Simon Peter said to them, “Make Mary leave us, for females don’t deserve life.” Jesus said, “Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven.” – Gospel of Thomas, sayingContinue reading “Gospel of Thomas 114 & Theodotus”
Author Archives: bP
An Index to Barbelo
…who am I, the Thought of the Father, Protennoia, that is, Barbelo, the perfect Glory, and the immeasurable Invisible One who is hidden. I am the Image of the Invisible Spirit, and it is through me that the All took shape, and (I am) the Mother (as well as) the Light which she appointed asContinue reading “An Index to Barbelo”
An Ode to Sophia
The Acts of Thomas features the popular poem “Hymn of the Pearl”, but also features another poem that does not get enough recognition and that is the “Hymn to Wisdom” aka “An Ode to Sophia”. I am going to present two different translations of this poem. The first one will be the one I likeContinue reading “An Ode to Sophia”
The Nativity of Jesus – Expanded Edition
With it being near the time of Christmas, I thought it’d be interesting to see how the story of the Nativity of Jesus plays out in apocrypha texts versus the canonical storyline. Below are the two canonical sources, the first being from the Gospel of Matthew (ESV translation): The Birth of Jesus Christ Now theContinue reading “The Nativity of Jesus – Expanded Edition”
Crucifixion body swapping
Recently I finished reading “The Gospel of Barnabas” which is an Islamic leaning text about the life and ministry of Jesus. If you are not familiar with the Islamic tradition, the Jesus of Islam is not exactly the same as the Jesus in Christianity. While there are a lot of similarities, the main difference isContinue reading “Crucifixion body swapping”
The Temptation of Allogenes
As I mentioned in my previous post, there is a text in the Codex Tchacos that rarely gets spoken of and that is “A Book of Allogenes”, also known as “The Temptation of Allogenes”. This is not the actual name of the text but what was given to it due to the contents, and itContinue reading “The Temptation of Allogenes”
First Apocalypse of James – Tchacos vs NHL
The Codex Tchacos is famous for having the “Gospel of Judas” but what many seem to forget, it actually contained four Gnostic texts! Besides Judas, there is “The Letter of Peter to Philip”, “Book of Allogenes” and “James”. The “Book of Allogenes” is a newly discovered book, and not to be confused with “Allogenes” fromContinue reading “First Apocalypse of James – Tchacos vs NHL”
Black Madonna shrine – Pacific, Missouri
It’s been over a month since my last post, and I usually try not to let that happen. Unfortunately in the past month, I had to deal with the passing of my beloved senior dog (Krypto, 15 years old). The leading up to his death, and the grief afterwards, has been pretty tough. Thanks toContinue reading “Black Madonna shrine – Pacific, Missouri”
Summer Harvest
While we have various Valentinian texts in the NHL, there are fragments that exist elsewhere, usually in the writings of the church Fathers, and are typically presented for negative commentary directed towards them. That being said, they do preserve these tidbits, so hey, I’ll take it. The following survives thanks to Hippolytus of Rome, inContinue reading “Summer Harvest”
A mantra for Barbelo
I like to pick out phrases / paragraphs from various Gnostic texts and put them in a binder for my own personal practice. This binder goes with me when I’m heading to my weekly pilgrimage to the Monte Cassino shrine or when I go out wanting to do any spiritual work. This binder has becomeContinue reading “A mantra for Barbelo”