G. R. S. Mead

Excerpt from Pistis Sophia: A Gnostic Miscellany; Being for the Most Part Extracts From the Books of the Saviour, to Which Are Added Excerpts From a Cognate Literature; Englished (With an Introduction and Annotated Bibliography) The schwartze-petermann marginal pagination, which is the usual scheme of reference, and which in the first edition was shown in brackets in the text, is now indicated at the Side of the page. I have also adopted Schmidt's division into chapters as an additional convenience for more general reference, and have numbered the verses of the Psalms and Of the Odes of Solomon for easier comparison with the Repentances and Songs of Sophia. It should, of course, be under stood that the detailed paragraphing does not exist in the original, which runs on for the most part monotonously without break. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The present edition is Volume 2 of G. R. S. Mead's collection and survey of the all available texts and fragments of the literature attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. Volume I: ISBN 1546596046; Volume II: ISBN 1546596054; Volume III: ISBN 1546596062; 3 Volumes in 1: ISBN 1546532692. This is a collection which forms the foundation of Hermeticism and illuminates much of the origin of western philosophical, religious and spiritual thought, from Egypt to Greece and on to the Gnostics and the sources of Christian doctrine. -- From the Preface: "These volumes, complete in themselves as a series of studies in a definite body of tradition, are intended to serve ultimately as a small contribution to the preparation of the way leading towards a solution of the vast problems involved in the scientific study of the Origins of the Christian Faith. They might thus perhaps be described as the preparation of materials to serve for the historic, mythic, and mystic consideration of the Origins of Christianity, -where the term "mythic" is used in its true sense of inner, typical, sacred and "logic," as opposed to the external processioning of physical events known as "historic," and where the term "mystic" is used as that which pertains to initiation and the mysteries. The serious consideration of the matter contained in these pages will, I hope, enable the attentive reader to outline in his mind, however vaguely, some small portion of the environment of infant Christianity, and allow him to move a few steps round the cradle of Christendom. Though the material that we have collected, has, as to its externals, been tested, as far as our hands are capable of the work, by the methods of scholarship and criticism, it has nevertheless at the same time been allowed ungrudgingly to show itself the outward expression of a truly vital endeavour of immense interest and value to all who are disposed to make friends with it. For along this ray of the Trismegistic tradition we may allow ourselves to be drawn backwards in time towards the holy of holies of the Wisdom of Ancient Egypt. The sympathetic study of this material may well prove an initiatory process towards an understanding of that Archaic Gnosis."-G. R. S. Mea

The present edition is Volume 1 of G. R. S. Mead's collection and survey of the all available texts and fragments of the literature attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. Volume I: ISBN 1546596046; Volume II: ISBN 1546596054; Volume III: ISBN 1546596062; 3 Volumes in 1: ISBN 1546532692. This is a collection which forms the foundation of Hermeticism and illuminates much of the origin of western philosophical, religious and spiritual thought, from Egypt to Greece and on to the Gnostics and the sources of Christian doctrine. -- From the Preface: "These volumes, complete in themselves as a series of studies in a definite body of tradition, are intended to serve ultimately as a small contribution to the preparation of the way leading towards a solution of the vast problems involved in the scientific study of the Origins of the Christian Faith. They might thus perhaps be described as the preparation of materials to serve for the historic, mythic, and mystic consideration of the Origins of Christianity, -where the term "mythic" is used in its true sense of inner, typical, sacred and "logic," as opposed to the external processioning of physical events known as "historic," and where the term "mystic" is used as that which pertains to initiation and the mysteries. The serious consideration of the matter contained in these pages will, I hope, enable the attentive reader to outline in his mind, however vaguely, some small portion of the environment of infant Christianity, and allow him to move a few steps round the cradle of Christendom. Though the material that we have collected, has, as to its externals, been tested, as far as our hands are capable of the work, by the methods of scholarship and criticism, it has nevertheless at the same time been allowed ungrudgingly to show itself the outward expression of a truly vital endeavour of immense interest and value to all who are disposed to make friends with it. For along this ray of the Trismegistic tradition we may allow ourselves to be drawn backwards in time towards the holy of holies of the Wisdom of Ancient Egypt. The sympathetic study of this material may well prove an initiatory process towards an understanding of that Archaic Gnosis."-G. R. S. Mea

The present edition is Volume 3 of G. R. S. Mead's collection and survey of the all available texts and fragments of the literature attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. Volume I: ISBN 1546596046; Volume II: ISBN 1546596054; Volume III: ISBN 1546596062; 3 Volumes in 1: ISBN 1546532692. This is a collection which forms the foundation of Hermeticism and illuminates much of the origin of western philosophical, religious and spiritual thought, from Egypt to Greece and on to the Gnostics and the sources of Christian doctrine. -- From the Preface: "These volumes, complete in themselves as a series of studies in a definite body of tradition, are intended to serve ultimately as a small contribution to the preparation of the way leading towards a solution of the vast problems involved in the scientific study of the Origins of the Christian Faith. They might thus perhaps be described as the preparation of materials to serve for the historic, mythic, and mystic consideration of the Origins of Christianity, -where the term "mythic" is used in its true sense of inner, typical, sacred and "logic," as opposed to the external processioning of physical events known as "historic," and where the term "mystic" is used as that which pertains to initiation and the mysteries. The serious consideration of the matter contained in these pages will, I hope, enable the attentive reader to outline in his mind, however vaguely, some small portion of the environment of infant Christianity, and allow him to move a few steps round the cradle of Christendom. Though the material that we have collected, has, as to its externals, been tested, as far as our hands are capable of the work, by the methods of scholarship and criticism, it has nevertheless at the same time been allowed ungrudgingly to show itself the outward expression of a truly vital endeavour of immense interest and value to all who are disposed to make friends with it. For along this ray of the Trismegistic tradition we may allow ourselves to be drawn backwards in time towards the holy of holies of the Wisdom of Ancient Egypt. The sympathetic study of this material may well prove an initiatory process towards an understanding of that Archaic Gnosis."-G. R. S. Mea

The present volume is G. R. S. Mead's collection and survey of the all available texts and fragments of the literature attributed to Hermes Trismegistus-a collection which forms the foundation of Hermeticism and illuminates much of the origin of western philosophical, religious and spiritual thought, from Egypt to Greece and on to the Gnostics and the sources of Christian doctrine. -- From the Preface: "These volumes, complete in themselves as a series of studies in a definite body of tradition, are intended to serve ultimately as a small contribution to the preparation of the way leading towards a solution of the vast problems involved in the scientific study of the Origins of the Christian Faith. They might thus perhaps be described as the preparation of materials to serve for the historic, mythic, and mystic consideration of the Origins of Christianity, -where the term "mythic" is used in its true sense of inner, typical, sacred and "logic," as opposed to the external processioning of physical events known as "historic," and where the term "mystic" is used as that which pertains to initiation and the mysteries. The serious consideration of the matter contained in these pages will, I hope, enable the attentive reader to outline in his mind, however vaguely, some small portion of the environment of infant Christianity, and allow him to move a few steps round the cradle of Christendom. Though the material that we have collected, has, as to its externals, been tested, as far as our hands are capable of the work, by the methods of scholarship and criticism, it has nevertheless at the same time been allowed ungrudgingly to show itself the outward expression of a truly vital endeavour of immense interest and value to all who are disposed to make friends with it. For along this ray of the Trismegistic tradition we may allow ourselves to be drawn backwards in time towards the holy of holies of the Wisdom of Ancient Egypt. The sympathetic study of this material may well prove an initiatory process towards an understanding of that Archaic Gnosis."-G. R. S. Mea

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. The reader is, therefore, referred to the "Preamble" of that volume for a short introduction concerning the nature of the Gnostic Acts in general and of the Leucian Acts of John in particular. I would, however, add a point of interest bearing on the date which was forgotten, though I have frequently remarked upon it when lecturing on the subject. The strongest proof that we have in our fragment very early material is found in the text itself, when it relates the following simple form of the miracle of the loaves. "Now if at any time He were invited by one of the Pharisees and went to the bidding, we used to go with Him. And before each was set a single loaf by the host; and of them He Himself also received one. Then He would give thanks and divide His loaf among us; and from this little each had enough, and our own loaves were saved whole, so that those who bade Him were amazed."

The Chald an Oracles are a product of Hellenistic syncretism. In her intimate contact with the Orient, the mind of Greece freely united with the mysterious and enthusiastic cults and wisdom-traditions of the other nations, and became very industrious in "philosophizing" their mythology, theosophy and gnosis, their oracular utterances, symbolic apocalypses and initiatory lore.