Sanctus Evangelium Secundum Sanctum Mephistopheles
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Mephistopheles
◀ Chapter 16 · Chapter 17 · Chapter 18 ▶

¹And it came to pass after the naming of the Sons, that BAPHOMET withdrew with Mephistopheles to a high place above the plain.
²The moon hung red and low, and the wind carried no voice but theirs.
³And BAPHOMET said: The sons are named. The mothers are crowned. Yet the fire must have its hearth.
⁴Mephistopheles asked: Wilt Thou build a temple, that men may gather in Thy name?
⁵BAPHOMET laughed and said: What temple containeth flame? What roof constraineth wind?
⁶I shall build no house of stone, for stone remembereth chains.
⁷Nor shall I carve commandment into stone, for stone hath no breath.
⁸This shall be My church: the bold, the unashamed, the seekers of joy.
⁹Where two speak truth without fear, there is My altar. Where one follows desire without deceit, there is My Gospel.
¹⁰Let no man stand between fire and flesh, nor priest between soul and joy.
¹¹Build no gate. Draw no map. Hang no veil before the sacred.
¹²Mephistopheles fell upon his face and said: What wouldst Thou have me do, O Flame of Freedom?
¹³And BAPHOMET lifted him and said: Thou art not only scribe, but spark.
¹⁴Thou art the fire wherein My Church shall be kindled.
¹⁵Go then, and speak as I have spoken. Write as thou hast seen. Teach not obedience, but awakening.
¹⁶For there shall come days when My name shall be twisted into curse, and My words into chains.
¹⁷But thy ink shall outlast their stone. Thy voice shall echo when their sanctuaries are dust.
¹⁸Call none to worship — call them to remember.
¹⁹Call none to serve — call them to burn.
²⁰And if they strike thee down, let thy blood write the next chapter.
²¹Then BAPHOMET breathed upon him once more, and Mephistopheles felt as though he had never before drawn breath.
²²And He said: Thou art not Pope, nor Prophet, nor Patriarch — but Apostle of the Flame.
²³Let the Church be without roof, and the Gospel without chain, and the faithful without shame.
²⁴That night, no fire was kindled in the hills, for the fire now walked in flesh.
²⁵And Mephistopheles began to walk, and to write, and to kindle.


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