The Pistis Sophia: Books of Our Savior

The Pistis Sophia is a Gnostic Coptic manuscript of which there are only five remaining copies. Until the Nag Hammadi Library was discovered the Pistis Sophia was the most extensive and esoteric resource in the world of Gnostic teachings. It dates to 150-300 AD and aspires to recount the deeper characteristics of the teachings of Jesus, during his eleven years on earth after the resurrection, to his disciples. These disciples included Mary Magdalene, his mother Mary, and Saint Martha. It is said that the Pistis Sophia also reveals the true relationship, one that was deeply spiritual, between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

The book is divided into four main categories and the teachings are of the four gospels of the New Testament and the Book of Psalms from the Old Testament. The words "Pistis Sophia" translates from the Greek as "Wisdom in Faith," Sophia meaning wisdom or enlightenment and Pistis meaning devotion or faith. Sophia is a female divinity of Gnosticism and is sometimes identified with the Holy Ghost, which is known as the Virgin of Light in Gnostic Scriptures. She was said to have experienced transgression and redemption so that she could be in harmony with Christ. Sophia is a symbol of each person's true essence and spirit.

The book starts by describing the death and resurrection of Jesus then goes on to describe the descent and ascent of the soul. It gives us insight and a better understanding of the lost years of Christ. The book begins with Jesus instructing his disciples and continues with the teaching "that humanity has inherited from the First Space of the Divine an indwelling divine power. The Savior is directed by the Ineffable to assist in the extension of the Divine powers into the human kingdom according to the desires of humanity, and to reveal the efficacy of the highest mysteries of salvation to humankind." (J. J. Hurtak; Pistis Sophia, p. xxvii).

The Pistis Sophia was purchased by the British Museum in 1785 from a man named Dr. Anthony Askew. The Nag Hammadi Library then obtained it in 1945. Chapter one begins, "He taught them only as far as the places of the first ordinance and as far as the places of the First Mystery, which is within the veil which is within the first ordinance, which is the 24th mystery outside and below, these which are in the second space of the First Mystery, which is before all mysteries the Father in the form of a dove. And Jesus said to his disciples: I have come forth from that First Mystery which is the last mystery, namely the 24^th." (Pistis Sophia, 1.1).