From the Diary of St. Allogenes

Last updated on: April 13, 2015 at 9:04 am by Aidan Kelly

From the Diary of St. Allogenes 2015-04-13T09:04:01-07:00 Aidan Kelly

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This is an experiment, created by piecing together lines from the Coptic document “Allogenes.” which means “The Other-Begotten,” with a few similar lines from other such documents–and changing “He” to “She” and so on. What is most interesting to me is the line “I became divine.” Some apparently think it is a metaphor, or means “I developed a grandiose opinion about myself.” No, given the preceding lines, which I have kept in place, I think the writer meant that he had experienced the Awakening that made one Gnostic, that is, the overwhelming, transmogrifying experience of being consciously in the presence of the Divine, of being simultaneously the same as and different from the Divine. The insights about the nature of the Divine are precursors of, for example, The Cloud of Unknowing. I look forward to any well-informed comments.

Before anything came into being, the Mother alone existed, before the worlds in the heavens appeared, or the world that is the earth, or principality, or authority, or the powers. She brought forth everything, like a little child, like a drop from a spring, like a blossom from a vine, like a flower, like a plant in need of nourishment and growth and faultlessness. Nothing came into being without Her wish.

I was seeking the ineffable and Unknowable Goddess. Although I was ignorant of her, I knew her and was empowered by her. I prayed that the revelation might occur to me.

The compassionate and All Glorious angel of the Mother, Youel, appeared to me and said, ”Do not confine the Goddess of All to mental images. In her own being and form, no mind can conceive her, no speech convey her, no eye can see her, no body can grasp her, because her greatness is inscrutable, her depth incomprehensible, her height immeasurable, her will illimitable. She transcends all wisdom, all intellect, all glory, all beauty, all sweetness, all greatness, any depth, and any height

“Do not think The Goddess exists in a place. The Goddess is nearby; She is not far off. The Goddess is in every place, yet She is in no place. If you localize Her who is All in a place, then that place would be more exalted than She who dwells in it. Everything is in the Goddess, but the Goddess is not in anything. She contains them all within herself, for they all exist because of her.

“Do not think you know Her, for you cannot know Her. If an enlightened thought tells you of Her, be ignorant of her. However, whereas you cannot comprehend Her completely, you may nevertheless know Her, for if She, unknowable in Her nature, out of the abundance of Her sweetness, wishes to grant knowledge so that She might be known, She can do so.

“No one can hear these things except the great powers alone, O Allogenes. A great power was put upon you by the Mother of All, the Eternal, before you came to this place, in order that you might distinguish what is difficult to distinguish, that you might know things unknown to the multitude, that you might escape safely to the One who is yours, who was first to save and who does not need to be saved. If you seek with a perfect seeking, then you shall know the Good that is in you; you will know that your self derives from the Goddess who truly pre-exists. Then you become divine, and you become perfect.”

After the all-glorious One, Youel, said these things, she separated from me and left me.

My soul went slack, and I fled and was very disturbed. Yet I did not despair about the words I had heard. At first I received them in great silence, and I stood by myself, preparing myself in them and deliberated with myself for a hundred years.

When the hundred years were complete, they brought me a blessedness of eternal hope full of auspiciousness.

When I was confirmed in these matters, the powers of the Luminaries said to me, “Cease hindering the inactivity that exists in you, by seeking incomprehensible matters; rather, hear about her as far as possible by means of revelation.”

I was listening to these things as they spoke; within me was a silent stillness.

I was filled with a primary revelation of the Unknowable Goddess.

I turned to myself and saw the light that surrounded me and the Good that was in me.

I heard the Blessedness whereby I knew my proper self.

I became divine.

Having been strengthened forever, I knew the one who lives in me.

The all-glorious one, Youel, appeared to me and anointed me again. She gave power to me, and spoke to me again, saying, “Since your instruction is complete and you have known the Good that is within you, hear about what you will guard in great silence and mystery, because they can be spoken only to those who are worthy and can hear, nor is it fitting to speak to an uninstructed generation about the Universal One who is more than perfect. Write down the things that I shall tell you, and of which I shall remind you, for the sake of those who will be worthy after you.”

After I heard these things, I saw the glories of the perfect individuals and the all-perfect ones who exist together, and the all-perfect ones who are before the perfect ones.

Youel said to me, “They are perfect individuals and dwell all together, joined with the mind, the guardian which I provided, who taught you.”

I was taken by the eternal Light out of the garment that was upon me, up to a holy place whose likeness cannot be revealed in the world, then by means of a great blessedness I saw all those about whom I had heard. I rejoiced greatly, for I was in a great light and a blessed path, because those whom I was worthy to see and hear are the great powers who alone are fit to hear the revelation of the Goddess.

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