"You are white-washed sepulchres, which are filled with dead men's bones because there is not in you the Living Man. The dead shall leap from the grave, from their earthly bodies, being regenerated as spiritual men, not carnal. This is the resurrection which comes to pass through the gate of heaven, and those who do not enter by it all remain dead."
A Naassene tribute to Ash Wednesday (Hipp., Ref. 5.8,23-24).
Showing posts with label Naassenes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Naassenes. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Apocryphote of the Day: 2-20-09
"The Kingdom of Heaven is within man."
Naassenes' teaching according to Hippolytus, Refutation 5.7,20.
Illumination: Cambridge Trinity College MS R 16 2
Fol.25v Heavenly Jerusalem; Manuscript on parchment,
430 x 304 mm; c.1255-60
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Apocryphote of the Day: 2-19-09
"He who seeks will find me in children from seven years onwards. For there I am found, who am hidden, in the fourteenth aeon."
Hippolytus of Rome, quoting from the Naassene's version of the Gospel of Thomas, Refutation 5.7,20
Commentary: I have no doubt that the Naassenes had their own version of the Gospel of Thomas. Much of their system is based on certain ideologies present in the Gospel of Thomas, such as the encratic lifestyle (=celibacy), and the primal hermaphodite Man as the original image of God and goal of human existence. They used altered versions of certain sayings in the Gospel of Thomas to support their own Gnostic ideologies and rituals. Fascinating how a Syrian encratic gospel of Jesus' sayings becomes adapted by a later Gnostic Christian group in Rome (?). Its use by these sorts of groups may be one of the reasons that it was not a favored gospel in Roman Christianity and did not manage to make the big "4".
Hippolytus of Rome, quoting from the Naassene's version of the Gospel of Thomas, Refutation 5.7,20
Commentary: I have no doubt that the Naassenes had their own version of the Gospel of Thomas. Much of their system is based on certain ideologies present in the Gospel of Thomas, such as the encratic lifestyle (=celibacy), and the primal hermaphodite Man as the original image of God and goal of human existence. They used altered versions of certain sayings in the Gospel of Thomas to support their own Gnostic ideologies and rituals. Fascinating how a Syrian encratic gospel of Jesus' sayings becomes adapted by a later Gnostic Christian group in Rome (?). Its use by these sorts of groups may be one of the reasons that it was not a favored gospel in Roman Christianity and did not manage to make the big "4".
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