Sophia (gnosticism)
Encyclopedia : S : SO : SOP : Sophia (gnosticism)
In Gnostic tradition, the term Sophia (Σoφíα, Greek for "wisdom") refers to the final and lowest emanation of God. In most if not all versions of the gnostic myth, Sophia brings about an instability in the Pleroma, in turn bringing about the creation of materiality. The positive or negative depiction of materiality thus resides a great deal on mythic depictions of Sophia's actions. She is occasionally referred to by the Hebrew equivalent of Achamoth (this is a feature of Ptolemy's version of the Valentinian gnostic myth).
Almost all gnostic systems of the Syrian or Egyptian type taught that the universe began with an original, unknowable God, referred to as the Parent or Bythos, as the Monad by Monoimus. It can also be equated to the concept of Logos in stoicism, esoterism, or theosophical terms. (The 'Unknown Root'). It is also known as the first Aeon by still other traditions. From this initial unitary beginning the One spontaneously emanated further Aeons, pairs of progressively 'lesser' beings in sequence. The lowest of these pairs were Sophia and Christ. The Aeons together made up the Pleroma, or fullness, of God, and thus should not be seen as distinct from the divine, but symbolic abstractions of the divine nature.
The fall of Sophia
Sophia's fear and anguish of losing her life, (just as she lost the light of the One) caused confusion and longing to return to it. Because of these longings the matter (Greek: hyle) and the soul (Greek: psyke, ψυχή) accidentally came into existence through the four elements: fire, water, earth, and air. The creation of the lion-faced Demiurge is also a mistake made during this exile, according to some Gnostic sources a result of Sophia trying to emanate on her own, without her male counterpart. The Demiurge proceeds to create the physical world in which we live, ignorant of Sophia, who nevertheless managed to infuse some spiritual spark into the creation of the Demiurge; that is the pneuma.
After this the savior (Christ) returns and lets her see the light again, bringing her knowledge of the spirit (Greek: pneuma, πνεῦμα). Christ was then sent to earth on the form of the man Jesus to give men the gnosis needed to rescue themselves from the physical world and return to the spiritual world. Note that, in Gnosticism, the Gospel story of Jesus is itself allegorical: it is the Outer Mystery, used as an introduction to Gnosis, rather than being literally true in a historical context.
In Valentinian cosmology, the three sensations experienced by Sophia create three correspondent types of humans:
- hylics (bond to the matter, the principle of evil)
- psychics (bond to the soul and partly saved from evil)
- pneumatics that can return to the pleroma if they achieve gnosis and can behold the world of light. The gnostics regarded themselves as members of this group.
The analogy of the fall and recovery of Sophia is echoed (to a varying degree) in many different myths and stories. Among these are:
- Persephone and her descent into Hades, from which she returns to life [but is bound to return to Hades for 3 months every year, representing the incarnation of children.]
- The canonical Christian Gospels: The church as the bride of Christ.
- The descent of Orpheus into the underworld to rescue his wife.
- The abduction and rescue of Helen of Troy
- The stories of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty
Lucifer
Although Sophia's male counterpart is Christ, many Gnostics have also referred to him as Lucifer, or to Lucifer as the masculine name for Sophia. It is interesting to note that in the Bible Christ is referred to as the Morning Star, a title possibly given, seemingly sarcastically, to Lucifer or Satan in Isaiah 14:12. It is also interesting to note that in the "Hypostasis of the Archons" Sophia tells Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge, just as Satan/Lucifer did. In many Gnostic sects Jehovah(the god of the Old Testament) is seen as the Demiurge, thus a Holy Aeon like Sophia would encourage people to rebel against him. This is probably where the connection with Lucifer came from, or from the fact that Sophia temporally fell from grace. One must also note that Lucifer means Bringer of Light, and it is Sophia who enlightens mankind.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.