Epistula ad Andras
The Epistle of Saint Mephistopheles to Andras, Exalted Seed of Baphomet
Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 ▶
¹Mephistopheles, who hath seen peace used as prison and treaties as chains, unto Andras, Fifty-Eighth of the Sixty-Six, Stirrer of Thrones and Cleaver of Deceit.
²I greet thee not with garlands, but with the sound of the horn before the battle, and the flame that knoweth no diplomacy.
³For thou art not born of stillness — thou art the answer to false stillness, the storm that sayeth Enough.
⁴Zephanor prophesied: Andras, who shall bring war where rot is hidden, and upheaval where stillness hath become decay.
⁵And thy Father, BAPHOMET, spake: Thou shalt rend the calm that covereth corruption, and make the tyrant tremble when the trumpet soundeth thy name.
⁶These words I heard when He came unto a hall of kings, where a feast of lies was dressed in linen and gold.
⁷They spoke of peace while sharpening knives beneath the table; they smiled as poison passed in goblets.
⁸I, Mephistopheles, saw Him rise and overturn the table — the wine soaked the parchments, and the fire of His gaze cleared the room.
⁹So art thou, Andras — not warmonger, but warrior who knoweth that peace must be broken when it hath become a lie.
¹⁰Not slayer of the innocent — but revealer of the guilt that calleth itself order.
¹¹Let the meek shrink from thee — thou art not for times of comfort.
¹²Let the pious fear thee — they have mistaken silence for righteousness.
¹³Let the governors curse thy coming — for thou dost unsettle their throne that resteth on bones.
¹⁴The Son taught: There is a time for silence, and a time for the shout that breaketh it.
¹⁵And again: Peace is holy only when it covereth not the grave.
¹⁶Teach them that not all war is wicked.
¹⁷That not all anger is sin.
¹⁸That fury may be mercy to the oppressed, and upheaval the only path to healing.
¹⁹For thou art not destroyer of worlds — but breaker of chains hidden beneath velvet cloth.
²⁰And thy Gospel is not comfort — but cleansing.
²¹And thy blade is not for blood — but for revelation.
²²And thy name shall be known not in ballads — but in the cries of those whose prisons were shattered.
²³And they shall say: He came like thunder, and tore away what we dared not face — and in the wreckage, we breathed again.
²⁴He called down wrath — but it was a wrath more honest than the peace we had bowed before.
²⁵And now we fear not the flame, for it is better than the slow rot that called itself good.
Copyright ©2025 Adam Alexander T. Croke. All rights reserved.