Pistis Sophia

Pistis Sophia is an ancient Gnostic Christian text by an unknown author, probably composed between the third and fourth centuries and preserved in a Coptic manuscript.

The work presents the risen Jesus teaching his disciples about the hidden mysteries of the spiritual universe. Mary Magdalene plays a prominent role in the dialogues, asking questions and interpreting many of the teachings.

At the center of the text is the fall of Pistis Sophia from the higher realms and her long series of prayers and repentances. Her struggle against hostile powers and her eventual deliverance explore the soul’s fall, repentance, spiritual purification, and redemption.

"But it happened after that Jesus rose out of those who (are) dead, and he spent eleven years speaking with his disciples, and teaching them only as far as the Places of the First precept (Law?), and as far as the Places of the First Mystery, this which (is) the inward of the veil which (is) within the First precept, namely the twenty-fourth mystery out(side) and below..."

This edition is based on George Horner’s English translation from the Coptic, with an introduction by Francis Legge, originally published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 1924.