MMagdalene.org - The Renaissance of Mary Magdalene

 

 
 
 
 
   
What is the Gnostic Holy Eucharist?

The Gnostic Mystery of the Eucharist is a beautifully designed ceremony that represents in ritual form, the saga of Sophia, the feminine principle of Divinity as she descends into matter, becomes imprisoned, is liberated and eventually redeemed. It is her voice, the voice of Holy Sophia, which is also our own inner divine feminine that spurs us toward wholeness against all odds. Sophia’s liberation and redemption is not only for herself but for all souls; or in Gnostic terminology, for all “sparks” that are lost in the darkness of matter.

While the liturgy is based mainly on the Gnostic mythology of the Holy Sophia 1 it is imbued with the work of the 16 th Century visionary and Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria 2 and with material derived from the Holy Order of Mary Magdalene 3. The creator of the ritual is Rosamonde Ikshvaku Miller, who is the Bishop/Hierophant of the Order. The ceremony was passed onto Elizabeth Kelley upon her ordination into the Order in June of 1995 and has been only slightly altered from the version written by Rosamonde. The story of Sophia’s descent into to matter and her vow to liberate all the “sparks” trapped in the material world is reminiscent of the promise given by the Bodhisattva not to return to Nirvana till all existence has been liberated.

 

The Gnostic myth of the Sophia can be quite complex but it also can be simply understood and experienced as a metaphor for the saga that takes place within us; the saga of each individual soul or “spark” and its journey out of darkness and ignorance, into wholeness or a reunion with its own divinity.

 

The ritual of the Eucharist is celebrated in the context of a Bridal Chamber; where on our wedding day, the voice of the Holy Sophia, which is also our own voice trapped and alienated in the depths of matter, manages to reach the Most High God creating a bridge across the stars. This bridge extends through time and space permitting the Divine Bridegroom, the Logos/the Christ to extend his healing touch and with a kiss, turn not only Sophia’s but also our own blindness into sight. It is through this sacred marriage of the Christ and the Sophia that an inner alchemy takes place where wholeness and union are achieved; and the lover and the beloved becomes One.

 

The Consecration and Communion are an intimate call to the wedding feast where the veils that cloaked our divinity our lifted, revealing all the world as sacred and the divine Bride and Bridegroom, standing face to face, sealed by the bridge to the Most High.

 

The Gnostic Holy Eucharist may look similar to a Catholic Mass with an offering of bread and wine yet the words that compose the liturgy are from the Gnostic Gospels: The Acts of John, Acts of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip and the Book of the Great Logos. Portions were quoted from the Exultation, Invocation of the Logos, Invocation of the Holy Spirit and a Call to Wholeness. Also several lines were taken for the uncopyrighted 1906 edition of Fragments of a Faith Forgotten.

 

In the present form of this ritual we have sought to restore a balance as it was meant from the beginning. We have based it on a ceremony that was used for centuries by the Order of Mary Magdalene. This mystery rite is not masculine or feminine, but equally combines both elements. May its transformative and initiatory power bring us all into an integrated whole, as it was intended since the beginning. May we all return to the One.

 

The above shorten synopsis of the Gnostic Eucharist ritual, was written by Elizabeth Kelley, with permission by Rosamonde Miller to print and post on the internet site: MMagdalene.net and MMagdalene.org.

 

For additional information visit www.gnosticsanctuary .org

You are welcome to attend Gnostic Eucharist Ceremony celebrated by Marishin Rosamonde every Sunday at 10:30 am at:

Sanctuary of the Holy Shekinah

1965 Latham Street

Mountain View, CA 94040

(650) 494-7412

 

 

Footnotes:

1 For background reading, see On the Origin of the World. This work, attributed to Valentinus, seems to draw on Hellenic, Manichean, and Jewish sources. See also the Hyostasis of the Archons, Eugnostos the Blessed and The Sophia of Jesus, the Thought of Norea, The Thunder, Perfect Mind along with others that can be found in The Nag Hammadi Library, (Harper & Row, 1977)

2 Isaac Luria, a noted Kabbalist was born in Jerusalem in 1534 yet lived most of his life in Egypt. For seven years he chose to live in silence on a secluded island in the Nile River studying and writing a commentary on the Zohar. In what is called the Lurianic myth the worlds were formed when the Divine breathed out so powerfully and far-reaching, that in the breathing-in, not all of the breath returned and sparks of the Divine were lost in outer darkness. The Holy Shekinah, God’s feminine principle, left Her dwelling place to remain among Her children. She vowed not to return until all hardened sparks within all the worlds had been redeemed (awakened) and could once more complete the journey to the Whole from whence they came.

3 The Holy Order of Mary Magdalene claims its origins to the first century and Miriam of Magdala as its founder. The continued existence is attributed to the zeal with which its female priests and hierophants have kept it secret. These claims cannot be verified by historians or scholars, for the original records and documents, as well as most of the keepers of the order, remain closed to scrutiny. The mythological and spiritual value of such a tradition remains significant when seen as a continued link with the Feminine Principle throughout the centuries in a context where women and the female aspect of divinity have preserved their spiritual dignity, without need for permission or recognition from the patriarchy.