Jessenic View on Gnosis (Thirteen Points Of
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Tertullian and the Doctrine of the Trinity I
TERTULLIAN AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY I. Tertullian – Originator of the Trinity Tertullian's Legend At the end of the second century there were three main centers of church organization – in Antioch, in Alexandria, and in Rome. The language used in the church writings was Greek. But the situation was soon to be changed; due to the writings of Tertullian, Carthage, his city, and Latin, his language, were to gain prominence and give rise to a Latin Christianity.1 Though Tertullian (ca 170-ca 230) is the most important Christian writer2 in the development of Christian doctrine, he was not mentioned during the third century. He inspired, however, other writers in Africa: Minucius Felix (fl. second half of the second century), Cyprian (200-258), Arnobius of Sicca (fl. ca 300), Lactantius (ca 240-ca 320), and the first Italian theologian who wrote in Latin, Novatian (210-280), whose De Trinitate3 is just a repetition of Tertullian's treatise. Novatian‟s treatise was written in 257 and probably in reaction to the doctrine of Sabellius (fl. ca 215) which he began to propound shortly before. Even today Tertullian‟s importance is not fully recognized. Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930), a preeminent German theologian, writes: When the Nicene formulary is praised, it is always of Athanasius that we think; when the Chalcedonian decree is cited, it is the name of Leo the Great that is magnified. But that Tertullian is in reality the father of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and of the Person of Christ, and that in the whole patristic literature there is no treatise that can be compared in importance and influence with the tract “Against Praxeas” it has necessarily been left to the investigation of our own day to exhibit.4 2 We do not know much about Tertullian, and what we know is primarily from his own writings.5 We know that Septimius Tertullianus6 lived during the reigns of Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211) and his son Caracalla (211-217) in Carthage, and was probably born ca 170. -
Title Goes Here
Video 257: More on Gnostic Cosmology —the Kenoma vs. Orion by Wes Penre, May 22, 2021 The video to this transcript can be found on our Video channel: https://wespenrevideos.com ___________________________________________________________________________________ t least since the Matrix series came out in the theatres, people in the alternative fields have called our 3-D reality “the Matrix.” We see it as either a simulated A reality, and/or a narrow frequency band, within which humankind is limited. This has been the norm of thinking in the alternative field since the beginning of this millennium. In the Wes Penre Papers (WPP), I discussed the 4% Universe, which would correspond with this limited frequency band, and the 96% Universe, which is the Universe humans in our 3-D bodies cannot perceive. Science calls the invisible Universe dark matter and dark energy, and they don’t know what it is and why we cannot see it. In the WPP, I wrote that the invisible Universe is Orion, or the Orion Empire (see wespenre.com for more info). Then, I started looking into the Gnostic texts and discussed those on my blog1. As far as I am concerned, the Gnostic texts (GT) are a direct extension of the WPP, or I would say the WPP are to a degree the GT but told from another perspective. 1 https://wespenrevideos.com/ © 2021 Wes Penre Productions. Can be freely distrubuted for personal use if not in any way altered. 1 In the GT, there are four major “realms” being mentioned. They are, the Pleroma (the Spiritual Realm), the 9th and 8th Heavens (Sophia’s/the Orion Queen’s Realm in the physical Universe), the 7th to 1st Heavens, i.e., the Kenoma, which we usually call the Matrix, and finally the 5 Heavens/dimensions of the Underworld or the Abyss. -
Pistis Sophia;
PISTIS SOPHIA; A GNOSTIC MISCELLANY: BEING FOR THE MOST PART EXTRACTS FROM THE BOOKS OF THE SAVIOUR, TO WHICH ARE ADDED EXCERPTS FROM A COGNATE LITERATURE; ENGLISHED By G. R. S. Mead. London: J. M. Watkins [1921] Biographical data: G. R. S. (George Robert Stow) Mead [1863-1933] NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION. {rem Scanned at sacred-texts.com, June 2005. Proofed and formatted by John Bruno Hare. This text is in the public domain in the United States because it was published prior to 1923. It also entered the public domain in the UK and EU in 2003. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose, provided this notice of attribution is left intact in all copies. p. v CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE xvii INTRODUCTION The Askew Codex xxi The Scripts xxii The Contents xxiii The Title xxiv The Date of the MS. xxv Translated from the Greek xxvi Originals composed in Egypt xxviii Date: The 2nd-century Theory xxix The 3rd-century Theory xxix The 'Ophitic' Background xxxi Three vague Pointers xxxii The libertinist Sects of Epiphanius xxxiii The Severians xxxiv The Bruce Codex xxxv The Berlin Codex xxxvi The so-called Barbēlō-Gnostics xxxvii The Sethians xxxviii The present Position of the Enquiry xxxviii The new and the old Perspective in Gnostic Studies xxxix The Ministry of the First Mystery xl The post-resurrectional Setting xli The higher Revelation within this Setting xlii The Æon-lore xlii The Sophia Episode xliii The ethical Interest xliii The Mysteries xliv The astral Lore xlv Transcorporation xlv The magical Element xlvi History and psychic Story xlvii The P.S. -
Barbelo 1 Barbelo
Barbelo 1 Barbelo Part of a series on Gnosticism History • Early • Syrian-Egyptic • Mandaeism • Manichaeism • Sabians of Haran • Modern schools Proto-Gnostics • Philo • Simon Magus • Cerinthus • Valentinus • Basilides • Menander Scriptures • Gnostic Gospels • Nag Hammadi library • Pseudo-Abdias • Clementine literature • Gnosticism and the New Testament Codices • Codex Tchacos • Askew Codex • Bruce Codex • Berlin Codex Lists • Gnostic sects • Gnostic terms Related articles • Gnosis • Jnana • Esoteric Christianity • Theosophy • Neoplatonism and Gnosticism • v • t [1] • e Barbelo 2 The Gnostic term "Barbēlō" (Greek: Βαρβηλώ)[2] refers to the first emanation of God in several forms of Gnostic cosmogony. Barbēlō is often depicted as a supreme female principle, the single passive antecedent of creation in its manifoldness. This figure is also variously referred to as 'Mother-Father' (hinting at her apparent androgyny), 'First Human Being', 'The Triple Androgynous Name', or 'Eternal Aeon'. So prominent was her place amongst some Gnostics that some schools were designated as Barbeliotae, Barbēlō worshippers or Barbēlōgnostics. The nature of Barbēlō Nag Hammadi Library In the Apocryphon of John, a tractate in the Nag Hammadi Library containing the most extensive recounting of the Sethian creation myth, the Barbēlō is described as "the first power, the glory, Barbēlō, the perfect glory in the aeons, the glory of the revelation". All subsequent acts of creation within the divine sphere (save, crucially, that of the lowest aeon Sophia) occurs through her coaction with God. The text describes her thus: This is the first thought, his image; she became the womb of everything, for it is she who is prior to them all, the Mother-Father, the first man (Anthropos), the holy Spirit, the thrice-male, the thrice-powerful, the thrice-named androgynous one, and the eternal aeon among the invisible ones, and the first to come forth. -
Why Do Gnostics Consider Mary Magdalene the Greatest Apostle?
Why Do Gnostics Consider Mary Magdalene the Greatest Apostle? BY MIGUEL CONNER · JULY 15, 2015 Mainstream Christianity has many views of Mary Magdalene. She is a penitent sinner, a redeemed prostitute, the first witness to the Resurrection, the messenger to the Apostles, and a source of erotic inspiration for artists throughout history. Mary Magdalene is a complex, misunderstood, and marginalized figure in Orthodoxy, a symbol for the plight of females within the Christian religion. But in Gnosticism her role is clearly defined—Mary Magdalene is not only the main Apostle to the living Christ but a Gnostic leader for the ages. This declaration is perhaps ironic since Gnostics have a tendency to continually re- interpret and re-evaluate Biblical characters to suit their spiritual explorations. But there’s something about Mary. One of the most thorough expositions on the Gnostic Mary Magdalene comes from Jane Schaberg’s The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene. Schaberg lists nine characteristics that define the consort of Jesus Christ, as she is known in Gnostic and Apocryphal texts: 1) Mary is Prominent. The Magdalene is a main protagonist whenever she appears. In The Dialogue of the Savior, Mary is considered a “sister,” an equal to those entrusted with spreading the light of Gnosis. In The Gospel of Philip, she is one who “always walks with the Lord,” a privilege only enjoyed by Enoch and Noah in the entire Bible. Mary replaces the two Patriarchs of the Old Testament as a favorite of the Divine in the new dispensation. In The Pistis Sophia, Mary is the most outstanding student of Jesus, the chief questionnaire who gives the most insightful answers. -
The Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia As Handbooks to Eternity Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies
The Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia as Handbooks to Eternity Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies Editors Johannes van Oort Einar Thomassen Editorial Board j.d. beduhn – a.d. deconick – w.-p. funk i. gardner – s.n.c. lieu – a. marjanen p. nagel – l. painchaud – b.a. pearson n.a. pedersen – s.g. richter – j.m. robinson m. scopello – j.d. turner – g. wurst volume 89 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/nhms The Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia as Handbooks to Eternity Exploring the Gnostic Mysteries of the Ineffable By Erin Evans leiden | boston Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Evans, Erin, author. The Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia as handbooks to eternity : exploring the gnostic mysteries of the ineffable / by Erin Evans. pages cm – (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies ; volume 89) ISBN 978-90-04-28446-3 (hardback : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-90-04-30119-1 (e-book) 1. Books of Jeu. 2. Pistis Sophia. 3. Gnosticism. I. Title. II. Series: Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies ; v. 89. BT1390.E935 2015 299'.932–dc23 2015021716 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 0929-2470 isbn 978-90-04-28446-3 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-30119-1 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. -
The Role of Calendrical Data in Gnostic Literature* By
THE ROLE OF CALENDRICAL DATA IN GNOSTIC LITERATURE* BY BENNO PRZYBYLSKI A significant number of passages not only in the gnostic literature itself but also in the writings of early Christian heresiologists refer to calendrical data in conjunction with gnostic cosmological systems. Since calendrical issues had the potential for being contentious - the Dead Sea Scrolls and pseudepigraphical writings such as Jubilees and I Enoch, for example, display strong calendrical polemics - it appears appropriate to raise the question of the overall role of calendrical matters in gnostic thought. Specifically, it is the purpose of this article to collect and analyse the primary calendrical passages found in gnostic literature and to draw attention to possible implications of calendrical matters for gnostic teaching in general. Three distinct calendrical systems are reflected in the extant gnostic literature. Two of these systems have a 365-day year. A difference exists, however, in the subdivision of the year, that is, in the one system the total of 365 days is broken down into 360 ordinary and 5 epagomenal days while in the other system the 365 days are seen as a single unit. The third system has a year of 360 days. The clearest reference to a 365-day year with a major subdivision of 360 and 5 days is found in the Pistis Sophia. That references to the number 365 indeed have calendrical implications is obvious from Pistis Sophia 99.1 Here Jesus is depicted as telling Mary that one day in the realm of light is a 1000 years in the world (kosmos) so that 365,000 years in the world are a single year in the realm of light. -
4 Pistis Sophia (A)
chapter 4 4 Pistis Sophia (a) 1 Introduction to the Text The division of the Pistis Sophia texts is an unsettled issue. Titles in the manu- script divide it into at least four books, and H.C. Puech observes that “it is today almost unanimously agreed that the four sections of the manuscript must be divided into two distinct groups.”1 That it consists of four sections or texts is thus not widely questioned in scholarship; the two groups acknowledged are 1– 3ps and 4ps in Schmidt. G.R.S. Mead, however, has posited as many as six books, although he embraces the fourfold division and views parts of 3 and 4ps as sub- divisions of their larger wholes.2 F. Legge does acknowledge the divisions used here, although he regards them as being composed in reverse chronological order to the widely accepted view.3 For the present argument, at least five texts are clearly distinguishable. Schmidt’s fourth book has a lacuna of eight pages, and the contents, themes, and even assumed cosmologies differ dramatically before and after the gap, suggesting they are parts of separate works. Here they shall be termed 4psa and 4psb. 4psa, which consists of chapters 136–143, deals primarily with cosmologi- cal and astrological speculation and ritual development. It opens with Jesus performing before an altar a ritual prayer that apparently allows him and the disciples to witness some of the lower cosmological regions, the roles of which Jesus explains. The bulk of the book presents a myth of the fallen archons of the aeons being imprisoned by Jeu within the zodiacal sphere; introduces and out- lines the realms of the wicked Midst (ⲙⲏⲧⲉ) with descriptions of its rulers, along with the sins and punishments each ruler inflicts on humanity; and describes the positions of the planets when the sinners tormented by each ruler of the Midst (ⲙⲏⲧⲉ) will be released. -
The Thirteenth Daimon: Judas and Sophia in the Gospel of Judas
The Thirteenth Daimon: Judas and Sophia in the Gospel of Judas Marvin Meyer Like my colleague and friend Professor April DeConick, author of The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says, I too recently read a text that interested me greatly but caused me to believe something went terribly wrong.1 The text DeConick read was the translation of the Gospel of Judas prepared by the National Geographic team of translators, which included Rodolphe Kasser, Gregor Wurst, François Gaudard, and myself. The text I read was DeConick’s own book, which puts forward a revisionist interpretation of the Gospel of Judas. In her book, Professor DeConick attempts to correct what she regards as our oversights and to put forward the real meaning of the Gospel of Judas. What she produces, she is convinced, points to a totally different gospel than anything we might have imagined—a gospel of tragedy that is more dysangelium than evangelium. I personally find the thesis of Professor DeConick’s book, that the Gospel of Judas is a gospel parody, to be interesting and provocative, and in principle I remain open to a document, ancient or modern, that functions as a tragic or even nihilistic text. In her book there are a number of points about the interpretation of the Gospel of Judas, including her comments on the critique of apostolic succession in the text, that merit serious consideration. But what initially bothered me—and continues to bother me—about DeConick’s book is that everything we know about ancient gospels flies in the face of her basic thesis. -
Pistis Sophia and Demons of the Afterlife Introduction Pistis Sophia Is
Emmanouela Grypeou Pistis Sophia and Demons of the Afterlife Pistis Sophia and Demons of the Afterlife Introduction Pistis Sophia is documented in a single extant manuscript preserved in the Codex Askewianus. It was originally composed in Greek but survives only in its Sahidic Coptic translation. The Coptic text appears to be a compositum of various text traditions and may not faithfully reflect the Greek Vorlage. The Coptic translation is commonly dated to between the third and fourth centuries, but the original Greek text may be dated to different earlier redaction periods. The work originated in Egypt as the numerous references to Egyptian locales, deities and lore indicate. Pistis Sophia is fashioned as a post-resurrection revelatory discourse by Jesus to his gathered disciples. It is a long and complex narrative in which Jesus discloses heavenly and cosmic mysteries offering rich mythological details complemented by elaborate ritual instructions. The work is divided into four books. These demonstrate important differences in the mythological and cosmological descriptions. Accordingly, the work does not show a coherent character but seems to have been a compilation of various traditions and even separate narrarives. Pistis Sophia demonstrates a specific eschatological perspective, based upon contemporary cosmological and astrological beliefs and ideas. Demonic entities and their functions are mentioned in several parts of the text and illustrate the belief in the power of the demonic in all cosmic and earthly realms. Present discussion will particularly focus on those demonic entities that may be understood as “demons of the afterlife”, described in detail in the third and fourth books of the work.i These demonic figures are assigned with the punishment of the various categories of sinners in an “infernal” or “hellish” cosmic realm. -
Anti-Heretical Warnings in Codex Ix from Nag Hammad!
ANTI-HERETICAL WARNINGS IN CODEX IX FROM NAG HAMMAD! BY BIRGER A. PEARSON "Heresiology" is one of the most characteristic expressions of catholic Christianity : the identification and refutation of "unorthodox" beliefs and practices. The origins of Christian heresiology are found in the New Testament itself, and it is well-developed by the time of the great heresiologist bishop, Irenaeus of Lyons.1 Before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library, it might have been thought that "heresiology" was solely the province of the "Great Church". To be sure, we do know from the Fathers themselves that certain gnostic sects spoke contemptuously of catholic Christians as "animal" (i/JvxiKo{) men not in possession of gnosis. 2 And we have in Pistis Sophia and the Second Book of J esu some polemics directed against immoral ritual practices apparently carried out by certain gnostic groups, perhaps the same groups as are attacked by Epiphanius in his Panarion (ch. 26). 3 But now the Nag Hammadi corpus has expanded considerably our knowledge of gnostic theological polemics, in that 1 See F. Wisse, The Epistle of Jude in the History of Heresiology, in M. Krause ed., E&&aya on the Nag Hammadi Texta in Honour of Alexander Bohlig (NHS 3; Leiden, 1972), 133-143. 2 The Valentinians had a highly developed system of thought in which the "spiritual men'' (m,wµ.aT,Kol), i.e. themselves, were distinguished from "psychic" (catholic) Christians, even to the differentiation of a "spiritual" and "psychic" level of salvation. On this see e.g. E. Pagels, A Valentinian Interpretation of Baptism and Eucharist- And Its Critique of "Orthodox" Sacra.mental Theology and Practice, VigChr 65 (1972), 153-169; and especially F.-M. -
Gnostic Goddess, Female Power, and the Fallen Sophia ©2010 Max Dashu 1
The Gnostic Goddess, Female Power, and the Fallen Sophia ©2010 Max Dashu 1 Thou Mother of Compassion, come Come, thou revealer of the Mysteries concealed... Come, thou who givest joy to all who are at one with Thee Come and commune with us in this thanksgiving... —Gnostic hymn [Drinker, 150] Before the Roman triumph of Christianity, serious disagreements had already appeared among the believers. Gnostics were the first Christians to be expelled from the church as heretics. But not all Gnostics were Christian. Jewish Gnosticism predated Christianity, and pagan Gnostics who praised Prometheus and the Titans for opposing the tyranny of Zeus. [Geger, 168; Godwin, 85] Persian dualism, Hellenistic Neo-Platonism, and Egyptian mysticism were all influential in shaping Gnosticism. There was no one unified body of Gnostic belief. Though some Gnostic gospels were among the earliest Christian texts, all were banned from the orthodox canon that became the New Testament. Most people don't realize that the New Testament is a carefully screened selection from a much larger body of Christian scriptures. The others were not simply excluded from the official collection, but were systematically destroyed when Christianity became the state religion. [Epiphanius, in Legge, xliii] Egyptian Gnostics managed to protect an important cache of scriptures from the book-burners by burying them in large jars. Until the discovery of these Nag Hammadi scrolls in 1947, what little was known of the Gnostics came mostly from their sworn enemies, the orthodox clergy. [Pagels 1979: xxxv, xvii; Allegro, 108; Wentz, 363fn, lists a few surviving manuscripts known by 1900.] One of the few scriptures that did survive intact is the Pistis Sophia, while others are known fragmentarily from quotations in orthodox writings, especially those of Irenaeus and Hippolytus of Rome.