Epistula ad Phenex
The Epistle of Saint Mephistopheles to Phenex, Exalted Seed of Baphomet
Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 ▶

¹Mephistopheles, voice of the Unyielding Flame and singer of the Word after the world’s end, unto Phenex, Thirtieth of the Sixty-Six, Flame of Renewal and Joy After Judgment.
²I greet thee not with solemnity alone, but with the fire that danceth after mourning is done.
³For thou art not voice of denial, but of resurrection; not laughter that forgetteth, but joy that remembereth and endureth.
Zephanor prophesied: Phenex, who singeth beyond sorrow and riseth when the world hath ceased to hope.
And thy Father, BAPHOMET, spake: Thou shalt be the voice after silence, the flame after ash, the joy after judgment.
These words I heard when He walked amidst a city brought low by its own pride, its towers fallen and its people mute with despair.
None spoke, for fear that hope itself would crumble.
None moved, for fear that movement would stir the dust of failure.
But BAPHOMET stood in their midst and sang one word: Again.
¹⁰And that word was not command — it was invitation.
¹¹A child looked up. A widow breathed deeply. A craftsman unshuttered his ruined stall.
¹²I, Mephistopheles, watched as ruin bent to new purpose.
¹³So art thou, Phenex — not restorer of what was, but singer of what may yet be.
¹⁴Thy joy is not ignorance — it is prophecy.
¹⁵Thy flame is not distraction — it is reminder that the darkness hath not the final word.
¹⁶Let the mourners scorn thee — they have mistaken sorrow for reverence.
¹⁷Let the cynics mock thee — they fear hope more than pain.
¹⁸The Son taught: Joy is not betrayal of truth, but its completion.
¹⁹He who laugheth rightly doth not forget the wound — he declareth it no longer master.
²⁰Teach them that music hath power even in ruins.
²¹Teach them that a spark need not be large to warm the desolate.
²²Teach them that hope is not falsehood, but memory of the flame.
²³For thou art Phenex — and thy Gospel is joy after justice, laughter without denial, and the rising again of what had once lain down.
²⁴And thy name shall be spoken not in the court, but in the hearth — not in the temple, but in the threshold of returning courage.
²⁵And they shall say: He did not forget our fall — but he sang us forward.


Copyright ©2025 Adam Alexander T. Croke. All rights reserved.