LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 273
Some people travel long but go nowhere.
At twilight they have seen no cities or villages,
no human constructions or phenomena of nature,
no powers or angels.
These miserable ones have labored in vain.
THE EUCHARIST IS JESUS
The eucharist is Jesus. In Syriac it is called pharisatha,
which is "one who is spread out,"
since Jesus came to crucify the world.^36
THE LORD IN THE DYE WORKS OF LEVI
The lord went into the dye works of Levi
and took seventy-two different colors and threw them
into a vat. He drew them out perfectly white.
He said, "In this way the earthly son has come as a dyer."^37
WISDOM, MOTHER OF THE ANGELS
Wisdom, who is called "barren," is mother of the angels.
The companion is Mary of Magdala. Jesus loved her
more than his students. He kissed her often
on her face, more than all his students,
and they said, "Why do you love her more than us?"^38
The savior answered, saying to them,
"Why do I not love you like her? If a blind man
and one who sees are together in darkness,
they are the same.
When light comes, the one who sees will see light.
The blind man stays in darkness."
- The meaning of the Syriac word is actually "broken bread."
37- Stories of Jesus in a dyehouse are also told in the Arabic Infancy Gospel, a version of the In-
fancy Gospel of Thomas, and an Islamic text. Seventy-two (or seventy) is a traditional number
of nations in the world.
- On Jesus and Mary of Magdala, see "Three Marys," earlier in the Gospel of Philip, and the
Gospel of Mary.
