Pistis Sophia Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25.

However Jesus answered and said to Maria : "Excellent, Maria.
Thou dost ask well with an excellent question
and thou dost seek everything with certainty and with accu-
racy. Now indeed I will not conceal anything from you from
this hour, but I will reveal everything to you with certainty
and openly. Hear now, Maria, and give ear, all you disciples.
Before I preached to all the archons of the aeons, and all
the archons of the Heimarmene and the sphere, they were
all bound with their bonds, in their spheres and their seals,
according to the manner in which Jeu, the Overseer of the
Light, had bound them from the beginning. And each one
of them was continuing in his rank and each one was pro-
ceeding according to his course, according to the manner
in which Jeu, the Overseer of the Light, had settled it. And
when the time came of the number of Melchizedek, the
great Paralemptor of Light, he came to the midst of the
aeons, and to all the archons which were bound in the
sphere and in the Heimarmene, and he took away what is
purified of the light from all the archons of the aeons, and
from all the archons of the Heimarmene, and from those
of the sphere, for he took away that which agitated them.
And he moved the hastener that is over them and made
their cycles turn quickly, and he (Melchizedek) took away
their power which was in them, and the breath of their
mouths, and the tears of their eyes, and the sweat of their
bodies. And Melchizedek, the Paralemptor of the Light, puri-
fied those powers, he carried their light to the Treasury of
the Light. And all their matter was gathered together by the
ministers of all the archons. And the ministers of all the
archons of the Heimarmene and the ministers of the sphere
which are below the aeons took them (the matter) and made
them into souls of men and cattle and reptiles and beasts
and birds. And they sent them to this world of mankind.
And furthermore the paralemptors of the sun and the
paralemptors of the moon when they looked up and they
saw the patterns of the paths of the aeons, and the patterns
of the Heimarmene and those of the sphere, they took the
lightpower from them. And the paralemptors of the sun
prepared to lay it down until they gave it to the paralemptor
of Melchizedek, the purifier of the light. And their material
dregs they brought to the sphere which is below the aeons,
and they made it into the souls of men and they also made
it into (souls of) reptiles and cattle and beasts and birds,
according to the cycle of the archons of that sphere, and
according to all the patterns of its revolution. And they cast
them into this world of mankind, and they became souls in
that place, according to what I have just told you.

[Pistis Sophia Index|Gnostic Society Virtual Library |

Gnostic Scriptures and Fragments section | .Societas Gnostica Norvegia ]