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For Services of the Holy Sophia
in the Month of April
THE COLLECT
To Thee we pray O Father of all Fatherhood and to Thee O Mother of all truth; Grant unto us, we pray, vision and understanding of the true order and dependency of all things. Show us, we pray, all things depending on our spirit; flesh from soul depending, soul by air supported; air from aether suspended; fruits born from the deep; babe born from the womb. Make us realize that our soul is the root of our bodies, that our soul is suspended from the eternal aeons and that we are Your children, born from the womb of time. Grant us the vision and understanding that will allow us to retrace our steps which have led from the portals of Your glorious mansions to this earthly dwelling; open the portals to us and admit us once more to Your royal Presence. Thus we ask and so we pray now, and forevermore.
Amen.
THE LESSON
The Lesson is taken from the writings of the Holy Valentinus:
Now, the twelfth of the twelve aeons, the last of the twenty-eight, who is female and called Sophia beheld a unitary nature of the Father and came to emanate a formless essence in perfect imitation of the Father. Then the powers of the Pleroma all prayed to the Father, to put an end to Sophia's grief over the unformed substance she created. And so, the Father, taking pity on the tears of Sophia, gave order for another emanation, that of Christ and the Holy Spirit, and these gave form to the unformed mass that came forth from Sophia and appeased the grief and sorrow of the lady Sophia forever.
THE GOSPEL
The Gospel is taken from the writings of the Mandaeans:
Praise be to Great Life, thus sayeth the Messenger of Light and the Mother of Wisdom: The world, in which the King of Light stands, cannot pass away; a world of radiance and light, in which there is no darkness, a world of gentleness, in which there is no rebellion, a world of integrity, in which there is no disorder or confusion, a world of fragrance, in which there is no vile odor, a world of eternal life, in which there is no demise or death, a world of living waters, in whose aroma heavenly princes rejoice, a world of goodness, in which there is no malice, a world of truth and faith, in which there is no deceit or lying; it is a pure world without evil being mingled with it. To this world you should aspire.