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4 Pistis Sophia (A) chapter 4 4 Pistis Sophia (a) 1 Introduction to the Text The division of the Pistis Sophia texts is an unsettled issue. Titles in the manu- script divide it into at least four books, and H.C. Puech observes that “it is today almost unanimously agreed that the four sections of the manuscript must be divided into two distinct groups.”1 That it consists of four sections or texts is thus not widely questioned in scholarship; the two groups acknowledged are 1– 3ps and 4ps in Schmidt. G.R.S. Mead, however, has posited as many as six books, although he embraces the fourfold division and views parts of 3 and 4ps as sub- divisions of their larger wholes.2 F. Legge does acknowledge the divisions used here, although he regards them as being composed in reverse chronological order to the widely accepted view.3 For the present argument, at least five texts are clearly distinguishable. Schmidt’s fourth book has a lacuna of eight pages, and the contents, themes, and even assumed cosmologies differ dramatically before and after the gap, suggesting they are parts of separate works. Here they shall be termed 4psa and 4psb. 4psa, which consists of chapters 136–143, deals primarily with cosmologi- cal and astrological speculation and ritual development. It opens with Jesus performing before an altar a ritual prayer that apparently allows him and the disciples to witness some of the lower cosmological regions, the roles of which Jesus explains. The bulk of the book presents a myth of the fallen archons of the aeons being imprisoned by Jeu within the zodiacal sphere; introduces and out- lines the realms of the wicked Midst (ⲙⲏⲧⲉ) with descriptions of its rulers, along with the sins and punishments each ruler inflicts on humanity; and describes the positions of the planets when the sinners tormented by each ruler of the Midst (ⲙⲏⲧⲉ) will be released. The remainder of the text has Jesus interpret the elements of his incarnation and their role in the world, and administer the 1 H.C. Puech, “The Pistis Sophia,” 362; in New Testament Apocrypha, Volume 1, W. Schneemel- cher, ed., R. McL. Wilson, trans. (Cambridge: James Clarke & Co. Ltd., 1991), 361–369. 2 G.R.S. Mead, Pistis Sophia: The Gnostic Tradition of Mary Magdalene, Jesus, and His Disciples (1921; reprint: Mineola, ny: Dover Publications, 2005), xxiii–xxv. 3 F. Legge, “Introduction,”PistisSophia, G. Horner, ed. and trans. (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1924), vii–xlviii. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi: 10.1163/9789004301191_006 96 chapter 4 first baptism—the baptism of the first offering—which is quite similar to those described in 2 Jeu. It is much simpler than the latter, but their common root is clear; indeed, the baptisms of fire, Holy Spirit, and the spiritual inunction from 2 Jeu are named, but not presented (4psa 143[372]). It is possible they were recorded where the lacuna now exists; however, given the nature of the text, it is more likely that only the lowest rite was considered appropriate for inclusion, and the others required further preparation and instruction. The text serves as a preparatory tool for someone about to undergo the first baptism; accordingly it gives more background mythology and moral instruction. It presents a guide to the punishment realms, here limited to the way of the Midst (ⲙⲏⲧⲉ); a treatise on speculative astrology in a Jeuian theological context; and an initiatory ritual guide—this time with simplified ritual instructions and presenting only the first or lowest of the baptisms. 2 Cosmology 2.1 Treasury of Light In 4psa the Treasury of Light receives little direct attention, although it is the highest realm of existence. The (mystery) name of the Father of the Treasury of Light is said to be a word of power in the prayers near the beginning of the text (4psa 136[354), and plays a key role in the baptismal rite detailed later on (4psa 142[370]). Furthermore, Jesus gives a list of places for which he will give the disciples the mysteries to traverse, beginning with the twelve aeons; the Treasury of Light is at the pinnacle of this list. Immediately after his statement that he will give them the mystery of the Treasury of Light, Jesus states, “I will give to you all mysteries and all knowledge, so that you may be called: ‘Sons of the pleroma, complete in all knowledge and all mysteries’” (4psa 138[359]). Thus, the Treasury is the height of all mysteries and the ultimate destination of the believer. There is some other discussion of the Treasury in 4psa in the context of light production and purification: the archons and gods and powers are said to have come into existence through the matter of the light of the Treasury (ⲑⲩⲗⲏ 昦ⲡⲟⲩⲟⲉⲓⲛ 昦ⲡⲉⲑⲏⲥⲁⲩⲣⲟⲥ), and light purified in the archons is retrieved and brought back into the Treasury (4psa 139[360–361]).4 Then, in describing what he brought into the world, Jesus says that he took water and fire from the 4 Note that matter as dregs appears to be a natural product of the light realm, and not the result of a divine fall as per certain other Gnostic myths..
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