Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)
The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
S. — and after men have been initiated into them, they should cease for a little, and become initiated in the Great —
C. — heavenly [Mysteries].
S. For they to whom the "deaths" in them4 are appointed, " receive greater lots."
J. For this [Mystery] (H. he says) is the Gate of
Heaven, and this is the House of God, where the Good
God dwells alone; into which [House] (H. he says)
no impure [man] shall come —
C. — no psychic, no fleshly [man] —
J. — but it is kept under watch for the spiritual alone; — where when they come, they must cast away their garments, and all become bridegrooms, obtaining their true manhood 5 through the Virginal Spirit.
1 Sc. the first path.
2 These verses are from some unknown poet, who is conjectured variously to have been either Parmenides or Pamphus of Athens. See notes in loc. in both Schneidewin and Cruice.
3 Sc. those of Persephone.
4 Sc. the Greater Mysteries ; in which, presumably, the candidate went through some symbolic rite of death and resurrection.
6 Or true virility, ainjpo-epw/xe'i/ot/j, which equates with aira.v5povnfvovs, I believe, and does not mean demasculati, or exuta virilitate, as translated respectively by Schneidewin and Cruice.
For this (H. he says) is the Virgin big with child, conceiving and bearing a Son l —
C. — not psychic, not fleshly, but a blessed ^Eon of JSons. 2 Concerning these [Mysteries] (H. he says) the Saviour hath explicitly said that :
"Narrow and strait is the Way that leadeth to Life, and few are they who enter it ; but broad and wide [is] the Way that leadeth to Destruction, and many are they who journey thereby." 3
S.4 Moreover, also, the Phrygians say that the Father of wholes 5 is Amygdalos 6 —
J. — no [ordinary] tree 7 (H. he says) ; but that He is that Amygdalos the Pre-existing, who having in Himself the Perfect Fruit, as it were, throbbing8 and moving in [His] Depth, He tore asunder 9 His Womb, and gave birth to His own Son 10 —
For the " death " mentioned above and the " casting away of the garments," see the Mystery Ritual in The Acts of John (F. F. F., 431- 434) ; and for the latter and the " Virginal Spirit," the passages on the Sacred Marriage which I have collected in the chapter on the main doctrines of Philo.
1 A loose reference to LXX. — Is. vii. 14.
2 Or Eternity of Eternities.
3 Cf. Matt. vii. 13, 14 ; our text, however, is an inversion of the clauses, with several various readings, of T. R.
4 This seems to connect with the Fruitful of § 25. See below, in the Hymn " Whether blest Child," the "cut wheat-ear" that Amygdalos brought forth.
6 This refers to the First Man.
6 Vulg., Almond-tree.
7 In the Mithriaca, Mithras, in the most ancient myth, was represented as in (? born from) a Tree. See Cumont.
8 Reading olovtl 5ia<t>v£ovTa with S., C., and R. ; but the Codex has oiov ISicf, ff<i>v£ov^a.. If we read $6v for the corrupt oiov, we get " the Egg throbbing apart " or in separation — and so link on with the Orphic (Chaldaean) tradition.
9 5»^vfe, the synonym of a term which occurs frequently in the Pistis Sophia, " I tore myself asunder."
10 That is, to Man Son of Man.
C. — the Invisible, Unnameable, and Ineffable [One] of whom we tell.1
S. For " amyxai " 2 is, as it were, " to break " and " cut open " ; just as (H. he says) in the case of inflamed bodies and those which have some internal tumour, when physicians lance them, they speak of " amychas" 3
Thus (H. he says) the Phrygians call him Amygdalos.
C. From whom proceeded and was born the Invisible —
"Through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made." 4
(30) S. The Phrygians also say that that which is generated from Him is Syriktes.5
J. For that which is generated is Spirit in harmony.6
C. For " God (H. he says) is Spirit." 7
Wherefore He says :
"Neither in this mountain do the true worshippers worship, nor in Jerusalem, but in Spirit." 8
1 The somewhat boastful tone, shown in several passages already, probably betrays C. ; it may, however, be assigned to J.
2 aptl-ai, a play on Amygdalos.
3 That is, "scarifications."
4 Cf. John i. 3., reading, however, •uSey and not the <w5£ eV of W. H.
5 The Piper ; properly, the player on the syrinx or seven-reeded Pan-pipe. Compare the Mystery Ritual in The Acts of John : " I would pipe ; dance all of you ! " ( F. F. F., p. 432) ; and, " We have piped unto you and ye have not danced " (Matt. xi. 17 = Luke vii. 27).