(1) Peter responded to these comments and said, "Sometimes you urge us on toward the kingdom of heaven, but at other times you turn us away, master. Sometimes you encourage us, draw us toward faith, and promise us life, but at other times you drive us away from the kingdom of heaven."

(10) Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him:

(20) And so it fell out, that every one would get the greatest Conflux of People he could, that he might be esteemed by most People; and these Lip-Christians did so multiply, that the sincere hearty Desire to God was left, and they only looked upon the Lip-priests, who did nothing but cause Strife and Contentions; and they all vapoured and boasted of their own Art and Skill which they had learned in the Schools and Universities, and cried, Look here is Christ, come running hither, thus and thus has Paid written; and another says, Come hither, here is Christ, thus and thus has Peter written; he was the Disciple of Christ, and had the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, this cannot be amiss; they do but deceive you, follow after me.

(152) Here make to yourselves many masses, out of which there may proceed other manner of men of other qualities, and then you may be in the right. But out of the one only mass you can make no more than one only love of God, which presseth forth through the first man, and so presseth through and upon all. If God should have permitted Peter or Paul to have written otherwise, then look to the ground, to the heart.

(4) Beneath my head the others are dragged down Who have preceded me in simony, Flattened along the fissure of the rock. Below there I shall likewise fall, whenever That one shall come who I believed thou wast, What time the sudden question I proposed. But longer I my feet already toast, And here have been in this way upside down, Than he will planted stay with reddened feet; For after him shall come of fouler deed From tow'rds the west a Pastor without law, Such as befits to cover him and me. New Jason will he be, of whom we read In Maccabees; and as his king was pliant, So he who governs France shall be to this one." I do not know if I were here too bold, That him I answered only in this metre: "I pray thee tell me now how great a treasure Our Lord demanded of Saint Peter first, Before he put the keys into his keeping? Truly he nothing asked but 'Follow me.' Nor Peter nor the rest asked of Matthias Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen Unto the place the guilty soul had lost.

(81) But the sinners shall die with the sinners, And the apostate go down with the apostate.

(2) It came to pass then, when Jesus had finished speaking these words unto his disciples, that he said unto them: "Do ye understand in what manner I discourse with you?" And Peter started forward and said unto Jesus: And Peter answered and said unto Jesus "O Lord, give ear that I may speak the thought of her repentance, of which aforetime thy power prophesied through the prophet David, uttering her repentance in the seventieth Psalm: "'1. O God, my God, I have trusted in thee, let me no more be put to shame for ever. "'2. Save me in thy righteousness and set me free; incline thine ear unto me and save me. "'3. Be unto me a strong God and a firm place to save me; for thou art my strength and my refuge. "'4. My God, save me from the hand of the sinner and from the hand of the transgressor and from the impious [one]. "'5. For thou art my endurance, O Lord, thou art my hope from my youth up. "'6. I have trusted myself to thee from my mother's womb; thou hast brought me out of my mother's womb. My remembrance is ever in thee. "'7. I have become as the crazy for many; thou art my help and my strength, thou art my deliverer, O Lord. "'8. My mouth was filled with glorifying, that I may praise the glory of thy splendour the whole day long. "'9. Cast me not away in the time of age; if my soul fades, forsake me not. "'10. For mine enemies have spoken evil against me and they who lay in wait for my soul, have taken counsel against my soul, "'11. Saying together: God hath forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is no saviour. "'12. God, give heed to my help. "'13. Let them be ashamed and destroyed who calumniate my soul. Let them be enwrapped in shame and disgrace who seek evil against me.' "This then is the solution of the second repentance which Pistis Sophia hath uttered."

(6) Did we think rightly, we should feel obliged to those who have afforded the means for speedy departure, if it is for love that we bear witness; and if not, we should appear to the multitude to be base men. Had they also known the truth, all would have bounded on to the way, and there would have been no choice. But our faith, being the light of the world, reproves unbelief. "Should Anytus and Melitus kill me, they will not hurt me in the least; for I do not think it right for the better to be hurt by the worse," [says Socrates]. So that each one of us may with confidence say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear: what shall man do to me?" "For the souls of the righteous are in the hand of the Lord, and no plague shall touch them."

(5) Yet would I not thy neighbours thou shouldst envy, Because thy life into the future reaches Beyond the punishment of their perfidies." When by its silence showed that sainted soul That it had finished putting in the woof Into that web which I had given it warped, Began I, even as he who yearneth after, Being in doubt, some counsel from a person Who seeth, and uprightly wills, and loves: "Well see I, father mine, how spurreth on The time towards me such a blow to deal me As heaviest is to him who most gives way. Therefore with foresight it is well I arm me, That, if the dearest place be taken from me, I may not lose the others by my songs. Down through the world of infinite bitterness, And o'er the mountain, from whose beauteous summit The eyes of my own Lady lifted me, And afterward through heaven from light to light, I have learned that which, if I tell again, Will be a savour of strong herbs to many. And if I am a timid friend to truth, I fear lest I may lose my life with those Who will hereafter call this time the olden."

(1) And He said, "Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death."

(1) And Andrew came forward and said: "My Lord and Saviour, thy light-power hath prophesied aforetime through David concerning this repentance which Pistis Sophia hath uttered, and said in the one-hundred-and-eighth Psalm: "'1. God, keep not silent at my praise-singing. "'2. For the mouths of the sinner and crafty have opened their chops against me and with crafty deceitful tongue have talked behind me. "'3. And they have surrounded me with words of hate and have fought against me without a cause. "'4. Instead of loving me they have slandered me. But I prayed. "'5. They showed evil against me for good and hate for my love. "'6. Set a sinner over him, and let the slanderer stand at his right hand. "'7. When sentence is passed upon him, may he go forth condemned and his prayer become sin. "'8. May his days be shortened and another receive his overseership. "'9. May his children become orphans and his wife a widow. "'10. May his children be carried away and be driven forth and beg; may they be thrown out of their houses. "'11. May the money-lender sift out all that he hath, and may strangers plunder all his best efforts. "'12. Let there be no man to back him, and no one to take pity on his orphans. "'13. May his children be exterminated and his name blotted out in a single generation. "'14. Let the sin of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, and the sin of his mother be not blotted out. "'15. Let them be ever present to the Lord and his memory be rooted out from the earth; "'16. In that he hath not thought of using mercy and hath persecuted a poor and wretched man and hath persecuted a sorry creature to slay him. "'17. He loved cursing,--and it shall come unto him. He desired not blessing,--it shall stay far from him. "'18. He clothed himself with cursing as with a vesture, and it entered into his bowels as water, and it was as oil in his bones. "'19. May it be for him as a garment in which he shall be wrapped, and as a girdle with which he shall ever be girded. "'20. This is the work of them who slander [me] before the Lord, and speak unlawfully against my soul. "'21. But do thou, O Lord God, be gracious unto me; for thy name's sake save me. "'22. For I am poor and I am wretched; my heart is tumult within me. "'23. I am carried away in the midst as a shadow which hath sunk down, and I am shaken out as grass-hoppers. "'24. My knees have become weak from fasting, and my flesh is altered from [lack of] oil. "'25. But I have become a mock unto them; they saw me and wagged their heads. "'26. Help, O Lord God, and save me according to thy grace. "'27. May they know that this is thy hand, and that thou, O Lord, hast fashioned them.' "This is then the solution of the twelfth repentance which Pistis Sophia uttered, when she was in the chaos."

(3) "'1. I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, for thou art my God. "'2. Abandon me not, O Lord, for thou art! my hope. "'3. Thou hast given me thy vindication for naught, and I am saved through thee. "'4. Let them who pursue me, fall down and let them not see me. "'5. May a smoke-cloud cover their eyes and an air-mist darken them, and let them not see the day, so that they may not seize me. "'6. May their resolution be impotent, and may what they concoct come upon them. "'7. They have devised a resolution, and it hath not taken effect for them. "'8. And they are vanquished, although they be mighty, and what they have wickedly pre-pared is fallen upon them. "'9. My hope is in the Lord, and I shall not be afraid, for thou art my God, my Saviour.'" It came to pass then, when Salome had finished saying these words, that Jesus said unto her: "Well said, Salome; and finely. This is the solution of the words which Pistis Sophia hath uttered."

(7) And again: "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us. If we suffer with Him, that we also may be glorified together as joint-heirs of Christ. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to the purpose.

(25) And whatever is done or can be done for him, seemeth him all too little and too poor, for he thinketh himself worthy of still more and greater honour than can be rendered to him. And of all the men who serve him and are subject to him, even if they be downright thieves and murderers, he saith nevertheless, that they have faithful, noble hearts, and have great love and faithfulness to the truth and to poor men. And such men are praised by him, and he seeketh them and followeth after them wherever they be. But he who doth not order himself according to the will of these high-minded men, nor is subject unto them, is not sought after by them, nay, more likely blamed and spoken ill of, even though he were as holy as St. Peter himself. And seeing that this proud and puffed-up spirit thinketh that she needeth neither Scripture, nor instruction, nor anything of the kind, therefore she giveth no heed to the admonitions, order, laws and precepts of the holy Christian Church, nor to the Sacraments, but mocketh at them and at all men who walk according to these ordinances and hold them in reverence.

(5) Then in one word he asks us, "Whose is the world, and all that is in the world? Are they not God's? " Wherefore Peter says, that the Lord said to the apostles: "If any one of Israel then, wishes to repent, and by my name to believe in God, his sins shall be forgiven him, after twelve years. Go forth into the world, that no one may say, We have not heard."

(81) And after that I said: 'Blessed is the man who dies in righteousness and goodness, Concerning whom there is no book of unrighteousness written, And against whom no day of judgement shall be found.'

(28) But if one is curable, able to bear (like fire or steel) the outspokenness of the truth, which cuts away and burns their false opinions. let him lend the ears of the soul. And this will be the case, unless, through the propensity to sloth, they push truth away, or through the desire of fame, endeavour to invent novelties. For those are slothful who, having it in their power to provide themselves with proper proofs for the divine Scriptures from the Scriptures themselves, select only what contributes to their own pleasures. And those have a craving for glory who voluntarily evade, by arguments of a diverse sort, the things delivered by the blessed apostles and teachers, which are wedded to inspired words; opposing the divine tradition by human teach ings, in order to establish the heresy. For, in truth, what remained to be said - in ecclesiastical knowledge I mean - by such men, Marcion, for example, or Prodicus, and such like, who did not walk in the right way? For they could not have surpassed their predecessors in wisdom, so as to discover anything in addition to what had been uttered by them; for they would have been satisfied had they been able to learn the things laid down before.

(4) And while we were advancing tow'rds the middle, Where everything of weight unites together, And I was shivering in the eternal shade, Whether 'twere will, or destiny, or chance, I know not; but in walking 'mong the heads I struck my foot hard in the face of one. Weeping he growled: "Why dost thou trample me? Unless thou comest to increase the vengeance of Montaperti, why dost thou molest me?" And I: "My Master, now wait here for me, That I through him may issue from a doubt; Then thou mayst hurry me, as thou shalt wish." The Leader stopped; and to that one I said Who was blaspheming vehemently still: "Who art thou, that thus reprehendest others?" "Now who art thou, that goest through Antenora Smiting," replied he, "other people's cheeks, So that, if thou wert living, 'twere too much?" "Living I am, and dear to thee it may be," Was my response, "if thou demandest fame, That 'mid the other notes thy name I place." And he to me: "For the reverse I long; Take thyself hence, and give me no more trouble; For ill thou knowest to flatter in this hollow."

(14) And (that) previously you shall have seen the destruction of your beloved sons and ye shall have no pleasure in them, but they shall fall before you by the sword.

(6) To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend, A soul shall be for that than I more worthy; With her at my departure I will leave thee; Because that Emperor, who reigns above, In that I was rebellious to his law, Wills that through me none come into his city. He governs everywhere, and there he reigns; There is his city and his lofty throne; O happy he whom thereto he elects!" And I to him: "Poet, I thee entreat, By that same God whom thou didst never know, So that I may escape this woe and worse, Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said, That I may see the portal of Saint Peter, And those thou makest so disconsolate." Then he moved on, and I behind him followed.