14/11/21 Fragments of a forgotten faith: gnosis according to its enemies: the naassenes

IndexFrontNext

Fragments of a Forgotten Faith by GRS Mead (Buy this book)

on Amazon.com

pag. 198

THE NAASSENI.
BEFORE the section about Justin, Hippolytus discusses three schools
with the names of Naasseni, Peratæ, and Sethians or Sithians. The three
schools apparently belong to the same cycle, and both
first ones present such identical characteristics that make it very
likely that the work of Naasen and the two peratic treaties he cites
Hipólito belongs to the same gnostic circle.

Although the name Naasen is derived from the Hebrew Najash, a

snake, Hipólito does not call the naasenes ophites, but gnostics; of
Indeed, the name ofitas is reserved for a small body to which
also gives (viii. 20) the names and Cainites Nochaïtæ (? Nachaïtæ
the serpent), and considers them of sufficient importance to
he/she did not mention it again.

Your literature. The Naasenios possessed many books, and they also considered
the authoritative writings: The Gospel of Perfection,
The gospel of Eva, The questions of Mary, Regarding the
descendants of Mary, The Gospel of Philip, The Gospel according to
The Gospel according to the Egyptians. One of its manuscripts.
he had fallen into the hands of Hipolito. It was a treaty of a mystical nature,
psychological, devotional and exegetical, more than an exposition
cosmological and, therefore, the system is somewhat difficult to distinguish from
starting from the quotes of Hippolytus. In fact, the Naassene Document,
When analyzed at its sources, it turns out to be overwork.
Cristiano.
pag. 199

of the Jewish workload from a pagan commentary about a Hymn

of the Mysteries. The date of the Christian superscriber can be placed
around the middle of the 2nd century, and the document is especially
valuable because it points to the identity of the internal teachings of
Gnostic Christianity with the principles of the Mysteries: Phrygian,
eleusinian, dionysian, samothracian, Egyptian, Assyrian, etc.

The Christian writer stated that his tradition was passed down from James.
to a certain Mariamne. This Miriam, or Mary, is an enigma for the
erudition; However, it seems likely that the treaty belonged
to the same cycle of tradition as The major and minor issues
of Mary, The Gospel of Mary, etc., within the framework of which also
the Pistis Sophia treaty is framed.

The main features of the system are that the cosmos is

symbolized as the Man (Celestial), masculine-feminine, of
three natures, spiritual (or intelligible), psychic, and material; that
www.gnosis.org/library/grs-mead/fragments_faith_forgotten/fff27.htm 1/5
14/11/21 Fragments of a forgotten faith: Gnosis according to its enemies: the Naassenes

these three natures were perfectly combined in Jesus, who

was, therefore, truly the Son of Man. Humanity is
divide into three classes, assemblies or churches: the chosen, the called
and the bound (or in other words, the spiritual or angelic ones, the
psychics and the elected or materials), according to one or the other of these
natures. prevails.

After this brief outline, Hipólito proceeds to immerse himself in the

His mystical exegesis. mystical exegesis of the writer and overwriters (to whom, by
supposed, consider as a single person) and its interpretation of
the Mysteries, which blend here and there with specimens of
page 200

the pseudo-philological word game so dear to the heart of

Cratylus by Plato, as previously mentioned. It is assumed that the
A system underlies all mythologies, pagan, Jewish, and Christian.
It is the old teaching of the macrocosm and the microcosm, and the Yes
same hidden in the heart of everyone.

The technical nature of this exegesis and the nature of our essay
they require us to give only a brief summary of the main ideas;
but the issue is important enough to demand a
special study in itself.

The spirit or mind of man is imprisoned in the soul, its

animal nature and the soul in the body. Nature and evolution
of this soul were exposed in The Gospel according to the Egyptians,
work that has unfortunately been lost.

The Assyrian Mysteries. Now, the Assyrians (following the Chaldeans, who, along with
the Egyptians were considered in ancient times as the nation
(sacred by excellence) they first taught that man was triple
and yet, a unit. The soul is the principle of desire, and all
things have a soul, even stones, because they grow and
decrease.

The true 'man' is man-woman, devoid of sex; for

so much, strives to abandon animal nature and return to the
eternal essence from above, where there is neither man nor woman, but one
new creature.

The baptism was not merely the symbolic washing with physical water,
but the bathroom of the spirit or the mind in the 'living water above', the
eternal world, beyond the ocean of generation and destruction; and the
The anointing with oil was the introduction of the candidate to a blessing.
imperishable, thus becoming a Christ.
page 201

The kingdom of heaven must be sought within a man; it is the

blessed nature of all things that were, are, and will be
still", which is mentioned in the Phrygian Mysteries. It is of the
nature of the spirit or of the mind, for, as it is written in the
Gospel according to Thomas: 'Whoever looks for me will find me in the...

Unable to access the content of the provided URL. 2/5

14/11/21 Fragments of a forgotten faith: Gnosis according to its enemies: the Naassenes

children from seven years old; and this is the representative of the Logos
in man.

Among the Egyptians, Osiris is the Water of Life, the Spirit or the
Mind, while Isis is 'the nature of seven tunics, surrounded and
dressed in seven ethereal robes," the spheres of generation in
constant change, that metamorphoses the ineffable, unimaginable,
incomprehensible mother substance; while the Mind, the Yes
the same, does all things but remains unalterable, according to the
I become what I want, and I am what I am; therefore,
I say, immovable is the supremacy of everything. It is doing things, and it is not
nothing of the things that are ". This is also called The Good, of
There is the saying: "Why do you call me good? No one is good, my..."
Father who is in the heavens.

Among the Greeks, Hermes is the Logos. He is the conductor and reconductor.
The Greek. (the psychagogue and psychopomp) and creator of souls. They are brought from
the Heavenly Man from above to the clay plasma, the body, and so
converted into slaves of the world’s demiurge, the burning god or
passionate about creation. That's why Hermes 'holds in his hands
a beautiful, golden wand, with which she enchants, ties the eyes of the
men whom he wants and awakens them again from the dream." Therefore
Awake, you who sleep, and arise, and Christ
page 202

This is Christ, the Son of Man, in all those who are born; and this
it was established in the Eleusinian rites. This is also Ocean,
generation of the gods and the generation of men, the Great
Jordan, as explained in the Myth of the Departure, given earlier.

The Samothracians
The Winged Victory of Samothrace. also taught the same truth; and in the temple
From its Mysteries, there were two statues that represented Man.
Celestial and to the regenerated or spiritual man, in all co-essential
with that Man. Such was Christ, but his disciples had not yet
achieved perfection. Hence the saying: "If you do not drink my blood and
you do not eat my flesh, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven; but
Although you drink from the cup that I drink from, where I go, you cannot go.
to come. 'And the gnostic writer adds: 'Because he knew what
nature was each of his disciples, and that it is necessary that
each of them goes to their own nature. Because of the twelve
'Tribe' chose twelve disciples, and through them spoke to each 'tribe'.
The Phrygian. Then it refers to the mysteries of the Thracians and Phrygians, and the
The same ideas are explained in more detail based on the documents.
from the Old Testament. Jacob's vision is explained by referring to
to the descent of the spirit into matter, descending the ladder of the
evolution, the Current of the Logos flowing down and then
again upwards, through the Lord's Gate. Hence the
said: "I am the true door". The Phrygians
page 203

He also called the spirit in man the 'dead', because it was

buried in the tomb and tomb of the body. Therefore the saying;
You are whitewashed tombs, full of bones inside
Unable to access or translate content from the provided URL. 3/5
14/11/21 Fragments of a forgotten faith: gnosticism according to its enemies: the Naassenes

dead", "because the living is not in you". And again: "The

the dead will rise from the graves"; that is, "from their bodies
materials, regenerated spiritual men, not carnal." Because
this is the resurrection that takes place through the gate of heaven, and
Those who do not go through it, all end up dead.

Many other interpretations of a similar nature are given, and they

shows that the Minor Mysteries belonged to the 'generation
carnal
Because this is the Gate of Heaven, and this is the House of God, where
the Good God dwells alone, to which no impure shall enter, nor
neither psychic nor fleshly man; but is only watched over by the
spiritual, where they must come, and, throwing their garments, all
they become virginal lovers through the Virginal Spirit. Because such
man is the virgin pregnant, who conceives and gives birth to a son, who does not
it is neither psychic, nor animal, nor carnal, but a blessed eon of eons.

This is the Kingdom of Heaven, the 'mustard seed, the point

indivisible, which is the primordial spark in the body, and that no one
know only the spiritual.

The school of the Naassenes, it is said, were all initiated in the

The mysteries of the Great Mysteries of the Great Mother, because they found that all the mystery
Mother. from the Renaissance was taught in these rites; they
page 204

They were also strict ascetics. They were given the name Naasseni.
because they represented the 'Wet Essence' of the universe, without which
nothing that exists, whether immortal or mortal, animated or
inanimate, could remain united
snake. This is the cosmic Akāsha of the Upaniṣhads, and the
Kundalini, the serpentine force in man, which when followed the
animal impulse is the force of generation, but when it is applied to
spiritual things make man a god. They are the Waters of
Great Jordan flowing down (the generation of men) and
upward (the generation of the gods); the Akāsha-gangā or Ganges
celestial of the Purāṇas, the celestial Nile of mystical Egypt.

He distributes beauty and flowers to all that exist, just like the [river]
'It comes from Eden and divides into four rivers.' In man,
They said, Eden is the brain 'compressed in companies.
surrounding like the sky, 'and Paradise the man up to the head
only. These four senses are sight, hearing, smell, and taste. The
river is the 'water above the firmament [of the body]'.

Therefore, to use another set of symbolic terms, "the

spirituals choose for themselves from the living waters of the Euphrates [the
subtle world], that flows through Babylon [the world or body
dense], which is appropriate, passing through the door of truth, that
it is Jesus, the blessed, that is to say, the 'gate of heaven', or the sun,
cosmically; and microcosmically the exit of the body
consciously through the highest center of the head, that the
Hindu mystics call
page 205
Unable to access or translate content from the specified URL. 4/5
14/11/21 Fragments of a forgotten faith: gnosis according to its enemies: the Naassenes

the Brahmarandhra. Thus, these Gnostics claimed to be the true ones

Christians because they were anointed with the "ineffable chrism"
spilled by the serpentine "horn of plenty", another symbol
of the spiritual power of enlightenment.

We will conclude this brief outline of these most interesting mystics.

The fragment of a citing one of its anthems. Unfortunately, the text is so
hymn. corrupt that some parts are desperate, however, it remains
enough to "feel" the thought. It speaks of the Mind of
World, the Father, of Chaos, the Cosmic Mother and of the third member
from the primordial trinity, the Soul of the World. From there the soul
individual, the pilgrim, his pains and rebirths. Finally, the
descent of the Savior, the firstborn of the Great Mind, and the
regeneration of all. Behind everything is the ineffable, then comes
first the Firstborn, the Logos:

The mind was the first, the generating law of all; the
second was the Diffused Chaos, [wife] of the firstborn; the
third, the working soul received the law; for
so much, surrounded by a watery form
, grows fatigued, subjected to death. ...
Now dominating, see the light;
soon, thrown into a lamentable situation, cries.
While she cries, she rejoices;
now he laments and is judged;
and now he is judged and dies.
And now it can't happen.
In the labyrinth [of the Renaissance] it has wandered.
[Jesus] said: Father
Looking for evil on earth
page 206

Let [the man] stray from your Spirit.

Try to avoid the bitter Chaos,
but he doesn't know how to escape.
Therefore, send me, oh Father.
Stamps in my hands, I will descend;
Through each eon, I will walk my path;
I will reveal all the mysteries
and I will show the forms of the gods;
The hidden secrets of the Sacred Path
they will take the name of Gnosis,
and I will transmit them.

The Peratæ

Unable to access external URLs. 5/5