Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Apocryphote of the Day: 2-13-08

Jesus
Truly truly
Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus on the right hand
Living water
Servant of the servant
Glorious Name
Truly truly
Aeon-Who-Is
truly truly
O He-Who-Is
Who sees the Aeons
Truly truly
He-Who-Is forever
Truly truly
In the heart
He-Who-Is forever and ever
You are what you are
You are who you are.

This is my own translation of a beautiful baptismal hymn found in the Holy Book of the Invisible Spirit 66.10-22. Interspersed in the hymn are vowels that were sung to bring harmony to the spheres. So old is this liturgy that some of the lines are retained in Greek, although the letters are Coptic. This suggests that the retention of the Greek was part of its liturgical performance.

3 comments:

R.Eagle said...

Wow, that was really nice. I don't know much about Gnostic literature but your blog certainly helps to change that for us novice, and the best part about it is that it's free :-) in spite of your obvious expertise. Thank you again!

April DeConick said...

My pleasure!

lightseeker said...

I second that! I'm enjoying the daily apocryphotes and am reading your blog "religiously" - pun intended. :-)

This lovely piece in particular illustrates very well how Gnosticism was truly meant to be experienced from within.

Thank you April!