Tau Malachi - The gnostic Gospel of St. Thomas: meditations on the mystical teachings

About the Author

Malachi Eben Ha-Elijah is a modern mystic. His journey on the spiritual path began when he was a young boy, when he encountered a Tau of the Sophian Tradition of Gnostic Christianity, Tau Elijah Ben Miriam. He received the oral tradition of Sophian Gnosticism from Tau Elijah, and has been a student and practitioner of Gnostic Christianity for over thirty-four years. In 1983 he founded Sophia Fellowship as an expression of the tradition, and has been teaching and initiating others into Christian Gnosticism, Rosicrucian Philosophy, and the holy Kabbalah since that time. He is an initiate of Ordo Sanctus Gnosis and holds the recognition of an Elder and Tau of the Sophian Tradition.

Along with his studies in the Western Mystery Tradition, Tau Malachi has studied extensively in several Eastern Traditions, such as Vajrayana Buddhism and Vedanta, as well as studying and practicing a Middle Eastern Tradition of Sufism. While Gnostic Christianity has always been his heart-path and spiritual home, Malachi speaks of himself as a traveler and explorer of the Spirit and Truth, and his journey has taken him to many sacred places and into diverse Wisdom Traditions.

For many years Tau Malachi served as a hospice volunteer, a volunteer trainer, and for a period of time as a hospice chaplain. Although he worked with patients suffering from various forms of terminal illness, much of his work focused on individuals living with HIV and AIDS.

Today he lives in the Sierra foothills, in Nevada City, California.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

The Gnostic Gospel of St. Thomas 2004 by Tau Malachi.

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First e-book edition 2012

E-book ISBN: 9780738716435

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Contents

Acknowledgments

First and foremost Id like to give my thanks and praise to my beloved teacher, of blessed memory, Tau Elijah Ben Miriam, and to the companions of his circle, who taught and initiated me into the path of Gnosticism and the Christian Kabbalah. My own work is merely the continuation of his divine labor, and whatever knowledge, understanding, or wisdom in spirit I may be able to share, in truth, all flows from my sacred friendship with him. He was my spiritual grandfather and best friend in my youth, and the guidance and inspiration I received from him remains with me to this day.

Id also like to give special thanks to Phillip Taylor, Penelope Ama-dali, Christopher Derks, and Michael Zysk, who worked with me to prepare the manuscript of this book for submission, without whose help it would not have been possible. Along with these friends Id like to thank all of the companions of Sophia Fellowship, whose love, encouragement, and support made this possible. I truly am blessed with wonderful friends and a delightful spiritual community.

Llewellyn Publications and all of the staff at Llewellyn also deserve my gratitude and thanks for their refinement and publication of this project. Llewellyn facilitates a voice for peoples of alternative spirituality, which is sorely needed, and they are exceptional at what they do. Thank you all!

Considering all of the people involved in the publication of a book it is impossible for me to think of it as my book. In truth, it is our book!

My heartfelt thanks!

Sincerely,

Tau Malachi Eben Ha-Elijah

Introduction

The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Gospel of St. John 3:8

T here is a need for a new gospel, a Gospel of the Cosmic Christone that restores the mystical and magical elements to Christianity, and yet more, one that teaches a path of conscious evolution toward the enlightenment experience that Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ) himself embodiedthe state of Christ-consciousness. I would go so far as to say that it is not only our need but Gods Will that a new gospel emerge and that there are voices of a new gospel who boldly proclaim even better good news.

In speaking about a new gospel, Im speaking about a shift in paradigm that requires us to look at the Scriptures we have with new eyes and to listen to their words with new ears. I am also speaking about seeking to understand the Scriptures through the inspiration of the Spirit so that we might glean something of their deeper and mystical meaning. The truth is that the Holy Scriptures have many levels of meaning, from the surface and literal meaning, to the metaphorical level, and deeper still, to the secret and mystical level. At each level, there are many different spiritual teachings that can be drawn out of any verse of the Holy Scriptures, all according to the inspiration of the Spirit in the moment and ones own capaci ty to receive. In effect, each verse is like an endless well of Wisdom into which one can dip ones cup again and again, continually bringing forth new Wisdomthe very living waters of which Jesus spoke.

While we can speak of the verses comprising the Scriptures as the well from which the living water of Wisdom is being drawn, we can also speak of ones own soul as the well, and the verse being like a cup that is drawing out the Holy Wisdom from within oneself. While we may look to see the depth of Wisdom contained in a verse, and gain an understanding of various levels of meaning intended, we can also seek what the verse draws out from the depths of our own beingan expression of our holy soul or Divine self. Jesus said, He who drinks from my mouth will become like me. I myself will become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed (Gospel of St. Thomas, Verse 108). To drink from the mouth of the Master and to become like him is to draw out the various teachings to be found in the different layers of meaning in the Scriptures, the Master becoming the person who is drawing forth the Wisdom of ones own holy soul and Christ-self. Only in this way are the things that are hidden revealed.

This process of seeking knowledge, understanding, and wisdom must be more than merely the formation of mental concepts. While the mind and mental being needs to be involved in the process, the heart and soul-being needs to be primary. As we seek to draw out the Wisdom contained within the Scriptures and seek to draw out the Wisdom from within our holy soul, we need to make ourselves open and sensitive, and seek to enter into the spiritual experience from which the Scripture itself was written. The heart, with its capacity to feel and intuit, and the soul-being, with its capacity to perceive within metaphysical dimensions through interior senses, are crucial to making the process experiential. When it is experiential, we restore our own Spirit-connectedness and are transformed in the process. We progress in the gospel.