Synopsis of Contents
Synopsis of Contents
Section titled “Synopsis of Contents”PAGE
INTRODUCTION
1-153
PROLEGOMENA
3-28
The Creed of Christendom
3
The New Era Two Thousands Years ago
4
The New Hope of To-day
5
Our Present Task
5
The One Religion
6
The Sunshine of its Doctrine
7
The Comparative Science of Religion
8
The True Scholar of Religion
9
The Just Method of Comparison
9
The Analysis of Religion
10
The Beginnings of Christianity
11
The First Two Centuries
12
The “Higher Criticism”
14
“Providentissimus Deus”
14
Its Immediate Result
16
The Force of Reaction
17
The Force of Progress
18
The Nature of Criticism
18
The Resultant
19
p. vi
PAGE
Nineteen Centuries Ago and Now
21
The Return of Souls
23
The Conditions of the Comparison
23
The Intensified Present
24
Occident and Orient
25
The Reconciliation of Science and Theology
25
The Coming and Going of Souls
26
The Birth and Death of Races
27
The Manhood of the Western World
8
SOME ROUGH OUTLINES OF THE BACKGROUND OF THE GNOSIS
29-120
PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS
29-36
The Greatest Story in the World
29
The Need of a Background
30
The Main Means to a Recovery of the Outlines
30
The Gnostic Schools
32
Where to look for their Origins
32
The Nature of the Field to be Surveyed
33
The Soil of the Field
34
Three Mother Streams
35
GREECE
36-57
The Greece of 600 B.C.
36
The Precursors of Pythagoras
37
The Orphic Tradition
39
Primitive Hellas
39
The Wavelets of Aryan Immigration
41
The Orphic Line
42
The Greece of Homer
43
Orpheus returns to Greece
44
The Mysteries
46
Their Corruption
47
The Reason of it
47
p. vii
PAGE
The Various Traditions
48
The Political Mysteries
49
The Private Mysteries
49
The Orphic Communities
50
The Philosophic Mysteries
51
Pythagoras and Plato
51
Aristotle and Scepticism
53
East and West
54
Rome
55
The Mysteries of Mithras
55
EGYPT
57-65
The Wisdom of Egypt
57
The Blendings of Tradition
58
The Mystic Communities
60
The Therapeuts
60
The Earliest Christians of Eusebius
61
The Pseudo-Philo Theory
62
Its Death blow
63
An Interesting Question of Date
64
The Title and Context
65
PHILO ON THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE
66-86
The Essæans
66
The Name Therapeut
66
Their Abandonment of the World
67
Their Retreats
68
The Mareōtic Colony
69
Their Dwellings
69
The Original Meaning of the Term Monastery
70
Their Prayers and Exercises
70
The Nature of their Books
71
Their Mode of Meeting
71
The Sanctuary
72
Their Rule
72
p. viii
PAGE
Fasting
73
The Seventh-day Common Meal
73
Housing and Clothing
73
Their Sacred Feasts
74
The Banquet on the Fiftieth Day
75
Seniority
75
The Women Disciples
75
The Plain Couches
76
The Servers
76
The Frugal Fare
77
The President
78
The Instruction
78
The Interpretation of Scripture
79
The Singing of Hymns
79
Bread and Salt
80
The Sacred Dancing
80
The Morning Prayer
82
A Note on the Sacred Numbers
82
Philo’s Connection with the Therapeuts
84
The Lay Disciples
85
The Variety of Communities
85
JEWRY
86-95
The Influence of Babylon
86
The Writing of Scripture-history
88
The Mythology of History
88
Honest Self-delusion
90
The Spiritualizing of Judaism
91
Zealotism
91
Pharisaism
92
The Chassidim and Essenes
93
The Inner Schools
94
ALEXANDRIA
95-120
A Bird’s-eye View of the City
96
p. ix
PAGE
The Populace
100
The Library
102
The Museum
106
The Schools of the Sophists
109
The Dawn-land
110
The New Religion
113
Jewish and Christian Schools
116
GENERAL AND GNOSTIC CHRISTIANITY
121-153
THE EVOLUTION OF CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY
121-125
The Canon
121
The Gospels
122
The Letters of Paul
123
The Gentilization of Christianity
124
THE EBIONITES
126-130
The Nazoræans
126
The Poor Men
127
The Ebionite Tradition of Jesus
128
THE ESSENES
131-136
Their Manner of Life
132
The Degrees of Holiness
133
Points of Contact with Christianity
134
THE TENDENCIES OF GNOSTICISM
136-142
The “Secularizing” of Christianity
136
Yahweh not “the Father” of Jesus
138
The Inner Teaching
138
Various Classes of Souls
139
The Person of Jesus
140
The Main Doctrines
141
THE LITERATURE AND SOURCES OF GNOSTICISM.
143-153
Literature
143
Indirect Sources
146
Direct Sources
151
p. x
PAGE
THE GNOSIS ACCORDING TO ITS FOES
155-449
SOME GNOSTIC FRAGMENTS RECOVERED FROM THE POLEMICAL WRITINGS OF THE CHURCH FATHERS
157-414
No Classification possible
157
THE “SIMONIANS”
160-161
The Origin of the Name
160
DOSITHEUS
162-164
A Follower of John the Baptist
162
The Pre-Christian Gnosis
163
“SIMON MAGUS”
164-174
The Ebionite “Simon”
165
The “Simonian” Literature
167
The “Simonian” System of Irenæus
168
The Great Announcement
170
The Hidden Fire
171
The Fire Tree
172
The Æons
173
MENANDER
175-177
His Date
175
His Doctrines
175
A Link with Zoroastrianism
177
SATURNINUS
177-180
The Chain of Teachers
177
Asceticism
178
Summary of Doctrines
178
The Making of Man
180
THE “OPHITES”
181-188
The Obscurity of the Subject
181
p. xi
PAGE
The Term “Ophite”
182
The Serpent Symbol
183
The Myth of the Going-forth
186
Pseudo-philology
187
AN ANONYMOUS SYSTEM FROM IRENÆUS
188-193
The Spiritual Creation
188
Yahweh Ialdabaōth
189
O. T. Exegesis
189
Christology
191
Jesus
191
AN EARLY “OPHITE” SYSTEM
193-197
Justinus
193
The Book of Baruch
194
Baruch
196
Christology
197
THE NAASSENI
198-206
Their Literature
198
Their Mystical Exegesis
199
The Assyrian Mysteries
200
The Egyptian
201
The Greek
201
The Samothracian
202
The Phrygian
202
The Mysteries of the Great Mother
203
The Fragment of a Hymn
205
THE PERATÆ
206-212
The Source of their Tradition
206
The Three Worlds
207
A Direct Quotation
208
The Meaning of the Name
209
Psychological Physiology
210
The Lost Books of Hippolytus
212
p. xii
PAGE
THE SETHIANS
213-216
Seth
213
An Outline of their System
214
The Mysteries
215
THE DOCETÆ
217-221
God
218
The Æons
218
Cosmos and Man
219
The Saviour
220
MONOÏMUS
222-223
Number Theories
222
How to Seek after God
223
THE SO-CALLED CAINITES
224-229
The Obscurity of the Subject
224
The Enemies of Yahweh the Friends of God
225
Judas
226
A Scrap of History
228
THE CARPOCRATIANS
229-233
Their Idea of Jesus
230
Reincarnation
231
“EPIPHANES”
233-236
The Moon god
234
Communism
234
The Monadic Gnosis
236
CERINTHUS
237-238
The Scape-Goat for the “Pillar-Apostles”
237
The Over-Writer of the Apocalypse
238
NICOLAUS
239-240
“Which Things I hate”
239
CERDO
240-241
The Master of Marcion
240
p. xiii
PAGE
MARCION
241-249
The Spread of Marcionism
241
The “Higher Criticism”
242
The Gospel of Paul
244
Eznik
246
A Marcionite System
247
The Title Chrēstos
249
APELLES
250-252
His Wide Tolerance
250
Philumēnē
250
Her Visions
251
THE BASILIDIAN GNOSIS
253-284
Basilides and his Writings
253
Our Sources of Information
255
The Divinity beyond Being
256
Universality beyond Being
257
Ex Nihilo
259
The Sonship
260
The Holy Spirit
261
The Great Ruler
262
The Ætherial Creation
263
The Sub-lunary Spaces
264
Soteriology
265
The Mystic Gospel
267
The Sons of God
268
The Final Consummation
270
Jesus
272
Karman and Reincarnation
274
The Theory of “Appendages”
276
Moral Responsibility
277
A Trace of Zoroastrianism
278
The Spurious System
280
Abrasax
282
p. xiv
PAGE
THE VALENTINIAN MOVEMENT
284-293
The “Great Unknown” of Gnosticism
284
“They of Valentinus”
285
The So-called Eastern and Western Schools
287
The Leaders of the Movement
287
The Syntheticizing of the Gnosis
289
Sources of Information
291
VALENTINUS
294-311
Biography
294
Date
296
Writings
297
The Fragments that Remain
298
Concerning the Creation of the First Race of Mankind
299
On the Pure in Heart
300
Concerning One of the Powers of the Perfect Man
302
Ye are Sons of God
303
The Face of God
303
Concerning the People of the Beloved
305
The Galilæans
306
The Wisdom of the “Little One”
306
The Chain of Being
307
The Ariadne’s Thread out of the Maze
309
SOME OUTLINES OF ÆONOLOGY
311-335
Towards the Great Silence
311
The Depth beyond Being
312
The Æon World
313
The Platonic Solids
314
A Living Symbolism
316
The “Fourth Dimension”
318
The Eternal Atom
320
The Law of Syzygy
321
p. xv
PAGE
The Law of Differentiation
322
The Three and the Seven
323
The Twelve and Ten
323
The Dodecahedron
325
The Decad
326
Chaos
328
Theos
329
Cosmos
331
Mythology
332
The Sophia-Mythus
333
The Mother of Many Names
334
HIPPOLYTUS’ ACCOUNT OF ONE OF THE VARIANTS OF THE SOPHIA-MYTHUS
335-357
The Father of All
335
The Parents of the Æons
336
The Names of the Æons
338
The World-Mother
339
The Abortion
340
The Term “Only-begotten”
341
The Cross
342
The Last Limit
343
The Mystic or Cosmic Jesus
345
The Grief of Sophia
346
The Sensible World
347
Its Demiurge
348
“Words” or Minds
351
Souls
351
Bodies
352
The New Man
353
The Mystic Body of the Christ
354
Soteriology
355
THE NUMBER-SYMBOLISM OF MARCUS
358-382
Sources
358
p. xvi
PAGE
Number-letters
359
Kabalism
361
The Great Name
363
The Echo of the Name
365
The Symbolic Body of the Man of Truth
366
The Numbers
369
Gospel Exegesis
370
The Creation of the Sensible World
372
The Tetraktys
373
Theological Arithmetic
375
Jesus the Master
376
The “Moving Image of Eternity”
378
From the Marcosian Ritual
380
PTOLEMY
383-390
The Letter to Flora
383
The “Higher Criticism”
385
The Source of Moses’ Inspiration
387
The Proem to the Fourth Gospel
388
HERACLEON
391-392
His Commentary on the Fourth Gospel
391
BARDESANES
392-405
Biography
392
Writings
393
Indirect Sources
395
From His Hymns
396
The Book of the Laws of Countries
398
Karman
399
Fortune and Nature
400
The Right and Left
401
The Hymn of the Soul
403
THE HYMN OF THE ROBE OF GLORY
406-414
p. xvii
PAGE
SOME TRACES OF THE GNOSIS IN THE UNCANONICAL ACTS
415-449
FOREWORD
415-418
The Gnostic Acts
415
Catholic Over-Working
416
Early Collectors
417
FROM THE ACTS OF THOMAS
419-426
A Hymn to Wisdom
419
Its Meaning
421
Two Sacramental Invocations
422
A Note thereon
423
The Palace that Thomas built
424
FROM THE ACTS OF JOHN
426-444
A Recently-published Fragment
426
The Rationale of Docetism
426
The Evolution of Tradition
427
Mystic Stories of Jesus
428
The Christ speaks with Jesus
429
An Early Form of One of the Great Miracles
430
A Ritual from the Mysteries
431
The Doxology
434
The Mystery of the Cross
435
The Interpretation thereof
437
The Initiation of the Cross
438
The Higher and Lower Selves
439
A Prayer of Praise to Christ
440
John’s Farewell Address to his Community
441
John’s Last Prayer
442
The Story of John and the Bugs
443
FROM THE ACTS OF ANDREW
445-446
Address to the Cross
445
p. xviii
PAGE
FROM THE TRAVELS OF PETER
446-449
The Descent of Man
446
The Mystic Redemption through the Cross
447
Afterword
449
THE GNOSIS ACCORDING TO ITS FRIENDS
451-602
SOME GREEK ORIGINAL WORKS IN COPTIC TRANSLATION
453-592
THE ASKEW AND BRUCE CODICES
453-458
The Askew Codex
453
The Bruce Codex
454
Translations
455
The Difficulty of the Subject
456
Programme
457
SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS OF THE SO-CALLED PISTIS SOPHIA TREATISE
459-506
The Teaching of the Eleven Years
459
The Mystic Transfiguration and Ascent in the Twelfth Year
459
The Master Returns to His Disciples
460
The Mystic Incarnation of the Twelve
460
That the Soul of Elias is Born in John the Baptist
461
Of His Own Incarnation
461
Concerning the Robe of Glory
461
The Hymn of Welcome “Come unto Us”
462
The Three Vestures of Light
463
The Journey into the Height
464
The Master Robs the Æons of a Third of Their Light
465
The Questions of Mary
466
Why the Rulers have been Robbed
466
p. xix
PAGE
The Shortening of the Times
468
The Heaven-journey Continued
468
The Myth of Pistis Sophia
469
The Enmity of Arrogant
469
The Fall into Matter
470
The Descent of the Soul
471
Its Repentance and Redemption
471
The Degrees of Purification
472
The Light-crown
473
The Final Victory
473
An Otherwise-unknown Story of the Infancy
474
Of the Glory of them of the Thirteenth Æon
476
The Scale of Light
477
The Perfect shall be Higher than the Emanations of Light in the Kingdom 477
The “Last” shall be “First”
478
The Three Supernal Spaces of the Light
478
The Inheritance of Light
479
The Mystery of the First Mystery
479
The Gnosis of Jesus, the Mystery of the Ineffable
479
The Disciples lose Courage in Amazement at the Glories of the Gnosis
480
The Highest Mystery is the Simplest of them All
481
Concerning the One Word of the Ineffable
481
The Glory of Him who Receiveth the Mystery
483
Of the Thrones in the Light-kingdom
484
There are Other Logoi
484
The Degrees of the Mysteries
484
The Boons they Grant
485
The Limbs of the Ineffable
485
The Thousand Years of Light
486
The Books of Ieou
487
p. xx
PAGE
Ye are Gods
487
Of Souls in Incarnation
488
The Preaching of the Mysteries
489
The Burden of the Preaching
489
The Boundary Marks of the Paths of the Mysteries
490
The After-death State of the Uninitiated Righteous
490
Of those who Repent and again Fall Back
491
The Added Glories of the Saviours of Souls
492
Concerning the Irreconcilables
492
Of the Infinite Compassion of the Divine
493
Of Those who Mimic the Mysteries
493
Can the Pains of Martyrdom be Avoided
494
The Mystery of the Resurrection of the Dead
494
The Transport of the Disciples
495
That this Mystery is to be Kept Secret
495
The Constitution of Man
496
The Evil Desire which Constraineth a Man to Sin
497
The After-death State of the Sinner
497
And of the Initiated Righteous
498
“Agree with Thine Enemy”
499
The Stamping of the Sins on the Souls
499
The Burning up of the Sins by the Fires of the Baptism-Mysteries
500
The Infinite Forgiveness of Sins
501
But Delay Not to Repent
502
For at a Certain Time the Gates of the Light will be Shut
502
“I know not whence ye are”
503
The Dragon of Outer Darkness
503
The Draught of Oblivion
504
p. xxi
PAGE
The Parents we are to Leave
504
The Books of Ieou Again
505
The Christ the First of this Humanity to Enter the Light
506
’Tis He Who Holds the Keys of the Mysteries
506
SUMMARY OF THE EXTRACTS FROM THE BOOKS OF THE SAVIOUR
507-517
The Immanent Limbs of the Ineffable
507
The Christ is the Ineffable
507
The Gnosis of the Christ
508
The Initiation of the Disciples on the Mount
508
The First Veil is Drawn Aside
509
They Enter the Way of the Midst
510
The Ordering of the Fate-sphere is Described
510
All Mysteries up to the Light-treasure are Promised them
511
The Punishments of the Ways of the Midst
512
The Duration of the Punishments
512
The Disciples Pray for Mercy to Sinners
513
They Enter an Atmosphere of Exceeding Great Light
514
The Vision of the Baptism-Mysteries
514
They Return to Earth
515
The Celebration of the Mystic Eucharist
515
The Mysteries that are to be Revealed
515
The Punishment of Sinners in the Lower Regions and the Evil Bodies they Receive when Reborn
516
The Cup of Wisdom
516
The Note of a Scribe
517
SUMMARY OF THE FRAGMENTS OF THE BOOK OF THE GREAT LOGOS ACCORDING TO THE MYSTERY
518-546
p. xxii
PAGE
The Book of the Gnoses of the invisible God
518
The Hidden Wisdom
518
A Dark Saying is Explained
519
The Flesh of Ignorance
520
The Mysteries of the Treasure of Light
520
To be Revealed to the Worthy Alone
521
The Lesser Mysteries
522
The Good Commandments
522
The Greater Mysteries
523
The Powers they Confer
523
The Mystic Rite of the Baptism of the Water of Life
524
The Baptism of Fire
526
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
526
The Mystery of Withdrawing the Evil of the Rulers
527
The Powers the Lesser Mysteries Confer
527
The Mystery of the Forgiveness of Sins
528
The Powers it Confers
528
The Ordering of the Light-treasures
529
The Great Light
529
Invocation to the True God
530
Invocation to the Unapproachable
531
The Mystery of the Twelve Æons
531
The Thirteenth Æon
532
The Fourteenth Æon
532
The Three Great Rulers
532
Concerning Ieou the Emanator of the Middle Light world
533
The Tetragrammaton
534
The Type of the Treasures
535
The Type of the True God Ieou
535
The Mystic Diagrams
536
Cosmic Embryology
536
p. xxiii
PAGE
The Seal on the Forehead of Ieou
537
General Characteristics of the Diagrams
537
The Twelve the Order of Jesus
538
Hymn to the First Mystery sung in the Thirteen Æons
539
The Thirteenth Æon
539
The Sixty Treasures
540
The Little Idea
541
The Name of the Great Power
542
Hymn to the Unapproachable God sung in the Seventh Treasure
543
The Great Logoi according to the Mystery
544
The Universal Idea
545
Hymn to the [? First] Mystery
545
The Way of the Midst
546
SELECTIONS FROM THE UNTITLED APOCALYPSE OF THE CODEX BRUCIANUS
547-566
The First Being
547
The Second Being
547
The Supernal Cross
548
The Twelve Depths
548
The Primal Source
549
The Unmanifested
550
The Manifested, the Plērōma
550
Three-faced and Two-faced Space
551
The View of the Commentator
552
Marsanēs, Nicotheus, and Phōsilampēs
553
The Creative Logos
553
The Descent of the Light-spark
554
The Spiritual Atom
554
Hymn to the Logos
555
The Christ
555
The Glorified of the Logos
556
p. xxiv
PAGE
The At-one-ment
556
Soteriology
557
The Ineffable Vesture
557
The Purification of the Lower Nature
558
The World-Saviour
558
The Promise
559
The Powers of the Light vesture
559
The Mothers of Men
560
The Song of Praise of the Mother Above
561
The Hidden Worlds
561
The Man
562
The Lord of Splendour
562
His Promise to Them who Believe
563
The Prayer of the Earth-born
564
The Powers of Discrimination are Given them
564
The Ladder of Purification
565
The Son of God
565
Hymn to the Light
566
NOTES ON THE CONTENTS OF THE BRUCE AND ASKEW CODICES
567-578
The Kinship of the Titled Treatises
567
Date
568
Authorship
568
The Titles
569
The Books of Ieou
569
The Probable Author
570
The Obscurity of the Subject
570
The Original Pistis Sophia Treatise
572
The Coptic Translation
572
The Books of the Saviour
573
The Copyist
573
The Scheme Pre-supposed in these Treatises
574
p. xxv
PAGE
An Appreciation of the Untitled Treatise
576
Not to be Attributed to a Single Author
577
Its Apocalyptic Basis
577
The Over-working
578
THE AKHMĪM CODEX
579-592
The MS. and its Contents
579
The Gospel of Mary
580
The Wisdom of Jesus Christ
582
Irenæus quotes from The Gospel of Mary
582
An Examination of his Statements
583
The Father
583
The Mother
584
The Pentad
584
The Decad
586
The Christ
587
The Egyptian Origin of the Treatise
588
The Opinion of Harnack
589
The Importance of the MS.
591
SOME FORGOTTEN SAYINGS
593-602
Rejected Logoi
593
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri
600
CONCLUSION
603-633
AFTERWORD
605-607
BIBLIOGRAPHIES
608-633
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
609-623
Early Works
609
Critical Studies prior to 1851
610
Works subsequent to the Publication of the Philosophumena in 1851
613
p. xxvi
PAGE
THE COPTIC GNOSTIC WORKS
624-627
REVIEWS AND ARTICLES IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN PERIODICALS
628-630
UNCANONICAL ACTS
630
GNOSTIC (?) GEMS AND ABRAXAS-STUDIES
631
GNOSTIC WORKS MENTIONED BY ANCIENT WRITERS
631
THE MOST RECENT TEXTS OF THE HÆRESIOLOGICAL CHURCH FATHERS AND THEIR ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
631-633
p. xxvii
ILLUSTRATIONS
Section titled “ILLUSTRATIONS”Tetramorph (Anthropos symbol) standing on two wheels, symbol of the Old and New Testaments. From the Vatopedi Monastery, Mt. Athos. 13th century.
Figure 1
The “union of irreconcilables,” marriage of water and fire Each figure has four hands to symbolize their multitudinous capabilities. From an Indian painting in Nikolaus Mueller, Glauben, Wissen and Kunst der Alten Hindus, Mainz 1822.
Figure 2
Gnostic Gem, Harpocrates on the lotus. From C. W. King, The Gnostics and Their Remains, London 1864.
Figure 3
Unicorn and his reflection, depicting the motto “De moy je m’epouvante.” From Jacobus Boschius, Symbolographia, Augsburg 1702.
Figure 4
Mercurius standing on the globe. The caduceus and horns of plenty symbolize the richness of his gifts. From V. Cartari, Le Imagini de i dei de gli antichi, Lyons 1581.
1
Communion table with seven fish. Christian earthenware lamp from Carthage.
3
p. xxviii
Two dragons forming a circle, and, in the four corners, signs of the four elements. From Abraham Eleazar (Abraham the Jew), Uraltes chymisches Werk, Leipzig 1760.
Hermes conjuring the winged soul out of an urn. Attic funeral lekythos, Jena.
121
Hermes on Greek vase painting. In the Hamilton Collection.
155
Melusina. From Abraham Eleazar (Abraham the Jew), Uraltes chymisches Werk, Leipzig 1760.
157
The Uroboros as symbol of the æon. From Horapollo, Selecta hieroglyphica, 1597.
Fermentatio, symbolic representation of the conjunctio spirituum. The lines react: “But here King Sol is tight shut in / And Mercurius philosophorum pours over him.” From the Rosarium, Frankfort 1550.
451
Crowned dragon as tail-eater. In the four corners signs of the four elements. From Abraham Eleazar (Abraham the Jew) Uraltes chymisches Werk, Leipzig 1760.
453
Christ as Anthropos, standing on the globe, flanked by the four elements. From Bartholomew de Glanville, Liber de proprietatibus rerum Bartholomew Anglici, Strasbourg 1485.
603
Anima Mundi. From Thurneisser zum Thurn, Quinto essentia, Leipzig, 1574.
The Mercurial spirit of the prima materia, in the shape of a salamander, frolicking in the fire. From Michael Maier, Scrutinium chymicum, Frankfort, 1687.
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