The Gospel of Mary |
 |
The Apostolic Gnostic Church in America (AGCA):
Prayers and Devotions
On this page, you may use these convenient anchor links to go directly to a particular prayer, or simply scroll down:
Introduction to Prayer Section
The AGCA Gnostic Rosary (link to separate section)
Prayers in Honor of Non-Gnostic Spirits and Divinities (link to separate section)
The Gnostic Lord's Prayer ("Our Father and Mother God....")
The Hail Sophia ("Hail Sophia, Lady of Light..."
Sophia's Light: Nighttime prayer ("In darkest night...")
Salve Regina Sophia ("Hail Queen of Heaven...")
Prayer Before an Old Oak Tree ("Great Sister Ancient Oak Tree...")
For our whole history, Gnostics have been religious syncretists, seeking out aspects of spiritual truth in the rich diversity of many different religious traditions, from pagan to Christian to Hindu to Sufi to Buddhist. Gnostics also have a rich legacy of liturgical and ritual inventiveness and creativity. Because gnosis is a fundamentally personal experience and journey, the prayers and devotions that people use are often intensely individual. However, at times our journey toward enlightenment is made more meaningful by joining in common prayers with other men and women seeking the knowledge of God and their own true spiritual identities. For us in the AGCA, this "common prayer" finds its most fundamental expression in the Gnostic Divine Service, which we celebrate both as solitary practitioners and in groups.
In addition, though, the AGCA has developed a body of common prayers and devotional practices for other times and occasions, displayed on this part of the website. We have also developed some techniques for silent prayer and meditation, which we will be posting in the near future. You will see that we have drawn on the prayer practices of other religious traditions and incorporated them into our Gnostic spiritual worldview. You will also see that many prayers relate to our great Advocate and the Mistress of all Wisdom, the eternal consort of Christ, Sophia. We welcome submissions of prayers and short devotional practices or rituals from people of all religious traditions – please contact us by e-mail at gnosticchurch@comcast.net.
Finally, in addition to the prayers you will find below, which represent specific imagery drawn from our Gnostic tradition, we are also in the process of adding sections of prayers to the divinities and pantheons of non-Gnostic religious traditions, such as Graeco-Roman pagan gods and goddesses, Hindu divinities, the Egyptian and Norse pantheons, and so forth. We are actively seeking individuals who would be willing to submit prayers honoring gods and goddesses from these other traditions. We offer prayer and veneration to these many gods and goddesses for they are all images of some aspect of the one true God, who can never be summed up in a single set of images or words. To visit the library of prayers honoring the spirits and divinities of other (non-Gnostic) religious traditions, please click here.
Our Father and Mother God,
you are within us all,
and you make all things holy and united,
as you are holy and united, one God living and true.
Your Kingdom come,
your will be done,
which is love to all that lives in the heavens and on the earth.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and let us give our daily bread to those who have none;
and heal our broken spirits,
as we heal and forgive others.
And lead us, through the darkness of your mystical love,
to the light of the pleroma,
Amen.
The Hail Sophia
Hail Sophia, Lady of Light,
Mystical Lover of my spirit.
Blessed are you, Woman of Wisdom,
and blessed are the gifts you bestow on us your children.
Holy Sophia, goddess who leads to the One God,
fill me with your emptiness,
and darken my spirit with your light,
Amen.
Sophia's Light (A nighttime prayer)
In darkest night, when lights are dim,
and all in sight seems sad and grim,
I find you there, your arms surround me,
your spirit fills me and it grounds me.
I look to you, Lady of Truth,
most ancient One, yet eternal youth,
to keep me safe, protect my heart,
and with the wisdom you impart
fill up my empty mind and soul
so that, my Lover, you can make whole,
all that was broken in this day –
and that is what I ask and pray.
Salve Regina (Sophia)
Hail, Queen of Heaven,
Mother most merciful,
our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
You lead us on this pilgrim journey,
and to you we cry when we seem mired,
in the pain of exile from our true home.
And, gentle Mother Sophia, you soothe our tears.
Turn then, most gracious Advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us,
and bring us into the unity of the Pleroma,
with your heavenly consort, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Prayer Before an Old Oak Tree (by Brother Matthew)
Great Sister Ancient Oak Tree, I stand here in your presence,
and bow humbly to the mighty spirit,
that dwells deep within you.
How, long have you stood here, Great Sister Tree,
and what has this place seen?
Were you standing here, Great Sister Tree,
when the Nag Hammadi texts rose from the Egyptian sands?
Did your spirit rejoice to magnify the work of God here on Earth?
What was standing here, Great Sister Tree,
when people first looked up at the sky,
and dreamed of things beyond the stars?
What prayers did men and women say, Great Sister Tree,
the first time they prayed in this great forest?
Did they pray before you, as I am now?
Great Sister Tree, have you felt sorrow, as I have?
Did you weep to see your brother and sister trees
ripped from the earth to make way for highways of vanity?
Did your ancestors, great Sister Tree,
feel the earth shudder beneath them,
as the wood of the earth was forced to form a bonfire,
to burn the holy men and women of the Cathari,
sacrificial victims for hatred?
Did your ancestors, Great Sister Tree,
cry out from the weight as the wood of the earth,
was shaped into gallows
to destroy those who would not accept or conform?
Did they feel the singe of heat, Great Sister Tree,
when our Gnostic saint Priscillian was burned for his "heresies"?
Great Sister Tree,
have you communed with that tree-spirit
on whose branches hung the very savior of this world?
Did her branches scream in pain as she was sawed
and shaped into an instrument of torture
by the men of hatred, the religious leaders?
How did she feel?
Did she die inside as well?
Did she?
Or, great Sister Tree,
did she soften her branches,
and suspend the ancient rigor of her form,
and transform herself into a gentle burial shroud
for the One who loved, like no one else had ever loved?
Give her my regards, Great Sister Tree,
and my homage that I pay to her and you,
head bowed in honor of an Older Sister,
a partner with me in the work of salvation here on the Earth.
Stand tall, Great Sister Tree, until that time,
when the spirit inside you and the spirit inside me
shall rise from material form to be reunited
with those who burned and those who were forced to kindle,
with those who hanged and those upon which they hung,
united, forever, in the oneness of God, who made us,
who shaped our spirit from the fire of love.
Great Sister Tree, pray for me...
Visit the liturgy section or return to the main page
 |
 |
 |
If you do not see a navigation bar on the left side of this website, please click here to be redirected to our main page.
Copyright 2006-7 by the Apostolic Gnostic Church in America
We Are An Independent Communion of Neo-Classical Gnostics Around the World
For questions or comments, please contact us at any time