I will give thanks unto thee, O Light

Sophia, the Holy Wisdom, Russian Icon 1812

"'1. I will give thanks unto thee, O Light,

for thou art a saviour; thou art a deliverer for all time.

"'2. I will utter this song to the Light,

for it hath saved me and saved me out of the hand of the rulers, my foes.

"'3. And thou hast preserved me in all the regions,

thou hast saved me out of the height and the depth of the chaos 

and out of the æons of the rulers of the sphere.

"'4. And when I was come out of the Height,

I wandered round in regions in which is no light, 

and I could not return to the thirteenth æon, my dwelling-place.

"'5. For there was no light in me nor power.

My power was utterly weakened (?).

"'6. And the Light saved me in all my afflictions.

I sang praises unto the Light, 

and it hearkened unto me, when I was constrained.

"'7. It guided me in the creation of the æons

to lead me up into the thirteenth æon, my dwelling-place.

"'8. I will give thanks unto thee,

O Light, that thou hast saved me, 

and for thy wondrous works unto the race of men.

"'9. When I failed of my power, thou hast given me power; 

and when I failed of my light, thou didst fill me with purified light.

"'10. I was in the darkness and in the shadow of the chaos,

bound with the mighty fetters of the chaos, and no light was in me.

"'11. For I have provoked the commandment of the Light

and have transgressed,

and I have made wroth the commandment of the Light,

because I had gone out of my region.

"'12. And when I had gone down, 

I failed of my light and became without light,

and no one had helped me.

"'13. And in my affliction I sang praises unto the Light,

and it saved me out of my afflictions.

"'14. And it hath also broken asunder all my bonds

and led me up out of the darkness and the affliction of the chaos.

"'15. I will give thanks unto thee, O Light,

that thou hast saved me

and that thy wondrous works have been wrought in the race of men.

"'16. And thou hast shattered the upper gates of the darkness

and the mighty bolts of the chaos.

"'17. And thou didst let me depart out of the region in which I had transgressed,

and my light was taken, because I have transgressed.

"'18. And I ceased from my mysteries

and went down to the gates of the chaos.

"'19. And when I was constrained, I sang praises to the Light.

It saved me out of all my afflictions.

"'20. Thou sentest thy stream;

it gave me power and saved me out of all my afflictions.

"'21. I will give thanks unto thee, O Light, 

that thou hast saved me,

and for thy wondrous works in the race of men.'

"This then is the song which Pistis Sophia hath uttered in the midst of the four-and-twenty invisible,…