THE THIRD REFORMATION: REVIVAL OF MONASTICISM

THE THIRD REFORMATION

A REVIVAL OF ASCETICISM

1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space

More than a thousand years before the apostle John prophesied the destruction of Mystery Babylon in the Book of Revelation, the Great Whore appears in full dress—in the attire of an harlot—in the Book of Proverbs. The writer, King Solomon, who was himself a devotee of this false religion, described her attributes in the seventh chapter:

My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.

Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.

Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:

That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. [gnosis/divinization of man]

For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,

And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, [knowledge of Word of God]

Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,

In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:

And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. [not bride/demonic/doctrines of devils]

(She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:

Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) [apostate churches]

So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,

I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. [O.T. Law/not peace, but a sword]

Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. [apostate churches pursue prospective members]

I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. [ikons]

I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. [Ps. 45: myrrh, and aloes, and cassia]

Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. [union before marriage]

For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: [Jesus Christ]

He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. [Second Coming]

With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. ["ye shall be as gods"]

He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;

Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. [salvation issue]

Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.

Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. [pl./broad road to destruction]

For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. [many go in thereat]

Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. Proverbs 7:1-27 [congregation of the dead]

The great harlot has a form of religion: “I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.” The peace offering and vow were elements of the Mosaic ritual and law as found together in Lev. 23:21: “And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted, there shall be no blemish therein.” According to Leviticus 7:20-21, the peace offering must be an unleavened cake or animal without blemish, typifying the sinless perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ; also, the presenter of the offering must be clean. “Moreover, the soul that shall touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of man, or any unclean beast, or any abominable unclean thing, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of the LORD, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.”

No sooner had the Proverbs 7 woman presented her sacrifice according to the Law, than she proceeded to break her marriage vow. The great harlot has an outward form of godliness—a religion comprised of external rituals—but not the genuine faith of Jesus which would deal with her wicked heart. Moreover, we are given a clue as to the source of her false religious system: “I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.”

DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREAT HARLOT

I. FIRST REFORMATION

It is apparent from the epistles that the Gentile churches were engaged in a struggle to preserve the Pauline doctrine of Christ. This epic struggle would intensify in the next few centuries. The nature of the encroaching heresy is implied in the incidental references to it in Paul’s refutation to the Greek church of Colossae:

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. Col. 2:8-23

The heresy over which Paul agonized was derived from Greek philosophy:

“It was apparently a religious system that combined elements from Greek speculation (2:4; 8-10), Jewish legalism (2:11-17) and Oriental mysticism. It involved a low view of the body (2:20-23) and probably nature as a whole. Circumcision, dietary regulations, and ritual observances were included in this system, which utilized asceticism, worship of angels as intermediaries, and mystical experiences as an approach to the spiritual realm. Any attempt to fit Christ into such as system would undermine His person and work…

“This heresy seeks to devaluate Christ by elevating speculation, ritualism, mysticism, and asceticism… [However], there is no need for speculation, mystical visions, or ritualistic regulations as though faith in Christ were insufficient. This false teaching is countered by a positive presentation of His true attributes and accomplishments. A proper view of Christ is the antidote for heresy.” – 670:1174

Deploring the penetration of the churches by the Gnostics, and knowing of his soon departure to be with Christ, Paul warned the elders of Ephesus, near Colossae, of packs of grievous wolves who would proceed to devour Christ’s flock:

“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” – Acts 20:29-32

Commending the Ephesian elders to preach the word of grace that characterizes the gospel, Paul, nevertheless, clearly foresaw the early apostasy of the churches into the Gnostic heresy. The incubator for a Gnostic form of Christianity would be the center of Greek culture in the Middle East: Alexandria, Egypt. EGYPT—the very location where the religious harlot of Proverbs 7 obtained her tapestry (hand-woven coverings), carved works (idols) and fine linen (purple and scarlet vestments?) with which to lure the young man who was ‘void of understanding’ to her house…the way to hell…and the chambers of death.

Moreover, the harlot’s bed is perfumed with “myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon”. Psalm 45, presenting a pictorial of the glorious wedding of Christ to his Bride, avers that “All of [the Bridegroom’s] garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia…” If the fragrance of Christ is “myrrh, aloes and cassia,” does it matter if one’s doctrine substitutes cinnamon for cassia? Cinnamon was an aphrodisiac, a libido enhancer (the word being associated with Aphrodite, Greek goddess of sensuality); whereas cassia is considered a “cleansing” herb because of its cathartic effect. The imagery is remarkable, for the true faith of Christ cleanses the believer from unrighteousness, while the counterfeit, Gnosticism, appeals to the flesh notwithstanding its vain shew of humility.

A. Definition of Mystery Babylon

The mystery religions were so designated because the secret doctrine that was revealed to the initiate pertained to death, i.e., to live rightly and to have a noble hope for the life after death:

Mysteries. -- Greek teletai, or finishings, as analogous to teleuteia or death. They were observances, generally kept secret from the profane and uninitiated, in which were taught by dramatic representation and other methods, the origin of things, the nature of the human spirit, its relations to the body, and the method of its purification and restoration to higher life. Physical science, medicine, the laws of music, divination, were all taught in the same manner. The Hippocratic oath was but a mystic obligation. Hippocrates was a priest of Asklepios, some of whose writings chanced to become public. But the Asklepiades were initiates of the Aesculapian serpent-worship, as the Bacchantes were of the Dionysia; and both rites were eventually incorporated with the Eleusinia… The core, the heart, the center, of the teaching of the ancient Mysteries was the abstruse problems dealing with death. (See also Guru-parampara)” – 671

B. Origin of mystery religion in Babylon/ancient Persia

Madame H.P. Blavatsky, founder of Theosophical Society, informs us that the mystery religion of Egypt had its origins in ancient Persia (India) and before that, Atlantis and Lemuria.

“WHEN broke the dawn of that civilization in Egypt whose wondrous perfection is suggested by the fragments supplied to us by the archaeologists?... How came Egypt by her knowledge? From whom did she learn her wondrous arts, the secrets of which died with her? She sent no agents throughout the world to learn what others knew; but to her the wise men of neighboring nations resorted for knowledge. We have to seek in the religion of Egypt the key to all her mysteries; also have we to seek in the kinship of Egypt and India, the source and inspiration of her wisdom.

“…We have to go back to another race than the Aryan -- to the Atlantean race of giants, and even to the Lemurians, to find the origin of those records in Egypt of a civilization passed and gone before the great builders of the pyramids came on the scene…

“Herodotus, the Greek born about 500 B.C., called ‘The Father of History,’…says the priests told him when they showed him colossal wooden statues of their kings -- 345 in all, inscribed with their names and annals, including the super-human kings who reigned before their first human sovereign; that no one could understand or write an account of these super-human kings unless he had studied and learned the history of the three dynasties that preceded the human… The priests referred to these pre-human reigns as the dynasties of the Gods, Demi-gods, and Heroes or Giants. It was these Great Beings who left ‘everlasting monuments to commemorate their stay.’

“Since we have found similar Divine Instructors -- Dragons of Wisdom -- in Persia and China, all teaching the same doctrines, there must have been a common source of Wisdom. That was India -- though not the India of today. Great India once included Persia (Iran), Tibet, Mongolia, and Great Tartary. There was an upper and a lower India, and Hindustan was once called Æthiopia. So these various peoples must have come originally from one center and were of one root, though various in the color of their skin -- white, yellow, red and dark. It was from India that the eastern Æthiopians came into Egypt, bringing their civilization with them -- all the knowledge of the Atlanteans, though they had no Atlantean blood in their veins -- under their first great human king, Menes [founder of Memphis].” - 651

1. Pre-flood civilization / Atlantis

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. – Gen. 6:4-7

"The Greeks, too young to have shared in the religion of Atlantis, but preserving some memory of that great country and its history, proceeded to convert its kings into gods and to depict Atlantis itself as the heaven of the human race...

"The history of Atlantis is the key of the Greek mythology." - 635:285

2. Nimrod/world religion

Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood… And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar… And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. - Gen. 10:1,6-10, 11:1-4

a) Cf. RCC/Catholic means ‘universal’

1) incorporated all pagan elements of world w. Christian dressing

2) universal religion must now retain pagan elements w. Christian packaging

3. Egypt/Asceticism

a) Hermeticism [hermit]

1) Hermes Trismegistus

(a) Greek Neoplatonist name for Thoth/Egyptian god/founder of alchemy and geometry [29:245]

(b) Plato/Neoplatonists: spirituality increased in relation to contempt for earthly values

(c) Hermes = Ham

(d) Discovered virtually all ‘truth’ (totality of all revealed truths) [Vere/Ware connection]

(e) founder of dynasty of ‘wise and good fathers’

(f) prototype of the ‘hermit’

2) Hermetic magic

(a) descendants of Ham

(b) Arkite worship

b) Neo-Platonic School

1) Plotinus [b. 240 AD]

(a) In his teachings, Neo-Platonism found its crowning expression [439:196]

(b) Studied at Alexandria before joining expedition against Persia to learn Eastern doctrine first hand [439:196]

2) Hypatia

(a) Dir. Neo-Platonic School [439:201]

(b) Teacher of pagan mysteries [Dzielska]

(d) “end of the Age of Reason and herald the Dark Ages”

4. Roman Catholic Church/Church of St. Peter

a) Christian eremitical beliefs borrowed from Jewish eremitical Essenes [Qumran] and Therapeutae [Alexandrian Jews]

1) Essenes/Qumran desert

(a) Essene: means “bee” [not ‘healers’ of souls/’pious ones’/[503], “holiness” [”/Philo]

1. 144,000

2. confession of sins/RCC precedent [askwhy.com]

(b) Dead Sea Scrolls

1. Basis of Septuagint?/similar readings

2) Therapeutae

(a) School of esotericists within Alexandrian Judaism; theosophists, illuminati, ‘wise men’, contemplative Hellenistic Jews [316]

(b) Therapeutae = medicine, alchemy, holistic

(d) Therapeutae Essenes [615: Beni-Aumen & Beni-Zadok]

3) Society of Ormus [Sages of Light]

(a) Joined by Essenes and Therapeutae to conserve the Masonic Secrets [636]

1. Essenes and Jews founded school of Solomonic Wisdom [Therapeutae?] to which Soc. of Ormus joined themselves.

(b) Ormus – Seraphic priest/Egyptian magus

1. founder of Priory of Sion [636]

2. Converted by St. Mark, at Alexandria, in A.D. 46

3. United the Egyptian priests’ mystery teachings/rites with Christianity

4. Symbol was rose + cross to signify synthesis of old and new religions [25:32]

5. Alexandrian School

a) Neo-Platonism/Secret Doctrine [581]

b) Closed at end of 4^th C./ work was continued from Caesarea and other centers [581]

c) Greatest writers: Julius Africanus (215), Dionysius (265), Gregory (270), Eusebius (315), Athanasius (373), Didymus (347), Origen (185-254)

d) Produced Arius [Jew who denied two natures of Christ]

e) Influenced Jerome, Ambrose [581]

f) Dominated Eastern thought [581]

g) Plato/mystery religions

h) Founders/leaders

1) Philo Judaeus /Jewish philosopher [c. 30 BC-45 AD]

(a) Stoic/Neo-Platonist; forerunner of Neo-Platonism

(b) Member of Therapeutae

1. Introduced Platonism to Mosaic writings via allegorizing and mystical method

2. Intro. Platonism to Christianity

(d) Taught Pantaneus, founder of Alexandrian Catechetical School

(e) Allegorical interpretation of Scripture adopted by Church Fathers Clement, Origen, Ambrose

2) Pantaneus

(a) converted Stoic philosopher

(b) first director of Alexandrian School [180 AD]

3) Clement

(a) Born in Athens

(b) Dir. of Alex. School [202 AD]

(d) Blended teachings of Jesus with Gnosticism, Judaism and Neo-Platonism [25:142]

(e) Founded the Coptic Church on the Secret Gospel of Mark [25:142]

1. Secret gospel preserved inner teachings of Jesus to closest disciples initiated into Christian mysteries

2. Ormus, founder of society that became Priory of Sion, lived in Alexandria/converted by Mark

4) Origen

(a) Dir. of Alex. School [232 AD]

(b) Alex. school reached zenith/ philosophical vindication of Christianity

1. Eusebius of Caesarea/father of ecclesiastical history

2. Prepared Codex B and Aleph mss.

(d) Declared heretic at Fifth Ecumenical Council

1. Platonic doctrine of pre-existence of souls

2. Universal salvation/Satan and demons saved

i) St. Ambrose-influenced by Neo-Platonism of Alexandrian School [581]

j) School/Library at Caesarea

1) Philo’s corpus from Alexandria

2) Clement/Eusebius [Runia]

6. Monastic orders/monks

a) Egyptian Church

1) Early influence was in Christian art, architecture and ritual as well as in philosophy and theology

2) Major contributions to Christianity: asceticism and image-reverence

3) Churches used as banks

4) Ecclesiastics (priests/bishops) called “popes”

5) Pope John Paul II quote re Egyptian monasticism/Alexandria/dogma of Theotokos, Mother of God [egypt.html]

6) Proverbs 7:16,17/cinnamon-aphrodasiac

7) “Swarms of monks arose from the Nile, overspread and darkened the Christian world”. Gibbon [550]

b) Egyptian Monasticism—‘one’ life/union w. God/divinization

1) Monasticism originated in Egypt [615: Prolegomena]

2) No basis in Scripture for asceticism [597:86]/roots in ‘folk-ways of spiritual discipline’

3) Sexual abstinence = transcend law of nature [597:93]

4) Traditions of early Essene Nazarenes were preserved in Thebaid district of Upper Egypt [615]

c) Monasteries – built by Merovingians to infiltrate Christianity [550]

d) Celtic Church—one branch established in Wales in 5^th C. by monks who blended Eastern traditions with native paganism of Ireland. [25:142]

e) St. Paul/1^st hermit (d. 342)

f) St. Anthony (251-356 AD)

1) Most influential figure in development of pre-Benedictine monasticism

2) Founder of [Eastern] monasticism & religious life/Egypt /mystery religion schools

3) January 17 – feast day

(a) convents historically convened Jan.17 in honor of Antony’s success at infiltrating the Christian world [550]

4) Tau cross [333:39] / commonly portrayed with Tau cross [T]

(a) Symbol of Tammuz, the Sumerian solar God, consort of the Goddess Ishtar

(b) Order of Knights Templars of St Anthony / new badge of knighthood [92:117]

(a) Order of Knights Templars of St Anthony/new badge of knighthood [92:117]

(b) = Ankh cross/male-female/symbol X/cross of Hermes

5) Order of Hospitaller of St. Antony [333:39]

6) Athanasius wrote bio of Antony/paradigm of ascetic life [597:86]

7) Influenced by Matt. 19:21 [597:86]

8) Many of Antony’s monks went to Gaul [550]

g) St. Pachomius (292-348 AD)

1) Converted Egyptian (heathen) monk

2) 2^nd most influential figure in development of pre-Benedictine monasticism

3) 318 AD - left hermitage at old Serapis (Osiris-Apis) Temple/ founded first cenobitical [communal] monastery at Tabennis

(a) cult of Serapis founded c. 300 B.C. in Alexandria by first Ptolemy [439:195]

4) Rule of Pachomius [Mother Rule] dictated by angel

5) Formalized master-disciple relationship into planned hierarchy of offices

6) Performed miracles

7) Passover obligatory

8) Synod of Latopolis (354 AD) defendant [597:100]

9) Nag Hammadi Library found few miles from monastery founded by Pachomius [586]

(a) Preservation by concealment

h) St. Athanasius (296-373 AD)

1) "Father of orthodoxy" and "theological center of the Nicene age" (Schaff)

(a) Famous opponent of Arian heresy/defense of divinity of Jesus Christ

(b) “…God became man that men might become gods…” [mystae.com]

1. Christology of divinization [597:77]

2. Incarnation of the Word divinized human flesh [597:55]

(d) Salvation by works [597:55-6]

2) Bred and trained in Alexandria/ Bishop of Alexandria after Alexander

(a) “Alexander…a great ornament of the Order [of the Temple]”

(b) Alexander/Athanasius opposed Arian heresy/excommunicated Arius

3) Allegorical interpretation of Scripture[597:87-8]

(a) 6th ‘divine’ sense [597:87]

(b) followed predecessor Origen

4) Spiritual head of desert hermits and Ethiopia [550]

5) Pressure to consolidate/stabilize forms of 4^th C. Christianity [597:85]

6) Influenced Eastern Church until 360 [597:100]

7) Council of Nicea [321 AD]

(a) Opposed Arian heresy

(b) required celibacy for Christian leaders [548]

(c) 383 AD – Jerome exalted virginity over marriage and introduced doctrine of “Perpetual Virginity of Mary” [548]

8) Introduced monasticism to the Romans and Germans [550]

9) Wrote biography of St. Antony [550]/contrib. to rise of ascetic literature/ canonized monastic lifestyle [597:85]

10) Reforms led to formation of Roman Catholic Church

(a) Virgins/Bride of Christ [597: 11]

1. Deification of virginsà‘Virgin’ Mary [597::17, 77]

2. Virgin Mary: model for virgins [597:54, 70]

3. Convents [597:24,27]

4. Silence [597:72-3]

5. Formal vow of celibacy [597:14]

6. InheritancesàChurch [597:33]

7. Changed name given by parents [597:41]

8. Pilgrimages to Holy Land /mystical caves [597:36,38]

9. Greek/Latin ideal: wives silent, submissive [597:75]

10. Bishops/priests earthly rep. of virgins’ Heavenly Bridegroom

(b) Monks

1. Appointed as bishops [597:12,99]

2. Established monastic communities as part of Church under authority of bishops [597:86]

3. Status/title of ‘father’/ abbas [597:84]

a. Abbas received visions/revelations inspired by God

4. Pre-incarnation virgins – Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, John the Baptist [597:55]

(d) Sacraments [597:12]

(e) Imitation of Saints [597:12]

(f) Lent/ascetic program [597:13]

(g) Priesthood [597:14]

(h) Easter celebration [597:40]

(i) Martyr shrines [597:100]

(j) Other Catholic/Orthodox traditions derive from Babylon/Persia

1. Rosary / Use and Terms of Prayer Beads by Culture

2. Sign of the Cross / Atlantis – 6.G / 339

i) St. Serapion

1) Osiris-Apis

2) d. March 21, 370

3) Head of catechetical school of Alexandria [550]

4) Bishop of Thumas (Lower Egypt)

j) St. Jerome (340-420)

1) influenced by Alexandrian School [581]

2) Translated Vulgate using /Alexandrian mss. similar to Codex B and/ Sinaiticus Aleph mss.

3) St. Catherine’s at Mt. Sinai/Egypt/Coptic

4) Hebrew studies

5) Zwingli: Jerome on intercession of saints [Newman/461]

6) Wrote Life of Paul, the First Hermit/rise of ascetic literature/canonized monastic lifestyle [597:85]

k) St. Augustine (354-430 AD)

1) Father of Roman Catholicism

2) Bishop of Hippo

3) Founded monastic orders throughout Africa

4) Permeated Christian theology/philosophy with Alexandrian Neo-Platonism [234]

l) St. John Chrysostom/mysticism

m) Nestorius/rejection of heresy led to RCC declaration of Mary as ‘mother of God’

n) John Cassian [360-

1) John/adopted name at baptism or monastic orders

2) Home: monastery in Bethlehem [615, Cassianus]

3) 7 yrs. in Egypt

4) Native of Gaul/Marseille/Provence

5) Writings had a profound influence of the development of European Monasticism [615: Cassianus]

6) Daily communion prohibited to ‘unclean’/Law of Moses [597:93]

7) "Cassianus natione Scytha" [615: Prolegomena]

o) St. Benedict of Nursia, Italy (480-547 AD)

1) Founder/father of Western monasticism

2) Founded Benedictine Order/Rule of St. Benedict [Eliade/146]

(a) Intellectual branch of RCC

3) Miracles/encounters with demons

p) Pope Gregory the Great

1) 1^st of 50 Benedictine monk/popes

2) Sent St. AugustineàEngland [596-598 AD]

(a) 1^st Archbishop of Canterbury

3) Divine Office/Opus Dei

q) Cistercian Order [see also previous unpublished report monasticism.html]

1) 1098-“founded by Benedictine monks as ‘the ratchet’ for the structural organization of Sion” [550]

2) Rosicrucians/mystical symbolism dominated Grail legends [550:21]

3) Leading thinker - Bernard de Fontain (Bernard of Clairveaux) [1098 AD]

(a) Noble lineage/32 relatives and friends joined Cistercians with Bernard [266:95]

(b) Clair (light) vaux (be worth) / “Eye of the Sun” [550]

(d) Created Knights Templar

1. Rule of St. Bernard/Templars [550] / 160 monasteries

2. Oath/Patriarch of Constantinople

3. Rule of the Order of the Temple/Templars /Council of Troyes 1128 AD

4. One of the first secret Grand Masters of Paupera Militia Christi

5. Knew secrets of Celtic druids well, knew some more of Cathares, Bogomils, Patérins and others

6. Initiatory teaching/120 Sermons on Song of Solomon [266:95]

7. Children of Solomon (Craftmasons) [266:95]

8. Promised Land = salvation [266:96]

4) Prieuré de Sion

(a) Protocols of Sion

(b) Revived Holy Roman Empire/’radically reformed Church’ [31:410]

5) Calabrian Order

(a) Merge with Celtic Church [1128 AD]

(b) Joachim of Fiore [1135-1202 AD]

1. First Crusade/1167/Vision of God at Mt. Tabor [K. Ware/633]

2. Prophesied Age of the Spirit

3. World monasticism

6) Black Virgin cathedrals/Ean Begg/272

(a) Children of Solomon

(b) Masonic/sacred geometry [29:264-6]

7. Carmelites [1154 AD]

a) See: monasticism.html

b) St. Berthold/Frankish monks

c) Black Virgin cult

d) Mt. Carmel/Bali-Rasi [Assyrian/Baal of the Promontory]

8. Cf. Eastern Rites

a) Greek Orthodox Church/Byzantium

1) Basil the Great, founder of Eastern monasticism

(a) Rule of St. Basel

(b) Order of Military Hospitallers of St Lazarus of Jerusalem

b) Coptic Church

1) Monophysite/Chalcedon

2) Influenced by Quran [egypt.html]

c) Oriental Monasticism/ Buddhism/Dali Lama

9. Gnostic Sects

a) Druids / monastic?

b) Druses/Middle Eastern sects/Johanism

c) Montanists [156 AD]/Neo-Montanists

d) Donatists/Ignatius of Antioch/Judaizers

e) Free Spirit Movement [4c.] [243]

f) Paulicians [650 AD]

g) Bogomils [1050 AD]

h) Cathars / Albigenses [late 12-13c.]

1) Languedoc/Provence

2) Prophecy/Reincarnated in 1900s [1003]

i) Waldenses [1173]

j) Hussites/Bohemia

1) John Hus/1373-1415 ]/Jew? [525:273]

2) Mystical branch-Bohemian Brethren/Comenius [46:156]

II. SECOND REFORMATION

A. Reformation of Theology/1500s

1. Dialectic

a) “The Reformation was contrived by the Prieure de Sion, funded by their progeny, the Templars” [550]

2. Gnostic Popes

a) Benedictine

b) Medici

(1) Pope Leo X (Ralph Winter, “one of best popes ever” [Fuller])

(2)

c) Borgia

3. Reformers

a) Martin Luther/1517

1) Augustinian monk/Strict Observance

2) Teachings/Luther Said What?

b) John Calvin

1) Institutes of Christian Religion/St. Augustine [D. Hunt]

2) Judaizing of Church/charge of Servetus [Newman]

3) Burned Servetus at stake

4) Was Calvin a Jew? [525:273]

5) Calvin’s ecumenism

a. Conference on Faith and Order

b. Geneva - “Protestant Rome”

c. Geneva became city where world leaders meet for “peace”.

6) French Huguenots

a. Duke de Bouillon [46:16]

b. Merle d'Aubigné/converted by Robert Haldane, heir of Calvin

c. Tupper Saussy/modern reformer

(1) Rulers of Evil

(2) Flood of anti-Catholic books to mobilize public opinion to support overthrow of RCC

(a) cf. Vatican Assassins/Eric Phelps/Fifth Monarchist

d. Huguenot Fellowship/Provence / Edmund Clowney, founder

7) Calvinism in Palatinate/carrier of mystical traditions [46:172]

c) John Knox

1) John Sinclair/mother was Sinclair [Britannica]

2) Presbyterian Church

3) Scottish Covenanters

d) Zwingli /Judaizing/Arian heresy

e) Anabaptists/Free Church tradition [243]

2. Counter-Reformation

a) Dialectical process

b) Society of Jesus/Jesuits

1) Marrano Jews from Spain/Niemela

2) Ignatius/Spiritual Exercises

3) Supported by Venetian Oligarchy

a. Venetians backed Luther also

b. Rivalry w. House of Medici

4) Infiltration of Reformed churches/Jesuit oath

E. Rosicrucian Enlightenment 1600s

1. King James I

a) Anti-RCC

b) Opposed Frederick, Elector of Palatine/Bohemian affair

1) German Protestants/allies of Frederick [46:100]

c) Witch Trials

d) Roslyn Chapel

2. Puritans/Cathari

a) Cromwell’s Protectorate

b) John Milton / Cromwell's Foreign Secretary

c) Parliamentarian England/failed 2^nd reformation

d) John Webster: Calvinist /Rosicrucian / Parliamentarian chaplain [46]

3. R.C. Brothers/‘devoutly evangelical’

4. Invisible College

F. Reformation of Spirituality

1. Moravians

a) Gnostic revival of Hussite Church/Bohemia

2. Great Awakening/Wesley/Methodism

3. Oxford Movement [1800s]

b) Oxford University

c) Anglican clergy à Rome

d) Rhodes Scholarships

e) Oxford Centre for Mission Studies/OCMS

f) Bible Revision

III. THIRD REFORMATION

A. Reformation of Structure

1. Renovare/Third Reformation

2. Return to Egyptian Church structure of 1^st Reformation which was retained in Eastern Orthodox Church

3. Third Way / Church of St. John / Joachim’s Age of the Spirit / Contemplative

4. General reformation of the whole world/Age of Saturn [46:57]

5. Monastic Communities/House Churches

"The Rosicrucian manifesto may now take on a somewhat wider meaning. It calls for a general reformation because other reformations have failed. The Protestant Reformation is losing strength and is divided. The Catholic Counter-Reformation has taken a wrong turning. A new general reformation of the whole wide world is called for, and this third reformation is to find its strength in Evangelical Christianity with its emphasis on brotherly love, in the esoteric Hermetic-Cabalist tradition, and in an accompanying turning towards the works of God in nature in a scientific spirit of exploration, using science or magic, magical science or scientific magic, in the service of man." [46:139]

B. Protestantism

1. Revolt against established church system

a) House churches/Hfe

1) Cell groups/China

2) Popularity of neo-gnostic literature in house church movement

b) Return to monasticism/asceticism

c) Heresies/cults legit / churches = abusive cults

2. Reformed/Covenant Theology

a) Calvin/Augustine

b) Reformed Network

1) Apologetics network/EAN

2) Reformed Institute/Huguenot Fellowship/Provence

3) Dialectic: Election & Free will/Openness doctrine

4) Neo-Puritan revival

c) Amillennial Eschatology

1) RCC suppression of Irenaeus Treatise V/Against Heresies

2) Church-State system/Golden Age of Solomon

3. Conversions to Eastern Orthodox Church

C. Roman Catholicism

1. Overthrown as Antichrist/False Prophet

2. Infiltration

a) Marrano Jews/false conversions [525]

b) Gnostic popes/recent

1) Pope Pius IX/Rothschild control of Vatican

2) Pope John XXIII

3) Knights of Malta

4) Vatican II/Masonic

5) Jules Isaac

c) Pope John Paul II

(a) Masonry/Polish Messianism

(b) Adam Mickiewicz /Church of Peterà John

d) Opus Dei/B’nai B'rith

1) Rabbi de Segni/Noahide Laws

3. Re-spiritualisation of the RCC/Alice Bailey [quotation]

D. Orthodox Church

1. Synthesis of 400-year dialectic between RCC and Protestantism

2. Monastic mysticism/Mount Athos/ iconolatry

3. Orthodox Study Bible

a) July 2005/UR/Calendar Reform

b) Septuagint/NKJV/Apocrypha

c) Jack Sparks/Peter Gillquist/CWLFàOrthodox Evangelical Church [Tillin]

d) Translators/Evangelical converts to Orthodox

4. Kallistos (Timothy) Ware

a) Convert from Anglican to Orthodox [cf. Franky Schaeffer]

b) Vere/Weir Merovingian Bloodline / False Prophet?

c) Callisto=Great Bear Constellation/Plantard family crest [31]

d) Monastery of St. John the Theologian, Patmos, Greece

e) President of the Friends of Mount Athos

1) Heschyiasm

f) Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies, Oxford

g) Author of heretical book The Orthodox Way, The Orthodox Church and popular books on asceticism/mysticism; TV program

h) Cites Origen and other heretics as “Church Fathers”

i) “Ecumenical Orthodoxy”/Not of This World: Ecumenical Conference for Traditional Christians [May 1995]

1) Evangelical Protestant

(a) Harold O.J. Brown/A. Morrison

(b) J.I. Packer – Regent College: Evangelical/Catholic/Orthodox Dialogues

2) Roman Catholic

(a) Fr. John Neuhaus/ECT

(b) Peter Kreeft

3) Orthodox

(a) Kallistos Ware

(b) Brother Isaac Melton, Orthodox monk

i) John Main Seminar/Ontario CA [Aug. 2002]

1) Father John Main, O.S.B./Order of St. Benedict

2) Kallistos Ware

(a) Invocation of Jesus/Desert Fathers and Mothers of Egypt

(b) Vision of Divine Light at Mt. Tabor/Joachim of Fiore

3) Dalai Lama/Buddhist monk

4) Rowan Williams/Archbishop of Canterbury/Druid

5) Dom Laurence Freeman/Freeman bloodline

Definition of Terms:

Asceticism: abstinence from marriage, exercise of self-denial, fasting, prayer, works of piety and altruism, mysticismàgnosticism

“Monasticism is a movement within the ancient and medieval Catholic church, developed out of early Christian asceticism, some elements of Gnosticism (dualism), and late Greek philosophy (Neoplatonism). The monastic movement stressed separation from the world, celibacy, strict observance of worship, and a moral ascetic life. Gradually, earlier Anchorites (hermits) who lived alone in the desert drew together into communities, where a development of communal rules of living and an emphasis on work, study and contemplation developed. The high point of this communal development, which became dominant in the West, was under Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century, whose rule remains the foundation for later monastic life in the Roman Catholic Church. In the East, hermits continued to flourish, although gradually, monks in the Orthodox churches drew together in monasteries also.

“Monasticism is thus an institution formalizing the ascetic life of celibacy, poverty, and obedience (to the abbot or ruler of the order, and to the pope), which regulates the conditions of work, prayer, study, and contemplation of those committed to a life of religious devotion.

“Monasticism drew on early Christian roots; in the sense of being a small, saving minority in a pagan world of the N.T. era, the high honor given virginity and celibacy that derived from Paul and the early veneration of Mary, and the sharing of goods in the apostolic community in Acts. Early asceticism was drawn from the intense belief of the Second Coming of Christ and the soon end of the age that animated the early church. It does not derive from Manichaeism (absolute dualism), but is influenced by the philosophy of Neoplatonism current in the first five Christian centuries. Upon the elevation of Christianity to the chief religion of the Roman Empire after Constantine, and the influx of pagans into the church, a reaction against worldliness set in. Monasticism began to grow as a moral reform movement. Augustine (fifth century) was drawn to it also, because of his struggle to control his sexuality. After Benedict’s reform, monasticism stabilized and spread throughout the West.” [Gentz, 234:704]

Ed. note: Constantine produced dialectic by bringing unsaved into the Church; need for ‘reformation’ spawned monastic movement; look to Eastern mysticism for spirituality

Neoplatonism: The philosophy of a group of thinkers of the early Christian Era who endeavored to reconcile the teachings of Plato and Aristotle with Oriental conceptions. [Webster]

“Drawing on Pythagorean, Aristotelian, and Stoic sources, more than on Plato, Neoplatonism formed a significant school of thought until the conquest of Egypt by the Muslims in 629 [A.D.] and continued as a major influence in Western thought mainly through its impact on Augustine (354-430) and through him on subsequent Christian theology and philosophy.

“In Neoplatonic thought, being emanates from the One or the Good. From the One comes the realms of Nous, of Soul, and then of Matter, which represents a falling away toward non-being or nothingness. Some souls remain unembodied and are not contaminated by incarnation. Human souls exist as embodied and are called to turn away from Matter as evil and ascend toward knowledge of and ecstatic union with the One.” [Gentz] 234:734

“Neoplatonism was the last of the great schools of Classical pagan philosophy. A synthesis of Platonism, Aristotlism, Stoicism, and Pythagoreanism, which provided an esoteric interpretation of classical Greek Paganism, it incorporated philosophy, mysticism, theosophy, and theurgy (higher occultism). For three centuries it served as a last bastion of Pagan wisdom and Esoteric philosophy in an increasingly hostile Christian dominated empire. Even after the light of Classical Learning was extinguished, the Neoplatonic current remained, undergoing new metamorphoses, in Christian Mysticism, Islamic Philosophy, Ishraqi and Sufi Esotericism, and Judaic Kabbalah. Now with the decline of materialistic scepticism and religious intolerance, and the rise of diversity and multiplicity in the new information-rich society, may the light of Neoplatonism shine once more!” [Kheper]

Platonism: “…[T]he doctrine of Analogy [is]…an implicit correspondence between the appearance and reality, the microcosm of man and the macrocosm of the universe, the seen and the unseen worlds. In this, occultism finds the basis of its transcendental speculations. Quod superius sicut quod inferius [as above, so below]—first words of that Emerald Table which was once attributed to Hermes Trismegistus himself—is an axiom which must be agreeable to all Platonists. It plays a great part in the theory of mysticism; which, whilst maintaining an odd sense of the total ‘otherness’ and incomprehensibility of the Divine, has always assumed that the path of the individual soul towards loving union with the Absolute is somehow analogous with the path on which the universe moves to its consummation in God.” [Underhill 26:159]

THE THIRD REFORMATION:

THE REVIVAL OF ASCETICISM

OUTLINE

Introduction notes:

× Much ado about a “new” Reformation; clarion calls for a “Second Reformation”, “Third Reformation”, Modern Reformation, etc. What do they mean? [quotes]

× Many voices condemn the rigor mortis of the institutionalized Church and call in unison for a ‘new Reformation’ of the Church; but who is saying what the ‘new Church’ is supposed to look and act like?

× Never mind that we are on the threshold of the Tribulation Period and the Lord Jesus Christ is even at the door, the new Reformers have a ‘plan’ to improve the Church — to make it more spiritual and less worldly/materialistic. Frankly, their new Reformation appears to be at least a day late and a dollar short, and badly out of sync with Bible prophecy. A change of structure? A spiritual reformation? What do they have in mind and what would be the point at this late date? No one seems to know. Or do they?

× Consider the Scriptural warnings that attend end-time prophecy. To deceive the elect would require a counterfeit fulfillment of end-time prophecy preceding the actual fulfillment of Bible prophecy. An elaborate scheme of deception would be essential to the strong delusion foretold by Jesus in Matt. 24:24 and the great apostasy Paul warned about in II Thes. 2:3. Consider also that it is no mean feat to deceive the very elect and to literally ‘re-form’ the established Church system. Such an undertaking would require sophisticated planning, precision coordination and execution of detailed operations by a global network of loyal operatives [initiates/mind-control victims/Monarch slaves].

× According to ‘The Plan’ to deceive the elect, a bogus schedule of events will be arranged exactly 3 ½ years in advance of the genuine that will mimic the actual fulfillment of Bible prophecy. So when the Antichrist sits in the Temple declaring himself as God/Christ, it will be over the dead body of a fake Antichrist who had been set up well in advance through the genius of a well-funded publicity and propaganda apparatus. Popular opinion—fear and loathing of a phony Antichrist and public perception of his vanquisher as hero/superman— will be the basis upon which the true Antichrist ascends to power as the Christ. Likewise, the False Prophet, a religious guru, will also have an alter ego in the first half of the Tribulation. See Heeding Bible Prophecy report.

× Protestant Reformation: evidence of dialectical process in order to destabilize Western Christendom/divide and conquer tactics [quotes]

× Today, as before, the new Reformers must overthrow institutional Church in order to transition from RCC/Protestantism into Joachim’s Age of the Spirit.

× At mid-Tribulation, there will be a violent reaction to the worldly Laodicean Church [RCC/Prot] and an alternative lifestyle of asceticism/monasticism, facilitated through house/cell churches, will be presented to (forced upon) the world. Those who are ignorant of or disobey what God has said on the subject of asceticism will be carried away by this doctrine of devils:

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. – I Tim. 4:1-5

Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. – Col. 2:18-23