world, through time immemorial, until the apotheosis of his final triumph. Jesus and Pistis Sophia are presented as a ‘pair’, the two aspects of the soul, just like the two sides of a coin. Each one has its own role in the mystery of life. The  progressive expansion of consciousness that eventually turns Jesus into a Master of Wisdom was in fact a reflection, on a higher level, of Pistis Sophia slow and relentless battle in this world against all agents of matter that strived constantly to take away her light. No mention is made of the great number of incarnations that Jesus must have gone through until that historical one in Palestine. During all those lives, regardless of the names by which he may have been known, ‘Pistis Sophia’, his pair, was the loyal heroine warrior doing battle in this world. With this new perspective in mind we can now return to the myth. Pistis Sophia “falls” from her original region, pursuing a mirage, a reflection of the Light of the Height seen down  below in the region of the eons, which is the power of matter. This fall, due to ignorance xix, was her “original sin”, but later on in the text it is said that Pistis Sophia did so at the command of  the First Mystery, that is, following an inner urge to comply with the design of the Divine Plan. This would require the process of incarnation, in order to fulfill the final objective of having Spirit manifest fully through matter or, as was expressed in the Biblical injunction, “ Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect ” (Mt 5:48). With a little effort of imagination, we can picture man’s unit of consciousness first venturing down from the mental plane and slowly becoming seduced by the novel vibrations of  emotions and feelings, of desires and passions, arising from the gratification of the senses and the ego-massages provided by the feelings of power and status stemming from comparisons with “others” under the illusion of separateness. As Pistis Sophia consents to these vibrations she becomes unraveled by them. With time and repetition, she becomes so impregnated with them that conditioning, or a tendency, is established, thus keeping her a virtual prisoner in chaos. The text leaves implicit that when the unit of consciousness, Pistis Sophia, descends into chaos, it means that man incarnates, that is, assumes the necessary vehicles for manifestation in the material world. This means that, both on the astral and the physical planes, the soul is

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‘wrapped up’ with appropriate ‘bodies’ to function in those planes. It will be remembered that the entities of the middle region of each plane have the motherly role of providing appropriate conditions and giving sustenance. Thus, on the astral plane, Providence xx bequests all the tendencies from past lives which provide recurrent opportunities for the individual to learn all those lessons which had not been yet learned. On the physical plane, the middle region provides a physical body for the individual, which is adequate to undertake that type of life, which karma has in store for him. It is noted that the story expresses the reality as seen from the Height, that is, from a spiritual vantage point. Thus, when Pistis Sophia complains that the regents of the eons are oppressing her, trying to take her light away, this might mean that the personality has experienced a heavy, aggressive or unpleasant vibration, such as a tantrum fit, a feeling of  hatred, told a lie, etc. But the “oppression of the regents” can also mean, from the point of view of the personality, experiences of immoderate sense gratification that to the man of the world means ‘to enjoy life’ and ‘to have fun,’ but to the soul, seeing reality from the vantage point of  the inner light, these pleasures are afflictions for which she will pay dearly. Here is enacted the classical struggle of the forces of darkness against those of the light. Pistis Sophia, the soul, strives to go to the Height, but has to fight every inch of the way, from time immemorial, against the most dangerous forces of evil and darkness. These forces are entrenched within her own castle, namely, her emotions, desires and passions under the command of Self-centered, the egotistic, presumptuous and self-serving personality. The plight of Pistis Sophia is often described as her “metanoias,” thirteen in all, followed  by eleven songs of praise to the light. The word “metanoia”, generally translated as “repentance”, is central to the Christian tradition. But its original Greek meaning was much  broader, namely a change in the way of thinking or in one’s mental state. Thus, each ‘metanoia’ is actually indicating that man is undertaking a mental or inner change, which in turn is reflected in changes of attitude, values and behavior. Since Pistis Sophia’s region is the thirteenth eon, she must symbolically effect thirteen changes of consciousness or ‘metanoias’, one for each region or aspect of itself. The much heralded Way or Path in all esoteric traditions, though giving a connotation of a physical road is, in fact, this process of inner change. This is made clear in The Voice of the Silence in the statement that: “Thou canst not travel on the Path before thou hast become that Path itself ”.xxi This key to the evolution of man, the transformation of the mind, is implicit in the poetic  phrase of John of the Cross ‘transcending reason with my thoughts’, and explicit in Paul’s recommendation to the Romans: “ And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Rm 12:2). Not surprisingly, the injunction to transform one’s mind is also the central axiom of Buddhist doctrine. The esoteric nature of Pistis Sophia’s teachings is seen in this fundamental approach to salvation, namely, the change from inside out, and not merely the compliance with a whole series of precepts, as in the Jewish tradition of obedience to the 613 precepts of the Torah. This was made clear by Jesus in his public teachings when he said: “ For I say unto you, that except   your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven ” (Mt 5:20). Nowhere in Pistis Sophia do we see Jesus  preaching any moral code of behavior. What is made clear is that man must renounce to the world and transform his mind if he intends to apply for and to receive the mysteries that will open for him the Inheritance of the Light. While Jesus’ parables and other public teachings often castigate conventional wisdom as expressed by compliance with the Mosaic Law, xxii there seems to be a clear intent in the Pistis Sophia to indicate that Jesus teachings have a link with the Prophets’ tradition. This is done ingeniously by means of “interpretations” advanced by the disciples after each “metanoia” uttered by Pistis Sophia, which in fact are citations from the Psalms of David and the Odes of  Solomon. The metanoias and invocations uttered by Pistis Sophia are indicative of the protracted  process of transformation needed to turn a man of the world “ unto a perfect man, unto the

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measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ ” (Ef 4:13). Each metanoia seems to indicate a stage in the renewal of the mind on the spiritual Path. On closer examination of the metanoias and songs of praise of PS, we notice some turning  points and fundamental changes in her situation as she is slowly freed from chaos. These turning points have a parallel with the five major initiations of the esoteric tradition. The first turning point occurs when her insistent pleas for assistance from the Light of the Height are finally heard. After her sixth metanoia, her sin of going down into chaos alone without her pair is forgiven and Jesus, on his own account (the power of  Manas), leads Pistis Sophia ‘into a somewhat spacious region in the chaos .’ This relative respite from the oppressions of the regents, namely, of emotions and passions, seems an indication of the First Initiation. Once the regents noticed that Pistis Sophia had not been taken entirely away from chaos, they returned with redoubled efforts to afflict her and she continued to utter her ‘metanoias’, thus effecting her inner transformation. After the ninth metanoia, her plea for help from the Light is partially accepted and Jesus is sent by the First Mystery (the pure mind reinforced by the power of the inner Christ) to help her to secretly escape from chaos. From then on Pistis Sophia, man’s consciousness, perceives Jesus as a Light shining brightly, probably an indication of the opening of her spiritual vision, or expansion of consciousness arising from the Second Initiation. But the desires and emotions elicited by material things are still felt as the emanations of  Self-centered (the egotistic personality) and the powers of the regents (the powers of desires and  passions) change form as man conquers the grosser vibrations. After the thirteenth metanoia, Jesus sends, on his own account (the power of  Manas), a light-power to assist her and to take her to the higher regions of chaos. The initiation process continues with the fourteenth invocation, when a light-power is sent by the First Mystery (the power of Divine Spirit), and the two powers meet together and become a great stream of light, forming a protecting crown of  light over the head of Pistis Sophia. This seems the glorious description of the stage of  illumination reached with the Third Initiation, a stage in which periods of consciousness of  unity with God and all beings are alternated with the usual consciousness of duality of the world.  Now the joy of Pistis Sophia becomes the central theme of her songs of praise in which she reiterates her determination to remain firm and never stray from the light again. But the powers of darkness do not relent and new and stronger emanations of Self-centered are sent to join the others, which change their appearance, so as to oppress Pistis Sophia and take her back to chaos. After her sixteenth invocation, pleading for help that had been promised, she is saved once again by the stream of light, with the help of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. Jesus (the  power of  Buddhi-Manas) also goes down into chaos to help Pistis Sophia and he makes her step over the major evil emanation of the Self-centered, a serpent of seven heads. This symbolic ritual seems an indication that her process of liberation is coming to a close. Stepping over the heads of the serpent symbolize the killing of the seeds of evil within man, namely the illusion of  separateness. Despite her high accomplishments, the soul is still subject to the affliction of subtle material powers, and Pistis Sophia continues her invocations. Jesus takes her to a region just  below the thirteenth eon, her original place, probably a reference to the Fourth Initiation, which turns the man into an  Arhat. xxiii. But he warns her that the Self-centered (the personality) is furious with her and will try a last attack by means of two dark and violent emanations to try to take her back to chaos. She is left alone, but Jesus promises to come back to help her if she feels oppressed and invokes his help. And, as indicated, the two dark and chaotic emanations (probably depression and despair) attack in earnest. This seems a reference to the period referred to by the mystics as the  Dark Night of the Soul, xxiv when man feels alone and abandoned  by all and sundry, sinking into a period of depression which might lead to despair, until he is able to renounce to his last remaining attachments to the world, namely, his feeling of being a separate “I”, prior to his final and permanent union with God or the Light. With the twenty-fourth invocation finally arrives the moment to take Pistis Sophia  permanently out of chaos and into the thirteenth eon. It might look like an anticlimax, a mere

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return to her original region. But at this point a most touching surprise awaits the reader. It is said that Pistis Sophia reaches her final liberation at the exact moment when Jesus is at the Mount of Olives with his disciples in the process of being elevated to the Height in the midst of  the Light. Thus, we have an indication of the Fifth Initiation, both from the point of view of the glorified individuality, Jesus or the Higher Self, and of the soul finally freed from the prison of  the world. At that moment Pistis Sophia is finally reunited with her pair, Jesus, a parallel with the sacrament of the Wedding Chamber mentioned in the Gospel of Philip xxv and the experience of the great mystics at the last stage of “ Theosis”, or Union with God. It will be noticed that at each five major turning points in the story of Pistis Sophia, her   pair, Jesus, goes down into chaos to help her. This seems an indication that an integration of the two aspects of the soul, Jesus and PS, occur as part of the Initiation process. The first four such integrations are partial or, perhaps, temporary. It is only with the final Initiation that total and  permanent integration of the higher and lower natures of man is finally accomplished. This integration seems to result, then, in a continuity of consciousness to the new Master of Wisdom, another way of expressing Pistis Sophia’s return to her place of origin. Concluding Remarks

Like the parable of the hidden treasure, the Pistis Sophia is ready to yield to any man or  woman who works hard tilling his or hers own inner soil a veritable treasure hoard of esoteric teachings, hidden there by the Master for the benefit of his disciples of all times, and not only for those who followed him during his earthly life in Palestine some two thousand years ago. The unveiling of the soul’s progressive passage through the different levels of  manifestation, by means of ‘metanoias’ (progressive inner changes), provided in the text, seems designed to awaken man to the reality of his divine origin and his mission on Earth. Throughout the story of Pistis Sophia, and in the remainder of the book, there are many teachings that might touch the soul of each reader in a different way. In this sense the text is magic. It is designed to work in every sincere heart that is looking with zest and determination for the keys that will enable him to open the Gates of the Kingdom of Heaven. Further work will be needed to explore fully the ‘unveiling of Pistis Sophia’, but it is already clear that its impact will not be restricted to the ‘Gnostic world’, but might well spill over into the esoteric interpretation of the Gospels of orthodox Christianity, since many features of PS’s symbolism are obviously common to other esoteric teachings of Jesus, particularly those of the Fourth Gospel. Some of these implications might be advanced here. The first is that the narratives of Jesus life in the Bible, similarly as in the Pistis Sophia, can be taken as an allegorical presentation of  the five stages of accelerated human development, also known as the Great Initiations, described as the birth, baptism, Eucharist, crucifixion/resurrection and, finally, the ascension of  Jesus. This topic has been examined extensively by other authors elsewhere xxvi and need not be taken up here, except for the Transfiguration that some authors associate with the Third Initiation in the Christian Tradition. This event, according to the Pistis Sophia actually took place after  Jesus’ return from the dead, when he was at the Mount of Olives instructing his disciples and a light power came from the Height surrounding Jesus with such an intense light, making him shine so strongly that the disciples were obfuscated and could not see him. He was then elevated to the Height in the midst of light rays. It seems that the Gospel narratives misplaced chronologically this Transfiguration event. There is an interesting parallel here with the transfiguration of Moses when he went down from Mount Sinai (the mount symbolizing also an elevated state of  consciousness) bringing the Tables of the Law with his face shining because he had spoken to Iahweh (Ex 34:29). To speak with God, in that case, symbolizes the intimate Union with God that made possible for Moses to know the Will of the Lord and then to express it in the form of  The Ten Commandments for his people. The Third Initiation in the Christian tradition seems be represented instead by the Eucharist, the symbol of communion with God, as established by Jesus during the last supper with the disciples (Lc 22:14-20). Communion provides the blessed person with an experience of a state

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of consciousness of partial union with God; partial in the sense of temporal limitation, as he sooner or later will return to his usual state of consciousness. This nomenclature is in keeping with the sequence of sacraments presented in the Gospel of Philip, the third of which is the Eucharist. It also follows the experience of the great mystics which, according to the monumental work of Evelyn Underhill xxvii, has as a third stage a process of illumination or  communion with God. Another revealing interpretation of Pistis Sophia is the inner meaning of the expression ‘I AM’ found several times in the text as well as in the Bible. For the orthodox that read the Bible literally, this is a confirmation of Jesus’ divine nature. If, on the other hand, we accept the  premise that the Bible, as all Sacred Scriptures, including the Pistis Sophia, was written as an allegory, in which personages and passages served as symbols to veil esoteric teachings, then Jesus represents the higher nature in man. Thus, when he says in these writings ‘I AM’, he is actually conveying the impersonal truth that the divine in man is that aspect. So, when he says ‘I AM the way’, what is meant is that ‘I AM is the way’, or that the Higher Self or the Inner  Christ in man is the way, the truth and the life. Man living in a dualistic world always qualifies his statements about himself saying that he is this or that, but God who is the All needs not any restrictive qualifications, thus He says simply I AM. When He utters I AM, he expresses those divine aspects which we call Omnipotence, Omniscience and Omnipresence. We could say that, I AM is the present forever, the consciousness of the eternal NOW. This symbolic expression is also used in the Kabbalah. According to the esoteric tradition of Judaism, the expression I AM summarizes the ultimate essence of what man is able to know of the divine nature. “God is beyond existence. God is  Ain - Nothing. From nothing arises  Ain Sof , or the Infinite All. From Infinity arises the Will of  Ain Sof , called Ain Sof Aur , the Limitless Light. An analogy for the first manifestation of t he Will of the unmanifested Existence is a point without dimension. This point of Manifested Existence is the source of all that was, is and will  be. It is I AM, and in Kabbalah it is called the Firs t Crown, the Ancient.” xxviii It is said that: “The Act of Creation occurs, we are told, when a word is uttered. This Word is the first of all sounds heard in Manifested Existence. It is the supreme Name of God: EHYEH, that is, I AM”. xxix We could conclude that Pistis Sophia, like all Sacred Scriptures, is an encoded map of a most precious treasure hoard. If we are able to interpret the symbols used, we will be able to tread the Path and find the precious pearl of gnosis, the key that admits us to the Kingdom of  Heavensxxx.

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i

NOTES

The author is an economist who taught at the University of Texas, City College of New York and Columbia University and worked for the UN in New York and in Rome, and for the Brazilian Government. Now retired, he lives in Brasília, Brazil, where he dedicates himself to the study of comparative religion, the Christian tradition and Gnosticism. He published a version of   Pistis Sophia, in Portuguese, (Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand Brasil, 1997; and a second enlarged edition by the Editora Teosófica, 2009), with a lengthy introduction and more than 400 explanatory footnotes and the books The Teachings of Jesus and the Esoteric Christian Tradition , (São Paulo: Pensamento, 1999) and The Transforming Power of Early Christianity (Brasília, Editora Teosófica, 2004), also in Portuguese. ii Dorese, Jean. The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics (NY: The Viking Press, 1960), pg. 64. iii This happened even with some of the most respected scholars in the field, such as Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis. The Nature & History of  Gnosticism (Harper San Francisco, 1987), and W. Schneemelcher,  New Testament Apocrypha (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991) iv J.J. Hurtak and Desiree Hurtak,  Pistis Sophia. A Coptic Gnostic Text with Commentary (Los Gatos, CA: The Academy for Future Science, 1999). v He affirmed that early in the seventies he received in his room a Being of Light who announced that he was the Master Ophanin Enoch, who took him into the skies going through several regions, starting by the Merak and Muscida stars, going afterwards into the intermediate station of Arcturus, a superior Heaven of Light known as the Seventh Heaven. The trip went on along the region of  Saiph, in the stellar field of Orionis, where he met another Being of Light called Metatron, who took him over to the Divine Supreme Father. From that Place he received many revelations, which provided him with material enough to prepare several books, such as The  Keys of Enoch. vi Blavatsky, H.P. “H.P.B.’s Commentary on the Pistis Sophia”, in Collected Writings, vol. 13, pg. 1-81 vii C.G. Jung, Memories, Dream, Reflections (New York: Vintage Books, 1963), pg. 205. viii Schwartze, M.G.  Pistis Sophia: opus gnosticum Valentino adiudicatum e codice manuscripto coptico Londinensi descriptum. (Berlin: J.H. Petermann, 1851) ix MacDermot, Violet. Pistis Sophia (Leiden, The Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1978) x These three robes of light seem to have a correspondence with the Buddhist tradition of the three spiritual vehicles of the Bhudda:  Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya (see H.P. Blavatsky, The Voice of the Silence , Adyar, India: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1953). xi The other accounts of the soul’s pilgrimage are the Parable of the Prodigal Son and the Hymn of the Pearl. xii This pivotal agent of the story is called ‘Self-willed’ by Mead and Hurtak and ‘Authades’ by MacDermot, but it seemed to us that the right term to express precisely his role, as will be seen, is in fact Self-centered, which we adopted. xiii One of the most renowned scholars in the esoteric tradition wrote that there are several keys for understanding the symbolic language of the scriptures: “ The First Key is that the recorded, external, supposedly historical events also occur in the interior of  man. Each recorded event is descriptive of a subjective experience of man. The Second Key is that each of the persons introduced  into the stories represents a condition and a quality of character. All the actors are personifications of aspects of human nature, of  attributes, principles, powers, faculties, limitations, weaknesses and errors of man. The Third Key is that each story is thus regarded  as a graphic description of the experiences of the human soul as it passes through the various phases of its evolutionary journey to the Promised Land, or cosmic consciousness - the goal and summit of human attainment. The Fourth Key is that all objects, as also certain words, have each their own special symbolic meaning .” G. Hodson, The Hidden Wisdom in the Holy Bible (Adyar, India: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1963), vol. I, pp. 85-99. It was found out that, in the study of the Pistis Sophia, these four keys were entirely relevant and appropriate for the interpretation of the text. xiv Will Thackara has kindly pointed out that term  Anupaduka is actually a misprint of  Anupapaduka (the middle “pa” was dropped out), a term given in Monier-Williams large Sanskrit-English dictionary. It was included in that dictionary on the basis of research of  a pioneer scholar named Hodgson, whose assistant apparently miscopied the actual term appearing in Sanskrit texts:  Aupapaduka, which has basically the same meaning as  Anupaduka. So far as it is known  Anupaduka is not found in ancient Buddhist or Hindu texts. This misspelled term, however, became enthroned in Western esoteric parlance on account of H.P. Blavatsky method of relying on available scholarship in her writings. We decided to use the misspelled but better-known term instead of the correct but hardly used one. xv We decided to maintain Mead’s well-known terminology, The First Mystery Looking Without , in spite of the modern connotation of ‘absence’ for the term ‘without’. The term ‘outwards’ could also be used to convey this idea. xvi  Manu is a Sanskrit word. He represents the primordial creator of each great Root-Race. In Vedanta it corresponds to the great legislator, a self-existent being, thus an emanation of the Logos and the forefather of humanity. xvii It is said in the text that all powers in heavens were set in motion from the time of Jesus ascension up to the ninth hour of the following day, when he returned to Earth in his light vestures. The mention of the ninth hour is probably intended to reveal that an important Initiation was in course, as 9 is the symbol of Initiation that leads to 10, the number of Perfection. xviii The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett (Theosophical University Press, 1975), pg. 171. xix  Avidya, or ignorance, has a central role in Buddhism as the source of suffering, the first of the five kleshas. xx We have translated the term “Heimarmene” as Providence, rather than as Fate, as Hurtak and Mead did. The reason for this is that Fate has a connotation of immutability, which is not warranted by the conditioning nature of the “baggage” represented by inherited  past tendencies, or  sanskaras. Thus, we considered the term Providence more appropriate to convey the idea of an inheritance from the past, which will condition but not compel a given behavior by man. xxi Blavatsky, H.P., The Voice of the Silence (Wheaton, Ill: Theosophical Publishing House, 1992), pg. 12. xxii See Marcus J. Borg, Jesus. A New Vision (Harper San Francisco, 1991), pp. 97-116. xxiii A Sanskrit term that means ‘the one who deserves divine honors’, used both by Hindus and Buddhists to refer to the sacred men who have been liberated from the need to be reborn, and who could thus enter and remain in Nirvana until the end of a cycle. Many, however, out of compassion for the suffering of humanity, choose to remain in the cycle of rebirth to help all men to be liberated from suffering.

xxiv

See, E. Underhill,  Mysticism. The Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness (Oxford, England: One World Publications, 1993), pp. 380-412. xxv See, J. Robinson (ed), The Nag Hammadi Library in English (New York: Harper Collins, 1990). xxvi Annie Besant, Esoteric Christianity (Adyar, India: The Theosophical Publishing House), C.W. Leadbeater  The Christian Gnosis (London: The St. Alban Press, 1983). xxvii  Mysticism, op.cit. xxviii Halevi, Z’ev Ben Shimon, The way of KABBALAH (New York: Samuel Wiser, 1976), pg. 27. xxix Halevi, op.cit., pg. 216. xxx The author welcomes comments on the text of this article to [email protected] .