Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) THE GNOSTIC CRUCIFIXION WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR _Net._ THRICE GREATEST HERMES (3 vols.) 30/- FRAGMENTS OF A FAITH FORGOTTEN 10/6 DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.? 9/- THE WORLD-MYSTERY 5/- THE GOSPEL AND THE GOSPELS 4/6 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA 3/6 THE UPANISHADS (2 vols.) 3/- PLOTINUS 1/- ECHOES FROM THE GNOSIS BY G. R. S. MEAD VOL. VII. THE GNOSTIC CRUCIFIXION THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY LONDON AND BENARES 1907 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN ECHOES FROM THE GNOSIS. Under this general title is now being published a series of small volumes, drawn from, or based upon, the mystic, theosophic and gnostic writings of the ancients, so as to make more easily audible for the ever-widening circle of those who love such things, some echoes of the mystic experiences and initiatory lore of their spiritual ancestry. There are many who love the life of the spirit, and who long for the light of gnostic illumination, but who are not sufficiently equipped to study the writings of the ancients at first hand, or to follow unaided the labours of scholars. These little volumes are therefore intended to serve as introduction to the study of the more difficult literature of the subject; and it is hoped that at the same time they may become for some, who have, as yet, not even heard of the Gnosis, stepping-stones to higher things. G. R. S. M. THE GNOSTIC CRUCIFIXION CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE 9 THE VISION OF THE CROSS 12 COMMENTS 20 POSTCRIPT 69 TEXTS Bonnet (M.), _Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha_ (Leipzig, 1898). James (M. R.), _Apocrypha Anecdota, T. & S._, v. i. (Cambridge, 1897). _F._ = _Fragments of a Faith Forgotten_, 2nd. ed. (London, 1906). _H._ = _Thrice Greatest Hermes_ (London, 1906). ECHOES FROM THE GNOSIS VOL. I. THE GNOSIS OF THE MIND. VOL. II. THE HYMNS OF HERMES. VOL. III. THE VISION OF ARIDÆUS. VOL. IV. THE HYMN OF JESUS. VOL. V. THE MYSTERIES OF MITHRA. VOL. VI. A MITHRIAC RITUAL. VOL. VII. THE GNOSTIC CRUCIFIXION. SOME PROPOSED SUBJECTS FOR FORTHCOMING VOLUMES THE CHALDÆAN ORACLES. THE HYMN OF THE PRODIGAL. SOME ORPHIC FRAGMENTS. THE GNOSTIC CRUCIFIXION. PREFACE. The Gnostic Mystery of the Crucifixion is most clearly set forth in the new-found fragments of _The Acts of John_, and follows immediately on the Sacred Dance and Ritual of Initiation which we endeavoured to elucidate in Vol. IV. of these little books, in treating of _The Hymn of Jesus_.