October 13th – 1307 – 2003

This day, the 13th October – is the 696th year after the arrest and trial of the Knights Templars in France, under orders from the King of France, Phillip IV, called the fair, in 1307…The trial lasted until 18th March 1314, when the last Grand Master of the order, Jacques de Molay, was burned alive at the stake near the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The legend tells that De Molay then graciously invited the King of France and Pope Clement V to join him within the year, before his voice would die and a terrible calm would spread with the smoke. The fact is that the ambitious king and his overbearing mentor, the Pope did not survive a year after the accomplishment of the annihilation of the order, and all the great visions he had had, of the domination of all chivalric orders, on a great influence on religion and economy, on a thousand year reign.. fell like ashes.
The Templars are romantic,mythic and legendary dynamite – they are either part of some conspiracy, or the ones who are either its martyrs or exposers.. to the public imagination these warrior-monks have contributed a revival of the Hero from the more archetypical background of the ideal/idea. Not surprisingly the Templars achieved posthumous fame as being the guardians of the Holy Grail – the receptacle of the blood of Jesus while he hung upon the cross, modern fable has translated the rather obstrustive and morbid image of this to the idea that Jesus had children and that the Templars protected his fittingly English/French/Italian offspring and protected the secret interests of the invisible Citadel, the theocratic seat of power somewhere.
Philip le Bel demonstrated quite powerfully the fault of those, who might well have harboured similar ideas, in machinating the process against the Templars.. while they had powerfull allies, and in prinsciple they could cause the economical collapse of at the very least his empire (built as it was, on Crusaders treasures and war tax, and made dependent on the banking system the Templars introduced.) they had also sworn absolute fealty to the Pope, an incredibly unwise endeavour as history has demonstrated, and as such, when he deigned with his holiness to betray them – they were sold. Documents from the process show that many tried to vindicate themselves of the most infamous accusations – including diabolism,the worship of felines backsides, homosexuality, blasphemy, sorcery, withcraft and heresy and a goodly list of others – but no coherent strategy were feasible, the torturers irons were now hot and would not be put out until the last Templar submitted to the charges and were thrown on the pyre.

The initial function for the Order were to safeguard pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land. It was founded by Hughes de Payen with approval from the Pope and the council of Troyes, in 1118. At that time the Order did not have a separate seal/flag and no “Rule”, but shortly thereafter Bernard of Clairveaux would write it for them. It included a stricture concerning ownership of riches and lands which is quite harsh for the kind of young nobles who joined the ranks. Before pursuing these strategic functions, they would make a full monastic vow of the most strict kind. Strange to our modern values, the medieval
Knights who joined the ranks of the Order of the Temple, combined a religious and military carriere into one. They were, basically.. monks bearing arms.Even more strange is the fact that during the process of nearly 200 years existence, while the individual Knights had taken vows of voluntary poverty, similar to that of the Dominicans,Fransiscians and, incidentally,
the heretical Cathars – the fortunes of the Order itself increased greatly, especially when the Order became engaged in military campaigns which assisted the armies of the Second Crusade.
The full name of the Knights Templar Order is really The Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon.

Rev.Steven Marshall has written a Homily for the Remembrance of the Knights Templars, which he calls the Knights of Holy Wisdom. Most certainly one of their spiritual inspirers and legal protectors, Bernard of Clairvaux, who also wrote down the rules of this Monastic Military order, dedicated his work to Hochmah, Sophia, Shekinah – the feminine Holy Wisdom, which he understood to be contained in essence within the Holy Scriptures. The order, once accused of denying the mysteries concerning the Holy Virgin, were in fact explicitly dedicated to the service and protection of the Virgin. The Virgin Mary from the introduction of her cult at Ephesos in 493CE and onwards, came to represent the Soul, the Feminine (all Women in the Christian Communion) and the Church herself (sic!).

Rev.Marshall finishes his homily with these lines, concerning modern Gnostics feeling of affiliation with the Ideals of the first Knights Templars:
We are Knights of the Temple, the Knights of this Temple of the Gnosis. We have left the many of this world to stand alone and to stand with an invisible fellowship with which we have united ourselves in spirit, as we unite with a fellowship of Gnostics who exist everywhere, in every creed and race. We are guardians of a very sacred way, the holy road to the Heavenly Jerusalem. This is ours to guard and defend that the way of the Gnosis, that the road of the “truth that sets free” may remain open to the lost and exiled pilgrims of this world. In this way we take up our crosses as images of that Cross of Light which is the blazon of our way back to the Light that is the place of our true inheritance and our True Home.

The modern revivals of the French Gnostic Church tradition partially depended upon the transmission of a spiritual or historic nature – of a legacy from the
original Order of the Temple. In 1804 Fabre de Palaprat and others let the world know that they had restored the Medieval Order of the Temple, claiming to be beneficaries of the Charter drafted in 1324 by the hand of John Mark Larmenius, who had received command to continue the order by Jacques de Molay himself, this and several other circumstances. In fact, de Palaprat let found a “Primitive Johannite Church” on that basis of orientation.
More about those developements in Phillip Andrew Garver :History of the French Gnostic Church at the Eglise Gnostique.

Collect from the Gnostic Lectionary of the Ecclesia Gnostica

Remember them O Lord, in Thy kingdom, Thy faithful servants Jacques de Molay, Guy de Auvergne, and all the glorious martyrs of the Order of the Templars, who have shone as brilliant lights of the eternal Gnosis in their days. Thou who art ever the comforter of the oppressed and the repose of those who suffer for the sake of the truth, grant them peace, refreshment, glory and the splendour of Thy Gnosis. Grant that we, following the example of Thy Holy Martyrs, may with them bear witness to the Gnosis of Love, Liberty and Light forever. Not to us, not to us O Lord, but to Thy name be the Glory; now and for evermore.

Some sites which provide good overviews of the Templars:
The Knights Templars-Ancient and Modern
Templar History

Last week we had another visitor from Hollywood..Rev.Donna Owen. It is wonderful that so many could visit us this autumn, for me rather than Revd.Jan Valentin Saether, it is the first time I have got the chance to meet our confraternity in America and get some impression of whats going on in the Ecclesia Gnostica. We got to hold two Masses together, one private of the original English liturgy, wherein I assisted Donna, the other with Jan as celebrant in Norwegian.

Donna is Commander of the Order of the Grail and were visiting Paris for the bicentennial of Louis Claude de Saint-Martin`s transition, which were organized by the studies organization GERME – it were my impression that this were quite the event gathering esoterists with interests in Saint-Martin and Martinism as well as dedicated Martinists from all over the world. She brought heartening news from the milieu to whose outermost perimeter, through my correspondences, forum participation and work as a Deacon for Ecclesia Gnostica ..belong.

During our communion Revd. Jan Valentin Saether kindly gave me a gift of a Pix, a box to carry preconsecrated hosts – part of the traditional paraphenalia belonging to the Deacon in the Sacramental Christian traditions, to which Ecclesia Gnostica most decidedly belong..so now I carry hosts..the tokens of Christ`s descent into matter,chaos,death..this world for the sake of …the soul, our Sophia whose life we partake of. It is really quite the reminder, I can really feel the weight of it.

I am most grateful, I just hope that I`ll be worthy to put it to use (it was designed to be a container for the sacrament so that the Deacon could bring it to those who are unable to attend mass at Church, such as old and sick people).

In the beginning of this month we were graced with a visit from Most Revd. Tau Stephanus (Stephan Hoeller), the Bishop of our Church (Ecclesia Gnostica) , Revd. Lance Owens of Salt Lake City and Bobbie Tropp.
On Friday August the 1st , Stephan Hoeller held a lecture at Handtverkeren, Oslo titled “Gnosticism Today” Gnosis after Occultism, Jung and Post-Modernism , it drew an audience of around 55 people and I trust each one of them went home with a better idea of what Gnosticism represents and what its teachings and myths contain. Stephan Hoeller`s stamina, scope of vision and passion for the subject he was treating in his lecture were quite impressive.
I had the pleasure of attending an informal shindig after the lecture at Revd. Jan Valentin Saether`s home, where I got the opportunity to get to know our friends from America, and drink expensive and quite smooth Scotch and smoke Havanna Cigars.. reminding me of the line which both Stephan Hoeller in his lecture and later Lance would repeat on Sunday in his lecture – “ reportedly.. the Gnostics in Alexandria threw the best parties around“, addressing the prejudice of many who assume that since the Gnostics had preciously little confidence and trust in the world and its system, they were pleasure-haters as well. I am quite relaxed over this question, last time it popped up it were an university professor at the conservative Christian college who “booked” radio-time and censored away an interview scheduled to be aired in a Christian sunday programme on the state Radio channel NRK 1 – whose urgent message to all listeners were that they should know that a Gnostic Wedding (my friend Jacob and my friend Teresa`s wedding ceremony in Asker, 15th August 1997) , which were the topic of the interview/programme initially, before he put his big foot down and got the editor to remove all trace of the original feature for a bit of music and a 15-minute rant by the aforementioned (some of which were , ironically, not suitable for family listening, but nevermind, we know these fellows from their predecessors almost 2000 years back, and all we can do is guffaw..)..I suppose I should move onwards..

On Saturday 2nd August Bishop Tau Stephanus I consecrated and dedicated our Chapel and Altar, the Capella Santa Sophia with the assistance of Revd.Jan Valentin Saether, Revd.Lance Owens of Salt Lake City and myself around noon, following a marathon Service of the Gnostic Holy Eucharist under which I was raised into the Order of Subdeacon, followed by my ordination to Deacon In the Church of the Gnosis (Ecclesia Gnostica).

As the article (Deacon-link) states the title Deacon is derived from the ancient Greek usage of diakonos, which means minister,”steward” or simply “servant”.
His role is to assist in the ministry of the Presbyter and Bishop – he may also administer a pre-consecrated communion, baptize and preach whensoever it is necessary, such as when a Presbyter or Bishop is travelling, is sick or in any other capacity cannot tend to the community. The charge is quite serious, once you have entered the Major orders (Subdeacon, Deacon,
Priest and Bishop) , in the view of the traditions which uphold sacramental and apostolic ministry, you have comitted yourself to this specific service, it is a lifetime commitment which is sealed by your assent to the charges formally given at ordination and consecration, and reception of the imposition of the Bishop`s hand and an invocation upon the Holy Spirit to descend upon him or her (The Gnostic Christian Ekklesia, since the time of Mary Magdalene the Apostle, has had female ministers (Deacons,Priests and Bishops – in the Eglise Gnostique the women consecrated
to Bishops were called Sophia, a honorary title which amplify the importance of the divine feminine in the Gnostic traditions) as well, in fact, the New Testament epistles of St.Paul addresses several women as diakonos – something the purportedly orthodox traditions have had a hard time explaining away..).If you enter the ministry of the Diakonate, you remain its subject the rest
of your life. In the Eastern Orthodox Tradition the vesting procedure during the ordination amplifies this, practically and symbolically :When ordained a priest, the priest’s vestments(Chasuble) are put over the deacon’s vestments (Dalmatic) ; when consecrated a Bishop, the Bishop’s vestments go over the priest and deacon vestments.

I hope I shall be able to serve well in this capacity. I do feel I have had a calling, but with almost everything else, I have hesitated a long while, until reaching a decision.

To all my brethren and sistren in the Gnosis, and especially those who are my colleagues in the ministry of the Church of Gnosis, I give you my fraternal greetings and wellwishes.
Pax Pleromae

Oooops.. which Matthew is Matthew??

Panteneus, the famous early second century teacher of the first Cathetical collegium in Alexandria, found it necessary to follow the silk road to India in order to find a original copy of the original Gospel according to Matthew.
Panteneus were the teacher of Clement of Alexandria the churchfather and among the greater inspirators of both the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox traditions. The time of his travel to India is unclear, but the timeline stretches from 120 at earliest and about 145CE at latest, since he is heard of as having taught at the Cathetical collegium to his last days.
After registering the fact about his voyage, I concluded from the sources I had at hand that – Nothing is heard about a: whether his quest were a success, though it appears to me that the Oriental thought he did. b: whether or not the gospel version in question differs from what the Western church had at that time, or whether indeed it differs from the one version we have and read today. Having read about the adventures of Panteneus to the East to secure a manuscript of an original gospel, I was reminded of James Bruce`s quest to Egypt in order to secure a copy of the famous Secret Book of Enoch – instead of that, by chance, he discovered an ancient codex book containing a cryptic and not before heard about collection of texts, The Books of Ieou – or the books of the saviour, written by an obscure Gnostic sect. Recounting the “exact structure of the treasuries of light” and the secret baptism which Jesus gave his disciples when he returned after his ascent into heaven. As I have already mentioned there is little to be had of information about this curious campaign in the history of the Church, considering how much emphasis some scholars and theologians have had on the primacy of the Gospel according to Matthew (in the sense of it being first) – it stands out as a kind of Quest for the Holy Grail. Much the pity we hear nothing more about it from the encyclopedias, dictionaries, from books on “Biblical Archeology” and so forth.

Browsing around today at the Schoeyen Collection of the Norwegian Institute of Palaeography and Historical Philology… I happened upon this description for a Coptic manuscript fragment in the collection :

BIBLE: MATTHEW
MS in Mesokemic (Middle Egyptian or Oxyrhynchite dialect) on papyrus, Oxyrhynchus region, Egypt, 1st half of 4th c., 39 ff. (- ca. 6 ff.), 23×20 cm, single column, (18×14-16 cm), 25-28 lines in a fine regular Coptic uncial.

Context: MSS 2648, 2649, 2651 and 14 ff. of Isaiah (in Mesokemic, ca. 300) were found tipped in among the leaves of the present codex, which originally had ca. 45 ff. Probably from the same hoard as the Chester Beatty papyri, now in Dublin: Chester Beatty Library.

Provenance: 1. Monastery in the Oxyrhynchus region, Egypt (4th c. – ca. 1930); 2. Antiquity dealer, Alexandria (ca. 1930); 3. Private collector, Zürich.

Commentary: The text opens at ch. 5:38 and goes more or less continuously to the end.

The present codex is the earliest Matthew in any Coptic dialect. The 11 chapters, 6-9, 13-17, 22 and 28, and a great number of verses elsewhere, are in addition the earliest witnesses to these parts of the Bible. The text is unique, not following any Coptic nor Greek manuscripts known of Matthew.

Prof. Dr. Hans-Martin Schenke in his editio princeps of the text, has named the manuscript Codex Schøyen, with the siglum Mae 2. (siglum Mae 1 being the Scheide Codex of 5th c.) His conclusions are that the text is not representing a free text transmission in relation to all the other extant Greek and Coptic manuscripts of Matthew, but that it is a correct translation of an entirely different Gospel of Matthew. There is only one other Gospel of Matthew known, the lost Hebrew Gospel of the Jewish Christians mentioned by the church fathers. This would have been the Hebrew exemplar of the Greek translation the present manuscript is based upon. Actually the famous statement by Papias that the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew was translated into Greek several times (Eusebius, hist. eccl. III, 39, 16), now come in a new light. Due to a series of textual differences between Codex Schøyen and the Canonical Gospel, it appears that both Gospels derive from different versions of the Hebrew Matthew. The consequence is that the relationship among the Synoptic Gospels has to be entirely re-evaluated, causing far-reaching and dramatic consequences for New Testament research.

Published: Hans-Martin Schenke in the series Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection, ed. Jens Braarvig; Coptic Papyri, vol. I. Oslo 2001

The example of Pantaneus, and to a certain extent also Papias, both early 2nd century Churchfathers – gives us occasion to wonder whether or not originally there existed one authentic Gospel according to Matthew.. and the one we`ve got today, no matter how much we like and love it, is a later much edited and doctored recension.. and that we cannot (still) know where it is silenced, and where it is silent itself. Dr. Hans-Martin Schenke is right in observing that this may cause far-reaching and dramatic consequences for New Testament research. The majority of biblical scholars agree on the “primacy” of the Gospel according to Matthew per se , and this means that it is the priority of most theologians to look first at Matthew and then compare between the others. Apparently, this is now a bit more complicated – which Matthew is Matthew? Which Book really has primacy?
While Eusebius reports there are several original translations of the original Hebrew Gospel according to Matthew – more or less observing the industry and dynamis of the first Christian communities scribes, he never gives us an inch on how it is determined that the Gospel according to Matthew on the cutting table of the Canonical Synod at Nicaea qualifies as authentic or true, or even originating from one of several Greek versions (not only translations, as we now have found) of the original Hebrew Gospel. What he gives us is assurance that the Gospel of Matthew, or rather a Gospel of Matthew – where among the gospels chosen as authentic and canonical by the Roman Church.

I just recently discovered that the creator of the GFN,Reverend Illuminatus Maximus has a site-topic oriented weblog

Alex Guldbeck is a professional graphic designer who for the last four years have been hosting,moderating and producing an internet site named The Gnostic Friends Network under the name domain www.enemies.com. On and off we have had more or less pleasant and rewarding conversation for almost as long a period. Alex used to be quite active in the Usenet groups, something I suppose I left on the shelves already in 1997. I think I should admit that initially I werent too appreciative of what Alex were trying to do; to me the outputs and exhibits in his Metaphysical Freak Show represented ugly carricatures of the aesthetic I myself experienced in relation to Gnostic Myth. Eventually I suppose I have come half-way round in admitting that Myth address a very subjective mode of our thinking and feeling, and therefore whereas themes might be universal – their reception, their interpretation is quite specific.

I`ll be following his journal and see what impressions and thoughts he feels fit to vent on the rest of us…