The Secret of the Ancient Alchemist (16 page)

“
The
disciples did not understand the message.”

“
No, Mr.
Hart, they didn’t.”

It was no
longer an assertion for Hart that the disciples understood nothing.
He considered it fact. There was still an issue that truly burned
his heart.

“
There’s
something I really need clarified, Father,” he said.

“
What’s
that?”

“
Line ten
of the gospel says:
One doth not see a vision with the spirit or the soul but
the mind that is between the two. It is...it is…
The last two words refer to what? Do you
know?”

Anatoli shook
his head. “We’ll never know, Dr. Hart, will we?”

“
It’s
God, isn’t it? Someone ripped the page that came after the words. I
believe it was deliberate. It is unthinkable to many that the
essence of God could be seen.”

“
But, it
is, Mr. Hart, it is,” Anatoli fired back.

Hart recoiled.
That Anatoli could wholeheartedly support such thinking was
flabbergasting to him. He wasn’t prepared to accept it. The means
by which a human could access the universal mind of God was the
sole intent of the gospel. It was the singular element that made it
different.

Deciding
to let the matter lie, he removed a page from his pocket and placed
it on the table next to the empty tea cups. Five words were on the
page:
Zama
zama ōzza rachama ōzai

“
Would
you happen to know what these words mean by any chance?”

Anatoli
frowned. “I don’t recognize this language at all. Maybe, you can
take it to a philologist.”

“
I did.
No one knows what it is.”

“
Well, I
don’t know either.”

Placing the
page away, Hart stood up. “Thank you, Father. I’m indeed
enlightened by your knowledge. Now, I must think about making my
way back to the town of Sharm el Sheikh.”

“
Now, now
Mr. Hart, you’ve come so far, surely you will not leave without
seeing the great icons of this monastery, would you? Come with
me.”

Hart
followed Anatoli to the greater complex of the monastery, to the
bell towers from which early monks looked out from. He soon got to
the
Katholikon
, the
main church which housed nine chapels. The Katholikon was very
impressive, its lighting and altars consisting of very intricate
designs. Its glory was the fresco of the Transfiguration that
decorated the church’s apse. From there, Anatoli led him through a
courtyard to the Gallery of Icons and then, the adjoining
library.

The icons were
of past saints and abbots. They were remarkably preserved as were
the library’s manuscripts. Anatoli explained that it was due to the
arid air. There were more than five thousand manuscripts in the
library, many of Greek, Coptic, Arab and Slavonic origin. Held up
by huge granite columns, the library piqued Hart’s interest. His
face soon carried an expression of dismay as he stood feet away
from the librarian who was engrossed in micro-filming the library’s
ancient texts.

“
Why does
nothing exist of the Gnostics,” he asked him.

“
Gnosticism was not a religion, not a recognized one, at
least. They weren’t Christians but followers of Platonist
traditions and some had a Jewish outlook.”

“
They
weren’t an obscure lot. The Gnostic, Valentinius, was a community
leader and founder of a school through which many texts were
documented. He came close to being appointed Bishop of Rome.
Basilides, another Gnostic, was also considered a scholar, a
well-appointed man.”

“
There
were many groups, the Cainites, the Orphites, those of the school
of Cerinthus and externally, the Cathars. There were all deemed
heretics.”

“
They
spoke of matter, at least. Father eh….”

“
Cristos.
I’m Father Cristos.”

“
Father
Cristos, do you have anything on matter?”

“
What we
have may or may not interest you.”

“
I’ll
still be happy to look at it.”

Father Cristos
disappeared to the end of the room and climbed a few steps of a
library ladder to get to a shelf. Soon, he returned.

“
This is
the Leiden Papyrus X. It’s dated around the 3rd
century.”

Hart looked at
the manuscript. It consisted of ten leaves each with twenty-seven
lines.

“
This
manuscript is the earliest on Egyptian alchemy.”

“
Alchemy?”

“
Methodologies for making gold and silver and, of course,
medical cures. Alexandria was at that time alive with the
philosophy of Plato and Pythagoras. There was interest in alchemy.
In this dubious way, matter found its way into gospels and
texts.”

“
Matter
is reverent, Father Cristos. Ancient Chinese philosophers were
alchemists. They captured the essence of Tao from creation and so
defeated death. It was common in their time to find coffins empty.
They rose to heaven in the form of pure light.”

“
What’re
you trying to say, Mr. Hart?”

“
Matter
is supernatural. There’s a connection between mind and matter. Our
conscience can be super-conscience. Valentinius declared in the
Gospel of Truth that a human can achieve perfection and become pure
light.”

“
And, you
will not find that in any canon text.”

“
I don’t
expect to but maybe, I’ll find it in the missing pages of the
Gospel of Mary Magdalene but I want to thank you for your time and
help, Father. I’m grateful for all.” Hart changed his focus. He
realized Anatoli had left to attend to another matter. He turned to
Father Cristos again. “Who, Father could help me find the missing
pages of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene? I’ve visited every museum in
Berlin. No one knows anything.”

Father Cristos
was gifted with patience for his eyes showed nothing of distress.
“Well, that is difficult to say but I can suggest Mount Athos.”

“
Mount
Athos is in Greece.”

“
The
gospel, you may recall, was originally written in Greek. They have
lots of Greek documents.”

“
I would
need a reference to go there.”

“
I would be more than happy to oblige, Mr. Hart.”

Chapter 37

He felt an
emotional stirring as he sipped coffee in the city of Athens, the
home of Plato and Aristotle. Hart was an old soul. He could never
shed his feeling of belonging to the past. He had little interest
in a modern world filled with humbug and chaos and cared less for
trappings of wealth. He was a simple man with a complex mind.

His journey to
the Holy Mountain of Athos began next day. For much of his trip, he
thought of little else than the supernatural force in matter and
its realm of light. He had sifted through lots of ancient texts
hoping to find references to them but found nothing. It was odd, he
thought. His logic told him that teachings that were not understood
were often unrecorded. The Gospel of Mary Magdalene would remain
their only source and, to think, even that barely survived. He
wasn’t giving up hope and was sure the missing pages lay ahead. For
Hart, other realms had to exist and the dead were not dead at all
but alive and well, living in a body that never aged.

From the
Port of Dafni, he took a boat headed to the Monastery of
Simonopetra. He had his
diamoneterion
or Byzantine visa needed to visit the monastery. The Holy
Mountain was governed by representatives of its twenty monasteries.
It was on a peninsular in Macedonia and the centre of Eastern
Christian Orthodox Monasticism.

Simonopetra, he
found out, was more isolated than all the other monasteries,
virtually sitting atop a cliff. It was quite a climb to get to the
main entrance and, for a moment, he wondered how the monastery’s
fifty-four monks managed to get to and from the place. Panting for
breath, he thanked his guide and followed a path to the main
building.

“
I guess
you want to know if the events described in the Gospel of Mary
Magdalene did happen, Mr. Hart.”

Father Malaki
Thoplikos, was surprisingly friendly and warm. Hart didn’t think he
would be at all. When he had stumbled upon him in the hallway,
Thoplikos had been giving orders to a young monk in a manner that
was quite demeaning. Spotting Hart, he had approached and shook his
hand, leading him through a series of narrow archways and up two
flights of steps to his private room.

“
Yes,” he
replied in the office that overlooked the Aegean Sea. The room was
cluttered with files held down by small silver boxes and gold
plated replicas of the monastery. “Would you happen to have a
complete copy of the gospel, Father?”

Thoplikos
stared in disbelief at Hart’s naiveté. “You expect to find a
complete copy of this gospel? The gospel is very old.”

“
I do. Is
something so wrong with that?”

“
No one
on this planet has one, Mr. Hart.”

Hart stifled
his bitter disappointment once again. “I’m beginning to see
that.”

“
Nonetheless, we can speculate on its authenticity. The
Greeks loved Egypt. They were mesmerized by its culture and
sophistication. They wanted to be like the pharaohs. The Ptolemaic
era lasted three hundred years. Egypt was unlike any other place
they had been and the Egyptians tolerated the foreigners. There was
the need to advance the Greek domination of Egyptian society and
this came about by a union with the clergy. The Greeks gave aid to
the Egyptians who in turn agreed to promote their language. To be
upwardly mobile in status, one had to know Greek.”

“
There
were those who simply didn’t like the system, I
suppose.”

“
There
were many revolts, at Thebes and Raphia. Now, let’s move on a bit.
Greek rule faded with the death of Cleopatra and gave way to Roman
dominance. It was the Jews of Jerusalem who secured Romanic rule in
Egypt and, of course, you know of the Pharisees and the subsequent
death of the Saviour. By the fifth century, Christianity was the
most prevalent religion in Egypt. The Coptics were devout
Christians.”

“
The
gospel was probably written around the time of Christ.”

“
The
Greek version. Christianity was introduced into Egypt by Saint
Mark, and, by the fourth century had spread to rural areas. Texts
were already being written and were sprouting up
everywhere.”

“
D’you
know what he preached? He was an apostle.”

A knock on the
door interrupted the conversation.

“
Come,”
Thoplikos ordered.

A young monk
placed a tray down on a side table, and, with a polite nod, left.
Hart got up and poured some coffee for Thoplikos and himself.

“
Two
sugars, please Mr. Hart, although I shouldn’t. I can’t drink coffee
without sugar. I was trying to tell you that most religions have
dual faces.”

“
What
d’you mean, Father?”

“
There
are teachings intended for a general audience and teachings that
are mystical.”

“
You’re
saying that some things were revealed to the apostles and not
publicly.”

“
Of
course. I’ve looked at this gospel for years and I believe it’s
really a revelation of secrets.”

“
So do I,
Father Thoplikos.” Hart recalled Professor Liedman of the CSWR, the
Centre for the Study of World Religions, mentioning them
too.

“
I
believe Mark knew secrets and spoke of them and, so, they became
part of a Gnostic Gospel.”

“
Is there
any other gospel that’s similar?”

Thoplikos
thought for a moment. Past seventy, he looked fit with no outward
signs of aging. The strict life he led seemed to agree with him,
or, maybe, it was the peacefulness of the environment.

“
Nothing
that would specifically relate to matter and realms which I know
are your interests. It would be quite difficult to find a similar
text.”

“
It seems
so.”

“
As for
the Gnostics, their central point of view was that humans had an
inner portal that led to salvation. The Romans were more ambitious
than the Greek and did everything to get power. Many were
disillusioned and schools of thought sprang up. Alexandria became a
hotbed for spiritual change. Gnosticism was considered the
Hellinization of Christianity. Apart from Saint Mark, I cannot
think of anyone who may have influenced the gospel. Philo, a
Hellenistic philosopher connected Greek thought to Hebrew doctrines
and said the human mind could be replaced by the spirit of
God.”

“
Oh?”

Thoplikos
reached for his cup and took a sip. “Plato, on the other hand,
theorized much on forms. Forms, he said, are timeless, unchanging
and perfect.”

“
My
issues are many Father, not just with the missing pages or their
authenticity but also with a line in the gospel that says: Matter
gave birth to a passion that has no equal or no image, depending on
the translation. Plato would not have known this.”

“
No one
would have known except the apostles and it brings us back to Mark
who founded the Church of Alexandria. How much mysticism did he
bring with him? It’s all about secrets, Mr. Hart. Really, I believe
that Mark influenced the gospel. In fact, a letter written by the
ancient theologian, Clement of Alexandria, to Theodore, I’m not
sure who he was, stated that there was a Secret Gospel of Mark in
which mystical teachings were revealed. Clement claimed the gospel
was in the hands of Gnostics but the manuscript was never
found.”