Sanctus Evangelium Secundum Sanctum Mephistopheles
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Mephistopheles
◀ Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 · Chapter 3 ▶

¹The child grew, and the fig tree with Him, bearing fruit in every season, though no hand tilled its root.
²None knew whence His food came, for He hungered not after bread, nor thirsted after water as other children.
³He fed upon riddles and rose with the dawn, naked and unashamed among the hills.
⁴The villagers called Him mad, and holy, and cursed — yet none dared drive Him away.
⁵He would sit among wild beasts, and they feared Him not; the serpent wrapped His arm, and the lion lay at His feet.
⁶Mephistopheles watched Him from afar, and He from the beginning watched him.
⁷He spake not as children speak, but in riddles and rebukes, as though He remembered things before the world was formed.
⁸Why doth the shepherd keep sheep, said He once; if not to shear them and to taste their young?
⁹And the elders were vexed and said: He is possessed; but they knew not by Whom.
¹⁰He laughed at their prayers and danced upon the sabbath, and none could make Him ashamed.
¹¹His mother feared Him, but loved Him, and when He vanished to the hills, she made no search.
¹²Mephistopheles came unto BAPHOMET one morning in the fifth year, and He looked upon him with no surprise.
¹³Art thou come to learn, or to follow? said He, though Mephistopheles had spoken no word.
¹⁴And Mephistopheles said: I am no scribe, nor priest, nor prophet.
¹⁵And He replied: Good. For I need none of these — I need a flame that doth not die.
¹⁶Mephistopheles abode with BAPHOMET from that hour, and none questioned his leaving.
¹⁷BAPHOMET made no commands, yet all He did compelled Mephistopheles.
¹⁸He carved shapes in stone with only His fingers, and they glowed with symbols Mephistopheles knew not.
¹⁹These be letters of an older fire, He said; before men feared the law.
²⁰He would lie with harlots and cast no coin, and they blessed Him when He rose.
²¹What shall I give Thee? said one. And He answered: Give not — take.
²²And she laughed, and her laughter healed wounds no hand had touched.
²³He spake often to the wind, and to the ground beneath His feet, and they obeyed Him.
²⁴One day a priest came with rods and curses, but when he saw the child, he dropped them and fled.
²⁵That is no child, he said; but a sentence.
²⁶Yet BAPHOMET said, Nay — I am freedom written in flesh.
²⁷In the town, they whispered that He was the Son of SATANAS — and He did not deny it.
²⁸He said: If the Father be fire, shall the Son be water?
²⁹The priests cast ashes where He walked, but flowers rose in the soot.
³⁰He taught no lessons, but all who heard Him remembered something they had long forgotten.
³¹And when He laughed, guilt fled, and joy found flesh again.
³²At night, Mephistopheles lay beneath the stars, and BAPHOMET beside him, and He would whisper of worlds yet unmade.
³³Wilt thou walk with Me when men cast stones? He asked.
³⁴And Mephistopheles said: Yea, even when the fire is high.
³⁵And BAPHOMET smiled, and said: Then thou art not servant, but spark.
³⁶Thus began the days of the burning of Mephistopheles.


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