THE SECOND TOME OF THE PISTIS SOPHIA [115 ] Came also forward Iohannes, said he, O Lord, command to me also for to say the explanation of the words which thy power of light prophesied once by David.
But answered Jesus, said he to Iohannes, Thou also Iohannes I command to thee for to say the explanation of the words, these which my power of light prophesied by David, The mercy with the truth met one another, and the righteousness with the peace kissed one another.
The truth burst forth in the earth and the righteousness looked out of the heaven.
But answered Iohannes, said [115 ] he, This is the word which thou saidst unto us once, I came out of the Height, I went in unto Sabaoth the good.
I embraced the power of light which (is) in him.
Now therefore the mercy with the truth which met one another: thou art the mercy, which dispatched thee out of the Places of the Height by thy Father, the First Mystery which looketh inward, having dispatched thee for to have mercy on all the World.
The truth also is the power of the Sabaoth the good, this which planted itself in thee, this which thou castedst in the Left, thou, the First Mystery which looked outward.
And received it the little Sabaoth the good, he cast it in unto the matter of the Barbelo.
[116 ] And he preached of the Place of the truth (of the alethia) in all the Places of those on the Left.
That matter therefore of the Barbelo, that (is) which becometh to thee for body to-day.
And the righteousness with the peace which kissed one another: the righteousness is thou, who broughtest all the mysteries out of thy Father the First Mystery which looked in, and thou baptisedst the power of the Sabaoth the good, and thou camest unto the Place of the Rulers; thou gavest to them the mysteries of the Height: and they became righteous and they became good.
The peace also is the power of the Sabaoth, this which itself is thy soul, this which went in unto the matter [116 ] of the Barbelo.
And all the Rulers of the six Aeons of the Sabaoth (Iabraoth) made them at peace with the mystery of the light.
And the truth which burst forth in the earth: that is the power of the Sabaoth the good.
This which came out of the Place of the 64 Right, this which is outside of the Treasury of the Light.
And it went unto the Place of those on the Left, it went in unto the matter of the Barbelo, and it preached to them the mysteries of the Place of the truth.
The righteousness also which looked out of the heaven: thou art the First Mystery, which looked outward, having come out of the Spaces of the Height with the Mysteries of the kingdom of the light, and [117 ] thou camest down upon the vesture of the light, this which thou tookest from the Barbelo, which is Jesus our Saviour, thou having come down upon him as a dove.
It happened therefore when Iohannes had uttered these words, said he to him, the First Mystery which looked outward, Well (done), Iohannes the brother, the beloved.
Added the First Mystery saying, It happened therefore, the power which came out of the Height, which is I, whom my Father dispatched, for me to deliver the Pistis Sophia from the Chaos.
Eckhart's signature doctrine that the Father eternally begets the Son in the ground of the soul; the human interior as the actual site of the divine generative act, distinct from inner_light's static indwelling.
The text describes the 'power of the Sabaoth' planting itself in the recipient and becoming their body.
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 passage outlines a descent from the 'Height' to the 'Places of those on the Left' and the planting of power in the recipient.
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 narrative begins with Iohannes being dispatched from the 'Places of the Height' to a lower realm.
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.
The recipient is transformed into a righteous and good being through the divine planting of power in their body.