The Gnostic CrucifixionMead, G. R. S. (George Robert Stow)
Religion
The Gnostic Crucifixion
Mead, G. R. S. (George Robert Stow)
Gnosticism; Jesus Christ -- Crucifixion
"'For this cause I bow my knees to the God and Father and Lord of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that God may vouchsafe to you that Christ may dwell in your
inner man'--that is to say, the psychic and not the bodily man--'that ye
may be strong to know what is the Depth'--that is, the Father of the
universals--'and what is the Breadth'--that is the Cross, the Boundary of
the Plērōma [or Fullness]--'and what is the Greatness'--that is, the
Plērōma of the æons [the eternities or universals, the Limbs of the
Body of the Ineffable]." (_F._, 532).
To be closely compared with the Vision in _The Acts of John_ is the
Address of Andrew to the Cross in _The Acts of Andrew_. They both plainly
belong to the same tradition, and might indeed have been written by the
same hand.
"Rejoicing I come to thee, Thou Cross, the Life-giver, Cross whom I now
know to be mine. I know thy mystery; for thou hast been planted in the
world to make-fast things unstable.
"Thy head stretcheth up into heaven, that thou mayest symbol-forth the
Heavenly Logos, the Head of all things.
"Thy middle parts are stretched forth, as it were hands to right and left,
to put to flight the envious and hostile power of the Evil One, that thou
mayest gather together into one them [_sci._, the Limbs] that are
scattered abroad.
"Thy foot is set in the earth, sunk in the deep [_i.e._, abyss], that thou
mayest draw up those that lie beneath the earth and are held fast in the
regions beneath it, and mayest join them to those in heaven.
"O Cross, engine, most skilfully devised, of Salvation, given unto men by
the Highest; O Cross, invincible trophy of the Conquest of Christ o'er His
foes; O Cross, thou life-giving tree, roots planted on earth, fruit
treasured in heaven; O Cross most venerable, sweet thing and sweet name;
O Cross most worshipful, who bearest as grapes the Master, the true vine,
who dost bear, too, the Thief as thy fruit, fruitage of faith through
confession; thou who bringest the worthy to God through the Gnosis and
summonest sinners home through repentance!"
A magnificent address indeed. The identification of the Master and the man
with the Cross and in the Cross is hardly disguised. The Cross is the Tree
of Life and the tree of death simultaneously. "Give up thy life that thou
mayest live," says that inspired mystic treatise, _The Voice of the
Silence_, and this is no other than the secret of the Mystery of the
Cross. The Master is hanged between two thieves, the one repentant and the
other obdurate, the soul turned towards the Light and towards the
Darkness, all united in the one Mystery of the Cross--the Mystery of Man.
We have seen above that Philip is hanged head downwards, but he is not
the most famous instance of this reversal. The best known is associated
with the name of Peter in the mystic romances.
Thus in a fragment of the Linus-collection called _The Martyrdom of
Peter_, we learn the doctrine as set forth in a speech put into the mouth
of Peter thus crucified:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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