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.

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[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,

A Gnostic Rosary

A few weeks ago after attending Gnostic Mass at Horizon Lodge, a brother of mine in Ordo Templi Orientis commented on how I inspire him by the importance I place on living prayerfully. I know – one of the last things one would associate with a heretic. The fact remains, however, prayer is such a strongly engrained practice from my life and throughout my spiritual experiences, I can’t think of living without it as a natural response to life’s blessings and banes and all the events in-between. The particular brother in question is likewise someone I admire deeply for his dedication to yoga and his participation in a local Sikh community in addition to identifying as a Thelemite or Thelemic Gnostic. Likewise, although I am a Thelemite through and through, my experience of Thelema is informed through the lens of being first and foremost a Gnostic and for me a very big part of that experience is spent in prayer and meditation.

Growing up in a Catholic house-hold, the rosary was a very common part of my family’s (well, paternal grandmother’s) religiosity. During a brief stint in participating in a local Episcopal community, I was introduced to the Anglican prayer beads which I took up with a passion and still hold to this day. As described in the Wikipedia and King of Peace website, the Anglican, or Ecumenical rosary consists of thirty-three beads divided into groups. There are four groups consisting of seven beads with additional separate and larger beads separating the groups. The number thirty-three signifies the number of years that Christ lived on the Earth, while the number seven signifies wholeness or completion in the faith, the days of creation, and the seasons of the Church year.

Unlike the typical Dominican rosary which has the beads arranged in five groups of ten beads, or ‘decades’, the Ecumenical rosary is organized in four groups of seven beads called ‘weeks’. The typically larger beads between the weeks are referred to as ‘cruciform’ beads. When the rope or group of beads is opened into a circular shape, these particular beads form the points of a cross within the circle of the set; hence the term “cruciform.” After the cross on Ecumenical prayer bead sets is a single bead termed the “invitatory” bead, giving the total of thirty-three. The beads used are made of a variety of materials, such as precious stones, wood, colored glass, or even dried and painted seeds.

Unlike the traditional rosary used by Roman Catholics, which focuses on the seminal events in the life of Christ and asks the Virgin Mary to pray for their intentions, Anglican prayer beads are most often used as a tactile aid to prayer and as a counting device. The standard ecumenical set consists of the following pattern, starting with the cross, followed by the Invitatory Bead, and subsequently, the first Cruciform bead, moving to the right, through the first set of seven beads to the next Cruciform bead, continuing around the circle. He or she may conclude by saying the Lord’s Prayer on the invitatory bead and/or a final prayer on the cross as in the examples below. The entire circle may be done thrice, which signifies the Holy Trinity.

In many ways, I feel that the ecumenical rosary is a good middle-ground between the Dominican Rosary and the traditional, Orthodox, prayer rope and can be used in a similar way to the latter as an aid in contemplative meditation or Hesychastic practice with the added benefit of being versatile enough that different prayers can be substituted according to different themes. Below is the prayer cycle that I use in my personal practice based off readings from the Hymns of Hermes, as translated by G.R.S. Mead:

Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Unknown Father, in Truth, Mother of all,

in union and redemption and sharing of the powers,

peace to all on whom this name reposes.

The Invitatory

He is the God beyond all name-He the unmanifest, he the most manifest;

He whom the mind alone can contemplate, He visible unto the eyes as well.

He is the one of no body, the one of many bodies, nay, rather, He of everybody.

The Weeks

From Thee Thy Will; To Thee the All.

The Cruciforms

Holy art Thou, Lord of the Universe.

Holy art Thou, whom Nature hath not formed.

Holy art Thou, The Vast and Mighty One.

Lord of the Light and of the Darkness.

The Hymn of Gnosis (from the Triple Trisagion)

Accept my reason’s offerings pure, from soul and heart for aye stretched up to Thee, O Thou unutterable, unspeakable, Whose Name naught but the  Silence can express!

 Give ear to me who pray that I may ne’er of Gnosis fail — Gnosis which is our common being’s nature — and fill me with Thy Power, and with this Grace of Thine, that I may give the Light to those in ignorance of the Race, my Brethren and Thy Sons!

For this cause I believe, and I bear witness. I go to Life and Light. Blessed art Thou, O Father. Thy Man would holy be as Thou art holy, even as Thou gavest him Thy full authority to be.

The Cross

Saved by Thy Power divine, let us rejoice that Thou hast shown Thyself to us in all Thy Fullness. Let us rejoice that Thou hast designed to consecrate us, still entombed in bodies, to Eternity. Amen.

I’ve found the tactile experience of using prayer beads to be a powerful adjunct to meditation or prior to my personal practice of Lectio Divina. Naturally, as mentioned above, the sets of prayers can be modified to suit one’s personal practice or even changed seasonally in a way reflective of the Dominican rosary’s meditation on the Mysteries in the life of Christ and Mary.

A Brief Overview of Modern Gnosticism

a contemporary seal of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica

In my previous entry, I shared my recent experiences as a Thelemic gnostic and current member of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica attending a Eucharistic service operating under the auspices of one of our sister traditions, Ecclesia Gnostica. In this particular appreciation, I mentioned some of the similarities I noticed, but not many of the differences on account of not wanting to distract myself from the experience of writing and sharing my experience. For individuals not particularly familiar with contemporary forms of Gnosticism, it might seem strange to suggest that there are many differences between different gnostic groups – after all, we’re all dirty, stinky, filthy heretics – but the truth is, as in other denominations or traditions with similar backgrounds, gnostics as individuals and as groups are very heterodox in particular viewpoints despite coming from a very similar background and even in praxis there are some strong ritual differences which may vary from sect to sect.

Episcopal seal of Jules Doinel, Eglise Gnostique Universelle Catholique

For the purposes of this essay, I’m not going to focus much on historical Gnosticism as practiced in the second and third centuries CE. This reason is twofold: first, despite having access to scriptures and first and second hand accounts of our religious forbears, early gnostic groups were widely varied and the information we have about their practices come primarily from heresiological sources which cannot be adequately trusted; secondly, contemporary Gnosticism does not represent an unbroken line of praxis or scriptural coherency from the early sects and, at best, can only be traced back to the gnostic revivals of 19^th Century Europe. This notwithstanding, I must also mention that there are elements of historical Gnosticism which have been preserved culturally as well as theologically amongst mainline Christian churches – in particular amongst the Hesychastic practices in Eastern Orthodoxy and in some of the writings of the early Church Fathers and mystics, but this is deserving of a more thorough study for a later date.

As I mentioned, contemporary Gnosticism dates back no earlier than the 19^th Century. It was during this period of European expansionism that modern Biblical archeology became a field of serious inquiry, leading to the discovery and subsequent translation of many texts that had a coherent connection to historical Gnosticism, early Christianity and late Greco-Egyptian pagan religious traditions. In 1769 the Bruce Codex was brought to England from Upper Egypt by the famous Scottish traveller Bruce, and subsequently bequeathed to the care of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Sometime prior to 1785 The Askew Codex (aka Pistis Sophia) was bought by the British Museum from the heirs of Dr. Askew. Pistis Sophia text and Latin translation of the Askew Codex by M. G. Schwartze published in 1851. During this time as well, the formation of the Theosophical Society by Mme. Blavatsky as well as the existence of various strains of esoteric Freemasonry contributed to a strong countercultural interest in esoteric Christianity, in particular Gnosticism.

A contemporary episcopal crest of the Liberal Catholic Church

All of this came to a head in 1890 when, after a series of visions and impacted by the rediscovery of various Cathar (Albegensian) documents, a librarian named Jules-Benoît Stanislas Doinel du Val-Michel (aka Jules Doinel) established the Eglise Gnostique (French: Gnostic Church) and declared a “the era gnosis restored.” The establishment of Eglise Gnostique represented a major departure from the Christianities of its day in that its liturgy and theology represented the fullest extant understanding of Cathar liturgy and theology of the day and, secondly (arguably most importantly) allowed the ordination of men and women on an egalitarian basis. It is also important to note that, in a departure from apostolic Christianity, Doinel was “spiritually consecrated” in a spiritual experience in 1888 and not into a line of Apostolic Succession. Doinel subsequently consecrated a number of bishops for the Eglise Gnostique, notable among these was Gérard Encausse founder of the closely allied Martinist Order.

The importance of apostolicity as validating one’s abilities as clergy prior to this has been one of the defining characteristics of liturgical Christian traditions prior to the Protestant Reformation going back at least as far as the Donatist controversy of the fourth and fifth centuries. The importance is emphasized most in Western Christianity which teaches that any bishop can consecrate any other baptized man as a bishop provided that the bishop observes the minimum requirements for the sacramental validity of the ceremony. This means that the consecration is considered valid even if it flouts certain ecclesiastical laws, and even if the participants are schismatics or heretics. In certain historical periods where various regions lacked formal access to bishops or in which no formal Bishophoric Seat has been established, there has been a long line of episcopi vagantes (wandering bishops) whose job it was to travel and oversee particular jurisdictions. It is from these groups that modern Gnostic groups would obtain their apostolicity, in particular through two lines: Fabré-Palaprat’s l’Église Johannites des Chretiens Primitif (Johannite Church of the Primitive Christians) and Joseph René Vilatte whose participation with the Old Catholic Church of Utrecht would also pave the way toward the development of the Liberal Catholic Church which would be deeply involved from the onset with the Theosophical movement.

As a brief departure, I would like to present the following graphical illustration of contemporary gnostic churches for the purposes of better understanding the various streams which exist currently to show their development over time while avoiding the complexity of succession:

Church	l’Église Johannites des Chretiens Primitif	Eliate Church of Carmel	Eglise Gnostique	Eglise Gnostique Universelle	The Liberal Catholic Church	Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica	Pre-Nicene Gnostic Catholic Church(Ecclesia Gnostica)	Eglise Gnostique Apostolique
Name of Founder	Fabré-Palaprat	Eugene Vintras	Jules Doinel	Jean Bricaud	James Wedgewood and Charles Leadbeater	Theodore Reuss	Duc du Palatine	Robert Amberline
Foundation	1803	1848	1890	1907	1919	1920	1952	1953

These particular churches represent the primary streams of contemporary Gnosticism, however matters are somewhat complicated by individual churches such as Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica which, while founded upon the apostolic succession bestowed on Theodore Reuss through the Bricaud and Dionel successions, represents an interesting case-study in that Reuss’ successor, Aleister Crowley, doesn’t seem to indicate whether he obtained consecration from Reuss and, secondly that it makes a near complete break with other, Gnostic Christian churches in favor of Crowley’s religious philosophy of Thelema. Due to this, there is some debate some gnostic branches today which question the validity of considering Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica as part of the gnostic community. This is deserving of further study on many grounds. Important to note, however, is that the contemporary Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica does not itself rely on Apostolic Succession from Christian lineage and, instead, according to current United States Grand Lodge representative Sabazius X°, relies solely on the authority of Aleister Crowley as To Mega Therion DCLXVI. Despite this, many bishops in EGC do have consecrations from other gnostic lineages which can be adequately traced back to early sources.

An interesting point of difference can be made by comparing three of the four major streams of Gnosticism active in North America – Ecclesia Gnostica, Ecclesia Gnostica Mysteriorum, Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica and the Apostolic Johannite Church. While there are other churches that may represent varying degrees of “gnostic apostolicity”, I present these four as representative of the greater gnostic tradition due to their apostolic lines as well and the number of adherents.

Name of Church	Ecclesia Gnostica	Ecclesia Gnostica Mysteriorum	Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica	Apostolic Johannite Church
Date Founded	1953	1978	1919	1804 (original), 2000
Name of Founder	Rev. Richard Duc de Palatine	Rosamonde Miller	Theodor Reuss	Palaprat (?)
Apostolic Succession	Old Catholic and Leadbeater/Wedgwood	Old Catholic, Liberal Catholic, Palatine, Marian (?)	Palaprat, Doinel, Bricaud, Villate	Old Catholic, Roman Catholic, Palaprat, Doinel, Vilatte
Current Patriarch	Rev. Stephen Hoeller	Rosamonde Miller	Hymanaeus Beta, XII°, T Apyrion (US)	The Most Rev. Mar Iohannes IV, Ep.Gn. (CA), The Most Rev. Mar Thomas, AC, Ph.D, Ep.Gn. (US)

For now, I hope this exploration in the different traditions of modern Gnosticism provides an adequate example of the complexities involved in understanding the differences that may arise in understanding individual traditions. While historically it has been near to impossible to probe deep enough to look at this particular subgroup of the Western religious tradition, it is my hope to delve deeper into the individual schools of gnostic thought and, hopefully, be able to provide a comprehensive survey of modern Gnosticism and its relevance today.

Other Gnostics, an Appreciation

Ecclesiastic Seal of Ecclesia Gnostica

Yesterday I took a few hours out of my life to investigate another gnostic community, Hagia Sophia Gnostic Parish of Ecclesia Gnostica, in my fair city in the spirit of exploration and religious education. It was overwhelmingly a positive experience with the added benefit that their current meeting place is about three blocks from where I live. As some of my readers may know, I am a member of Ordo Templi Orientis, a Thelemic order “dedicated to the high purpose of securing the Liberty of the Individual and his or her advancement in Light, Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, and Power through Beauty, Courage, and Wit, on the Foundation of Universal Brotherhood” following the teachings of the British occultist and religious philosopher, Aleister Crowley. Within my particular tradition there exists an ecclesiastical branch, Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, which administers to the religious end of the Order and whose central ritual, Liber XV: The Gnostic Mass is said to contain every secret of the order in symbol and in sign. Naturally, as a self-described gnostic, my experience was very interesting to see what gnostics outside my tradition practice. What I found was very interesting.

Upon entering the University Christian Church, I went through the maze of doors, up the elevator and waited patiently outside while their clergy prepared for celebration of the Eucharist. The priest, a very nice man in his mid-forties quickly introduced himself as I sat down to my chair admiring the temple space. It was very beautiful in its simplicity and arranged in much the same format as conventional Christian chapels. The vestments and everything else seemed to be an interesting blend of pre-Vatican II Roman Catholicism combined with various esoteric symbols, including a beautiful statue of the Sophia above the Tabernacle – something which I personally thought to be a very beautiful sentiment as well as very symbolic. In total there were roughly eight people in attendance including the priest, Rev. Sam Osborne, and his acolyte.

The ordo of the service pretty much followed the conventional missa of pre-Vatican II Roman Catholicism with some verses changed to reflect a more mystical or gnostic perspective. Starting with the ceremony of the Introit, the priest and acolyte approached the altar and reciting the intention of the day and giving the traditional opening benediction: “In the name of the Father X and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” to which we all responded, “Amen”. Next followed the ascent toward the altar in which the priest approached it with three steps, saying: “Lord of the Past, we hail Thee. Lord of the Present, we hail Thee. Lord of the Future, we hail Thee.” This I found interesting in that it is common to both the pre-Vatican II mass to recite a prayer of ascent upon coming forth to the altar, but more interesting was the similarity to how, in my tradition, upon coming out from the tomb the priest also gives three steps giving the pre-Crowley signs and steps.

I found the asperges to be particularly moving, particularly the prayer calling for the purification of the chapel from the forces of evil and obstruction and to open the hearts of those in attendance to the “indwelling Christ.” I found the kyrie and pronouncement of absolution to be very much reminiscent again of the Latin Rite, but the collects more than interested me for their inclusion of a beautifully paraphrased section from the Chaldean Oracles’ Adoration of the Lord of the Universe:

“Holy art Thou, King of the Universe.

Holy art Thou, Whom nature hath not formed.

Holy art Thou, Who art the living one among the living.

Thou art the Holy One among the Holy;

Thou art God among the Gods.

Thou art the Lord among the Lords.

Thou art the house and Thou art the Dweller in the house;

and Thou art the Alone-Begotten, Light, Life and Grace.

Pour forth Thy Glory upon us. Amen”

Following the collects came the hymn, and the Lessons which included the following from The Great Announcement, attributed to the Simon Magus:

“Of all things that are concealed and manifested, the fire which is above the heavens is the treasurehouse, as it were a great Tree from which all flesh is nourished. The manifested side of the fire is the trunk, branches, leaves, and the outside bark. All these parts of the great Tree are set on fire from the all-devouring flame of the fire and destroyed. But the fruit of the Tree, if its imaging has been perfected and it takes shape of itself, is placed in the storehouse and is not cast into the fire. For the fruit is produced to be placed in the storehouse, but the husk to be committed to the fire; that is to say, the trunk, which is generated not for its own sake but for that of the fruit.”

Followed by a gospel reading from The Gospel of Philip:

“If anyone becomes a son of the bridal chamber he will receive the light. If anyone does not receive it while he is in this world, he will not receive it in the other place. He who has received that light will not be seen, nor can he be detained; and none shall be able to torment one of this kind even if he dwell in the world. And again when he goes out of the world he has already received the truth in images. The world has become the aeon. For the aeon is for him the pleroma and it is in this manner; it is revealed to him alone, not hidden in the darkness and the night but hidden in a perfect day and a holy light.”

Following the readings, my ears perked up substantially during the Act of Faith:

“We know one secret, Supreme and Ineffable Lord,  the Father of  us all, unchanging in essence, yet ever changing in appearance and manifestation; And the Logos, the Son, the Divine Manifestation of God, the only begotten of the Great Stillness, begotten by an act of consciousness alone, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error; And the Holy Spirit, the giver of life and goodness, the principle of love and compassion, which remains here on earth to guide and care for those still groping in the darkness of matter, which with the Father and the Son, forms the wholeness upon which the manifested universe is erected; We honor one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the communion of the Holy Aeons and Saints, Custodians of the essential wisdom of the race, who preach the great law, who live and labor unselfishly, dedicated to the advancement of all beings; We acknowledge the infinite wheel of exis¬tence, immutable laws that govern and sustain the universe. We look to the resurrection and ascension of our souls into the Universal Will and thus libera¬tion from the infinite chain of attainment. Amen.”

This interested me due to the many similarities to the Credo of my Liber XV: The Gnostic Mass:

 I believe in one secret and ineffable LORD; and in one Star in the Company of Stars of whose fire we are created, and to which we shall return; and in one Father of Life, Mystery of Mystery, in His name CHAOS, the sole viceregent of the Sun upon the Earth; and in one Air the nourisher of all that breathes.

And I believe in one Earth, the Mother of us all, and in one Womb wherein all men are begotten, and wherein they shall rest, Mystery of Mystery, in Her name BABALON.

And I believe in the Serpent and the Lion, Mystery of Mystery, in His name BAPHOMET.

And I believe in one Gnostic and Catholic Church of Light, Life, Love and Liberty, the Word of whose Law is THELEMA.

And I believe in the communion of Saints.

And, forasmuch as meat and drink are transmuted in us daily into spiritual substance, I believe in the Miracle of the Mass.

And I confess one Baptism of Wisdom whereby we accomplish the Miracle of Incarnation.

And I confess my life one, individual, and eternal that was, and is, and is to come.”

Upon further research, I was more intrigued since the earliest date we have for the writing of Liber XV: The Gnostic Mass is said to have been written in 1913 while Aleister Crowley was traveling through Moscow and was inspired by the Orthodox liturgy of Saint Basil. While I have my own personal thoughts on that particular idea, considering the closer similarities to the Latin and Sarum Rites, I was more interested by the idea that possibly the EGC liturgy may have influenced this particular one since the earliest date for the liturgy of Ecclesia Gnostica is likely of no earlier date than 1953.

The offertorium, censing, lavabo and other preceding rituals to the consecration of the eucharist were not particularly unusual nor different from the symbols and prayers used in the Latin Rite. Once again my ears were perked when the priest recited the Commemoration of the Saints:

“We commemorate those who did of old adore Thee, and manifest Thy glory unto men. First of all, the Holy Virgin of Light Sophia, and Mary ever Holy. Of your blessed companion Mary Magdelena, your Holy Apostles John, Paul, Peter, Andrew, James, Thomas, James the less, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon, and Thaddeus;  the Holy and enlightened teachers: Simon, Menander, Saturinus, Cerinthus, Basilides, Valentinus, Marcion, as well as Thy Holy Prophet Mani, and the Master of the Templars Jacob Molay, who transmitted the Light of the Gnosis to us, their successors and heirs. Hear Ye, all saints of the true church in every age, now essentially present in our midst, of you we claim heirship, with you we claim communion, and from you we claim benediction and intercession in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus we commemorate all the saints who were, and are, and are to come.”

This very much interested me since it mirrors the words of the priest in EGC during the Consecration of the Elements: “Hear ye all, Saints of the True Church of Old Time, now essentially present…” as well as the Collect of the Saints:

“LORD of Life and Joy, that art the might of man, that art the essence of every true god that is upon the surface of the Earth, continuing knowledge from generation unto generation, thou adored of us upon heaths and in woods, on mountains and in caves, openly in the marketplaces and secretly in the chambers of our houses, in temples of gold and ivory and marble as in these other temples of our bodies, we worthily commemorate them worthy that did of old adore thee and manifest they glory unto men… Oh Sons of the Lion and the Snake! With all thy saints we worthily commemorate them worthy that were and are and are to come. May their essence be here present, potent, puissant and paternal to perfect this feast!”

I found myself very excited at this point at the possibility of a deeper relationship, even if by plagiarism, by the two churches. If plagiarism is not of a particular issue, it begs a great many more questions surrounding the liturgies of other gnostic communities – inclusive of Thelemites, whom many don’t consider gnostic due to issues of apostolicity or other issues such as our whole-scale removal of our church from “Old Aeon” Christian trappings.

Replacing the traditional Pater Noster was a unique version of the same called the Gnostic’s Prayer that I found particularly beautiful, although I’m more of a proponent of the Nepios of the “Thelemic Rite”. Communion itself was reminiscent of the Sarum and Latin Rite and I did feel that it was appropriate that I commune, if only as an act of good faith.

Following communion, Rev. Sam gave a moving – if not ideosyncretic – sermon on the lessons. Sadly, I was not able to stay longer due to a meeting with my own local bishop over coffee, but none-the-less I do intend on attending a few more of their services and talking with members of their community. Overall, I was impressed and feel that there is still much to learn about other contemporary strains of Gnosticism and much work that could be done to improve relations and dialogue between those who seek divine knowledge.