Occult Goose and Priscillian associations

[Christopher Weimer]

In a message dated 1/2/02 5:17:26 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
preston_pittmanaHOTMAIL.COM writes:

> <<In the very early middle ages a major heresy arose in Galicia around the
> mysterious figure Priscillian of Avila.  He was a Bishop accused of
> allowing
> women equal opportunity and voice in the Church.  He even allowed women to
> participate in the liturgy.  When the conservative Church officials
> couldn't
> get him to stop, they had him accused of magic and witchcraft and brought
> before a Council in Germany.  He was condemned as a heretic and was the
> first person the Church executed for heresy.>>

Priscillian is a fascinating figure in church history; it's good to see his
name come up!  Nevertheless, I'm not sure that characterizing him as a martyr
to women's rights within the early church is accurate, though obviously he
didn't deserve beheading in any case.  Priscillianism was actually a complex
doctrine that departed from Christian orthodoxy in all kinds of ways; I'm
pasting a description below, because it's quite interesting (or at least I
think so!)

Happy reading!

Christopher Weimer

****************8
The foundation of the doctrines of the Priscillianists was Gnostic-Manichaean
Dualism, a belief in the existence of two kingdoms, one of Light and one of
Darkness. Angels and the souls of men were said to be severed from the
substance of the Deity. Human souls were intended to conquer the Kingdom of
Darkness, but fell and were imprisoned in material bodies. Thus both kingdoms
were represented in man, and hence a conflict symbolized on the side of Light
by the Twelve Patriarchs, heavenly spirits, who corresponded to certain of
man's powers, and, on the side of Darkness, by the Signs of the Zodiac, the
symbols of matter and the lower kingdom. The salvation of man consists in
liberation from the domination of matter. The twelve heavenly spirits having
failed to accomplish their release, the Saviour came in a heavenly body which
appeared to be like that of other men, and through His doctrine and His
apparent death released the souls of the men from the influence of the
material. These doctrines could be harmonized with the teaching of Scripture
only by a strange system of exegesis, in which the literal sense was entirely
rejected, and an equally strange theory of personal inspiration. The Old
Testament was received, but the narrative of creation was rejected. Several
of the apocryphal Scriptures were acknowledged to be genuine and inspired.
The ethical side of the Dualism of Priscillian with its low concept of nature
gave rise to an indecent system of asceticism as well as to some peculiar
liturgical observances, such as fasting on Sundays and on Christmas Day.
Because their doctrines were esoteric and exoteric, and because it was
believed that men in general could not understand the higher paths, the
Priscillianists, or at least those of them who were enlightened, were
permitted to tell lies for the sake of a holy end. It was because this
doctrine was likely to be a scandal even to the faithful that Augustine wrote
his famous work, "De mendacio".
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