Gnosis Down Under

Photos from St. Uriel's Parish of the AJC

The Last Supper

Members of the NACGB sign the All Saints Accord

http://nacgb.org/asa1.html

Photos from the AJC Conclave

Holy Week Services

Calendar for Holy Week Events
St. Sophia's Parish
Jersey City NJ

*** because the AGC follows the Eastern calendar, this year Easter will fall one week later than the Roman Catholic calendar.


Palm Sunday, April 12
Mass 4 pm with blessing of palms

Monday, April 13
7pm Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts and Blessing of Oil 7pm

Tuesday, April 14
7pm Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

Wednesday, April 15
7pm Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

Thursday, April 16
7pm Divine Liturgy of the Last Supper

Friday, April 17
7pm Vespers of Holy Friday

Saturday, April 18
7pm Vespers/The Lamentations

Sunday, April 19
4pm Divine Liturgy of the Resurrection


As always, Sunday Liturgy begins promptly at 4 pm, and lasts about an hour and a half, followed by food and good conversation.

Please consider bringing a snack or glass of wine if you can.

The other Holy Week Services will begin promptly at 7 pm and will last about one hour.

Please call (201) 793-8770 for directions or information.

The All Saints Accord

"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation ..." - John F. Kennedy

“So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.” - Baha'u'llah

“To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.” - Charles de Montesquieu



The All Saints Accord

Recognizing the true face of Gnosis in the brothers and sisters of each of our Church communities and acknowledging our common heritage in the One Apostolic Succession through which the Master has promised to be present to his Church until the end of time, we the undersigned Bishops of the Gnostic Church in its myriad forms, do affirm and commit to uphold the following principles:

1. The right to open participation and veneration of the Sacred and Divine in its traditional and contemporary forms irrespective of social status, organizational affiliation, gender, sexual orientation and creed.

2. The common bond shared by all active Apostolic Gnostic Churches in liturgical ministry through the agency of the one Apostolic Succession and thereby the validity and value of the Sacramental and Liturgical ministry maintained by those same active Apostolic Gnostic Churches when conducted in an ethical and upright manner.

3. The invitation to all members of the Gnostic Church, and indeed all spiritually minded people, to partake of our communities, free of all obligation but Respect and Charity.

Bishop +Anthony Angelo
Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica Hermetica

Bishop Dr. +William Behun
Apostolic Johannite Church

Bishop +Gerald del Campo
Thelemic Gnostic Church of Alexandria

Bishop +Kenneth J. Canterbury
Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica Hermetica

Bishop +John Gilbert
Universal Gnostic Church

Bishop +Allen Greenfield
Assembly of the Knowledge and Wisdom of Solomon

Bishop Dr. +Lewis Keizer,
The Home Temple

Bishop +Thomas Langley
The Alexandrian Gnostic Church

Bishop +Valdiveso Paschal Matthews,
Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar and the Ecclesia Gnostica Joanita

Bishop +Shaun McCann
Apostolic Johannite Church

Bishop +Rosamonde Miller
Ecclesia Gnostica Mysteriorum

Bishop +Christine Payne-Towler
Gnostic Church of Mary Magdalene

see also:

http://egina2.blogspot.com/2006/11/all-saints-accord.html

http://church-of-damcar.org/index.php?page_id=7

http://blog.thomaslangley.net/2009/01/all-saints-accord.html

http://egina2.blogspot.com/2006/11/bishop-rosamonde-millers-response-to.html

http://egina2.blogspot.com/2006/11/bishop-rosamonde-millers-response-to.html

Lent of Liberation by Luis Barrios

6/20/09

In the Christian tradition Lent is a special moment during which we make personal sacrifices with the intent of becoming better human beings.

However socio-theologically speaking I have always believed that any personal sacrifice that does not have as its final goal the capacity to benefit the community can turn into an egoistic action. That is why on the one hand we must always critically examine what motivates our actions while on the other we must advocate a love full of solidarity to reach that goal.

At this moment my imprisonment in the Metropolitan Correctional Center-NYC, as a result of an act of civil disobedience against the School of the Americas, is only a personal sacrifice and the goal continues to be to close this School of Assassins. In addition, the final goal is to bring justice to the victims and to all their families.

For me closing the School of the Americas is a sort of Via Crucis in which they arrest you, take you to court, leave you naked, violate your body, humiliate and punish you with the intent of killing the hope that your sacrifice brings to the people.

Killing hope is possible and the people’s enemies know it very well. This is the way to stop a social movement that can become a mass revolution. This is why there are living people who are dead and dead people who continue to live. They kill the hope of the former but can never kill the hope of the latter.

Now, can we learn anything positive from this prison experience? Of course we can! On one hand I am learning to be more sensitive to my imprisoned brothers and sisters and to see more closely the injustices of systems of exclusion and oppression. On the other hand I am learning to resist these practices of the system in order to create new forms of struggle. I continue learning to identify the interconnections and interdependences between the sins of militarism, annexationism, capitalism, colonialism, racism, sexism, heterosexism, and neoliberalism, etc.

Lent in prison also gives me the opportunity to destroy the sin of being complicit with injustice in my everyday life. For example, when I opportunistically keep silent and indifferent in the face of somebody else’s pain as if it had nothing to do with me.

My struggle against the School of the Americas brought me to this prison in order for me to continue demonstrating my subversive compassion. Let us not forget that compassion is the way in which we prove what is genuine and the quality of our love full of solidarity, the most important sacrament.

All of this turns me into what I am at this moment, a prisoner of conscience. Therefore let us make the true meaning of Lent a reality and through a subversive Via Crucis let us close the School of the Americas. Let us continue to believe in and build peace with justice.

Fr. Luis Barrios is in prison for protesting at the U.S. Government's terrrorist training camp, the School of the Americas. For more information, see http://www.soaw.org/

from hermeticus_noir (Tau Dositheos):

I am extremely happy to announce that Occult of Personality is hosting a podcast interview of T Allen Greenfield, Tau Naamah and myself in which we discuss Memphis-Misraim, Gnostic and Apostolic Succession, Points Chauds, Congregational Illuminism and other related matters.

Listen to the podcast here.

Feedback is welcome.

Many thanks to all in free communion for your ongoing support and for your participation in the Work. And special thanks to Tau Galahad for all his efforts with the podcast as well as his unswerving dedication to the Great Work.

AJC Conclave

Dear Friends:

On May 25th through May 31st, 2009, the Apostolic Johannite Church is holding their 2009 Conclave in Boston, Massachusetts. The website for the event is http://conclave. johannite. org/

The Alexandrian Gnostic Church enjoys a warm fraternal relationship with the Apostolic Johannite Church, and we will be sending a delegation to the Conclave, including myself.

The Conclave looks to be an exciting and edifying get-together, drawing some of the finest Gnostic clergy. Also, noted scholar April DeConick is scheduled to be the featured speaker.

If you're able to make it to Boston for a week - or even for a few days - you shouldn't miss what promises to be the "biggest event in Gnosticism of the last 100 years!"

The posted schedule is:

Monday, May 25th

* All day - Arrivals
* Evening - Opening Liturgy - Essex Conference Center

Tuesday, May 26th

* Morning - Dcn. Lance Hoddinott, Psychological vs. Spiritual Counseling: An introduction to Psychiatric Considerations - Essex Conference Center
* Afternoon - Grand Lodge meeting of the Friary - Essex Conference Center
* Evening - Vespers - Essex Conference Center

Wednesday, May 27th

* Morning - Educational seminars for clergy and seminarians - Essex Conference Center
* Morning - Ecumenical gathering - Essex Conference Center
* Afternoon - Sightseeing - Boston/Salem
* Evening - Public lecture - Essex Conference Center
* Evening - Vespers - Essex Conference Center

Thursday, May 28th

* Morning - Hesychasm Workshop by Bishop Thomas Langley - Essex Conference Center
* Afternoon - Meeting of the Order of St. Esclarmonde - Essex Conference Center
* Evening - Public lecture - Essex Conference Center
* Evening - Vespers - Essex Conference Center

Friday, May 29th

* Morning - Meeting of the North American College of Gnostic Bishops and signing of the All Saint's Accord - Essex Conference Center
* Afternoon - Educational seminars for clergy and seminarians - Essex Conference Center
* Evening - Public lecture by Dr. April DeConick and panel discussion - Boston
* Evening - Compline - Essex Conference Center

Saturday, May 30th

* Morning - Liturgy and ordinations of new clergy - Boston
* Evening - Dinner and socializing with AJC members, family and friends - TBD

Sunday, May 31st

* Morning - Closing Liturgy - Essex Conference Center

And much more!

You can register and get more information at http://conclave. johannite.org/.

LVX,
+Thomas

Letter to the Vatican from Rev. Roy Bourgeois

Rev. Roy Bourgeois, M.M.
PO Box 3330,
Columbus, GA 31903
November 7, 2008

TO THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, THE VATICAN

I was very saddened by your letter dated October 21, 2008, giving me 30 days to recant my belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church, or I will be excommunicated.

I have been a Catholic priest for 36 years and have a deep love for my Church and ministry.

When I was a young man in the military, I felt God was calling me to the priesthood. I entered Maryknoll and was ordained in 1972.

Over the years I have met a number of women in our Church who, like me, feel called by God to the priesthood. You, our Church leaders at the Vatican, tell us that women cannot be ordained.

With all due respect, I believe our Catholic Church's teaching on this issue is wrong and does not stand up to scrutiny. A 1976 report by the Pontifical Biblical Commission supports the research of Scripture scholars, canon lawyers and many faithful Catholics who have studied and pondered the Scriptures and have concluded that there is no justification in the Bible for excluding women from the priesthood.

As people of faith, we profess that the invitation to the ministry of priesthood comes from God. We profess that God is the Source of life and created men and women of equal stature and dignity. The current Catholic Church doctrine on the ordination of women implies our loving and all-powerful God, Creator of heaven and earth, somehow cannot empower a woman to be a priest.

Women in our Church are telling us that God is calling them to the priesthood. Who are we, as men, to say to women, "Our call is valid, but yours is not." Who are we to tamper with God's call?

Sexism, like racism, is a sin. And no matter how hard or how long we may try to justify discrimination, in the end, it is always immoral.

Hundreds of Catholic churches in the U.S. are closing because of a shortage of priests. Yet there are hundreds of committed and prophetic women telling us that God is calling them to serve our Church as priests.

If we are to have a vibrant, healthy Church rooted in the teachings of our Savior, we need the faith, wisdom, experience, compassion and courage of women in the priesthood.

Conscience is very sacred. Conscience gives us a sense of right and wrong and urges us to do the right thing. Conscience is what compelled Franz Jagerstatter, a humble Austrian farmer, husband and father of four young children, to refuse to join Hitler's army, which led to his execution. Conscience is what compelled Rosa Parks to say she could no longer sit in the back of the bus. Conscience is what compels women in our Church to say they cannot be silent and deny their call from God to the priesthood. Conscience is what compelled my dear mother and father, now 95, to always strive to do the right things as faithful Catholics raising four children. And after much prayer, reflection and discernment, it is my conscience that compels me to do the right thing. I cannot recant my belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church.

Working and struggling for peace and justice are an integral part of our faith. For this reason, I speak out against the war in Iraq. And for the last eighteen years, I have been speaking out against the atrocities and suffering caused by the School of the Americas (SOA). Eight years ago, while in Rome for a conference on peace and justice, I was invited to speak about the SOA on Vatican Radio. During the interview, I stated that I could not address the injustice of the SOA and remain silent about injustice in my Church. I ended the interview by saying, "There will never be justice in the Catholic Church until women can be ordained." I remain committed to this belief today.

Having an all male clergy implies that men are worthy to be Catholic priests, but women are not.

According to USA TODAY (Feb. 28, 2008) in the United States alone, nearly 5,000 Catholic priests have sexually abused more than 12,000 children. Many bishops, aware of the abuse, remained silent. These priests and bishops were not excommunicated. Yet the women in our Church who are called by God and are ordained to serve God's people, and the priests and bishops who support them, are excommunicated.

Silence is the voice of complicity. Therefore, I call on all Catholics, fellow priests, bishops, Pope Benedict XVI and all Church leaders at the Vatican, to speak loudly on this grave injustice of excluding women from the priesthood.

Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador was assassinated because of his defense of the oppressed. He said, "Let those who have a voice, speak out for the voiceless."

Our loving God has given us a voice. Let us speak clearly and boldly and walk in solidarity as Jesus would, with the women in our Church who are being called by God to the priesthood.

In Peace and Justice, Rev. Roy Bourgeois, M.M. PO Box 3330, Columbus, GA 31903

The NACGB welcomes the Alexandrian Gnostic Church to Full Membership

from http://nacgb.org/agcfull.htm

January 24th, 2008

Calgary, Alberta, Canada-

The North American College of Gnostic Bishops welcomed the Alexandrian Gnostic Church to Full Membership in the College after a unanimous vote by the episcopal delegates of the member churches.

Upon the conclusion of the voting, the President and Vice-President affirmed the strong example of the Alexandrian Gnostic Church and its members with regard to working in accord with its own exemplary principles as well as its considerable effort on behalf of the Gnostic movement.

Liturgy of Divine Wisdom

Sunday, January 25

Join us for the celebration of the Liturgy of Divine Wisdom, an esoteric mass, beginning at 4 pm.

Mass will be at our Jersey City location, directly across the street from the Journal Square PATH station.

The liturgy lasts about an hour and a half - afterwards, hang around for snacks, a glass of wine, and good conversation.

All are welcome!

contact us at (201) 793-8770 or info@alexandriangnostic.org for more information and directions