The Gnostic Church

"Our Gnostic Church is the Transcended Church. This church is found in the Superior Worlds. We also have many temples in the physical world. In addition, we have opened thousands of Gnostic Lumisials where holy rituals are celebrated and the secret doctrine of the Beloved Savior of the world is studied. We must not forget that our Gnostic Movement has both a school and a religion. It has already been decisively confirmed that Jesus the Christ was Gnostic. The Savior of the World was an active member of the cast of Essenes, mystics who never cut their hair or their beards. The Gnostic Church is the authentic primeval Christian Church whose first Pope was the Gnostic initiate called Peter." ―​Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony

The Gnostic Church was established by Jesus of Nazareth in accordance with the rites of Melchizedek. The Apostle Peter, Patar, or Cephas, whose name means "stone," became the foundation for the Gnostic Church in the physical world, and symbolically represents the foundation for any spiritual practitioner entering into the Christic mysteries. Peter, Patar, with its three radical letters: P-T-R, represents a profound and hidden teaching. "Pater" is the Father or divinity within man; "T" is the mystical crossing of the apostle's gold and silver keys, granting access to the divine kingdom and demonstrating the marriage of masculine (solar) and feminine (lunar) principles in the ancient metallurgic science of holy alchemy. The cross also symbolizes the purification and crucifixion of lower, animal passions in obedience to divine will. Lastly, "R" signifies the Egyptian Ra, the solar deity, creator Logos or Word of the Gnostics, personified and incarnated within the Master Jesus, the Son or Sun of God, "the light of the world" (John 8:12).

While the Gnostic Church has existed in the physical world, the physical church is merely a material expression of the universal Christian Gnostic Church upheld by the great masters, priests, bishops, and patriarchs within the superior dimensions of nature. These supra-sensible regions are accessible through awakened consciousness within the dream state, which can only become realized within us through practical works and the application of a highly technical, mystical, and scientific methodology.

The Roman sect is a derivation of or deviation from the Gnostic Church, resulting from the dogmatism, fanaticism, and ignorance of mistaken individuals whose adherence to belief without evidence has obscured the experiential dimension of the nature of religion (Latin: religare, reunion with divinity). The Gnostic Church, on the other hand, has been secretly maintained by purified souls who, through rigorous esoteric discipline, have obtained personal knowledge of the divine mysteries as well as the specific means of acquiring that direct knowledge for oneself.

The Greek word γνῶσις gnosis signifies conscious experience devoid of theory, concept, belief, or ideation, a state of awakened, objective perception of the realities of life and death on the physical and spiritual planes. The Greek word myein, the root of the word mystery, means "to close the eyes" of external, sensory perception in order to develop inner, spiritual sight through the science of meditation. A person of any race, culture, or creed may realize their divine nature by closing their eyes to belief, theory, materialism and illusions, and through meditation, awaken their complete human potential, thereby becoming a mystikos or "initiate": one initiated into a new way of life and being.  

Just as Jesus of Nazareth fasted for forty days and forty nights within the wilderness by engaging himself in contemplation, so we too, through learning to fast to our egotistical desires and inferior psychological qualities, may arrive at the threshold and amphitheater of cosmic wisdom. Likewise by following the example of Christ through his life, ministry, passion, death and resurrection, we too, by divine will and grace, may conquer temptation within ourselves and thereby overcome the inherent causes of suffering. This is "the straight and narrow gate that leadeth unto life" (Matthew 7:14) and the complete development of the human being.

The mysteries of the Gnostic Church teach the difficult path of selfless service leading to complete liberation, a road traversed by very few. However, this road was taken by the greatest and most venerated human beings our humanity has ever known: Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Moses, the Prophets, and the great masters whose example and teachings have crystallized into the major religions of the world today. Thus have all the great messengers, saints, and disciples of this universal mystery school defined themselves by their higher moral, ethical, and spiritual caliber in contrast to the common, unconscious, and suffering masses, whom they seek to serve out of mercy, compassion, and love.

"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

"Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." —Corinthians 2:7-8

The founding of Christianity was marked by the divergence of two different types of individuals: one initiated into the wisdom of God from direct experience, and the other merely accepting the testimonies of others based on dogma and hear-say, religious fanatics who would eventually use belief and superstition to manipulate others in order to gain power. The esoteric or secret teachings of Christianity were forced underground as those within the public or exoteric doctrine gained prominence and influence for political and personal means. Dion Fortune, famous author of The Mystical Qabalah, wrote the following regarding the split between the Gnostic and the orthodox traditions:
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"There naturally sprang up a keen rivalry between the two types of Christians; those who had accepted the teaching of Our Lord without any previous Mystery-training depended entirely upon spiritual intuition and good works; those who were already accustomed to the methods of the Mysteries sought to express the Christian truths in the language of the esoteric philosophy of their day. The first chapter of the Gospel according to John is an excellent example of the process whereby men already highly trained in mystical knowledge correlated the new teaching with that which was already familiar to them.  In this Gospel we see the influence of the Greek Schools of initiation, but in the Apocalypse we see the influence of Qabalistic thought.

​"The Gnostic Schools were the Christian Mysteries, made by initiates of other Mystery Schools who had become converted to Christianity and sought to establish within the Christian dispensation the methods to which they were accustomed.

"In the struggle between the two types of Christians, the initiates and the non-initiates, the latter eventually gained the day, and forthwith the order for persecution and abolition went forth against the Mysteries of Jesus. The orthodox element then gradually developed, as was inevitable, something of a Mystery System of their own in the sacraments, which are ritual magic pure and simple, as is agreed even by such an authority as Evelyn Underhill.

"But with the development of the sacramental system did not, unfortunately, go the metaphysical interpretation thereof. Superstition has been defined as the use of a form whose significance has been forgotten. The sacraments, instead of being the symbol-systems of the Mysteries of Jesus, approach perilously near to vain observance in the hands of those who regard them with superstitious awe rather than an understanding of their psychological and esoteric significance.

"Consequently there is an unbridged gulf in our modern Christianity between the mysticism of its deep spiritual truths and the symbolic and magical ceremonial of its ritual. This gulf it is the task of the modern Mystery Schools to bridge. These, however, have in many cases re-illumined their fires at an Eastern altar, so that the bridge they build does not lead to the Christian contacts of the West. Those of their followers who seek initiation, instead of having revealed to them the deeper issues of their own faith, have to change their religion and follow other Masters.

"How are we of the West, therefore, to bridge this gulf? We must do what the original gnostics did: seek to express in the metaphysical language of the Mysteries the teachings of Our Lord, and thereby establish an esoteric Christian School—the Initiation of the West. The Gnostics drew their inspiration from two main sources: the Mysteries of Greece and the Mysticism of Israel, the Qabalah, with which Our Lord was obviously very familiar. These are the sources wherein we shall find the mental and magical interpretation of our religion which shall supply the missing keys.

"The elements which were discarded from Christianity must be replaced if it is to become a true Wisdom Religion, and unless it can answer to the needs of the intellect as well as of the heart, those who need the food of the intellect rather than the heart will seek it elsewhere, and we cannot blame them." —Dion Fortune, The Training and Work of an Initiate

The Gnostic Academy of Chicago maintains the esoteric Christian tradition of the Gnostic Church as established by Jesus of Nazareth (Master Aberamentho) through his patriarchs, bishops, deacons, and priests. This tradition has been maintained by the gnostic institutions founded by Samael Aun Weor, as well as the awakened masters within the superior dimensions of nature. As Samael Aun Weor stated:

"The Church of our Lord Jesus Christ is not of this world; he himself said it, “My kingdom is not of this world.” In the mountain of the living God, there is a church, invisible to the eyes of the flesh, but visible to the eyes of the soul and the spirit. That is the primeval Gnostic Church, to which Christ and the prophets belong.

"That church has its bishops, archbishops, deacons, subdeacons, and priests who officiate at the altar of the living God. The patriarch of that invisible church is Jesus Christ.

"All Christians can go in soul and spirit (through astral projection) to that church. 

"In chapters four and five of this book we teach the secret to consciously exit the body and thus visit any distant land on the Earth.

"All humans can also visit the Gnostic Church during sleep (in the astral plane, the fifth dimension). There in that holy church, we see the Virgin of Carmel together with her holy angels.

"All the great saints of the church of God visit the Gnostic Church. Fridays and Sundays in the aurora there are masses and communions. By following the teachings given in chapters four and five of this book, all Christians can attend these masses and receive the communion of bread and wine. 

"In that church, all the devotees will be taught to prophesize.

"In the Gnostic Church, we see Christ seated on his throne, and all the Gnostics can converse with him personally.

"All the sufferings of Mary occurred when she married Joseph, the priest.

"Mary was initiated in the mysteries of Egypt.

"In the Gnostic Church, Christians learn how to prophesize.

"What is important is to follow the path of perfect sanctity and chastity.

"In our books entitled “The Perfect Matrimony” and “The Revolution of Beelzebub,” we thoroughly study the great mysteries of sex. In those books, we teach the greatest secrets of the universe.

"May peace be to all human beings." ―Samael Aun Weor, Christ and the Virgin: The Virgin of Carmel 

​If you are interested in becoming a member of our Gnostic Church, you can first participate in a series of preparatory courses and introductory classes on the foundations, practices, and principles of this tradition.

For more information about the Gnostic Church, particularly its foundation within the Hebraic Kabbalah, Egyptian ceremonial magic, and the Greek mysteries, see the following resources:

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Sacraments of the Gnostic Church