Note 247 — Chapter VIII · POST-CHRISTIAN GNOSTICS: THE OPHITES

This appears to be the sphere of the Sun to which the epithet μονότροπον “one-formed” is not inappropriate. Why he should be called δεσμὸν ἀβλεψίας “bond of blindness,” and λήθην ἀπερίσκεπτον “thoughtless oblivion,” does not appear. πρώτην δύναμιν πνεύματι προνοίας καὶ σοφίᾳ τηρουμένην “the first power preserved,” etc. coincides curiously with what is said in the Pistis Sophia as to the Ship of the Sun and the “Virgin of Light.”