Who is Sophia?
An exploration of the early Christian perspective.
This is one of those subjects that has to be approached very carefully, and
in the Christian Gnostic tradition of trying to encompass every facet
simultaneously. Sophia, simply put, is the Greek word for “Wisdom”,
however, that is like saying the Ocean is “Wet”.
Numerous attempts have been made to capture the essence of this elusive
damsel; somehow, they have all fallen short, and I fear that this attempt
will also miss some of Her finest aspects, however, as far as I know, no one
else has undertaken to tell you everything that I hope to reveal.
Sophia is a complicated creature, primarily because of an error that She
made before time was introduced into the primal material universe; as a
matter of fact, the primal material universe came into existence because of
this error, as well as a couple demi-gods and not a few angels. But then,
as time was introduced to being order out of the Chaos of her “abortion”, we
cannot say that one happened before the other, but rather simultaneously,
if such a word can even apply in the absence of time.
“The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works,
before his deeds of old” Proverbs 8:22
The masculine and feminine aspects of God were explored in ancient Jewish
lore, and one need not look any further than the symbolism present in the
star of David, which is composed of two overlapping triangles, one with its
apex pointing up to represent the divine male, and the other with it’s apex
pointing down to symbolize the divine female, with the two then superimposed
to represent the completeness of God. Sophia is representative of one of
the feminine aspects of God.
The short story of Sophia’s error, is that being the “youngest” of the Aeons
of the first Power, She attempted to explore that Light on her own, but
ended up chasing Her own light. By attempting to “create” without Her
consort “Christ”, she ended up not finding the True light, but giving birth
to a false god:
“The Perfect Savior said to them: “I want you to know that
Sophia, the Mother of the Universe and the consort, desired by herself to
bring these to existence without her male (consort).”~Sophia of Jesus
“It happened now after this she looked down. She saw his power of light in
the parts below, and she did not know that it was that of the triple-powered
Authades. But she thought that it was from the light which she had seen from
the beginning in the height, which was from the veil of the Treasury of the
Light. And she thought to herself : “I will go to that place without my
partner, and take the light, and create of it for myself aeons of light, so
that I shall be able to go to the Light of Lights which is in the highest
height.”~ Pistis Sophia 1:31
This was also a warning to the “young” Christian, not to go chasing beams of
“light” without Christ, lest one might also fall into error; Sophia in
error is a metaphoric image of the human race without Christ, the Love of
God. Her abortive creation is described as the God of Nature, the God of
Justice, the God of this World and various other phrases that conveyed the
mastery of his power over the physical realm, not only with his ability to
shape matter, but to instil physical desires and instincts into his creature
creations.
The Nag Hammadi scripture “On the Origin of the World” records the following
exchange between Sophia and Her bastard son: “And he was honored by all the
army of angels. And all the gods and their angels gave blessing and honor to
him. And for his part, he was delighted and continually boasted, saying to
them, “I have no need of anyone.” He said, “It is I who am God, and there is
no other one that exists apart from me.” And when he said this, he sinned
against all the immortal beings who give answer. And they laid it to his
charge.
Then when Pistis saw the impiety of the chief ruler, she was filled with
anger. She was invisible. She said, “You are mistaken, Samael,” (that is,
“blind god”). “There is an immortal man of light who has been in existence
before you, and who will appear among your modelled forms; he will trample
you to scorn, just as potter’s clay is pounded.”
This exchange instructs the “young” Christian on the incompleteness of the
god(s) that existed before the consort of Sophia revealed the “True
God”(John 17:3And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only
true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.)
Now that we have explored the “fallen” Sophia, or human wisdom, we have to
remember that the story does not stay dismal, but Sophia in her fallen state
cried out for her consort:
“1. ‘O Light of the powers, give heed and save me.
2. May those that want to take away my light from me fail and he in
darkness. Let them return to the Chaos, and may those who want to take away
my power be put to shame.
3. May those that persecute me and say : we have become lords over her,
return quickly to the darkness.
4. May all those who seek after the light rejoice and flourish and may they
who want thy mystery say at all times : let the mystery be raised up.
5. Do thou now at this time save me, O Light, for I am lacking in my light,
which has been taken away. And I need my power which has been taken from me.
Thou, O Light, thou art my Saviour, and thou art my rescuer, O Light.
Save me quickly out of this Chaos”~Pistis Sophia 1:37
Sophia is rescued by Her consort, and regains her rightful place at His
Side. This is metaphically representative of the “Young” Christian whom
Christ has “found”. At this point, Sophia is also representative of the
“Bride” of Christ:
“Indeed, one must utter a mystery. The Father of everything united with the virgin who came down, and a fire shone for him on that day. He appeared in the great bridal chamber. Therefore his body came into being on that very day. It left the bridal chamber as one who came into being from the bridegroom and the bride. So Jesus established everything in it through these. It is fitting for each of the disciples to enter into his rest. “~Gospel of Philip.
