Simon Magus was originally a Christian and disciple of John the Baptist, but broke off and formed the first Christian heresy, called Simonianism. After learning magical medicine in Alexandria he was considered to have many magical skills. To this day, a skilled magician is called a "magus." He also studied Greek philosophers, especially Heraclitus, and became the first Christian to attempt to bridge Greek philosophy and Christianity. If a mixture ever occurred Church leaders feared they would become weaker over time and not survive. According to Mead, this was Simon's great heresy -- not his...

Early Christian mystical groups were called Gnostics, meaning those who know, because of their spiritual knowledge. Their teachers were persecuted and most documents destroyed because the Church desired a uniform set of beliefs to operate under. "Pistis Sophis" was the most important Gnostic work until the discovery and publication of "The Nag Hammadi Library." It remains an important milestone in Gnostic research and should be part of any serious study. It is the story of how we, as spiritual beings, have fallen into the physical world. The soul is asleep, unaware of its true nature, but the...

This book is one of the earliest, extensive extant texts of Gnosticism, and one of the most important. It was extremely influential to Carl Jung, and continues to astound and enlighten seekers thousands of years after its first appearing. It is set forth in terms of mysteries which are conceived in a more vital way than in earlier literature. On the lower side the mysteries still keep in touch with the tradition of words-of-power, authentic, and incorruptible names. But this book introduces the higher mysteries, in which the Savior himself is concretely the first and last mysteries.

Pistis Sophia is an important Gnostic text. It relates the Gnostic teachings of the transfigured Jesus to the assembled disciples including his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Martha. Pisti Sophia recounts that Jesus remained on earth after the resurrection for 11 years. In it the complex structures and hierarchies of heaven familiar in Gnostic teachings are revealed.

Pistis Sophia is an important Gnostic text. The five remaining copies, which scholars date c. 250-300 AD, relate the Gnostic teachings of the transfigured Jesus to the assembled disciples (including his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Martha), when the risen Christ had accomplished eleven years speaking with his disciples. In it the complex structures and hierarchies of heaven familiar in Gnostic teachings are revealed.

The marvelous and beautiful Hymn, which is the subject of this small volume, is found in the Leucian Acts of John. It was well-known in Gnostic circles. In it we have preserved to us a very remarkable tradition of the Gnostic side of the life of the Master; or, if it be preferred, of incidents in the "occult" life of Jesus. The Hymn of Jesus is a very early Christian mystery-ritual, and perhaps the oldest Christian ritual of any kind preserved to us.

This edition of the Pistis Sophia is a complete and accurate reprint of the original translation by G.R.S. Mead in 1921. It contains all of Mead's original notes and running commentary, as well as his annotated bibliography which includes numerous sources and further research material for the reader.

The Pistis Sophia is a gnostic text thought to have been written sometime between the 3^rd and 4^th centuries AD. According to Mead, there were two codices discovered in the late 18^th century that contained the original work. The Bruce Codex was brought to...

This paperback edition of the Pistis Sophia is a complete and accurate reprint of the original translation by G.R.S. Mead in 1921. It contains all of Mead's original notes and running commentary, as well as his annotated bibliography which includes numerous sources and further research material for the reader.

The Pistis Sophia is a gnostic text thought to have been written sometime between the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. According to Mead, there were two codices discovered in the late 18th century that contained the original work. The Bruce Codex was brought to Oxford by the famous...