Pistis Sophia
Pistis Sophia is the longest surviving Gnostic text: the risen Jesus teaching the disciples for eleven years about Sophia's fall, her thirteen repentances, the mysteries of the light, and the soul's ascent past the rulers.
Pistis Sophia means Faith Wisdom. The text is preserved in the Askew Codex, a Coptic manuscript bought by the British Museum in 1785, which makes it the first major Gnostic scripture available in the modern world, a century and a half before Nag Hammadi. It is long, repetitive, and strange, and it contains some of the most beautiful passages in Gnostic literature.
The setting
Unlike the canonical gospels, which end with the ascension, Pistis Sophia begins after it. Jesus, risen, has stayed with the disciples for eleven years teaching them. Then he ascends in a blaze of light, passes through the heavens, receives his true garment of glory, and returns to explain what he saw. Mary Magdalene asks most of the questions. Peter complains that she talks too much. The pattern from the Gospel of Mary repeats.
Sophia among the rulers
The heart of the book is the story of Sophia, here called Pistis Sophia. She sees a light above and, longing for it, leaves her place among the aeons. The rulers, led by Authades, the Arrogant One, and his lion-faced power, trap her in the chaos below, surround her with darkness, and drain her light. She cannot get back up. So she repents.
Thirteen times she repents, and each repentance is a psalm. Mary and the other disciples interpret each one by quoting a canonical Psalm or an Ode of Solomon, and Jesus confirms the interpretation. Then Jesus, at the Father's command, descends into the chaos, defeats the lion-faced power, and leads Sophia back up to her place. It is the Monad reaching down through Christ to recover what fell.
The mysteries
The later books turn to practice. Jesus explains the mysteries of the light, baptisms of water, fire, and Spirit, and the seals and passwords a soul needs as it ascends past each of the rulers after death. He describes the fate of souls that did not receive the mysteries and the cycles of return. Much of this is technical, but the underlying claim is the same as everywhere else in the Gnostic library: the rulers of this world hold you by ignorance, and knowledge of the light is the way past them. See The Pleroma and the Divine Spark.
The passage everyone should read
In the middle of the book Jesus tells the disciples to proclaim to the whole world: do not cease seeking day and night until you find the mysteries of the kingdom of light, which will purify you and lead you into the light. And then: renounce the whole world and all the matter in it, all its cares, all its sins, so that you may be worthy of the mysteries. It is a hard saying, but it is the same instruction as Thomas's become passers-by, stated at length.
Why it was buried
Pistis Sophia was never in the running for the canon. It is too plainly Gnostic: a highest God beyond the creator, a fallen Wisdom, salvation by mysteries and knowledge, and Mary Magdalene as the foremost disciple. For centuries the only readers were the heresy hunters who quoted it to condemn it. Today it is the most complete picture we have of what a Gnostic community actually taught, week after week.
The Awakened Monad channels cover the thirteen repentances one at a time.
Questions people ask
What is Pistis Sophia?
A long Gnostic text, preserved in the Askew Codex, in which the risen Jesus teaches the disciples over eleven years about the fall and restoration of Sophia and the mysteries by which the soul returns to the light.
Where does the name Pistis Sophia come from?
It combines two Greek words, pistis, faith, and sophia, wisdom, and names the aeon whose thirteen repentances form the core of the text.
How old is the Pistis Sophia?
The Coptic manuscript dates to the fourth century and the text was likely composed in the third. The British Museum acquired the codex in 1785.