THE GOSPEL OF ME - FOUND AGAIN!

My power is made perfect in weakness - 2 Cor 12:9. This is clearly the quintessence of the apostles doctrine and the Church Fathers reflect this in their writings. The Marcionites at Harran (near Edessa) understand the words to confirm the apostle as the Paraclete (a Marcionite belief as cited by Origen in Homily on Luke) cf. “And it, is his wish to have to deal with those who sought the proof of that Christ who spake in him, for this reason, that the Paraclete was in him: and as having obtained His gift of grace, and as being enriched with magnificent, honour, he says: "For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for strength is made perfect in weakness." Irenaeus (AFG 5:3:1) sees it as a confession of the apostle’s repentance from this same heresy “What, therefore? did the Lord wish, in that case, that His apostles should thus undergo buffering, and that he should endure such infirmity? Even so it was; the word says it. For strength is made perfect in weakness, rendering him a better man who by means of his infirmity becomes acquainted with the power of God. For how could a man have learned that he is himself an infirm being, and mortal by nature, but that God is immortal and powerful, unless he had learned by experience what is in both? For there is nothing evil in learning one's infirmities by endurance; yea, rather, it has even the beneficial effect of preventing him from forming an undue opinion of his own nature (non aberrare in natura sua). But the being lifted up against God, and taking His glory to one's self, rendering man ungrateful, has brought much evil upon him. [And thus, I say, man must learn both things by experience], that he may not be destitute of truth and love either towards himself or his Creator. But the experience of both confers upon him the true knowledge as to God and man, and increases his love towards God. Now, where there exists an increase of love, there a greater glory is wrought out by the power of God for those who love Him.”

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only eight years old – i.e. they occurred at the beginning of the so-called Passion of Christ. See my next book, Growing Up Christ, for a clarification of this understanding.

the gospel of Jesus – the actual name of the gospel was “the gospel of Jesus” (cf. Mark 1:1, Tertullian Against Marcion 1:1) it was just called “the gospel according to Mark” owing to the Roman Catholic belief that there were many gospels and many gospel writers.

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my domain in Syria – i.e. the malkootha d’shemay or “kingdom of God” or “heaven” (shemay means both). Cf Photius Biblioteca on Justus of Tiberias for a summary of the size of Mark’s domain.

the one greater than Moses – i.e. the messiah after the prediction in Deut 18:18 especially significant to the Samaritan understanding.

who failed to enter his promised land – a very significant sign that the one who would come after Moses would be greater than he cf In the future, the miracles of the Exodus will be secondary in comparison to those of Moshiach. Talmud, Berachos 12b

establish Eden – a very important part of the Samaritan understanding of the work of the messiah.

John – i.e. John Hyrcanus the Jewish king who lived two hundred years before Mark and established the Hasmonaean dynasty which he was a last living descendant.

the last historical king of Israel – cf Photius Bibloteca Justus of Tiberias.

remember what I told you – Gal 1:1f

nor “apostles” – the Marcionites believed in only one gospel and one apostle – i.e. Mark himself called “Paul” in our tradition. See my Another Anointed.

one spokesman – shalikah = apostle = spokesman. It is a title of Moses in Samaritan Aramaic who is the only apostle of the tradition just as we see in Marciontism. The Marqionites identified only apostle cf see Tertull. 1 20:111. 5, 14 : IV. 2 sq.: IV. 34: V. I. The Samaritans identify their Mark as an equivalent of Moses, the names have the same numerological value 345. Waite, CB History of the Christian Religion to the Year Two-Hundred (Chicago, C.V.Waite &Co., 1900) pp.272-286. “The first New Testament that ever appeared, was compiled and published by Marcion. It was in the Greek language. It consisted of "The Gospel," and "The Apostolicon." No Acts--no Revelation, and but one gospel. The Apostolicon comprised ten of Paul's Epistles, as follows: Galatians, 1st and 2d Corinthians, Romans, except the 15th and 16th chapters, 1st and 2d Thessalonians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon and Philippians ; arranged in the order as here named.” [1] On Marcion’s emphasis on one apostle cf pseudo-Tertullian “He uses, too, one only apostle; but that is the one Marcion [uses], that is, a mutilated one.”

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the secret narrative of my gospel - On the heretics having an unwritten (Aram agrapa) tradition cf Irenaeus AFG 3:2 “When, however, they are confuted from the Scriptures, they turn round and accuse these same Scriptures, as if they were not correct, nor of authority, and [assert] that they are ambiguous, and that the truth cannot be extracted from them by those who are ignorant of tradition. For [they allege] that the truth was not delivered by means of written documents, but vivâ voce: wherefore also Paul declared, "But we speak wisdom among those that are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world." And this wisdom each one of them alleges to be the fiction of his own inventing, forsooth; so that, according to their idea, the truth properly resides at one time in Valentinus, at another in Marcion, at another in Cerinthus, then afterwards in Basilides, or has even been indifferently in any other opponent, who could speak nothing pertaining to salvation. For every one of these men, being altogether of a perverse disposition, depraving the system of truth, is not ashamed to preach himself.” Basil “"Of the dogmas and messages preserved in the Church, some we possess from written teaching and others we receive from the Tradition of the Apostles, handed on to us in mystery. In respect to piety both are of the same force. No one will contradict any of these, no one, at any rate, who is even moderately versed in matters ecclesiastical. Indeed, were we to try to reject unwritten customs as having no great authority, we would unwittingly injure the gospel in its vitals; or rather, we would reduce [Christian] message to a mere term" (The Holy Spirit 27:66 [A.D. 375]).

came as a result of a divine revelation – cf 2 Cor 12:3. See also Pope Shenouda III, the Mark the Evangelist “[his writing] was from the filling of the Holy Spirit.”

O wonder beyond wonders –

the title [I gave] – i.e. “the gospel of Jesus”

the Law – i.e. the first five books of the so-called “Old Testament.”

about … the one who comes after [Moses] – this is standard reading of the text by Jews and Samaritans especially with regards to the last three or four chapters.

select me as his messiah – this is the Marcionite understanding and the same basic understanding exists in Islam as well as Manichaeanism before it.

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I wrote it in secret – on Mark’s methodology in writing his “fuller text” cf Letter to Theodore “[h]e wrote an account of the Lord's doings, not, however, declaring all of them, nor yet hinting at the secret ones, but selecting what he thought most useful for increasing the faith of those who were being instructed. But when … Mark came over to Alexandria, bringing both his own notes and those of Peter, from which he transferred to his former book the things suitable to whatever makes for progress toward knowledge. Thus he composed a more spiritual Gospel for the use of those who were being perfected. Nevertheless, he yet did not divulge the things not to be uttered, nor did he write down the hierophantic teaching of the Lord, but to the stories already written he added yet others and, moreover, brought in certain sayings of which he knew the interpretation would, as a mystagogue, lead the hearers into the innermost sanctuary of that truth hidden by seven veils. Thus, in sum, he prepared matters, neither grudgingly nor incautiously, in my opinion, and, dying, he left his composition to the church in Alexandria, where it even yet is most carefully guarded, being read only to those who are being initiated into the great mysteries.”

one secret narrative – Jews and Samaritans to this day understand that a hidden “tradition” or kabbalah properly explains the meaning of the Law of Moses using cipher of letters, numbers and secret meanings.

triumphed over the rulers of the age – 1 Cor 2:8