Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)

" It is [ever] present with only one class of men — with those who, having stripped themselves of all the things in genesis, even to the innermost veil and garment of opinion, come unto God with minds unclothed and naked.

"And so Moses, having fixed his tent outside the camp — that is, the whole of the body 3 — that is to say, having made firm his mind, so that it does not move, begins to worship God; and, entering into the darkness, the unseen land, abideth there, being initiated into the most holy mysteries. And he becomes, not only a mystes, but also a hierophant of revelations,4 and teacher of divine things, which he will indicate to those who have had their ears made pure.

1 D« Cherub., § 12 ; M. i. 146, P. 115 (Ri. i. 208).

2 Ibid., § 14 ; M. i. 147, P. 116 (Ri. i. 210).

3 (y. Leg. Alleg., ii. § 15 ; M. i. 76, P. 1097 (Ri. i. 105).

4 Lit., orgies.

" With such kind of men, then, the Divine Spirit is ever present, guiding their every way aright." l

Eeferring to the ritual sacrifices of a heifer and two rams, Philo declares that the slaying of the second ram, and the symbolic rite of sprinkling certain portions of the bodies of the priests with its blood, was ordained " for the highest perfectioning of the consecrated by means of the purification of chastity 2 — which [ram] he [' Moses '] called, according to its meaning, the ' [ram] of perfectioning,' since they [the priests] were about to act as hierophants of mysteries appropriate to the servants (Oepcnrevrais) and ministers of God." 8

So also Philo's language about the Therapeuts proper, and not the allegorically interpreted temple-sacrificers, is that of the Mysteries, when he writes :

" Now they who betake themselves to this service (OepaTreiav) [of God do so], not because of any custom, or on some one's advice and appeal, but carried away with heavenly love, like those initiated into the Bacchic or Corybantic Mysteries, they are a-fire with God until they see the object of their love." 4

These Mysteries were, of course, not to be revealed except to the worthy. Therefore he says :

"Nor because thou hast a tongue and mouth and organ of speech, shouldst thou tell forth all, even things that may not be spoken." 5

1 De Gigan., § 12 ; M. i. 270, P. 291 (Ri. ii. 61).

2 Philo, apparently, would have it that the sacrifice of the ram, which was a symbol of virility, signified the obligation of chastity prior to initiation into the higher rites.

3 De Vit. Mos., iii. § 17 ; M. ii. 157, P. 675 (Ri. iv. 216). The Therapeuts, with Philo, then do not mean " Healers," as has been sometimes thought, but " Servants of God."

* D. V. C., § 2 ; M. ii. 473, P. 891 (Ri. v. 306, C. 41, 42). 5 Quod Det. Pot. Insid., § 27 ; M. i. 211, P. 174 (Ri. i. 295).

And in the last section of the same treatise he writes :

"Wherefore I think that [all] those who are not utterly without [proper] instruction, would prefer to be made blind than to see things not proper [to be seen], to be made deaf than to hear harmful words, and to have their tongue cut out, to prevent them divulging aught of the ineffable Mysteries. . . . Nay, it is even better to make oneself eunuch than to rush madly into unlawful unions." l

With which we may usefully compare Matt. v. 29 : " If thy right eye offend thee, cut it out and cast it from thee"; and Matt. xix. 12: "There are some who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of the heavens; he that can receive it, let him receive it." Both passages are found in the first Gospel only.

For the comprehension of virtue man requires the reason only ; but for the doing of ill, the evil man requires the organs of the body, says our mystic dualist ; " for how will he be able to divulge the Mysteries, if he have no organ of speech ? " 2

This continual harping on the divulging of the Mysteries, shows that Philo considered it the greatest of all enormities ; we might almost think that he had in view some movement that was divulging part of the mystery-tradition to the untrained populace.

Elsewhere, speaking of those "who draw nigh unto God, abandoning the life of death, and sharing in immortality," he tells us these are the "Naked" — (that is, " naked " of the trammels of the flesh) — who sacrifice all to God. And he adds that only these " are permitted to see the ineffable* Mysteries of God, who