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In the Gospel of Philip (NHC 2.3), the sacred marriage or the bridal chamber is said to be a sacrament belonging to the initiation of the Gnostic into the mysteries of Gnostic wisdom, i.e., it is a reference to the mystical union of the souls of the initiated Gnostics with their angel bridegrooms. The other sacraments were baptism, chrism (the anointing that completes the baptismal ritual), the Eucharist, and redemption (apolytrosis). It is possible that the bridal chamber, the “Holy of Holies” (cf. 69.24-25), is a covering term for the whole initiation. It has also been suggested that the initiation consisted of three phases, baptism, chrism, and the Eucharist, in which case baptism and chrism together were described as “redemption,” and the Eucharist as “bridal chamber.”
According to the same Gospel, the bridal chamber was meant only for some: it was not meant for the animals, nor was it for the slaves, nor for defiled women; but it was for free men and virgins. In the same text (68.22-26; 70.9-17), the division of the sexes is made out to be the woman’s (i.e., Eve’s) fault because she separated from Adam. When Eve was still with Adam, there was no death, but when she separated from him, death arose. Christ came in order to set right the separation and unite the two, and give life to those who died in the time of separation and unite them. The redemption of a woman is possible only on the condition that she metamorphoses into a man.
The spiritual marriage of a man and woman in the ritual of the bridal chamber had two functions: it enacted a social unification of two pneumatics of opposite sex, but also each person’s union with an angelic counterpart in heaven. The spiritual marriage between two pneumatics was a part of special ascetic lifestyle, realized by a couple that wanted to renounce the sexual life but who did not wish to live in solitude. Another reason for entering into a “spiritual marriage” was to free oneself from the demonic spirits, whose task was to sexually attack men and women. A spiritual marriage was a protection against these incubi and succubi. Each human being was seen as possessing a sort of gender “charge,” either male or female, and unless this charge is neutralized by marriage, an individual will attract sexual assaults from oppositely charged demons.
Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Gospel of Philip, NHC 2.3.68.22-26
Gospel of Philip, NHC 2.3.69.24-25
Gospel of Philip, NHC 2.3.70.9-17
Bibliography
| Lapinkivi 2004, 173-176 | Lapinkivi, Pirjo. The Sumerian Sacred Marriage in the Light of Comparative Evidence. State Archives of Assyria Studies 15. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Coprus Project 2004. |
Pirjo Lapinkivi
URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0001384.php
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