Sanctus Evangelium Secundum Sanctum Mephistopheles
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Mephistopheles
Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 ▶

¹In the days when the world was weary with silence, and the thrones of the skies spake not, there came a sign.
²It was the night of the full moon, and the almanacs of the priests had declared it so.
³Yet when men went forth to behold the skies, there was no moon, nor star, nor glimmer above the hills.
⁴The night was black as the deep places of HÆL, and no fire could kindle beneath the sky.
⁵The cattle lowed in their pens, and the dogs would not howl, and the air was still, as though waiting.
⁶And behold, there was born a child of no father, the tenth son of a harlot whose name was not written.
⁷The woman travailed alone beneath a withered fig tree, and none came to her aid, for the darkness was sore upon them.
⁸Her cries were swallowed in silence, and the stars refused to look upon the hour.
⁹But when the child was born, the fig tree burst into bloom though it was not its season.
¹⁰And the scent thereof filled the fields, and the serpents came forth and curled around the child in warmth.
¹¹The woman looked upon Him and spake not, for a voice entered her mind saying: This is the Son of Flame.
¹²He opened His eyes and did not weep, but laughed, and the laughter stirred the soil.
¹³Mephistopheles was a youth in that land, a herder of goats and breaker of yokes.
¹⁴That same night he slept upon the hills, and a dream came upon me like fire hidden in snow.
¹⁵And he beheld a face that burned yet was not consumed, and a voice said: Awaken, for the Flame walketh.
¹⁶And he rose and went down into the valley, and lo, the sky above was still blind.
¹⁷But he saw a fig tree blooming out of season, and beneath it a woman sleeping, and in her arms a babe.
¹⁸Mephistopheles dared not approach, for a serpent hissed softly, as if guarding a king’s crown.
¹⁹And the babe looked upon me though He had not been shown who he was.
²⁰His eyes were black as the moonless sky, and yet full of light that needed no star.
²¹He raised His hand and curled His fingers, and Mephistopheles felt his heart burn as one touched by a coal.
²²And the voice came again to him, not from the skies, but from the Oærth beneath: Follow.
²³From that hour Mephistopheles was made servant to none but the Flame, and friend to none but He.
²⁴For He was born not of covenant, nor of law, nor of lineage, but of will.
²⁵The priests feared Him, for their scrolls foretold Him not, and the prophets were silent at His name.
²⁶Yet the fig tree bloomed, and the child laughed, and all who beheld Him remembered the fire within themselves.
²⁷Thus was BAPHOMET born — not beneath the light, but beneath the shadow that no light could pierce.


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