Solo wrote:Clement speaks of "seven veils of secret", which fits the "seven veils" of Salome the dancer in Wilde's play. He cannot know Wilde so this would be perhaps a coincidence if Smith did not offer his own two bits about "Salome" being the model disreputable woman in the Early Christian tradition. This shows Smith is not thinking about the Salome of 15:40 and 16:1 who was a member of Jesus entourage (who appears in the Secret Mark fragment) but the unnamed Salome of 6:21-29 the dancing daughter of Herodias responsible for the death of John the Baptist. This hugely improbable coincidence is hard to argue with and I am afraid calling Jeffery names will not do the trick.
Actually, the text of the Clement of Alexandria's
Letter to Theodore does not make any allusions to the physical temple in Jerusalem. It seems to allude to a figurative "inner sanctuary (αδυτον) of the "seven veiled truth" (της επτακις κεκαλυμμενης αληθειας, although Smith does not translate it so, see below).
In folio 1 recto:
Morton Smith's Greek via Ben C Smith's Text Excavation site |
Morton Smith's Eng Transl from gnosis.org with minor changes to word order to better align with the lines of Greek text |
|---|
| 25. πηγαγε λογια τινα ων ηπιστατο την εξηγησιν μυσταγωγησειν τους ακροα- |
25 brought in certain sayings of which he knew the interpretation would, as a mystagogue, lead the hearers |
| 26. τας εις το αδυτον της επτακις κεκαλυμμενης αληθειας• ουτως ουν- |
26 into the innermost sanctuary of that truth hidden by seven veils. Thus, in sum, |
This sounds like a technical term from circles influenced by Judean ascent mysticism.
Later in folio 1 verso, it says:
| 14. γελλει, Αποκρινου τω μωρω εκ της μωριας αυτου• προς τους τυφλους τον |
14 advises, “Answer the fool from his folly,” and to the blind |
| 15. νουν το φως της αληθειας δειν επικρυπτεσθαι διδασκουσα• αυτικα φη- |
15 of mind the light of the truth should be hidden, as it is taught. Again |
So, essentially, it is a mental state he is referring to, not a physical one.
Hippolytus, in
Refutation of All Heresies V.2 (in other editions, V.7.22-24) says:
The [Naasenes] assert, then, that the Egyptians, who after the Phrygians, it is established, are of greater antiquity than all mankind, and who confessedly were the first to proclaim to all the rest of men the rites and orgies of, at the same time, all the gods, as well as the species and energies (of things), have the sacred and august, and for those who are not initiated, unspeakable mysteries of Isis. These, however, are not anything else than what by her of the seven dresses and sable robe was sought and snatched away, namely, the pudendum of Osiris. And they say that Osiris is water. But the seven-robed nature, encircled and arrayed with seven mantles of ethereal texture --for so they call the planetary stars, allegorizing and denominating them ethereal robes,-- is as it were the changeable generation, and is exhibited as the creature transformed by the ineffable and unportrayable, and inconceivable and figureless one.
Critics can indignantly snarl that this work was lost until a ms of books 4 to 10 was discovered in 1840 by M Mynas and the ms was published by B E Miller in 1851. Book one had long before been discovered in a 15th century ms and published by Fabricius in 1701, although mistakenly accredited to Origen of Alexandria. It was assumed, then, that Smith had taken this seven veiled truth from the 4th century bishop Hippolytus, instead of seeing this as a confirmation that such teaching about seven veiled truth was known at least a century or two after Clement of Alexandria's time.
However, this is not the only place we find this kind of thing. It is well known that Jewish ascent mysticism referred to "curtains/veils" (pargod?) that are at the gate of each heaven, generally enumerated as seven in number. I extensively treated this in a post to either IIDB or FRDB, but like an idiot I did not save a copy of it on my computer (or at least can't find it at the moment). So I go on to things I do have saved ...
In
Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic texts of ritual power, by Marvin Meyer & Richard Smith (1994/1999), we have ancient Coptic magical spells:
70. Spell, with Gnostic characteristics, to protect from filthy demons
Text: London Oriental Manuscript 5987
Description- papyrus, 77 3/4 x 5 3/8 in. [unfortunately, undated]
Yoel Thiel Misiael Mioel Daithe Eleluth Ermukratos Adonai Ermusur, the invisible one within the seven veils, by him stand the seven radiant lights Sarthiel, Tharbioth and Urach and Thurach and Armuser and Eiecha, the seven inexpressible lights, the sixty golden lamps which burn in the tabernacle of the father.
You are Akramiel, Prakuel, the salvation of Israel. You are the salvation of the father. You are ..., the salvation of. . . . You are the father in whom . . . Ermukraton . . Ermusur invisible Bainchooch, O one within the seven veils.
73. Erotic spell of Cyprian of Antioch
Text: Heidelberg Kopt. 684
Description- book with sixteen pages of rag paper; the pages are 14.3 x 9 cm; pages 1-13 contain the spell of Cyprian, and the last three pages are blank; eleventh century.
According to legend, Cyprian of Antioch tried to employ magic [spells] in order to seduce a Christian virgin named Justina. As the story goes, he failed in his attempts, and so he converted to Christianity, abandoned his books of ritual power, and eventually became bishop of Antioch. Some traditions suggest that both Cyprian and Justina were martyred during the persecution of the Roman emperor Diocletian (ruled 285-305). The translation given here is of the spell of Cyprian. See also Howard M. Jackson, “A Contribution toward an Edition of the Confession of Cyprian of Antioch."
So I reproved my wrath [at not being able to seduce the Christian virgin Justina through his knowledge of magic spells], laid my anger aside, and allayed my rage with great humility. Then I got to my feet, turned my face to the west, stretched my right hand out to heaven, cleansed myself of the dirt on my feet, snorted, and directed these spells at heaven, to the tabernacle of the father within the seven veils.
In an essay entitled "Universal Fraternity of Universal Right of Oneness of Soulful Love and Compassion of all Living Beings Souls, as revealed and flourished by Arutperunjothi Ramalinga Vallalar," by Arul Thiru Gnanansabandram in
Mettukuppam, Okkiyam Thuraipakkam (Tamil Nadu, India, 2006).
http://www.ambalamyoga.org/On%20Vallala ... 20file.pdf
In Vadalur [Tamil Nadu, India], Vallalar raised Sathya gnana sabha [Hall of True Wisdom Forum], where god is seen as grace light behind seven veils of ageless ignorance, each proclaiming a philosophy. Veil after veil, slowly unveiled, God’ glows in matchless sheen. Burning bright to keep in flight the devotee’s hesitancy and hug soul spark into his clasp.
Vallalar glimpsed divinity in vortex of mind, burning with leaping flames of million suns. Arutperum Jothi Vallalar alone revealed to the world, gods dazzling abode in the midst of consciousness. A quarter golden, the rest flaming white color of flag and seven veils behind light…
Arutprakasa Vallalar Chidambaram Ramalingam, 5 October 1823 – 30 January 1874, was a Tamil Holy man.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramalinga_Swamigal
Later, in a court deposition filed in Small Claims court of Madras, India, around 1870, one of Ramalingam's disciples explains his contention that Ramalingam had foretold the establishment of The Theosophical Society. See H P Blatavsky, "Coming Events Foretold," The Theosophist, Vol. III, No. 10, July, 1882, pp. 243-244.
http://www.scribd.com/Athanor/d/3598070 ... 3#download
… During the latter part of his visible earthly career, he often expressed his bitter sorrow for this sad state of things, and repeatedly exclaimed: “You are not fit to become members of this Society of Universal Brotherhood. The real members of that Brotherhood are living far away, towards the North of India. You do not listen to me. You do not follow the principles of my teachings. You seem to be determined not to be convinced by me. Yet the time is not far off, when persons from Russia, America (these two countries were always named), and other foreign lands will come to India and preach to you this same doctrine of universal brotherhood. Then only, will you know and appreciate the grand truths that I am now vainly trying to make you accept. You will soon find that the brothers who live in the far north will work a great many wonders in India, and thus confer incalculable benefits upon this our country.”
To make the historical sequence clearer, is should be noted that Oscar Wilde's play
Salome was published in 1891.
Blatavsky continued to use the phrase in "The Kabalah And The Kabalists",
Lucifer, May, 1892:
Kabalah, as a word, is derived from the root Kbl (Kebel) "to hand over," or "to receive" orally. It is erroneous to say, as Kenneth Mackenzie does in his Royal Masonic Cyclopædia, that "the doctrine of the Kabalah refers to the system handed down by oral transmission, and is nearly allied to tradition"; for in this sentence the first proposition only is true, while the second is not. It is not allied to "tradition" but to the seven veils or the seven truths, orally revealed at Initiation.
I am not necessarily saying that the fragment could not be a creation of a later writer, as it was found handwritten in the endpages of a ragged printed book in one of the libraries of the Mar Saba monastery. Any one could have put it there, and if penned in relatively modern times the author was a mystic, more likely than not a Theosophist. As far as I know, and please correct me if I am wrong, Morton Smith did not seem interested in Theosophist, Kabalistic or even Jewish mystic ascent literature.
As long as we are going to "Round Up the Usual Suspects" (Casablanca), there were a number of well educated Theosophists at the turn of the 20th century. Why not pin the blame on someone like G R S Mead? But there is evidence that the concept of a kind of truth (mental, generally) hidden by veils of ignorance that need to be bypassed, goes way back in time. I do not detect any suggestion in this letter or in the "mystical gospel" (in Greek) of nuptial couches and such like erotic imagery that is sometimes found in the teachings of 2nd century gnostic sects (at lease as portrayed by Christian heresy hunters).
In fact, the author of the letter says that there isn't anything like that in the "real" mystical gospel secreted in the church Alexandria by its inner guard. I think that, like Morton Salt (which "pours when it rains," and is not touted as more pure than other brands of salt, because its anti-caking quality is due to the milling process, not due to additives), the offhand mention of Salome in folio 2 recto line 16 is a red herring. I mean, like the savor of salt in Mark 9:50 (ἐὰν δὲ τὸ ἅλας ἄναλον γένηται, where the letter to Theodore has "τουτο δη το λεγομενον, και το αλας μωρανθηναι, where the last word seems to be an Aorist infinitive of μωραίνω, meaning "to be silly, foolish, insipid, loose flavor," so the saying he refers to may not be the one from Mark 9:50), Salome is mentioned in canonical Mark 15:40 & 16:1. Why should we be suspicious that subjects and persons mentioned in canonical Mark also show up in this "mystical gospel"?
Ah ah ah! I think I've found the smoking gun! In 1917, a publication of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Foods found that Morton Salt, along a long list of other and quite varied foods, contained no adulterations:
http://books.google.com/books?id=iJ8mAQ ... ed&f=false
Now we can be certain that Smith not only had a copy of Hunter's fiction book about the Nazi plot to destroy established religion, but he also MUST have read this very publication about food adulterations publication.
As spin frequently says: "Rubbish!"
DCH
