Pistis Sophia, by G.R.S. Mead, [1921], at sacred-texts.com

CHAPTER 25

And Jesus answered and said unto Mary: "Well said, Mary; thou questionest finely with thy excellent question, and thou throwest light on all things with surety and precision. Now,

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therefore, from now on will I hide nothing from you, but I will reveal unto you all things with surety and openness. Hearken then, Mary, and give ear, all ye disciples: Before I made proclamation to all the rulers of the æons and to all the rulers of the Fate and Of the sphere, they were all bound in their bonds and in their spheres and in their seals, as Yew, the Overseer of the Light, had bound them from the beginning; and every one of them remained in his order, and every one journeyed according to his course, as Yew, the Overseer of the Light, had established them. And when the time of the number of Melchisedec, the great Receiver of the Light, The coming of Melchisedec. came, he was wont to come into the midst of the æons and of all the rulers |35. who are bound in the sphere and in the Fate, and he carried away the purification of the light from all the rulers of the æons and from all the rulers of the Fate and from those of the sphere--for he carried away then that which brings them into agitation--and he set in motion the hastener who is over them, and made them turn their circles swiftly, and he [sc. the hastener] carried away their power which was in them and the breath of their mouth and the tears [lit. waters] of their eyes and the sweat of their bodies.

Of the fashioning of the souls of men."And Melchisedec, the Receiver of the Light; purifieth those powers and carrieth their light into the Treasury of the Light, while the servitors of all the rulers gather together all matter from them all; and the servitors of all the rulers of the Fate and the servitors of the sphere which is below the æons, take it and fashion it into souls of men and cattle and reptiles and wild-beasts and birds,

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and send them down into the world of mankind. And further the receivers of the sun and the receivers of the moon, if they look above and see the configurations of the paths of the æons and the configurations of the Fate and those of the sphere, then they take from them the light-power; and the |36. receivers of the sun get it ready and deposit it, until they hand it over to the receivers of Melchisedec, the Light-purifier. And their material refuse they bring to the sphere which is below the æons, and fashion it into [souls of] men, and fashion it also into souls of reptiles and of cattle and of wild-beasts and of birds, according to the circle of the rulers of that sphere and according to all the configurations of its revolution, and they cast them into this world of mankind, and they become souls in this region, as I have just said unto you.