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Song of Sophia

Mr Cheese

Well-Known Member
“It came to pass then, when Pistis Sophia saw her fellows, the invisibles, that she rejoiced in great joy and exulted exceedingly and desired to proclaim the wonders which I had wrought on her below in the earth of mankind, until I saved her. She came into the midst of the invisibles, and in their midst sang praises unto me, saying:
‘I will give thanks unto thee, O Light, for thou art a saviour; thou art a deliverer for all time.
I will utter this song to the Light, for it hath saved me and saved me out of the hand of the rulers, my foes.
And thou hast preserved me in all the regions, thou hast saved me out of the height and the depth of the chaos and out of the æons of the rulers of the sphere.
And when I was come out of the Height, I wandered round in regions in which is no light, and I could not return to the thirteenth æon, my dwelling-place.
For there was no light in me nor power. My power was utterly weakened (?).
And the Light saved me in all my afflictions. I sang praises unto the Light, and it hearkened unto me, when I was constrained.
It guided me in the creation of the æons to lead me up into the thirteenth æon, my dwelling-place.
I will give thanks unto thee, O Light, that thou hast saved me, and for thy wondrous works unto the race of men.
When I failed of my power, thou hast given me power; and when I failed of my light, thou didst fill me with purified light.
I was in the darkness and in the shadow of the chaos, bound with the mighty fetters of the chaos, and no light was in me.
For I have provoked the commandment of the Light and have transgressed, and I have made wroth the commandment of the Light, because I had gone out of my region.
And when I had gone down, I failed of my light and became without light, and no one had helped me.
And in my affliction I sang praises unto the Light, and it saved me out of my afflictions.
And it hath also broken asunder all my bonds and led me up out of the darkness and the affliction of the chaos.
I will give thanks unto thee, O Light, that thou hast saved me and that thy wondrous works have been wrought in the race of men.
And thou hast shattered the upper gates of the darkness and the mighty bolts of the chaos.
And thou didst let me depart out of the region in which I had transgressed, and my light was taken, because I have transgressed.
And I ceased from my mysteries and went down to the gates of the chaos.
And when I was constrained, I sang praises to the Light. It saved me out of all my afflictions.
Thou sentest thy stream; it gave me power and saved me out of all my afflictions.
I will give thanks unto thee, O Light, that thou hast saved me, and for thy wondrous works in the race of men.’
This then is the song which Pistis Sophia hath uttered in the midst of the four-and-twenty invisibles, desiring that they should know all the wondrous works which I had done for her, and desiring that they should know that I have gone to the world of men and have given them the mysteries of the Height. Now, therefore, who is exalted in his thought, let him come forward and say the solution of the song which Pistis Sophia hath uttered.”
–Pistis Sophia Chapter 81



Aeon: These are characterized as emanations from the ‘first cause,’ the Father in some Gnostic schema. The word not only refers to the “worlds” of emanation, but to the personalities as well. Sophia, Logos, and the other high principles are aeons. ”A link or level of the great chain of being, the sum total which is
the ‘All’ or Pleroma…Can also mean a world age.” (See; Gaffney) ”According to other Gnostics, for example Valentinus, the first principle is also called Aeon or the unfathomable, the primeval depth, the absolute abyss, bythos, in which everything is sublimated…” translated by Scott J. Thompson from G.W.F.
Hegel’s ”Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Philosophie ii ,” (Theorie Werkausgabe, Bd. 19), Frankfurt a.M., Suhrkamp Verlag, 1977, 426-430] ( See also; Pleroma.)


Archon: “Ruler.” Refers to the creators and governing forces in the material world. The Demiurge and his angels (aeons). From a form of governing known in Alexandria. Like the term ‘Allogenes,’ archons are used to explain pleromic entities in versions of the Gnostic explanations for creation, however they may
be seen as evil forces. ”A Gnostic ruler, sometimes equivalent with the Demiurge. Archons are synonymous with ”princes of the world,” in the ”Gospel of John.” ”Basilides calls Archons, the heads of the spirit realms.”(”Gnostics,” CWF Hegal) (See also; Gaffney, p. 240.) Archons are the prototype for Jung’s allegory to ”archetypes.” (See; Hoeller. See also; ”Hidden Wisdom,” Smoley, Kinney, Penguin, 1999, Ch. 2.)+
 
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