Culmination of Wisdom

Lefāfa Ṣedeḳ: Book of Life (1 of 3)

This post (part 1 of 3) is about the “Lefāfa Ṣedeḳ: Book of Life”, also known as the “Bandlet of Righteousness” with the subtitle “An Ethiopic Book of the Dead.” The book of the dead subtitle is definitely a play on the Egyptian Book of the Dead, but is this a similar style text? Actually, it is. This Ethiopic text is quite the interesting read as it features a discussion between Mary and Jesus where she asks how to escape the tortures of Gehenna and he gives her the various secret divine names that she will use to bypass hell. The text is heavily influenced by Egyptian literature and has the Gnostic thought of using “secret names” to bypass the rulers for ascension. If you recall reading my three part posts regarding the “Liber Requiei Mariae” (Book of Mary’s Repose), Jesus gives Mary the secret names that will allow her to bypass the rulers of the world. The text, at least the English translation I read, did not include any such names. The Lefāfa Ṣedeḳ does! I see this text as a companion piece that goes with the Liber Requiei Mariae. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at this fascinating text!

The text is split into eight sections. The intro to the text describes this book written by the Father before Christ was born onto Mary. Knowing this information would be later requested, hence why it is written before the “events” that would later come about. The first section of the book has Christ appearing to Mary in the “place where the righteous have their habitation in the Garden, and in the place where sinners dwell in torment in hell”. Witnessing this, Mary becomes troubled and asks her son how they (she and her kinfolk) are to be spared from the devouring fire. Jesus denies her request as he states once this information is out, it will spread onto others and eventually be used by sinners to escape any responsibility for their actions (a “Get out of Jail FREE” card if you will). Mary says to him “Wherefore did I carry Thee in my womb for nine months and five days?” and begins to weep a great deal afterwards. This causes Jesus to feel empathic towards his mother. He says he will go speak to his Father regarding this situation.

Jesus went before his Father and said “Behold, Mary, my mother is weeping. Give me the Mashafa Haywat (i.e. the Book of Life), which thou didst write with Thy holy hand before I myself was brought forth by Mary, the Virgin who now sitteth upon her chariot of the Kîrûbêl (cherubim), thy Throne.” The Father fulfills this request and tells Jesus to give Mary the information she seeks and to inform her that nothing will be hidden from her.

With a gold pen, Jesus begins to write in a book. As he was doing this, a light cloud hovered over them. Seven pavilions (veils) of fire surround them and no one knew what was being written until Christ spoke to Mary. He said to her “Take this book which I have given unto thee. And thou shalt not reveal it to the man who is not able to bear it, or to keep guard over this Book, but only to the wise who believe on Me, and who walk in My commandments. And whosoever hath gotten possession of this book, shall neither descend into the place of torment nor into Sî’ôl (Sheol). And moreover, whosoever shall carry it, and whosoever shall attach it to his neck, his sins shall be remitted to him. And if he repeateth it with his voice at the time of the Offering (Eucharist), his sins shall be remitted to him, and he shall be cleansed from the pollution of sin. And if they (priests) shall make at the bier (tomb) the sign of the seal of SOLOMON thrice with this book, after he is buried, the angels shall conduct him in through the gates of life. And they shall make him to arrive before God, and shall introduce him into the kingdom of heaven.”

Now this is very interesting! This book, or as I would like to call it, an “amulet”, is present in the “Liber Requiei Mariae” but amulets are commonplace in all types of traditions from antiquity to the present. Various gnostic groups used amulets (I have a few from antiquity, perhaps a future blog post subject) that typically had the Greek letters ΙΑΩ on them, usually around the figure of Abrasax/Abraxas, though that deity was not always present. As you can see, this text is a Christian incantation ritual guide. The Egyptian influences will definitely become more and more apparent.

The next step Jesus takes is to tell his mother his secret names for procuring life and salvation. With the two is a servant by the name of STEPHEN. He will show up in the text quite a bit, along with another servant by the name of WALDA. Rather than trying to type out these divine names, I will take a picture of the text. Here is the first group:

The next set of secret names, the servant STEPHEN says so that mercy and compassion will be shown upon him:

After the recitation of these names, Jesus tells Mary that the mercy of his Father is complete and perfect, and if men believe his name, he will judge them life and salvation.

The second section (spell) starts right away with the phrase “In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, One God.” Jesus then wrote the following names:

These names were directed towards the servant STEPHEN to recite to avoid the smoke of the place of torment. The servant WALDA then requested from the Lord the names that were given to Peter. These are the names that were given to her:

After the recital of these names, the following phrase is proclaimed:

SÂDÔR ‘ALÂDÔR DÂNÂT ‘ADÊRÂ RÔDÂS

What exactly are these five words? According to the translator, these words are a corruption of the phrase: SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS. This phrase is a palindrome; hence it can be read the same forwards and backwards (in simplistic terms, think of the word RACECAR). This phrase was also used to form a magical square, such as:

The translator also states that this wording comes from an even earlier Roman phrase: “SAT ORARE POTENter ET OPERAre RatiO TuA sit”. In terms of this particular story, the phrase that is to be recited to close the ritual represents the five wounds of Jesus Christ, or as the text likes to state, “In the five nails of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

My first blog entry of this fascinating text will end here. Those interested in reading this text, I could not find it online anywhere. Ethiopic non-canonical Christian texts, particularly those of an esoteric nature, are pretty hard to come by, especially in English. I found on Amazon a reprint of the 1929 book “Bandlet of Righteousness: An Ethiopian Book of the Dead” by E.A. Wallis Budget. It’s pretty cheap and the version I purchased was by Kessinger’s Legacy Reprints. Unfortunately, no photos of the actual Ge’ez text accompany the text.

Featured artwork: 17th century Ethiopian iconography of Mother Mary and Jesus

-bP

The Virgin Mary’s Vision of Hell

Here lately I have been going down the rabbit hole of Ethiopic Christianity, particularly the apocrypha texts from that tradition. It has been a fascinating journey and I am only getting started. I am working on a blog entry about the “Lefāfa Ṣedeḳ” but in the meantime, I wanted to post about this text that involves the Theotokos and her vision of Hell. Now there are numerous stories involving such a concept, so the premise is nothing new. I am basing this blog entry on a text that survives in the British Museum collection. I am not sure where else it survives nor do I have any other information on it. This story is included in a book I recently read, so I do apologize about not having more source material of it’s origin. From my viewpoint, the Ethiopic Christian tradition is not very well represented in the English speaking world on the internet. Trying to find material on the matter usually leads me to books published in the later half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. That being said, let us take a look at this interesting short text.

This story is told by Mary. Jesus tells her that he will take her to the west and show her where the “souls of the sinners and the men of deceit live”. This area is at the boundary of the earth and heaven. No darkness was present but rather a river of fire. Mary asked her son for an explanation of the river and who dwelt within, and he said “These were not wholly cold, and they were not poor.” Looking around, Mary saw many men, women and children. She saw some men immersed in fire up to their breasts, some to their lips and others to their skulls. Then Mary saw a great abyss that appeared to have no bottom to it. She asked for whom this abyss is for and Jesus replied “For all those who have committed fornication, and those who have lain with men and beasts…These are they who shall enter this abyss, and this shall be their punishment forever.”

The next sight Mary saw was an old man who received a special punishment of his own. Fourteen “cruel” angels of darkness carried this man into the river of fire, which proceeded to engulf him. They then set the man upon a throne of fire which flared up to his breasts. The angels of darkness mockingly hurled red-hot darts into his side and poured fire onto him from a vessel! No reason was given why this man was being tortured as he was.

These types of visions continue. The next one involves a man whom the angels smote until he fell down on his face and blood was pouring out of his mouth before being thrown into the river of fire. Another man was being pounded with red hot stones and rods of lightning. Another man was beaten with rods of lightning until his face was blackened, then his tongue was cut out with a red hot razor and his nose sliced off with a sword!

Multitudes of people were scattered about the river of fire, some suspended on pillars of fire, others being gnawed on by worms. Virgins were chained around their necks and being dragged into the fire. Panthers and lions of fire were biting people through their throats and legs. Some areas had sweet fruits and water within a little more than an arm’s reach to taunt the damned.

These descriptions continued a little bit more, but you get the idea. The souls trapped were shown no mercy. Mary saw Gehenna was sealed with seven seals. Jesus cried out “Open ye the doors of Jahannam that Mary, my Mother, may see.” Interesting note that the word “Jahannam” is used, which is more associated with Islam than Christianity. Once the doors were opened, Mary asked what is this river. Jesus said that it’s name is Jahannam and said that the people who dwell within it are those who denied the Son of God. The tortured souls saw Mary and cried out “Blessed art thou, O Mary and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb. Blessed are the eyes that see thee.” Hearing this, Mary asks Jesus to have mercy upon them for her sake and that there is no man without sin.

Jesus responds with “From the Eve of the Sabbath until the dawn of the second day of the week, the sinners shall have respite from their torture (those in Jahannam). Be not sorrowful, my Mother. He who hath celebrated thy Commemoration, or hath written a history of thy words, on him will I show mercy to the twelfth generation for thy sake, O thou who didst give me birth. This I swear unto thee by my Father, and his Son, myself, and by the flow of blood from my side, for the redemption of the world, and by his Spirit, my Spirit.” Upon hearing this, Mary gives thanks upon her son.

Thus ends this particular text, at least the version I have read of it. The story offers up another example of intercession by Mary for those who pray to her. The graphic detail of the damned fits along the narrative of a Hell-ish afterlife for those who fall out of line. Definitely an interesting four page story!

This story is featured in the appendix of the Kessinger’s Legacy Reprints of the “Bandlet of Righteousness” by E.A. Wallis Budge. I will be referring to this book some more in the future.

Featured artwork is Midjourney based.

Hymn of the Savior

The Apocryphon of John, The Secret Revelation of John, The Secret Book of John…..whatever you want to refer to it, this particular text, next to the Gospel of Thomas, is perhaps the most well known “Gnostic” text out there. It survives in at least four manuscripts, more so than any other gnostic text. I do not plan to tackle this text in a single blog post but rather just a hymn that is included towards the end of the text. I will be using Marvin Meyer’s translation and the hymn I am referring to is what he refers to as the “Hymn of the Savior.”

Now I, the perfect forethought of all, transformed myself into my offspring. I existed first and went down every path.

I am the abundance of light,

I am the remembrance of fullness.

I went into the realm of great darkness and continued until I entered the midst of the prison. The foundations of chaos shook, and I hid from them because of their evil, and they did not recognize me.

Again I returned, a second time, and went on. I had come from the inhabitants of light — I, the remembrance of forethought.

I entered the midst of darkness and the bowels of the underworld, turning to my task. The foundations of chaos shook as though to fall upon those who dwell in chaos and destroy them. Again I hurried back to the root of my light so they might not be destroyed before their time.

Again, a third time, I went forth—

I am the light dwelling in light,
I am the remembrance of forethought—

so that I might enter the midst of darkness and the bowels of the underworld. I brightened my face with light from the consummation of their realm and entered the midst of their prison, which is the prison of the body.

I said, Let whoever hears arise from deep sleep.

A person wept and shed tears. Bitter tears the person wiped away, and said, Who is calling my name? From where has my hope come as I dwell in the bondage of prison?

I said,

I am the forethought of pure light,
I am the thought of the virgin spirit, who raises you to a place of honor.

Arise, remember that you have heard
and trace your root,
which is I, the compassionate.

Guard yourself against the angels of misery,
the demons of chaos and all who entrap you,
and beware of deep sleep
and the trap in the bowels of the underworld.

I raised and sealed the person in luminous water with five seals, that death might not prevail over the person from that moment on.

This hymn concludes the book, but it feels like a later addition to the story. That being said, taken on its own, this hymn presents the story of achieving gnosis through divine intervention. I have never shared my story of divine intervention (perhaps for another time) but the situation was pretty similar to this set up, particularly this section: “I said, Let whoever hears arise from deep sleep. A person wept and shed tears. Bitter tears the person wiped away, and said, Who is calling my name? From where has my hope come as I dwell in the bondage of prison?” I have this hymn printed out and included in my special binder (which includes various pieces of gnostic scriptures) that I often meditate upon. I highly recommend the readers of this post reflect upon this passage. It’s a very powerful hymn.

Read the entire translation of the Secret Book of John here: http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/apocjn-meyer.html

Featured artwork is midjourney based and created using part of this text.

Christ’s descent into Hell

Holy week passed earlier this month and with this post, I wanted to reference the Saturday between crucifixion and resurrection, that being the “Harrowing of Hell”. I always thought of the idea of Jesus going to Hell on a “rescue” mission to save souls was quite intriguing. So where does one go to read about this holy expedition? For this post, I am going to refer to the apocrypha text “The Gospel of Nicodemus”. This text survives in various manuscripts and is usually split into two parts, the second part relating to the descent into hell. So I will be referring to that section, and the Greek source version, for my overview. Depending on what manuscript source and translation you read, the story will slightly change, so keep that in mind.

This second part of the Gospel of Nicodemus starts with word spreading of Jesus being resurrected from the dead, as well as other people. Among these are chief priests. A group of men meet with these resurrected priests and have them explain how they are alive, thus begins the story of the harrowing of Hell.

John the Baptist entering Hades (midjourney created)

Chapter 2 takes place in Hades. It is completely dark and those souls who are trapped there are asleep. A light shines and this awakens those who have been there since creation. The old prophets and alike greet each other as they are happy that they can now see. The Prophet Hesaias proclaims the light to be from the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. While the light was illuminating Hades, a figure walks towards them. They question who it is and the figure answers that he is John (the Baptist). He proclaims that the Son of God is coming and begins teaching those what to expect.

Chapter 3 is a discourse between Adam and his son Seth. Adam tells Seth he wishes to inform the others where he (Adam) had sent them due to his sickness (original sin). Seth spoke to the others and said this: “When my father Adam, the first created, was about to fall once upon a time into death, he sent me to make entreaty to God very close by the gate of paradise, that He would guide me by an angel to the tree of compassion and that I might take oil and anoint my father, and that he might rise up from his sickness: which thing, therefore, I also did.” Once he said this, an angel appeared to Seth and told him that this oil would not be found now. It would only be much later when the Son of God would come in the flesh, and anoint him, then wash away his “sickness”, would Adam and others be free of every disease. Once everyone heard this story, this corresponded with what John was proclaiming hence it caused much rejoicing.

Chapter 4 is interesting. It features a discussion between Satan and Hades (the ruler, not the place). Some may think, are the two the same? No, they aren’t. Satan causes problems among mankind and gets his hands dirty with everything. Hades is the ruler of the underground, and hence, stays there, not interfering with matters of men. The conversation starts with Satan telling Hades that a Jew by the name of Jesus is coming. He has performed various miracles in the world by healing the sick and casting out demons with just a single word. They must be ready to secure him once he arrives. (for a moment, just imagine these two plotting to capture Jesus, lol) Hades, being the voice of reasoning between the two, replies back saying if Jesus is this powerful, there is nothing that they can do to stop him. Satan sort of mocks Hades and told him that he had the Jews crucify him in the world that led to the death of Jesus. Hades speaks of how one by the name of Lazarus had come to Hades but was brought back to life with a single word and that they should not underestimate Jesus. Personally I find this argument between Satan and Hades to be quite entertaining. Hades seems to be the more reserved type, just doing his job at keeping the underworld in order and Satan is being arrogant thinking that this Jesus fellow is going to be easy to take down. Hades understands the power that the Son of God has, and Satan is underestimating it.

Chapter 5 is about the entrance of Christ. While Satan and Hades were going back and forth, a thundering voice announced: “Lift up your gates, O ye rulers; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting gates; and the King of glory shall come in”. Satan orders his demons to charge after Jesus while Hades tells his minions to stand guard. Once again, you got Satan being brazen in his confidence while Hades understands the power that Christ really holds and worries what will happen if Jesus succeeds. The souls trapped in hell start getting antsy and mock Hades, telling him to open the gates. You have various figures such as Hesaias and David yelling at Hades to open the gates. In a last-ditch effort of ignorance, Hades questions “Who is this King of Glory?” An angel then made the announcement which then caused all of Hade’s reinforcements to obliterate. Christ now enters into Hades and all of the underworld is lit up.

This is the half way point of the story. What I love about this story is the visual imagery that I see when reading it. Sure, there are allegorical concepts throughout the story (“one must go through hell to find heaven” comes to mind) but taken literally, I can see how this would translate to a stage play.

Chapter 6 has Hades crying out in defeat yet praising Jesus indirectly. Once Jesus enters the scene, he grabs Satan by the head and hands him to his angels, stating “With iron chains bind his hands and his feet, and his neck, and his mouth”. This is giving off Revelations 20:1-3 vibes (ESV translation):

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

Jesus tells Hades to keep Satan secure until his (Jesus) second coming. This leads into Chapter 7, which is all about Hades scolding Satan for what he had done. If Satan didn’t have Jesus crucified, then he would not have descended into Hell. Every action has a reaction. Now the underworld has lost all it’s souls and Hades has lost his power.

Chapter 8 has Christ raising Adam from the underworld as well as the other saints and prophets. Pictured above is an icon of that scene and it is quite a popular icon in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Below the feet of Christ is the broken down gates of Hades.

Chapter 9 has Adam being delivered to the Archangel Michael, and as they walked through the gates of Paradise, there are already two men there. The two who never went to Hades are Enoch and Elijah (spelled “Helias” in this Greek source). This fits the narrative of those two having ascended to Heaven in their respective stories.

Chapter 10 introduces another man who has not been in Hades. This person is holding a cross upon his shoulders. He introduces himself as a robber and a thief and was crucified along with Jesus. He asked Jesus not to forget him, and Jesus told him “Amen, amen: today, I say unto thee, shall thou be with me in paradise.” Once the man had died, he ended up at the gates of Paradise and was let in by the Archangel Michael. He was told to wait as soon as he got in, as Adam and the other forefathers are coming right behind him.

Chapter 11 returns to the characters from the first chapter closing up the story and handing their writings over men they were talking to, before disappearing.

Normally I do not read religious / esoteric texts in a literal fashion, but this particular story lends itself so well to such a vivid interpretation. Viewing it through an allegorical lens, I hearken to my previous quote of the phrase “One must go through Hell to reach Heaven”. I find it to be similar to one facing their “dark night of the soul”. Once you come out of that stage, you are “resurrected” into a new spiritual being, and hence that is what this story represents to those lost souls that were trapped in Hades.

I will not be comparing this to the Latin versions, but if you want an “expanded” version of the story, then check those out as they add a bit more to each chapter, as well as some name differences, etc… Personally I find the Greek translation fine and to the point.

Read the Gospel of Nicodemus part 2 here: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/gospelnicodemus-roberts2.html

The John the Baptist and Satan & Hades pictures were made in Midjourney. The other photos are traditional Christian iconography / art.

The Gospel of Sophia

To continue with my OpenAI experiments, this time I wanted to see how well it put together a “Gospel” and I decided to do this with Sophia. I had the chatbot use the parameters of it only referencing “The Secret Book of John” for the story (as the Sophia myth does change somewhat amongst other Gnostic texts), have the A.I. write the Gospel in the style of “the Gospel of John” and to keep it roughly 500 words. Below is what it put out (I made no alterations):

In the beginning was the divine realm, and within it dwelled the being Sophia. She was the embodiment of wisdom and knowledge, and all who sought the light of understanding turned to her for guidance.

But Sophia longed to experience the material world, and so she descended from the divine realm and into the chaos of the material universe. As she journeyed deeper into the material world, she lost touch with her true nature and became trapped in ignorance and suffering.

But Sophia did not despair, for she knew that within her lay the spark of divine consciousness. She searched within herself for the wisdom and knowledge that would guide her back to the divine realm.

In her search, Sophia encountered Yaldabaoth, who claimed to be the creator of the material world. But Sophia saw through his lies and recognized him as an impostor. She knew that true creation could only come from the divine realm.

Sophia continued to search within herself, and in time, she discovered the true nature of the material world. She saw that it was a reflection of the divine realm, but that it had become distorted and corrupted by ignorance and fear.

With this knowledge, Sophia was able to break free from the material world and return to the divine realm. But she did not forget the suffering she had seen in the material world, and she knew that there were others who were trapped in ignorance and suffering.

And so Sophia resolved to share her knowledge and wisdom with all who would listen. She became a teacher and guide, offering her wisdom to all who sought the light of understanding.

Though many rejected her teachings and turned away from the light of knowledge, Sophia never gave up. She continued to offer her guidance and wisdom, knowing that even the most lost and ignorant souls could one day find their way back to the divine realm.

And so the story of Sophia teaches us that no matter how lost we may feel, we always have the spark of divine consciousness within us. With the guidance of wise teachers like Sophia, we can overcome our ignorance and suffering and find our way back to the divine realm, where the light of understanding and knowledge shines bright.

For a “summary” text of her story, I think it did a great job. The wording about “encountering” Yaldabaoth could have been changed to “given birth to”, but for all practical purposes, “encountering” does work. Just a nitpick. Obviously it does not go into detail, but for someone new coming into this mythology, I think it does a great job of giving the reader enough details to have an idea of what Sophia is.

-bP

Featured artwork is of Sophia, and is Midjourney A.I. based.

Mark, Thomas and GPT

To continue with the chat GPT experiment, I decided to cross check the Gospel of Mark with the Gospel of Thomas. Yes, I realize Mark’s Gospel is pretty much told in Matthew and Luke. That being said, this post will be set up similar to the last one with OpenAI’s chatGPT entries in big bold letters while the ESV version of Mark and the Stephen Patterson & Marvin Meyer’s translation of Thomas will follow.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear”: This phrase appears in both Mark 4:9 and Thomas 8.

Mark 4:9: Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

Thomas 8: And he said, “The person is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and easily chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!”

ChatGPT also had a second entry that mimic this saying and said it also appears in Mark 4:23 and Thomas 21.

Mark 4:23: If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

Mary said to Jesus, “What are your disciples like?” He said, “They are like little children living in a field that is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say, ‘Give us back our field.’ They take off their clothes in front of them in order to give it back to them, and they return their field to them. For this reason I say, if the owners of a house know that a thief is coming, they will be on guard before the thief arrives and will not let the thief break into their house (their domain) and steal their possessions. As for you, then, be on guard against the world. Prepare yourselves with great strength, so the robbers can’t find a way to get to you, for the trouble you expect will come. Let there be among you a person who understands. When the crop ripened, he came quickly carrying a sickle and harvested it. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!”

Now in both these instances, the Thomas phrases have much more detail and the “phrase” only appears after the story.

“For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him”: This phrase appears in both Mark 4:25 and Thomas 41.

Mark 4:25: For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Thomas 41: Jesus said, “Whoever has something in hand will be given more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little they have.”

“Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness”: This phrase appears in both Mark 3:29 and Thomas 44.

Mark 3:29: but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—

Thomas 44: Jesus said, “Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven, either on earth or in heaven.”

“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”: This phrase appears in both Mark 12:17 and Thomas 100.

Mark 12:17: Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.

Thomas 100: They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, “The Roman emperor’s people demand taxes from us.” He said to them, “Give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, give God what belongs to God, and give me what is mine.”

“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath”: This phrase appears in both Mark 2:27 and Thomas 27.

Mark 2:27: And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Thomas 27: “If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the (Father’s) kingdom. If you do not observe the sabbath as a sabbath you will not see the Father.”

“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all”: This phrase appears in both Mark 10:15 and Thomas 22.

Mark 10:15: Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Thomas 22: Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, “These nursing babies are like those who enter the (Father’s) kingdom.” They said to him, “Then shall we enter the (Father’s) kingdom as babies?” Jesus said to them, “When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom].”

Once again, I believe the A.I. did a fairly good job of providing examples of similar phrases. Are there more? Probably. I am by no means an expert. Now looking at these similarities, it shows us that Mark is indeed older than Thomas, as Thomas has more “detail” in its sayings than what Mark provides. Usually that is the consensus in the academic community when it comes to dating these texts, but really, who knows for sure.

And no, I will not be doing a post on the Gospel of John and Thomas A.I. comparisons. John is quite different in its style and does not present itself as an easy comparison to Thomas, at least in terms of a quick chatbot query.

Gospel of Thomas can be read here: http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html

Featured artwork is the 1657 painting by Emmanuel Tzanes. If you are unfamiliar with him, check out the wiki page. Great stuff! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Tzanes

Matthew, Luke, Thomas and ChatGPT

The buzz lately in the technology world is the artificial intelligence chat bots. I like to play around with new technologies (hence the abundance of A.I. art that graces my blog), thus I decided to give OpenAI’s chat GPT a shot. This program is quite interesting. If you have never used it, it’s sort of set up like a typical chat program between you and the A.I (in the current incarnation). You ask a question, it responds. Now some topics it tries to ignore, usually dealing with ethics / human thought process but it’s not perfect. It is still in the development phase. I like to go after spiritual related content and see how it responds. Some of the responses are a generic answer but after you work with it for a while, you start to realize how you can phrase the question a certain way to get a better response. I also like to test its intelligence regarding various esoteric texts. I have used it to summarize a text, explain what a section means and even fill in the blanks of fragmented texts. Now I don’t automatically assume what it says is gospel, but it’s food for thought and at times, it gives me a new perspective on things.

With this post I wanted to try an experiment. I asked the chatbot to list the similarities between the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and Thomas. At first, the response was a bit limited and very vague. It even went off course and included something from Mark and John. So, I rephrased the question and kind of scolded the AI a bit (LOL) to give me a better answer. This time it did, and it presented the following similar phrases. I am by no means an expert on these Gospels, so it was something I had to look up to verify. I will be using the ESV translations of Matthew and Luke, and Stephen Patterson & Marvin Meyer’s translation of Thomas for these comparisons.

“Whoever has, to him more shall be given” (Matthew 13:12, Thomas 41, Luke 8:18)

Matthew 13:12: For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

Thomas 41: Jesus said, “Whoever has something in hand will be given more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little they have.”

Luke 8:18: Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

“For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” (Matthew 25:29, Thomas 41)

Matthew: 25:29: For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

Thomas 41: Jesus said, “Whoever has something in hand will be given more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little they have.”

“He who is near me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom.” (Thomas 82, Luke 17:21)

Thomas 82: Jesus said, “Whoever is near me is near the fire, and whoever is far from me is far from the (Father’s) kingdom.”

Luke 17:21: nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30, Thomas 23, Luke 11:23)

Matthew 12:30: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Thomas 23: Jesus said, “I shall choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten thousand, and they will stand as a single one.”

Luke 11:23: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

“The kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21, Thomas 3)

Luke 17:21: nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

Thomas 3(:1): Jesus said, “If your leaders say to you, ‘Look, the (Father’s) kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father’s) kingdom is within you and it is outside you.

“For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17, Thomas 5)

Luke 8:17: For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.

Thomas 5: Jesus said, “Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. [And there is nothing buried that will not be raised.]”

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24, Thomas 26, Luke 18:25)

Matthew 19:24: Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Thomas 26: Jesus said, “You see the sliver in your friend’s eye, but you don’t see the timber in your own eye. When you take the timber out of your own eye, then you will see well enough to remove the sliver from your friend’s eye.”

Luke 18:25: For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

“The lamp of the body is the ey; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.” (Matthew 6:22-23, Thomas 24, Luke 11:34-35)

Matthew 6:22 – 23: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Thomas 24: His disciples said, “Show us the place where you are, for we must seek it.” He said to them, “Anyone here with two ears had better listen! There is light within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world. If it does not shine, it is dark.”

Luke 11:34 – 35: Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.

“Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.” (Matthew 6:25, Thomas 36)

Matthew 6:25: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

Thomas 36: Jesus said, “Do not fret, from morning to evening and from evening to morning, [about your food–what you’re going to eat, or about your clothing–] what you are going to wear. [You’re much better than the lilies, which neither card nor spin.

“Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20, Thomas 54)

Luke 6:20: And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Thomas 54: Jesus said, “Congratulations to the poor, for to you belongs Heaven’s kingdom.”

And there it is, the 10 comparisons that ChatGPT put out. You know what, that was pretty damn impressive! While A.I. technology does worry me (I am a fan of the Terminator film series after all), there are a lot of positives as well. If you are into research, this is a great tool. With the rapid updates to these chat A.I.s, it is going to be quite interesting to see where we are in the world in just a few years, if not even sooner.

Read the Patterson / Meyer translation of Thomas here: http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html

Artwork made using Midjourney AI.

-bP

Missing fragment from the Gospel of Philip?

As I continue down the rabbit hole that is the Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, I noticed a fragment that I have read before. While describing the Gnostics (Borborites), Epiphanius mentions they use a “Gospel of Philip” and then writes out a saying from said gospel. I have edited the saying (i.e. took out his notes and redundant words such as “and he said”, etc…) and present it as follows:

“The Lord hath shown me what my soul must say on its ascent to heaven, and how it must answer each of the powers on high.  ‘I have recognized myself and gathered myself from every quarter, and have sown no children for the archon.  But I have pulled up his roots, and gathered my scattered members, and I know who thou art. For I am of the ones on high.’ ”

Obviously this is not in the Nag Hammadi version of the Gospel of Philip. So is this from another Gospel with the same name, or was this verse lost/edited out of the NHL version? Unless another manuscript of Philip pops up, we will not know (and even then, it still may not have this passage). But looking at this passage, it is quite the interesting phrase. So to escape this cycle of reincarnation / samsara / hell / whatever you want to call it, and ascend to the pleroma, one must not have children. Really, this makes sense. If humans are the life source of the ruler archon, then cutting off the energy source would diminish it’s power if we are taking this literally. Allegorically this can be seen in numerous ways. I can see it pertaining to one gathering up their thoughts (i.e. getting a clear mind), leaving no attachments to the physical world and knowing oneself to be a spiritual being.

Now when I read this, I recognized this phrase before. Sure enough, our Gnostic scholar from the early 20th century, G.R.S. Mead had included it in his work Fragments of a Faith Forgotten. It is not mentioned that it is from the Gospel of Philip however. Here is his translation:

I recognized myself, and gathered myself together from all sides; I sowed no children for the ruler, but I tore up his roots, and gathered together [my] limbs that were scattered abroad; I know thee who thou art, for I am front the realms above.

Check out Fragments of a Faith Forgotten for more great pieces of obscure sayings: https://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/fff/fff72.htm

As usual, the featured artwork was made using Midjourney A.I. with this passage.

Norea, wife of Noah

Norea (Noria) is a figure that pops up in various Gnostic texts. The most popular Norea text is titled “The Thought of Norea” and is presented as a prayer in the third person to the Monad. If you haven’t read it, here it is:

Father of All, Ennoia of the Light, dwelling in the heights above the (regions) below, Light dwelling in the heights, Voice of Truth, upright Nous, untouchable Logos, and ineffable Voice, incomprehensible Father!

It is Norea who cries out to them. They heard, (and) they received her into her place forever. They gave it to her in the Father of Nous, Adamas, as well as the voice of the Holy Ones, in order that she might rest in the ineffable Epinoia, in order that <she> might inherit the first mind which <she> had received, and that <she> might rest in the divine Autogenes, and that she (too) might generate herself, just as she also has inherited the living Logos, and that she might be joined to all of the Imperishable Ones, and speak with the mind of the Father.

And she began to speak with the words of Life, and <she> remained in the presence of the Exalted One, possessing that which she had received before the world came into being. She has the great mind of the Invisible One, and she gives glory to <her> Father, and she dwells within those who [...] within the Pleroma, and she beholds the Pleroma.

There will be days when she will behold the Pleroma, and she will not be in deficiency, for she has the four holy helpers who intercede on her behalf with the Father of the All, Adamas. He it is who is within all of the Adams, possessing the thought of Norea, who speaks concerning the two names which create a single name.

Norea takes on various roles in the “Gnostic” cosmology. She is sometimes portrayed as the daughter of Eve, sometimes as the syzygy of Adam, or the personification of Sophia in her fallen state, and finally as the wife of Noah. For this particular post, I am going with the Noah’s wife narrative.

Unfortunately this story is lost (or as I would like to say, not yet discovered, as I like to keep hope in these matters!). The only description of this comes from Epiphanius of Salamis in his Panarion work against heresies. In his section regarding the Gnostics (and I mean that in regards to the actual Gnostic sect), whom he says they are also known as Borborites, Epiphanius mentions several of their texts such as “Noria”, “Gospel of Eve”, “Gospel of Perfection”, “Gospel of Philip”, “Apocalypse of Adam”, “Greater Questions of Mary”, etc…. I look forward to posting about some of these other texts in the future. For “Noria”, he dedicates a page towards the book. He claims the group identified Noria with the Greek figure, Pyrrha of Thessaly. Then he goes on to state the following:

Then these people who are presenting us with Philistion’s mimes all over again give a reason why Noria was not allowed to join Noah in the ark, though she often wanted to. 

The archon who made the world, they say, wanted to destroy her in the flood with all the rest. 

But they say that she sat down in the ark and burned it a first and a second time, and a third. And this is why the building of Noah’s own ark took many years—it was burned many times by Noria.  

For Noah was obedient to the archon, they say, but Noria revealed the powers on high and Barbelo the scion of the powers, who was the archon’s opponent as the other powers are. 

And she let it be known that what has been stolen from the Mother on high by the archon who made the world, and by the other gods, demons and angels with him, must be gathered from the power in bodies, through the male and female emissions.

Like other gnostic texts, what is presented here is another retelling of a story but this time of Noah and the ark. We have Yaldabaoth wanting to destroy Norea in the flood with the rest of humanity but she kept burning the ark down numerous times. Norea is portrayed as being a follower of Barbelo and it’s mentioned how Yaldabaoth and his minions have taken power from the Mother. Now in some tales it is Sophia he takes from, but here it is Barbelo. Technically Barbelo is the source of everything (except the Monad) so this falls in line with traditional thought. The last sentence is pretty interesting, especially the phrase “through the male and female emissions”. The Borborites, per Epiphanius, were very sex based in their rituals / beliefs and this phrase here states how the power that lies within humans come from their “emissions”. The mixture of such would be what creates human life after all.

Now is this text really lost though? What about “The Hypostasis of the Archons”, aka “Reality of the Rulers” from the NHL? Let’s see what it states regarding Norea and the ark incident:

Again Eve became pregnant, and she bore Norea. And she said, "He has begotten on me a virgin as an assistance for many generations of mankind." She is the virgin whom the forces did not defile.

Then mankind began to multiply and improve. The rulers took counsel with one another and said, "Come, let us cause a deluge with our hands and obliterate all flesh, from man to beast." But when the ruler of the forces came to know of their decision, he said to Noah, "Make yourself an ark from some wood that does not rot and hide in it - you and your children and the beasts and the birds of heaven from small to large – and set it upon Mount Sir."

Then Norea came to him, wanting to board the ark. And when he would not let her, she blew upon the ark and caused it to be consumed by fire. Again he made the ark, for a second time.

The rulers went to meet her, intending to lead her astray. Their supreme chief said to her, "Your mother Eve came to us." But Norea turned to them and said to them, "It is you who are the rulers of the darkness; you are accursed. And you did not know my mother; instead it was your female counterpart that you knew. For I am not your descendant; rather it is from the world above that I am come."

The arrogant ruler turned, with all his might, and his countenance came to be like (a) black [...]; he said to her presumptuously, "You must render service to us, as did also your mother Eve; for I have been given [...]." But Norea turned, with the might of [...]; and in a loud voice, she cried out up to the holy one, the God of the entirety, "Rescue me from the rulers of unrighteousness and save me from their clutches - forthwith!"

The (great) angel came down from the heavens and said to her, "Why are you crying up to God? Why do you act so boldly towards the holy spirit?"

Norea said, "Who are you?" The rulers of unrighteousness had withdrawn from her.

He said, "It is I who am Eleleth, sagacity, the great angel who stands in the presence of the holy spirit. I have been sent to speak with you and save you from the grasp of the lawless. And I shall teach you about your root."

(Norea apparently now speaking) Now as for that angel, I cannot speak of his power: his appearance is like fine gold and his raiment is like snow. No, truly, my mouth cannot bear to speak of his power and the appearance of his face!

So is this the same story? In a sense, yes. Now we have had other instances where a story is told in a gnostic text and retold in another, but with differences (the fall of Sophia being one such example). There is no mention of Barbelo in this story, though that could be due to a translation / copy error. Personally I like to think there is a different Norea text out there.

Midjourney artwork based on Norea burning the ark.

Links:

Thought of Norea: http://gnosis.org/naghamm/nore.html

Pyrrha of Thessaly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrha_of_Thessaly

Hypostasis of the Archons: http://gnosis.org/naghamm/hypostas.html

Two more readings

I have a video clip of two more readings I would like to share. The first reading is from the Gospel of Philip and it’s about how Jesus appears to everyone.

Jesus took them all by stealth, for he did not appear as he was, but in the manner in which they would be able to see him. He appeared to them all. He appeared to the great as great. He appeared to the small as small. He appeared to the angels as an angel, and to men as a man. Because of this, his word hid itself from everyone. Some indeed saw him, thinking that they were seeing themselves, but when he appeared to his disciples in glory on the mount, he was not small. He became great, but he made the disciples great, that they might be able to see him in his greatness.

He said on that day in the thanksgiving, "You who have joined the perfect light with the Holy Spirit, unite the angels with us also, as being the images." Do not despise the lamb, for without it, it is not possible to see the king. No one will be able to go in to the king if he is naked.

That first paragraph is quite inspirational. No matter where you are in life, if you seek to find Christ, he will appear on your level but then lifts you to greatness. The second paragraph feels like an expanded version of John 14:6:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  (ESV translation)

The second reading is a section from the untitled text in the Bruce Codex. I made a blog post about it awhile back and will just link to it HERE.

The artwork I have featured for this post is Midjourney AI based and is derived from the untitled text prayer.