Daughters of the Inquisition

by Christina Crawford

  Give heed then, you hearers

  and you also, the angels and those who have been sent,

  and you spirits who have arisen from the dead.

  For I am the one who alone exists,

  and I have no one who will judge me.

  For many are the pleasant forms which exist in

  Numerous sins,

  and incontinencies,

  and disgraceful passions,

  and fleeting pleasures,

  Which men embrace until they become sober

  and go up to their resting-place.

  And they will find me there,

  and they will live, and they will not die again.

  The second Gnostic Gospel to be included here is the Gospel of Mary, translated and introduced by George W. MacRae and R. McL. Wilson. The earliest known fragment of this Gospel is in Greek and dates from the early third century (i.e. 200 CE, which is nearly contemporaneous with the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). They note that the text can be divided into two parts: the first is a dialogue between the risen Christ and his disciples, which is a familiar form to the Gnostic. The second part is the vision of and revelation from Jesus to Mary. Unfortunately, four entire pages are missing. Nevertheless, this work makes it totally clear that Mary was considered the one to whom the message and the mission of Jesus were left.

  THE GOSPEL OF MARY (Bg 8502, I)

  The Gospel of Mary

  BG 7,1–19, 5

  “… will matter then be destroyed or not?”

  The Savior said, “All natures, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots. For the nature of matter is resolved into the roots of its nature alone. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

  Peter said to him, “Since you have explained everything to us, tell us this also: What is the sin of the world?” The Savior said, “There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which is called ‘sin.’ That is why the Good came into your midst, to the essence of every nature, in order to restore it to its root.” Then he continued and said, “That is why you become sick and die, for … of the one who.… He who understands, let him understand. Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in the whole body. That is why I Said to you, Be of good courage,’ and if you are discouraged be Encouraged in the presence of the different forms of nature. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

  When the blessed one had said this, he greeted them all, saying, “Peace be with you. Receive my peace to yourselves. Beware that no one leads you astray, saying, ‘Lo there!’ For the Son of Man is within you. Follow after him! Those who seek him will find him. Go then and preach the gospel of the kingdom. Do not lay down any rules beyond what I appointed for you, and do not give a law like the lawgiver lest you be constrained by it.” When he had said this, he departed.

  But they were grieved. They wept greatly, saying, “How shall we go to the Gentiles and preach the gospel of the kingdom of the Son of Man? If they did not spare him, how will they spare us?” Then Mary stood up, greeted them all, and said to her brethren, “Do not weep and do not grieve nor be irresolute, for his grace will be entirely with you and will protect you. But rather let us praise his greatness, for he has prepared us and made us into me.” When Mary said this, she turned their hearts to the Good, and they began to discuss the words of the Savior.

  Peter said to Mary, “Sister, we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of women. Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember-which you know but we do not nor have we heard them.” Mary answered and said, “What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you.” And she began to speak to them these words: “I,” she said, “I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to him, ‘Lord, I saw you today in a vision.’ He answered and said to me, ‘Blessed are you, that you did not waver at the sight of me. For where the mind is, there is the treasure.’ I said to him, ‘Lord, now does he who sees the vision see it through the soul or through the spirit?” The Savior answered and said, ‘He does not see through the soul nor through the spirit, but the mind which is between the two-that is what sees the vision and it is.…

  “… it. And desire said, ‘I did not see you descending, but now I see you ascending. Why do you like, since you belong to me?” The soul answered and said, ‘I saw you, you did not see me nor recognize me. I served you as a garment, and you did not know me.’

  When it had said this, it went away rejoicing greatly.

  “Again it came to the third power, which is called ignorance. It the power questioned the soul, saying, Where are you going? In wickedness are you bound. But you are bound; do not judge!’ And the soul said, ‘Why do you judge me, although I have not judged? I was bound, though I have not bound. I was not recognized. But I have recognized that the All is being dissolved, both the earthly Things and the heavenly.’

  “When the soul had overcome the third power, it went upwards and saw the fourth power, which took seven forms. The first form is darkness, the second desire, the third ignorance, the fourth is the excitement of death, the fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the sixth is the foolish wisdom of flesh, the seventh is the wrathful wisdom. These are the seven powers of wrath. They ask the soul, ‘Whence Do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?’ The soul answered and said, ‘What binds me has been slain, and what turns me about has been overcome, and my desire has been ended, and ignorance has died. In a world I was released from a world, and in a type from a heavenly type, and from the fetter of oblivion which is transient. From this time on will I attain to the rest of the time, of the season, of the aeon, in silence.’”

  When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her. But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, “Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas.” Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things. He questioned them about the Savior: “Did he really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?

  Then Mary wept and said to Peter, “My brother, Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Savior?” Levi answered and said to Peter, “Peter, you have always been hot-tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well. That is why he loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed and put on the perfect man, and separate as he commanded us and preach the gospel not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Savior said.” When … and they began to go forth to proclaim and to preach.

  The Gospel

  According to Mary

  These are the words of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene as recorded in the Gnostic Gospels in the Nag Hammadi Library.32

  The Romans

  The first several hundred years of what is now called current era (or “CE”) in the Mediterranean region was turbulent. The Roman Empire under the Caesars was sinking into sadistic violence. Philosophy and politics were merging to complement military cruelty with repressive diatribes which sometimes moved into legislation. The Romans, however, were not as accepting of the severe anti-female, anti-sex philosophers that prevailed in Greece and the near East at this time. They resisted male circumcision and had outlawed voluntary male castration until the overwhelming popularity of the Cybele/Attis rites and festivals which eventually swayed the lawmakers, who found themselves bowing to public opinion. Emperor Claudius commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. (Acts 18:2) Rome gained control of Judea in 63 BCE, nearly one hundred years after the Maccabee revolt in 167 BCE which had gained short-lived independence for the area. In 6 CE Judea was
annexed to Roman Syria, suppressing the Jewish zealot movement.

  Emperor Tiberius (c. 35 CE) forbade human sacrifice on the Altar of Saturn in Rome but permitted, even participated in, torture of both men and women, and in the sexual abuse of temple priests and children.

  Caligula (c. 40 CE) as Emperor, fed people to bears and lions in the Arena, had children executed in front of their parents, had sex with his sister to impregnate her and then butchered her. His military officers killed him, realizing he was hopelessly insane.

  Nero (c. 60 CE) was bisexual and sadistic, favoring young boys and then having them castrated. He raped male and female prisoners who were tied to stakes.

  Vitllius (c. 65 CE) was a pedophile who was also murdered by his own military.

  The Emperor Titus ordered the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, either killing or enslaving hundreds of thousands of people in the process.

  Two Emperors, Domitan (c. 90 CE) and Hadrian (c. 130 CE), initially tried to reverse this trend of debauched madness, but failed. Domitan tortured animals as a child, and when he became Emperor pitted women and dwarfs against one another in combat for Arena amusement.

  Trajan (c. 100 CE) persecuted Jews and Christians alike.

  Commodius (c. 190 CE) reinstated human sacrifice as a part of Mithraism, which was now also a state-sanctioned religion.

  Heliogabatus (c. 222 CE) was a transvestite homosexual who filled his palace with eunuchs.

  Diocletian (c. 290 CE) tried to get rid of the Christians of Rome who annoyed him with their behavior, but he has the unique distinction of legitimizing the institutional use of eunuchs, in Roman central administration. In fact, certain key positions were specifically reserved only for eunuchs who were also given preferential promotions.

  Then, the law of unintended consequences gave rise to an anomaly: Parents who were overly ambitious for their sons had the boys castrated to make them eligible for these prize positions of power and prestige in the Roman government. Those were the politics. But the male philosophers from differing religions were no social balance because they became increasingly negative toward women, toward all passions and, therefore, could not help but be seen as anti-sexual.

  Pliny (c. 50 CE) expounded on the evil influences of menstruous women. These women were blamed for social upheavals, illnesses, dead plants, soured fruits, smoky mirrors and livestock miscarriages. Here are the beginnings of the transfer of blame for natural calamities onto the persona of woman, particularly either sexually viable women or older women:

  Paul

  Paul (c. 50 CE), perhaps because of his Hellenized background, perhaps because he never knew the man for whom he said he spoke, was more in tune with the anti-female philosophy of the Greeks in his day than he was of the preaching of love and tolerance from Jesus. It is Paul who makes the case in Romans 7:2 – the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives.

  Romans 8:6 – “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

  Romans 8:8 – “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

  In Corinthians, Paul takes this message further, preaching on sexual immorality.

  Cor. 5:9 – “I wrote to you not to keep company with sexually immoral people.”

  Cor. 5:11 – “But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is a fornicator or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard or an extortioner – not even to eat with because none of them will inherit the kingdom of their god.”

  Cor. 6:15 – “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I make them members of Christ and make then members of a harlot? Certainly not!

  Cor. 6:16 – Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one in body with her?

  Cor. 6:18 – Flee sexual immorality.”

  Paul is still fighting against the Goddess peoples and the incessant attraction they continue to have for all cultures and peoples because of the life-affirming and pro-sexual aspects of human nature they have been able to formulate into their religious practices, which are in concert with humanity and not out of synchronization with it.

  Immediately following his diatribe against sexuality is Paul’s teaching on marriage. Remember that Paul was not teaching on the preaching of Jesus (a fact which he acknowledges) but rather teaching on the ideas of Paul himself.

  Cor. 7:1 – “It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

  Cor. 7:2 – Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife and let each woman have her own husband.

  Cor. 7:4 – The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does.

  Cor. 7:6 – But I say this as a concession not as a commandment.

  Cor. 7:7 – For I wish that all men were even as I myself.” (Apparently celibate)

  Paul is not following in the way of Jesus, who welcomed women, loved women and was openly with a woman. This was Paul speaking for himself but openly defining these points as the new Christianity. So soon, so soon … the way of Jesus is abandoned. Then Paul continues, speaking about Virgins. He says pointedly that he has “no commandment from the Lord” on this subject. “Yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in his mercy has made trustworthy.” This is an extremely important statement because it is an admission, and perhaps the only one, that from this point forward, on the subject of women, Paul is speaking for himself and not interpreting the words or the teachings of Jesus. Paul’s authority is, in fact, self-proclaimed. Therefore, Paul is now injecting into Christian theology his own background, his own bias, his own prejudice against women.

  In 1 Cor.10, Paul speaks on idolatry, which means Goddess worship or Greco-Roman polytheism. He says, “Flee from idolatry, but I say that the things which the Gentiles (any non-Christian) sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to god, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.” The word demons is introduced now, to literally “demonize” the enemy, and in part, that enemy is woman. By the time 1 Cor. 15:34 is reached, Paul says, “Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but they are to be submissive, as the law also says.” (This is the law of the Hebrews and the Greeks, not the law of Jesus, who never wrote laws.) “And if they want to learn something, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is shameful for women to speak in church.” Here Paul reveals his utter disdain for all of womanhood, his misogyny, his complete denial of the true message of Jesus, which was to bring men and women back into context with one another, to heal the terrible schism between them caused by men just like Paul. And again, attributed to Paul in Timothy 2:11–12: “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.” The unfortunate consequence is that it fit so nicely into the anti-female patriarchy of the Roman Christian church which was evolving, soon becoming political reality as the Church consolidated its power.

  The first Epistle of John takes the “spirit vs flesh’” idea a little further, giving a new explanation as to why: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world, and the world is passing away but he who does the will of God abides forever. Little children, it is the last hour … and the anti-christ is coming.” This “end of the world” theme will often be repeated, certainly at the turn of each millennium, and taken to heart by many who seek to renounce their human condition in search of communion with the divine. It is what will lead to massive sado-masochistic behaviors both on the part of individuals and through the leadership of the Roman Christian church. Followers, instead of welcoming the new day, will be fearful that it is their last one and be convinced that in order to be prepared for death (rather than for life) they must denounce pleasure in return for pain, orgasm for castration, sacred sexual union for celibacy and ecstasy for self-
flagellation.

  The final book of the New Testament as the modern Bible is constructed is that of Revelation, said to have been the vision of John. Of course, in reality, Goddess worship was still going on in all the areas covered by the “seven churches of Asia,” which were Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, to whom the first part of the book is intended to be sent as letters. Because Ephesus is mentioned first, it was probably the most important and certainly the place where Goddess worship was intense and ancient. In Rev. 2:18 and 20–24 the viciousness surfaces: “Nevertheless, I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess to teach and beguile, my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols (Goddess worship). And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent (relinquish her position as Goddess Priestess). Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. (These are the followers of the Goddess.) I will kill her children with death. And the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts.” The Roman Christian Church took this last sentence and made it part of the Inquisition process.

  From the fourth page of the first book of the Old Testament to the last chapter of the New Testament, the battle over the Goddess is waged. Yet, it is not to be found in the Gospels of the life of Jesus, as though a temporary three-year truce were called. Then, after his death, it begins anew with the Roman Church in command as authoritative, self-aggrandizing and repressively anti-female, speaking through the voice of Paul, no longer the voice of Jesus.

  The Turmoil of the Early Christian Church

  While the Christian churches squabbled among themselves to see who would be in ultimate control, the remaining philosophers were still contributing to the strangely unhealthy ideas about the human condition. Some of these men worshipped ancient gods and goddesses, some were followers of Mithra, others were Christianized. Plutarch (c. 100 CE) was of the neo-Phthagorean school of philosophy and continued the Greek advocacy of pederatric homophilia, including homosexual relationships between older men and boys, yet he also taught that abstinence from wine and sex brought one closer to honoring god. The scholar Numenius taught that individual salvation was achieved by ceasing sexual activity. And another neo-Platonic philosopher, Plotinus of Lycopolis (c. 225 CE) taught that sensuality was a sin that interfered with spiritual knowledge, teaching the shamefulness of the human body. His pupil, Porphyry (c. 280 CE) condemned all pleasures as sinful, including horse racing, going to the theatre, dancing, eating meat and, of course, any form of sex. His writings would later influence Augustine (c. 400 CE) who would influence thinking in the Western world for centuries to come.