;i from the beginning. It is forthee that I am plunged
into this affliction. Behold me iu this place weeping, cry- ing out again for the liL'ht which I have seen upon the heights. Hence the rage of those who keep the doors of my prison, if thou wilt conic and save me, great is thy mercj ; grant my supplication. Deliver roe from this dark matter, lest I be, a- it were, swallowed up in it" (Libera me e u\»; htijus caliginis, ibid. p. 34). "O Light, cast upon me'the flame of thy compassion, for I am in bitter anguish. Haste thee, hear me. I have waited for my spouse that he might conn- and fight for me, and he comes not. Instead of light, I have received darkness and mat- ter. I will praise thee, I will glorify thy name: let my hymn ri-e with acceptance to thee at the L'aics of light Let my whole soul be purified from matter, and dwell iu the divine city. Let all souls whi<
admitted therein" (-fi^m ltortim qui BUSCipient iny-tei'i- mn. ibid. p. 36). The -ame cry rises twelve times to the Deliverer. " I am become." says Sophia again, " like the
daemon who dwells in matter, in whom all fight is extinct. I am myself become matter. My strength is turned to stone in me" (Atqne men vis congclascuii in me, ibid. p. 43). "1 have set my love in thee. O Light, leave nte not in the chaos. Deliver me by thy knowledge" Li- bera mea in tua cognitione, ibid, p. 56). "My trust is in thee : I will rejoice, I will sinir praise to thy glory, because thou hast had pity on me. Give me thy baptism, and wash away my sins."
was skilfully
This mythology, full of poetic -pi-cad as a veil over the .abstractions of Gnosticism, and adapted them to the taste of subtle and unhealthy minds. The dialogue between .1. -us and bis disciples, iii spite of its uniformity, pleased the nailers of the apocryphal Gospels, and satisfied those feverish imagi- nations which had losl tht sense of true beauty. Pride found its gratification in these new mysteries, which emulated in every respect those of Eleusis or ofMithra. See Cramer. Beitragi zur Beforderung theolog. Kennt- nissi i 1778), iii, 82 sq.; KostYin, Das gnostischt S /;. Pistis Sophia, in Zeller's Theol. Jahrb. (Tub. L854), vol. iandii. See Gnosticism. (J.H.W.)
Pistoja, Si NOD 01 . in 1786. marks one of the many reformatory movements in the Roman Catholic Church which remained without any effect Leopold of Tus- can}' t . i. x.i. actuated by the same sense in which his brother Joseph II id' Austria acted, tried to ameliorate the affairs of the ( latholic ( Ihurch in his country. For this purpose he issued dan. 26, 1786, a circular-address to his bishops, containing fiftj -sevi n articli 9 of his re- formatory plan, which he wished them to examine re- spectively, and carry out The most important points for consideration were. 1. The necessity >■( holding an- nual synods in each diocese; 2. The restitution of the episcopal power; ■"•. A scientific training of the clergy, and a religious education of the people. This circular- address was prepared by I he grand-duke himself, who was well versed in theological literature. He gave his
bishops -ix months' time for isideration, bnt after this
time he expected ilieni to answer in a frank and cate- gorical manner. Aim. .si all the bishops opposed : among those who favored the plan was the bishop of Pistoja, Scipio Ricci, who. having high notions of religious purity, attempted Other reforms. In September. 1786, Ricci assembled a diocesan council at Pistoja, which was ..peii.d Sept 18 iii the church of St Leopold. Two hundred and thirlv-foiir clergymen w ere present, among
PISTOR
23^
whom was the greatest unanimity. Among the passed resolutions we find several that aimed to enlighten the people as to the proper limits of image-worship and the invocation of the saints ; suppression of certain relics which gave occasion to superstitious practices; encour- agement to spread religious works, especially the Gospel, among the flock. Besides advocating the use of the liturgy in the oral language of the country, and expos- ing the abuse of indulgences, the spiritual independence of the bishops was maintained, and the four propositions of the Gallican Church of 1682 (comp. the art. Gallic -an Church, iii, 725, of this Cyclop.) were adopted. The synod also recommended that the ecclesiastical law of marriage should be subject to the law of the country. The minutest attention was paid to the reform of mon- achism — all orders should be united into one, and per- petual vows should be restricted or abolished — and Church discipline, and to carry this out the convocation of a national synod was expressed as very desirable. The grand-duke, who welcomed these resolutions with great joy, convoked a council at Florence of the bishops of Tuscany, April 23, 1787, and proposed to them fifty- seven articles concerning the reform of ecclesiastical discipline. The result was, that all articles were either laid aside or so modified as to lose their importance. The government did not abandon its reformatory plans, and allowed every bishop to do in his diocese what he pleased. Leopold's successor abandoned all these plans, ami suffered a papal bull, Auctorem Jidei, dated Aug. 28, 1794, to condemn the eighty-five propositions of the Synod of Pistoja. Comp. Atti e decreti del con- cilio diacesano di Pistoja a. 1786, edited by Bracali and translated into Latin: Acta et decreta synodi dios- ces. Pistoriensis (1791, 2 vols.). The proceedings, pub- lished at the expense of the grand-duke, and prepared by C. Cambiagi in 7 vols., were also translated into Latin: Acta congregationis archiepiscoporum et epis- coporum Hetrurice Florenties anno 1787 celebratee, Ex Italico translata a J. Schwarzel (Bamb. 1790-1791); Vie de Scipion de Ricci, par de Potter (Bruss. 1825, 3 vols.), German transl. 4 vols. (Stuttg. 1820) ; Wolf, Ge- schichte der rdm.-kathol. Kirche unter Pius VI (Leips. 1790); Munch, Leopold von Oesterrtich, in his Derik- wurdigkeitm, p. 303 sq. ; Ilerzog, Real-Encyklop. s. v.; Theologisches Universal- Lexikon, s. v.; IL B. Smith, History of the Church of Christ in Chronological Tables, p.619;* Kurtz, Lehrbuchder Kirchengi schichti . ^ 104, p. 9 ; Niedner, Lehrbuch der christl. Kirchengeschichte, p. 846; Hagenbach- Hurst, History of the Church in the 18th and IQth Centuries, ii, 433 ; Evangelische Kirchenzeitung (1820), p. 270 sq. ; Denzin^er, Enchiridion sumbolorum et definitionum (4th ed. 1805), p. 388 sq., " Praeposvtiones 85 Synodi dicecesaiue Pistoriensis damnatm a Pio IT per const it tit ionem ' Auctorem fidei"' Aug. 28, 1794; Ranke, in Zeitschrift fur historische Theologie, 1871, iii, art. ii. (B. P.)