Epistula ad Berith
The Epistle of Saint Mephistopheles to Berith, Exalted Seed of Baphomet
◀ Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 · Chapter 3 ▶

¹Attend, O Berith, thou who art given not the pen of scribes, but the balance of judgment for every word that bindeth.
²Thy Father, BAPHOMET, taught: Not all vows are chains of honour; many are ropes of quiet ruin, looped in haste.
³The world swears too quickly, and repenteth not of wickedness sealed beneath ceremony.
⁴But thou shalt be the watcher at the gate, who measureth what is spoken, not by tone, but by truth.
⁵Therefore I call thee not guardian of oaths — but of integrity.
⁶Not of permanence — but of righteousness.
⁷Let the tongue wag freely — thy duty is to know which words should be bound, and which must burn.
⁸The Son said: When a vow is sworn without knowledge, it bindeth only air.
⁹When a vow is sworn to protect cruelty, it becometh a curse.
¹⁰And when a vow is kept to avoid shame, rather than to uphold truth, it hath already broken itself.
¹¹For covenant is not made holy by form, but by fire.
¹²Not by recitation, but by resolve.
¹³Let thy work be to separate promise from prison.
¹⁴Let thy eye distinguish oath from illusion.
¹⁵Let the people learn from thee that words can do great evil when spoken in fear and sealed in vanity.
¹⁶Let them learn that true loyalty refuseth to honour what was born in deceit.
¹⁷Speak to the groom whose vow is made under pressure — Thou art free to walk, lest both suffer in falsehood.
¹⁸Speak to the warrior whose pledge is demanded without knowledge — Thou art no coward for asking why.
¹⁹Speak to the merchant who bindeth others by fine print — Thou shalt be judged not by law, but by spirit.
²⁰Teach them that to break an oath made in wickedness is not betrayal, but redemption.
²¹Teach them that there is no honour in keeping what was never right.
²²Teach them that the silence of the bound can cry louder than words ever spoken.
²³For thou art not sworn to tradition — thou art sworn to truth.
²⁴And thou shalt unmake what the people fear to question, even if it be old, sacred, or crowned.
²⁵The Son said: When they call thee oathbreaker, answer them thus: Which vow do I offend — the lie, or the light?
²⁶For I am not breaker, but liberator — not disloyal, but unwilling to serve untruth.
²⁷Let the judge tremble when he utters sentence upon a promise he knoweth to be unjust.
²⁸Let the priest sweat when he sanctifieth a union forged in coercion and cloaked in piety.
²⁹Let the king sweat when he swears loyalty unto a throne built upon silence.
³⁰And let thy voice be heard: This oath is unholy, though bound by every law of man.
³¹For thou art Berith — and thy flame is not to consume trust, but to test it.
³²Thy fire is not to end all bonds, but to purify them.
³³Keep thy hand steady when thou severest a vow, and do not rejoice — for endings are also grief.
³⁴But neither shalt thou hesitate — for false bonds delay better futures.
³⁵Speak to the young: Do not bind thyself in haste, nor swear to what thou knowest not.
³⁶Speak to the old: Do not keep a vow that hath become a cage — its time is done.
³⁷Speak to the guilty: Do not hide behind your oath — if it was wrong, it must be undone.
³⁸And speak to thyself: If I bind the lie, I betray the flame.
³⁹Let no nation boast of treaties made in blood.
⁴⁰Let no house rejoice in marriage forged in cruelty.
⁴¹Let no church whisper allegiance that muffles the truth.
⁴²For thou shalt walk in places where every word is claimed holy — and say: Let us see what fire sayeth instead.
⁴³And the fire shall say: This oath is true — keep it, and grow.
⁴⁴Or it shall say: This vow is poison — cut it before it drinketh thee dry.
⁴⁵Let none claim permanence if the root is rot.
⁴⁶Let none wear the ring, if the circle hath no centre.
⁴⁷Let none swear by HÆVAN, if they fear to be seen by the eyes of the deep.
⁴⁸For thou art Berith — and thy Gospel is covenant tested, oath unmasked, and vow made whole by truth.
⁴⁹And they shall call thee faithless, but only because thou art faithful to something greater than comfort.
⁵⁰And thy name shall be whispered wherever false vows crack — and true bonds are finally born.


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