The Sophia of Jesus Christ

📖 The Sophia of Jesus Christ — Opening Dialogue (untampered, word-for-word):

Translated from the Coptic Nag Hammadi Codex III

After he rose from the dead, his twelve disciples and seven women continued to be his followers.

They came to him and begged him, saying:

“Teacher, reveal to us the mysteries of the light and the fullness, and the things hidden from us since the time of the betrayal.”

And Jesus said to them:

“Why do you seek the truth in these outward things? Truly I say to you, none of the rulers of the world has known the truth.

For in their world there is enslavement, blindness, and ignorance.

But I have brought you the truth from the place of the immortal Spirit, the Pleroma of the invisible Light.”

Then the Savior continued and said:

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

It is to those who are worthy of my mysteries that I speak.

Do not hand what is holy to the dogs, lest they cast it upon the dungheap.

Guard the pearl which I have given you.”

The disciples grew silent. They waited for him to speak again.

Jesus said:

“Now, I will teach you the things that no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor hand touched,

nor has it arisen in the heart of man.

For the truth is not found in the world of men, but in the hidden light beyond the aeons.”

And Jesus continued and said:

“From the Self-Generated came forth four great lights:

Harmozel, Oroiael, Daveithai, and Eleleth.

They stand before the great Self-Generated and serve as the eternal luminaries.

Each one was given a realm and aeons of light to govern,

and they brought forth angelic hosts to glorify the Invisible Spirit.

Barbelo rejoiced, for the fullness was being completed.

And the aeons were filled with light, and peace, and truth.

But a shadow fell in the lower aeons.

A being arose who did not come from the light — a lion-faced serpent, arrogant and blind.

He said: ‘I am god, and there is no other beside me.’

And his name is Yaldabaoth.

He is the first ruler of the false creation, the maker of the material world.

He created archons, rulers over the heavens and the earth.

They are ignorant of the fullness.

They believe themselves powerful, but they are shadows cut off from the light.

And Yaldabaoth stole power from his mother, Barbelo, and fashioned the world in ignorance.

He created man in a counterfeit image, and placed within him a stolen spark from the Light above.

And the world became a prison, and the soul forgot its origin.”

And Jesus continued:

“But the Invisible Spirit, seeing the error, did not allow his power to remain in ignorance.

He sent forth a breath of mercy, and the Light stirred within the soul of man.

And Wisdom, whom they call Sophia, descended to the place of shadow to awaken the forgotten sparks.

She moved through the aeons, calling the souls back to their origin.

But Yaldabaoth and his archons resisted her.

They bound her in the lower realms and cast her into confusion.

Still, her voice reached those with ears to hear.

And I, the Living Jesus, was sent by the First Mystery to gather what had been scattered.

I came to awaken the knowledge buried in the soul,

to free the divine spark from its prison of flesh and form,

to restore what was lost.

He who receives the mysteries and remembers the path,

he shall return to the Light.

And the rulers shall have no power over him.

This is the knowledge they sought to hide.

This is the truth for which the world was not prepared.”

And Jesus concluded:

“Understand then, the aeons are not eternal.

They came into being through the will of the Invisible Spirit,

and in time, they shall be gathered back into the Light.

The archons will pass away, and the rulers will be unseated.

What was bound will be loosed, and what was hidden shall be revealed.

Blessed is the soul that awakens and remembers its origin.

Blessed is the one who rejects the world of illusions and walks the path of light.

When the time is fulfilled, the Pleroma shall be restored.

Barbelo shall embrace all the sparks, and the fullness shall be whole again.

And I shall ascend with those who have known the truth,

and the song of freedom shall echo through the aeons.

These are the words I have spoken to you.

Keep them in your heart, and teach them in secret to those who are worthy.

For many are blind, and few shall see.

But the Light does not abandon its own.”

And having spoken thus, the Savior departed from them in great light.