Directory:
Lectionary
Liturgical Calendar
Ecclesia Gnostica
Return to
Gnosis Archive
For Services of the Holy Sophia
in the Month of November
THE COLLECT
Blessed Lady of the aeons who hast told us of old: "Hear me in gentleness, and learn of me in roughness, I am she who cries out, and I am cast forth upon the face of the earth," give us grace to find thy presence in this world of opposites of peace and war of beauty and terror. For we live in a place of contrasts and confusion where understanding abideth not. For without thee, 0 blessed Wisdom, we shall never attain to clarity of vision and to an understanding of purpose. For thou bestowest thy mercy upon all of thine offspring without judgment and thy love leadeth us to the source of our being, even to the abode of the Father of the All.
Amen.
THE LESSON
The Lesson is taken from the Book of Proverbs:
Sophia (that is Wisdom) hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: she hath emptied her breasts: she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city. Whoso made himself simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith unto him, "Come eat of my bread, and drink of my wine which I have mingled, forsake the foolish, and live: and go in the way of understanding. He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame; and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man and he will increase in Gnosis. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the Gnosis of the holy is understanding."
THE GOSPEL
The Gospel is taken from the Apocryphon of John:
The beneficent and merciful one, the Mother-Father, had mercy on the power of the mother, which this chief archon had brought forth by his breath, lest the archons gain dominion over the natural body. Through his great mercy the Spirit sent a helper to Adam, the luminous Epinoia, who is the insight of Sophia. She, who is also called Life, assists the whole creature by toiling with him and restoring him to his Pleroma and by teaching him about the descent of his seed and also by teaching him about the way of ascent. The luminous Epinoia was hidden in Adam in order that the archons might not know her, but that the Epinoia might correct the deficiency.