The idea of a trinity as God,—father, mother and son—faded away quickly during the early development of the Christian dogma and it seems that the replacement of the word logos for sophia helped to obliterate the idea that the second person of the deity was female. The change was also favored by the fact that while ruwach (ruah), the Hebrew term for spirit, is feminine, the Greek term pneuma is neuter.
Where the English Bible says "Son of Man" it should actually translate to "Heir(or Scion) of Humanity" from Hebrew ben’adam, Aramaic bar’nasha and Greek equivalent huios anthrwpwn.
Where the English Bible reads "Kingdom of God" it should actually translate "Queendom of God" from the Greek basileia which is a feminine word.
In the Aramaic roots of The Lord's Prayer. Jesus's original language, the prayer takes on a much fuller meaning. Of particular relevance is the opening line...."Abvwoon Debashmaya." The words Jesus used to address God. It means, the birther, the bearer, the breather/bringer of life and light. From this, it appears that Jesus is addressing a God that is mother and father. It would suggest that a mother aspect of God is real and Holy
The Prayer To Our Father in the Original Aramaic
Abwűn... O cosmic Birther, from whom the breath of life comes,
d'bwaschmâja... who fills all realms of sound, light and vibration.
Nethkâdasch schmach... May Your light be experienced in my utmost holiest.
Tętę malkuthach... Your Heavenly Domain approaches.
Nehwę tzevjânach aikâna d'bwaschmâja af b'arha... Let Your will come true in the universe (all that vibrates) just as on earth (that is material and dense).
Hawvlân lachma d'sűnkanân jaomâna... Give us wisdom (understanding, assistance) for our daily need,
Waschboklân chaubęn wachtahęn aikâna daf chnân schwoken l'chaijabęn... detach the fetters of faults that bind us, (karma) like we let go the guilt of others.
Wela tachlân l'nesjuna... Let us not be lost in superficial things (materialism, common temptations),
ela patzân min bischa... but let us be freed from that what keeps us off from our true purpose.
Metol dilachie malkutha wahaila wateschbuchta l'ahlâm almîn... From You comes the all-working will, the lively strength to act, the song that beautifies all and renews itself from age to age.
Amęn... Sealed in trust, faith and truth. (I confirm with my entire being)
The Aramaic Language has (like the Hebrew and Arabic) different levels of meaning. The words are organized and defined by a poetical system where different meanings of every word are possible. So, every line of the Lords Prayer could be translated into English in many different versions. As an example of how the intent of a passage can be changed, here are some translations of the Lord's Prayer directly translated from the ancient Aramaic language into modern English.
The Prayer To Our
Father
(in the original Aramaic)
Abwűn
"Oh Thou,
from whom the breath of life comes,
d'bwaschmâja
who fills all realms of sound, light and vibration.
Nethkâdasch
schmach
May Your light be experienced in my utmost holiest.
Tętę
malkuthach.
Your Heavenly Domain approaches.
Nehwę
tzevjânach aikâna d'bwaschmâja af b'arha.
Let Your will come true - in the universe (all that vibrates)
just as on earth (that is material and dense).
Hawvlân
lachma d'sűnkanân jaomâna.
Give us wisdom (understanding, assistance) for our daily need,
Waschboklân
chaubęn wachtahęn aikâna
daf chnân schwoken l'chaijabęn.
detach the fetters of faults that bind us, (karma)
like we let go the guilt of others.
Wela tachlân
l'nesjuna
Let us not be lost in superficial things (materialism, common
temptations),
ela patzân
min bischa.
but let us be freed from that what keeps us off from our true
purpose.
Metol
dilachie malkutha wahaila wateschbuchta l'ahlâm almîn.
From You comes the all-working will, the lively strength to act,
the song that beautifies all and renews itself from age to age.
Amęn.
Sealed in trust, faith and truth.
(I confirm with my entire being)
Lords Prayer Translated from Aramaic
A Translation of "Our Father" directly from Aramaic into EnglishO cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration. Soften the ground of our being and carve out a space within us where your Presence can abide.
Fill us with your creativity so that we may be empowered to bear the fruit of your mission.
Let each of our actions bear fruit in accordance with our desire.
Endow us with the wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish.
Untie the tangled threads of destiny that bind us, as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes.
Do not let us be seduced by that which would divert us from our true purpose, but illuminate the opportunities of the present moment.
For you are the ground and the fruitful vision, the birth, power and fulfillment, as all is gathered and made whole once again.
Lords Prayer, from the original Aramaic
Translation by Neil Douglas-Klotz in Prayers of the CosmosO Birther! Father- Mother of the Cosmos
Focus your light within us - make it useful.
Create your reign of unity now-
through our fiery hearts and willing hands
Help us love beyond our ideals
and sprout acts of compassion for all creatures.
Animate the earth within us: we then
feel the Wisdom underneath supporting all.
Untangle the knots within
so that we can mend our hearts' simple ties to each other.
Don't let surface things delude us,
But free us from what holds us back from our true purpose.
Out of you, the astonishing fire,
Returning light and sound to the cosmos.
Amen.
Lords Prayer, from Aramaic into Old English
Translation by G.J.R. Ouseley from The Gospel of the Holy TwelveOur Father-Mother Who art above and within:
Hallowed be Thy Name in twofold Trinity.
In Wisdom, Love and Equity Thy Kingdom come to all.
Thy will be done, As in Heaven so in Earth.
Give us day by day to partake of Thy holy Bread, and the fruit of the living Vine.
As Thou dost forgive us our trespasses, so may we forgive others who trespass against us.
Shew upon us Thy goodness, that to others we may shew the same.
In the hour of temptation, deliver us from evil.
Amun.
The Lord's Prayer, sometimes known by its first two Latin words as the Pater Noster, or the English equivalent Our Father, is probably the most well-known prayer in the Christian religion. The Lord's Prayer is excerpted from Matt. 6:9-13 during the Sermon on the Mount. A similar prayer is found on Luke 11:2-4.
It is called the "Lord's Prayer" because it was the prayer given by Jesus in response to a request from the Apostles for guidance on how to pray. Most Christian theologians point out that Jesus would have never used this prayer himself, for it specifically asks for forgiveness of sins or, more literally, for cancellation of debts, and in most schools of Christian thought, Christ never sinned. However since it says "forgive us our sins", not "forgive me my sins", Christ might have prayed it by way of identifying himself with the common plight of man and of asking for the forgiveness of the sins of his disciples.
The doxology (For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen) was not present in the original version of the prayer, but rather was added to the Gospels as a result of its use in the liturgy of the early church. For this reason, it is not included in many modern translations.
The Old testament word for spirit is ruaka, meaning wind, breath,
inspiration, and the OT Hebrew noun is always feminine. Aramaic is a
Semetic language very similar to Hebrew and it is certain that Hebrew
and Aramaic would be the primary languages used in the Jewish Christian
Church; The Mother Church. Greek would have been a secondary and
universal languge and is the language of our earliest surviving gospel
texts.
The New Testament is that the one used by the Western Churches is a
Greek translation of the original Hebrew, a language evolved within a
pagan context as opposed to the Hebrew of the Old Testament which was,
The original divine language and which evolved within the context of a
divine theocracy (Israel). the New Testament was originally written in
Hebrew and subsequently translated into Greek. Therefore in terms of
defining the gender of the Holy Spirit, Christians are more disposed to
the Hebrew Old and New Testament witness of the Bible which
overwhelmingly reveals the Holy Spirit to be feminine. Recent studies of
the original Hebrew New Testament, before it was translated into Greek,
show conclusively that the Holy Spirit is feminine in both Old and New
Testament.
In other passages, too, Philo speaks of God as "the Father of all things
... and the Husband of Wisdom, who sows the seed of eudaemonia in the
good and virginal earth."' These lines speak of a marriage to a Mother
Wisdom, who constantly renews the mystery of her virginity. Hence, she
is at once both a virgin bride and a mother-an image that will again
appear in highly significant contexts in Kabbalistic symbolism. Wisdom
likewise appears as God's daughter, in an image fusing allegory and
archetype in an interpretation of the biblical name Bethuel: "because
she is the true daughter [i.e., of God] ( bath el) and eternally
virginal (bethulah)."' But in the same passage we immediately find a
statement that negates any archetypal understanding of this image:
Other feminine attributes within God are the "Daughter Voice" (Bath Qol),
through whom God's will was made audlble on earth; Zion, regarded as the
mother of the people; and her counterpart, the Daughter of Zion, who
represented the Mother's children, the people of Israel.' All of these
were personafied, all were female and all partook, to a greater or
lesser extent, of the feminine numina who, in one period or another,
played a role in the history of Hebrew and Jewish religion.
The ancient Greek words for soul and spirit were Psyche and Pneuma.
Historically, the early Greek imagination used psyche for both spirit
and soul, but later dropped psyche as spirit, in favor of pneuma. This
occurred at the time when mythological and poetic imagination was
transformed to philosophy and rhetoric. However, the difference between
soul and spirit is not one of substance but of operation. Man's
immaterial aspect is represented in Scripture by the single terms
(psyche) spirit, or (pneuma) soul, or both of them together. Both psyche
and pneuma in their pristine condition pictured "breath" or "wind" The
Greek word psyche also means butterfly Psyche was said by Plato to be in
form, winged, and that its proper prophetic, poetic, erotic, and
philosophic function is "to fly" (Matt 3:16). . The analogy between
psyche and pneuma are remarkable; both form the active visualization of
breathing or blowing, as the wind. However, the origin of the concept of
Psyche as 'collective soul' is the same as that which developed into the
Oriental concept of Tao ( the Spirit's way ) Within the writings of the
'Tao' the female traits are not hidden but clearly manifest. Also, in
the early Greek language Psyche is feminine.
The only "holy spirit" that can be found in Judaism is the female holy
spirit, often called Pneuma, or the Holy Soul.
In Judaism, the medieval writers of the Kaballah concentrated on the
masculine aspects of the sefiroth (the 13 aspects of God) and relegated
Sophia to an inferior sphere than that she had heretofore occupied.
Roman Catholicism explicitly associated Old Testament Sophia texts with
Mary or the Mother Church. In the Eastern Church, Sophia survives and is
often associated liturgically with the Holy Spirit and sometimes with
Christ, himself.
As the upper Shekhinah of the Sefirah of Binah, femininity is the full
expression of ceaseless creative power-it is receptive, to be sure, but
is spontaneously and incessantly transformed into an element that gives
birth, as the stream of etemally flowing divine life enters into it. One
might almost say, to use the terms of Indian religion, that the upper
Shekhinah is the Shakti of the latent God; it is entirely active energy,
in which what is concealed within God is externalized. In the division
of the Sefirotic world into the three upper and seven lower Sefiroth-a
division generally accepted since Sefer ha-Bahir-the upper Shekhinah
stands at the edge of the seven Sefiroth or seven primal days, emitting
them from herself and realizing her strength in them (this is the inner,
theogonic side of Creation!). In the same way, the lower Shekhinah
stands at the edge of the external Creation, formed during the temporal
seven days of Creation. Insofar as each of the two Shekhinahs is, so to
speak, the "mother" of one of the two aspects of the process of God's
self-manifestation or extemalization (the esoteric and exoteric aspects,
respectively), the two necessarily share many features in terms of this
structure. But the difference between them is equally plain. The process
of emanation, through which the Kabbalists represented their conception
of God as an expanding life (one doubts whether the Neoplatonic image of
emanation adequately expresses their actual intention), achieves its
richest expression in Binah, the "upper mother," while it ends in the
"lower mother," the final Sefirah. That which flows out of Binah still
belongs to the realm of Godhead, and is identical with God in His
unfolding oneness. But this is not true of the lower Shekhinah: the
divine potency in all its purity flows from it only back into itself;
what emerges from the lower Shekhinah is no longer God, but Creation.
This Sefirah can only receive the Divine, not transmit it. Thus, the
active side of the female energy in God, the strength by which He
eternally gives birth to Himself and emerges in His attributes as a
personal God, is realized in the upper Shekhinah, while the passive side
is realized as the lower Shekhinah. One must realize however that the
whole process is a circit or hoop. This circut has been applied to both
the Zodiac and Christian symbols by gnostic mystics.
In the Divine, there is neither male nor female yet there is both. To
argue which is first or which is superior is, quite literally, a chicken
and egg argument. The feminine gives birth to the son who espouses the
feminine as bride who again gives birth to the son in the eternal heiros
gamos. The feminine is maid, mother and spouse, as the masculine is son,
father and spouse. There is unity in this duality, but there is not
eternal dominance. "AGAIN Jesus taught them saying, God hath raised up
witnesses to the truth in every nation and every age, that all might
know the will of the Eternal and do it, and after that, enter into the
kingdom, to be rulers and workers with the Eternal, 2. God is Power,
Love and Wisdom, and these three are One. God is Truth, Goodness and
Beauty, and these three are One. 3. God is Justice, Knowledge and
Purity, and these three are One. God is Splendour, Compassion and
Holiness, and these three are One. 4. And these four Trinities are One
in the hidden Deity, the Perfect, the Infinite, the Only. 5. Likewise in
every man who is perfected, there are three persons, that of the son,
that of the spouse. and that of the father, and these three are one. 6.
So in every woman who is Perfected are there three persons, that of the
daughter, that of the bride, and that of the mother and these three are
one; and the man and the woman are one, even as God is One 7. Thus it is
with God the Father-Mother, in Whom is neither male nor female and in
Whom is both, and each is threefold, and all are One in the hidden
Unity. 8. Marvel not at this, for as it is above so it is below, and as
it is below so it is above, and that which is on earth is so, because it
is so in Heaven. 9. Again I say unto you, I and My Bride are one, even
as Maria Magdalena, whom I have chosen and sanctified unto Myself as a
type, is one with Me; I and My Church are One. And the Church is the
elect of humanity for the salvation of all. 10. The Church of the first
born is the Maria of God. Thus saith the Eternal, She is My Mother and
she hath ever conceived Me, and brought Me forth as Her Son in every age
and clime. She is My Bride, ever one in Holy Union with Me her Spouse.
She is My Daughter, for she hath ever issued and proceeded from Me her
Father, rejoicing in Me. 11. And these two Trinities are One in the
Eternal, and are strewn forth in each man and woman who are made
perfect, ever being born of God, and rejoicing in light, ever being
lifted up and made one with God, ever conceiving and bringing forth God
for the salvation of the many. 12. This is the Mystery of the Trinity in
Humanity, and moreover in every individual child of man must be
accomplished the mystery of God, ever witnessing to the light, suffering
for the truth, ascending into Heaven, and sending forth the Spirit of
Truth And this is the path of salvation, for the kingdom of God is
within." Gospel of the Holy Twelve Lection 66: 1-12
Further, the church fathers of the Patristic Age preferred the male
"Logos" when describing Christ in order to avoid gender confusion.
Philo, who at first equated Sophia with Logos, "substituted Logos for
Sophia, until the masculine person of the Logos has taken over most of
Sophia's divine roles including the firstborn image of God, the
principle of order and the intermediary between God and humanity.
Sophia's powers are restricted and she is limited to Heaven.
The "Word," (feminine) who also had a Greek counterpart in Logos; (In
the beginning) The same can also be said of the Spirit which is spoken
of in Hebrew by a word of feminine gender, ruach ("wind" or "breath"),
and translated into Greek in the neuter gender as pneuma .
"For the Hebrew scriptures Sophia was, first of all, part of the
creative process. She created the world with God. She was present in the
birth of individuals. She was described as ordering all things and
making them new. "With this central aspect of Sophia in mind, listen to
the way the author of the Gospel according to John (1:1-3) introduces
Jesus: In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God And the
Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things
came to be, not one thing had its being but through him. "The
description of Jesus as Word in John corresponds to the description of
Sophia in the Hebrew scriptures.
In English, the Holy Spirit is conventionally referred to as "He",
because the Latin word for "Spirit" is spiritus (masc.). In Greek,
"Spirit" is pneuma (neut.), leading to references as "It" (e.g., Romans
8:16, "The Spirit itself...) In Hebrew/Aramaic, "Spirit" is ruach
(fem.), leading to references as "She". In the "Odes of Solomon'; the
oldest surviving Christian hymnal, the Holy Spirit is female.
Ode 36
(Odist speaks)
1. I rested on the Spirit of the Lord,
And Sheą lifted me up to heaven;
2. And caused me to stand on my feet in the Lord's high place,
Before His perfection and glory,
The "Odes of Solomon" is the earliest known Christian book of hymns,
psalms or odes. It probably dates from before 100 A.D. It has been
reconstructed from manuscripts in the British Museum, John Rylands
Library and Bibliothčque Bodmer. It contained 42 Odes.
The original tounge of the Hebrew or Aramaic would translate 'Holy
Spirit' as female. Also, Greek would translate 'Holy Spirit' as either
female or more likely 'neuter in reference to the subject' and it only
became 'He' in Latin and English bibles. Yet, even Milton, in his
writing of Paradise Lost, refers to the Holy Spirit and Divine Reason as
his celestial patroness!
Ruach or Ruacha. Feminine. Ruach HaKadosh rather than Ha Kodesh. Kodesh
is referred to as an object, kadosh is use to refer to a living entity.
We know the name of the Father - Yahuweh. And of the Son - Yahashua. But
what is the name of the Ruach HaKadosh (the Holy Spirit)? Her name in
the Hebrew is “Chochmah” (pronounced “KohK-mah”, which in English means,
and is translated as, Wisdom. And as it is written and stated
previously, in Luke 7:35 7:35 “Wisdom is justified by all Her children.”
Proverbs 8:1 She/Ruach calls for truth in the assembly and the lives of
believers… Mishlei (Proverbs) 8:6,7 it states that Wisdom is the
instructor of Truth, as it is written, 8:6 Listen, for I will speak
excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right
things, 8:7 for my mouth will speak truth...” And in I Yahchanan (I
John) 5:6 we read that the Ruach (the Spirit) is Truth. And in Yahchanan
(John) 16:13 that, 16:13 “When She, the Ruach (Spirit) of Truth has
come, She will lead you into all truth.” And isn’t it most often the
mother who teaches the children the commandments and instruction of her
husband? Yahshua promised that Mamas Torah would internalize the
mitzvoth of the Abba. The Torah of ema is called wisdom, and she is the
Spirit of Torah bringing comfort to balance the Fathers discipline.
Mishle 1:8 And in Yochanan (John) 14:26 it says, 14:26 But the helper,
the Ruach HaKadosh (Holy Spirit), whom the Father will send in My Name,
She will teach you all things, and declare to you all things that I said
to you.” So here She is referred to as “the Helper“ or EZER, even as
Havah (Eve) was given as Adam‘s “helper“. EZER KENGEDO a Helper against
or to balance the overwhelming gevurah/power of the ABBA. The Ruach is
the balance to ABBA just like man and woman balance each other in the
natural! Some translations state comforter rather than helper. Both are
correct, and comforter still describes a female entity for it is the
mother who usually comforts the children. She balance the fathers strict
discipline and rigidity. These things should all be making sense by now.
It’s only common sense that if Havah (Eve) was called by Adam the
“mother of all living” that there must also be one who is the mother of
all spiritually living; and that of course, is the one whose image Havah
(Eve) was created in; B‘resheet (Genesis) 1:26,27. Adam was made in
Yahshua’s image the Adam Kadmon and Chavah was made in the Ruach’s
image. Male and female. Now, going back to B’resheet (Genesis) 1:26,27
where Elohim says, “Let ‘Us’ make humans in our image” In Beresheeth
(Genesis) 11:7 it says, 11:7 Come let “Us” go down there and confuse
their language that they may not understand one another’s speech. If the
second party in the “Us” statement is the Ruach HaKadosh (the Holy
Spirit), then is it any surprise that the one who caused the languages
to become confused is the same who caused the languages to be brought
back into unity at Shavuot (Pentecost) in Acts 2:1-12? And doesn’t even
science indicate that it is the female gender that is the more gifted in
language? Chochmah, like the Ruach HaKadosh (the Holy Spirit), is
feminine, gifted in language, a mother of the Sons of Elohim - one
through whom we must be born. And in Romans 8:2 it is written that the
Ruach of truth is the Spirit “of Life“. And finally, last but not least,
in Mattityahu (Matthew) 29:19 Yeshua says, 29:19 Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Ruach HaKadosh (the Holy Spirit).” The Great
Commission is in essence in invitation to join the 2 parent family of
YHWH. She was there in the beginning, nurtures and comforts her
children, and leads Her children into all truth as she upholds the
Torah. And what a joy and wonderful thing it is to know that we are part
of a complete, two-parent family. 1:13 In Him is the gospel of your
deliverance, in whom also, after having believed, you were sealed with
the Ruach haKadosh (Holy Spirit) of Promise.” In this verse we see the
birth process described once again; this time to describe the formation
of our character, into the character of Yahshua, thus completing the
picture of us being sealed inside the womb of our spiritual mother until
the character of Yahshua can be formed in us.
ermetic writings from the first century AD reveal that the first century
Christians used the symbols of both male and female to express the
'light and the life' within God.
Clearly the ancient church traditions refer to the Holy Spirit in
feminine rather than masculine terms. "Syriac theology (and sometimes
Orthodox Theology) often regarded it as an archetype of femininity and
hypostatic union
The Hebrew word for spirit (ruwach) is feminine. Furthermore, in the Old
Testament the wisdom of God (Sophia) is portrayed as a female spirit
(Proverbs, chaps. 8 and 9). Finally, in John's Gospel, the Holy Spirit
which Jesus promises his disciples serves the feminine function of
comforting and reassuring Christians whose faith is threatened by
persecution. There is clear evidence that early Christians believed that
the Holy Spirit was a female entity. The Gospel of the Nazarenes, used
by Jewish-Christians in the post-apostolic age, contained a quotation of
Jesus in which he speaks of "my mother, the Holy Spirit." The Acts of
Thomas, a product of either early Syriac or Egyptian Christianity,
includes hymns or liturgical prayers of invocation to the Holy Spirit
addressed to "the compassionate mother ... the Feminine who reveals
hidden mysteries ... and darling of the Most High's compassion. In the
Gospel of Mani, we find a trinitarian doxology, derived from some
ancient Christian group, which praises the power of the Father, the
blessing of the Mother and the goodness of the Son.
hat
ultimately emerges from this conspectus is that, contrary to the
generally held view, the religion of the Hebrews and the Jews (
including the first Christians ) was never without the feminine in its
God-concept. At times, as in the Tahnudic and even more so in the
post-Talmudic periods, the female element in the deity was pushed into
the background. At others, as in the Biblical and again in the
Kabbalistic eras, it occupied an important place in popular theology,
occasionally even to the extent of overshadowing the male deity or the
male component of the godhead. Only in the most recent times, after the
Kabbalistic upsurge had subsided, was the female element eliminated from
the God-concept among Reform, Conservative, and non-Hasidic Orthodox
Jews,
The Shekinah, in the everyday tradition of Judaism, denotes the presence
of God - the name is derived from the Hebrew word meaning 'to dwell'.
She is the dwelling place of God, his presence, and she shines in glory.
Although her name is feminine, most mainstream rabbis did not stress
this but often identified the community of Israel with her. Sometimes
she was understood as God's Holy Spirit. However, in the strong mystical
- and for a very long time, secret - tradition within Judaism, named the
Kabbalah, the Shekinah assumes her divine female form. She is the
central presence in the Tree of Life, she is partner to God, and is the
channel of His glory; She is in direct line with ancient Hebrew
goddesses. She was understood to be a personified female, she
accompanied the dispossessed Jews and mourned with them in their
troubles and persecutions, and she is believed to be an intermediary
between God and the world. There are many similarities between her and
descriptions of Wisdom.
The relation of the Holy Spirit to the Father and Son is not precisely
defined in the New Testament. The first Christians were plainly more
concerned with God's presence among them than with meticulous
theological formulations. Later Church councils defined the Holy Spirit
as the third person of the triune God. There is no distinct term for
spirit in the languages of the Bible;Recognizing that the renewal of
God's people could come only from God, the prophets came to look for a
general outpouring of his spirit (Isa- 32.15)- In no case is the
fulfillment of this hope ascribed to the mediation of an expected
messianic king; but in the portrayal of this figure in the prophecy of
*Isaiah, he is to be the permanent bearer of the spirit (Isa. ii.2;
6i.i)-perhaps in contrast to the charismatic leaders of Israel, such as
Saul, from whom the spirit departed. The distinctive mark of the
messianic era will be the bestowal of God's spirit on all, high and low,
old and young, male and female (Joel 2.28). The designation "holy
spirit" occurs only in Psalm 51-1 i and Isaiah 63-10-11- The New
Testament announces the fulfillment of the eschatological hope of the
spirit proclaimed by the prophets. Two elements are emphasized: the
coming of the one who is the permanent bearer of the spirit and the
outpouring of'the spirit on "all flesh"; and both are linked. Jesus is
identified as the promised one on whom the Spirit will remain (John
1-33). This identification took place at his baptism by the visible
descent of the Holy Spirit on him in the form of a dove. The story need
not imply that the association of the Spirit with Jesus began at his
baptism and that he was at that moment adopted as Son of God; John
especially saw in the baptism of Jesus the epiphany of the preexisting
Son (John 1.'29-34), the one in whom the prophetic hope was fulfilled.
According to Luke (4-16-21), Jesus explicitly claimed this identity in
his sermon at Nazareth; and it is indicated in the nativity stories,
where the emphasis is on the conception by the Holy Spirit rather than
on the virginity of Mary (Matt. 1.18; Luke 1.35).
It is important to speak of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and
Reconciler, with a feminine pronoun.The functions of the Holy Spirit as
characterized in Biblical texts are often, but not exclusively, those
which have been associated with women: consolation, eschatological
groaning in travail of childbirth, emotional warmth, and inspiration.
Jesus left to prepare our place in heaven; The Spirit has come to
empower us to continue freeing the hearts of others.
The name which best communicates the reality of the Spirit’s
relationship to Christians is simply "Mother" because those who know the
Spirit know her as the Mother. Those who experience the Trinity in their
hearts know that "a family must be complete. We must have a Father,
Mother, and Spouse." God [Christ] is even our dear husband, his Father
is our dear Father, and the Holy Spirit is our dear Mother, The
family-idea, the oldest, the simplest, the most respectable, the most
endearing idea among all human ideas, and which is the true biblical
idea. This is language that even a child can comprehend. It is the best
language to communicate spiritual reality for all people because it does
not depend on abstract reasoning or speculation on unfathomable
realities.
certainly one is "born" of a female, *not* of a male. That is the most
*potent* oversight of the patriarchs -- & points clearly to the
femininity of the Holy Spirit.
There are more pages in the Hebrew scriptures about Sophia than about
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Solomon, Isaiah, Sarah, Miriam, Adam, or Noah.
But we do not know her. Churches and synagogues insure that children can
recite the storeis of Aaron or Joseph, but they never even allude to
Sophia. Literature classes in schools and colleges examine the epics of
Abraham or Solomon or even the story of Ruth, but Sophia, who stands
taller than any of them, is ignored.
Sophia, then, is an eternal Being, which before all creatures, with the
Holy Trinity, is eternal, and remains forever in eternity. She is above
all the Angels; the eternal wisdom has her root alone in the Godhead
itself, and through her Being it reveals itself. Sophia is not a Person
outside the Trinity; the spirit of Jesus and the spirit of Sophia are
not separate. The eternal Sophia urges men through being reborn to
return to completeness in Paradise, to which she will lead them. Sophia
leads man back to the wholeness of Paradise. As Wisdom consubtantials
with Christ, Sophia is the breath of the spirit within the Scriptures;
and we come into contact with her only after we have undergone metanoia.
No one is permitted to make the error through reasoning that another
were to have written the testimonies found in Scriptures. Since above,
one must remember, the spirit of Wisdom and the spirit of Jesus are
essentially one, so one comes to one by what was said by the other; and
no one may try to separate them. But one ought not to rely only on the
letter of the Scripture, for "Wisdom ought not be sought only in letter;
and hence not only in written works, without effective struggle and
prayer in oneself. One ought not gape after things outside oneself, but
rather look toward the inward ground, for there she is first glimpsed,
where the will is descended and sunken in her. This looking within
brings about the metanoia, or inward regeneration
Pentecost is second only to Calvary in importance to the Christian, for
Pentecost is the complement of Calvary. Without Pentecost, Calvary would
have been ineffective to redeem lost mankind. It required the dynamic of
the Spirit as well as the sacrifice of the Saviour to bring the benefits
of salvation to a waiting world, for all Christian experience revolves
around the twin centres of Calvary and Pentecost. Calvary opened the
fountain from which all the blessings of Pentecost flowed. Pentecost
made available to men all that Calvary made possible.
Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She
standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the
paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming
in at the doors. Unto you, 0 men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of
man. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to
my lips. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have
strength. By me kings reign, ... and nobles, even all the judges of the
earth. ... I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall
find me. Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and
righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my
revenue than choice silver. The LORD possessed me in the beginning of
his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from
the beginning, or ever the earth was. ... When he prepared the heavens,
I was there: when he set a compass upon the face When he gave to the sea
his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: Rejoicing
in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons
of men... Now therefore hearken unto me, 0 ye children: for blessed are
they that keep my ways... For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall
obtain favour of the LORD.
In Western Christian tradition Adam and Eve were created in every sense
equal, however, Eve became subject to Adam due to the fall. Also in the
Western Christian tradition, Christ is a new Adam and Mary a new Eve. If
as 'born again'Christians we are to conform to the image of Christ, then
are not we called to live in the manner of a new Adam? Would not this
mean that we are called again into a condition of equity and equality
with the new Eve? Would not this paradisal state be ordained by God, as
it was in the beginning?(Matt 10:6) If this is so, then are we not
required by Christian conviction to admit a Divine decree of gender
equality in the heavens? Does not nature teach us the same? Surely, St.
Clare was right to teach the equality of the brothers and sisters in
all.
learly, for a time in early Christian worship, the Holy Spirit was
imaged in feminine terms (symbolized, as it would be later as well, by a
dove), and was sometimes referred to as the divine Mother; which mirrors
the cultural and biological role of women is seen in the use of bird
imagery in the Scriptures. Here God's concern for humanity is expressed
in imagery that possibly is drawn from the representation of female
goddesses with sheltering wings. The people of Palestine associated El
with the title Ia-hu; hence, "Jehovah". Ia-hu , translated "Exalted
Dove", seems to have been associated with the Cyprus Dove Goddess; and
is the preform of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. However, over
time, the Holy Spirit was conceived rather in more general and
impersonal terms as a mysterious and numinous power, whose intensity
seemed to have radically diminished as time grew more distant from the
generation of the first apostles, and whose continuing presence,
activity, and authority were lodged chiefly in the institutional Church.
Hagia Sophia or Holy Wisdom is the mother church of all Eastern
Christians of the Byzantine liturgical tradition both Orthodox and Greek
Catholic. Early accounts suggest that the site of this, the grandest
church in Christendom, in the first millennium had been the site of a
pagan temple appropriated for the service of the new religion. Hagia
Sophia underwent two phases of construction before attaining its present
state. Documents indicate that the first Hagia Sophia was built by
Emperor Constantius, son of Emperor Constantinos I, and was opened for
services in 360 AD. Although very little is known about this church, it
is assumed that it was a basilica-type structure with a rectangular
floor plan, circular apse and timbered roof. It was similar to
St.Studios, a basilica in Istanbul, the ruins of which still exist.
Ancient sources emphasize that the eastern wall was circular.
Constantius donated gold and silver as well as religious objects to his
church, but these were vandalized by Arians during the Council of 381
AD.
Hagia Sophia was first named "Megale Ekklesia" (The Great Church) as it
was the largest church in Constantinople. The historian Socrates
indicated that the church was named Sophia during the reign of Emperor
Constantius. The name given to the church symbolized the second divine
attribute of the Holy Trinity. Originally, Sophia, which means "Holy
Wisdom", was a name given to Christ by 4th century theologians. Both
names, Megale Ekklesia and Hagia Sophia are used today.
And why do we neglect the fact that the Church of Christ is the 'elect
lady'; Heavenly Jerusalem, the 'bride' (Rev 22:17) of the 'bridegroom'
which is Christ? Would not the Spirit within the Church and the Spirit
within God's people be The same Spirit? And would not this be the Holy
Spirit? If God's Wisdom, Kingdom, and People are expressed as female, it
can be seen that the Holy Spirit; from which we are spiritually born, is
also best represented as a ' female aspect' within the trinity symbol of
the Godhead (John 3:6).
In Iranian Sufism, Sophia is Perfect Nature, the object of ecstatic
vision. She is also called: the philosopher's Sun, the Daena—the
visionary organ of the soul"; personal master and suprasensory guide,
sun of the heart, etc. She is the guide in exile, the watcher and
shepherd, and paradoxically, the essential individuality and the
"pre-terrestrial vision of the celestial world." Perfect Nature was
described in an 11th century text as '"the philosopher's angel,' his
initiator and tutor, and the object and secret of all philosophy, the
dominant figure in the Sage's personal religion. She has been equated
with the Purple Archangel of Supreme Illumination in the writings of the
Persian Neoplatonists. Socrates declared Perfect Nature to be the sun of
the philosopher, the "original root of his being and at the same time
the branch springing from him." The philosopher's Angel is the Form of
light, the heavenly Sophia "conjoined with his star, which rules him and
opens the doors of wisdom for him, teaches him what is difficult,
reveals to him what is right, in sleeping as in waking." (Corbin, 1978,
17) : (Thunder Perfect Mind; 2 Sophias, higher & lower—Sophia Achamoth,
the generative wisdom of the world).> Alchemy (Sapientia, moon, tree,
ogdoad, alchemical salt—the psychic form of the body, the ash remaining
that serves to fix the 'volatile' spirit.)
The Holy Spirit is a real person who came to reside within Jesus
Christ's true followers after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to
heaven (Acts 2). Jesus told His apostles... "I will ask the Father, and
She will give you another Helper, that She may be with you forever; the
Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not
behold Her or know Her, but you know Her because She abides with you,
and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to
you." (John 14:16-18) The Holy Spirit is not a vague, ethereal shadow,
nor an impersonal force. She is a person equal in every way with God the
Father and God the Son. She is considered to be the third member of the
Godhead. Jesus said to His apostles... "All authority has been given to
Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo,
I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:18-20) God
is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And all the divine attributes ascribed
to the Father and the Son are equally ascribed to the Holy Spirit. When
a person becomes born again by believing and receiving Jesus Christ
(John 1:12-13; John 3:3-21), God resides in that person through the Holy
Spirit (1Cor. 3:16). The Holy Spirit has intellect (1Cor. 2:11), emotion
(Rom. 15:30), and will (1Cor. 12:11). A primary role of the Holy Spirit
is that She bears "witness" of Jesus Christ (John 15:26, 16:14). She
tells people's hearts about the truth of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit
also acts as a Christian's teacher (1Cor. 2:9-14). She reveals God's
will and God's truth to a Christian. Jesus told His disciples... "The
Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, She will
teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to
you." (John 14:26) "When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, She will guide
you into all the truth; for She will not speak on His own initiative,
but whatever She hears, She will speak; and She will disclose to you
what is to come." (John 16:13) The Holy Spirit was given to live inside
those who believe in Jesus, in order to produce God's character in the
life of a believer. In a way that we cannot do on our own, the Holy
Spirit will build into our lives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).
Rather than trying to be loving, patient, kind, God asks us to rely on
Her to produce these qualities in our lives. Thus Christians are told to
walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:25) and be filled with the Spirit (Eph.
5:18). And the Holy Spirit empowers Christians to perform ministerial
duties that promote spiritual growth among Christians (Rom. 12; 1Cor.
12; Eph. 4). The Holy Spirit also performs a function for non-Christians
as well. She convicts people's hearts of God's truth concerning how
sinful we are -- needing God's forgiveness; how righteous Jesus is --
She died in our place, for our sins; and God's eventual judgment of the
world and those who do not know Her (John 16:8-11). The Holy Spirit tugs
on our hearts and minds, asking us to repent and turn to God for
forgiveness and a new life.
