But answered the First Mystery, said he to Martha, I command to thee Martha for to utter the 88 explanation of the words, these which said the Sophia in her hymn.
But answered Martha said she, My Lord, these are the words which thy power of light prophesied once by David in the seventh psalm, God is a judge of truth, strong, compassionate, being not wont to bring his anger day by day: if ye turn not yourselves he will whet his sword, he stretched his bow, he made (it) ready: he made ready in it [164 ] weapons of death, his arrows he fashioned for those whom they will burn.
Behold, the violence travailed, he conceived trouble he brought forth unlawfulness, he dug a pit, he excavated it, he will fall down unto the hole which he fashioned, his trouble will turn upon his head and his violence (is) coming upon the middle of his head.
But these having said them Martha, said he to her the First Mystery who looketh outwards, Well (done and) fairly, Martha, the happy.
It happened therefore, Jesus having finished saying unto his disciples all the things which happened to the Pistis Sophia, being in the Chaos, and with the manner (in) which she hymned up unto the Light, until he delivered her and brought her up from the Chaos, [164 ] and brought her in unto the twelve Aeon, and with the manner (in) which he delivered her out of all her oppressions, with which oppressed her the Rulers of the Chaoses, because that she lusted to go (close) to the Light.
Added again in the word Jesus, said he to his disciples, It happened therefore after all these (things) I took away the Pistis Sophia, I brought her in unto the thirteenth Aeon, I, shining greatly greatly, there being not measure unto the light which was becoming from me, I came in unto the Place of the twenty-four (fourth, MS ) Invisibles, I, shining greatly greatly; and they were disturbed with great disturbance: they looked, they saw the Sophia who was being with me, they recognised her.
[165 ] But I, they recognised me not who I (was), but they were thinking of me as of an emanation of the land of the Light.
It happened therefore, the Sophia having seen her fellow Invisibles, she rejoiced in great joy, and she was delighted greatly; she wished to show to them the wonders which I did with her below in the land of the mankind, until I delivered her.
She came up unto the midst of the Invisibles, she hymned unto me in their midst, saying, I shall manifest to thee, O Light, because thou art a Saviour, and thou art a redeemer at every time: I shall hymn this hymn unto the Light because he delivered me: and he delivered out of the hand of the Rulers [165 ] mine enemies.
And thou deliveredst me in all the Places, and thou deliveredst me from 89 the exaltation and the humiliation of the Chaoses, and from the Aeons of the Rulers of the Sphere.
And I having come out of the Height, I went astray in Places, there being not light in them.
I could not return into the thirteenth Aeon my dwelling, because there is not light in me nor power, my power was defective altogether, and the Light delivered me from all my afflictions.
I hymned up unto the Light, he heard me, they having afflicted me.
He guided me in the creation of the Aeons, for him to bring me up unto the thirteenth Aeon, my dwelling.
Themes
◆Aeonscosmology
Divine archetypal beings or eternal attributes dwelling within the Pleroma, often arranged in male-female syzygies.
The text explicitly mentions the 'twelve Aeon' and 'thirteenth Aeon' as destinations for the liberated Sophia.
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 text references God's judgment of truth and the threat of wrath against those who do not repent.
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 narrative centers on Sophia's descent into the Chaos and her liberation from oppression by the Rulers.
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.
Sophia is depicted as having gone astray in Places without light and power, separated from her dwelling.
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.
Sophia is described as being brought in unto the Aeon and delivered by the Light.
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.
The liberation of Sophia occurs through Jesus' active intervention rather than passive contemplation.