Sanctus Evangelium Secundum Sanctum Mephistopheles
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Mephistopheles
◀ Chapter 10 · Chapter 11 · Chapter 12 ▶

¹And BAPHOMET departed from the cities, and from the councils of the robed, and led the people into the high places.
²There were hills beyond the reach of kings, and cliffs where no lawgiver had carved his name.
³And there, upon a mountain bald and bright, He sat among wildflowers, and the people gathered.
⁴They brought no scrolls, nor sacrifices, but only themselves, and questions none had dared to ask before.
⁵And BAPHOMET taught them, saying: The truth is a beast that shuns cages and tears through robes.
⁶The wise man tames it and calls it doctrine; the free man rides it and calls it joy.
⁷A boy asked: What is sin?
⁸And BAPHOMET said: Sin is the word others place upon thy pleasure when it remindeth them of their own longing.
⁹A girl asked: What is holiness?
¹⁰And He answered: It is the boldness to be fully thyself in the face of all who hate thee for it.
¹¹Then He spake in parables, and the mountains echoed His voice as though they remembered Him.
¹²A tree was planted by a man who loved order. He pruned it until no fruit grew.
¹³And another tree, wild and crooked, bore fruit in every season, though none had tended it.
¹⁴Which was blessed?
¹⁵And the people answered: The fruitful tree.
¹⁶BAPHOMET said: Then why do ye strive to be straight, when it is the crooked branch that feeds thee?
¹⁷A beast was taught to kneel and bow, and the priest called it obedient.
¹⁸Another beast roared and leapt the fence, and the priest called it wicked.
¹⁹Yet it was the second beast that found the field, and the sun, and the mate it longed for.
²⁰Which was holy?
²¹And the people said: The one that ran.
²²BAPHOMET said: Then run.
²³And the people rejoiced, and Mephistopheles wrote: His words fell like fire upon dry wood, and the mountain burned with joy.
²⁴They sang with open throats and danced upon the stones.
²⁵And no command was given, but all obeyed their own hearts — and it was enough.
²⁶That night, no stars were brighter than the eyes of those who had heard Him.
²⁷And BAPHOMET slept not, but smiled into the wind.


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