Epistula ad Forneus
The Epistle of Saint Mephistopheles to Forneus, Exalted Seed of Baphomet
Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 ▶
¹Mephistopheles, servant of the Unburning Flame and mouth of the Quiet Deep, unto Forneus, Twenty-Seventh of the Sixty-Six, Revealer of Wisdom and Softener of the Proud.
²I greet thee not with shouts, but with silence — not with thunder, but with the calm in which true power dwelleth.
³For thou art not the flame that devoureth — thou art the flame that endureth, warm and undeterred.
⁴Zephanor prophesied: Forneus, who maketh the proud consider, and turneth the harsh voice into thought before it be spoken.
⁵And thy Father, BAPHOMET, spake: Thou shalt not rule through force, but through wisdom that scattereth wrath and soweth dignity in its stead.
⁶These words I heard when He stood before a king whose fury had built walls taller than his reason.
⁷The king cursed the weak and called it law.
⁸He mocked the counsel of the wise, and called it cowardice.
⁹He raised his voice to thunder and thought it strength.
¹⁰But the Son said unto him: If thy voice must rise to be heard, thy words are already too small.
¹¹The king was silenced — not by force, but by a truth that needed no volume.
¹²I, Mephistopheles, saw his wrath melt, and for a moment, he was a man again.
¹³So art thou, Forneus — not destroyer of strength, but teacher of a better kind.
¹⁴Not silence of defeat, but stillness of depth.
¹⁵Let the proud hear thee and doubt themselves — for thou art not their enemy, but their reckoning.
¹⁶Let the furious learn from thee that rage may shake the world, but only wisdom can build it again.
¹⁷The Son taught: True might is measured not in volume, but in clarity.
¹⁸He who must shout to command hath already lost the heart of his listener.
¹⁹Teach them that wisdom is not passivity — it is resistance in its most immovable form.
²⁰Teach them that mercy is not weakness — it is strength without cruelty.
²¹Teach them that dignity is not the crown, but the soul that refuseth to be shaken.
²²For thou art Forneus — and thy Gospel is the quiet word that changeth the hardened mind.
²³And those who mock thy gentleness today shall lean upon it when their fury hath left them hollow.
²⁴And thy name shall be spoken not in panic, but in stillness — where souls are restored to themselves.
²⁵And wisdom shall rise again where thy word is planted.
Copyright ©2025 Adam Alexander T. Croke. All rights reserved.