Text
The first three books make frequent reference to what is related in the fourth, and complete its descriptions. For eleven years after His resurrection Jesus has instructed His disciples concerning the lower mysteries only up to the 24th mystery. Then, on the 15th of Tobe (Tybi), the day of the full moon, a sudden glorious light invests Him, by which He is withdrawn from the view of His disciples and carried up into heaven. The next day He returns to them again, in order now finally to initiate them into all mysteries, from the highest to the lowest, and so impart to them the perfect Gnosis. This initiation, namely, could not be vouchsafed till the whole work of Jesus had been accomplished, the shining vesture left behind in the 24th mystery been restored to Him, and His return accomplished to the heavenly locality from whence he had come forth. This introduction is followed by a detailed description of the mysteries, in four clearly distinguishable sections, which do not coincide with the four books as denoted by their titles or inscriptions.
The form of relation is that of dialogue. The disciples, male and female, put questions to Jesus, which He answers one by one, or exhibit the degree which each has attained in Gnosis by allegorical interpretations of scriptural texts and narration. Mary Magdalene is the readiest of all with questions and interpretations. She and John "the Virgin" (Parthenos) are noted (231) as the chief disciples of Christ, that is, as those furnished with the greatest measure of Gnosis. But while Mary Magdalene is distinguished by her special thirst for knowledge, she is also admonished in the fourth book (p. 383) to let other disciples speak as well as herself. So, also, Peter, Andrew, James, Philip, Thomas, Matthew (in the fourth book also Bartholomew and Simon the Canaanite), come forward, and of the women, Salome and the mother of Jesus (kata kosmon). Philip, Thomas, and Matthew commit to writing the instructions which the disciples receive from Jesus (pp. 32, 69 sqq.).
Read more about this topic: Pistis Sophia
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