Note 467 — Chapter X · THE SYSTEM OF THE PISTIS SOPHIA AND ITS RELATED TEXTS[459]

The word Σωτήρ, which here as elsewhere in the book appears without any Coptic equivalent, evidently had a peculiar signification to the Valentinian Gnostics. Irenaeus, Bk I. c. 1, § 1, p. 12, Harvey, says that it was the name they gave to Jesus oὐδὲ γὰρ κύριον ὀνομάζειν αὐτὸν θέλουσι “for they do not choose to call Him Lord.” In the later part of the book, the document called Mέρoς τευχῶν Σωτῆρος (p. 253, Copt.) says that “he is saviour and ὰχώρητος (i.e. not to be confined in space), who finds the words of the mysteries and the words of the Third Receptacle which is within (i.e. the inmost of the three) and excelleth them all.” From which it would appear that the chief qualification of a saviour in the eyes of the later Valentinians was that he was not restricted to his special place in the universe, but could visit at will the worlds below him. We seem therefore to be already getting near the Manichaean idea of Burkhans (messengers or Buddhas) who are sent into the world for its salvation. Cf. Chapter XIII infra.