O Lord, my God, if I did this (thing) if there is violence in my hands, if I repaid to those who repaid to me evil (things), may I perish by my enemy, being empty: and may my enemies persecute my soul and seize it: and trample my life down unto the earth and cause my glory to become in the Chaos.
Diapsalma.
Rise (up), [161 ] O Lord, in thy wrath: be exalted at the last to my enemies: rise up in the commandment which thou orderedst.
It happened therefore, the First Mystery having heard these words, saying them Iakkobos, said he, Well (done), Iakkobos the beloved.
But added also the First Mystery, said he to the disciples, It happened therefore, the Pistis Sophia having finished saying the words of this hymn she 87 turned round to see, whether the Adamas turned backward with his Rulers for to go unto their Aeon, and she saw (they saw, MS ) them running after her: she turned unto them, said she to them, Why do ye persecute me saying, I have not help for him to deliver me from you.
Now therefore a judge of truth is [162 ] the Light and strong (he) is.
But he is compassionate until the time which he said to me, I am coming and I (will) help thee, and he (will) not bring his wrath upon you at every hour.
And this is the time which he said to me.
Now therefore if ye turn not yourselves backward, and cease from persecuting me, the Light will make ready his power, and he will make ready with all his powers, and he made ready in his power for to take away your light which is in you, and ye will become darkness: and his powers he fashioned them, for him to take away your powers from you, and ye (will) perish.
But these having said them the Pistis Sophia, she looked unto the Place of the Adamas, she saw the Place of dark [162 ] and of Chaos, this which he fashioned.
And also she saw the two emanations of darkness which (are) cruel greatly, these which emanated them out the Adamas, that they should lay hold on the Pistis Sophia, and should cast her down unto the Chaos, which he fashioned, and should oppress her in that place, and should disturb her, until they took away her light from her.
It happened therefore, the Pistis Sophia having seen those two emanations of darkness and of the Place of darkness, these which fashioned the Adamas, she feared and she cried up unto the Light saying, O Light, behold, was angry the Adamas, the violent being, he fashioned an emanation of darkness and [163 ] also he emanated out another (from) Chaos, and he fashioned another dark and chaotic and he prepared it.
Now therefore, O Light, the Chaos which he fashioned for to cast me unto it, and (to) take away my power of light from me, take away his from him; and the thought which he thought for to take away my light, they will (take) his from him; and the violence which he said for to take away my light from me, take away all his (lights).
These are the words which said the Pistis Sophia in her hymn.
Now therefore he who is sober in his spirit, let him come forward and utter the explanation of the words (which said) the Pistis Sophia in her hymn.
Came also forward Martha, said she, My Lord, I am sober [163 ] in my spirit, and I understand the words which thou sayest: now therefore command to me that I may utter their explanation in boldness.
Themes
◆Aeonscosmology
Divine archetypal beings or eternal attributes dwelling within the Pleroma, often arranged in male-female syzygies.
The text references 'Rulers' and 'Aeon' associated with the Adamas, indicating divine archetypal beings dwelling within the Pleroma.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
The passage describes a final judgment where enemies will be punished and the Light will take away their light.
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 Pistis Sophia is depicted as being persecuted and threatened by emanations of darkness from the Adamas.
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 is depicted as being persecuted by the Adamas and cast into Chaos away from her divine light.
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 is described as being helped by the Light to escape her persecutors.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
Martha's declaration of sobriety allows her to utter the explanation of the words, engaging divine power through spiritual readiness.