Axion Estin, or it’s translation meaning “It is truly meet”, is the name of a Eastern Orthodox magnification and hymn to the Theotokos (Virgin Mary). It also refers to an icon of the same name. Below is a reading of the hymn (sorry, you don’t want to hear my singing voice, LOL) that I did on the grounds of an orthodox church outside Bloomington, Indiana. They have a nice forest walking path through their grounds and at one point, they have a gazebo featuring two icons of the Theotokos. I want to do some more recordings in this are in the future (perhaps when it’s not quite so hot outside!).
It is truly right
to bless thee, O Theotokos,
the ever blessed, and most pure,
and the Mother of our God.
More honorable than the cherubim,
and beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim,
who without corruption gavest birth to God the Word,
the true Theotokos,
we magnify thee.
I figured I would share this interesting artwork I was able to put together with the help of AI. Here lately it seems that artificial intelligence artwork software is all the rage. Most of these programs have you input words / phrases and it will create various artworks based on those words. Most of these programs put out interesting results but still have a long way to go IMO. However, Mid-Journey (www.midjourney.com) may be the best one out there, at least with what I have tried. The software is currently in the beta testing / invites only stage right now, but I was able to get an invite for a free trial. This limited trial allowed me to do a handful of pictures and I toyed around with it to create some interesting results. Some of those pictures I will use in future blog posts, but for this post, I wanted to include the Barbelo pictures it generated. So when it asked me to prompt in the words I wanted to convert to artwork, I used this phrase from the Secret Book of John:
“She is Barbelo, the most perfect glory of all beings, the glory of the disclosure of the Father’s thought. Her own first thought was to glorify and praise the Virgin Spirit from whom she had come forth.”
So after processing for a few minutes, it spit out a picture featuring four different versions of Barbelo. With the software, you can make adjustments to each of the pictures. I decided to make adjustments to 3 of the 4 pictures. Now I did not save that original picture, so I am not able to show that for this post. These other three pictures, I find merit in all of them, with the last one being my absolute favorite. To me, they do resemble the same character, just from different view points. Now I realize this software is personifying an entity/concept which is a reflection of an unknowable source, but let’s just play along for a moment.
Up first:
Something I have noticed with A.I. software is the fetish with reptilian / blob like creatures. Not sure what is up with that and it would be interesting to know why it does that. This particular version of Barbelo looks like something that is just forming, perhaps an early version. The way the clothes melds with the skin shows a sense of oneness with itself. This is a version of Barbelo I could see Clive Barker putting together.
Next up:
So this second picture brings us up close and personal. Now she represents the traditional Madonna look with the halo surrounding her head. I do like the oft-ness of her face and fingers though. Yes it resembles human-like qualities but it’s not quite there, nor should it. I do realize this may appear slightly nightmarish to some but I adore the look.
And finally:
This is my favorite of them all. The halo is a bit different and is blue rather than gold/amber. She now has a spark of light at her crown as well as her throat (one could say these correspond with the chakras). The face of this picture I find to be quite mesmerizing. The eyes are different from each other but has that stare that just pulls you in. The multi-colored veil is very beautiful. I plan on using this picture in meditation as it really does take my mind to somewhere else. The picture does sort of remind me when I would use psychedelics and look at my reflection in the mirror with the colors and the slightly off features of the face.
This A.I. software is something else. I haven’t decided yet to buy into their subscription tier (I hate getting subscriptions after subscriptions on stuff) but this software has some very esoteric implications that one could use. I would like to enter other gnostic phrases into the software, as well as ritual passages. Who know what it may conjure up……?
I mentioned before about my visits to the Saint Meinrad Archabbey and encountering the Lady of Einsiedeln. Well, with the school out of session for the summer, I’ve been exploring more of the monastery and first off, there is a second statue of Einsiedeln at the entrance to another chapel on the grounds. This copy of our Lady is a bit smaller than the one in the cathedral, but impressive none the less. See below:
Our Lady of Einsiedeln, outside the Saint Thomas Aquinas chapel at the St Meinrad Archabbey
Awhile back I heard that the archabbey has a statue of Our Lady of Montserrat. I eventually found her the other week at a chapel in the middle of the monastery (name of the particular chapel escapes me at the moment, but I will update this post next time I visit it). I’ve always been fascinated with Our Lady of Montserrat and the “golden ball” which is held in her hand. The history and mythology behind that statue is quite interesting. The statue here is a little bit different than the actual one. The colors are slightly different and the statue is smaller. I have posted several pics below, as well as a youtube “short” where I walk up to the statue.
Our Lady of MontserratOur Lady of Montseratt
The stand in which the statue sits presents the Madonna and child at eye level to me, and it’s quite hypnotizing when you look at her straight on. Side note, there is a second statue of her on the third floor in the “hallway of the Virgin Mary”, which is a long hallway that features various incarnations of Mary from various cultures. The statue up there is quite smaller and is one that would be seen on a home altar.
Out of the recent recordings I did, I thought I’d edit three segments together. The first segment is an excerpt from the Gospel of Thomas, the second segment is the oldest known prayer to the Theotokos and the third segment is an excerpt from the First Apocalypse of James.
First segment, Gospel of Thomas saying 50:
Jesus said, 'If they say to you, "Where did you come from?", say to them, "We come from the light, the place where the light came into being of its own accord and established itself and became manifest through their image." If they say to you, "Who are you?," then say, "We are its sons, and we are the elect of the living father." If they ask you, "What is the sign of your father in you?," say to them, "It is movement and repose."
Second segment, the 3rd century Marian (Theotokos) prayer, “Beneath Thy Protection“. See this page for more information on the prayer. I used the English translation from the Greek version.
Beneath your compassion,
We take refuge, O Theotokos:
do not despise our petitions in time of trouble:
but rescue us from dangers,
only pure, only blessed one.
The third segment is an excerpt from the First Apocalypse of James:
You have come with knowledge,
that you might rebuke their forgetfulness.
You have come with recollection,
that you might rebuke their ignorance.
But I was concerned because of you.
For you descended into a great ignorance,
but you have not been defiled by anything in it.
For you descended into a great mindlessness,
and your recollection remained.
You walked in mud,
and your garments were not soiled,
and you have not been buried in their filth,
and you have not been caught.
And I was not like them, but I clothed myself with everything of theirs.
There is in me forgetfulness,
yet I remember things that are not theirs.
Barbelo, the reflection of the source. The first thought. Mother of us all. She is mentioned in numerous Gnostic texts but I wanted to share this passage from the Secret Book of John. I think it does a fairly good job of introducing her to the mythos.
Continuing with my readings, I have put together a video of this passage. See below:
The translation I used to read this passage is from https://gnosticismexplained.org/the-secret-book-of-john/. That website is truly amazing and I recommend everyone check it out if you haven’t. The website creator has done a few other translations as well. Here is the passage:
She is Barbelo, the most perfect glory of all beings, the glory of the disclosure of the Father’s thought. Her own first thought was to glorify and praise the Virgin Spirit from whom she had come forth.
Barbelo became the womb of the Fullness, for she was the first being, the Mother-Father, the first human, the holy spirit, the thrice-male, the triple power, the three-named androgynous being, the first among the invisible beings.
Barbelo requested that the Invisible Virgin Spirit grant her a gift: Foreknowledge. The Spirit agreed and revealed Foreknowledge, which stood at rest next to Forethought. Foreknowledge glorified the Spirit and Barbelo, the perfect power of the Spirit, for it was because of her that Foreknowledge had come to be.
Barbelo made another request: that she be given Incorruptibility. The Spirit agreed, and Incorruptibility appeared and stood at rest next to Forethought and Foreknowledge. Incorruptibility glorified the Invisible Spirit and Barbelo, those who had enabled it to live.
Barbelo made another request: that she be given Eternal Life. The Spirit agreed, and Eternal Life appeared and stood at rest next to the others. They glorified the Invisible Spirit and Barbelo, those who had enabled them to live.
Again Barbelo asked for a gift – this time, it was Truth. The Invisible Spirit agreed, and Truth appeared and stood at rest next to the others. They glorified the Invisible Spirit and Barbelo, those who had enabled them to live.
These are the five entities of the Father: The first human, the reflection of the Invisible Spirit, Forethought, Barbelo; Foreknowledge; Incorruptibility; Eternal Life; Truth.
These are the five androgynous beings, who with their partners are a group of ten entities, and together they are the Father.
As Barbelo now stood amidst the untainted light that surrounds the Father and upon which the Father gazes, the Father gazed into her, and she conceived by him. She begot a spark of light that resembled the Father’s blessed light, but was not as great. This spark was the only-begotten Son of the Mother-Father and the only-begotten Son of the Father, the pure light.
Here is another short prayer video, this time I read a Catholic prayer to Saint Mary Magdalene. Here is the text of the prayer:
Saint Mary Magdalene! You heard from the loving lips of Jesus that your many sins were forgiven because you loved much. Pour out your love at his sacred feet on our behalf. Your tears of repentance and of love won for you the pardon of your sins and the vision of your risen Jesus on Easter morning. Surely, dear Saint, he who refused nothing to your love on Earth, will graciously replenish us with those blessings, for which we implore your prayers. Amen.
I wanted to try something new with this site. I’ve been experimenting with recording videos of myself reading various scripture, as well as prayers, to see how it would come off on a video recording. I admit, I am not a big fan of how I sound on video, but who is? lol However, I do like this particular prayer and wanted to share it. I recently purchased a small altar statue of “Our Lady of Einsiedeln” from www.sagrada.com and while I was on the site, I noticed a home made card of that particular Madonna, so I purchased it to go along with the statue. When I received it (which was only two days after placing an order!!), I noticed a small prayer on the back of the card written by Mary Busby, co-owner of the website. So I decided to do a video reading of the prayer. Enjoy.
Here is the prayer for those curious:
She calls us to deepen, stirring within us a sacred knowing. She whispers our name in every tree and creature in every stone– remembering us to Oneness. She beckons us to open our hearts as compassion and creativity emerge from sorrow. In her darkness, there is life. O Beloved Mother of Mystery, awaken and transform us.
The man who’s arms were cut off, wept to the apostles and begged them not to give him such torment. Peter informs him that he can not heal the wounds but rather the man would need to believe in Jesus. Peter orders the bier to be put down and tells the priest to go to the body and say:
"Are you listening now with your whole heart? Go then and embrace Mary's body, saying, "I Believe in you and in the one who came forth from your womb."
The priest started to bless Mary for three hours. Afterwards, he told the priest to put his arms to his detached hands on the bier and say:
"In the name of Jesus, the son of Mary, the son of the dove, who was crucified, with goodness my hands have touched your bier."
Suddenly his hands were re-attached and normal as if nothing had happened. Peter tells the priest to return to town with a palm leaf and find blind people who do not see and do not recognize the way, and tell them what just happened. Those who will believe, place the palm leaf on their eyes and they will see. Those who don’t, will not see.
The apostles all then gathered around Mary’s body and began to wait for Jesus to appear to take Mary’s body. In the mean time, Paul speaks to Peter and asks of him to tell him the mysteries since he was not able to meet Jesus during his earthly life. Peter tells him to be patient and wait for Jesus to return, and if Jesus orders it, then he will tell Paul of the mysteries. Paul reluctantly agrees to this and then tells the apostles a story involving Solomon and demons who had ridiculed humans. This story goes on for several pages before ending. The apostles agreed with the morale of that story and asked that he keep on talking as they have three days of waiting. Paul, still kind of bitter about not getting the mysteries revealed to him from Peter, asks of Peter what does he teach, so he (Paul) can go forth and preach this doctrine.
Peter tells Paul what he has been saying is good, but if he wants to hear what he preaches, then he will oblige. Peter gives him the phrase:
"Whoever does not fast every day will not see God."
Paul tells Peter that if people hear that, they will rise up and kill them, as they worship gods and do not believe in God, nor in fasting. Paul then turns to John to get his advice. John says:
"If there is anyone who is not continent until his repose, he will not see God."
Paul tells John that the people will not believe this either and he will be stoned if he preaches this. Paul turns to Andrew and asks for his teaching. Andrew states:
"Whoever does not leave his father and mother, and his brothers and sisters, and his children, and his possessions, he has not followed God, and he will not be able to see him."
Once again, Paul scoffs at this teaching. Peter then asks Paul what would he preach. Paul then states:
"Let every man take his wife, so that they will not commit adultery"; and "let a woman take her husband, that she may not commit adultery." And let us establish one or two days of fasting in the week for them, and let us not be too hard on them, lest they become negligent and turn away. But if they fast today and are a little weary, they will persevere for the time and say, "Tomorrow we will not fast again." And if they come to mealtime, and they have rested, they will give to the poor, saying, "Why this fast, which comes?" and they will ponder God in their hearts. And let us also say to them, "Let the one who is not able to fast until the second hour, and the one who is average until the ninth, and the perfect one until evening." And when we have trampled on their wings a little, we will know that they are able to bear this. And then we can give them milk to drink, and we will tell them the glorious things."
The story then states that the other apostles murmured amongst themselves, not agreeing with what Paul said. Ouch! lol Amongst this chattering, Jesus arrives from heaven with the archangel Michael. Jesus then sort of sides with Paul on what he has been saying. In the Syriac translation, Jesus informs Peter that his advice has always been destructive, along with Andrew’s and John’s, and informs them that they should receive the word of Paul, for the whole world will be caught in the net of Paul’s words. The Ethiopic version isn’t as harsh, but still puts forth the same message. Jesus tells Paul not to be sad about not being revealed the mysteries, as he (Jesus) has only revealed the Earthly mysteries to the apostles, and not the heavenly mysteries, which he will teach Paul.
Jesus signaled to Michael, who then answered in the voice of a mighty angel, which called down 10,000 (Ethiopic version, 1,000 Syriac version) angels who took Mary’s body into the clouds. The apostles went with them into the clouds. Once they arrived in Paradise, Mary’s body was placed by the tree of life, in which her soul then entered her body.
The apostles then said to Jesus about seeing the torments (Hell). Jesus transported them, along with Mary and Michael, to where the sun sets and a pit in the earth opened up to expose the damned. When the damned saw Michael, they all started crying out to him asking for help. The cries caused a lot of distress for Mary and the apostles, which Jesus told them that they would not be able to handle this sight. The damned kept pleading with Michael to get Jesus to save them. Michael turned to Jesus and asked of him for his help. Jesus went into a long explanation that he is aware of their pleas and has pleaded with his Father on their behalf, but mercy will only be shown when the Father deems it.
The next few sections of the story involves Mary and the apostles spotting various individuals who were in torment and asking about each person. Oddly enough, most of these people were from the church, such as priests, deacons, etc… who were crooked/corrupt. Eventually Jesus gives the tormented nine hours of rest on the Lord’s day thanks to the tears of Michael, the apostles and Mary.
After this, he takes the group into Paradise to the tree of life where we get a who’s who of the Old Testament. There is Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Elizabeth, the Magi, Enoch, etc… Speaking of Enoch, a short flash back is inserted that states when Noah sent out the dove to find land, the dove would go to Paradise to the olive tree where Enoch was, and Enoch would petition God for mercy. It would not be until God showed mercy, that Enoch would give the dove a branch to take back.
Jesus tells the other apostles to stay with his mother while he and Paul ascends even higher so he can tell Paul of the mysteries. As they were ascending, the Devil himself cries out:
"Jesus, Son of God, who came into the world and preached before Jerusalem and gave a commandment to your apostles that they preach to the whole earth in Jerusalem, how do you make this one named Paul ascend, before he contends with me, in your greatness, and defeats me? And it is fitting that you have shown everything to the twelve, since they were worthy, and they have contended with me and defeated me. But this one has not contended with me and has not defeated me. How do you make him ascend? Let him come then: first he will contend with me, and if he defeats me, bring him and show him everything."
Jesus then tells Paul to “prepare yourself for battle, so that he will find nothing against you.” Jesus goes and gets Peter to help prepare Paul for the battle. Peter asks Jesus where the two will fight, on a mountain or in the middle of a crowd? Why, the middle of a crowd of course!!
Now in this particular translation, the author leaves out the fight. He states that this section is also presented in another apocrypha, that being the “History of Peter and Paul.” Feeling this was combined at a later time, this is why the author leaves that out. I haven’t read that particular apocrypha, but it’s now on my to read list.
The story continues after the fight, with everyone joining back up in Paradise. Jesus then takes them all to the seventh heaven where God sits. The apostles wanted to embrace God but were terrified as God is “entirely fire.” There were two seraphim standing next to God. Two of their wings were covering their faces, as not to see the face of God. The apostles were not able to see the face of God either. Jesus informs them all that the time will come when they can embrace the Father, but in the meantime, they will need to embrace the body of Christ and they will not die. Jesus made a signal to one of the seraphim, whom responded but no one understood what it said. Suddenly the tens of thousands of angels appeared. Mary was given a throne and went into Paradise. Michael then brought the apostles back to Earth so that they can continue their mission.
This last part of the dormition narrative could have been excised off the story and one wouldn’t really notice. I did find the bickering between the apostles, as well as the church clergy in Hell to be an interesting commentary on the early church (one of the reasons why I highly enjoy the ‘Gospel of Judas’). The description of the Father was quite interesting. You usually don’t see something like that in these stories, at least from the ones I’ve read.
I am still going through this book, Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption by Stephen J. Shoemaker. If I find any more Gnostic related stories, I’ll blog about it. However, if you are interested in stories about the Theotokos, I do recommend picking up the book. It’s been quite the fascinating read so far (I’m a third of the way in).
While browsing around on gnosis.org, I noticed they use April 25th as a commemoration for the birth of the Prophet Mani. While April is the accepted month for his birth, the exact date seems to jump around. Those unaware of Mani, he is responsible for the Manichaean religion, which was the largest Gnostic religion the world has seen. For awhile, it was extremely popular but eventually it would almost fade out into obscurity. A sole Manichaean temple from antiquity still exists in China (Cao’an), as Mani was included in the Buddhist tradition of that area (as the Buddha of Light).
Fortunately some of the writings from this belief system still survive. I will admit, I am not expert in Mani. I know of him and have read some Manichaean material. I plan on doing a more deep dive into the subject at some point in the future.
The following is a Manichaean psalm that gnosis.org calls “Let Us Worship the Spirit of the Paraclete“:
Let us worship the spirit of the Paraclete (comforter).
Let us bless our Lord Jesus who has sent us the Spirit of Truth.
He came and separated us from the Error of the World.
He brought us a mirror. We looked into it, and saw in it the Universe.
When the Holy Spirit came,
he revealed to us the way of truth and taught us that there are two Natures,
that of the Light and that of the Darkness,
separated from each other since the beginning.
The Kingdom of Light consisted of five Greatnesses,
these are the Father and his twelve Aeons,
the Aeon of Aeons, the Living Air, and the Land of Light,
the Great Spirit blows in them and feeds them with its Light.
The Kingdom of Darkness, however, consisted in five Chambers,
these are Smoke, Fire, Wind and Water and Darkness.
Their resolution crawls in them,
moves them and spurs them on to make war with one another.
Now as they were warring with each other,
they made bold to attack the Land of Light,
considering themselves capable of conquering it.
Yet they know not that what they thought will recoil upon their own heads.
But there was a host of angels in the Land of Light
which possessed the power to issue forth and overcome the enemy of the Father,
whom it pleased that through the Word that he would send,
he would subdue the rebels
who desired to raise themselves above what was more exalted than they.
Like a shepherd who sees a lion approaching to destroy his sheepfold,
he uses guile, takes a lamb and sets it as a snare that he may catch it with it,
for with a single lamb he saves his sheepfold.
Afterwards he heals the lamb that has been wounded by the lion.
In this way too the Father acted,
who sent his stout Son.
He produced out of himself his Maiden, furnished with the five Powers
that she might fight against the five Abysses of the Dark.
When the Watchman stood fast within the frontiers of Light
he showed the powers of the Darkness his Maiden, who is his Soul.
They became agitated in the Abyss and wanted to possess her,
they opened their mouths and tried to swallow her.
He seized the Maidens power and spread it over the Powers of the Darkness,
like nets over fish, he rained her down on them.
Like purified clouds of water, she penetrated into them like a piercing lightning stroke.
She crept inside their insides and bound them all without their ever knowing.
When the First Man had ended his struggle the Father sent forth his Second Son.
He came and helped his brother out of the Abyss.
He built this whole world up out of the mixture
that had come into existence out of Light and Darkness.
All the Powers of the Abyss he spread out to the ten Heavens and to eight Earths,
he shut them up into this World and made it a dungeon for all the Powers of Darkness.
This World is also, however, a place of purification of the soul
which had been swallowed up in the Powers of Darkness.
The Sun and the Moon where set up and fixed in the heights, to purify the Soul.
They take the refined part daily upward to the heights but they destroy the deposit.
They convey it up and down.
This whole World stands firm for a Season,
since there is a great Building being erected outside the World.
At the Hour when the Architect shall complete it, the entire World shall be dissolved.
It shall be set afire, that the fire may melt it away.
All Life, the Remnants of Light in every Place
he shall gather to himself and form of it a Statue (Eidolon -- image, likeness).
Even the Resolution of Death also, the whole of Darkness,
he shall gather in and make an image of itself along with the Archon.
In a moment the Living Spirit shall come.
It will succor to the Light,
but the Resolution of Death and the Darkness
lock away in the chamber that was built for it that it may lie in chains forever.
There is no other means save this means to bind the Enemy,
for he shall not be received into the Light because he is a stranger to it,
but he shall also not be left in his Land of darkness,
lest he may wage a greater war than the first.
A New Aeon shall be built in the place of this World, which shall be dissolved,
so that in it the Powers of Light may reign
since they have preformed and fulfilled the whole of the Father's will.
They have overthrown the hateful one, they have defeated him forever.
This is the knowledge of Mani,
let us worship him and bless him.
Blessed is every man that may trust in him
for he shall live with the Righteous.
Honor and Victory to our Lord Mani, the Spirit of Truth,
that cometh from the Father and has revealed to us
the Beginning, the Middle, and the End.
Victory to the Soul of the Blessed Mary. Theona, Pshai, Jemnoute.
This next hymn is ascribed to Mani and is titled “Praise of Jesus the Life-Giver“:
... all in one mind.
And we would stretch out our hands in invocation.
And we would lift up our eyes to your beautiful figure,
And we would open our mouths to call upon you,
And we would prepare our tongues to praise you;
We would call upon you, Jesus the Splendor, the New Dispensation.
You, even you are the just God, the noble physician,
The dearest son, the most blessed soul.Welcome, liberated sovereign!
Come to help, good spirit, messenger of peace,
Helper of the meek and victor over the aggressors!
Welcome, redeemer of the imprisoned
And physician of the wounded!
Welcome, you who do awaken the sleepers,
Who do rouse those that slumber,
Who do cause the dead to rise!
Welcome, mighty God and sanctifying Voice!
Welcome, true Logos, great lamp and bountiful Light!
Welcome, new ruler and new day!
Welcome, foundation of the worlds and sacred meal of many!
Welcome, gift of the good, blessing of the gentle,
Who is venerated by those that sanctify!
Welcome, Loving Father, munificent benefactor
Of those that take refuge in you!
Welcome, our Father, who are our mighty refuge,
In whom we firmly trust!(six lines missing)
Have mercy upon us and show us your love,
Oh beneficent one who are all love!
And reckon us not among the evildoers!
Save those that have taken refuge in you,
And be merciful to us.
Oh most beloved and loving one,We have seen you, the New Dispensation,
And we have yearned for you who are all love.
Joyfully have we seen you, loving Lord,
And your name do we acknowledge, Mam-sin.
Separate us from the company of sinners
And distance us from the aggressors.
Lord, we are your own, have mercy upon us!
Come quickly, hasten to vanquish the sinners,
For they are haughty and have said,
"We are who we are, and no one is like us."
Be mighty and vanquish the aggressors!
(three lines missing)
We praise your name which is truly praiseworthy,
And your noble greatness which is pure joy.
Praise be to your name, Father,
And honor to your greatness!
Be it so for ever and ever!
Here is another hymn ascribed to Mani that goes under the name “The Hymn to the Father of Greatness“:
You are worthy of praise, beneficent Father, primeval Ancestor!
Blessed are you, beneficent God!
You, Lord, are the first alif and the last tau.
Through you yourself your pious wish has been fulfilled and
accomplished.
All gods and aeons, the deities of Light,
And the righteous bring praise to you,
singing "Holy" repeatedly.
The spirits, the plants and all . . . . truly implore you
to blessing. And bring forth supplications with one voice.
Grant us our pious wish . . . .
They bear the form that we have given up from afar.
Be merciful unto us in your mercy;
Show us your form, the noble epiphany, for which we yearn.
Let your brightness shine upon us, sweet source and breath of life!
Make, us, your children, strong.
In vain the dark foe boasts, together with the bellicose,
rebellious giants, In vain he wishes to cling to the Aeons.
I took these all from http://www.gnosis.org/library/manis.htm. Note there are more Manichaean texts out there. While I have not gotten a copy yet, I hear the “Gospel of Mani” by by Duncan Greenlees is quite good. It’s a fairly large book, coming in at 580 pages!
After Jesus ascended back into the heavens, Mary returned home. Entering the house, it began to tremble on the account of the glory of the book that Jesus had given her. She wrapped up the book and said various prayers over it. Her prayers eventually lead back to her son, who responds to her stating no other power will come for her except himself.
After Mary was done with the prayers, she went to her maidservant and told her to call upon all all her (Mary) relatives and those who know her, as she wished to speak to them. When the people arrived, she told them that she will go forth from her body tomorrow to eternal rest. She requested they perform a great act of kindness with her. She did not want any material possessions (silver/gold/etc…) but rather they all get a lamp and not let it go out in the next three days (two days in the Georgian versions) as Mary will speak of her charity to them. Yes, I realize it said at the beginning she would depart the next day, but then it says she will be with them for the next few days. I suspect either a translation error or she is referring to “tomorrow” as an event that is to be taken place very soon and perhaps not literally “tomorrow”.
Mary begins to speak proclaiming she does not know the hour of her departure but it will be soon. She then describes the death process for people and speaks of how two angels will come to a person, one of righteousness and one of wickedness, and those two will come with death. This is the process that she describes: Death will come to the body and if the person has done righteous and good deed, the angel of righteousness will rejoice as finding no sin on the person. That angel will call upon other angels to the soul and they all sing upon it until the soul reaches the place of all righteous. This will cause the angel of wickedness to weep. However, if the person was an evil doer, then this angel of wickedness (who is also referred to as Satan in the Georgian version) will call upon other evil spirits who will then tear the soul apart. Kind of reminds me of the Cenobites from the Clive Barker Hellraiser mythos! LOL
After this story, a woman in the group starts questioning Mary about the fact if she (Mary) is afraid, she will be fine as she is the Mother of the Lord but what about the rest of us common sinners. She continues for a bit before Mary tells her:
'Be silent, my brothers, and do not cry; but glorify the one who is among you at this moment. I beg you, do not be cast down, because this is the joy of the virgin of God. But sing instead of weeping, so that it will be to every nation of the earth and to all the heavens of God, and there will be a blessing rather than weeping.'
After this, Mary tells the group of a sin she once committed! She had, for one day, not believed in God. The story she tells is that she, Joseph and two of his children were fleeing when a sense of terror struck her. She heard what sounded like an infant speak to her. She turned around and the infant disappeared. She told Joseph that she saw an infant who was not of this world. The infant reappeared and said:
"Mary, my mother, every sin is imputed to you, because you have tasted the bitter as the sweet."
The story continues with Mary telling her group (in “present” day) about how she now understood who the child was and what was to come.
The next day at dawn, the apostle John came knocking on Mary’s door and when she saw him, she began to cry. She was in distress when she began to talk to John, reminding him of what Jesus said to them when he left (“John will take care of you”), how John was Jesus’ beloved and was the chosen virgin. Frantically, she was telling John not to abandon her. John is confused at this point because Mary had not informed him of her upcoming situation. He cried out in a loud voice to her that he had left someone with her to take care of her as he was doing the work of the Lord by traveling and spreading the good news. He asks what is causing her distress and she replies with a request that he place her body in a tomb and guard her (he and the other apostles) from the high priests, as apparently she heard one say:
"When we find her body, we will throw it into a fire, because the deceiver came forth from her."
Hearing about her death, this caused John to weep and want to leave his body as well. Mary comforts him and then leads him into her inner chamber where she gives him the book that Jesus gave her earlier. She tells him he must take this book and go forth with it but he said he could not because the other apostles were not there yet. And just as he said it, the other apostles starting appearing outside via clouds! Yes, they were seated on clouds.
Once all the apostles were there, the scene reminds me of when a group of old friends get back together as they all are greeting each other and being merry. At one point Peter tells Paul to pray before them because of the occasion, but Paul being humbled feels he is not worthy to lead prayer in front of the others. Eventually Peter leads the prayer. This goes on for quite a bit until they realize why they are at Mary’s house. They learn of of the situation and Mary greets them. She begins to give praise and one of the lines is quite interesting. She says:
"I bless the Great Cherub of Light, who dwelt in my womb."
I do not believe that Jesus was described as that before. I like it! After her praises, she shows the apostles around and explains what needs to be done for the next few days until her time of dormition.
The next several pages has Peter preaching to the people there. There are a few occasions where he goes on with parables, one about the kingdom of heaven is like a virgin (kind of got “Gospel of Thomas” vibes on some of these). Eventually this leads to the time of Mary’s departure. Peter sat by her head, John at her feet, and the rest of the apostles encircled her. Then a sweet, pleasant smell, (like the odor of Paradise) filled the room and everyone fell asleep except for the virgins, as they would stay awake to witness the funeral.
Jesus arrived on a cloud with a multitude of angels. He entered the chamber where Mary was, while the angels remained outside singing. Mary embraced him and began to speak. After she was done, Jesus took her soul and placed it in Michael’s hands, which was then wrapped with a garment. This was the description of her spirit:
And the apostles saw Mary's spirit as it was given into Michael's hands: a perfect form, but its body was both male and female, and nevertheless one, being similar to every body and seven times white.
Jesus instructs Peter on where to take Mary’s body and soon they (the apostles, the crowd that was there, Jesus and his angels) began a funeral procession. During this, John had handed Peter the sacred book that Mary had given him earlier.
During this procession, the group were singing and this caused quite a stir in town and the high priests heard this. When they found out that Mary had left her body and the apostles were there as well, Satan had entered their hearts with the mission of killing the apostles and burning Mary’s body. The priests picked up spears and other weapons to attack the procession when angels came out of the clouds and caused hallucinations among the priests before smashing their heads into walls!! They weren’t playing around! One of the priests was able to get away from the chaos and grab a hold of the bier (which held Mary’s body) to throw it to the ground. But as soon as his hands grabbed it, his hands were ripped from his arms and stayed clinging to the bier!!
To be continued to part 3….
If you want to read the actual translation in full, pick up Stephen J. Shoemaker’s book Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. It’s an expensive purchase, but features 6 apocrypha of the dormition as well as an extensive background of these traditions. Well worth the money!
Culmination of Wisdom 