The canon of truth and the triumph of John - Part 8

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

We concluded Part 7 with the following:

 

(p.134) Given, then, that Irenaeus acknowledged a wide range of views and

practices, at what point did he find " heterodoxy " --which literally means

" different opinions " --'problematic', and for what reasons? Why does he declare

that the Gospel of Truth, like all the " heretical " gospels, " has nothing to do

with the apostolic gospel " but is " full of blasphemy " ? [67] Why does he insist

that the Secret Book of John simply shows " the kind of lies the heretics

invent " ? [68] (p.135) To answer these questions, we should recall that Irenaeus

was not a theoretically minded philosopher engaging in theological debate so

much as a young man thrust into leadership of the survivors of a group of

Christians in Gaul after a violent and bloody persecution. As we have seen,

Irenaeus could not forget that in Smyrna, where he had grown up in the household

of Bishop Polycarp, his aged and renowned spiritual father had been hounded by

the police, and after escaping and hiding in a country house, had been captured

and brought back to the public amphitheater, where, as the mob shouted insults,

he was stripped naked and burned alive. Then, as we noted, about twenty years

later (c.177), in Gaul, where Polycarp may have sent him to work as a

missionary, Irenaeus had seen more violence against Christians, some of whom

were lynched while dozens of others were arrested and tortured, many strangled

to death in prison. According to 'The Letters of the Churches of Lyons and

Vienne', some thirty to fifty who survived and refused to renounce their witness

were torn apart by wild animals and killed by gladiators in a public spectacle

attended by his fellow townspeople. And we have seen that only after the aged

bishop Pothinus had died of torture and exposure in prison, Irenaeus, perhaps in

his thirties, having somehow escaped arrest, apparently stepped in to serve as

leader of those who were left.

 

As he did so, determined to consolidate these scattered believers and provide

them the shelter of a community by joining them into the worldwide network

Polycarp had envisioned as a " catholic " church, what concerned Irenaeus was

whatever proved seriously divisive. What, then, 'did' prove divisive? (p.136)

Irenaeus would have answered 'heresy'--and because of the way he characterized

it, historians traditionally have identified 'orthodoxy' (which literally means

" straight thinking " ) with a certain set of ideas and opinions, and heterodoxy

(that is, " thinking otherwise " ) as an opposite set of ideas. Yet I now realize

that we greatly oversimplify when we accept the traditional identification of

'orthodoxy' and 'heresy' solely in terms of the philosophical and theological

content of certain ideas. What especially concerned Irenaeus was the way the

activities of these " spiritual teachers " threatened Christian solidarity by

offering 'second baptism' to initiate believers into distinct groups 'within'

congregations.

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas), Chapter 4, p.134-136.

 

Here now, is Part 8.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

 

 

The canon of truth and the triumph of John - Part 8

 

(p.136) The author of the Gospel of Philip, as we have seen, 'implicitly'

divided the church by discriminating between those who, he says, are " in error "

and those who have " come to know the truth " ; but Irenaeus knew that many other

followers of Valentinus divided the church 'explicitly'. What he found most

objectionable was not so much what they 'said' as what they 'did'--above all,

that many offered believers a 'second' baptism in a ritual they called

'apolutrosis'--which could take many forms. [69] Irenaeus describes precisely

how they operated. First, they called themselves " spiritual Christians " and

attracted unwary people from what they called the " common " and " ecclesiastical "

majority, inviting them into private meetings of their own. There they

challenged the newcomers--and themselves--to question what their faith meant,

and in the process they often discussed passages from the Scriptures. Irenaeus

may be speaking from his own experience when he complains that when someone

objects to what they say or asks them to explain what they mean, " they claim

that he is not a person capable of receiving the truth, since he has not

received from above the capacity to understand " ; thus, he says, " they really

give him no answer. " (p.137) But when they find people who prove receptive, they

engage them in a long period of preparation and finally declare that these are

ready to receive 'apolutrosis', which enables them to move beyond the " common "

community to join the more select circles of the spiritually mature. So,

Irenaeus complains,

 

they call those who belong to the church " common, " and " ecclesiastic " ...and 'if

anyone gives himself up to them like a little sheep, and follows out their

practice and their apolutrosis', such a person is so elated that he imagines

he...has already entered within the " fullness of God " ...and goes strutting

around with a superior expression on his face, with all the pomposity of a cock.

[70]

 

 

What Irenaeus found most distressing was that those who flocked to the groups

gathered around teachers like Ptolemy often heard in these meetings that the

baptism all Christians receive in common is, in fact, only the 'first step' in

the life of faith. Such teachers explained to newcomers that just as John the

Baptist baptized with water those who repented, when they themselves first

confessed faith in God and in Jesus, they too received, in effect, the " baptism

of John " to cleanse them from sin. But such teachers also pointed out how,

according to the gospel accounts of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, John the Baptist

prophesied that Jesus himself would baptize his followers " with the holy spirit

and with fire. " [71] They pointed out, too, Jesus' saying that he had " another

baptism with which to be baptized, " [72] and they explained that this means that

those who advance on the spiritual path are to receive that 'second' baptism.

[break Quote]

 

[Note]: In Sahaja Yoga which means 'Union with the Divine' the Baptism of the

Holy Spirit--that connection--is given first. According to Shri Mataji, only a

few strands of the power of the Holy Spirit [i.e., the Kundalini energy] may

come through at first, which connects that person to the Kingdom of God within.

The full power of the Holy Spirit comes through as the person surrenders their

ego and conditionings, that is, their 'lower self' and becomes their Spirit. In

any case, Shri Mataji says that it is unprecedented, that the connection of the

Holy Spirit is given first. This has happened only in Sahaja Yoga! Firstly Jesus

Christ came and opened the Narrow Gate [Agnya Chakra] that leads to the Kingdom

of God within--and now, the Comforter that Christ promised He would send, has

come, who has not only reminded us of Christ's teachings, and that Christ opened

the Narrow Gate [Agnya Chakra] to the Kingdom of God within, but She has opened

out fully this Kingdom of God [sahasrara Chakra] within human beings--so that as

Christ said, those who ask for this Helper, this Spirit of truth, will do

'greater works'.

 

It has happened through Shri Mataji opening the Sahasrara Chakra. Previously,

the person had first to advance on the spiritual path, before they would get

their connection ['second' baptism] as it mentions above, where it says: " and

they explained that this means that those who advance on the spiritual path are

to receive that 'second' baptism " .

 

Jesus therefore said to them, " For a little while longer the light is among you.

Walk while you have the light, that darkness may not overtake you; he who walks

in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe

in the light, in order that you may become sons of light. " (Jesus Christ - John

13:35-36)

 

And Jesus cried out and said, " He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but

in Him who sent Me. And he who beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me. I have

come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in

darkness. And if anyone hears My sayings, and does not keep them, I do not judge

him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who

rejects Me, and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word

[living vibrations of kundalini energy] I spoke is what will judge him at the

last day. For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who

sent Me has given Me commandment, what to say, and what to speak. And I know

that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just

as the Father has told Me. " (Jesus Christ - John 13:44-50)

 

[Folks, in spite of Jesus Christ saying that " I do not judge " , many Christians

believe that Jesus Christ is a judge that will come in the last days of this

Age, which is now. But that judge is not Jesus Christ as He says " I do not

judge " --but it is the awakened Kundalini Energy, the Word--that is--the awakened

power of the Holy Spirit.]

 

" Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he

who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. " (Jesus Christ - John 13:20)

 

" Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later. " (Jesus

Christ - John 13:36)

 

" Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My

Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told

you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for

you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, 'there' you

may be also. " (Jesus Christ - John 14:1-3)

 

Jesus said to him, " Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to

know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father/[Mother]; how do you

say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father/[Mother],

and the Father/[Mother] is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on

My own initiative, but the Father/[Mother] abiding in Me does His/Her works.

Believe Me that I am in the Father/[Mother], and the Father/[Mother] in Me;

otherwise believe on account of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to

you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater

works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. " (Jesus Christ - John

14:9-12) And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that

S/He [the Mother] may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the

world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him/[Her] or know Him/[Her],

but you know Him/[Her] because S/He abides with you, and will be in you. I will

not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (Jesus Christ - John 14:16-18) In

that day you shall know [gnostically/by inner knowing] that I am in My

Father/[Mother], and you in Me, and I in you. (Jesus Christ - John 14:20)

 

These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. But the Helper, the

Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, S/He will teach you all

things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. (Jesus Christ -

John 14:25-26)

 

The person whom Jesus Christ is referring to, when He says that " S/He will teach

you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you " --that can

only be Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. There is no person at the end of this Age that

has come and reminded us of Christ's teachings and clarified them fully, as Shri

Mataji has. There is also no other person who has opened up the ability of human

beings to have the en-masse Baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is signified by

the actual experience of the awakened Holy Spirit within, as a Cool Breeze of

the Holy Spirit. Shri Mataji reminded us that Christ talked about this Cool

Breeze, when Jesus said: " Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of

water [reference to the 'physical breaking of the waters' at birth] and the

Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is

flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said

to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear

the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; SO

IS EVERYONE WHO IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT. " (Jesus Christ - John 3:5-8)

 

Only Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi has known, understood, and explained the above

teaching of Jesus Christ, that EVERYONE WHO IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT EXPERIENCES

THE WIND!! And the proof, is the ACTUALITY of this GREAT HAPPENING!!

 

That is why we know Christ talked about Shri Mataji, when He said that: " These

things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy

Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, S/He will teach you all things,

and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. (Jesus Christ - John

14:25-26) [End Note]

 

[Resume Quote]

 

Furthermore, they said, this higher baptism marks a major transition in the

initiate's relationship with God. (p.138) In their first baptism, believers have

pledged to serve as Lord the God whom they revere as creator, and fear as divine

lawgiver and judge; but now, Ptolemy and his disciples explained, having

progressed beyond that level of understanding, they are to come to see God as

Father, as Mother, Source of all being--in other words, as One who transcends

all such images. Thus Ptolemy invites those who previously saw themselves as

God's 'servants'--or, more bluntly, his slaves--to come to understand themselves

as God's 'children'. To signal their release from slavery to become, in Paul's

words, God's own children and heirs, [73] Ptolemy calls the second baptism

'apolutrosis', which means " redemption " or " release, " alluding to the judicial

process through which a slave became legally free.

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas), Chapter 4, p.136-138

Elaine Pagels

Vintage Books, New York, U.S.A

ISBN: 0-375-70316-0

 

 

Notes:

 

For fuller and more technical discussions of the research summarized in this

chapter, see Elaine Pagels, " Irenaeus, the 'Canon of Truth' and the Gospel of

John: 'Making a Difference' Through Hermeneutics and Ritual, " in 'Vigiliae

Christianae' 56.4 (2002), 339-371; also Pagels, " Ritual in the Gospel of

Phillip, " in Turner and McGuire, 'Nag Hammadi Library After Fifty Years',

280-294; " The Mystery of Marriage in the Gospel of Phillip, " in Pearson, 'Future

of Early Christianity', 442-452; and 'Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis'.

 

[69] For a much fuller discussion and references, see Pagels, " Irenaeus, the

'Canon of Truth' and the Gospel of John. "

 

[70] Irenaeus, AH 1.15.2; Tertullian describes similar behavior, but he may be

drawing his account from Irenaeus's writings rather than his own encounters with

such teachers, in 'Adversus Valentinianos' 1-2; however, passages from

Tertullian's polemic, especially, for example, in chapter 4, do recall his keen

ear for actual dialogue.

 

[71] Mark 1:7-8; Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16.

 

[72] Mark 10:38.

 

[73] Galatians 4:5-7.