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    Spain Avalon Member Javblanc's Avatar
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    Default Gnostic mysteries

    Like in the Kabbalah, the subject of conjugal love abounds in Gnosticism. “Great is the mystery of marriage!” claims the Gospel of Philip. In the text, there are plenty allusions to the bride and the bridegroom, as there are to the Bridal Bed or Chamber where both must unite in matrimony to restore the heavenly Husband and Wife, the Androgyne. Another of the Gnostics favourite metaphors is one of which the Kabbalists were also quite fond: the Temple of Solomon as an image of the Universe, a cosmic Temple. It was precisely the Sancta Sanctorum of this sanctuary what the Gnostics meant by the metaphor of the Bridal Bed or Chamber. “The holy of the holies is the bridal chamber”, we read in the Gospel of Philip. And: “Now the woman and man are one in the [bridal] chamber”. And more: “the bridal chamber is part of something superior to it and the others (meaning the sanctuaries, the other cosmic levels) because you will find nothing like it.” This is the high Chamber where the Original spouses, divorced because of the Fall, are to marry again, because “Redemption happens in the bridal chamber.” (Gospel of Philip, Three buildings in Jerusalem)

    Based on this symbol, the Valentinian Gnostics (the followers of Valentinus, the most notable of Gnostic masters) even developed a ritual. “Chrism in the Bridal Chamber”, some texts call it. In Christianism, chrism is the ointment oil used in sacraments and consecrations. This Gnostic ritual, then, was possibly a kind of sacrament similar to marriage. Even though the exact procedure is unknown, from the texts we can infer it was a ceremony to symbolically recreate the bridal couple’s Original Androgyny. The original union between Jesus and Mary Magdalene also served as a model. We are not talking about an earthly marriage here. The symbol and Gnostic ritual of the Bridal Chamber –where “two become one”– refers to the heavenly marriage. The union of the bridegroom and the bride mentioned in Gnostic texts is not a carnal union but a mystic one, a sacred union.

    Carnal union –the foundation of earthly marriages– was seen by the Gnostics as impure, corrupted. “Therefore, contemplate Pure Mating –instructs the Gospel of Philip– for it has great power!” Nevertheless, earthly marriage achieved among the Gnostics its just respect as a substitute, as a shadow or simulation of the heavenly marriage and, because of that, not all of it was considered contemptible: “Marriage in the world is a mystery for those who are married. If there is a hidden defilement in the marriage, how much greater is the true mystery of the undefiled marriage! It is not fleshly but pure. It belongs not to desire (of the bodies) but to the will (of the heart). It belongs not to the darkness of the night but to the day and the light.” (Gospel of Philip, Mystery of Undefiled Marriage) For the Gnostics, the true marriage is not the one taking place in the lower world; it’s the one happening in Heaven. It’s not the one occurring in front of everyone (“If a marriage is open to the public, it has become prostitution.” Ibid), but the one happening within the secret, innermost sanctuary of the Cosmic Temple.

    This sanctuary is the Place to which brides and bridegrooms truly belong: “Bridegrooms and brides belong to the bridal chamber. No one shall be able to see the bridegroom or bride unless one becomes a bridegroom or bride.” Ibid) No one can see them because the Sancta Sanctorum lies beyond the reach of “profane” eyes. These can only imagine it: they can only picture it through images and symbols; preferably, the symbol of marriage. Only the “sacred eyes” can penetrate the veil covering the Sancta Sanctorum: eyes such as those of the Gnostics.

    And to round off, an interesting fact about the 14th of February, St. Valentine’s Day, the solemn Lovers Day in Western culture…: In primitive Christianity, there were still no proper nuptial rites as such: marriage was a private act that only required the consent of the contracting parties. But, as we have seen, some Christians of the time indeed practised a nuptial rite: except this rite was not conceived to formalise earthly marriages but spiritual ones… Now, up until well into the nineteenth century, St. Valentine’s Day, this most celebrated day included rituals of a nuptial character.

    In virtue of such rituals, men and women –called valentines and valentinas, and coupled through a raffle– were united by a spiritual bond that did not interfere with “earthly” marriages and that forced each couple to remain mutually faithful until next year’s festivities. Even if the origin of such rituals is uncertain, some scholars opine that they could be reminiscences of spiritual marriages celebrated in Valentinian Gnostic communities of the second century. That is where St. Valentine’s Day would have gotten its name, not from the Roman saint and martyr (such claim would have been an attempt by the Church to appropriate the holiday), but from the Gnostic master.

    VALENTINUS, THE MOST NOTABLE OF GNOSTIC MASTERS:
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    Last edited by Tintin; 27th January 2023 at 11:30. Reason: minor tweak to paragraph spacing for ease of reading
    My soul is from elsewhere

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