(2) "'1. O Light, forget not my praise-singing. "'2. For Self-willed and his lion-faced power have opened their chops against me and have acted craftily against me. "'3. They have surrounded me, desiring to take away my power, and have hated me, because I have sung praises unto thee. "'4. Instead of loving me they slandered me. But I sang praises. "'5. They plotted a plot to take away my power, because I have sung to thee praises, O Light; and hated me, because I have loved thee. "'6. Let the darkness come over Self-willed, and let the ruler of the outermost darkness abide at his right hand. "'7. And when thou passest sentence, take from him his power; and the deed which he hath plotted, to take from me my light,--mayest thou take his from him. "'8. And may all his powers of his light in him finish, and let another of the three triple-powers receive his sovereignty. "'9. May all the powers of his emanation be lightless and may his matter be without any light in it. "'10. May his emanations remain in the chaos and not dare to go to their region. May their light in them die away and let them not go to the thirteenth æon, their region. "'11. May the Receiver, the Purifier of the lights, purify all the lights which are in Self-willed, and take them from them. "'12. May the rulers of the lower darkness rule over his emanations, and let no one give them shelter in his region; and let no one hearken to the power of his emanations in the chaos. "'13. Let them take away the light in his emanations and blot out their name from the thirteenth æon, yea rather take his name for ever out of that region. "'14. And on the lion-faced power let them bring the sin of him who emanated it, before the Light, and not wipe out the iniquity of the matter which hath brought him [ sc. Self-willed] forth. "'15. And may their sin be altogether before the Light eternally, and may they let them not look beyond [the chaos] and take their names out of all regions; "'16. Because they have not spared me and have oppressed him whose light and whose power they have taken away, and also conformably with those who set me therein, they desired to take away my whole light from me. "'17. They loved to descend to the chaos; so let them abide therein, and they shall not be brought up [therefrom] from now on. They desired not the region of Righteousness for dwelling-place, and they shall not be taken thither from now on. '"18. He put on darkness as a garment, and it entered into him as water, and it entered in into all his powers as oil. "'19. Let him wrap himself into the chaos as into a garment, and gird himself with the darkness as with a leathern girdle for ever. "'20. Let this befall them who have brought this upon me for the Light's sake and have said: Let us take away her whole power. "'21. But do thou, O Light, have mercy upon me for the sake of the mystery of thy name, and save me in the goodness of thy grace. "'22. For they have taken away my light and my power; and my power hath inwardly tottered, and I could not stand upright in their midst. "'23. I am become as matter which is fallen; I am tossed hither and thither as a demon in the air. "'24. My power hath perished, because I possess no mystery; and my matter hath become dwindled because of my light, for they have taken it away. "'25. And they mocked me; they looked at me, nodding at me. "'26. Help me according to thy mercy.' "Now, therefore, let him whose spirit is ready, come forward and utter the solution of the twelfth repentance of Pistis Sophia."

(9) Thus also is the whole house of this world. The outward darkness is the house of God's wrath, wherein the devils dwell, and it is rightly the house of death, for the holy light of God has therein died. ["Understand, the light stepped into its Principle, and is the outward substantiality in God, as it were dead in our esteem, whereas it liveth in God, but in another source or quality."]

(2) "'9. Have mercy upon me, O Light, for they have oppressed me again. Because of thy commandment, the light in me is distracted and my power and my understanding. "'10. My power hath begun to wane whiles I am in these afflictions, and the number of my time whiles I am in the chaos. My light is diminished, for they have taken away my power from me, and all the powers in me are tossed about. "'11. I am become powerless in the presence of all the rulers of the æons, who hate me, and in the presence of the four-and-twenty emanations, in whose region I was. And my brother, my pair, was afraid to help me, because of that in which they have set me. "'12. And all the rulers of the height have counted me as matter in which is no light. I am become as a material power which hath fallen out of the rulers, "'13. And all who are in the æons said: She hath become chaos. And thereafter all the pitiless powers encompassed me together and proposed to take away the whole light in me. "'14. But I have trusted in thee, O Light, and said: Thou art my saviour. "'15. And my commandment, which thou hast decreed for me, is in thy hands. Save me out of the hands of the emanations of Self-willed, which oppress me and persecute me. "'16. Send thy light over me, for I am as naught before thee, and save me according to thy compassion. "'17. Let me not be despised, for I have sung praises unto thee, O Light. Let chaos cover the emanations of Self-willed, let them be led down into the darkness. "'18. Let the mouth of them be shut up, who would devour me with guile, who say: Let us take the whole light in her,--although I have done them no ill.'"

(46) And he shall put down the countenance of the strong, And shall fill them with shame. And darkness shall be their dwelling, And worms shall be their bed, And they shall have no hope of rising from their beds, Because they do not extol the name of the Lord of Spirits.

(2) "'1. O Light of powers, give heed and save me. "'2. May they who would take away my light, lack and be in the darkness. May they who would take away my power, turn into chaos and be put to shame. "'3. May they turn quickly to darkness, who press me sore and say: We have become lords over her. "'4. May rather all those who seek the Light, rejoice and exult, and they who desire thy mystery, say ever: May the mystery be exalted. "'5. Save me then now, O Light, for I lacked my light, which they have taken away, and I needed my power, which they have taken from me. Thou then, O Light, thou art my saviour, and thou art my deliverer, O Light. Save me quickly out of this chaos.'"

(3) "'1. O Light, smite down them who have taken away my power from me, and take away the power from them who have taken away mine from me. "'2. For I am thy power and thy light. Come and save me. "'3. Let great darkness cover my oppressors. Say unto my power: I am he who will save thee. "'4. Let all those who would take away my light from me utterly, lack their power. Let them face about unto the chaos and become powerless, who would take away my light from me utterly. "'5. Let their power be as dust, and let Yew, thy angel, smite them. "'6. And if they would go into the height, let darkness seize upon them and let them slip down and turn to the chaos. And let thy angel Yew pursue them and cast them down into the darkness below. "'7. For they have set a lion-faced power as a trap for me, although I have done them no ill, from which its light will be taken; and they have oppressed the power in me, which they will not be able to take away. "'8. Now, therefore, O Light, take away the purification from the lion-faced power without its knowing it,--the thought which Self-willed hath thought, to take away my light; take away his own and let the light be taken away from the lion-faced power, which set the trap for me. "'9. But my power will exult in the Light and rejoice that he will save it. "'10. And all the portions of my power shall say: There is no saviour but thee. For thou wilt save me out of the hand of the lion-faced power, which hath taken away my power from me, and thou savest me out of the hands of them who have taken away my power and my light from me. "'11. For they have risen up against me, lying against me and saying that I know the mystery of the Light which is in the height, [the Light] in which I have had faith. And they have constrained me, [saying:] Tell unto us the mystery of the Light in the height,--that which I know not. "'12. And they have requited me with all this ill because I have had faith in the Light of the height; and they have made my power lightless. "'13. But when they constrained me, I sat in the darkness, my soul bowed down in mourning. "'14. And do thou, O Light--for that reason sing I praise to thee--save me. I know that thou wilt save me because I fulfilled thy will ever since I was in my æon. I fulfilled thy will, as the invisibles who are in my region, and as my pair. And I mourned, looking unceasingly and searching for the Light. "'15. Now, therefore, have all the emanations of Self-willed surrounded me and rejoiced over me and sore oppressed me without my knowing [paragraph continues] [them]. And they have fled away and ceased from me but have had no pity upon me. "'16. They have returned again and made trial of me and they have oppressed me in great oppression and ground their teeth against me, desiring to take away my light from me utterly. "'17. How long, therefore, O Light, dost thou suffer them, that they oppress me? Save my power from their evil thoughts and save me from the hand of the lion-faced power; for I alone of the invisibles am in this region. "'18. I will sing praises unto thee, O Light, in the midst of all who are gathered together against me, and I will cry unto thee in the midst of all who oppress me. "'19. Now, therefore, O Light, let not them who hate me and desire to take away my power from me, rejoice over me--who hate me and flash their eyes against me, though I have not done anything unto them. "'20. For indeed they have fawned upon me with sweet words, asking me concerning the mysteries of the Light which I know not, and have craftily spoken against me and been enraged against me, because I have had faith in the Light in the height. "'21. They have opened their chops against me and said.: Well indeed, we will take from her her light. "'22. Now, therefore, O Light, thou hast known their guile; suffer them not and let not thy help be far from me. "'23. Quickly, O Light, vindicate and avenge me, "'24. And give judgment on me according to thy goodness. Now, therefore, O Light of lights, let them not take away my light from me, "'25. And let them not say in their heart: Our power is glutted with her light. And let them not say: We have consumed her power. "'26. But rather let darkness come upon them, and let those who long to take away my light from me, become powerless, and let them be clothed with chaos and darkness, who say there: We will take away her light and her power. "'27. Now, therefore, save me that I may rejoice, for I long for the thirteenth æon, the region of Righteousness, and I shall say ever-more: May the light of thy angel Yew shine more and more. "'28. And my tongue will sing praises to thee in thy gnosis my whole time in the thirteenth æon.'

(1) AND if any thought rise and will press continually above thee betwixt thee and that darkness, and ask thee saying, “What seekest thou, and what wouldest thou have?” say thou, that it is God that thou wouldest have. “Him I covet, Him I seek, and nought but Him.”

(3) "'1. Light of my salvation, I sing praise unto thee in the region of the height and again in the chaos. "'2. I sing praise unto thee in my hymn with which I sang praise in the height and with which I sang praise unto thee when I was in the chaos. Let it come into thy presence, and give heed, O Light, to my repentance. "'3. For my power is filled up with darkness, and my light hath gone down into the chaos. "'4. I am myself become as the rulers of the chaos, who are gone into the darknesses below; I am become as a material body, which hath no one in the height who will save it. "'5. I am become also as matters from which their power hath been taken, when they are cast down into the chaos,--[matters] which thou hast not saved, and they are condemned utterly by thy commandment. "'6. Now, therefore, have they put me into the darkness below,--in darknesses and matters which are dead and in them [is] no power. "'7. Thou hast brought thy commandment upon me and all things which thou hast decreed. "'8. And thy spirit hath withdrawn and abandoned me. And moreover by thy commandment the emanations of my eon have not helped me and have hated me and separated themselves from me, and yet am I not utterly destroyed. "'9. And my light is diminished in me, and I have cried up to the light with all the light in me, and I have stretched forth my hands unto thee. "'10. Now, therefore, O Light, wilt thou not accomplish thy commandment in the chaos, and will not the deliverers, who come according to thy commandment, arise in the darkness and come and be disciples for thee'? "'11. Will they not utter the mystery of thy name in the chaos? "'12. Or will they not rather utter thy name in a matter of the chaos, in which thou wilt not [thyself] purify? "'13. But I have sung praises unto thee, O Light, and my repentance will reach unto thee in the height. "'14. Let thy light come upon me, "'15. For they have taken my light, and I am in pain on account of the Light from the time when I was emanated. And when I had looked into the height to the Light, then I looked down below at the light-power in the chaos; I rose up and went down. "'16. Thy commandment came upon me, and the terrors, which thou didst decree for me, have brought me into delusion. "'17. And they have surrounded me, in numbers as water, they have laid hold on me together all my time. "'18. And by thy commandment thou hast not suffered my fellow-emanations to help me, nor hast thou suffered my pair to save me out of my afflictions.' "This then is the fifth repentance which Pistis Sophia hath uttered in the chaos, when all the material emanations of Self-willed had continued and oppressed her."

(4) "'1. I have cried unto thee, O Light of lights, in my oppression and thou hast hearkened unto me. "'2. O Light, save my power from unjust and lawless lips and from crafty traps. "'3. The light which was being taken from me in crafty snaring, will not be brought unto thee. "'4. For the traps of Self-willed and the nooses of the merciless [one] are spread out. "'5. Woe unto me, that my dwelling was far off, and I was in the dwellings of the chaos. "'6. My power was in regions which are not mine. "'7. And I entreated those merciless [ones]; and when I entreated them, they fought against me without a cause.'"

(132) For when thy light is extinguished, then thou standest in the darkness, and in the darkness the wrath of God is hidden, and so if thou awakenest it, then it burneth in thee.

(7) And this is the very Reason, because the Devil smells the Matter, and therefore he hinders it, that his Kingdom might not be revealed, but that he might continue to be the Great Prince [of the World still.] For otherwise, if his Kingdom was known, Men might fly from him. Where is it more needful for him to oppose, than on that Part where his Enemy may break in? He therefore covers the Hearts, Minds, Thoughts, and Senses of the Divines; he leads them into Covetousness, Pride, and Wantonness, so that they stand amazed with Fear and Horror at the Light of God, and therefore they shut it up, for they are naked, nay they grudge the Light to those that see it; this is rightly called the Service and Worship of the Devil.

(2) "'1. I have sung praises unto thee, O Light, in the darkness below. "'2. Hearken unto my repentance, and may thy light give heed to the voice of my supplication. "'3. O Light, if thou thinkest on my sin, I shall not be able to stand before thee, and thou wilt abandon me, "'4. For thou, O Light, art my saviour; because of the light of thy name I have had faith in thee, O Light. "'5. And my power hath had faith in thy mystery; and moreover my power hath trusted in the Light when it was among those of the height; and it hath trusted in it when it was in the chaos below. "'6. Let all the powers in me trust in the Light when I am in the darkness below, and may they again trust in the Light if they come into the region of the height. "'7. For it is [the Light] which hath compassion on us and delivereth us; and a great saving mystery is in it. "'8. And it will save all powers out of the chaos because of my transgression. For I have left my region and am come down into the chaos.' "Now, therefore, whose mind is exalted, let him understand."

(103) And this now is the earthly god of blind men, which they love and honour, and leave the living God, who stands hidden in the centre, sitting in his seat. For the dead flesh comprehendeth only a dead god, and longeth also only after such a dead god. But it is such a god as has thrown many men headlong into hell.

(3) And therefore shape thee to bide in this darkness as long as thou mayest, evermore crying after Him that thou lovest. For if ever thou shalt feel Him or see Him, as it may be here, it behoveth always to be in this cloud in this darkness. And if thou wilt busily travail as I bid thee, I trust in His mercy that thou shalt come thereto.

(33) For by the great Longing of the Darkness after the Light and Virtue of God, this World has been generated out of the Darkness, where the holy Virtue of God [shone, or] beheld itself in the Darkness, and therefore this great Desiring and Longing after the divine Virtue, continues in the Spirit of the Sun, Stars, and Elements, and in all Things. All groan and pant after the divine Virtue, and would fain be delivered from the Vanity of the Devil: But seeing that cannot be, therefore all Creatures must wait till their Dissolution, when they [shall] go into their Ether, and get a Place in Paradise, yet only in the Figure and Shadow, and the Spirit [must] be dissolved, which here has had such Lust [or Longing.]

(19) Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; and hid that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

(2) "'1. O Light of lights, I have had faith in thee. Save me from all these rulers who pursue after me, and help me, "'2. That in sooth they may never take from me my light, as the lion-faced power [did]. For thy light is not with me and thy light-stream to save me. Nay, Adamas is the more enraged against me, saying unto me: Thou hast imprisoned my power in the chaos. "'3. Now, therefore, O Light of lights, if I have done this and have imprisoned it, if I have done any injustice at all to that power, "'4. Or if I have constrained it, as it hath constrained me, then let all these rulers who pursue after me, take my light from me and leave me empty; "'5. And let foe Adamas pursue after my power and seize upon it and take my light from me and cast it into his dark power which is in the chaos, and keep my power in the chaos. "'6. Now, therefore, O Light, lay hold on me in thy wrath and lift up thy power above my foes who have lifted themselves up against me to the very end. "'7. Quicken me quickly, as thou hast said unto me: I will help thee.'

(12) And in his pride he struck and smote himself with darkness and blindness, and made himself a devil, and that he must be, and abide so eternally. ["In God he knew only the Majesty, and not the Word in the centre, which has the fan or casting shovel: He blinded himself with the astringent darkness; for he would needs in flame himself, and rule in the fire over the light, and over the meekness."]

(2) "'1. I will sing praises unto thee, O Light, for I desired to come unto thee. I will sing thee praises, O Light, for thou art my deliverer. "'2. Leave me not in the chaos. Save me, O Light of the Height, for it is thou that I have praised. "'3. Thou has sent me thy light through thyself and hast saved me. Thou hast led me to the higher regions of the chaos. "'4. May the emanations of Self-willed which pursue me, sink down into the lower regions of the chaos, and let them not come to the higher regions to see me. "'5. And may great darkness cover them and darker gloom come over them. And let them not see me in the light of thy power, which thou hast sent unto me to save me, so that they may not again get dominion over me. "'6. And let not their resolution which they have formed, to take away my power, take effect for them. And as they have spoken against me, to take from me my light, take rather from them theirs instead of mine. "'7. And they have proposed to take away my whole light and have not been able to take it, for thy light-power was with me. "'8. Because they have taken counsel without thy commandment, O Light, therefore have they not been able to take away my light. "'9. Because I have had faith in the Light, I shall not be afraid; and the Light is my deliverer and I shall not fear.' "Now, therefore, let him whose power is exalted, speak the solution of the words which Pistis Sophia hath uttered." And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished speaking these words unto his disciples, that Salome came forward and said: "My Lord, my power constraineth me to speak the solution of the words which Pistis Sophia hath uttered. Thy power hath prophesied aforetime through Solomon, saying:

(1) Darkness of hell, and of a night deprived Of every planet under a poor sky, As much as may be tenebrous with cloud, Ne'er made unto my sight so thick a veil, As did that smoke which there enveloped us, Nor to the feeling of so rough a texture; For not an eye it suffered to stay open; Whereat mine escort, faithful and sagacious, Drew near to me and offered me his shoulder. E'en as a blind man goes behind his guide, Lest he should wander, or should strike against Aught that may harm or peradventure kill him, So went I through the bitter and foul air, Listening unto my Leader, who said only, "Look that from me thou be not separated." Voices I heard, and every one appeared To supplicate for peace and misericord The Lamb of God who takes away our sins. Still "Agnus Dei" their exordium was; One word there was in all, and metre one, So that all harmony appeared among them. "Master," I said, "are spirits those I hear?" And he to me: "Thou apprehendest truly, And they the knot of anger go unloosing."