Greco-Christian stream·Pistis Sophia·Third Book — Mysteries of the Light·Chapter 110
The mystery of the raising of the dead
I have just said, then will they quickly come to pass for him
Source context
- Theme
- mysteries of light as initiatory gnosis within the Gnostic Christian stream
- Soul-faculty
- Consciousness Soul
Steiner
- GA 69c, 1912-11-16Steiner identifies Gnostic thinkers such as Basilides, Marcion, and Valentinus as carrying the essential insight that the Christ impulse is indispensable to the whole development of humanity on earth, framing Gnosticism as a serious initiatory current rather than mere fantasy.
- GA 87, 1902-04-19Steiner notes that the Gnostics combined ancient religious systems of the world with a form of knowledge that remained widely operative in their foundational worldview, placing them within the continuity of the mystery tradition.
- GA 228, 1923-07-28Steiner observes that Gnostic writings were destroyed and are known in Europe only through counter-writings, underscoring the suppressed character of the Gnostic transmission of light-mysteries.
Cross-tradition
- NeoplatonismPlotinian henology posits light as the primary emanation from the One, offering a structural parallel to Gnostic Christian frameworks in which divine light descends through successive pleromatic levels into material existence.
- HermeticismThe Corpus Hermeticum describes initiation as an ascent through zones of light toward the Father of Lights, exhibiting cross-tradition congruence with Gnostic Christian light-mystery structures.
- ZoroastrianismThe Mazdean distinction between Ahura Mazda as principle of uncreated light and Angra Mainyu as principle of darkness provides a pre-Christian cosmological parallel to Gnostic light-darkness dualisms.
Chapter 110
CHAPTER 110
When then Jesus had said this, Mary continued, threw herself at Jesus' feet, kissed them and said: "My Lord, still will I question thee. Reveal [it] unto us and hide [it] not from us."
Jesus answered and said unto Mary: "Question on what ye question, and I will reveal [it] unto you in openness without similitude."
Mary continueth her questioning.Mary answered and said: "My Lord, hast thou then not brought mysteries into the world because of poverty and riches, and because of weakness and strength, and because of . . . and healthy bodies, in a word because of all such, so that, if we go into the regions of the land, and they do not have faith in us and they hearken not unto our words, and we perform any such mysteries in those regions, they may know truly in truth that we |279. herald the words [of the God] of the universe?"
The Saviour answered and said unto Mary in the midst of the disciples: "Concerning this mystery on which ye question me, I have given
it unto you at another time; but I will repeat it and speak the word unto you:
The mystery of the raising of the dead."Now, therefore, Mary, not only ye, but every man who shall accomplish the mystery of the raising of the dead,--that which healeth the demons and all pains and all sicknesses and the blind and the lame and the maimed and the dumb and the deaf, which I have given unto you aforetime,--he who shall receive [that] mystery and accomplish it, thereafter then, if he ask for all things, for poverty and riches, for weakness and strength, for . . . and healthy body, and for all healings of the body and for the raising of the dead and for healing the lame and the blind and the deaf and the dumb and all sicknesses and all pains,--in a word, he who shall accomplish that mystery and ask for all the things which I have just said, then will they quickly come to pass for him."
The disciples became frenzied at the sublimity of the prospect.When then the Saviour had said this, the disciples came forward, cried out all together and said: "O Saviour, thou hath made us very exceedingly frenzied because of the great deeds of which thou tellest us; and because thou hast borne up our souls, they have pressed to go forth out of us |280. unto thee, for we issue from thee. Now, therefore, because of these great deeds of which thou tellest us, our souls have become frenzied and they have pressed very exceedingly, yearning to go forth out of us on high to the region of thy kingdom."