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English translation copyright © Eglise Gnostique Apostolique & +Phillip A. Garver, Ep.Gn.; O.'.C.'.M.'. / C.'.S.'.M.'. / O.'.C.'.P.'. - All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution or retransmission of any of the contents or variations thereon without written consent expressly prohibited. The Patriarchal Homily of Tau Jean II Upon his ascension to the throne of the Universal Gnostic Church. Very Dear Collaborators, Brothers and Sisters, By your will and by the will of the most Holy Pleroma, I find myself elevated to the supreme rank of the Gnostic hierarchy and have ascended to the patriarchal throne of the Holy Church of the Paraclete. It is, I believe, more for my religious zeal than my experience in life that I must have been designated by your suffrage. And it is a very heavy task that is incumbent upon me! However, with much rejoicing I accept it, having the unshakable conviction that God's work be accomplished in spite of all human weakness. You will assist me, very dear collaborators, by gathering fraternally around your Patriarch and publicly multiplying our apostolic works. All those who clearly see the religious situation of the European peoples have been persuaded that Catholicism as it is understood and taught today, no longer fills the needs of modern society. It appears to them like an oppressive force that keeps people in ignorance to dominate them. Also, they repudiate the religious inheritance of their forefathers, and one can foresee the moment where Catholic orthodoxy will have died having been deserted by all religious minds that dare to think, no matter the few exceptions one can mention. And if these religious thinkers, if the men of science abandon the Catholic orthodoxy, it will inevitably fall, because it is from them that spiritual movements are raised. What's more, is a religious confession that attracts the contempt of everything intelligent in modern society? The religious evolution of which we are a part shows us that a new religion is necessary. Gnosticism offers itself as the desired religion. Gnosis is the complete and definitive synthesis of all beliefs and all ideas of which humanity has need to realize its origin, its past, its end, its nature, the contradictions of existence and the problems of life. To know this is to know the only things necessary. Gnosis is the pearl of the Gospel for which the Man truly worthy of this name must sell and give away all that he has. "My soul, from where do you come? Said Saint Basil. Who assigned to you to bear a cadaver? If you are something celestial, oh my soul! teach me." And Gnosis answers: " In contemplating the Pleroma, you will know all things ". "Gnosis," said Ephram the Syrian, "weaves a crown for those who love it and makes them sit upon a King's throne." The doctors and bishops of this Gnosis are the repositories of the esoteric sense of Christianity. It is to us, pontiffs according to the order of Melchizedek, that the angels confided the pectoral whereupon blazes the Urim and Thummin. It is we who read from the book of the true law. Is it of us that it is written: "Those that are donned in garments of white, who are they and from where did they come? These are those who have endured the great Tribulation and have washed their tunics in the spiritual blood of the lamb (Ram), and are virgin to the superstitions and sins of the Hylic world!" Gnosis is the very essence of Christianity. Here, my beloved, is the just definition of Gnosticism. But, by Christianity, we do not only mean the doctrine taught since the arrival of the divine Savior, but also the one taught before Jesus' arrival, in the old temples, the doctrine of Eternal Truth! Our Church is the antinomy of that of Rome. The name of that one is Force; the name of ours is Charity. Our Sovereign Patriarch is not Peter, the impulsive, who denied three times his master and took up the sword, but John, the Savior's friend, the apostle who relied on his heart and in it knew best the immortal sentiment, the oracle of light, the author of the Eternal Gospel, who took up only Speech and Love. Our Church is the Celestial City upon earth and in the heavens, this kingdom of Justice of which is spoken in the book of Revelation. She is also the church of the Paraclete of which she has the virtues. She is pure and peaceful, holy and sanctifying, the comforter and the comforted in the exile of the world. With your support, very dear Collaborators and Brothers, our Holy Church will spread and will develop branches, as the mustard seed spoken of in the Gospel, and will become an immense tree on which the birds of the sky will come to take rest. But for God's work to be accomplished, we must remain united in the love of Gnosis as the Holy Aeons are united in the Father's will. It is necessary that, dispersed throughout the world, we let no opportunity escape to expose the truth, to divert our stray brothers from the path of darkness, to affirm who we are, what we desire and where we are going. Times are difficult, we know; the occult forces are united against us, we cannot ignore it. But we cannot allow the idea for which so many martyrs died to remain unproductive. Also, my very dear Brothers, raise your eyes toward the heights, turn your sights toward the true Light side, intoxicate yourselves with the ineffable delights of the spiritual Pleroma, and you will acquire strength to complete the holy work, the real work, the divine work. Ah, my Brothers, through all the tempests and storms that are unleashed upon our hylic world, when false doctrines try to lose souls, do not lose sight of the high summits, and if you touch the earth, may it be as the dove of the ark that remains only an instant to clasp the peaceful branch of the olive tree! To you, my very dear Sisters, I make a more particular call. I know very precious is your course in this apostolate and I know how much our feminine world hides in her salons and her mystical retreats the noble and courageous emulators of Maximilla and Ésclarmonde de Foix. Better than we, you know how to find the soul's path! We are but the Word that conquers; you are the Heart that persuades. Unite with our brothers to re-establish the community on a strong and profound foundation, the visible church of the Pneumatics that the manifestations from on High announce and promise to us. And now, Very Dear Collaborators, Blessing on you! Blessing on you, Very Dear Brothers and Sisters! Blessing on all those who work with us in the fields of the Lord! Blessing on all those who fill themselves with the goodwill of the house of God! And Blessings also on our enemies, so that the light from on High illuminates them and so that they will know who we are, that by so doing they come to love us, as we love them. Amen. + JEAN II, Bishop Primate in France, |
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