Pentecost Sunday
Intent: Coming of the Paraclete
The Pentecost falls on the Jewish holiday of Shavuat and commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Festival of Weeks, which is the “first fruits of the wheat harvest” (Exodus 34:22). According the Sepher Ietzirah, the seven weeks from Passover to Pentecost follows the design of “seven earths, seven heavens, seven continents, seven seas, seven rivers, seven deserts, seven days a week, seven weeks from Passover to Pentecost… Hence God loves the number seven under the whole heaven.”
The Christian story of the Acts of the Apostles (2:2-18):
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, [the Disciples] were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
In these final lines (“And it shall come to pass…”) Peter is quoting the Old Testament prophet Joel (2:28-32) to proclaim the event as the fulfillment of a prophesy. He then tells the Apostles and those gathered to be baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38). About three thousand were added to their numbers, and “continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers,” (Acts 2:42) as many wonders and signs were done by the apostles” (Acts 2:43). Many look upon the Pentecost as the beginning of the Christian Church.
Putting aside the debatable historicity of the text (Acts may have been written to advance orthodoxy against the gnostic Marcionites), what can the symbolic narrative tell us about the Holy Ghost?
First, Acts 2:3 tells us “there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind…” In the Christian Scriptures, “Spirit,” “Ghost,” and “Wind” are synonymous terms. In the New Testament gospels of John and Luke, the actual Greek word used and translated variously as “Wind,” “Spirit,” and “Ghost” is “Pneuma”, which refers to wind and breath.
We also find examples of the Holy Ghost as the agent of procreation and conception:
The biblical Jesus imparted the Holy Wind by breathing. When Jesus appears to the disciples after the crucifixion and shows them his hand and his side, he said to them, “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” (John 20:21-22).
In Acts 2:4 we read that the Holy Ghost “appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” In Exodus 3:2, God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush (“And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush…”). God led the Israelites by night in the form of fire (“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.” (Exodus 13:21). His Grace Our First Patriarch Jules Doinel (Tau Valentin) described the Holy Fire in his Gnostic Catechism of 1893. In his explanation of the doctrine of Simon Magus, Doinel describes the “all-consuming fire” that appeared to Moses:
“This fire, very different from the elementary fire that is only its symbol, has a visible nature and a mysterious nature. This secret, occult nature conceals itself in appearance. Likewise, this appearance conceals itself in the occult. The invisible is visible to the Spirit.”
Doinel writes that this fire, with its visible and invisible aspects, is “The Intelligible and the Sensible, Power and Action, Idea and Speech;” The primordial fire “contains the Absolute and the Relative, the Informal and the Formal, Spirit and Matter, the One and the Many, God and the emanations of God… These emanations by couple are called Holy Eons by the Gnosis.”[5]
Of the Holy Spirit that came to the Apostles at the Pentecost we read in Acts 2:5: “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”Elsewhere in the scriptures, the Holy Ghost was said to have inspired prophesy:
“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:21).
“And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers…” (Acts 28:25).
This is not unique or original to the Christian narrative. The prophesies of the Greek Oracle at Delphi were inspired by being filled by the spirit (or enthusiasmos) of Apollo; and the ancient Celts were “‘moved by the Holy Ghost’ in their divine decrees and prophetic utterances.[6]
In the 1899 Catechism of Our Holy Gnostic Church, written by Louis-Sophrone Fugairon (Tau Sophronius) and approved by Patriarch Fabre des Essarts (Tau Synésius), the perfecti who receives sacramental power receives with it the gift of prophecy. The intuitive knowledge of the Prophet is “due to the action of the Holy-Spirit which resides in him as the inspirer… The Prophet hears the seven voices which murmur inwardly to him like a gentle evening breeze.”[7]
In his History and Doctrine of the Rose+Croix Paul Sedir shares an idea from the Apocalypsis of Joachim de Flore (1135-1202) concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit:
“For it is not the same for those who are spiritual and those who are carnal. The eyes of spiritual people are open to divine things. But for this the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are necessary; gifts which the Spirit which is God distributes to each as it pleases Him."
“When the Spirit was poured out into the hearts of the faithful at Pentecost, it infused them.
“And so it is insufflation whereas the Son is incarnation, and it is not through the example of visible things that it makes things better, but through the insufflation of its gifts.”
The founding event of the Gnostic Church was an experience of the Holy Spirit. Jules Doinel had become fascinated by the Cathars and other gnostic movements after having discovered a Charter dated 1022 by a Canon Stephan de Orléans, a forerunner of the Cathars, who taught gnostic doctrines and was burned for heresy. One night in 1888 or 1890 (sources vary) Doinel had a vision in which the “Aeon Jesus” appeared with two Bogomil Bishops, consecrated him Patriarch, and instructed him to establish our Holy Gnostic Church. After this, Doinel, a practicing Spiritist, started attempts to contact Cathar and gnostic Spirits in séances, which were held in the salon of Lady Marie Caithness and her Theosophical circle. The following words were received on one occasion by Doinel and Lady Caithness from a spirit whom Valentinus had named “Sophia-Achamôth”:[8]
"The One has brought forth One, then One. And the Three are but One: the Father, the Word and the Thought. Establish my Gnostic Church. The Demiurge will be powerless against it. Receive the Paraclete."
The “Paraclete” was the name given to the Holy Spirit by the Cathars. By consensus of those who shared in the vision with Jules Doinel at the restoration of the Gnosis, the first name of the Gnostic Church was “L’Église du Paraclet.” Our second Patriarch, Fabre des Essarts (Tau Synesius), wrote that the Paraclete “corresponds to that which is feminine in the Divinity and our Teachings specify that it is the only face of God which is truly accessible to our reason. The Hebrew language identifies the Spirit as Ruach, which is of a feminine gender.”[9] The Restoration of the Gnosis thus ushers forward the Age of the Paraclete, the Age of the Divine Feminine. Tau Synesius writes:
“The work of the Father and of the Son have been completed. Remaining is that of the Spirit which alone can determine the definitive salvation of terrestrial Humanity and prepare the Reconstitution of the Adam-Kadmon… what I do know, and affirm strongly, is that it is by the eternal feminine that the world will be saved.”[10]
Speaking of the coming on Earth of true Fraternity and of the Reign of the Holy Spirit, Victor Blanchard (Tau Targelius), at the Masonic and Spiritualist Congress of 1908 (which was opened on the Feast of the Pentecost, June 7), said that the Pentecost symbolizes “Science allied to Faith, of Reason united to Intuition, a lasting and celestial fusion” typified by all human beings being “united to each other not only in actions, but also in words and above all in thought.[11] Recalling the single spiritual speech that was experienced by the followers of Jesus on the Pentecost, the Feast of the Pentecost today is a “symbol of right human relations in which all men and nations will understand each other and - though speaking in many and diverse languages - will know only one spiritual speech.”[12]
How are we to prepare for the Reign of the Holy Spirit? What can we do personally? In 1890 Doinel wrote:
"You who are part of the Church of the Paraclete, unite yourself with your Brethren. It is through your prayers and studies and by your obedience to your invisible pastors, and by escaping from your personal egotism and from everything which can break charity that you will succeed in establishing, on solid and deep foundations, the visible community of Pneumatics that the MANIFESTATIONS from On High announce and promise us."[13]
Through worship, study, and charity, on this Feast of Pentecost, may we so receive the Paraclete, that we may be workers for Reconciliation in our words and deeds by the power of signs and omens.
Sources:
[1] Graves, K. (1876). The worlds sixteen crucified saviors. Boston.
[2] Ouvaroff, M. (1812) “Essay on the Mysteries of Eleusis.”
[3] Graves, K. (1876). The worlds sixteen crucified saviors. Boston.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Gnostic Catechism (1893) published by mandate of His Grace the Patriarch and by order of the Very High Synod.
[6] Graves, K. (1876). The worlds sixteen crucified saviors. Boston.
[7] 1899 Holy Orders; Mystery of the Great name and of the Seven Voices and the Forty-Nine Powers
[8] Milko Bogaard, Milko. “Jules Doinel and the Eglise Gnostique Universelle Catholique.”
[9] Fabre des Essarts (1907). “Le Christ sauveaur, drame gnostique en trois journées: 3e journée : la vengeance de Dieu. Paris. 43-44.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Blanchard, Victor (1908). Opening Address to the Masonic and Spiritualist Congress.
[12] Bailey, Alice (1949). The Destiny Of Nations.
[13] Jules Doinel (1890). Ravignat, Mathieu, Trans. “Première Homélie.”
The Christian story of the Acts of the Apostles (2:2-18):
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, [the Disciples] were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
In these final lines (“And it shall come to pass…”) Peter is quoting the Old Testament prophet Joel (2:28-32) to proclaim the event as the fulfillment of a prophesy. He then tells the Apostles and those gathered to be baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38). About three thousand were added to their numbers, and “continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers,” (Acts 2:42) as many wonders and signs were done by the apostles” (Acts 2:43). Many look upon the Pentecost as the beginning of the Christian Church.
Putting aside the debatable historicity of the text (Acts may have been written to advance orthodoxy against the gnostic Marcionites), what can the symbolic narrative tell us about the Holy Ghost?
First, Acts 2:3 tells us “there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind…” In the Christian Scriptures, “Spirit,” “Ghost,” and “Wind” are synonymous terms. In the New Testament gospels of John and Luke, the actual Greek word used and translated variously as “Wind,” “Spirit,” and “Ghost” is “Pneuma”, which refers to wind and breath.
We also find examples of the Holy Ghost as the agent of procreation and conception:
- Jesus is said to have been conceived by the Holy Ghost: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” (Matthew 1:18).
- In the Mexican mythos, Chimalman is conceived by the Holy Ghost (‘Echvah’) to give birth to the incarnate God Quexalcote.
- In the Hindu mythos, Saikia was conceived by the Holy Ghost (‘Nara-an).’[3]
- In the East we find the living fire in the form of the igneous “Kundalini,” the creative energy that ascends the spinal column.
- We may also see a relationship between the creative power and Holy Wind in the opening lines of Genesis. Some writers maintain that the Hebrew Ruh Aliem (“Spirit of God”) is more properly translated “Wind of the Gods”; i.e.: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God [Wind of the Gods] moved upon the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2).[4]
The biblical Jesus imparted the Holy Wind by breathing. When Jesus appears to the disciples after the crucifixion and shows them his hand and his side, he said to them, “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” (John 20:21-22).
In Acts 2:4 we read that the Holy Ghost “appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” In Exodus 3:2, God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush (“And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush…”). God led the Israelites by night in the form of fire (“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.” (Exodus 13:21). His Grace Our First Patriarch Jules Doinel (Tau Valentin) described the Holy Fire in his Gnostic Catechism of 1893. In his explanation of the doctrine of Simon Magus, Doinel describes the “all-consuming fire” that appeared to Moses:
“This fire, very different from the elementary fire that is only its symbol, has a visible nature and a mysterious nature. This secret, occult nature conceals itself in appearance. Likewise, this appearance conceals itself in the occult. The invisible is visible to the Spirit.”
Doinel writes that this fire, with its visible and invisible aspects, is “The Intelligible and the Sensible, Power and Action, Idea and Speech;” The primordial fire “contains the Absolute and the Relative, the Informal and the Formal, Spirit and Matter, the One and the Many, God and the emanations of God… These emanations by couple are called Holy Eons by the Gnosis.”[5]
Of the Holy Spirit that came to the Apostles at the Pentecost we read in Acts 2:5: “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”Elsewhere in the scriptures, the Holy Ghost was said to have inspired prophesy:
“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:21).
“And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers…” (Acts 28:25).
This is not unique or original to the Christian narrative. The prophesies of the Greek Oracle at Delphi were inspired by being filled by the spirit (or enthusiasmos) of Apollo; and the ancient Celts were “‘moved by the Holy Ghost’ in their divine decrees and prophetic utterances.[6]
In the 1899 Catechism of Our Holy Gnostic Church, written by Louis-Sophrone Fugairon (Tau Sophronius) and approved by Patriarch Fabre des Essarts (Tau Synésius), the perfecti who receives sacramental power receives with it the gift of prophecy. The intuitive knowledge of the Prophet is “due to the action of the Holy-Spirit which resides in him as the inspirer… The Prophet hears the seven voices which murmur inwardly to him like a gentle evening breeze.”[7]
In his History and Doctrine of the Rose+Croix Paul Sedir shares an idea from the Apocalypsis of Joachim de Flore (1135-1202) concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit:
“For it is not the same for those who are spiritual and those who are carnal. The eyes of spiritual people are open to divine things. But for this the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are necessary; gifts which the Spirit which is God distributes to each as it pleases Him."
“When the Spirit was poured out into the hearts of the faithful at Pentecost, it infused them.
“And so it is insufflation whereas the Son is incarnation, and it is not through the example of visible things that it makes things better, but through the insufflation of its gifts.”
The founding event of the Gnostic Church was an experience of the Holy Spirit. Jules Doinel had become fascinated by the Cathars and other gnostic movements after having discovered a Charter dated 1022 by a Canon Stephan de Orléans, a forerunner of the Cathars, who taught gnostic doctrines and was burned for heresy. One night in 1888 or 1890 (sources vary) Doinel had a vision in which the “Aeon Jesus” appeared with two Bogomil Bishops, consecrated him Patriarch, and instructed him to establish our Holy Gnostic Church. After this, Doinel, a practicing Spiritist, started attempts to contact Cathar and gnostic Spirits in séances, which were held in the salon of Lady Marie Caithness and her Theosophical circle. The following words were received on one occasion by Doinel and Lady Caithness from a spirit whom Valentinus had named “Sophia-Achamôth”:[8]
"The One has brought forth One, then One. And the Three are but One: the Father, the Word and the Thought. Establish my Gnostic Church. The Demiurge will be powerless against it. Receive the Paraclete."
The “Paraclete” was the name given to the Holy Spirit by the Cathars. By consensus of those who shared in the vision with Jules Doinel at the restoration of the Gnosis, the first name of the Gnostic Church was “L’Église du Paraclet.” Our second Patriarch, Fabre des Essarts (Tau Synesius), wrote that the Paraclete “corresponds to that which is feminine in the Divinity and our Teachings specify that it is the only face of God which is truly accessible to our reason. The Hebrew language identifies the Spirit as Ruach, which is of a feminine gender.”[9] The Restoration of the Gnosis thus ushers forward the Age of the Paraclete, the Age of the Divine Feminine. Tau Synesius writes:
“The work of the Father and of the Son have been completed. Remaining is that of the Spirit which alone can determine the definitive salvation of terrestrial Humanity and prepare the Reconstitution of the Adam-Kadmon… what I do know, and affirm strongly, is that it is by the eternal feminine that the world will be saved.”[10]
Speaking of the coming on Earth of true Fraternity and of the Reign of the Holy Spirit, Victor Blanchard (Tau Targelius), at the Masonic and Spiritualist Congress of 1908 (which was opened on the Feast of the Pentecost, June 7), said that the Pentecost symbolizes “Science allied to Faith, of Reason united to Intuition, a lasting and celestial fusion” typified by all human beings being “united to each other not only in actions, but also in words and above all in thought.[11] Recalling the single spiritual speech that was experienced by the followers of Jesus on the Pentecost, the Feast of the Pentecost today is a “symbol of right human relations in which all men and nations will understand each other and - though speaking in many and diverse languages - will know only one spiritual speech.”[12]
How are we to prepare for the Reign of the Holy Spirit? What can we do personally? In 1890 Doinel wrote:
"You who are part of the Church of the Paraclete, unite yourself with your Brethren. It is through your prayers and studies and by your obedience to your invisible pastors, and by escaping from your personal egotism and from everything which can break charity that you will succeed in establishing, on solid and deep foundations, the visible community of Pneumatics that the MANIFESTATIONS from On High announce and promise us."[13]
Through worship, study, and charity, on this Feast of Pentecost, may we so receive the Paraclete, that we may be workers for Reconciliation in our words and deeds by the power of signs and omens.
Sources:
[1] Graves, K. (1876). The worlds sixteen crucified saviors. Boston.
[2] Ouvaroff, M. (1812) “Essay on the Mysteries of Eleusis.”
[3] Graves, K. (1876). The worlds sixteen crucified saviors. Boston.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Gnostic Catechism (1893) published by mandate of His Grace the Patriarch and by order of the Very High Synod.
[6] Graves, K. (1876). The worlds sixteen crucified saviors. Boston.
[7] 1899 Holy Orders; Mystery of the Great name and of the Seven Voices and the Forty-Nine Powers
[8] Milko Bogaard, Milko. “Jules Doinel and the Eglise Gnostique Universelle Catholique.”
[9] Fabre des Essarts (1907). “Le Christ sauveaur, drame gnostique en trois journées: 3e journée : la vengeance de Dieu. Paris. 43-44.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Blanchard, Victor (1908). Opening Address to the Masonic and Spiritualist Congress.
[12] Bailey, Alice (1949). The Destiny Of Nations.
[13] Jules Doinel (1890). Ravignat, Mathieu, Trans. “Première Homélie.”