Mention might be made of the legend of Pistis Sophia
In considering the double aspect of Christ, mention might be made of the legend of Pistis Sophia (3rd cent.), which also originated in Egypt.
Mary says to Jesus:
When thou wert a child, before the spirit had descended upon thee, when thou wert in the vineyard with Joseph, the spirit came down from the height, and came unto me in the house, like unto thee, and I knew him not, but thought that he was thou. And he said nto me, “Where is Jesus, my brother, that I may go to meet him?”And when he had said this unto me, I was in doubt, and thought it was a phantom tempting me.
I seized him and bound him to the foot of the bed which was in my house, until I had gone to find you in the field, thee and Joseph; and I found you in the vineyard, where Joseph was putting up the vine-poles. And it came to pass, when thou didst hear me saying this thing unto Joseph, that thou didst understand, and thou wert joyful, and didst say, “Where is he, that I may see him?”
And it came to pass, when Joseph heard thee say these words, that he was disturbed. We went up together, entered into the house and found the spirit bound to the bed, and we gazed upon thee and him, and found that thou wert like unto him. And he that was bound to the bed was unloosed, he embraced thee and kissed thee, and thou also didst kiss him, and you became one. [Pistis Sophia, Mead trans., pp. n8f., slightly modified.]
It appears from the context of this fragment that Jesus is the “truth sprouting from the earth,” whereas the
spirit that resembled him is “justice looking down from heaven.”
The text says: “Truth is the power which issued from thee when thou wast in the lower regions of chaos.
For this cause thy power hath said through David, ‘Truth hath sprouted out of the earth,’ because thou wert
in the lower regions of chaos.”
Jesus, accordingly, is conceived as a double personality, part of which rises up from the chaos or hyle, while the other part descends as pneuma from heaven. ~Carl Jung, CW 9ii, Paras 131-132
