The Exegesis on the Soul

The Exegesis on the Soul

[An allegory of the soul’s fall and her restoration; damaged in places.]

The wise of old gave the soul a woman’s name, and indeed she is a woman by her nature. While she was alone with the Father she was virgin; but when she fell down into a body and came into this life, she fell into the hands of many robbers. The reckless ones passed her from one to another and defiled her; some used her by force, others by gifts and persuasion. She was never able to keep faith with one, for each who possessed her thought he was her own father and master. After they had used her, they abandoned her; and she became a poor desolate widow, with no one to help her, hungry and bereft, with only the children she bore from her defilement, who were dumb and sickly and confused of mind.

But when she perceived the straits she was in, she wept before the Father and repented. And the Father, in his mercy, turned her womb from without to within, that she might be cleansed of the pollution of the strangers, and be made new. [Line damaged] And the Father had compassion, and sent her her husband, who is her brother, the firstborn; and the bridegroom came down to the bride, who had cleansed herself, and adorned the bridal chamber.

This is the resurrection from the dead; this is the ransom from captivity; this is the going up to heaven; this is the way up to the Father. Therefore the prophet said: Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father’s house, for the king has desired your beauty, and he is your lord. So it is fitting that the soul should pray, and say, Save me, my Father; behold, I will give account to you, for I left my house and fled my mother’s chamber; restore me to yourself again. And those who pray thus from the whole heart will be heard, and the Father will receive them.

No one is worthy of salvation who still loves the place of deception. Therefore it is written: it is not in our power to run or to will, but in the mercy of the One who shows mercy. So we must pray to the Father with the whole soul — not outwardly with the lips, but with the spirit within, which came forth from the depth — sighing, repenting for the life we lived, confessing our sins, perceiving the empty deception we were in and the empty zeal; weeping over how we were in the darkness and the wave. Then he will have mercy upon us, and turn our nature, and bring us home. [Text missing]

[Fragment breaks here]