Forerunners and rivals of Christianity : $b being studies in religious history from 330 B.C. to 330 A.D., Vol. 2 (of 2)Legge, Francis
Religion
Forerunners and rivals of Christianity : $b being studies in religious history from 330 B.C. to 330 A.D., Vol. 2 (of 2)
Legge, Francis
Christianity and other religions; Religions
“And He [_i.e._ the Ineffable One] heard them [a prayer by the
lesser powers is referred to]. He sent them powers capable of
discernment, and knowing the arrangement of the hidden Eons. He sent
them according to the arrangement of those who are hidden[650]. He
established their Orders according to the orders of the Height, and
according to the hidden arrangement they began from below upward in
order that the building might unite them. He created the aëry earth
as a place of habitation for those who had gone forth, in order that
they might dwell thereon until those which were below them should be
made strong. Then he created the true habitation within it[651], the
Place of Repentance (Metanoia) within it, the Place of Repentance
within it, the antitype of Aerodios[652]. Then [he created] the
Place of Repentance within it, the antitype of Autogenes
(Self-begotten or, perhaps, ‘of his own kind’). In this Place is
purification in the name of Autogenes who is god over them and
powers were set there over the source of the waters which they make
to go forth (?). Here are the names of the powers who are set over
the Water of Life: Michar and Micheu, and they are purified in the
name of Barpharanges[653]. Within these are the Aeons of Sophia.
Within these is the true Truth. And in this Place is found Pistis
Sophia, as also the pre-existent Jesus the Living, Aerodios, and his
Twelve Aeons[654].”
What is intended to be conveyed by this it is difficult to say in the
absence of the context; but the Pistis Sophia mentioned is evidently the
heroine of the book of that name, and the abrupt mention of her name
without explanation shows, as in the _Texts of the Saviour_, that the
author supposed his readers to be acquainted with her story. While this
part of the Papyrus may possibly be an attempt by some later writer to
fulfil the promise to tell His disciples at some future time the
“emanation of the universe” frequently made by Jesus in the _Pistis
Sophia_, it cannot be earlier in date than this last-named document.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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