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The G. R. S. Mead Collection Fragments of a Faith Forgotten by G.R.S. Mead 1900 Title Page Synopsis of Contents Illustrations Index Introduction Introduction Prolegomena Some Rough Outlines of the Background of the Gnosis Preliminary Considerations Greece Egypt Philo on the Contemplative Life Jewry Alexandria General and Gnostic Christianity The Evolution of Catholic Christianity The Ebionites The Essenes The Tendencies of Gnosticism The Literature and Sources of Gnosticism The Gnosis According to its Foes The Gnosis According to its Foes Some Gnostic Fragments Recovered from the Polemical Writings of the Church Fathers The ''Simonians'' Dositheus ''Simon Magus.'' Menander Saturninus The ''Ophites'' An Anonymous System From Irenæus An Early ''Ophite'' System The Naasseni The Peratæ The Sethians The Docetæ Monoïmus The So-Called Cainites The Carpocratians ''Epiphanes'' Cerinthus Nicolaus Cerdo Marcion Apelles The Basilidian Gnosis The Valentinian Movement Valentinus i. From a Letter ii. From a Letter iii. From the Letter to Agathōpus iv. From a Homily v. A few Sentences preserved in the Controversial Matter of Clement... vi. From the Letter on the Community of Friends vii. A very doubtful Fragment from Eulogius of Alexandria writing at the end of the Sixth Century viii. The Myth which Valentinus made ix. From a Psalm Some Outlines of Æonology Hippolytus’ account of One of the Variants of the Sophia-Mythus The Number-Symbolism of Marcus Ptolemy Heracleōn Bardesanes The Hymn of the Robe of Glory Some Traces of the Gnosis in the Uncanonical Acts Foreword From The Acts of Thomas From The Acts of John From The Acts of Andrew From The Travels of Peter The Gnosis According to Its Friends The Gnosis According to Its Friends The Askew and Bruce Codices Summary of the Contents of the So-Called Pistis Sophia Treatise Summary of the Extracts From the Books of the Saviour Summary of the Fragments of the Book of the Great Logos According to the Mystery Selections from the Untitled Apocalypse of the Codex Brucianus Notes on the Contents of the Bruce and Askew Codices The Akhmīm Codex Some Forgotten Sayings Conclusion Afterword Bibliographies FRAGMENTS OF A FAITH FORGOTTEN by George Robert Stow Mead SOME SHORT SKETCHES AMONG THE GNOSTICS, MAINLY OF THE FIRST TWO CENTURIES : A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF CHRISTIAN ORIGINS BASED ON THE MOST RECENTLY RECOVERED MATERIALS. Theosophical Publishing Society: London [1900] NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION Scanned at sacred-texts.com, June 2006. Proofed and formatted by John Bruno Hare. This text is in the public domain in the United States because it was published prior to January 1st, 1923. This text is now in the public domain in the EU and UK because GRS Mead died in 1933. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose, provided this notice of attribution is left intact in all copies. This online edition has been reformatted, edited and corrected for inclusion in the Gnosis Archive (www.gnosis.org). So understand the Light, He answered, and make friends with it. -- HERMES THE THRICE-GREATEST. p. v Synopsis of Contents PAGE INTRODUCTION 1-153 PROLEGOMENA 3-28 The Creed of Christendom 3 The New Era Two Thousands Years ago 4 The New Hope of To-day 5 Our Present Task 5 The One Religion 6 The Sunshine of its Doctrine 7 The Comparative Science of Religion 8 The True Scholar of Religion 9 The Just Method of Comparison 9 The Analysis of Religion 10 The Beginnings of Christianity 11 The First Two Centuries 12 The "Higher Criticism" 14 "Providentissimus Deus" 14 Its Immediate Result 16 The Force of Reaction 17 The Force of Progress 18 The Nature of Criticism 18 The Resultant 19 p. vi PAGE Nineteen Centuries Ago and Now 21 The Return of Souls 23 The Conditions of the Comparison 23 The Intensified Present 24 Occident and Orient 25 The Reconciliation of Science and Theology 25 The Coming and Going of Souls 26 The Birth and Death of Races 27 The Manhood of the Western World 8 SOME ROUGH OUTLINES OF THE BACKGROUND OF THE GNOSIS 29-120 PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS 29-36 The Greatest Story in the World 29 The Need of a Background 30 The Main Means to a Recovery of the Outlines 30 The Gnostic Schools 32 Where to look for their Origins 32 The Nature of the Field to be Surveyed 33 The Soil of the Field 34 Three Mother Streams 35 GREECE 36-57 The Greece of 600 B.C. 36 The Precursors of Pythagoras 37 The Orphic Tradition 39 Primitive Hellas 39 The Wavelets of Aryan Immigration 41 The Orphic Line 42 The Greece of Homer 43 Orpheus returns to Greece 44 The Mysteries 46 Their Corruption 47 The Reason of it 47 p. vii PAGE The Various Traditions 48 The Political Mysteries 49 The Private Mysteries 49 The Orphic Communities 50 The Philosophic Mysteries 51 Pythagoras and Plato 51 Aristotle and Scepticism 53 East and West 54 Rome 55 The Mysteries of Mithras 55 EGYPT 57-65 The Wisdom of Egypt 57 The Blendings of Tradition 58 The Mystic Communities 60 The Therapeuts 60 The Earliest Christians of Eusebius 61 The Pseudo-Philo Theory 62 Its Death blow 63 An Interesting Question of Date 64 The Title and Context 65 PHILO ON THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE 66-86 The Essæans 66 The Name Therapeut 66 Their Abandonment of the World 67 Their Retreats 68 The Mareōtic Colony 69 Their Dwellings 69 The Original Meaning of the Term Monastery 70 Their Prayers and Exercises 70 The Nature of their Books 71 Their Mode of Meeting 71 The Sanctuary 72 Their Rule 72 p. viii PAGE Fasting 73 The Seventh-day Common Meal 73 Housing and Clothing 73 Their Sacred Feasts 74 The Banquet on the Fiftieth Day 75 Seniority 75 The Women Disciples 75 The Plain Couches 76 The Servers 76 The Frugal Fare 77 The President 78 The Instruction 78 The Interpretation of Scripture 79 The Singing of Hymns 79 Bread and Salt 80 The Sacred Dancing 80 The Morning Prayer 82 A Note on the Sacred Numbers 82 Philo's Connection with the Therapeuts 84 The Lay Disciples 85 The Variety of Communities 85 JEWRY 86-95 The Influence of Babylon 86 The Writing of Scripture-history 88 The Mythology of History 88 Honest Self-delusion 90 The Spiritualizing of Judaism 91 Zealotism 91 Pharisaism 92 The Chassidim and Essenes 93 The Inner Schools 94 ALEXANDRIA 95-120 A Bird's-eye View of the City 96 p. ix PAGE The Populace 100 The Library 102 The Museum 106 The Schools of the Sophists 109 The Dawn-land 110 The New Religion 113 Jewish and Christian Schools 116 GENERAL AND GNOSTIC CHRISTIANITY 121-153 THE EVOLUTION OF CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY 121-125 The Canon 121 The Gospels 122 The Letters of Paul 123 The Gentilization of Christianity 124 THE EBIONITES 126-130 The Nazoræans 126 The Poor Men 127 The Ebionite Tradition of Jesus 128 THE ESSENES 131-136 Their Manner of Life 132 The Degrees of Holiness 133 Points of Contact with Christianity 134 THE TENDENCIES OF GNOSTICISM 136-142 The "Secularizing" of Christianity 136 Yahweh not "the Father" of Jesus 138 The Inner Teaching 138 Various Classes of Souls 139 The Person of Jesus 140 The Main Doctrines 141 THE LITERATURE AND SOURCES OF GNOSTICISM. 143-153 Literature 143 Indirect Sources 146 Direct Sources 151 p. x PAGE THE GNOSIS ACCORDING TO ITS FOES 155-449 SOME GNOSTIC FRAGMENTS RECOVERED FROM THE POLEMICAL WRITINGS OF THE CHURCH FATHERS 157-414 No Classification possible 157 THE "SIMONIANS" 160-161 The Origin of the Name 160 DOSITHEUS 162-164 A Follower of John the Baptist 162 The Pre-Christian Gnosis 163 "SIMON MAGUS" 164-174 The Ebionite "Simon" 165 The "Simonian" Literature 167 The "Simonian" System of Irenæus 168 The Great Announcement 170 The Hidden Fire 171 The Fire Tree 172 The Æons 173 MENANDER 175-177 His Date 175 His Doctrines 175 A Link with Zoroastrianism 177 SATURNINUS 177-180 The Chain of Teachers 177 Asceticism 178 Summary of Doctrines 178 The Making of Man 180 THE "OPHITES" 181-188 The Obscurity of the Subject 181 p. xi PAGE The Term "Ophite" 182 The Serpent Symbol 183 The Myth of the Going-forth 186 Pseudo-philology 187 AN ANONYMOUS SYSTEM FROM IRENÆUS 188-193 The Spiritual Creation 188 Yahweh Ialdabaōth 189 O. T. Exegesis 189 Christology 191 Jesus 191 AN EARLY "OPHITE" SYSTEM 193-197 Justinus 193 The Book of Baruch 194 Baruch 196 Christology 197 THE NAASSENI 198-206 Their Literature 198 Their Mystical Exegesis 199 The Assyrian Mysteries 200 The Egyptian 201 The Greek 201 The Samothracian 202 The Phrygian 202 The Mysteries of the Great Mother 203 The Fragment of a Hymn 205 THE PERATÆ 206-212 The Source of their Tradition 206 The Three Worlds 207 A Direct Quotation 208 The Meaning of the Name 209 Psychological Physiology 210 The Lost Books of Hippolytus 212 p. xii PAGE THE SETHIANS 213-216 Seth 213 An Outline of their System 214 The Mysteries 215 THE DOCETÆ 217-221 God 218 The Æons 218 Cosmos and Man 219 The Saviour 220 MONOÏMUS 222-223 Number Theories 222 How to Seek after God 223 THE SO-CALLED CAINITES 224-229 The Obscurity of the Subject 224 The Enemies of Yahweh the Friends of God 225 Judas 226 A Scrap of History 228 THE CARPOCRATIANS 229-233 Their Idea of Jesus 230 Reincarnation 231 "EPIPHANES" 233-236 The Moon god 234 Communism 234 The Monadic Gnosis 236 CERINTHUS 237-238 The Scape-Goat for the "Pillar-Apostles" 237 The Over-Writer of the Apocalypse 238 NICOLAUS 239-240 "Which Things I hate" 239 CERDO 240-241 The Master of Marcion 240 p.
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