Chapter XX: Section XIX: St. Cyprian of Antioch

The Æons (Stellar Spirits)—emanated from the Unknown of the Gnostics, and identical with the Dhyân Chohans of the Esoteric Doctrine—and their Pleroma, having been transformed into Archangels and the “Spirits of the Presence” by the Greek and Latin Churches, the prototypes have lost caste. The Pleroma(293) was now called the “Heavenly Host,” and therefore the old name had to become identified with Satan and his “Host.” Might is right in every age, and History is full of contrasts. Manes had been called the “Paraclete”(294) by his followers. He was an Occultist, but passed to posterity, owing to the kind exertions of the Church, as a Sorcerer, so a match had to be found for him by way of contrast. We recognise this match in St. Cyprianus of Antioch, a self‐confessed if not a real “Black Magician,” it seems, whom the Church—as a reward for his contrition and humility—subsequently raised to the high rank of Saint and Bishop.

What history knows of him is not much, and it is mostly based on his own confession, the truthfulness of which is warranted, we are told, by St. Gregory, the Empress Eudoxia, Photius and the Holy Church. This curious document was ferreted out by the Marquis de Mirville,(295) in the Vatican, and by him translated into French for the first time, as he assures the reader. We beg his permission to re‐translate a few pages, not for the sake of the penitent Sorcerer, but for that of some students of Occultism, who will thus have an opportunity of comparing the methods of ancient Magic (or as the Church calls it, Demonism) with those of modern Theurgy and Occultism.

The scenes described took place at Antioch about the middle of the third century, 252 A.D., says the translator. This Confession was written by the penitent Sorcerer after his conversion; therefore, we are not surprised to find how much room he gives in his lamentations to reviling his Initiator “Satan,” or the “Serpent Dragon,” as he calls him. There are other and more modern instances of the same trait in human nature. Converted Hindus, Pârsîs and other “heathen” of India are apt to denounce their forefathers’ religions at every opportunity. Thus runs the Confession:

O all of you who reject the real mysteries of Christ, see my
tears!... You who wallow in your demoniacal practices, learn by my
sad example all the vanity of their [the demons’] baits ... I am
that Cyprianus, who, vowed to Apollo from his infancy, was early
initiated into all the arts of the dragon.(296) Even before the
age of seven I had already been introduced into the temple of
Mithra: three years later, my parents taking me to Athens to be
received as citizen, I was permitted likewise to penetrate the
mysteries of Ceres lamenting her daughter,(297) and I also became
the guardian of the Dragon in the Temple of Pallas.

Ascending after that to the summit of Mount Olympus, the Seat of
the Gods, as it is called, there too I was initiated into the
sense, and the _real_ meaning of their [the Gods’] speeches and
their clamorous manifestations (_strepituum_). It is there that I
was made to see in imagination (_phantasia_) [or _mâyâ_] those
trees and all those herbs that operate such prodigies with the
help of demons; ... and I saw their dances, their warfares, their
snares, illusions and promiscuities. I heard their singing.(298) I
saw finally, for forty consecutive days, the phalanx of the Gods
and Goddesses, sending from Olympus, as though they were Kings,
spirits to represent them on earth and act in their name among all
the nations.(299)

At that time I lived entirely on fruit, eaten only after sunset,
the virtues of which were explained to me by the seven priests of
the sacrifices.(300)

When I was fifteen my parents desired that I should be made
acquainted, not only with all the natural laws in connection with
the generation and corruption of bodies on earth, in the air and
in the seas, but also with all the other forces _grafted_(301)
(_insitas_) on these by the Prince of the World in order to
counteract their primal and divine constitution.(302) At twenty I
went to Memphis, where, penetrating into the Sanctuaries, I was
taught to discern all that pertains to the communications of
demons [Daimones or Spirits] with terrestrial matters, their
aversion for certain places, their sympathy and attraction for
others, their expulsion from certain planets, certain objects and
laws, their persistence in preferring darkness and their
resistance to light.(303) There I learned the number of the fallen
Princes,(304) that which takes place in human souls and the bodies
they enter into communication with.

I learnt the analogy that exists between earthquakes and the
rains, between the motion of the earth(305) and the motion of the
seas; I saw the spirits of the Giants plunged in subterranean
darkness and seemingly supporting the earth like a man carrying a
burden on his shoulders.(306)

When thirty I travelled to Chaldæa to study there the true power
of the air, placed by some in the fire and by the more learned in
light [Âkâsha]. I was taught to see that the planets were in their
variety as dissimilar as the plants on earth, and the stars were
like armies ranged in battle order. I knew the Chaldæan division
of Ether into 365 parts,(307) and I perceived that every one of
the demons who divide it among themselves(308) was endowed with
that material force that permitted him to execute the orders of
the Prince and guide all the movements therein [in the
Ether].(309) They [the Chaldees] explained to me how those Princes
had become participants in the Council of Darkness, ever in
opposition to the Council of Light.

I got acquainted with the Mediatores [surely not mediums as De
Mirville explains!],(310) and upon seeing the covenants they were
mutually bound by, I was struck with wonder upon learning the
nature of their oaths and observances.(311)

Believe me, I saw the Devil; believe me I have embraced him(312)
[like the witches at the Sabbath (?)] when I was yet quite young,
and he saluted me by the title of the new Jambres, declaring me
worthy of my ministry (initiation). He promised me continual help
during life and a principality after death.(313) Having become in
great honour [an Adept] under his tuition, he placed under my
orders a phalanx of demons, and when I bid him good‐bye, “Courage,
good success, excellent Cyprian,” he exclaimed, rising up from his
seat to see me to the door, plunging thereby those present into a
profound admiration.(314)

Having bidden farewell to his Chaldæan Initiator, the future Sorcerer and Saint went to Antioch. His tale of “iniquity” and subsequent repentance is long but we will make it short. He became “an accomplished Magician,” surrounded by a host of disciples and “candidates to the perilous and sacrilegious art.” He shows himself distributing love‐philtres and dealing in deathly charms “to rid young wives of old husbands, and to ruin Christian virgins.” Unfortunately Cyprianus was not above love himself. He fell in love with the beautiful Justine, a converted maiden, after having vainly tried to make her share the passion one named Aglaides, a profligate, had for her. His “demons failed” he tells us, and he got disgusted with them. This disgust brings on a quarrel between him and his Hierophant, whom he insists on identifying with the Demon; and the dispute is followed by a tournament between the latter and some Christian converts, in which the “Evil One” is, of course, worsted. The Sorcerer is finally baptised and gets rid of his enemy. Having laid at the feet of Anthimes, Bishop of Antioch, all his books on Magic, he became a Saint in company with the beautiful Justine, who had converted him; both suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Diocletian; and both are buried side by side in Rome, in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, near the Baptistery.