(Titled in translation: The Secret Supper)
- the-last-supper1.jpg (76.64 KiB) Viewed 10160 times
Heresies of the High Middle Ages (Columbia Univ. Press, 1991)
p. 458ff.
In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
The questions of John, the apostle and evangelist, at a secret supper in the kingdom of heaven, about the governance of this world, about its ruler, and about Adam:
- last_supper2.jpg (38.9 KiB) Viewed 10160 times
I said, "Lord, before Satan fell, in what splendor did he attend the Father?" He said: "Among the virtues of heaven and at the throne of the Father invisible; he was regulator of all things and sat with my Father.' He [Satan] it was who presided over the virtues of the heavens and those who attended on the Father. His power descended from the heavens even unto hell, and arose even unto the throne of the Father invisible. He had wardship of those splendors which were above all the heavens. And he pondered, wishing to place his throne upon the clouds and to 'be like the Most High.'" When he had come down to lower air, he descried an angel seated upon the air, to whom he said, 'Open to me the portals of the air'; these the angels opened for him. And passing down, he descried an angel who guarded the waters, to whom he said, `Open to me the portals of the waters'; the angel opened them to him. And descending further, he found the whole earth covered with water; walking beneath this, he came upon two fish, lying upon the waters. These, indeed, were yoked together, and they bore up the whole earth at the bidding of the Father invisible. And passing down further still, he found great clouds holding the massed waters of the sea. And descending lower, he found his hell, which is the Gehenna of fire; but thereafter he was unable to go further down, because of the flame of the fire which was raging.
"Then Satan retraced his path, filling himself with evil plots. He ascended to the angel who was over the air and to the angel who was over the waters, and unto them said: 'All things are mine. If you hearken to me, I will place my throne over the clouds and I will be like the Most High." I will bear the waters up above this firmament and I will gather the other waters into wide seas." After that there shall not be water upon the face of the whole earth, and I shall reign with you forever and ever.' Thus he spoke to the angels. He ascended to the very heavens, even unto the third heaven, subverting the angels of the Father invisible, and saying to each of them, 'How much dost thou owe thy lord?' The first answered, 'A hundred barrels of oil.' He said to him, 'Take the bill and sit down and write fifty.' And he said to another, Now you, how much dost thou owe thy lord?' Who said, 'A hundred quarters of wheat.' To him he said, 'Take thy bill and sit down quickly and write eighty.' To the other heavens he ascended with like speech; he ascended even unto the fifth heaven, seducing the angels of the Father invisible.
- Satan-marshalling-the-fallen-angels.jpg (166.07 KiB) Viewed 10160 times
- Paradise_Lost_1.jpg (307.74 KiB) Viewed 10160 times
- b0ff1870b4b600c31060f898e8ad3655--fallen-angle-wolf-illustration.jpg (72.68 KiB) Viewed 10160 times
"He commanded the earth to bring forth all living things —animals, trees, and herbs. The sea he commanded to bring forth fish; and the air, birds of the heavens. And he pondered on making man to serve him; he took clay of the earth and made man like unto himself. And he then bade an angel of the second heaven to enter the body of clay. Of this body he took a part and made another body in the form of a woman" and bade an angel of the first heaven to enter into it. And the angels grieved deeply that they thus had a mortal form imposed upon them and that they now existed in different forms. And Satan bade them to perform the works of the flesh in their bodies of clay, but they did not know how to commit sin. The originator of sin accomplished his purpose by his seduction, in this way: He planted a paradise and set men therein and bade them not to eat of its fruits. The devil entered Paradise and planted a bed of reeds in the midst of Paradise; of his spittle he made a serpent and bade him remain in the reeds. Thus the devil concealed the knowledge of his deceit so that they would not perceive his treachery. He went in to them saying, 'Eat of all the fruit in Paradise, but of the fruit of good and evi1 eat not.' Thereafter the wicked devil, entering into the evil serpent, deceived the angel who was in the form of a woman and poured out upon her head a longing for sin," and Eve's desire was like a glowing oven. Forthwith, the devil in the form of the serpent came out of the reeds and sated his lust on her with the serpent's tail. That is why [the offspring] are called not sons of God but sons of the devil and sons of the serpent, fulfilling the diabolic desires of their father even unto the end of the world. After this, the devil poured out his longing upon the head of the angel who was in Adam; and [both angels] were affected by a lust for debauchery, together begetting children of the devil and of the serpent, until the consummation of the world."
- Symbols-The-Creation-witha-the-Universe-and-the-Cosmic-Man.jpg (178.1 KiB) Viewed 10160 times
- John-and-Jesus-in-Lazst-Supper-by-Plautilla-Nelli-750-px-500x331.jpg (24.83 KiB) Viewed 10160 times
[6 ] And I questioned the Lord, saying, "For how long will Satan have dominion in this world over the essences of men?" And the Lord replied, "My Father will permit him to reign seven days, that is, seven ages."
- paradise-lost-satan-in-council-engraving-by-gustave-dor.jpg (504.68 KiB) Viewed 10160 times
- e3520f4s9872c93d8ebd9b237eb4247d4.jpg (67.56 KiB) Viewed 10160 times
- 513998b14b36aee082a3025ae6f1d75b.jpg (1.29 MiB) Viewed 10160 times
- gesu-e-giovanni-icona-e1522677261698.jpg (59.91 KiB) Viewed 10160 times
[10] And again I asked the Lord, "How is it that the whole world received the baptism of John, but Thine is not accepted by all?" The Lord replied to me: "That is because their works are evil and they come not to the light. The followers of John marry and are given in marriage, whereas my disciples marry not at all but remain as the angels of God in the heavenly kingdom."
[11] Then I said to Him, "If it is a sin to have knowledge of women, is it then unwise to marry?" And the Lord replied: "All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who were born so from their mother's womb; and there are eunuchs who were made so by men; and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven."
- apocalypse-durer-pd.jpg (140.43 KiB) Viewed 10160 times
"Then, by permission of my Father, gloomy darkness shall spread over the lower regions of the earth and a hell of fire shall burn all the land from its lowest depths even unto the air of the firmament." And the Lord shall be [supreme] in the firmament even unto the nether regions of the earth. Should a man of thirty years pick up a stone and let it drop, it would scarcely strike the bottom within the space of three years, so great is the depth of the pool of fire wherein dwell the sinners. Then Satan shall be bound and all his host, and he shall be cast into the pool of fire. The Son of God, with his elect, shall walk above the firmament; and He shall shut up the devil, binding him with unbreakable bonds, with sinners weeping, wailing, and crying out 'Swallow us up, land, hide us within thyself.' Then shall the just shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. And Jesus shall lead them before the throne of the Father invisible and shall say to the Father, 'Behold, I and my children, whom God hath given me. Just Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee in truth because Thou hast sent me.' And then the Father will reply to His Son, saying, 'My beloved Son, sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool -- thy enemies, who have denied me and said, "We are gods, and there is no other god beside us"; who killed your prophets and persecuted your just. You shall persecute them in the exterior darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
"And then the Son of God shall sit on the right hand of his Father, and the Father shall command His angels that they minister unto them [the just]; and He shall place them in the choir of angels and clothe them in imperishable raiment; and He shall give them crowns never fading and seats unmoving. And God shall be in their midst. 'They shall no more hunger nor thirst; neither shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.' And [the Son] shall reign with his Holy Father, and his reign shall endure forevermore."
- 57294506a170c0d8b9516fde13be667c.jpg (273.49 KiB) Viewed 10160 times
This is the Secret of the heretics of Concorrezzo, brought from Bulgaria by Nazarials, their bishop. It is full of errors.
Archive Notes
The Interrogatio Iohannis (The Questions of John) is one of the most important extant Cathar Scriptures and a major addition to the known Johannine literature. It is titled from the first words (incipit) of its text -- the complete Latin title is: "Interrogatio Iohannis apostoli et evangelistae in cena secreta regni coelorum de ordinatione mundi istius et de principe et de Adam." It has been variably titled in translations as "The Book of John the Evangelist" and "The Secret Supper" (Cena Secreta).
This scripture preserves a work from the Johannine tradition (the tradition of John the Beloved), a work with possible first source in an early period of Classical Gnosticism -- though the surviving versions certainly suggest an evolution during the centuries of transmission. It should not be dismissed as simply a "Cathar or Bogomil production" of medieval times (as M. R. James suggested in introduction to his 1924 translation, below). There are many core elements in the text that witness relationship with other surviving writings from the classical Christian Gnostic tradtion -- for example, compare it with the Acts of John.
Two versions of the text have survived: one was discovered in the archives of the Inquisition kept at the French town of Carcassonne in Languedoc, the other is found in the National Library of Vienna. The considerable differences between the two manuscripts indicate a long and independent manuscript history, probably reaching back centuries to an original edition.
According to an annotation in the Carcassone text, this is a Latin translation of an earlier manuscript brought to Italy (probably around 1190) from Bulgaria by Nazario, bishop of the Cathar community of Concorezzo (now the province of Monza and Brianza). From there it passed into Languedoc, arriving before 1209, the beginning year of the persecution of the Cathars of France by Pope Innocent III. The the original language of the Interrogatio Johannis was probably Slavonic or Greek.
It was first published in the seventeenth century by I. Benoist in his 1691 book, "Histoire et des Vaudois ou des Albigeois Barbets". It was analyzed in 1832 by J. K. Thilo in his "Codex apocryphus Novi Testaments," and again in 1929 by R. Reitzenstein in his "Die Vorgeschichte der christlichen Taufe". In 1924 it was translated by M. R. James in his classic work, The Apocryphal New Testament.
. I was listening a lot of Gnostic Bible by Marvin Meyer, but got lost in all the different interpretations of the Lost Gospels and other literature in it. Thank you for laying it down in a coherent and understandable way.