Pistis Sophia

Pistis Sophia — G. R. S. Mead — Section 28

the Codex Brucianiis are united by the closest ties of con- sanguinity, and that a commentator on the one must be intimately acquainted with the contents of the other. The frequent mention of the name Melchisedec through- out the text of the Pistis Sophia reminds us of the frag- ment of Melchisedecian literature translated by Charles (v. s.), and its close connection with the Enochian literature, and points perhaps to one of the sources of the Greek original of the Books of the Saviour, and also of Pistis Sophia. The disconnected column at the end of Book I. un- doubtedly belongs to the same collection of writings as the Books of the Saviour, and also the two pages (253, 254) inserted in the middle of Book II. Finally the odd column at the end of the MS. may either come from the same source or be an unaided effort of the translator or scribe. Let us now run over the probable history of our treatise, and suggest the accidents which may have The pro- befallen it before it reached the hands of Antony torvof the' Askew. treatise. The original Greek treatise of the Pistis Sophia was compiled by Valentinus in the latter half of the second century, perhaps in Alexandria. By "compiled" I mean that the Apocalypse of Sophia, or whatever its title may have been, was not invented from first to last by Valentinus. The traditional framework of the narrative, the selection of texts and passages from other scriptures, Hebrew, Christian, Egyptian, Chaldaean, iEthiopic, etc., or whatever they may have been, and the adaptation of nomenclature, were his share of the task ; but it is evident that in many places he was translating or paraphrasing himself, and that he had great difficulty in turning some of the Oriental terms into Greek, the original of the name Pistis Sophia being not the least difficult of such ' > i ;■ left in its present barbaric and un-Greek form. Of this original of Valentinus doubtless several copies XXXIV INTRODUCTION.