A Vigil Rite in Times of Disaster

Following the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings I, like many people around the world, was filled with a sudden sadness and loss of words (and thoughts!) about the immensity of the event. Words do not adequately lend themselves to these types of situations and, after reading all sorts of news articles on the events and reading increasingly sophistic writings about it on Facebook, I grew more sad and a little bit jaded about this event like many who are exposed on a constant level to the horrors that surround us. Each of us comes to terms with these things in different ways: some through song, some through talking and writing, others through crying, and others – such as myself – through prayer.

In the days immediately following the event, I wrote the following brief service based on my own religious tradition. It is not an official AJC ceremony by any means – I’m the only one whose prayed it before -  but I present it that it may be used, and modified, by those in my community or who are otherwise genuinely interested and wanting to contribute prayerfully in the wake of this most recent tragedy at the Boston Marathon.

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The Signum

 

Celebrant:          O Heavenly King, the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth, who are present everywhere, emanating from the supreme source and filling all things, Treasury of Endless Good and Giver of Life, come and dwell in us, cleanse us from every stain, and heal our infirmities, O Good one.

Celebrant:          Holy are You, O Creator of the Universe. Holy are You, O God, Whose Will is perfected by its own Powers. Holy are You, O God, who desires to be known and are known by your own.

 All:                         +Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One. Have mercy on us.

 Celebrant:          Holy are You, who by the Eternal Word did make all to be as it is. Holy are you, who made Nature to have an image. Holy are you, who are uncreated in Image.

 All:                         +Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One. Have mercy on us.

Celebrant:          Holy are you, more powerful than All Power. Holy are you, transcending all preeminence. Holy are you, better than all praise.

 All:                         +Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One. Have mercy on us.

 Celebrant:          Holy God, One in Three and Three in One, have mercy on us, forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

Celebrant:          God, come to my assistance.

All:                         Lord, make haste to help me.

 All bow

Celebrant:          Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

All rise

All:                         As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be unto the Æons of Æons. Amen.

Optional, invocation of the holy archangels may take place here:

Invocation of the Archangels

 

Celebrant:          Hail Raphael, Ruler of Air, Divine Physician. As the breath of the Divine moves over the face of the Deep, so do we call upon you to move over the sanctuary of our being, giving voice to our prayer and strength to our journey.

All:                         Lord of Wind and Storm, we invoke thee!

 

Celebrant:          Hail Michael, Ruler of Fire, Divine Guardian. As our spiritual ancestors travelled through the darkness by a pillar of fire, so do we call upon you as pilgrims to light our path through the wilderness of ignorance into the Kingdom of Heaven.

All:                         Lord of Flame and Prince of the Seraphim, we invoke thee!

Celebrant:          Hail Gabriel, Ruler of Water, Divine Messenger. As the Incarnation of the Logos was foretold to our Mother by your                 presence, so do we call upon you that we may truly know ourselves as children of the Divine Beloved.

All:                         Lady of Stream and Ocean, we invoke thee!

Celebrant:          Hail Uriel, Ruler of Earth, Divine Companion. As you stand guarding the gates of paradise, so do we call upon you to lead us at our last through the portal of that undiscovered territory, from which no traveller returns.

All:                         Lady of Stone and Vale, we invoke thee!

Invitatory Prayer

Celebrant:          We gather together and are one of purpose as fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, who love the good land God has given us; who cherish the freedoms we enjoy, and who lament our innocence lost. With anger we come, and with sorrow;

with confusion and concern. O Lord, look with the eyes of your love upon our confusion and distress, grant that our vision may be made clear and that we not falter in loving one another as you had taught.

All:                         Amen.

Psalm 37, An Exhortation to Patience and Trust

Reader:               Do not fret because of the wicked;

do not be envious of wrongdoers,

for they will soon fade like the grass,

and wither like the green herb.

 

All:                         Trust in the Lord, and do good;

so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.

Take delight in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 

Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him, and he will act.

He will make your vindication shine like the light,

and the justice of your cause like the noonday.

 

Reader:                                Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him;

do not fret over those who prosper in their way,

over those who carry out evil devices.

 

All:                         Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath.

Do not fret—it leads only to evil.

For the wicked shall be cut off,

but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

 

Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more;

though you look diligently for their place, they will not be there.

But the meek shall inherit the land,

and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

 

Reader                 The wicked plot against the righteous,

and gnash their teeth at them;

but the Lord laughs at the wicked,

for he sees that their day is coming.

 

All:                         The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows

to bring down the poor and needy,

to kill those who walk uprightly;

their sword shall enter their own heart,

and their bows shall be broken.

 

Better is a little that the righteous person has

than the abundance of many wicked.

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,

but the Lord upholds the righteous.

 

Reader:                                The Lord knows the days of the blameless,

and their heritage will abide forever;

they are not put to shame in evil times,

in the days of famine they have abundance.

 

All:                         But the wicked perish,

and the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures;

they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.

 

The wicked borrow, and do not pay back,

but the righteous are generous and keep giving;

for those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land,

but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

 

Reader:                                Our steps are made firm by the Lord,

when he delights in our way;

though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong,

for the Lord holds us by the hand.

 

All:                         I have been young, and now am old,

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

or their children begging bread.

They are ever giving liberally and lending,

and their children become a blessing.

 

Depart from evil, and do good;

so you shall abide forever.

For the Lord loves justice;

he will not forsake his faithful ones.

 

Reader:                                The righteous shall be kept safe forever,

but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

The righteous shall inherit the land,

and live in it forever.

 

All:                         The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,

and their tongues speak justice.

The law of their God is in their hearts;

their steps do not slip.

 

The wicked watch for the righteous,

and seek to kill them.

The Lord will not abandon them to their power,

or let them be condemned when they are brought to trial.

 

Reader:                                Wait for the Lord, and keep to his way,

and he will exalt you to inherit the land;

you will look on the destruction of the wicked.

 

All:                         I have seen the wicked oppressing,

and towering like a cedar of Lebanon.

Again I passed by, and they were no more;

though I sought them, they could not be found.

 

Mark the blameless, and behold the upright,

for there is posterity for the peaceable.

But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;

the posterity of the wicked shall be cut off.

 

Reader:                                The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;

He is their refuge in the time of trouble.

The Lord helps them and rescues them;

he rescues them from the wicked, and saves them,

because they take refuge in him.

 

Standing Prayers

 

All stand.

Celebrant:          Glory to Thee, Our God, Glory to Thee.

All:                         Glory to Thee, our God, Glory to Thee. O Heavenly Queen, Comforter, the Spirit of Truth,

Who is everywhere present and permeates all things, the Treasury of all good things and the Giver of life: Come, and abide in us, and cleanse us from every stain, and save our souls, O Pure One.

Celebrant:          Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One: have mercy on us.

All:                         Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One: have mercy on us.

Celebrant:          All Holy, All Mighty, Everlasting Trinity, have mercy on us; cleanse us from our sins, pardon all our iniquities, visit and heal us from our infirmities for Your Name’s sake.

All:                         Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison.

Christi eleison, Christi eleison, Christi eleison.

Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison.

Celebrant:           Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

All:                          As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, forever and ever. Amen.

The Lucernarium

The Celebrant pour oil in the lamp and seven members of the community come forth and place a single tear of frankincense into the oil. If alone or with less people, the tears may be divided up accordingly.

Celebrant:           O Logos who dwells on high, we praise the glory of Your majesty Whose light is the light of the luminaries, Who sends forth light from heaven over all the world of humankind

Through You we have the sun to light the day and moon and stars to light the night-time. Through you we have the Lamp to drive back shadow. You are light laudable, holy and primal light. From You does darkness and evil flee.

O Christos, send forth Your healing light into our hearts. Restore us to the glory of the Fullness within and without. Comfort our minds, bodies and spirits, and wipe away every tear from our eyes. Blessed is the Name of Your holy glory and to You we sing a hymn of praise and glory. To the Fullness, to the Word and to Wisdom.

The Celebrant or youngest person present comes forth to light the candle.

Celebrant:          As you illumine this lamp, O Lord

All:                         So illumine our dark places

Celebrant:          The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness does                 not overcome it.

O Gracious Light (Phos hilaron)

All:                         O gracious Light,

pure brightness of the ever-living Father in heaven,

O Lord, the Christ, holy and blessed!

Now as we come to the setting of the sun,

and our eyes behold the vesper light,

we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,

O Son of God, O Giver of life,

and to be glorified through all the worlds.

Amen.

All:                         We give thanks unto you, O Light, in whom darkness dwells not.

The Universal Prayer

Celebrant:          Having set this vigil light, let us pray to receive and foster the Divine Light which enlightens the world, that within all of us the Sacred Flame may grow ever stronger and we all grow in love and understanding.

Silence or brief meditation as members come up to light their own candles from the lucernarium.

All:                         Amen.

 

Reader:                For our reigning Sovereign Pontiff __________, and presiding Bishop __________, and all bishops of the Apostolic Johannite Church, bishops in amity, and leaders of faith throughout the world, we pray to the Lord.

Or,

For the leaders of our respective communities of faith, wherein we find our connection to the Sacred Flame, especially __________…

All:                         Lord, hear our prayer.

 

Reader:                For our President __________, our Governor __________,  and all members of local and regional government and all who give their lives in tireless service to the common good, may they be guided by the Sacred Flame and create the foundations for a holy society, free from tyranny and oppression.

All:                         Lord, hear our prayer.

 

Reader:                For those who give their lives in service to the poor, the needy, the marginalized and imprisoned as well as those in need and from want, suffering ostracism and imprisonment; may they all be preserved bodily, mentally and spiritually.

All:                         Lord, hear our prayer.

 

Reader:                For our church and faith communities throughout the world; especially __________,  our (mission, narthex, parish, etc.), that they be beacons of light in the sea of existence and guide people to You, in the myriad of ways you provide.

All:                         Lord, hear our prayer.

 

Reader:                For our friends and family and all those suffering illness, especially __________, may you renew them bodily, mentally, and spiritually that they may remain with us presently and in future joy.

All:                         Lord, hear our prayer.

 

Reader:                For those who have left this world and have gone onward to that other shore from which no one returns, especially __________,  may they be rightly guided by the lights you have set for them and may they be uplifted and encouraged by our prayers.

All:                         Lord, hear our prayer.

 

Reader:                                For our own personal needs at this time…

 

All may state their petitions out loud or silently at this time.

 

All:         Lord, hear our prayer.

 

Celebrant:          O Lord, You make all things new. As these prayers are lifted up toward you, renew the world and all those for whom we have prayed that they may abide forever under the providence of your divine light. May all those, especially the victims of [name or location of tragedy] find speedy healing and protection under your wings and may the wings of Holy Wisdom brush gently at our hearts, removing from us the defilements of anger, hatred and confusion.

Closing

Celebrant:          The Lord be with you.

All:                         And also with you.

Celebrant:          The Lord bless us, and bring us to wholeness, compassion and understanding. The Lord enlighten our minds, comfort our hearts and sustain our bodies. May all those in suffering soon find healing, comfort and aid and may we all do what is meet and right in our ways as members of your body, O Lord, to commit ourselves to repair of the world.

All:                         Amen.

Optional, dismissal of the archangels.

 Dismissal of the Archangels

 

Celebrant:           Hail, mighty Raphael, Archangel of the Air, Healer and Guardian of Wind and Tempest. We thank thee for thine attendance and protection here, and before thou departest for thine airy realms, we bid Thee hail and farewell.

All:                          Hail and farewell.

Celebrant:           Hail, mighty Michael, the Defender, Lord of Fire and Prince of the Legions of Heaven. We thank thee for thine attendance and protection here, and before thou departest for thine fiery realms, we bid Thee hail and farewell.

All:                          Hail and farewell.

 

Celebrant:           Hail, mighty Gabriel, Lady of Water, Heavenly Herald, who didst bring glad tidings to Our Blessed Mother. We thank thee for thine attendance and protection here, and before thou departest for thine watery realms, we bid Thee hail and farewell.

All:                          Hail and farewell.

Celebrant:           Hail, mighty Uriel, Dark Lady of Earth, who bringest all at last unto the Nether Shore, Companion of all who offer up their lives in the defense of others. We thank thee for thine attendance and protection here, and before thou departest for thine earthy realms, we bid Thee hail and farewell.

All:                          Hail and farewell.

Good Friday

Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering.
- Paulo Coelho

ILLE mi par esse deo uidetur, ille, si fas est, superare diuos,qui sedens aduersus identidem te spectat et audit dulce ridentem, misero quod omnis eripit sensus mihi: nam simul te.
-Catullus, Carmina 51

“This is what is signified by the words Ana l-haqq, “I am God.” People imagine that it is a presumptuous claim, whereas it is really a presumptuous claim to say Ana ‘l-’abd, “I am the slave of God”; and Ana l-haqq, “I am God” is an expression of great humility. The man who says Ana ‘l-’abd, “I am the servant of God” affirms two existences, his own and God’s, but he that says Ana l-haqq, “I am God” has made himself non-existent and has given himself up and says “I am God”, that is, “I am naught, He is all; there is no being but God’s.” This is the extreme of humility and self-abasement.”
- Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, commentary on Mansur Al-Hallaj

“So you see, Good and Evil have the same face; it all depends on when they cross the path of each individual human being.”
-Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prynn

Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean; the world has grown grey from thy breath;
We have drunken of things Lethean, and fed on the fullness of death.
Laurel is green for a season, and love is sweet for a day;
But love grows bitter with treason, and laurel outlives not May.
- Charles Algernon Swinburne

Cum ergo accepisset Jesus acetum, dixit: Consummatum est. Et inclinato capite tradidit spiritum.

- IOHANNES XIX: xxx

Agapé

This past Saturday I woke up early after a peculiarly restless sleep anxious about the day ahead. Every first and third Friday the Seattle Johannite community, Holy Paraclete, meets at a local esoteric bookstore for communal prayer and, occasionally, participation in the Eucharist through our friend, Monsignor Scott Rassbach+, of Rose Cross Community in Portland. This time, however, was different and unique. Although the monsignor couldn’t make it to the service, I decided as the narthex leader to try something different from our usual vespers service on account of a special guest coming from out of town and offer them, as a gesture of friendship between our different communities.

Friendship and mutual support is important. Regardless of traditions, we are all being led by the Sacred Flame toward the Godhead in whatever way we imagine it and are all fellow travelers on the spiritual path. I met Pater Craig Williams a number of years ago at the Esoteric Book Conference ,where he was interviewed last year by Occult of Personality. A priest of Ecclesia Gnostica Æterna and adept in Ayurveda and Eastern spirituality, I’ve enjoyed my conversations with him and acknowledge him as a friend and exemplar of what it means to be a modern gnostic. Another guest, friend and soon-to-be deacon of Ecclesia Gnostica was also present, as well as others from different traditions. To say I felt overwhelmed at first would be a gross understatement.

The entire morning I traveled here and there across town to get the things I needed for the ceremony in-between making lunch for my partner and me, ironing the clothes I was going to wear, and packing up my travel bag that I use to bring what I needed to the location. I decided that I would arrive a few hours earlier to clean up the space with my partner, set up what was needed, and then grab a quick drink at a local pub to calm my nerves about an hour and half before Holy Paraclete’s first Agapé Meal.

The Agapé Meal is a ceremony dating back to the earliest ages of the Christian movement and although the Council of Laeodicea effectively marked the end of the practice of the agapé feasts in the transition of Christian worship from home to the adapted Hellenic temples and other buildings granted to Christians for worship and congregation some fifty years earlier by the Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus by declaring, “no one holding any office in the Church, be he cleric or layman, who are invited to an agapé feast, may take away their portions, for this is to cast reproach on the ecclesiastical order[1].” Although it can be certain many still met in the context of their own families and extended friends, this development also marked the codification – or rather separation – between clergy and the laity.

Although eucharistic in appearance, the agapé is principally communal in nature, best described by His Grace, +Mar Timotheos of New South Wales: “[The Agape Meal] a prayerful feast shared in community.. [and] a time for a whole household to come together and give thanks… you can think of [it] as a bridge. It bridges the domestic, mundane reality of the meal with the sacred time of liturgy – so it has a flavour that is somewhat liturgical and somewhat casual. As the liturgy proclaims: there is no separation between these things – but it’s easy to think of sacredness as only being at church or in meditation. Agape is a way to remind ourselves that truly ‘there is nothing mundane in the holy’.”

The above description is precisely what I felt last Saturday in the presence of good friends and spiritual partners. In spite of our many different backgrounds, experiences and even personal practices, we were able to come together, sit at the same table, pray and enjoy our company in a mindful manner. The conversations were delightful and I was overjoyed by the entirety of the experience in spite of my initial anxieties. Waking up the next morning, I felt inspired – the first time in a number of weeks due to personal life stressors – and motivated to move past the things I’ve been letting hold me back to some degree and try out new things.

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[1] Canon 27, Laeodicea

Dust in the Wind

 

Today, Ash Wednesday, marks another return to the liturgical season of Lent, a period oftentimes associated with fasting, self-denial, and penance in many churches. For many post-restoration Gnostics, however, the meaning of this season shifts from one of denial and self-deprecation to an opportunity for engaging in deeper, more attentive, inner contemplation and meditation. Though the external symbols may appear the same, the penitential mood of this season has more in common with alerting us toward our true natures and our frequent inability to remember who we are and “whereto we speed[1]”, as opposed to attaching ourselves to guilt.

Scripture reminds us that we are in fact extensions of the eternal Godhead; immortal, incorrupt, made in the image of eternity[2]. Yet, due to the vast temporal distance from the initial moment of Creation, it is difficult for us to remember this truth and instead wander around in a more or less amnesiac state either bemoaning the gift that has been given us or, conversely, reveling mindlessly in temporal delights without pausing for a moment to recognize that material pleasures are fleeting and not intrinsically meaningful.

During this time of introspection, we are called to make a conscious effort toward remembering our own unique divinity and the divinity we share with the whole of Creation. Far from being a period of denial, Lent is an opportunity for radical engagement with ourselves and the world around us, an exercise to see things as the Godhead intended them to be. By saturating our experiences with meaning, we are able to rediscover the original moment of Creation as continually unfolding around us at all times, in all places and in all things.

The liturgical season of Lent is concrete marker for us to focus on what is ultimately an abstract process that each of us are going through individually in our spiritual process. By infusing this season with meaning, we encounter other markers along the way that can help us better focus our wandering minds. Ash Wednesday changes from penance and the negative religious mood of self-denial to being marked for stronger spiritual training [3]and casting off those things hindering our process and making us mentally and spiritually more capable of putting our experiences into a wider perspective as Jesus did in casting aside the temptations of using his messianic mission for worldly ends instead of offering an example for experiencing and exercising our free will[4].

Echoing my post from the previous year, the primary importance of Lent is to help us grow in our experience toward the divine in whatever form we may honor it. The goal is complete transformation and is unique to each and every one of us and there is no external litmus test for success or failure, only the intent and the rewards of being able to slowly see things as they are and receive being open to experience of our own dynamic divine nature.

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[1] Excerpta ex Theodoto

[2] Wisdom 2:23

[3] Asceticism (from the Greek: ἄσκησις, áskēsis, “exercise” or “training”).

[4] Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13

A Mass of Candles (and a little Beeswax)

As I noted in my entry last year, Candlemas, also known the Feast of the Presentation, is one of the Twelve Great Feasts and is celebrated by Christians world-wide in commemoration of the gospel account of Mary and Joseph’s presentation of Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem to complete Mary’s ritual purification forty days after birth in accordance with the Law of Moses.

The tradition of purification following childbirth was something that, unsettlingly to many in our contemporary culture, survived well into the modern era in the Catholic and Anglican practice of churching new mothers forty days after childbirth wherein a blessing is given to mothers and prayers of thanksgiving are offered for the survival of the child, which with higher infant mortality concerns was a major reason to give thanks.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the Feast of Candlemas became deeply syncretized with the Irish quarter celebration of Imbolc which, even in modern Ireland, is considered to mark the beginning of Spring and is a festival fundamentally associated with the ancient goddess Bríg or Brigid, who may be fundamentally considered the same as the Christian Saint Brigid of Kildare whose feast occurs traditionally on the first of February. At this point, it’s hard to say which celebration and traditions influenced one another but in practice they have become so fused that to this day many modern Pagans celebrate it as one of their major yearly celebrations however the tradition of setting lights and keeping vigil are maintained.

Western ecclesial practice for this day maintains the tradition of blessing bees-wax candles to be used in church and by members of the community throughout the year. According to some traditions, the candles used by the faithful put to flight the assaults of evil spirits or faeries and have the additional advantage of warding away the harmful effects of storms. The emphasis on beeswax is something that deeply interests me in light of the current ecological disaster facing many beekeepers with the current die-offs as well as being someone who grew up in an agricultural community where bees are essential to daily life. The connection between liminal (cross-between) times, prophesy, and enlightment and the bee is something I find fascinating, in particular as a modern Gnostic.

Throughout the ancient Levant, the bee was believed to be the sacred insect that bridged the natural world to the underworld. Tomb decorations, in particular the Mycenean tholos tombs, were even shaped like bee-hives, likely in reference to the ancient goddess Potnia whose name simply means, “mistress”. Her title and epithets were also inherited by classical and Mycenean Greek and applied to many goddesses, including Kore in her role in the Arcadian mysteries of Eleusis.

The bee was also connected in many of these cultures with the gift of prophesy, elements of which are also apparent 1 Samuel 14:24-30:

“He [Jonathan] extended the staff that was in his hand, and dipped the tip of it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes brightened. Then one of the soldiers said, “Your father strictly charged the troops with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be anyone who eats food this day.’ And so the troops are faint.” Then Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land; see how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. How much better if today the troops had eaten freely of the spoil taken from their enemies; for now the slaughter among the Philistines has not been great.”

The Biblical connection between honey and prophesy continues in the account of the prophet John the Baptist who was said to wear clothing of camel hair and feed on locusts and wild honey. (Matthew 3:4, Mark 1:6) as well in the Apocalypse of John (Rev. 10:9-10)

Although the Romantic notion of a connection between a supposed Jesus Dynasty flourishing in France such as those popularized in the fictional books Holy Blood, Holy Grail and the The DaVinci Code, has been definitively disproven, golden bees (or cicadas!) as a symbol of royalty were discovered in 1653 in Tournai in the tomb of Childeric I, founder in 457 of the Merovingian dynasty and father of Clovis and were resurrected in usage by Emperor Napoleon of France in his coat of arms. Interestingly, as Father Donato+ points out in his speculative essay:

“[A] few days before his imperial coronation, Napoleon met with the Roman Pontiff in secret. This was the social and political backdrop of Dr. Fabré-Palaprat’s discovery of the Lévitikon in Paris that same year. The secretive meeting between Napoleon and the pope took place in Paris, but not as a State visit. During their private talks, the pope reportedly pressed Napoleon to sign a document in which Louis XIV “disavowed the articles of the declaration of the clergy in 1682, which was drawn up by Bishop Jacques Bénigne Bossuet as the foundation of the liberties of the Gallican Church… The pope was asking that Napoleon sign a document repudiating the authority of the French Monarch to his extraordinary authority over the established Catholic Church in France, which was claimed – and never relinquished legally – by Louis’ successors. Here, it is important to recall that after Louis XIV, his nephew, Philippe d’Orleans, served as regent for Louis XV. This Philippe is the Duke of Orleans who was appointed Grand-Master of the Order of the Temple, and reformer of its statutes. In name alone, but still by intention, this made Philippe and his successors the Johannite Patriarchs – privy to the secrets and the succession of St. John and everything that entailed. With a renewed monarchy, such as the one Napoleon was about to create, all of these prerogatives would eventually fall into the imperial lap. And the pope knew it.”

Although speculative, for Johannites this connection between the bee and its relevance to the mysteries of John may prove something fun to think about.

This Saturday Holy Paraclete Community will be celebrating the Vespers service of the Apostolic Johannite Church, a central part of the ceremony being the lighting of the lucernarium. Traditionally, it would be during the vespers service that the candles would be blessed however, in absence of a priest; I plan on distributing candles to the community out of symbolic solidarity.

For me personally, the morning of Candlemas will be spent in contemplative meditation and participation in Teo Bishop’s Solitary Druid Fellowship’s February Cross Quarter liturgy. Though not pagan myself (in spite of what P. Sufenas Virius Lupus may say), the emphasis on ecological awareness and integration as well as spiritual enlightenment and transformation found in modern druidry appeals to me very much and, in honor of the Brigid’s might not be a bad opportunity to help focus on the Sacred Flame within all people and all paths.

 

note: in the original post, I had erroneously called Imbolc and Irish ‘cross-quarter’ celebration. As PSVL notes in the comments: “Imbolc is not a cross-quarter day for the Irish, it’s a quarter-day. The whole notion that Imbolc, Beltaine, Lugnasad, and Samain are “cross-quarter days” comes from Wicca, not from Irish tradition. This is the first day of Spring for the Irish, just as Beltaine is the first of Summer, Lugnasad the first of Autumn, and Samain the first of Winter.”

Mystical Novena to Jophiel

Inspired by recently reading Jason Miller‘s Financial Sorcery at the urging of my friend, the Monsignor Scott Rassbach+, I decided to create a novena to the Archangel Jophiel for the purposes of obtaining the amount of necessary wealth and prosperity to help me control my financial situation and acheive the goals I have in mind in the coming months.

Considering the nature of my blog, this might come as a surprise that I would step away for a moment from the high and lofty goals of divinization and actively engage in the material world, going as far as petitioning the angels themselves for assistance. The fact of the matter, as I feel Jason points out, is that wealth and prosperity are not bad things in and of themselves however, I also think that the misapplication of one’s resources is indicative of a deeper problem and can be considered a root of evil. Fortunately, I have a very understanding partner who’s willing to work with me on this.

The ritual below will be familiar to those from Roman Catholic backgrounds as a novena which is essentially a sustained form of invocation for the purposes of receiving the benefits of a particular angel, saint or holy being. Jophiel, ‘the Beauty of God’, a Cherub or a Throne then he is also a “prince of heaven” found in Jewish law and is a caretaker of the seven heavens and the angelic choirs.

In contemporary Hermetic Qabalah he is one of the angels who resides in the heavenly sphere of Tzedeq as the intelligence of Jupiter. As such, he is symbolically closer to humanity than the ruling Archangel Tzadkiel and is, in my experience, significantly more approachable. Regardless of the relative proximity – how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?! – novenas are a way of bringing down transcendental forces into one’s immediate proximity and are a simple way of forming connections with these forces for personal development.

Mystical Novena to the Archangel Jophiel

The mystical novena to the Archangel Jophiel is used to bring the beneficial and benevolent influences of the planet Jupiter into the life of the individual or group with whom it is performed. It requires a minimum of physical objects although more may be added as long as they are in accord with the nature of the working. The three basic objects required are a bowl of salt water or holy water if it can be obtained, a blue candle and a censer or oil diffuser. This ritual is best started on Thursday when Jupiter is well aspected and in the first hour of Jupiter. If the specific timing cannot be ascertained for whatever reason, it may be started on a Thursday when the moon is waxing at either sunrise or sunset.

Sign of the Cross

In the Name of + the Father,+ the Son, and +the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Supplication to the Lord

Omnipotent and eternal God, who has ordained the whole creation for Your praise and glory, and for the salvation of humanity, I ask that You would send your Spirit Jophiel of the Jovial order, who shall inform and teach me those things which I shall ask of him; or, that he [state your request of the day]. Nevertheless not my will be done, but Yours, through Christ, Your Son, our Lord. + Amen. +Amen. +Amen. +Amen.

Prayer to the Angel Jophiel

I invoke you, Jophiel, mighty intelligence of the Jupiter sphere! You who descend from Mercy and Loving-kindess!  From beginningless time you, Jophiel, have been the protector and benefactor of humanity and the provider of good things and whenever anyone has upon you in times of need, you have stood close beside them. We humbly ask you for success and prosperity in all out undertakings, particularly [state request], and that the light of your Holy Wisdom guide and keep us forevermore. We ask this in the name of the Most High god of Zion, El, Strong and Mighty. Amen.

Closing Prayer Following Psalms

Forasmuch as you came in peace, and quietly, and hast answered unto my petitions; I give thanks to God, in whose Name you came: and now you may depart in peace unto your orders; and return to me again when I shall call you by your name, or by your order, or by your office, which is granted from the Creator. Amen.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

We give thanks to You! Every soul and heart is lifted up to You, O Undisturbed Name, honored with the name ‘God’ and praised with the name ‘Father,’ for to everyone and everything comes the parental kindness and affection and love and any teaching there may be that is sweet and plain, giving us mind, speech and knowledge: Mind, so that we humanity understand You; Speech, so that we may expound You, Knowledge, so that we may know You. We rejoice because You hast shown us Yourself. We rejoice because we were in the body. You have made us divine through Your knowledge. The delight of the man who attains to You is one thing: that we know You. We have known You, O Intellectual Light. O Life of life, we have known You. O womb of every creature, we have known You. O womb pregnant with the nature of the Father, we have known You. O Eternal Permanence of the begetting Father thus have we worshipped Your goodness. There is one petition that we ask: we would be preserved in knowledge. And there is one protection that we desire: we do not stumble in this life. Amen.

 DAY ONE

 Sign of the Cross, Supplication to the Lord, & Invocation of Jophiel

Prayer of the Day

O Great Angel Jophiel, you who were present in Eden and provided our spiritual parents the necessary wealth and prosperity they needed even when they had been cast out; help us who diligently labor to obtain all good things and gather much wealth and prosperity in our days. We ask this through your aid and the help of the High God, El. Amen.

Psalm 104

“Bless the LORD, O my soul; O LORD my God, how excellent is your greatness! you are clothed with majesty and splendor…”

Closing Prayer Following Psalms & Prayer of Thanksgiving

 DAY TWO

 Sign of the Cross, Supplication to the Lord, & Invocation of Jophiel

 Prayer of the Day

O Great Angel, Jophiel, as you provided those lost in the wilderness to ascend to greatness and fed the lost on manna from Heaven, please help us to ascend from our lowly places and ascend to such greatness as David and all righteous Kings of the World, without stumbling or faltering in our righteousness. We ask this in the name of the Most High God, El. Amen.

Psalm 113

“Hallelujah! Give praise, you servants of the LORD; praise the Name of the LORD…”

Closing Prayer & Prayer of Thanksgiving

 DAY THREE

 Sign of the Cross, Supplication to the Lord, & Invocation of Jophiel

 Prayer of the Day

O Great Angel Jophiel, as the Lord ordained that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will never walk away unfulfilled, fill us with such righteousness that we may establish a strong community of faith and trust in the Lord and may live in such a way as our successes may always be unto His greater Glory. We ask this in the name of the Most High God, El. Amen.

Psalm 112

“Hallelujah! Happy are they who fear the Lord and have great delight in his commandments!”

Closing Prayer & Prayer of Thanksgiving

 DAY FOUR

 Sign of the Cross, Supplication to the Lord, & Invocation of Jophiel

Prayer of the Day

O Great Angel Jophiel, you who helped to establish strong fortresses and abundant homes, help to fill our homes with abundance and fortify ourselves through good diligence, the practice of beneficence, and service to your fellow citizens. We ask this in the name of the Most High God, El. Amen.

Psalm 122

“I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”

Closing Prayer & Prayer of Thanksgiving

 DAY FIVE

 Sign of the Cross, Supplication to the Lord, & Invocation of Jophiel

Prayer of the Day

O Great Angel Jophiel, you who help to balance the measures of merchants and provide to equality amongst those who strive to maintain balance, help to balance our lives with necessary wealth, health, strength, joy and peace. We ask this in the name of the Most High God, El. Amen.

Psalm 126

“When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream.”

Closing Prayer & Prayer of Thanksgiving

DAY SIX

 Sign of the Cross, Supplication to the Lord, & Invocation of Jophiel

Prayer of the Day

O Great Angel Jophiel, true prosperity is given to the righteous who like Solomon know how to best utilize their skills with wisdom. Grant us industriousness in our chosen fields that we may become masters of our disciplines and wield the rod of authority with mercy. We ask this in the name of the Most High God, El. Amen.

Psalm 125

“Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but stands fast for ever.”

Closing Prayer & Prayer of Thanksgiving

 DAY SEVEN

 Sign of the Cross, Supplication to the Lord, & Invocation of Jophiel

Prayer of the Day

O Great Angel Jophiel, having balanced the inferior with the superior, grant that we may obtain those things which we personally wish and would like to draw your attention toward, in particular [name requests]. With wisdom and mercy, help us to have the peace and serenity to accept know what we need in accordance with Divine Will. We ask this in the name of the Most High God, El. Amen.

Psalm 131

“O LORD, I am not proud; I have no haughty looks.”

Closing Prayer and Prayer of Thanksgiving

 DAY EIGHT

 Sign of the Cross, Supplication to the Lord, & Invocation of Jophiel

Prayer of the Day

O Great Angel Jophiel, grant us apt and teachable hearts that we may avoid avarice and grossness, and regenerate our lives day after day so that our wealth and mercy may not be squandered in vain, but miraculously increase as in our knowledge of you and regenerate day after day in us and in the lives of all we hold dear and we may all live in peace and prosperity forever. We ask this in the name of the Most High God, El. Amen.

Psalm 133

“Oh, how good and pleasant it is, when brethren live together in unity!”

Closing Prayer & Prayer of Thanksgiving

 DAY NINE

 Sign of the Cross, Supplication to the Lord, & Invocation of Jophiel

 Prayer of the Day

O Great Angel Jophiel, we bless you and give you thanks for your assistance in our daily desires and our desires for wealth, both physically in the material and spiritually in the transcendental realms. Freely we have received and freely may we give, delighting in our bodies and minds, call others into joy and life and abundance. May we always be mindful that material things are to be used and our fellow humanity to be loved and that imbalance and evil arise when people are used and material things are loved. For your intercessions and your presence we give you due thanks and honor and praise, now and forevermore. +Amen. +Amen. +Amen. +Amen.

Psalm 134

“Behold now, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, you that stand by night in the house of the LORD.”

Closing Prayer and Prayer of Thanksgiving

The mystical novena may be used toward any end where one wishes to obtain the virtues and blessings of the Archangel Jophiel. As before, it is best performed when Jupiter is well aspected in the Heavens but may be done starting on any Thursday when one is in particular need. The personal requests and petitions should be in concord with those things under the corresponding principals of Jupiter such as principles of growth, expansion, prosperity, and good fortune; long distance and foreign travel, higher education, religion, and the law; humanitarian and protecting roles, and with gambling and merrymaking.

The scent most traditionally associated with Jupiter in modern times is cedar, although according to the theurgists of ancient Egypt and Greece storax is also held to be particularly well aspected to the planet. Should one be inclined to make a blend specific for this rite, the best would be a compound of 1 part finely ground cedar shavings, 1 part clove or cardamom, 1/2 part storax or benzoin, and a few drops of nutmeg essential oil.

If one is inclined to set up a more devotional space, the arrangement of the table or shrine should be as follows:

Icon or Statue of Jophiel

 

Holy Water             Thurible

 

Bible or Psalter

When the Sign of the Cross (+) one should place the three fingers of the right hand in the small bowl and make the sign of the cross upon his or herself. A small scoop of incense is added at the points of the Invocation of the Jophiel, during the reading of the psalms appointed, and at the Prayer of Thanksgiving.

The Archangel Jophiel

This Little Light of Mine

As I’m sure we’re all well aware, the season of Advent is quickly approaching. Last weekend, we experienced the feast day of one of my personal favorite saints, Saint Martin of Tours, whose feast in many ways represents the culmination of the octave of All Saints and All Souls day. From the late 4th Century to the Middle Ages, a period of fasting beginning on the day after St. Martin’s Day, November 11. This fast period lasted 40 days, and was, therefore, called “Quadragesima Sancti Martini”, which means in Latin “the forty days of St. Martin.” As times and history would have it, this period of fasting would later develop into the four Sundays of Advent familiar to many in the Western Churches.

Personally, around Saint Martin’s feast day, I start mentally preparing myself for the Christmas season and coming up with personal meditations and reflections as we begin to approach the darkest half of the year which, paradoxically, is also the time of year where the light of the Sun is symbolically reborn and begins to grow and wax once again. For anyone whose read Frazer or Joseph Campbell or has familiarity with contemporary neo-Paganism, the symbolism of the Christ Child being born around Winter Solstice and bringing light into the world is not a terribly novel idea, but it’s that mythic cycle that we can use to help ourselves to illuminate the depths of our own spiritual experiences in a cyclical way.

Last year I experienced a particularly deep and profound spiritual Advent season by intentionally participating in a local parish’s celebration of the season and also deepening my friendship with many at Hagia Sophia community as well as my own relationship with members of my community in the Apostolic Johannite Church. During this period, I thought about and sketched out some notes for a more family or individual based Advent celebration for members of the greater Gnostic community to follow at home since many lack regular access to churches and temples. Inspired by the idea of the Four Luminaries of the Secret Book of John as guardians of the macrocosmic Christ Consciousness, I put together this ritual that can be performed individually or as a small group for people wanting to participate meaningfully in the Advent Season.

Maybe my presentation here is a little premature, but it is my hope that those who wish to participate with me in this might also be inspired by the meditations I will be writing about this season using the readings suggested.

Emmanuel, icon written by Betsy Porter
egg tempera, shell gold, and gold leaf on shaped panel, 9.5 x 12.5 inches, 2007
photograph by Richard Anderson

Advent Wreath Service

The family or group gathers around the wreath (which is not yet lit).

Leader:

The One has brought forth the One, then One, and these Three are but One: the + Father, +the Word and +the Thought.

Lord, open my lips.

People:            And my mouth shall proclaim Your praise.

Leader:           O God, make speed to save me.

People:            O Lord, make haste to help me.

Leader:           Glory be to God, whose grace and mercy be upon us forever.

All                       Amen.

A member of the community comes to the altar or wherever the Advent wreath is placed and gives the Leader a candle or other source of fire.

Leader

I have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am guarding it until it blazes.

Leader:

“For from the light, which is the Christ, and the indestructibility, through the gift of the Spirit the four lights appeared from the divine Self-Begotten. He expected that they might attend him. And the three are Will, Thought, and Life. And the four powers are Understanding, Grace, Perception, and Prudence.

On the appropriate Sunday, the candles are lit and the following names are intoned as the candles are lit.

First Sunday

And grace belongs to the light-aeon Armozel, which is the first angel. And there are three other aeons with this aeon: Grace, Truth, and Form.

Second Sunday

And the second light is Oriel, who has been placed over the second aeon. And there are three other aeons with him: conception, perception, and memory.

Third Sunday

And the third light is Daveithai, who has been placed over the third aeon. And there are three other aeons with him: understanding, love, and idea.

Fourth Sunday

And the fourth aeon was placed over the fourth light Eleleth. And there are three other aeons with him: Perfection, Peace, and Wisdom.

After each reading, the Leader concludes with the following from the Apocryphon of John.

Leader

These are the lights which attend the divine Self-Begotten, and these are the twelve aeons which attend the son of the mighty one, the Self-Begotten, the Christ, through the will and the gift of the invisible Spirit. And the twelve aeons belong to the son of the Self-Begotten. And all things were established by the will of the Holy Spirit through the Self-Begotten Christ.”

Phos Hilaron (said together)

O gracious Light, pure brightness of the ever-living Father in heaven, O Christ, holy and blessed! Now as we come to the setting of the sun, and our eyes behold the vesper light, we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices, O Son of God, O Giver of life, and to be glorified through all the worlds.

Scripture Reading

After the reading

Reader: The Word of the Lord

All: Thanks be to God

The Peace

Leader: The peace of the Lord be with you

All: And also with you

All may exchange the peace

Leader: The Lord be with you

All: And also with you

Leader:  Let us pray

The Lord’s Prayer

Prayer of Witness

Leader

O Lord our God, let us never be removed from the Gnosis which is our innermost nature. Fill us with strength and with the grace which you have bestowed upon us to that we may carry the light to those in ignorance, to our brothers and sisters, daughters and sons. Therefore I believe and I bear witness. I go to Life and to light.

All                   Amen.

Final Blessing

Leader:          The Lord bless us and keep us.

All                   Amen.

Leader           The Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious to us.

All                      Amen.

Leader            The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace. ALL                     Amen.

Leader:           Let us bless the Lord.

People:            Thanks be to God.

Put out the candle or candles

Here are suggested readings for the weeks of Advent. Alternately, one could use the vesper readings from June Singer’s A Gnostic Book of Hours.

First Week

Sunday Matthew 25:1-13

Monday Isaiah 1:16-18

Tuesday Isaiah 60:1-3

Wednesday Psalm 43: 3-5

Thursday Isaiah 58:6-9

Friday 1 John 2:8-11

Saturday 1 John 3:1-2

 

Second Week

Sunday Isaiah 40:1-5

Monday Revelation 1:7-8

Tuesday Matthew 22:41-45

Wednesday Hosea 11:3-4

Thursday Psalm 130

Friday Micah 6:6-8

Saturday Jeremiah 14:8-9

 

Third Week

Sunday Isaiah 9:6-7

Monday Isaiah 7:10-14

Tuesday Isaiah 11:1-6

Wednesday Isaiah 40:10-11

Thursday Isaiah 52:7

Friday Jeremiah 33:14-16

Saturday Malachi 3:1-2

 

Fourth Week

Sunday John 3:16-21

Monday Luke 1:1-25

Tuesday Luke 1:26-38

Wednesday Luke 1:39-56

Thursday Luke 1:57-66

Friday Luke 1:67-80

Dec. 24 Matthew 1:18-25

Montesegur Day: Commemoration of the Holy Cathar Martyrs

On March 16th many contemporary Gnostic churches commemorate the Martyrdom of the Holy Cathars at Montségur by 10,000 troops at the end of the Albigensian Crusade a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Catholic Church to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc. In March 1244, the Cathars finally surrendered and approximately 220 were burned en masse in a bonfire at the foot of the pog when they refused to renounce their faith. Some 25 actually took the ultimate Cathar vow of consolamentum perfecti in the two weeks before the final surrender.

Catharism was a name given to a Christian religious movement with mitigated dualistic and gnostic elements that appeared in the Languedoc region of France and other parts of Europe in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Cathars, who frequently self-identified themselves as Bons Hommes or “Good Christians” were largely a grass-roots expression of piety who were acknowledged even by their Catholic neighbors as living lives of extreme devotion to the essence of Christian principals and, at the peak of their movement, were a formidable counter-religious movement to the Catholic Church which would ultimately bring about their persecution by Pope Innocent III and regional French royals.

In honor of the memory of the Holy Cathar Martyrs, below are some of my favorite pieces of Cathar scripture and verse which may be read or recited on one should so choose:

“Whereas we are taught by God`s Holy Word as well as by the Holy Apostles and the preaching of our spiritual brothers to reject all fleshly desire and all uncleanness and to do the will of God by doing good we, unworthy servants that we are, not only do not do the will of God as we should, but more often give way to desires of the flesh and the cares of the world, to such an extent that we wound our spirits.”

– Apareilementum from the Lyon Ritual

“For the Lord is called omnipotent, as our opponents avow, and He can do whatsoever pleases Him; nor can anyone resist Him,” or say, “Why dost Thou so?” As Ecclesiastes says: For He will do all that pleaseth Him and His word is full of power; neither can any man say to Him: ‘Why dost Thou so?’ ”  And David says, “But our God in heaven; He hath done all things whatsoever He would,” And in the Apocalypse is written: “Saith the Lord God, who is and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” And again, “Great and wonderful are Thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Thy ways, O King of Ages! Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and magnify  Thy name? For Thou only art holy.”

-          On the Omnipotence of God, The Book of Two Principals

“Thereafter I heard a voice there and the song which I heard in the six heavens rose up and was heard in the seventh heaven. And all glorified Him whose glory I could not behold. And the song of all six heavens was not only heard but seen. And the angel said to me, ‘He is the One Living Eternal, living in the highest eternity and resting among the holy ones; we cannot endure to name or see Him who is praised by the Holy Spirit in the mouths of the holy [and] righteous.”

-          Vision of Isaiah 5:1

“[If] you wish to receive this power you must keep all the commandments of Christ and the New Testament according to your ability. And know that He has commanded that man shall not commit adultery or murder or lie, that he must not swear any oath, that he shall not seize or rob, nor do to others what he would not have done to himself, that man must forgive whoever wrongs him and love his enemies, pray for his detractors and accusers and bless them; and if anyone strike him on one cheek, turn to him the other also, and if anyone takes away his cloak, to leave him his coat also; and that he should neither judge nor condemn, and many other commandments which the Lord made for His Church.”

-          Traditio, the rite of the transmission of prayer.

“Holy Father, Rightful King of faithful souls, who never erred, who never lied, follower of the rightful course, who never doubted lest we should accept death in the realm of the wrong god; as we do not belong to this realm and this realm is not ours – teach us Your gnosis and to love what You love.”

-          A traditional Cathar prayer from the 13^th Century

May the memory of the Good Christians never perish and the light of gnosis never fail. In particular, I also wish to commemorate St. Esclarmonde de Foix, a Cathar parfait who is credited with opening a number of hospitals, schools and Cathar convents in a time before the Catholic Church had done so, who single-handedly refuted the attempts of conversion by Dominic de Guzeman and when pursued by those who would attempt to kill her ascended into the sky in the shape of a dove far from her captors.

 

Thoughts Toward Actualizing a Gnostic Monastery Project

“…the restoration of the church will surely come only from a new type of monasticism which has nothing in common with the old but a complete lack of compromise in a life lived in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount in the discipleship of Christ.  I think it is time to gather people together to do this…” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer (January 14, 1935)

In the past several months, the topic of monasticism has come up on a few of the message boards in which I participate. As a lay person whose background has been indelibly influenced by a Catholic Benedictine heritage,  I owe a great deal of who I am today by the monastic experience. What made these particular conversations interesting is that the kind of monasticism being discussed is not that of Buddhism or the many traditional forms familiar to the West, but Gnostic Monasticism.

Although we can be fairly certain that there were never any Gnostic monasteries in the 1^st through 2^nd centuries of the common era, the discovery of the Nag Hammadi codices in Egypt indicate at least somewhat that what many contemporary Gnostics hold dear as scripture was once read and written in the very heart of the Orthodox expression of Monasticism. What is monasticism and why does it still exist? What would a Gnostic Monastery look like – is it even needed? There are many considerations to look at, but here are my observations for what they’re worth.

Monasticism as a Christian expression of vocation to religious life developed fairly early on in the history of the Church. Models of the Christian monastic ideal included groups and individuals such as the Nazirites[1], Moses, Elijah and the Hebrew prophets whereas New Testament figures such as John the Baptizer and the itinerant evangelization of the apostles tended to play a more prominent role. It is also very likely that early Christian monasticism could have also been influenced by the Essenes located near the Dead Sea as well as the Therapeutae of Alexandria.

Institutionalized Christian monasticism first appears to have taken root in the 3^rd Century in the deserts of 4^rd Century Egypt with the likes of Paul the Hermit, Anthony of Great and Pachomius. Around 350CE, Martin of Tours introduced monasticism to the West and a little over a century later, Benedict of Nursia established the Regula Benedicti (Rule of Saint Benedict) that led to him being credited with the title of father of western monasticism. By the time monasticism made inroads into the West, Benedict describes four different types of monks that were common around the time the text was penned:

“It is well known that there are four kinds of monks. The first kind are the Cenobites: those who live in monasteries and serve under a rule and an Abbot. The second kind are the Anchorites or Hermits: those who, no longer in the first fervor of their reformation, but after long probation in a monastery, having learned by the help of many brethren how to fight against the devil, go out well armed from the ranks of the community to the solitary combat of the desert. The third kind of monks, a detestable kind, are the Sarabaites… They live in twos or threes, or even singly, without a shepherd, in their own sheepfolds and not in the Lord’s. Their law is the desire for self-gratification: whatever enters their mind or appeals to them, that they call holy; what they dislike, they regard as unlawful. The fourth kind of monks are those called Gyrovagues (lit. ‘circuit wanderers’). These spend their whole lives tramping from province to province, staying as guests in different monasteries for three or four days at a time. Always on the move, with no stability, they indulge their own wills and succumb to the allurements of gluttony, and are in every way worse than the Sarabaites.”[2]

In the West, monastic communities tend to be organized into orders or congregations following a particular canon or rule such as the Rule of Saint Benedict or the Rule of Saint Augustine. In the East, monastic regulae (rules) never took root in the same way as in Western monasticism; instead, monks and nuns are encouraged to read Scripture and the writings of the Holy Mothers and Fathers and emulate their virtues. In both Eastern and Western examples, there are elements of active and contemplative life is more or less equally possible amongst religious although, in some orders, one may take precedence.

An example of a form of proto-neo-Gnostic monasticism can be found in the establishment of the Abbey of Thelema in Cefalù, founded by the early 20^th Century occultist Aleister Crowley. The Abbey of Thelema, name borrowed from François Rabelais’s satire Gargantua and Pantagruel is described as a sort of “anti-monastery” where the lives of the inhabitants were “spent not in laws, statutes, or rules, but according to their own free will and pleasure.[3]” It was through The Abbey of Thelema that Crowley had hoped to create an intentional community which would function as a type of esoteric school, giving it the designation Collegium ad Spiritum Sanctum, a “College Towards the Holy Spirit”. Despite only lasting three years, the Abbey of Thelema remains an ideal of a functioning, magical utopia by many contemporary followers of the magical and ethical philosophy of Thelema.

Amongst adherents of contemporary Christian Gnosticism, it would be difficult to imagine what form a modern monastic community would take due to incomplete data regarding the number of adherents of the various denominations. Because of this incomplete data and gaps in geography of members, it would stand to reason that a contemporary Gnostic monastic project would have to function independently from individual denominations or be ecumenical to such an extent that it could provide communally and individually for members belonging to particular denominations while also providing for both singles and committed couples. The model for such a community could be similar to that of the 1^st and 2^nd Century Therapeutae or those established by the Joachimites or the Brethren of the Free Spirit, two lay Christian movements which flourished in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Providing for physical space, a Gnostic monastic project would (in the United States) have to register as a tax-exempt, non-profit entity and accommodate for living, dining and community areas. In urban areas, following the model of the new monastic movement, such a group could potentially purchase housing or loft space in areas of a city that would be amenable for remodeling and have access to transportation into the cities. In less urban or even rural areas, it would be conceivably easier to construct a community that would ideally fit the needs of the community as well as provide for agricultural and such space as could be used to befit the specific mission of the project as is done in more conventional communes such as by the Cistercians or Mennonite communities.

As with the New Monastic Movement, a Gnostic Monastery Project would be able to provide a space where members may live thoughtful, prayerful, and contemplative lives in the context of a community and focus on engagement of a particular charism (e.g. education, social service, food services, plastic arts, construction, etc.). In a Christian monastic context, the Twelve Marks [4]could be easily applied or modified in order to suit a more ecumenical approach such as would be necessary if a community has members whose personal identification is more similar to Hermetic or Neo-Platonic schools of Gnosticism. Ultimately, these considerations would have to be taken into account as members of a Gnostic Monastery Project come together to establish their community.

The overall benefit of establishing a Gnostic Monastery Project would be to provide for an actualized, physical community where Gnostics or members of various Gnostic communities could come together and practice their beliefs in a contemplative environment. Secondly, as with exoteric expressions of Christianity and Buddhism, a Gnostic Monastery project could provide a visible example of the Restoration of the Gnosis[5] and become a center of promulgation for Gnostic ideals and values in a society that could benefit from them now more than ever and provide for the continuation and preservation of a faith that is at once ancient and, as monasticism itself, eternally new.

---

[1] One who voluntarily took a vow described in Numbers 6:1–21

[2] Doyle, Leonard. Saint Benedict’s Rule for Monasteries.

[3] Wilson, Colin. Nature of the Beast.

[4] The Simple Way. http://www.thesimpleway.org/about/12-marks-of-new-monasticism/. 3/5/2012 8:38 PM

12 Marks of New Monasticism

1. Relocation to the abandoned places of Empire.
2. Sharing economic resources with fellow community members and the needy among us.
3. Hospitality to the stranger
4. Lament for racial divisions within the church and our communities combined with the active pursuit of a just reconciliation.
5. Humble submission to Christ’s body, the church.
6. Intentional formation in the way of Christ and the rule of the community along the lines of the old novitiate.
7.  Nurturing common life among members of intentional community.
8. Support for celibate singles alongside monogamous married couples and their children.
9. Geographical proximity to community members who share a common rule of life.
10. Care for the plot of God’s earth given to us along with support of our local economies.
11. Peacemaking in the midst of violence and conflict resolution within communities along the lines of Matthew 18.
12. Commitment to a disciplined contemplative life.

[5.] Doinel, Jules (Tau Valentin II). Restoration de la Gnose,

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