Table Of ContentSUN
OF
GOD
PRAISE FOR
Jesus Christ, Sun of God:
Ancient Cosmology and Early Christian Symbolism
"In this inspired work Fideler makes clear the great importance placed on
number and geometry by the ancient philosophers, artists, architects, and
seers whose ideals are at the foundation of modern Wes tern civilization. In
their grand but now lost science the ancients recognized identical archetypal
principles recurring in mathematics, music, nature, art, architecture, sci
ence, cosmology, language, and religion, interweaving them into a symbolic
whole which is known today only in fragments. Mythic exploits and relation
ships of the Egyptian and Greek deities were studied in mystery schools using
gcrometric diagrams and musical harmonies. Fideler's careful scholarship
and eye for geometry shed light on long-obscured but profound teachings.
It can only increase our respect for the depth of ancient understanding and
transform the way we look at our cultural inheritance."
- Michael Schneider, author of A Beginner's Guide to Constructing
the Universe
"This book makes a convincing case for the continuity of the European
tradition through detailed and original research on Pythagorean number
theory and Hellenistic gematria. It is a brilliant achievement, literally
thrilling, and a definitive text on Greek and Christian gematria and sacred
geometry."
- Ralph Abraham, Professor of Mathematics,
University of California at Santa Cruz
"This scholarly but immensely readable work represents a truly remarkable
accomplishment. To understand the world of antiquity, notably Christianity
and Gnosis, we must first appreciate that the ancient genius was far from
naive. In this path-making book, David Fideler systematically reveals just
how sophisticated the cosmology of the early philosophers was and to what
degree they were inspired by mathematics and the ideal of symmetry and
harmony."
- Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D., author of The Encyclopedic Dictionary of
Yoga, Voices on the Threshold of Tomorrow, and Sacred Paths
"The most convincing argument I have ever read for the historical signifi
cance of gematria as the literary embodiment of geometric formulas. This
study is comprehensive, articulate, and beautifully illustrated."
- Ernest G. McClain, Professor Emeritus of Music, Brooklyn
College; author of The Pythagorean Plato: Prelude to the Song Itself
"This book is essential reading for everyone seeking spirituality in our
modem, materialistic age. Fideler's presentation of pre-Christian philoso
phy is truly moving, as is his analysis of how these ancient teachings could
. reinvigorate modern life. After reading this book, you will never look at the
world, or Christianity, or yourself, the same."
- Lance deHaven-Smith, Professor of Political Science,
Florida Atlantic University
"This work is clearly an advance towards better understanding about the
wide range of possibilities available to interpreters in the ancient Mediterra
nean worlds."
- Robert A. Kraft, Professor of Religious Studies,
University of Pennsylvania
"With the approach of the next millennium, there is renewed interest in the
purpose and future of humanity. Jesus Christ, Sun of God puts Christianity
back on the agenda. This book is important both as a work of meticulous
scholarship on hitherto neglected Christian and gnostic texts and for the
fresh light it throws on the Greek sources of Christian theology and
spirituality. With David Fideler we glimpse anew the cosmic universalism at
the heart of Christianity. This is a text for our own times which can yet
reinherit and restore the inspiration of the West."
- Dr. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke,
EUROPAEUM, University of Oxford
"Like an archeologist, Fideler digs beneath the surface of the Christian story
to uncover the universal myths on which it is based. Then he goes further,
into the bedrock of culture, by showing that these universal myths are
themselves founded on a system of musically significant numbers."
- Joscelyn Godwin, Professor of Music, Colgate University;
author of Mystery Religions in the Ancient World; Music, Mysticism,
and Magic: A Sourcebook; and Harmony of the Spheres: A Source book
of the Pythagorean Tradition in Music
"An essential book for understanding the ways ancient Christianity incorpo
rated the timeless wisdom of antiquity, David Fideler's Jesus Christ, Sun of
God allows us to see the Western traditions in a new light. This is a book for
all those interested in philosophy, culture, science, geometry, language, and
above all, religious studies. I highly recommend it."
- Arthur Versluis, Professor of English and Fulbright Scholar;
author of American Transcendentalism and Asian Religions
Jesus Christ,
Sun of God
Ancient Cosmology
and Early Christian
Symbolism
David Fideler
OuESTBOOKs
�
The Theosophical Puhliohing House
Wheaton, Ill. U.S.A.
Madras, India/ London, England
Copyright 1993 by David Fideler.
A Quest Original. First Edition 1993.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any manner without written permission
except for quotations embodied in critical articles
or reviews. For additional infonnation write to:
The Theosophical Publishing House
P.O. Box 270
Wheaton, IL 60189-0270
A publication of the Theosophical Publishing House,
a department of the Theosophical Society in America.
This publication made possible with
the assistance of the Kern Foundation.
Library of Congress· Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fideler, David R., 1961-
Jesus Christ, sun of God : ancient cosmology and early Christian
symbolism I David Fideler
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8356-0698-8 (alk. paper): $24.00. - ISBN 0-8356-0696-1
(pbk. : alk. paper): $16.00
I.Jesus Christ-Person and offices-History of doctrines-Early
church, ca. 30-600. 2. Logos-History of doctrines-Early church, ca.
30-600. 3. Christianity and other religions. 4. Gnosticism-Rela
tions-Christianity. 5. Paganism-Relations-Christianity. 6. Cos-
mology, Ancient.
I. Title.
BT205.F53 !993
299'.934--dc20
93-2153
CIP
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
l 93 94 95 96 97 98 99
This edition is printed on acid-free paper that meets the
American National Standards Institute Z39.48 Standard.
Printed in the United States of America.
For Diana
For Orpheus, whose head still
softly sings,
for Kronos, lord of Time, Eternity,
and weighty concerns,
and for Harmonia, who ever
weaves the veil
of this divinely beautiful world.
May they smile upon this work.
Table of Contents
List of Figures ........................................................................................ xi
Epigraph ···········"··················································································xiii
Preface ................................................................................................... xv
INTRODUCTION
Cosmology and the Search for Unity
............................................... 1
CHAPTER ONE
In the Beginning:
Philosophy and Initiation in the Ancient World
Philosophy as Initiation: The Platonic Theory of Knowledge • The Celestial
Hierarchy: Time and Eternity Personified • Platonism and Gnosis: Some
Similarities •Reading the Symbolism ofNature's Book: Hieroglyphic Insight as
the Basis of Sacred Symbolism • The Nature of the Gods in Hellenistic
Thought .............................................................................................................. 5
CHAPTER Two
Gematria: The Secret Language of the Christian Mysteries
..... 2 5
CHAPTER THREE
The Solar Logos: The "Word of the Sun"
in Hellenistic Mysticism and Cosmology
The Meanings of Logos • The Spiritual Sun • The Logos Teaching • The
Prologue to the Fourth Gospel • The Logos Personified ............................... 3 7
CHAPTER FOUR
The Harmony of Apollo:
The Origins of Gematria in Ancient Greece
Mathematics in Antiquity• The Pythagorean Definition of Harmony• Apollo,
the God of Harmony• Apollo and Mathematical Symbolism •The "Geometrical
Equality" of the Gods• A Little History of Divine Names• The Recovery of the
Canon • The Land of the Gods • The Harmony of Apollo: The Pythagorean
Science of Harmonic Mediation ....................................................................... 53
CHAPTER FivE
The Miraculous Feeding of the Five Thousand
and other Mysteries of the New Testament
The Origin and Sources of the Four Gospels • Gematria as the Basis of Early
Christian Allegories• The Miraculous Feeding of the Five Thousand • Allegory,
Initiation, and the Movement Toward Insight • Sacred Geometry and the
Transfer of Spiritual Authority ....................................................................... 103
CHAPTER SIX
The Gospel ofJohn and the Gnostic Traditon
Gnosis and Gnosticism • Forgetfulness, the Call, and Recollection • A Gnostic
Cosmology: The Account ofValentinus •The Gnostic Redeemer: The Incarna
tion of Saving Knowledge • Gnosis Before Christ • Divine Knowledge as Self
Knowledge •The Gospel ofJohn and Gnosis • Gnosticism: Pessimist, Optimist,
and Literalist ................................................................................................... 125
CHAPTER SEVEN
New Light on the Mithraic Mysteries
New Light on a Secret God• Mithras, Perseus, and the Personification of Hidden
Knowledge • Mithras, Aeon, and the Pole-God • Mithraic and Christian
Mysteries ......................................................................................................... 143
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Birth of the Aeon:
Christianity and the Renewal of Time
The Levels ofTime •The Rebirth of the Light• The Great Year and the Platonic
Months • The Image of the Golden Age in Times of Cultural Renewal ..... 157
CHAPTER NINE
The Orphic Christ and the "New Song" of Christianity
Christianity Before Christ: The Orphic Impulse in Ancient Greece • The New
Song • The Development of the Christian Mysteries • The Decline of the Early
Vision .............................................................................................................. 171
CHAPTER TEN
The Harmony that Was, Is, and Shall Ever Be
Harmony, Strife, and the Growth of Consciousness • Harmonic Science and the
Philosophy of Whole Systems• The Eclipse of the Universal and the Emergence
of Relativism • Scienc
,
e, Spirituality, and the Discovery ofValue •The Invocation
of Harmony and the Unification of Culture .................................................. 183
Documentary Illustrations
Orpheus the Theologian ................................................................................. 202
The Pythagorean Tradition ............................................................................ 204
Gematria: The Sacred Language .................................................................... 206
The One and the Many .................................................................................. 208
Kosmos: The Ordered World .............................. .......................................... 210
The Celestial
'
Man of Light ............................................................................ 212
The God Apollo: The First "Word" of Celestial Harmony .......................... 214
The Cosmic Temple I .................................................................................... 216
The Cosmic Temple II ................................................................................... 218
The Music of the Sun I ................................................................................... 220
The Music of the Sun II ................................................................................. 222
Helios: The Image of the One ........................................................................ 224
Hennes, the Logos .......................................................................................... 226
Hennes, the Good Shepherd .......................................................................... 228
Thrice-Greatest Hennes: The Triple Logos ................................................. 230
The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistos .............................................. 232
The Elemental Continuum of Hellenistic Cosmology .................................. 234
The Astral Spheres .......................................................................................... 236
Celestial Archetypes I: Planetary Squares ...................................................... 238
Celestial Archetypes II: Planetary Numbers .................................................. 240
Celestial Archetypes Ill: Planetary Signatures ............................................... 242
Celestial Archetypes IV: Cosmic Cycles ........................................................ 244
The Solar Heart .............................................................................................. 246
Heliopolis: The City of the Sun ....... .................................. ............................ 248
Nile: The Celestial Stream ............................................................................. 250
Syene: The Place of Heavenly Alignment ...................................................... 252
Osiris: The Cosmic Seed ................................................................................ 2 54
Abraxas: The Demiurgic Sun ......................................................................... 256
Mithras: "The Invincible Sun" ....................................................................... 258
Janus: The Roman God the of Year ............................................................... 260
Harpocrates: The Infant Sun .......................................................................... 262
Jesus Christ: The Solar Logos ........................................................................ 264
Jesus Christ: The Harmony of the Sun ............................................... · ........... 266
Jesus Christ: The "Word" of Life and Light ................................................. 268
Jesus: The Sun Behind the Sun ...................................................................... 270
Alpha and Omega: The First and Last Mysteries .......................................... 272
Omphalos: The Philosophical Stone in Antiquity ......................................... 274
Simon Petros: The Omphalos of Christianity I ............................................. 276
Simon Petros: The Omphalos of Christianity II ........................................... 278
The Symbolism of the Cross .......................................................................... 280
Jerusalem: The Spiritual Center .................... ................................................. 282
Jesus the Fish ................................................................................................... 284
Glastonbury Abbey ......................................................................................... 286
The Cosmic Tree: Reading a Symbol of Nature's Book ............................... 288
APPENDIX 1
The Miraculous Catch of 153 Fish in the Unbroken Net
The Three Worlds • Plotinus on "the Net" as a Symbol of the World Soul • The
Symbolism of Apollo at Delphi• Greek Gematria and the Levels of Being• 153
as the Measure of "the Fish" in Archimedes • Pythagoras' Prediction of the
Number of Fish in the Net .................................................................. ........... 291
APPENDIX 2
The Hynin of the Pearl ........... .......... ...... .. ................................ ...... 309
Notes .................................................................................................. 3 1 7
Descriptive List of Ancient Authorities ............................................. 381
Bibliography ....................................................................................... 387
Acknowledgment of Illustrations ....................................................... 409
Index of Names and Topics .............................................................. .41 1
Index of Gematria: Numerical Values ........ .. ... .. .... ....... ....... ... ...... .... .425
Index of Gematria: Names and Words ............................................. .427
List of Figures
1. The Celestial Spheres .................................................................................. 11
2. Humanity as the Bond Between Spirit and Matter ..................................... 13
3. Gnostic Diagrams, Numbers, and Names from The Books of leou .............. 15
4. The Greek Alphabet .................................................................................... 27
5. Abraxas ......................................................................................................... 28
6. The Name "Jesus" ........................................................................................ 29
7. The Magic Square of the Sun ...................................................................... 3 1
8. Gematria and Geometry .............................................................................. 3 3
9. High Mathematics in Antiquity ................................................................... 5 5
10. A Fifteen-stringed Monochord or Polychord ........................................... 58
11. Unity, Duality, and Harmony ................................................................... 61
12. Apollo, the God of Harmony .................................................................... 64
13. Apollo Seated on the Omphalos ................................................................ 65
14. -../3, the Ratio of the Equilateral Triangle .................................................. 70
15. The "Geometrical Equality" of the Gods ................................................. 71
16. The First and Last Mysteries ..................................................................... 78
1 7. Root Two and the Titles of the Pagan Logos ........................................... 81
18. Some Magical Properties of.../2 ................................................................. 82
19. Natural Ratios as the Source of the Number Canon ................................ 83
20. Greek Gematria and the Theorem of Thales ........................................... 85
21. Greek Gematria: Surface Areas ................................................................. 85
22. Greek Gematria: Length, Surface Area, and Volume Combined ............ 86
23. The Musical Proportion, 6:8::9:12 ............................................................ 89
24. The Musical Proportion on the Circular Graph ...................................... 91
25. The Arithmetic, Geometric, and Harmonic Means ................................. 93
26. The Ratios of Harmony Expressed in Decimal Form .............................. 95
27. The "Super-Harmonic Proportion" .......................................................... 97
28. The Ratios of the Tone ............................................................................. 99
29. Feeding of the Five Thousand: Stage One .............................................. 111
30. Feeding of the Five Thousand: Stage Two ............................................. 113
31. Feeding of the Five Thousand: Stage Three ........................................... 115
32. Feeding of the Five Thousand: Stage Four ............................................. 117
xi
33. Feeding of the Five Thousand: Stage Five .............................................. 119
34. The Generation of the Pleroma .............................................................. 129
35. Mithras Born from the Rock ................................................................... 144
36. Mithraic Sanctuary ................................................................................... 14;
-3 7. Mithraic Tauroctony Found in London ................................................. 149
38. Aeon-Mithras Turning the Zodiac .......................................................... 153
39. The Levels of Time ................................................................................. 1;8
40. Precessional Symbolism in Religious Iconography ................................. 163
41. The Great Conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter ............................. ,. ........ 166
42. The Triple Conjunction of7 B.C.E.: "The Star of Bethlehem" ............. 169
43. Unity, Duality, and Harmony Revisited ............................... .................. 184
44. The Harmonic Overtone Series .............................................................. 188
45. 153 Fishes in the Net: Stage One ............................................................ 293
46. 153 Fishes in the Net: Stage Two ........................................................... 295
47. 153 Fishes in the Net: Stage Three ......................................................... 297
48. The Three Worlds of Hellenistic Cosmology ........................................ 249
49. The Symbolism of Apollo at Delphi ....................................................... 303
50. The Mathematical Origin of the Central Gematria Values ................... 305
51. The Relationship Between the 153 Fish in the Net and the Feeding of
the Five Thousand ................................................................................. 306
52. 153 as the Measure of"the Fish" in Archimedes .................................... 307
xii
No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed,
but puts it on a stand, that those who enter may see the light. For nothing
is hid that shall not be made manifest, nor anything secret that shall not
be known and come to light.
-Jesus, Luke 8.16
The Pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge and
hidden them. They themselves have not entered, nor have they allowed
to enter those who wish to. You, however, be as wise as serpents and as
innocent as doves.
-Jesus, Gospel ofThomas 39
Truth did not come into the world naked, but it came in types and
images. One will not receive truth in any other way.
-Gospel of Philip 67.9-11
Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. VVhen he finds, he
will become troubled. VVhen he becomes troubled, he will be astonished,
and he will rule over the All.
-Jesus, Gospel ofThomas 2
xiii
