In other words I am going to attempt to explain the two most important phrases in the letter - viz. the idea that Jesus "taught him [the resurrected neaniskos] the mystery of the Kingdom of God" and that Secret Mark is "read only to those who are being initiated into the great mysteries" an initiation which apparently was developed in imitation of or related to the 'teaching' Jesus imparted to the neaniskos in LGM 1.
Let me start by saying that I think that if the reader wants a great traditional overview of the concept of 'mystery' and 'truth' in Clement of Alexandria they should read Henny Fiskå Hägg's book. My interest in this post is to go beyond anything that a scholar could ever write - principally because they don't have the balls to actually 'go out on a limb' and declare - plain and simple - what they think Clement was driving at.
Indeed isn't this the whole point of why Carlson's book has been so successful at silencing anyone who might be inclined to believe that Morton Smith was telling the truth about his discovery? No one wants to declare their support for To Theodore if some amateur researcher like Carlson finds something which proves that it was a forgery. That would show bad judgement and somehow compromise their authority on other matters.
However I have shown at least one detail which proves that Morton Smith could not have forged To Theodore - the motif 'a truth hidden by seven veils' clearly refers to the Alexandrian Episcopal throne. What must puzzle frequent readers of my blog is why Clement would make mention of this object in the course of talking about LGM 1. After all Jesus couldn't have dragged a throne into the tomb when he resurrected the neaniskos. What does a throne then have to do with the 'mystery of the Kingdom of God?'
Well let me start with the core revelation which I have repeated upmteen million times here already. That is that 'the truth hidden by seven veils' can only mean the Episcopal throne of Alexandria in its original ritual context i.e. literally veiled behind the curtain which separated the pneumatic elite (the presbytery) from the sarkic body of the believers (sort of like the way an airplane is divided into first class and donkey class).
That 'truth' meant 'Episcopal throne' is based on Isa 16:5 and developed here, here, here and here.
That a throne was understood to be hidden by seven veils is developed here.
So let's to the original question - why would Clement make reference to the throne of God in the adyton of the church of Alexandrian in the middle of his discussion about Jesus' initiation of the neaniskos? I already noted in a previous post that Ephrem noted that the throne naturally arises in the discussion that follows - viz. the request from the sons of Zebedee to sit at his right and left hand. Another tradition cited by Irenaeus - 'those of Mark' - connect a baptism with Mark 10.38 even though none is found in our existing canonical gospels.
Beyond these considerations we cannot lose sight of the fact that early Alexandrian literature identified their Episcopal throne with a 'power' or even Jesus himself. I examine this tradition in my forthcoming article in the Journal of Coptic Studies. The bottom line being here that the whole tradition has to be connected with hitherto frustrating and puzzling reference to a mercy seat in Rom 3:25 "God publicly displayed Jesus at his death as the mercy seat."
Indeed as any Coptic Christian knows, the throne of St. Mark (or better yet - the throne which St. Mark originally sat on) is reported to have 'magical powers' to transform ordinary mortals into living representatives of Christ. As we read in Severus al'Ashmunein God "gives him [the Pope] as his inheritance the throne of power, that he may rule over the earth with justice, and among men with truth; that he may deliver the weak from the mighty, and save the oppressed from the oppressor. This is the judgment and wisdom of God which none of his creatures can comprehend, for his mysteries are hidden from the wise and learned; and he raises up at all times those who shall gently guide his people."
The modern Copt has learned to identify the throne with the power of Mary. I suspect this was inherited from tradition Egyptian interest in Isis whose hieroglyph was the throne. Nevertheless I can demonstrate that Rom 3:25 led many Alexandrian Christians to identify the throne with Jesus in the early period.
In any event, the purpose of my identification of the Episcopal throne with the 'truth hidden by seven veils' was to draw Clement's teachings back to the Alexandrian Jewish practices of Philo (which I will write about in a future post). The point is that rabbinic tradition identifies a single throne (plus seventy chairs for the elders) to have been the centerpiece of the most important synagogue in Alexandria. The symbolism of an empty throne in a hidden room would have been obvious to any Jew especially if the chair looked at all like this:
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The chair is depicting the chariot (merkavah) of God. If you actually sat someone down in the chariot and called that person Papa:
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Even a Jew of the period - or any Christian whose tradition developed naturally out of Jewish messianic principles (like that of Alexandria) would immediately recognize that this person was being made up to represent God the Father.
In any event the point of this post is to go beyond this recognition and argue once and for all that Jesus - the divine Presence who was eventually understood to have been publicly displayed as the throne of God after his death - not only baptized and ritually prepared this disciple to sit on his throne but did so in order to be the hierophant and mystagogue who would continue initiate all those capable of receiving the same vision as he did in order to be transformed from mortal flesh to immortal glory.
I should say one thing of great importance. I unhesitatingly identify 'initiation' with baptism throughout this post. While it is never said explicitly in To Theodore we can have no doubt that Jesus was understood (at least ritually) by the Alexandrian community to have baptized this young disciple and - as he came out of the water - his body received the perfect image of glory that Jesus represented so as to ritually (or symbolically) be 're-clothed' after the image of perfection.
I think that this ritual was taken to signify that Jesus' 'Christ-soul' came over and into the disciple at this 'mystery of the kingdom of heaven' and thus forms the ultimate context for Irenaeus' many statements about Clement's heretical community (see my previous post) regarding their belief that Jesus was crucified but that Christ stood by impassibly watching him.
I will also argue that LGM 1 likely served as a prototype for a 'gnostic baptism' as Clement calls it or a ritual for "those who are being initiated into the great mysteries" as he says in To Theodore. I suspect that the ritual was conducted in order to purify the individuals in the Church of St. Mark in the Boucolia. I think that they literally pulled back the veils which separated the adyton from the unwashed and that these catechumen were allowed to see the image of the Pope sitting on the throne as a kind of ritual vision of perfection which completed their initiation.
It is for this reason that Clement notes at one point that:
For he who is still blind and dumb, not having understanding, or the undazzled and keen vision of the contemplative soul, which the Saviour confers, like the uninitiated at the mysteries, or the unmusical at dances, not being yet pure and worthy of the pure truth, but still discordant and disordered and material, must stand outside of the divine choir. "For we compare spiritual things with spiritual." Wherefore, in accordance with the method of concealment, the truly sacred Word truly divine and most necessary for us, deposited in the shrine of truth, was by the Egyptians indicated by what were called among them adyta, and by the Hebrews by the veil. Only the consecrated -- that is, those devoted to God, circumcised in the desire of the passions for the sake of love to that which is alone divine -- were allowed access to them. For Plato also thought it not lawful for "the impure to touch the pure." Thence the prophecies and oracles are spoken in enigmas, and the mysteries are not exhibited incontinently to all and sundry, but only after certain purifications and previous instructions.[Strom. v.4]
I have to stress over and over again that most scholars haven't even realized that Clement is referring to an actual building in To Theodore and other writings which was at the heart of Alexandrian Christianity. As Meinardus and others have noted the entire lay out of the oldest Coptic Churches reinforce the bishop as a symbol of the rising sun. Someone sitting in an Alexandrian Episcopal chair adorned like the one I discovered in Venice positioned against the eastern wall would make this identification even easier.
The point now is to demonstrate that indeed To Theodore is actually describing a real physical place where indeed the newly baptized pulled back the veil separating the adyton from the main church and witnessed the mystical revelation of God the Father sitting on his throne in human form. We read in what follows Clement say that the Christian mysteries only perfect the hopes of the pagan mysteries:
All then, in a word, who have spoken of divine things, both Barbarians and Greeks, have veiled the first principles of things, and delivered the truth in enigmas, and symbols, and allegories, and metaphors, and such like tropes. Such also are the oracles among the Greeks. [ibid]
He says again that:
The persuasive style of poetry is for them a veil for the many. Dreams and signs are all more or less obscure to men, not from jealousy (for it were wrong to conceive of God as subject to passions), but in order that research, introducing to the understanding of enigmas, may haste to the discovery of truth. [ibid]
Yet in due course he explicitly connects the space hidden by the 'seven veils' in To Theodore with the inner sanctum of the temple (which is itself an image of the heavenly realm):
Now concealment is evinced in the reference of the seven circuits around the temple, which are made mention of among the Hebrews; and the equipment on the robe, indicating by the various symbols, which had reference to visible objects, the agreement which from heaven reaches down to earth. And the covering and the veil were variegated with blue, and purple, and scarlet, and linen. And so it was suggested that the nature of the elements contained the revelation of God. For purple is from water, linen from the earth; blue, being dark, is like the air, as scarlet is like fire.
In the midst of the covering and veil, where the priests were allowed to enter, was situated the altar of incense, the symbol of the earth placed in the middle of this universe; and from it came the fumes of incense. And that place intermediate between the inner veil, where the high priest alone, on prescribed days, was permitted to enter, and the external court which surrounded it -- free to all the Hebrews -- was, they say, the middlemost point of heaven and earth. But others say it was the symbol of the intellectual world, and that of sense. The coveting, then, the barrier of popular unbelief, was stretched in front of the five pillars, keeping back those in the surrounding space. [ibid]
Clement says again that:
Within the veil, then, is concealed the sacerdotal service; and it keeps those engaged in it far from those without. Again, there is the veil of the entrance into the holy of holies. Four pillars there are, the sign of the sacred tetrad of the ancient covenants. Further, the mystic name of four letters which was affixed to those alone to whom the adytum was accessible, is called Jave, which is interpreted, "Who is and shall be." The name of God, too, among the Greeks contains four letters.
Now the Lord, having come alone into the intellectual world, enters by His sufferings, introduced into the knowledge of the Ineffable, ascending above every name which is known by sound. The lamp, too, was placed to the south of the altar of incense; and by it were shown the motions of the seven planets, that perform their revolutions towards the south. For three branches rose on either side of the tamp, and lights on them; since also the sun, like the lamp, set in the midst of all the planets, dispenses with a kind of divine music the light to those above and to those below.
The golden lamp conveys another enigma as a symbol of Christ, not in respect of form alone, but in his casting light, "at sundry times and divers manners," on those who believe on Him and hope, and who see by means of the ministry of the First-born. And they say that the seven eyes of the Lord "are the seven spirits resting on the rod that springs from the root of Jesse."
North of the altar of incense was placed a table, on which there was "the exhibition of the loaves;" for the most nourishing of the winds are those of the north. And thus are signified certain seats of churches conspiring so as to form one body and one assemblage. [ibid]
So I hope it is not to much to suggest that when Clement says that there are those on the one hand "who are being initiated into the great mysteries" from the narrative of Secret Mark and then in turn says that Jesus taught the resurrected neaniskos "the mystery of the Kingdom of God" in this text that there is something of a ritual imitation of this event which has to be connect with the redemption ritual of the 'Marcosians' of Irenaeus.
Let's go through the books of Clement to provide the proper context of our understanding of the rituals in To Theodore recognizing - as Hagg has already shown - that there is a clear progressive revelation of the truth in the material itself.
In no uncertain terms again can be avoid seeing that at its most basic, the mystery which Jesus brought to his initiates was that of baptism and in particular the understanding that those coming out of the water mystically 'took on his glory' into their person. We read:
O amazing mystery! We are enjoined to cast off the old and carnal corruption, as also the old nutriment, receiving in exchange another new regimen, that of Christ, receiving Him if we can, to hide Him within. [Paed i.6]
And again:
But that man with whom the Word dwells does not alter himself, does not get himself up: he has the form which is of the Word; he is made like to God; he is beautiful; he does not ornament himself: his is beauty, the true beauty, for it is God; and that man becomes God, since God so wills. Heraclitus, then, rightly said, "Men are gods, and gods are men." For the Word Himself is the manifest mystery: God in man, and man God. And the Mediator executes the Father's will ... Paul says, speaking of the Lord, "Because He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant," calling the outward man servant, previous to the Lord becoming a servant and wearing flesh. But the compassionate God Himself set the flesh free, and releasing it from destruction, and from bitter and deadly bondage, endowed it with incorruptibility, arraying the flesh in this, the holy embellishment of eternity--immortality. [ibid iii.1]
The Stromata begins with a similar preliminary understanding:
Thus the Lord did not hinder from doing good while keeping the Sabbath; but allowed us to communicate of those divine mysteries, and of that holy light, to those who are able to receive them. He did not certainly disclose to the many what did not belong to the many; but to the few to whom He knew that they belonged, who were capable of receiving and being moulded according to them. But secret things are entrusted to speech, not to writing, as is the case with God. [Strom i.1]
Later in the Stromata Clement makes explicit that baptism is the necessary starting point for the mystery of the kingdom of heaven:
For [John] confesses that he is not worthy to baptize so great a Power; for it behooves those, who purify others, to free the soul from the body and its sins, as the foot from the thong. Perhaps also this signified the final exertion of the Saviour's power toward us -- the immediate, I mean -- that by His presence, concealed in the enigma of prophecy, inasmuch as he, by pointing out to sight Him that had been prophesied of, and indicating the Presence which had come, walking forth into the light, loosed the latchet of the oracles of the [old] economy, by unveiling the meaning of the symbols. [ibid v.8]
Clement then turns around in the next chapter and takes this rather abstract discussion of the principles of baptism and initiation back to the inner sanctum of the church of Alexandria:
They also wish us to require an interpreter and guide. For so they considered, that, receiving truth at the hands of those who knew it well, we would be more earnest and less liable to deception, and those worthy of them would profit. Besides, all things that shine through a veil show the truth grander and more imposing; as fruits shining through water, and figures through veils, which give added reflections to them. For, in addition to the fact that things unconcealed are perceived in one way, the rays of light shining round reveal defects. Since, then, we may draw several meanings, as we do from what is expressed in veiled form, such being the case, the ignorant and unlearned man fails. But the Gnostic apprehends. Now, then, it is not wished that all things should be exposed indiscriminately to all and sundry, or the benefits of wisdom communicated to those who have not even in a dream been purified in soul, (for it is not allowed to hand to every chance comer what has been procured with such laborious efforts); nor are the mysteries of the word to be expounded to the profane. [ibid v.9]
And again:
Further, those who instituted the mysteries, being philosophers, buried their doctrines in myths, so as not to be obvious to all. Did they then, by veiling human opinions, prevent the ignorant from handling them; and was it not more beneficial for the holy and blessed contemplation of realities to be concealed? [ibid]
And then speaking of the Apostle's use of the term 'mystery' says:
So that, on the one hand, then, are the mysteries which were hid till the time of the apostles, and were delivered by them as they received from the Lord, and, concealed in the Old Testament, were manifested to the saints. And, on the other hand, there is "the riches of the glory of the mystery in the Gentiles," which is faith and hope in Christ; which in another place he has called the "foundation." And again, as if in eagerness to divulge this knowledge, he thus writes: "Warning every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man (the whole man) perfect in Christ;" not every man simply, since no one would be unbelieving. Nor does he call every man who believes in Christ perfect; but he says all the man, as if he said the whole man, as if purified in body and soul. For that the knowledge does not appertain to all, he expressly adds: "Being knit together in love, and unto all the riches of the full assurance of knowledge, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God in Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge." "Continue in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving." And thanksgiving has place not for the soul and spiritual blessings alone, but also for the body, and for the good things of the body. And he still more clearly reveals that knowledge belongs not to all, by adding: "Praying at the same time for you, that God would open to us a door to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am bound; that I may make it known as I ought to speak." [ibid v.10]
Indeed, even though Clement is ostensibly paraphrasing Plato, what follows in a subsequent chapter is one of the clearest statements about what exactly the process of Christian initiation on contemporary Alexandria actually involved saying:
when with the blessed choir, according to Plato, we shall gaze on the blessed sight and vision; we following with Zeus, and others with other deities, if we may be permitted so to say, to receive initiation into the most blessed mystery: which we shall celebrate, ourselves being perfect and untroubled by the ills which awaited us at the end of our time; and introduced to the knowledge of perfect and tranquil visions, and contemplating them in pure sunlight; we ourselves pure, and now no longer distinguished by that, which, when carrying it about, we call the body, being bound to it like an oyster to its shell. [ibid v.13]
The same statement is made with respect to 'truth' - or the throne - in the next book when Clement writes:
Now much more is that knowledge which excels all branches of culture in greatness and in truth, most difficult to acquire, and is attained with much toil. "But, as seems, they know not the mysteries of God. For God created man for immortality, and made him an image of His own nature;" according to which nature of Him who knows all, he who is a Gnostic, and righteous, and holy with prudence, hastes to reach the measure of perfect manhood [ibid vi.12]
And again even more clearly:
Thus also it appears to me that there are three effects of gnostic power: the knowledge of things; second, the performance of whatever the Word suggests; and the third, the capability of delivering, in a way suitable to God, the secrets veiled in the truth. [ibid]
The discussion reaches a crescendo in book seven - the effective conclusion of the work - in which Clement begins by saying:
He, then, who is persuaded that God is omnipotent, and has learned the divine mysteries from His only-begotten Son [ibid vii.1]
This is the Teacher, who trains the Gnostic by mysteries [vii.2]
Since also before the communication of the mysteries they think it right to apply certain purifications to those who are to be initiated; so it is requisite for men to abandon impious opinion, and thus turn to the tradition of truth. [vii.4]
And that the Alexandrian gospel itself is the 'read' to the initiates (notice the presence of the word 'impassibility' apatheia again in the midst of the discussion):
For it is not required to unfold the mystery, but only to indicate what is sufficient for those who are partakers in knowledge to bring it to mind; who also will comprehend how it was said by the Lord, "Be ye perfect as your father, perfectly," by forgiving sins, and forgetting injuries, and living in the habit of impassibility. For as we call a physician perfect, and a philosopher perfect, so also, in my view, do we call a Gnostic perfect. But not one of those points, although of the greatest importance, is assumed in order to the likeness of God. For we do not say, as the Stoics do most impiously, that virtue in man and God is the same. Ought we not then to be perfect, as the Father wills? For it is utterly impossible for any one to become perfect as God is. Now the Father wishes us to be perfect by living blamelessly, according to the obedience of the Gospel. [ibid vii.14]
And again that the gospel 'gave birth' to the throne which in turn mandates the 'rule of truth' for the Alexandrian community (as I have suggested elsewhere):
Now such to us are the Scriptures of the Lord, which gave birth to the truth and continue virgin, in the concealment of the mysteries of the truth. "And she brought forth, and yet brought not forth," Says the Scripture; as having conceived of herself, and not from conjunction. Wherefore the Scriptures have conceived to Gnostics; but the heresies, not having learned them, dismissed them as not having conceived.
Now all men, having the same judgment, some, following the Word speaking, frame for themselves proofs; while others, giving themselves up to pleasures, wrest Scripture, in accordance with their lusts. And the lover of truth, as I think, needs force of soul. For those who make the greatest attempts must fail in things of the highest importance; unless, receiving from the truth itself the rule of the truth, they cleave to the truth. [ibid]
And again;
Seeing, therefore, the danger that they are in (not in respect of one dogma, but in reference to the maintenance of the heresies) of not discovering the truth; for while reading the books we have ready at hand, they despise them as useless, but in their eagerness to surpass common faith, they have diverged from the truth. For, in consequence of not learning the mysteries of ecclesiastical knowledge, and not having capacity for the grandeur of the truth, too indolent to descend to the bottom of things, reading superficially, they have dismissed the Scriptures. Elated, then, by vain opinion, they are incessantly wrangling, and plainly care more to seem than to be philosophers. [ibid vii.16]
Indeed the clearest description of the inherent idea of 'truth' being a physical object held within a physical room of the church hidden by seven veils also appears at the end of book seven of the Stromata:
Those, then, that adhere to impious words, and dictate them to others, inasmuch as they do not make a right but a perverse use of the divine words, neither themselves enter into the kingdom of heaven, nor permit those whom they have deluded to attain the truth. But not having the key of entrance, but a false (and as the common phrase expresses it), a counterfeit key, by which they do not enter in as we enter in, through the tradition of the Lord, by drawing aside the curtain; but bursting through the side-door, and digging clandestinely through the wall of the Church, and stepping over the truth, they constitute themselves the Mystagogues of the soul of the impious. [ibid vii.17]
Of course the language of this passage sounds so eerily reminiscent of To Theodore that it forces those who malign Morton Smith to say that he himself appropriated its language to forge the letter.
Yet how do these people explain that Smith did not know that the 'truth' hidden by this veiling was the Episcopal throne of Alexandria? Indeed that a chair with images adorning it like the one I found in Venice HAS TO BE at the center of 'the mystery of the kingdom of heaven' referenced in to Theodore is made absolutely explicit in Clement's most explicit discussion of the Christian mysteries anywhere - his Exhortation to the Heathen.
Here in the course of criticizing the false mysteries of the pagans Clement explicitly references the fact that a chariot - a throne which must have looked remarkably similar to our object:
is the focus of the Christian mystery religion of truth. We read:
Man, that had been free by reason of simplicity, was found fettered to sins. The Lord then wished to release him from his bonds, and clothing Himself with flesh--O divine mystery!--vanquished the serpent, and enslaved the tyrant death; and, most marvellous of all, man that had been deceived by pleasure, and bound fast by corruption, had his hands unloosed, and was set free. O mystic wonder! The Lord was laid low, and man rose up; and he that fell from Paradise receives as the reward of obedience something greater --namely, heaven itself. [Exh 11]
Yet Clement clearly identifies this concept of 'heaven' as the throne in a number of passages in his writings. Indeed the context - Christ's conclusion at the end of the gospel would suit this interpretation perfectly.
I can't say enough how this baptism which Clement describes seems remarkably similar to the 'redemption' ritual of the 'Marcosians' of Irenaeus (notice how many times the concept of 'freedom' is invoked. This description of the mystery process (presumably in the church of St. Mark of Alexandria) continues in what immediately follows:
O truly sacred mysteries! O stainless light! My way is lighted with torches, and I survey the heavens and God; I become holy whilst I am initiated. The Lord is the hierophant, and seals while illuminating him who is initiated, and presents to the Father him who believes, to be kept safe for ever. Such are the reveries of my mysteries. [ibid 12]
In the conclusion of Exhortation Clement acknowledges that he goes too far when he actually reveals the physical object that the initiates see as the mystery unfolds:
Let us haste, let us run, my fellowmen--us, who are God-loving and God-like images of the Word. Let us haste, let us run, let us take His yoke, let us receive, to conduct us to immortality, the good charioteer of men. Let us love Christ. He led the colt with its parent; and having yoked the team of humanity to God, directs His chariot to immortality, hastening clearly to fulfil, by driving now into heaven, what He shadowed forth before by riding into Jerusalem. A spectacle most beautiful to the Father is the eternal Son crowned with victory. Let us aspire, then, after what is good; let us become God-loving men, and obtain the greatest of all things which are incapable of being harmed--God and life. Our helper is the Word; let us put confidence in Him; and never let us be visited with such a craving for silver and gold, and glory, as for the Word of truth Himself ... It is time, then, for us to say that the pious Christian alone is rich and wise, and of noble birth, and thus call and believe him to be God's image, and also His likeness, having become righteous and holy and wise by Jesus Christ, and so far already like God. Accordingly this grace is indicated by the prophet, when he says, "I said that ye are gods, and all sons of the Highest." For us, yea us, He has adopted, and wishes to be called the Father of us alone, not of the unbelieving. Such is then our position who are the attendants of Christ. [ibid]
Oh for God's sake people, I have proven my case but for those who refuse to yield I can cite one more document where the throne witnessed by the initiate is expressly manifested. The following is from To the Newly Baptized a text taken from Butterworth's Clement of Alexandria, pp. 370-377 in the Loeb Classical Library, first printed 1919 and the original is available here.
Here is a something which was clearly said to the newly baptized as they gazed at a holy object which was supposed to impress perfection on their soul. It was declared in this setting that:
Cultivate quietness in word [ἡσυχίαν μὲν λόγοις ἐπιτήδευε], quietness in deed [ἡσυχίαν δὲ ἔργοις], likewise in speech and gait; and avoid impetuous eagerness. For then the mind [νοῦς] will remain steady, and will not be agitated by your eagerness and so become weak and of narrow discernment and see darkly; nor will it be worsted by gluttony, worsted by boiling rage, worsted by the other passions, lying a ready prey to them. For the mind [νοῦν], seated on high [ἐπικρατεῖν ὑψηλὸν] on a quiet throne [ἡσύχου θρόνου] looking intently towards God, must control the passions [παθῶν]. By no means be swept away by temper in bursts of anger, nor be sluggish in speaking, nor all nervousness in movement; so that your quietness [ἡσυχίαν] may be adorned by good proportion and your bearing may appear something divine and sacred.
I needn't dwell on the obvious mystical interest in the word 'silence' shared once again by Irenaeus' 'Marcosians.' Nor again that 'mind' and 'word' were important concepts in this community. It is enough to acknowledge that the symbolism of the throne was central to the newly baptized of Clement's church. They were obviously staring at a physical image when these words were spoken and in turn the context of To Theodore fits perfectly in the lines which follow.
And while we are on the subject of 'the charioteer' isn't it interesting that elsewhere in his writings Clement identifies 'the Instructor' with the one who rides the merkavah:
For luxury, that has dashed on to surfeit, is prone to kick up its heels and toss its mane, and shake off the charioteer, the Instructor; who, pulling back the reins from far, leads and drives to salvation the human horse--that is, the irrational part of the soul--which is wildly bent on pleasures, and vicious appetites, and precious stones, and gold, and variety of dress, and other luxuries. [Paed iii.11]
And then there is Clement's prayer to the Instructor himself at the end of the book:
Be gracious, O Instructor, to us Thy children, Father, Charioteer of Israel, Son and Father, both in One, O Lord. Grant to us who obey Thy precepts, that we may perfect the likeness of the image, and with all our power know Him who is the good God and not a harsh judge [ibid iii.12]
That this image of 'the charioteer' DIDN'T HAVE a depiction of horses is obvious as each of us are consistently said to be these 'horses':
Thus, then, while we attempt piously to advance, we shall have put on us the mild yoke of the Lord from faith to faith, one charioteer driving each of us onward to salvation, that the meet fruit of beatitude may be won. [Strom. ii.20]
And for the ignorant who might not realize that the concepts of 'chariot' and 'throne' are interchangeable in Jewish mysticism Clement helps explain this with a citing of the hymns of Orpheus for his Greek readership:
But one a scion of Chaldean race; For he the sun's path knew right well, And how the motion of the sphere about The earth proceeds, in circle moving Equally around its axis, how the winds Their chariot guide o'er air and sea." Then, as if paraphrasing the expression, "Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool," he adds : "But in great heaven, He is seated firm Upon a throne of gold, and neath His feet The earth. His right hand round the ocean's bound He stretches; and the hills' foundations shake To the centre at His wrath, nor can endure His mighty strength. He all celestial is, And all things finishes upon the earth. He the Beginning, Middle is, and End. [ibid v.14]
And oh yes, the phrase 'beginning, middle and end' is the equivalent in Jewish mysticism of 'the alpha and omega' and is consistently represented by the word 'truth.'
So now, people I hope you see what I am saying. Initiates were brought into the holy of holies of the Church of St. Mark in Alexandria being purified to see a vision of God the Father through the Pope sitting on the divine throne. This image was supposed to change their mortal nature to immortality. For those who still aren't entirely convinced (who are these idiots?) here is a fragment of Clement's writings, ostensibly dealing with Luke 15 but clearly invoking the image of the picture below:
Just read what follows looking at the picture realizing that this Pope was once baptized and initiated himself, and represents 'the Son' representing knowledge of the Father (think Arian controversy for a moment):
What choral dance and high festival is held in heaven, if there is one that has become an exile and a fugitive from the life led under the Father, knowing not that those who put them selves far from Him shall perish; if he has squandered the gift, and substance, and inheritance of the Father; if there is one whose faith has failed, and whose hope is spent, by rushing along with the Gentiles into the same profligacy of debauchery; and then, famished and destitute, and not even filled with what the swine eat, has arisen and come to his Father!
But the kind Father waits not till the son comes to Him. For perchance he would never be able or venture to approach, did he not find Him gracious. Wherefore, when he merely wishing, when he straightway made a beginning, when he took the first step, while he was yet a great way off, He [the Father] was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell upon his neck and kissed him. And then the son, taking courage, confessed what he had done.
Wherefore the Father bestows on him the glory and honour that was due and meet, putting on him the best robe, the robe of immortality; and a ring, a royal signet and divine seal,--impress of consecration, signature of glory, pledge of testimony (for it is said, "He hath set to his seal that God is true,") and shoes, not those perishable ones which he hath set his foot on holy ground is bidden take off, nor such as he who is sent to preach the kingdom of heaven is forbidden to put on, but such as wear not, and ate suited for the journey to heaven, becoming and adorning the heavenly path, such as unwashed feet never put on, but those which are washed by our Teacher and Lord.
Many, truly, are the shoes of the sinful soul, by which it is bound and cramped. For each man is cramped by the cords of his own sins. Accordingly, Abraham swears to the king of Sodom, "I will not take of all that is thine, from a thread to a shoe-latchet." On account of these being defiled and polluted on the earth, every kind of wrong and selfishness engrosses life. As the Lord reproves Israel by Amos, saying, "For three iniquities of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn him back; because they have given away the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, which tread upon the dust of the ground."
Now the shoes which the Father bids the servant give to the repentant son who has be-taken himself to Him, do not impede or drag to the earth (for the earthly tabernacle weighs down the anxious mind); but they are buoyant, and ascending, and waft to heaven, and serve as such a ladder and chariot as he requires who has turned his mind towards the Father. For, beautiful after being first beautifully adorned with all these things without, he enters into the gladness within. [Macarius Chrysocephalus: Parable of the Prodigal Son]
This my friends, is the actual context of the 'mystery of the kingdom of heaven.' You have no more excuses for your ignorance. You have been brought into acquaintance with the truth ...
If you are interested in reading how this observation fits within my greater understanding of the workings of Secret Mark WITHIN the contemporary Alexandrian Church please go here
If you want to read more about how Alexandrian Christianity was rooted in the Jewish traditions of Alexandria, Philo of Alexandria and more feel free to purchase my new book here
