Pistis Sophia

In brief

A long Gnostic dialogue preserved in the Askew Codex, bought by the London physician Anthony Askew in 1773 and now in the British Library. The risen Jesus teaches his disciples, among whom Mary Magdalene is the most prominent questioner, about the heavenly realms, and recounts the fall of Pistis Sophia ('Faith-Wisdom') and her thirteen repentances as she is pursued by hostile powers and finally rescued.

Key ideas

• ✦Sophia's thirteen repentances and redemption
• ✦Mary Magdalene as the foremost disciple
• ✦A vast cosmology of realms, treasuries and mysteries
• ✦Salvation through mysteries and repentance

Why it matters

Translated into English by G. R. S. Mead in 1896, Pistis Sophia was the first major Gnostic text available to modern readers before Nag Hammadi, and it inspired Theosophists and occultists alike.

“O Light of lights, in whom I have had faith from the beginning, hearken now then, O Light, unto my repentance.”