It happened therefore, the First [137 ] Mystery having heard these words said he: Well (done) Iakkobos, the beloved, But added also in the word the First Mystery, said he to the disciples, It happened, I having brought the Pistis Sophia up from the Chaos, she cried out also saying, I was delivered from the Chaos and I was loosed from the bonds of the darkness.
I came (close) to thee, O Light, because thou becamest light on every side of me, thou art delivering me and thou art helping me: and the emanations of the Self-willed, these which are fighting against me, thou preventedst them by thy light, and they were not able to approach in unto me, because thy light was becoming with me, and it is delivering me by thy effluence of Light: because that [137 ] emanations of the Self-willed oppressed me, they took away my power from me: they cast me out in the Chaos there being not light in me.
I became as a matter which is heavy in comparison with them.
And after these (things) a power of effluence came to me from thee delivering me: it made light on left of me and on right of me, and it was surrounding me on every side of me, that should not any part of mine become being lightless.
And thou coveredst over me with the light of thy effluence.
And thou purged out of me all my matters evil.
And I became above all my matters because of thy light, and thine effluence of Light: that is (that) which exalted me, and it took away from me the emanations of the Self-willed, these which are wont [138 ] to afflict me.
And I became being confident of heart in thy light, and in the light which is purified by thy effluence.
And were distant away from me the emanations of the Self-willed, these which were oppressing me, and I became light by thy great power, because thou, thou art wont to deliver at every time.
This is the Repentance which said the Pistis Sophia, she having come up from the Chaos, and having been loosened the bonds of the Chaos.
Now therefore he who hath ear to hear let him hear.
It happened therefore, the First Mystery having finished saying these words unto the disciples, came forward Thomas, said he, My Lord, there is ear to my light-dweller and my understanding understandeth the words [138 ] which thou saidst.
Now therefore 75 command to me that I may utter the explanation of the words clearly.
But answered the First Mystery, said he to Thomas, I command to thee for to utter the explanation of the hymn, that which hymned up toward me the Pistis Sophia.
But answered Thomas, said he, My Lord, concerning the hymn which said the Pistis Sophia, because she was delivered out of the Chaos, thy power of light prophesied about it once by Solomon the son of David in his Odes, I was delivered out of the bonds, I ran (close) up to thee, O Lord, because thou becamest to me on right (hand), [139 ] thou art delivering me, and thou art helping me.
Thou preventedst those who fight against me, and they were not manifested; because thy face was becoming with me, delivering me in thy grace.
I received insult in presence of a multitude, and they cast me out, I became as lead before them.
Happened to me a power from thee helping me, because thou puttest torches on right of me and left of me, that not any part of me should be being lightless.
Thou shelteredst me under the shadow of thy mercy, and I became above the coats of the skin.
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.
References are made to emanations of the Self-willed that oppose the divine light.
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 being cast out into the Chaos and becoming heavy before liberation.
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 Pistis Sophia becomes light by the divine power, indicating a transformation into a higher state.