The Soul in the Afterlife: Individual Eschatological Beliefs in Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam 

Thesis in order to acquire the Doctoral Degree in Philisophy
at the Faculty of Humanities of the George-August-Universität Göttingen

Submitted by
 Arash Emadinia

 From Isfahan (Iran)
 Göttingen 2017

https://ediss.uni-goettingen.de/bitstream/handle/21.11130/00-1735-0000-0005-1268-2/Ph.D.%20Dissertation%20Arash%20Emadinia.pdf?sequence=1

Abstract
The expectation that the soul continues life after leaving the material body is one of the
important features of several Middle East religions. These religions state that the fate of the soul depends on the principles of right and wrong behaviours – ‘morality’ – and the quality of the true or false opinions – ‘beliefs’ – that a belief system recognises for the salvation of individuals.
This system is generally called ‘moral eschatology’.
These eschatological beliefs are not created in vacuum. This means that they can be influenced by the beliefs that they confront through their history and can be affected by other beliefs in their neighbourhood. Comparison with other religions reveals resemblances between different eschatological beliefs. These resemblances are generally explained by such terms as ‘borrowing’ or ‘syncretism’ which may implicitly deny the ‘independent’ status of individual religions. This may happen because the terms ‘borrowing’ and ‘syncretism’ suggest that the borrowed features have been adopted in their original form without being adapted to the ‘borrowing’ belief system.
The similarities between faith systems categorised under the same religious groups, like
Abrahamic religions, seem easy to explain, but some remarkable resemblances between religions that have different backgrounds and histories, like Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam, need to be explained. These three belief systems bear resemblances in spite of their different backgrounds and origin. They confronted one another in late antique times in a distinct geographical area which is called Sasanian Iran, that is to say, modern Iran and Mesopotamia,mainly modern Iraq.
The most important sources of these religions were compiled in late antique times, between the 3rd and 11th centuries CE. These sources sometimes bear similar ideas like the continuation of the life of the soul, the soul-taker (life-taker), interrogation, embodiment of deeds in the Afterlife, Paradise, Hell and an intermediate state between Paradise and Hell etc., that need to be explained.
The resemblances between these three faith systems are here partially by adapting a linguistic theory which is called ‘Sprachbund,. This theory states that the resemblances between languages could be due to three reasons: 
1. Genetic retention or original ideas;
 2. Parallel development; and
3. Borrowing.
 According to this theory, when two or more languages share significant traits that
are not found in languages from the same families spoken outside the geographical area in which these languages have confronted one another, a ‘Sprachbund’ has been formed. When we refer to religions with different histories and background, but with similar eschatological ideas, like Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam, it seems that this theory may help us to explain the resemblances.
As mentioned above, all these three belief systems have different backgrounds: Zoroastrianism with an Indo-Iranian background, Islam, one of the so called Abrahamic religions, and Mandaeism, a religion with gnostic roots or pagan origin. At first sight, it seems that in late antique times, both Mandaeism and Islam ‘borrowed’ some of the Iranian eschatological beliefs, apparently Zoroastrian beliefs, after confronting each other in Sasanian Iran. However, the term ‘borrowing’ may implicitly deny the ‘independent’ status of both Mandaeism and Islam.
It may be more acceptable to say that both Mandaeism and Islam accepted some of the
Zoroastrian individual eschatological beliefs, in such a way that they all achieve or serve the
Islamic and gnostic overall world view and beliefs. Apparently, in late antique times in Sasanian Iran, the idea of ‘high existence’ or ‘Life beyond’ material life was introduced to the Arab and gnostic communities, and was accepted by their thinkers. However, this acc
It seems that the inspiration drawn from Iranian (Zoroastrian) ideas like the idea of ‘Barzakh’
(high existence or life beyond) continued after the advent of Islam, when the Arab conquerors were confronted more directly with Zoroastrians, especially through the conversion of Zoroastrians to the new faith by. 
Some typical Zoroastrian ideas like the embodiment of deeds (Daēnā) and the Zoroastrian idea of the intermediate stage between Paradise and Hell (Hammistagān) may be good examples of this. It should be noted that both being ‘inspired by’ and ‘accepting’ the new ideas were in accordance with the maintenance of their Islamic or gnostic natural features, so we see that in spite of the acceptance of some new ideas by Arab and
gnostic thinkers the dominant features of both belief systems have been maintained. With regard to the theory of ‘Sprachbund,’ we can conclude that that Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam formed a ‘Religionbund’ through which they share a number of remarkable individual eschatological beliefs.

Key terms: Middle East religions, soul, morality, beliefs, moral eschatology, borrowing,
syncretism, inspiration, independent status, Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism, Islam, Sasanian Iran, Indo-Iranian, Abrahamic religion, gnostic, Sprachbund, Barzakh, interrogation, embodiment of deeds, Daēnā, Hammistagān, Religionbund

Rethinking the "Gnostic Mary": Mary of Nazareth and Mary of Magdala in Early Christian Tradition
Stephen J. Shoemaker
Journal of Early Christian Studies, Volume 9, Number 4, Winter 2001, pp.
555-595 (Article)
Published by Johns Hopkins University Press
DOI:
For additional information about this article
[ This content has been declared free to read by the pubisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. ]
https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2001.0061
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/10238/pdf

Numerous early Christian apocrypha, including several so-called “gnostic” texts, include a character known as “Mary,” whose identity is usually otherwise unspecified. Generally, this “Mary” appears as an associate or, sometimes, as a rival, of the apostles, who is filled with knowledge of the “gnostic” mysteries. Although scholars have persistently identified this Mary with Mary the Magdalene, rather than Mary of Nazareth, this interpretive dogma is based on evidence that it is at best inconclusive. This article reexamines the relevant apocrypha, as well as incorporating much previously overlooked evidence to argue that Mary of Nazareth is an equally important contributor to the “gnostic Mary’s” identity. The gnostic Mary, it turns out, is a composite figure, who draws on the identities of both the Magdalene and the Virgin, rather than being the representation of a single historical individual. This new perspective will present both consequences and opportunities for feminist interpretations of early Christianity and the veneration of Mary of Nazareth

If A Mormon Can Be U.S. President....

If this guy, who belongs to a unique 19th Century American created religious cult, can run for President.....




















Could this guy be a contender?




Well no of course not he is dead.

But his cult isn't.

If American's can imagine a Mormon for President why not a Scientologist.

Sonny Bono,
Republican, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 44th district
After unsuccessfully running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 1992, Bono was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 to represent California's 44th District
He became a Scientologist, partly because of the influence of Mimi Rogers, but stated that he was a Roman Catholic on all official documents, campaign materials, web sites, etc.

Opps he's dead too. Well how about this guy.



After all Mormonism and Scientology share their origins in a gnostic world view.

Despite the vigilance of the early Church, the strength and pernicious influence of the Gnostic heresy—“ye shall be as gods”—has never diminished.

Saint John’s first epistle, written to the various churches dispersed throughout Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), was most likely written in the mid-late first century in order to encourage fellow believers to persevere in the faith, in the midst of rather intense persecution, false teaching, and political oppression. While it is more common in popular scholarship to see this epistle as having been written near the end of the first century, given the content of the letter and the failure of John to make any mention of the destruction of either Jerusalem or the Temple would urge me to strongly prefer an earlier date (i.e., pre-A.D. 70). [Incidentally, I would argue the same for the book of Revelation, as it foretells the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, rather than describing it as an event which had already occurred. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make much sense.]

One of the most influential forms of “false teaching” prevalent among the early Christians was what we today know as “Gnosticism.” It seems somewhat clear to me that many of John’s words are carefully chosen, in both his epistle and gospel, in order to combat this erroneous way of thinking. However, we need to try and not only read his works in this light, and bear in mind that there was no “First Gnostic Church” of Ephesus, or any concretely established “Gnostic” religion; rather, it was a philosophical underpinning of many thinkers in the Greco-Roman world, prevalent before, during, and most significantly after John’s lifetime. The Gnostic paradigm was, however, closely connected with early Christian beliefs and did much to unfortunately lead many astray from the truth of the gospel. John, being the good shepherd he was, wanted to ensure that none of his children in the faith were distracted by the lies of this Greek way of thought.

The founders of both were influenced by the modern occult teachings of their day, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy and spirtiualism etc. in the case of Joseph Smith, and the Ordo Templi Orientis in the case of L.Ron Hubbard.

joseph smith the founder of mormonism evolved
his theology over time, ending up with a doctrine
that is similar to the gnostic rosicrucians,
which was incorporated into freemasonry
as their theology.

smith actually joined freemasonry along with other
mormon leaders,only to be kicked out.

But the mormon doctrine of evolving into a god
and presiding over your own celestial kingdom,
along with mormon secret temple rituals being
copies of freemason rituals(wearing white robes,etc)
seems to have as it's foundation rosicrucian doctrine
which is claimed to have it's roots in ancient
egypt under pharoah Akhnaton,the ancient egyptian
priestly order of the "great white brotherhood"(they
wore white robes), and Hermes Trismegistus ,supposed
founder of Hermeticism and also being the egyptian
god thoth.

here is some interesting studies on this,

http://www.gnosis.org/jskabb1.htm

http://www.gnosis.org/ahp.htm

http://www.masonicmoroni.com/Links_Articles.htm

Few Mormons realize that the LDS temple ceremony is not of ancient origin, nor of modern revelation. Instead, the ceremony originated around 1790 when the Masons first conceived it for use in their secret society. Until 1990 the Mormon Temple Ceremony closely resembled the Masonic Initiators Ceremony, signs, tokens and penalties included. I never made the connection between Masonry and Mormonism until I began a serious study of the Mormon temple ceremony.

The Creed of the Church of Scientology (4 Feb 54)

The Church of American Science exists upon the following creed which is adopted as the creed of the Church of Scientology of California, with the additional tenets provided for in number 5 and 6 below:

	“1.	That God works within Man his wonders to perform.
	2.	That Man is his own soul, basically free and immortal, but deluded by the flesh.
	3.	That Man has a God-given right to his own life.
	4.	That Man has a God-given right to his own reason.
	5.	That Man has a God-given right to his own beliefs.
	6.	That Man has a God-given right to his own mode of thought and/or thinking.
	7.	That Man has a God-given right to free and open communication.

Liber LXXVII

"the law of
the strong:
this is our law
and the joy
of the world." AL. II. 2

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." --AL. I. 40

"thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay." --AL. I. 42-3

"Every man and every woman is a star." --AL. I. 3

There is no god but man.

1. Man has the right to live by his own law--

to live in the way that he wills to do:
to work as he will:
to play as he will:
to rest as he will:
to die when and how he will.

2. Man has the right to eat what he will:

to drink what he will:
to dwell where he will:
to move as he will on the face of the earth.

3. Man has the right to think what he will:

to speak what he will:
to write what he will:
to draw, paint, carve, etch, mould, build as he will:
to dress as he will.

4. Man has the right to love as he will:--

"take your fill and will of love as ye will,
when, where, and with whom ye will." --AL. I. 51

5. Man has the right to kill those who would thwart these rights.

"the slaves shall serve." --AL. II. 58

"Love is the law, love under will." --AL. I. 57

And as religious cults (tm) (c) (r) they are both successful businesses.

In a recent article in The Washington Post, religious reporter Bill Broadway laments that Mormons are feeling picked on. Despite the large number of Mormons who hold prominent positions in government and Fortune 500 companies "Latter-day Saints get little respect where they want and perhaps need it most — in the religious community.

The LDS is, among other things, a very big business tightly controlled from the top down. If one believes that the entire enterprise is based on revelation that is authoritatively interpreted by divinely appointed officers, it makes sense that control should be from the top down. The LDS claims that God chose Joseph Smith to reestablish the Church of Jesus Christ after it had disappeared some 1,700 years earlier following the death of the first apostles. To complicate the picture somewhat, God’s biblical work was extended to the Americas somewhere around 2000 b.c. and continued here until a.d. 421. This is according to the Book of Mormon, the scriptures given to Joseph Smith on golden tablets by the Angel Moroni. American Indians are called Lamanites and are part of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Jesus came to preach to these Indians and for a long time there was a flourishing church here until it fell into apostasy, only to be restored, as the golden tablets foretold, by Joseph Smith. In addition to giving new scriptures, God commissioned Smith to revise the Bible, the text of which had been corrupted over the centuries by Jews and Christians.

Today’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is, allegedly, in direct succession to Smith, and the First Presidency claims powers that would have made St. Peter, never mind most of his successors, blush. The top leadership is composed, with few exceptions, of men experienced in business and with no formal training in theology or related disciplines. The President (who is also prophet, seer, and revelator) is the oldest apostle, which means he is sometimes very old indeed and far beyond his prime. Decisions are made in the tightest secrecy, inevitably giving rise to suspicions and conspiracy theories among outsiders and a substantial number of members. Revenues from tithes, investments, and Mormon enterprises have built what the Ostlings say "might be the most efficient churchly money machine on earth." They back up with carefully detailed research their "conservative" estimate that LDS assets are in the rage of $25-30 billion.

Scientologists are expected to attend classes, exercises or counseling sessions, for a set range of fees (or "fixed donations"). Charges for auditing and other church-related courses run from hundreds to thousands of dollars. A wide variety of entry-level courses, representing 8 to 16 hours study, cost under $100 (US). More advanced courses require membership in the International Association of Scientologists (IAS), have to be taken at higher level Orgs, and have higher fees.^[58] Membership without courses or auditing is possible, but the higher levels cannot be reached this way. In 1995, Operation Clambake, a website critical of scientology, estimated the cost of reaching "OT 9 readiness", one of the highest levels, is US $365,000 – $380,000.^[59][60]

Scientologists are frequently encouraged to become Professional Auditors as a way of earning their way up the Bridge. As a Field Auditor, auditors can receive commissions on people referred to Orgs and a 15% FSM commission on completed services.^[61]

Critics say it is improper to fix a donation for religious service; therefore the activity is non-religious. Scientology points out many classes, exercises and counseling may also be traded for "in kind" or performed cooperatively by students for no cost, and members of its most devoted orders can make use of services without any donations bar that of their time. A central tenet of Scientology is its Doctrine of Exchange, which dictates that each time a person receives something, he or she must pay something back. By doing so, a Scientologist maintains "inflow" and "outflow", avoiding spiritual decline.

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Gnostic Easter

I decided to be a wee bit blasphemous for Easter/Passover season. Consider it my Gnostic duty.

• The God Eaters
• Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani
• Whitman Wicker Man
• Pagan Origins of Easter
• Passover Song
• Palm Sunday April Fools Day

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Jesus, Gnostic, Gospels, Easter, Passover, God Eater, Christianity, gnostic

Gnostic Anarchists

Light and Life

The Online Journal of Rev. Thomas Langley

Rise, Prophet!

"Musings, meditations and poems of a mystic anarchist (with some gnostic Christian, Zen Buddhist and Advaita Vedantic thought thrown in for good measure)"

See

Anarchism

Gnostic

liberation theology


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anarchy, anarchism, gnostic, gnosis, blogs, bloggers, blogging, liberation theology, spiritual

Black History Month; P.B. Randolph

Paschal Beverly Randolph (P.B. Randolph) was a 19th Century magickian, a spiritualist and founder of the Rosicrucian movement in the United Sates.

Like Paul Lafargue he was a mulatto but one who initially denied his Negro roots.

( 8 Oct. 1825 - 29 July 1875 ), physician, philosopher, and author, was born in New York City , the son of William Beverly Randolph, a plantation owner, and Flora Beverly, a barmaid. At the age of five or seven Randolph lost his mother to smallpox, and with her the only love he had known. Randolph later stated, "I was born in love, of a loving mother, and what she felt, that I lived." His father's devotion is questionable. In 1873 Randolph hinted at his own illegitimacy, stating that his parents "did not stop to pay fees to the justice or to the priest."

Randolph 's mother possessed a strong temperament, unusual physical beauty, and intense passions, characteristics that Randolph inherited. Later many, especially his enemies, perceived Randolph as being of "Negro descent," which he denied. Sent to live with his half-sister, Randolph was ignored, unloved, and abused and eventually turned to begging on the streets.

Being born in New York to a 'free black' woman, his reluctance to be considered a Negro at the time is understandable. And since his upbringing was in the time and area of the Gangs of New York, plagued by nativism as it was, it is also understandable.

But by the time of the Civil War he was an outspoken advocate of Negro Rights.

Born poor and of mixed race in 1825 and raised (more or less) by prostitutes in the Five Points slum of New York, Randolph was self-educated and prickly proud. Creating himself, he picked and chose just how "black " to be. He could de-emphasize his African heritage in the face of prejudice--after his suicide, a newspaper said he was "part Spaniard, and inherited all the suspicious distrusting qualities of the people of that nationality. " At other times, he emphasized it, as during his Civil War Black Nationalist phase, when he worked briefly as a teacher for the short-lived Freedman 's Bureau, an agency designed to educate freed slaves but only halfheartedly supported by the federal government.

Yet when some Northerners advocated a scheme to ship freed slaves to Africa, Randolph, speaking for the slaves, emphasized "American: " "We men of color were born here; so were our fathers and mothers down a long line of ancestry....Are all our sufferings to be rewarded by our removal to African deserts and barbaric climes and places?...No! Never! Here is our home, and here we mean to stay, and on this soil will die, and in it be buried. "

And like Lafargue he was an internationalist, traveling and training as well as lecturing in Europe. As with many in the occult movement of the 19th Century he was a social reformer. And like his contemporary Virginia Woodhull, Mrs. Satan, he was an advocate of womens rights and Free Love.

Randolph is to be remembered for his philosophical works on love, marriage, and womanhood. He provided new and unique insight into the then taboo world of sexual love. He aided the education, rights, and equality of both women and blacks. He foresaw the evils of tobacco and drug abuse. Finally, Randolph, through his position as the Americas' first Supreme Grand Master of the Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis, directly or indirectly touched the lives of more than 200,000 neophytes (students) comprising the Fraternitas and other Rosicrucian orders.

P.B. Randolph 's life story demonstrates also how reform-minded American Spiritualism turned into "occultism. " Spiritualism was well-intentioned, "scientific " but also passive, linked to social reform (early feminism, the abolition of slavery) but also to faddishness, most notably "free love, " which could, depending on who was talking, mean anything from a partnership of equals to mere spouse-swapping. ( "You and I were meant to be soul mates. ") Occultism, on the other hand, is individualistic, rooted in personal development and self-improvement, and generally not connected to any social or political philosophy.

With the democratic decline in Europe after the revolutions of 1848 and the Paris Commune secret societies were formed for the purposes of pursuing democratic as well as socialist revolution. In England and the Commonwealth they were formed for the purposes of pursuing trade unionism which had been banned as an illegal combination.

That secret societies should form for finding and revealing secret knowledge, was thus a natural outgrowth of this period and was coincidental with the growth and popularity of fraternal orders after the Civil War in America and across Europe.

His patron both in Spiritualism as well as getting him work with Lincoln was Colonel Ethan A. Hitchcock, a noted military officer as well as practicing alchemist. Like other occultists, John Dee comes to mind, he too was also a spy. The secrecy of the occult overlaps with the secret society of intelligence gathering. They share a similar cosmological outlook that is the search for hidden or secret knowledge.

As happens in the Occult community, as in the political one, sectarian differences are frequent and lead to rivalries and mutual denunciations. Such was the case with P. B. Randolph, who is credited with founding the Rosicrucian movement in the United States.

He faced attack by rivals for hegemony over the occult movement in America denouncing him for his Luciferian ideas from the likes of Madam Blavatsky and her Theosophists and from the white supremacist founder of the American Scottish Right of Freemasonry; Albert Pike. Ironic because both of them are also accused of being Luciferians.

Such is the case of 19th Century occult wars not only in America but in Europe where again competing orders of Rosicrucian's charged and counter charged each other as being in league with Lucifer.

The Luciferian charge comes about from Randolph's advocacy of free love, which was also embraced by American Anarchists at the time. His theories were outlined in his book Eulis and in his other famous treatise; Magia Sexualis

Today we would call his practices sex therapy, where he discussed sexual dysfunction with his patients, and as a Doctor he practiced mesermism, the passing of hands over the body to affect the magnetic energies. He also advocated the tantra practice of heightened sensuality by controlling the male orgasm and ejaculation.

 In 1870 he founded the Order of Eulis, which kept its teachings
secret because of the sex and drugs.  Some people must've talked,
though: H. P. Blavatsky denounced Randolph as immoral, a charge also
leveled at the Luciferian Freemason Sir Albert Pike.  An occult war
followed.  In 1872 his "Rosicrucian Rooms" were raided by police and
he was jailed for distributing "Free Love" literature.  Fires,
robberies, and disease followed, and on July 29, 1975, he shot
himself.  His friends and followers claimed that Blavatsky's curses
had nailed him.  Blavatsky founded the philosophical society the same
year.

By the 1870s many of Randolph's writings dealt with 
occult aspects of  love and sexuality.

Randolph, as a physician, also counseled many of his patients on matters of
family relations, marital bliss and the art of love. These acts of kindness and
concern were sometimes taken as conduct condoning "free love."

In February 1872, he was arrested and imprisoned for promoting
"free love" or immorality. Although acquitted of all charges, as it was discovered in
court that the indictment was merely a clever attempt by former
business partners (now enemies) to obtain his book copyrights, Randolph
never recovered from the humiliation of the proceeding.

Although dying at age 49, Randolph was a prolific writer, producing many books
and pamphlets on love, health, mysticism and the occult.

And further confusion was sown with his initiation into a mystical Gnostic cult from Syria/Iraq which mistakenly has been associated with the Yezedi.

The Yezedi created a sensation amongst some 19th Century scholars who had finally discovered a genuine devil worshiping cult. And the devil they worshiped was Lucifer.

Despite my best googling efforts the only references I could find to Ansaireh is that referred back to the region in Syria/Iraq which is named after a Mountain.

Gertrude Bell in her diary refers to visiting the region and the Yezedi who dwelled there. Which may have been the reason the author of the introduction to Magica Sexualis thought Randolph had been initiated into their religious teachings.

During his journeys to Paris, Pascal became aware of several works which were being published in France and Germany dealing with the Ansaireth or Nusairis of Syria. 25 There was much discussion, in the Rosicrucian circles that Randolph traveled in, of the purity and sublimity of the teachings of the Ansaireh. Books by Niebuhr, M. Catafago, Victor Langlois and others told of these mysterious hill dwellers in Northern Syria who were neither Jews, Christians or Muslims. They may well have been the people that modern anthropology has identified as the Yezidi, the devotees of the Peucock god, Melek Ta'aus.

PBR tells how the chief of the Ansaireth, Narek El Gebel, arrived at the Rosicrucian Third Dome in Paris with letters of introduction and then, recognizing Randolph's abilities and character, invited him to come to Syria and to study with the Ansaireth. Randolph went to Syria and was initiated into the Ansairetic Brotherhood. Upon his return to America, he established the Priesthood of Aeth based on the Ansairetic Mysteries

There were a variety of Christian and Islamic sects in the region. Including the Druze and Nusairis and one of the last surviving gnostic sects the Mandaens. As well as Kurds and Yezedi, Sabians all of whom faced persecution from the Turks for being dhimmis.

In another part of this Consular District there seems to have been little change from the old times of rapine and bloodshed in Turkey. I allude to the Ansaireh mountains, stretching from the valley of the Orontes to Mount Lebanon. On a late occasion a member of the Medjlis of Tripoli, passing through a Christian village in pursuit of the revolted Ansaireh, set fire to it, and, when the inhabitants conveyed their moveable property of value into their Church (…), it was broken open and plundered. This case, with many others equally abominable, of simultaneous occurrence, was laid before Her Majesty’s Consul General for Syria, the perpetrators of the outrages being under the jurisdiction of the Pasha of Beyrouth, and will thus have already come under Your Excellency’s notice. (Aleppo, 31st March, 1859; FO 78/1452 (No. 11), Skene to Bulwer, Constantinople)

The author of the introduction to Magica Sexualis is mistaken in associating the Ansairth with the Yezedi. As I said the Yezedi at the time had become somewhat of a sensation amongst certain Christian religious and historical scholars. And the Nusairis refer to an Islamic Shi'a Sunni sect.

Randolphs Rosicrucian Order and his fellow occultists of the time were fascinated with the recent discoveries of Gnosticism and the Gnostic's. Finding a living Gnostic religion which offered initiation would have been more in keeping with their occult traditions.

I suspect Randolph had been initiated into the the mystery religion of the Mandaens. Whose followers were in the same region of Syria at the time.

Within the Middle East, but outside of their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the Ṣubba (singular Ṣubbī). Likewise, their Muslim neighbors will refer to them collectively as the Sabians (Arabic al-Ṣābiʾūn), in reference to the Ṣabians of the Qur'an. Occasionally, the Mandaeans are also called the "Christians of St. John" (a misnomer, since they are not Christians by any standard), based upon preliminary reports made by members of the Barefoot Carmelite mission in Basra during the 16th century.

Other groups which have been identified with the Mandaeans include the "Nasoraeans" described by Epiphanius and the Dositheans mentioned by Theodore Bar Kōnī in his Scholion. Ibn al-Nadim also mentions a group called the Mughtasila, "the self-ablutionists," who may be identified with one or the other of these groups. The members of this sect, like the Mandaeans, wore white and performed baptisms.

The similarity of beliefs about healthy living, not eating meat, avoiding tobacco, reincarnation and sexuality strike me as Mandaean rather than Yezedi.

According to E.S. Drower in the introduction to The Secret Adam, Mandaeans believe in marriage and procreation, and in the importance of leading an ethical and moral lifestyle in this world, placing a high priority upon family life. Consequently, Mandaeans do not practice celibacy or asceticism. Mandaeans will, however, abstain from strong drink and red meat. While they agree with other gnostic sects that the world is a prison governed by the planetary archons, they do not view it as a cruel and inhospitable one.

The Rosicrucian movement he founded still exists today publishing his works;

SEERSHIP; Guide to Soul Sight


The importance of Randolph cannot be underestimated. His works influenced later magickal and occult practitioners including Eliphas Levi as well as the Ordo Templi Orientis in particular Theodore Reuss and Aleister Crowley.




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HERESIOLOGY

Persecution of Cathars, Albigenses and Waldenses

Michael D Magee

17 Pages

1 File ▾

Religious Persecution,

Cathars,

Heretics,

Christian Heretics, From Valentinus to the Cathars.,

Medieval Heretics

Four Church Councils in 1119, 1139, 1148 and 1163 declared the Cathars to be heretics. The Council of Toulouse in 1119 and then the Lateran Council of 1139 urged the secular powers to proceed violently against heresy—they did not. Even so, Cathars were burned or imprisoned in many places, but, William IX of Aquitaine and many of the nobles of the Midi continued to protect them. They valued their industry and integrity in a corrupt world. The French bishops at the Council of Tours (1163) discussed the presence of Cathars in Cologne, Bonn and Liege. They called them Manichæans, a taunt, for they knew they were not, and the Cathars called themselves the Good Christians. From 1180 to 1230, the Catholic Church enacted legislation against heresy, and set up a permanent tribunal, staffed by Dominican friars. It was the Inquisition.

https://www.academia.edu/17812123/Persecution_of_Cathars_Albigenses_and_Waldenses

Heresy and the Free Spirit: Beghards and Béguines

Michael D Magee

28 Pages

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Heresy and Inquisition,

Heresy of the Free Spirit,

Lollards,

Beguines and Beghards,

Georgi Vasilev

In northern Europe, the Free Spirit of Beghards and Béguines led the war against the established Church. From around 1250, they cited Cathars, Waldenses, and Joachites. Their common beliefs included hatred of the Church, that sacraments are worthless, the spiritual value of poverty, and most important of all, that each of us can become God. Organized in small groups, they faded away when trouble threatened, “migrating from mountain to mountain like strange sparrows”, a good description of the lifestyle the fleeing Cathars were obliged to follow. If they differed, they were merely variations on the Cathar original.

https://www.academia.edu/17812335/Heresy_and_the_Free_Spirit_Beghards_and_B%C3%A9guines

Catharism as a Counter Church

Michel Gybels

13 Pages

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From a sociological point of view, Catharism is perceived as a protest movement, which attacked the established values and habits defended by the Roman Catholic Church and worldly power. In conformity with this approach, it is necessary to pay special attention to the explicit values of Catharism, which are contrary to Roman Catholicism. For instance, the rejection of marriage, the outright prohibition on killing living beings, the rejection of the crucifix and the ecclesiastical hierarchy, the ban on swearing oaths, the Eucharist, baptism by water and the belief in God as creator of the material world.

https://www.academia.edu/8142116/Catharism_as_a_Counter_Church

New light on the dissident "Church of the Latins" in Constantinople (Crossroads of Bogomils and Cathars I)

Dick van Niekerk

281 Views23 Pages

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Medieval Church History

The almost forgotten church of the Cathars in Constantinople, also called Church of the Latins, had many similarities with the Greek Church of the Bogomils in Constantinople. Both churches played an important, nevertheless distinguishing, role in the distribution of dualistic ideas in the West.

https://www.academia.edu/19768614/New_light_on_the_dissident_Church_of_the_Latins_in_Constantinople_Crossroads_of_Bogomils_and_Cathars_I_

The cathar version of the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat (Crossroads of bogomils and cathars II)

Dick van Niekerk

14 Pages

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Late medieval popular religion, heterodoxy and heresy, memory in the later Middle Ages.

There are at least three close and irrefutable connections between the Bogomils and Cathars. The Cathars adopted the creation myth, The Secret Supper or Interrogatio Johannis, of the Bogomils. It is also proven that the Cathars adopted the federal organization structure of the Bogomil churches during the Council of Saint Félix and Lauragais in 1167, as recommended by the Bogomil bishop Nicetas. The third element of the intimate relationship between Bogomils and Cathars is the initiation ritual of the latter, the consolamentum (or teleiosis), which is rather identical with that of the Bogomils. There are even more connections. In this article we will focus on the Occitan version of the famous medieval legend of " Barlaam and Josaphat " as the binding element between Bogomilism and Catharism. What is it that makes the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat interesting as a binding element between Bogomils and Cathars, even though there is no known Bogomil version? We are especially indebted to Marie Madeleine van Ruymbeke Stey for an answer. In her little known dissertation 1 she aims to prove that the Occitan version of our legend has Cathar roots. One of the things she states is that there is a remarkable spatiotemporal parallel between the history of the spread of the legend on the one hand, and of dualism 2 on the other. This goes alongside current Christianity: Manichaeism, Paulicianism, Bogomilism and Catharism. According to Van Ruymbeke, the legend has been a vehicle, an allegorical tool, for the spread of dualism from east to west, from the third to the fourteenth century. 1 M.M.A. van Ruymbeke Stey, Au confluent du catharisme et du bogomilisme, le Barlam et Jozaphas occitan. Approche culturelle et sémiologique, Ohio 1997 dissertation. 2 Dualism as a concept has only been in existence for two centuries and it can be applied to almost all gnostic systems. There are two completely separate worlds: the divine world created by God and this world, being the world of Satan and the world of evil. These worlds are often designated as the realm of light and the realm of darkness. Analogically, the human being is also of dual nature. He is matter, but there is also a divine principle in him which reminds him of his divine origin and, when his consciousness rises, guides him back to his divine source.

https://www.academia.edu/27677550/The_cathar_version_of_the_legend_of_Barlaam_and_Josaphat_Crossroads_of_bogomils_and_cathars_II_

Bogomils on Via Egnatia and in the Valley of Pelagonia: the Geography of a Dualist Belief

Robert Mihajlovski

19 Pages

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This paper treads my long-term field research on the dualist religious movement called Bogomilism that is located along the ancient Roman communication of Via Egnatia and in the valley of Pelagonia. I discuss various written historical sources and topography in the region of Western Macedonia where Bogomilism had its strongholds. In addition, I also deal with some of the neglected monuments and remnants of the Bogomilism in the region. There are two ways in promoting this complex research: theoretical and topographical analysis of the Bogomil faith within the context of place and time. Here I also include archaeological, ethnographical and theological investigation of the religious group labeled as Bogomil.

https://www.academia.edu/10719189/Bogomils_on_Via_Egnatia_and_in_the_Valley_of_Pelagonia_the_Geography_of_a_Dualist_Belief

BOGOMILS AND THE REFORMATION: crossroads and missing links

Dick van Niekerk

11 Pages

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abstract: The year 2017 marked the 500 th anniversary of the Reformation, and it has been celebrated throughout Europe. In this paper, the author aims to examine the connection between beliefs of the Bogomils and the ideas of the Reformation. Controversially, the former have been called " the precursors of the Reformation " and even " the first Protestants in Europe. " These claims will be investigated here in the light of the subject of free will and the so called bogomilian dualism. Both the similarities and differences between Bogomil thinking and the ideas of significant reformers, such as John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and Martin Luther, will be discussed. Based on textual sources, it is argued that there are shared beliefs between Bogomils and reformers, and that both have a strong will to reform the religious life, but we cannot say that there is clear evidence that ideas of the Reformation have been adopted directly from these early dissidents. We can conclude, however, that Bogomil ideas served as an eye-opener for protestant thinkers, though beliefs about free will changed throughout history. Whereas Bogomils believed in the free will of their Perfects, Pico della Mirandola, being inspired by the Gnostic tradition, adopted this, together with Humanists such as Erasmus, and early reformers of the Church, like Wycliffe and Hus. However, the instigator of the Reformation, Luther, changed his mind radically, and rejected the idea of a free will for human beings altogether in favor of the grace

https://www.academia.edu/35593228/BOGOMILS_AND_THE_REFORMATION_crossroads_and_missing_links

The Question of Neobogomilism

Nemanja Radulovic

2014, Пути гнозиса: мистико-эзотерические традиции и гностичское мировоззрение од древности до наших дней/Ways of Gnosis. Mystical and Esoteric Traditions and Gnostic Worldview from Antiquity to the Present TIme

14 Pages

1 File 

https://w

ww.academia.edu/9844763/The_Question_of_Neobogomilism 

The Bogomils: Mediaeval Gnostics or crypto-Heretics?

Dick van Niekerk

10 Pages

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Medieval Church History

The alleged hypocrisy of the Balkan Bogomils often earned them the scorn of their contemporary orthodox critics. The Bogomils completely rejected the Orthodox Church, yet attended their services. They even allowed the sacraments to be administered to them. The author shows that this phenomenon of “crypto-heresy” can only be satisfactorily explained if we assign the Bogomils a place in the age-long gnostic tradition. The Bogomils exemplified a mediaeval variant of Gnosticism. Their crypto-heresy was a consciously chosen strategy, also common in other gnostic groups.

https://www.academia.edu/19768881/The_Bogomils_Mediaeval_Gnostics_or_crypto_Heretics

The history of Manicheism

Michel Gybels

613 Views9 Pages

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When examining Catharism and related medieval heresies, we oftentimes encounter the claim that these religious dissidents are connected with ancient Manichaeism and that the Cathars and their coreligionists were adherents of Mani. This claim was predominantly put forward in the polemist writings of the opponents of Catharism and related movements, such as Durand of Huesca in his Liber contra manicheos (1223) and numerous inquisitors, including Bernard Gui, who fully dedicates the first chapter of his Practica inquisitionis heretice pravitatis (1323) to “ the errors of the Manichaeans of this age”.

https://www.academia.edu/9691348/The_history_of_Manicheism

Why Bosnian Church did not belong to Bogomilism; "Kr'stjani" (mystics) vs "Bogomili" (dualists)

Amer Dardağan

Published 2019

18 Pages

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Gnosticism,

New Testament,

Christian Mysticism,

Mysticism,

Manichaeism

 ...more ▾

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This paper in a simple and transparent way critically examines the rejected belief in science that Bosnian Church and its followers doctrinally and organisationally belonged to the dualist sect of Bogomilism. The research was carried out by a comparative analysis of the basic dualistic postulates of Gnosticism, Manichaeism and Bogomilism on the one hand and the available domestic sources of the Bosnian Church on the other. The importance of the work is reflected in the concise and detailed scientific argumentation that undermines "Bogomil Bosnian Church" myth, while offering a new scientific thesis on the religious and doctrinological affiliation of the "Bosnian faith" and the Bosnian "krs'tjani". In the first part, the paper deals with the problem of extreme and moderate dualism, with a special emphasis on the Neognostic, Neomanichaean and Bogomil communities in medieval Balkans. In the second part, the basic premises of Christian mysticism are given, including the possibility of its philosophical and theological compatibility with the teachings of the Bosnian Church, where for the first time the phenomenon of the name "kr'stjani" is explained in relation to the mystical union ("unio mystica").

https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/3v26f/