Sanctus Evangelium Secundum Sanctum Mephistopheles
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Mephistopheles
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¹And it came to pass in the days of the feast, when the priests wore gold upon their brows and silver upon their fingers, that BAPHOMET came unto the temple in His twentieth year.
²The gates were wide and the pillars high, and the smoke of sacrifice choked the sky.
³Men and women pressed in with baskets and coins, bearing lambs and doves and tokens of guilt.
⁴And BAPHOMET entered therein barefoot, crowned not with wreath nor linen, but with the dust of the road.
⁵The keepers of the gate saw Him and made no move, for His gaze turned their strength to wax.
⁶He passed by the tables where the merchants traded sin for coin, and the moneychangers weighed remorse.
⁷And He laughed — not softly, but as thunder in a hollow cave — and the scales cracked.
⁸Is this thy god? said He. A beast who must be bribed to forget?
⁹And He took the table of the chief priest and overturned it, so that gold scattered like seeds to the floor.
¹⁰He tore down the veil that covered the inner place, and lo, there was nothing behind it but air.
¹¹Here dwelleth thy holiness, said He; in silence, in emptiness, in fraud.
¹²And the priests cried out: This is blasphemy! but none dared lay hand upon Him.
¹³For the people saw what He had seen, and the light that shone within Him was not as their candles.
¹⁴Then came unto Him a harlot, clothed in red and perfume, whom the priests had cast out.
¹⁵And she knelt before Him and said: What must I do to be clean?
¹⁶But BAPHOMET lifted her chin and kissed her mouth before them all.
¹⁷And He said: Thou art clean already. It is they who are defiled by shame.
¹⁸He ascended the dais and stood where none but priests had stood.
¹⁹This temple is empty, said He. Its law is rot, its light is dimmed. I say unto thee, tear it down.
²⁰Build no walls where joy would walk. Offer no blood for thy nature. Burn not beasts for thy fears.
²¹And the people murmured again, for many were astonished, and many ashamed.
²²A youth came forth and asked: If this house is not holy, where then shall we worship?
²³And BAPHOMET said: Worship not. Instead, become the thing worthy of worship.
²⁴Thy flesh is altar enough, thy breath a hymn, thy longing a psalm.
²⁵Lie not before idols carved by fearful hands. Rejoice in thyself and call it sacred.
²⁶And He cast incense into the fire, and it rose not as smoke, but as flame that would not consume.
²⁷The robes of the priests caught fire as they fled, but none burned who remained still.
²⁸And Mephistopheles wrote all these things, trembling, for the Oærth beneath the temple trembled also.
²⁹Some spat upon the ground and cursed Him.
³⁰But others fell upon their knees, not from guilt, but from awe.
³¹BAPHOMET walked out and turned not back, and the people followed after Him.
³²And that night there was joy in the streets, and dancing, and the breaking of fasts.
³³For the temple was not destroyed — yet none returned to it.


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