But I, I trusted unto the Light, I shall rejoice and hymn, because thou hadst compassion upon me, and thou gavest heed unto the straits in which I become, and thou deliveredst me: and also thou wilt save my power out of Chaos, and thou didst not leave me in hand of the power of face of lion, but thou broughtest me unto a Place which is not oppressing.
These therefore, Jesus having said unto his disciples, he answered also, said he to them, It happened therefore having known the power of face of lion that they brought not the Pistis Sophia up from the Chaos altogether (that power) came also with all the other material emanations of the Self-willed, [79 ] they oppressed also the Pistis Sophia.
It happened therefore, they having oppressed her, she cried out in the same Repentance, saying, Have compassion upon me, O Light, because they oppressed me also.
Was disturbed because of thy precept the light which is in me.
And my power and my mind: my power began to fail, while I become in these oppressions; and the number of my time while I become in Chaos.
My light was diminished because they took away my power from me, and shook all the powers which (are) in me.
I became powerless beyond all the Rulers of the Aeons, these who hate me, and beyond the twenty-four emanations, these in whose Place I was becoming.
And feared to help me my brother, my partner, because of [79 ] the (things) in which they planted me.
And all the Rulers of the Height reckoned me unto them as matter in which is not light.
I became as a material power, which fell out of the Rulers, and said all those who are in the Aeons, She became Chaos.
And after these (things) surrounded me the merciless powers, and they said about taking away all my light which is in me.
But I, I trusted unto thee, O Light, and I said, Thou art my Saviour.
And my precept which thou orderedst unto me being in thy hands.
Deliver me from the emanations of the Self-willed these which oppress me and which persecute me.
Send thy light upon me, because I am nothing with thee.
And deliver me in thy [80 ] compassion: let me not be despised, because thou art he whom I hymned, O Light: the Chaos will cover over the emanations of the Self-willed, and take them below unto the darkness.
Let be shut the mouth of those who wish to swallow me (down) in guile, these who say, Let us take away all the light which is in her, to whom I did not anything evil.
But these having said them Jesus, came forward Maththaios said he, My Lord, thy spirit moved me, and sober in me is thy light for me to utter the eighth repentance of the Pistis Sophia.
For thy 44 power prophesied about her once by David in the thirtieth psalm, saying, I confide in thee, O Lord, let me not be ashamed [80 ] for ever.
Save me in thy righteousness.
Incline thy ear unto me.
Hasten and save me.
Become to me a God of defence, and a house of refuge, to save me: because thou art my firmness and my refuge, because of thy name thou wilt guide me and nourish me and thou wilt bring me out of this snare, this which they hid from me: because thou art my defence.
I shall deposit my spirit into thy hands.
Thou redeemedst me, O Lord, the God of the truth.
Themes
◆Aeonscosmology
Divine archetypal beings or eternal attributes dwelling within the Pleroma, often arranged in male-female syzygies.
The text mentions 'Rulers of the Aeons' who hate the Pistis Sophia and plant her in their Place.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The text references 'material emanations' and 'Rulers of the Aeons' that descend from a higher source.
The Gnostic myth of Wisdom's prolapse from the Pleroma — her unilateral desire or error producing the Demiurge and the entrapment of divine sparks in matter.
The passage explicitly describes the Pistis Sophia being oppressed by material powers and becoming Chaos.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
The Pistis Sophia describes feeling powerless and diminished in the oppressions of Chaos.
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
Jesus is called 'Lord' and the Pistis Sophia seeks to be saved by him as a divine act.