Fall 2009

Sophia: the Gnostic Heritage John F. Nash

Summary ther,” “Lord,” and so forth. Resistance has also increased to the custom of envisioning his article presents a brief history of in any kind of anthropomorphic terms.2 TSophia, best known of the divine feminine Yet anthropomorphism is comforting to many individualities of the West. Under her Hebrew people, and the concept of a powerful God- name, Chokmah, emerged in late bibli- dess, complementing or even replacing the cal times. But it was the Gnostics of the early traditional masculine God, resonates with large Christian era who created the Sophia we rec- numbers of thinking people. ognize today. Sophia played a small but sig- nificant role in western mainstream Christian- Of all the anthropomorphized, feminine deities ity and a much larger role in Eastern Ortho- discussed today, Sophia is the most popular in doxy. Russian Orthodox theologians not only the West, to judge by the literature of feminist had personal experiences of Sophia but also theology, women’s studies, and New Age cul- shared important insights into how she related ture. The purpose of this article, then, is to to the and to the “invisible Church” present a brief review of the history and con- that transcends historical . The temporary relevance of Sophia in western article concludes with some remarks about the spirituality. Many questions remain concern- relevance of Sophia in modern spirituality. ing how Sophia can be reconciled with tradi- tional Christian doctrine. However, opportuni- Background ties also exist to integrate Sophia more firmly into the Trans-Himalayan teachings. masculine God dominates Judaism, A Christianity and Islam. But female deities Sophia in Biblical Times were popular in many ancient cultures, and they survive in the religions of Asia and the he Greek word for “” is Sophia. Pacific, and in the indigenous religions of the TBut the story of Sophia extends back into Americas. A popular theory is that the Great biblical Judaism, where she was known by the Mother once ruled supreme in much of the Hebrew name Chokmah. Chokmah had a long world but was overthrown when Indo- history in the Old Testament, starting out sim- European tribes invaded the Middle East in the ply as the quality or of wisdom and third millennium BCE. Allegedly the invaders gradually approaching the status of a divine brought with them a masculine warrior god, or individuality. She had a close relationship several warrior , who eventually evolved with the masculine Yahweh, even participating 1 into the Deity of the . Whether or not there was once a supreme feminine deity—and the issue continues to be About the Author debated—there is no doubt that feminine dei- John F. Nash, Ph.D., is a long-time esoteric student, ties were more common in the West in antiq- author and teacher. Two of his books, Quest for the uity than they became during the 2,000 years and The Soul and Its Destiny, were reviewed of the Common Era. In recent decades resis- in the Winter 2005 issue of the Esoteric Quarterly, tance has increased not only among feminist and his latest book, Christianity: the One, the theologians but also more generally to the con- Many, in the Fall 2008 issue. See the advertise- vention that God is necessarily masculine and ments on page 14 of this issue and also the website: must be referred to in terms such as “He,” “Fa- www.uriel.com.

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2009. 29 The Esoteric Quarterly in the creation. In an often-quoted passage But if the possession of wealth is to be from Proverbs Chokmah addressed the reader: desired in life, What is richer than wisdom, which op- The Lord possessed me in the beginning erates everything?6 of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the Jewish reverence for Sophia was continuing to beginning, or ever the earth was. When develop at the turn of the Common Era. there were no depths, I was brought of , a contemporary of the Apostle forth; when there were no fountains Paul, referred to her as the “Daughter of abounding with water. Before the God.”7 Elsewhere, he reaffirmed her role in mountains were settled, before the hills the creation: was I brought forth: While as yet he had [T]he Creator of the universe is also the not made the earth, nor the fields, nor father of his creation; and… the mother the highest part of the dust of the world. was the knowledge of the Creator with When he prepared the heavens, I was whom God uniting… became the father there: when he set a compass upon the of creation. And this knowledge having face of the depth: When he established received the seed of God, when the day the clouds above: when he strengthened of her travail arrived, brought forth her the fountains of the deep: When he gave only and well-beloved son… this world. to the sea his decree, that the waters Accordingly Wisdom [speaks] of herself should not pass his commandment: in this manner: “God created me as the when he appointed the foundations of first of his works, and before the begin- the earth: Then I was by him, as one ning of time did he establish me.” For it brought up with him: and I was daily his was necessary that all the things which delight, rejoicing always before him.3 came under the head of the creation The next chapter in Proverbs linked Chok- must be younger than the mother and mah/Sophia with the proto-Eucharist. She in- nurse of the whole universe.8 vited the townspeople to her feast, saying: “Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine Sophia in Gnostic which I have mingled.”4 Christianity By the late biblical era Sophia’s rise to divine ophia was greatly revered among Gnostic status had gained considerable momentum. In SChristians in the early centuries of the Wisdom of Solomon, probably written in the Common Era. ’s relationship with second century BCE, she—now Sophia, be- nascent mainstream Christianity has been dis- cause the book was written in Greek—had be- cussed at length elsewhere.9 Suffice it to say come an object of desire, even worship: “Wis- that Gnosticism thrived for some three centu- dom is bright and unfading… she is easily seen ries before succumbing to its own organiza- by those who love her, and found by those who tional weaknesses and relentless repression by 5 search for her.” Perhaps the most significant the mainstream church. passage from the same book is: Like Philo, Gnostics affirmed Sophia’s status I loved her and sought after her from my as a divine personage and her role in creation. youth up, The author of Eugnostos the Blessed, one of And I undertook to make her my bride, the Nag Hammadi texts, called her “Mother of And I fell in love with her beauty. the Universe, whom some call ‘Love.’”10 She She glorifies her high birth in living is also mentioned in the Book of Enoch (1 with God, Enoch) and the Book of the Secrets of Enoch (2 For the Lord of all loves her. Enoch).11 The latter presents a creation story For she is initiated into the knowledge in which God proclaimed: “On the sixth day I of God, ordered My Wisdom to make man of seven And is a searcher of his works. substances… and I made [Sophia] a ruler to

30 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2009 Fall 2009 rule upon the earth, and to have My wis- “repentances” to appease the archons. The dom.”12 In 1 Enoch, Sophia sought “to make archons ignored her, but her plight eventually her dwelling among the children of men;” but, came to the notice of Christ, and he sent the rejected by sinful humanity, she “found no archangels Michael and Gabriel to rescue her. dwelling-place” and “returned to her place and Their first attempt failed, but Christ sent them took her seat among the back, charging the archan- .”13 gels to “guide the Sophia in also identified all the places of the chaos The Sophia of 1 Enoch the Holy as God the until they bring her up, and may have been able to [to] raise her upon their return to “her place” by Mother and sought to re- hands, lest her feet touch choice, but in other ac- late the virgin birth to a the darkness below, and counts Sophia fell from those of the darkness seize grace and was rescued feminine her.”19 When Sophia was only after much suffer- rather than to Mary. Un- finally escorted back to the ing. According to the fortunately, when the New heaven-world “she rejoiced , with a great joy.” “I will Sophia’s fall stemmed Testament was compiled in give thanks to thee, O from her desire “to Greek, “Holy Spirit” was Light,” she exclaimed, “for bring forth a likeness rendered by the neuter thou art a Savior… I will out of herself without speak this song of praise to the consent of the noun . the Light, for he has saved Spirit… without her me from the height and consort, and without his consideration.” She depth of the chaos; and from the eons of the bore a son, Yaldabaoth, who “was imperfect archons of the sphere.”20 and different from her appearance.”14 In due course the misshapen Yaldabaoth—usually In the , the story of Sophia’s fall assumed to have been the Hellenic Demi- and rescue emerges from a long series of alle- urge—was tricked into breathing life into man. gorical dialogues between the risen and However the evil powers imprisoned man in a his disciples. Although Sophia was obviously physical body from which he was unable to the main character in the story, Mary Magda- escape.15 Sophia’s fall may have been linked lene featured prominently in the dialogues, and to the fall of Adam or the expulsion of Lucifer a strong connection seemed to emerge between and his fellow angels from heaven; or it may the two. Mary was the most vocal participant have symbolized the disintegration of the an- in the ongoing dialogue between Jesus and his cient world under the pressure of Roman con- disciples.21 In fact Peter complained: “My quest. Lord, we are not able to suffer this woman who takes the opportunity from us, and does The most elaborate account of Sophia’s fall not allow anyone of us to speak, but she speaks and eventual rescue is found in the Pistis many times.”22 But the Pistis Jesus praised Sophia.16 There, she fell into the depths and, Mary for her participation, emphasizing her for a long time, was held captive. Pistis is status among the apostles and promising re- usually translated as “faith” or “faithful;” but wards for her insights. Connections between another meaning, more appropriate in the cir- Sophia and Mary Magdalene appear else- cumstances, would be “hostage.”17 Sophia was where. A Coptic psalm by the Manichean poet tormented by the twelve archons of the zodiac. Heracleides identified Mary as the “Spirit of The archons stripped away her power and Wisdom.”23 light, whereupon Sophia exclaimed: “I cried out for help, and my voice did not penetrate Interesting parallels can also be drawn among the darkness. And I looked to the height, so the Gnostic Sophia, the Shekinah of esoteric that the Light in which I had believed might Judaism,24 and the woman mentioned in Chap- help me.”18 In due course, Sophia offered 13 ter 12 of . After her redemption,

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Sophia became the bride of Christ. Eugnostos c.220) scorned Gnostic accounts of the fall of the Blessed reported: “Now the Son of Man Sophia: “After her vain endeavors, and the dis- harmonized with Sophia, his consort, and re- appointment of her hope, she was, I suppose, vealed a great androgynous light.”25 The disfigured with paleness and emaciation, and Shekinah, the indwelling Glory of God, was that neglect of her beauty which was natural to exiled in the wilderness, eventually to be res- one who was deploring the denial of the Fa- cued and wedded to the Holy One.26 And in ther—an affliction which was no less painful Revelation: “[T]he woman fled into the wil- than his loss.”32 derness, where she hath a place prepared of The Neoplatonists of the third century CE on- God, that they should feed her there a thousand ward tended to distance themselves from the two hundred and threescore days.”27 Main- Gnostics, despite having common roots. Nev- stream Christianity has customarily linked the ertheless, both Plotinus (c.204–270), usually woman in the wilderness with Mary, the regarded as the “father” of , and mother of Jesus. his younger contemporary, Porphyry, men- Valentinus (c.100–c.160), one of the best- tioned Sophia in their comments on Gnostic known Gnostic writers,28 referred to Sophia’s teachings.33 rightful home, the heaven-world, as the , a Greek word that conveys the notion Sophia in Mainstream of “fullness.” The Pleroma overlaps in mean- Christianity ing with the traditional Christian heaven, but Gnosticism was not satisfied with a simple ophia played a smaller, but still significant two-layer, heaven-earth model. Rather, the Srole, in mainstream Christianity. Theophi- expanse of reality was divided into a series of lus, second-century bishop of Antioch, who is planes. Typical cosmological models involved credited with coining the term “Trinity,” iden- tified its three aspects as Theos, and seven or eight planes; but the second-century 34 Syrian Gnostic envisioned 365, one Sophia. A century later, Paul of Samosata, for each day of the cosmic year. also bishop of Antioch, did likewise. How- ever, institutional Christianity was destined not Regardless of how many planes there were, to embrace Sophia in that role.35 In his search each had unique properties and was inhabited for an appropriate third person of the Trinity, by its own spiritual entities. The entities might Athenagoras of Athens turned instead to the be benevolent or malevolent, though at the Hebrew/Zoroastrian Holy Spirit. Even then, higher levels they tended to be mostly benevo- there was still a chance that feminine charac- lent. Moreover, the entities often came in teristics would be retained. The Holy Spirit 29 male-female pairs. According to Basilides was known in biblical Judaism as the Ruach the inhabitants of the Pleroma included the (“spirit” or “breath”). Grammatically, Ruach 30 Logos (“the Word”) and Sophia (“Wisdom”). is a feminine noun, and As the fourth makes clear, the Logos and both quoted the Gospel of the He- was Christ. The suggestion that the Logos and brews, where the Holy Spirit is referred to as Sophia might be complementary divine entities the “Mother.”36 Valentinus also identified the is of the utmost importance and will be dis- Holy Spirit as God the Mother and sought to cussed further in this article. Meanwhile it relate the virgin birth to a feminine Holy Spirit should be noted that the Gnostics, like the Nes- rather than to Mary.37 Unfortunately, when the torians of the fifth century, distinguished the was compiled in Greek, “Holy 31 divine Christ from the human Jesus. Only Spirit” was rendered by the neuter noun Jesus died on the cross; the divine Christ could Pneuma.38 Given their growing misogyny, it is never die. unlikely that the church fathers were disap- In their desire to suppress Gnosticism, the pointed when attempts to depict the Holy Spirit church fathers wrote numerous tracts attacking as feminine came to an end. its teachings. In a polemical tract attacking Notions of the sacred feminine occupied the Valentinus, of Carthage (c.160– thoughts of many people in the Middle Ages.

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We need only think of the troubadours and If in fact the statements quoted above were Beatrice in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. made by Aquinas, they would be remarkable Another individual who entertained such words for a cleric schooled in the patriarchal thoughts was Bernard of Clairvaux (1090– tradition. 1153), the famous French abbot. Among much An important contribution was made by the else, he is considered father of the Western medieval anchorite Julian of Norwich (c.1342– Marian cult. For one of his sermons, Bernard 1416).44 During her long seclusion in a tiny turned to the book of Proverbs: “Wisdom hath cell in Norwich, England, she claimed to have builded her house she hath hewn out her seven had 16 visions of Christ, which formed the pillars.”39 However, he stopped short of actu- inspiration for a number of classic mystical ally identifying “Wisdom” (: Sapientia) texts, including of Divine Love. as a feminine entity;40 Wisdom to him “was Interestingly, she referred to God as “our none other than Christ Himself.” The identifi- Mother.”45 But she did not explicitly speak of cation of Sophia with Christ was not altogether Sophia. without precedent. When the Emperor - ian saw the newly constructed basilica of Someone who did speak explicitly of Sophia (“Saint Sophia”) in Constantin- was the Lutheran mystic Jakob Böhme (1575– ople, he is reported to have exclaimed, in a 1624), who lived in Silesia in what is now Po- reference to Sophia’s biblical origins: “Solo- land. Böhme’s formal education was limited, mon, I have outdone thee.” However, despite but he studied medicine, the Kabbalah, and the the fact that “Sophia” is grammatically femi- Hermetic arts. He may also have read the nine, the basilica was dedicated to Christ. works of Meister Eckhart with whom he shared important beliefs. Bernard’s close contemporary and friend, (1098–1179), wrote a Reflecting his Kabbalistic influence, Böhme beautiful poem about Sophia—again in her explored the human and cosmic aspects of Latin form Sapientia: gender: “[T]he masculine principle is pre- dominantly anthropomorphic and creative, O power of Wisdom! whereas the feminine principle is predomi- You encompassed the cosmos, nantly cosmic and birth-giving.”46 Echoing a encircling and embracing all theory usually attributed to ’s Aristo- in one living orbit phanes, Böhme asserted that Adam initially with your three wings: was androgynous and virginal.47 That virginity one soars on high, was embodied in Sophia: “not a female, but a one distills the earth’s essence, chasteness and purity without a blemish.”48 and the third hovers everywhere. Adam lost his primeval virginity through the Praise to you Wisdom, fitting praise!41 fall, and Sophia’s place was taken by his About 150 years later, an alchemical text, earthly companion . Thereafter man re- Aurora Consurgens, gained considerable popu- mained in an incomplete state, yearning for his larity. Referring to Sophia/Sapientia, it de- primeval wholeness. The solution lay not in clared: “[H]er fruit is more precious than all withdrawal into ascetic celibacy, as the church the riches of this world, and all the things that urged, but in a spiritual reunion of the mascu- are desired are not to be compared with her… line and feminine; through woman man could She is the tree of life.”42 Moreover her quali- once again find his primeval Sophia.49 The ties were: “power, honor, strength, and domin- masculine-feminine tension was just one ex- ion.”43 The text did not identify its author, but pression of the fundamental juxtaposition and many scholars believe it was none other than resolution of pairs of opposites.50 The tension Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), often consid- might be the source of much suffering, but it ered the greatest Christian theologian of the provided an environment in which our spiritual West. Near the end of his life Aquinas had a potential could be realized. profound mystical experience that led him to question much of what he had written earlier.

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Böhme identified Sophia with the Trinity; but, World, the most innocent Bride and Virgin… like the Gnostics, he saw a special relationship Sophia, the Wisdom of God.”55 between her and Christ: “[T]he Virgin, the di- Jakob Böhme’s work influenced the Russian vine Wisdom, has given me her promise not to philosopher and poet Vladimir Sergeyevich leave me in any misery; she will come to help Solovyov (1853–1900).56 Solovyov had three me in the Son of Wisdom.”51 visions of Sophia, the first during Mass on As- Englishwoman Jane Ward Lead (1624–1704), cension Day, when he was nine years old. A who was influenced by Jakob Böhme, had sev- poem he wrote many years later recalled the eral visions. In one vision, a woman told her: experience: “Behold I am God’s Eternal Virgin-Wisdom, Blue all around. Blue within my soul. / whom thou hast been enquiring after; I am to Blue pierced with shafts of gold. In your unseal the Treasures of God’s deep Wisdom hand a flower from other realms. / You unto thee, and will be as Rebecca was unto stood with radiant smile, / Nodded to me Jacob, a true Natural Mother; for out of my and hidden in the mist.57 Womb thou shalt be brought forth after the manner of a Spirit, Conceived and Born Whereas the Pistis Sophia linked Sophia with again... Now consider of my Saying till I re- Mary Magdalene, the language of Solovyov’s turn to thee again.”52 Speculations about a fe- poem links her to Mary, the mother of Jesus.58 male occupied the Guglielmites of the 53 Solovyov’s second encounter with Sophia was 13th century as well as the 18th-century in the British Museum. As before, he saw her Shaker “Mother” Ann Lee. The Frenchman in blue and gold. “Her face shone before me. “Père” Barthelemy Enfantin, who was born 12 But Her face alone. And that instant was a years after Lee’s death, predicted that he long happiness.”59 The third was in the Egyp- would meet a female messiah and mother of a tian desert, where he awoke from sleep “To a new savior, though it is not recorded whether scent of roses from air and earth… I saw all he did. and all was one. One alone in the image of female beauty.”60 Solovyov’s sensitive poetry Sophia in Eastern blended his devotion to Sophia with romantic Orthodox Christianity yearnings of unrequited love, and again we can ophia has always been revered in Eastern see connections with the troubadours and S Orthodox Christianity. “Sophia” is not Dante’s Beatrice. always considered to be a feminine personage, Solovyov leaned toward Gnosticism in regard- and we saw that the basilica of Hagia Sophia ing Sophia as the feminine complement of the in was dedicated to Christ. masculine Logos. Together, he believed, they Nevertheless, the feminine Sophia has found comprised the overshadowing cosmic Christ. special resonance in the Russian Orthodox Russian theologian and scientist Pavel Floren- Church. Numerous churches are dedicated to sky (1882–1937) was more cautious. He too St. Sophia, particularly in Russia, and she saw Sophia as the Bride of the Logos; she rep- appears in many icons. The icon in the cathe- resented God’s love for his creation, even pro- 54 dral at Novgorod is one of the best known. viding the channel through which creation was The Russian Orthodox liturgy for the feast of accomplished. But that ability was not hers by the Assumption of Mary, August 15, includes a right: “One in God, she is multiple in creation reference to an icon of Sophia: “Let us behold and is perceived in creation in her concrete the miraculous icon of the Wisdom of God... I appearances as the ideal person of man, as his dare to sing in praise of the Patroness of the Guardian .”61

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Eastern Orthodox theologians saw in Sophia a Paul of Samosata identified Sophia as the third model of the invisible church, the Ekklesia.62 person of the Trinity. And Böhme identified The Ekklesia, in that context, is not the Chris- her with the entire Trinity. Florensky identi- tianity we know, the imperfect church strug- fied Sophia as a “nonconsubstantial” fourth gling through history, but the Church: a perfect person of the Trinity: Platonic Form. spoke of the Sophia takes part in the life of the Trihy- Mystical Church, “the unifying, preexistent, postatic Divinity, enters into the heavenly, mystical interior of the Trinity, and enters form,” contrasting it Eastern Orthodox theo- into communion with Divine with the “historical logians saw in Sophia a Love. Since Sophia is a fourth, church.” Russian Or- creaturely, and therefore noncon- thodox Sergei model of the invisible substantial Person, she does not Nikolaevich church, the Ekklesia. “form” a Divine Unity…. As the Bulgakov (1871– The Ekklesia, in that fourth Person, she, by God’s con- 1944) took up the descension (but in no way by her same theme. “The context, is not the own nature!), introduces a dis- Church in the world,” Christianity we know, tinction in relation to herself in he wrote, “is Sophia the providential activity of the in process of becom- the imperfect church Hypostases of the Trinity.68 ing, according to the struggling through his- double impulse of tory, but the Church: a He added: “From the point of creation and deifica- view of the Hypostasis of the Fa- tion.” He added: perfect Platonic Form. ther, Sophia is the ideal sub- “The Church is… not stance, or ground of creation… only the body of From the point of view of the… Christ, but also the temple of the Holy Ghost… Word, Sophia is the reason of creation… [T]he conjoint revelation of the Son and the From the point of view of the… Spirit, Sophia Spirit in the Church… is effected by the two- represents the spirituality of creation, its holi- fold mission of the two divine persons from ness, purity, and immaculateness, i.e., its the Father to the world. This is what makes beauty.”69 the Church the revelation, in terms of created 63 While Pavel Florensky was executed in a So- Wisdom, of the divine.” viet purge, managed to es- Sergei Bulgakov also saw a close association cape to the West. But Bulgakov was criticized between Sophia and the Glory of God, which by the Orthodox Church hierarchy on the traditionally was associated more closely with grounds that his undermined trini- the Shekinah of Judaic tradition.64 Sophia, he tarian doctrine. Forced to distance himself argued, “is the glory of God and either expres- from Florensky’s views, he retreated to the sion could be used indiscriminately of divine position that Sophia is the “nonhypostatic es- revelation within the Godhead, for they both sence” of God. Since the divine essence is refer to the same divine essence.”65 Comment- shared by all three hypostases, Sophia is nei- ing on the passage in Proverbs, cited earlier in ther a fourth hypostasis nor an expression of this article, in which Chokmah/Sophia was any one of them to the exclusion of the others: with God “from the beginning,” Bulgakov “The three persons… have one life in com- identified Sophia as the “prototype of crea- mon, that is, one Oursia [divine essence], one tion.”66 Correspondingly, he saw creation— Sophia.”70 Bulgakov acknowledged distinct and particularly humanity—as the “creaturely manifestations of Sophia through the three Sophia,” the actualization of that prototype.67 trinitarian persons, however. Her expression through the Son and Holy Spirit is “immedi- If Sophia is a divine feminine individuality, ate,” while the “relation of Sophia to the Father how does she relate to the Trinity? We have is mediated through his relation to the other already seen that and hypostases.”71 Interestingly, Bulgakov saw

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Sophia, rather than the Logos, as the mediator and Kuan-Yin. Yet if Sophia has lost her between God and the world, arguing that “the specific identity, humanity has gained insights hypostasis of the Logos cannot provide such a into its own nature, including the masculine- unifying principle.”72 feminine balance that Jakob Böhme urged that we re-establish within ourselves. To quote Eastern Orthodox teachers speak of theosis, or Carol Parrish-Harra: “deification.”73 Theosis, the spiritual goal of the great saints, is a process of enlightenment Who is this numinous Sophia? She is brought about by the agency of divine energy; Mother Wisdom, come to guide us home… Christ’s transfiguration on Mount Tabor is re- [Sophia] dances through my life, peeks garded as the supreme example. We can envi- through the windows of my mind, whispers sion, as the Russian theologians did, global words of wisdom, laughing and playing… theosis as the spiritual goal of Christianity— To follow Sophia is the opportunity of our perhaps even the whole of humanity. For Ser- time… She leads to dynamic adventure gei Bulgakov that global theosis was the final requiring that we face our fears, learn to manifestation of Sophia, the Bride of Christ, love, and dare to move more fully toward and the implications for a new appreciation of our potential.75 the Divine Feminine are obvious. Through our That said, to remain faithful to the traditional individual and collective spiritual growth, per- understanding of Sophia may be more reward- haps we can glimpse the deification of the ing. Even in her traditional form she is a pow- church and humanity and the manifestation of erful figure. She could appear to Solovyov in Sophia on earth. human form. She serves a cosmic role, per- Concluding Remarks haps subsuming the Trinity. And she serves as a symbol for the overarching Ekklesia. Else- ccording to legend, coined the where,76 this author has suggested that the A term “” when he exclaimed “I Ekklesia can provide a model of the New love wisdom [sophia]”—though wags have World Religion discussed by Alice Bailey.77 long suggested that he was referring to a “Sophia in process of ,” to use Bul- woman of his affections. Be that as it may, gakov’s phrase, can extend beyond Christian- “Wisdom” is a feminine noun in Hebrew, ity. Understanding her role, as it pertains to Greek, Latin and other languages, and its per- the new religion, could be especially valuable, sonification may have been inevitable. As we and opportunities for further work in this area have seen, that personification was taken to clearly exist. great heights in late-biblical Judaism, in the For the moment, perhaps, Sophia’s role as the Gnosticism of the early centuries of the Com- Bride of the Logos is the most evocative. mon Era, and in Russian Orthodox theology in Considering Sophia to be a feminine comple- the 19th and 20th centuries. Sophia/Sapientia ment to Christ can give new meaning to the made significant but less prominent inroads Christian message. It can alleviate stereotypes into mainstream western Christianity. Mean- of Christianity as a patriarchal religion. It can while, “” and “” are also open up new avenues for bringing Christi- other familiar words which incorporate sophia, anity into closer contact with other esoteric and much has been written about their signifi- systems, like the Kabbalah, which stress gen- cance.74 der balance at all levels of reality. By the latter part of the 20th century Sophia Certainly, the whole concept of Sophia raises had been co-opted by feminist theologians difficult theological issues. Reconciling seeking a . In the process “Sophia” Sophia with trinitarian doctrine would be as became a catch-phrase—one selling hundreds much a concern for Western religious authori- of books, tapes and DVDs—for all things ties as it was for theologians in the East. feminine and divine. She now absorbs not Mainstream theologians in West and East have only Chokmah and the Shekinah but also the even been reluctant to revisit notions of a dis- Greek and the Buddhist Prajnaparamita

36 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2009 Fall 2009 tinction between the human Jesus and the di- vine Christ—though leans 11 78 The two books were not included in the canoni- heavily in that direction. The suggestion that cal Bible, but 1 Enoch was widely referenced by Sophia in some way manifested in, or over- the early Christian fathers. Tertullian referred shadowed, a human , even someone of to it as “scripture,” and there is even a reference the status of Mary of Nazareth, would offend to it in Hebrews 11:5. The authors—and there many theologians. Perhaps Theosophical re- were probably more than one—were not the search on the World Mother might help in that biblical Enoch, the grandfather of Noah; but regard.79 Meanwhile, the popular that they describe Enoch’s visions. The authors Mary Magdalene was Jesus’ wife may betray a were probably Hellenic Jews writing some- still dim, but growing, realization of a cosmic where between 200 BCE and 100 CE. The books seem to have been written in a mixture of marriage between the divine Christ and Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. Sophia. Clearly, more work needs to be done 12 The Book of the Secrets of Enoch, XXX:8, 12 in all these areas. The effort would be chal- (transl: W. Morfill), Clarendon Press, lenging, but it could provide important new 1896/1999, pp. 39-40. insights. 13 The Book of Enoch, XLII:1-2 (transl: R. Charles), The Book Tree, 1917/1999, p. 61. 14 Apocryphon of John, II:9-11 (transl: F. Wisse), James M. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Li- brary. Revised version. HarperCollins, 1988. 1 See for example Merlin Stone, When God was a 15 Frederick Wisse, Introduction to The Apocry- Woman, Dorset Press, 1976, especially ch. 4. phon of John, James M. Robinson, The Nag See also: Robert Graves, The White Goddess, Hammadi Library, Revised version, Harper- Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1948, and Monica Collins, 1988, p. 104. Sjöö & Barbara Mor, The Great Cosmic 16 Violet MacDermot, Introduction to The Fall of Mother, Harper & Row, 1975. Sophia, Lindisfarne Books, 2001, pp. 22-25. 2 For example, Paul Tillich proposed that God Two manuscripts of the Pistis Sophia were ac- should be envisioned as the “Ground of Being.” quired on the Egyptian antiquities market in See his Systematic Theology. Vol. 1, University 1770 or thereabouts. of Chicago Press, 1951, p. 240. 17 In Greco-Roman society a hostage might be 3 Proverbs 8:22-30. Emphasis added. The He- held to guarantee performance of a contract: i.e., brew aman, which is rendered here as “one to guarantee “good faith.” brought up with him,” can also be translated as 18 “Pistis Sophia” book 1, § 32 (transl: V. “trusted confidant,” even “nurse.” However, MacDermot), The Fall of Sophia, Lindisfarne some Bibles reduce aman to “a master worker” Books, 2001, p. 122. or “architect,” difficult to reconcile with “de- 19 Ibid., book 2, § 73, p. 166. light,” which follows. Others go in the other di- 20 Ibid., book 2, § 81, p. 174. The pairs of aeons rection and use “darling.” Unless stated other- can be compared to the sephiroth on the outer wise, all biblical quotations are taken from the pillars of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. King James Version. 21 As Susan Haskins pointed out, Mary Magdalene 4 Proverbs 9:5. asked 39 of the 46 questions in the first two 5 Wisdom of Solomon 6:12 (transl: E. books of the Pistis Sophia. See her Mary Mag- Goodspeed), The Apocrypha, Random House, dalen: Myth and Metaphor, Riverhead Books, 1959, p. 188. The King James Bible has “Wis- 1993, p. 47. dom is glorious.” 22 Ibid., § 36, p. 125. 6 Wisdom of Solomon 8:2-5, p. 192. 23 Susan Haskins, Mary Magdalen: Myth and 7 Philo Judaeus, De Fuga et Inventione, IX, 52 Metaphor, p. 49. (transl: C. Yonge), Bohn, 1854-1890. 24 Nash, Christianity: the One, the Many, vol. 1, p. 8 Philo Judaeus, De Ebreitate, VIII, (transl: C. 268. Yonge), Bohn, 1854-1890. 25 Eugnostos the Blessed, III, 3, 81, p. 218. 9 John F. Nash, Christianity: the One, the Many, 26 John F. Nash, “The Shekinah: the Indwelling Xlibris, 2007, vol. 1, pp. 255-284. Glory of God,” Esoteric Quarterly, Summer 10 Eugnostos the Blessed. III, 80, James M. Robin- 2005, pp. 33-40. son (ed.), , Revised Edi- 27 Revelation 12:6. tion, Harper-San Francisco, 1988, p. 231.

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28 Valentinus was educated in Alexandria, but in 45 Julian of Norwich, Showings (Long Text), ch. 136 CE he moved to Rome and remained there 52, Paulist Press, 1978, p. 279. for 25 years. 46 Jakob Böhme, The Threefold Life of Man, 29 The polar entities can be compared to the sephi- (transl: S. Janos), Quoted in: N. Berdyaev, Stud- roth on the outer pillars of the Kabbalistic Tree ies Concerning Jacob Boehme, etude II, 1930, of Life. pp. 34-62. 30 Kurt Rudolph, , (transl: R. Wilson), 47 In Plato’s Symposium Aristophanes declared Harper, 1977/1984, p. 311. that man was originally androgynous but was 31 The Nestorian heresy, which claimed that “Je- cut in two by to curb his pride. Ever since, sus Christ” was two persons and two natures, man has sought his female half, and vice versa. was condemned by the First Council of Ephe- 48 Böhme, The Threefold Life of Man, pp. 34-62. sus in 431. Official Christian doctrine, from See also Böhme’s Mysterium Magnum. Lon- then on, insisted that Jesus Christ was one per- don, 1654, chapter 18. son with two natures, human and divine. John 49 For a discussion of Böhme’s teachings on gen- Nestorius, after whom the heresy was named, der and their influence on William Blake see: may not in fact have held the “two person” be- Hirst, Hidden Riches, pp. 92-96. lief. 50 The pairs of opposites also include good and 32 Tertullian, Against the Valentinians, 10, (transl: evil. For a discussion of the opposites as they A. Roberts), Gnostic Society Library. are addressed in the Kabbalah see John F. Nash, 33 See for example Plotinus, Enneads, ninth trac- “Duality, Good and Evil, and the Approach to tate, §10. Source: Internet Sacred Text Archive Harmony,” Esoteric Quarterly, Fall 2004, pp. 34 Theophilus of Antioch, Epistle to Autolychum, 15-26. II, 15, Theophilus used the term trias (Greek, 51 Jakob Boehme, Confessions (transl: W. Scott “number three”), which was translated into the Palmer), Harper and Bros., 1954, p. 97. Latin trinitas and, in turn, into the English 52 , A Fountain of Gardens, Journal En- “Trinity.” Theophilus of Antioch is not to be tries: 1670-1675, Bradford, 1696. Lead was of- confused with the fourth-century patriarch of ten spelled “Leade.” See also Julie Hirst, “The Alexandria of the same name. Divine Ark: Jane Lead’s Vision of the Second 35 Sophia managed to survive in the East, though Noah’s Ark,” Esoterica, vol. VI, pp. 16-25. not always in connection with the Third Person 53 The Guglielmites of Milan, Italy, formed a of the Trinity. In the West the only vestige of small, close-knit sect devoted to “St. Gug- the Trinity’s sophianic origins is a vague lielma” (d. 1282), a Cistercian oblate. Members awareness that wisdom, in its everyday sense, of the sect were executed by the Inquisition in flows from the Holy Spirit. 1300. 36 See for example: Robert J. Miller (ed.), The 54 See for example Thomas Schipflinger, Sophia- Complete , HarperCollins, 1992, pp. Maria: A Holistic Vision of Creation, Weiser 428-433. No complete manuscript of the Gos- Books, 1998, Plate 17. pel of the Hebrews survives. 55 Source: Sophia Foundation of North America. 37 Karen Armstrong, A History of God, Ballantine Translated from Old Slavonic by Natalia Bonet- Books, 1993, p. 100. skaya. 38 See for example: Acts 2:4. 56 Solovyov inspired the character Alyosha in 39 Proverbs 9:1. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. 40 Bernard, who wrote in Latin, would have used 57 Vladimir Solovyov, “The Three Meetings,” Sapientia, which, like the Hebrew Chokmah and Quoted in Eugenia Gourvitch, Vladimir So- the Greek Sophia, is a feminine noun. lovyov: the Man and the Prophet, Rudolf 41 Barbara Newman, Sister of Wisdom: St. Hilde- Steiner Press, 1992, p. 25. gard’s Theology of the Feminine, Univ. of Cali- 58 spoke of Mary as the “Virgin fornia Press, 1978, p. 64. See also Peter Sophia.” See his Gospel of St. John, Anthropo- Dronke, Poetic Individuality in the Middle Ages, sophic Press, 1908/1940, p. 191. Oxford Univ. Press, 1970, p. 157. 59 Solovyov, “The Three Meetings.” p. 32. 42 Thomas Aquinas (attributed to), Aurora Con- 60 Ibid, pp. 34, 36. surgens, I: 20-25, (transl: Marie-Louise von 61 Pavel Florensky, The Pillar and the Ground of Franz.), Inner City Books, 2000, p. 35. Truth (transl: B. Jakim), Princeton University 43 Ibid, V: 13, pp. 53-55. Press, 1997, p. 239. Emphasis in original. 44 “Julian’s” real name is not known. Florensky’s Sophiological doctrines are interest-

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ing since he wrote at length about deep male 74 See for example Christopher Bamford, Intro- friendships that express both agape and eros. duction to Rudolf Steiner, , Mary, Sophia, 62 John F. Nash, Christianity: the One, the Many, SteinerBooks, 2003, pp. 7-44. vol. 2, pp. 280-283. 75 Carol Parrish-Harra, Sophia Sutras: Introducing 63 Sergei Bulgakov, Sophia: the Wisdom of God, Mother Wisdom, Sparrow Hawk Press, 2006, p. Lindisfarne Press, 1993, pp. 138-139. 271. 64 See note 26. 76 John F. Nash, “Festival of Goodwill: the New 65 Bulgakov, Sophia, p. 50. World Religion,” Esoteric Quarterly, Summer 66 Ibid., p. 65.. 2009, pp. 76-80. 67 Ibid., p. 72. 77 See for example Alice A. Bailey, The Externali- 68 Ibid., p. 252. Emphasis and parenthetical com- sation of the Hierarchy, Lucis Publishing Co., ment in original. Eastern Orthodox theologians 1957, pp. 393ff. tend to use “hypostasis” rather than “person” of 78 See for example: Mary Baker Eddy, Science the Trinity. and Health with Key to the Scriptures, First 69 Ibid., pp. 252-253. Emphasis in original Church of Christ Scientist, 1875, pp. 333, p. 70 Sergei Bulgakov, Sophia: the Wisdom of God 336; Daniel Andreev, Rose of the World, 1.3, (transl: P. Thompson et al.), Lindisfarne Press, Daniel Andreev Charity Foundation, 1997; An- 1993, pp. 35-37. nie W. Besant, Esoteric Christianity, Theoso- 71 Ibid., p. 52. phical Publishing House, 1914/1953, p. 89; Al- 72 Ibid., p. 74. ice A. Bailey, Initiation: Human and Solar, 73 See for example Gregory Palamas (14th cen- Lucis Publishing Company, 1922, pp. 43-44. tury), “Topics of Natural and Theological Sci- 79 John F. Nash, “The World Mother: Teachings ence and on the Moral and Ascetic Life,” §105, of Helena Roerich and Geoffrey Hodson,” Eso- Philokalia, vol. 4, p. 393; also Timothy Ware, teric Quarterly, Winter 2006, pp. 35-46. The Orthodox Church, Penguin Books, 1963/1977, pp. 33-34.

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