Feminine Gender of the Holy Spirit
Aramaic Made EZ "Where then do we go for direct textual evidence that the Holy Spirit was, in the origins of Christianity, considered feminine? We go to the existing Greek minuscules copied in the early part of the last millennium to find only circumstantial evidence. Likewise, as we go to the earlier copied Greek uncials, the Byzantine copies, the eastern Syriac Peshitta, and the Old Latin we find some peripheral corroboration. Then when we go to the earlier copied Old Syriac that predates the Peshitta we find a pearl of great price. In the most ancient of the rare Old Syriac copies, the Siniatic Palimpsest, from the 4th or 5th century, found in the Covenant of St. Catherine in the Sinia by Mrs. Anes Lewis and transcribed by Syriac Professor R.L. Bensly of Cambridge University in 1892, the words of Jesus in John 14:26 read: But She—the Spirit-the Paraclete whom He will send to you-my Father-in my name—She will teach you everything; She will remind you of that which I have told you."
The Feminine Gender of the Holy Spirit
On the Orthodox Revision of the Gender of the Holy Spirit
Jaroslav Siefert, one of the Nobel Prize winning poets, has said that
if you want to know truth look to the heretics. Jesus Christ said
that his words are truth. Jesus, himself, by most at the time was
considered the worst of heretics and even today in secrets of some
hearts he is considered the same and worthy of his humiliating death.
Paul, in his time, was, and to this day, is considered by many as a
chief heretic. He, too, was personally silenced by execution.
Marcion, a labeled second century heretic whose actions insured that
the Pauline letters would be preserved, was also silenced in a
differing and more enduring way.
When we look for truth along the bloody trail of the heretics what
they said needs to be harmonized with the words about and from the
chief heretic, Jesus Christ. In of itself, being labeled a heretic
does not guarantee the truth of the entire message or even any part
of it. If the message of the heretic does harmonize with scripture
then we have truth. Martin Luther was considered a heretic by the
then established church because he proclaimed that justification came
by faith rather than works. It became evident from scripture that his
words on the subject, in the end, were true. It was fortunate that he
was given the time to develop his message and the means to make it
known to a large number of hearers; otherwise, he and his message, as
others were, could have been swept under the rug of personal
destruction so that we all could still be paying the church to
justify our dead family members.
When we look to the heretics we have two problems. First, we have the
tactics used to destroy what is considered heretical. The initial
response to a heretic is silence so that a response does not draw the
attention of others. If the apparent heresy persists the heretic is
punished by character assassination or public humiliation so that
others tremble at the thought of adopting the heresy. Finally, if
possible the means of the state are used to silence the heresy as it
was with the Arian controversy of the fourth century. The heretic's
words are adulterated to obscure the so-called heresy and to convict
him. Tertullian, who was an educated Roman attorney, used his skill
to convict someone by selectively using Marcion's words to counter
his so-called heresy. Like Tertullian's writings against Marcion,
many times what we have existent today of the heretics words were
written by those who detested them. It has been said that whether a
leader is determined to be good or bad is based on who writes the
history books. In the case of Marcion, since all of his own writings
and writings in support of him were destroyed, we have only had one
side of the story. The second problem we have is that in places the
words of the original scripture have been altered purposefully to
eliminate what the Orthodox Church considered as heresy and its
possible resurgence. This chapter concerns what I believe is one of
the most detrimental alterations of this kind from the texts.
To expose this alteration we ask from our understandings of the
nature of man what could have been the scenario that precipitated
this probable internment of truth. We search among the accumulated
historical debris of some considered church fathers for their silence
or fragmented relics of truth amongst their criticisms. We also
search the words of some who were people of conscience who left us a
record of the possible alternatives to what they were to record for
acceptance within the Orthodox Church. Next we look to the minute
detail of the text itself and then to the scope of all scripture to
synthesize our understandings of truth. Finally, we consider, that if
this is true, what are the implications for faith today.
For this study we have begun by focusing on the heretic, Marcion, who
was noted disparagingly as a facilitator of the so-called Gnostic
heresy. What gem or gems of truth can we sift from the historical
remnants of the Gnostics' beliefs through the detail of the texts and
the scope of scripture to find this pertinent heresy? According to
Elaine Pagels' enlightening book, The Gnostic Gospels, one of the
established church's primary fears of and primary accusations of the
Gnostics was that they were attracting large numbers of women and
having women minister in contrast to the Orthodox Church. Was there a
basis in ancient scripture for the fundamental belief in the value of
women in their churches or was this a "throw back" to the more
proximate pagan prophetesses and goddesses in Greek religion? From a
variety of sources in their writings it is apparent that they
believed that the Holy Spirit was the feminine spouse of God the
Father. As one moves on, I believe that one will see that they had
justification from a basis in scripture for this belief.
G. Zuntz, the noted higher critic, from his lifetime of examining the
oldest Greek texts and textual fragments from the third century
forward, writes that there was no attempt in the West to maintain the
integrity of the original texts until Jerome produced the Latin
Vulgate at the request of the papacy in the fourth century. Zuntz, by
using the standard practice of textual comparison, in his detailed
analysis of the oldest Pauline manuscript, notes, in his book, The
Text of the Epistles, numerous places where the text has been
altered. Jerome, himself, in letters to his colleagues, bewails the
fact that he has so many variant texts to select from for the
compilation of a standardized version. At one point before him he has
the old Hieronymian text and its revision. He says," The differences
throughout are clear and striking.” In his writings he does leave us
a clue to the subject at hand. At one point he has before him the
Gospel to the Hebrews written in Aramaic used by the Syrian
Christians which, as some now say, was the forerunner to the gospel
of Matthew and predated the four canonical gospels. In it, Jerome
says that the Holy Spirit is expressed in the feminine gender and is
considered The Mother in law of the soul. (Library 11, commentary in
Isaiah, chapter 11: Library 2, commentary. In Micah 7.6) So here is
some additional external evidence from an unrelated source that the
Holy Spirit was originally considered feminine.
Where then do we go for direct textual evidence that the Holy Spirit
was, in the origins of Christianity, considered feminine? We go to
the existing Greek minuscules copied in the early part of the last
millennium to find only circumstantial evidence. Likewise, as we go
to the earlier copied Greek uncials, the Byzantine copies, the
eastern Syriac Peshitta, and the Old Latin we find some peripheral
corroboration. Then when we go to the earlier copied Old Syriac that
predates the Peshitta we find a pearl of great price. In the most
ancient of the rare Old Syriac copies, the Siniatic Palimpsest, from
the 4th or 5th century, found in the Covenant of St. Catherine in the
Sinia by Mrs. Anes Lewis and transcribed by Syriac Professor R.L.
Bensly of Cambridge University in 1892, the words of Jesus in John
14:26 read:
But She—the Spirit-the Paraclete whom He will send to you-my
Father-in my name—She will teach you everything; She will remind
you of that which I have told you.
(Translation courtesy of Danny Mahar, author of Aramaic Made EZ)
In both the Hebrew and Aramaic language the word spirit is in the
feminine gender but in the Greek language it is neuter. It is the
Greek neuter word, pnuema, that was employed by the ancient
Septuagint translators of the Hebrew Old Testament when they
translated the feminine ruach into Greek. The authors who wrote in
Greek were limited in expressing the Holy Spirit in the feminine by
the constraints of the language. In addition, signposts directing one
to the feminine nature of the Holy Spirit may have been removed or
altered. Bart Ehrman, writes in his book, The Orthodox Corruption of
Scripture, that from his comparative analysis, the Orthodox Church
altered the texts to counter various beliefs considered heresies,
especially during the time of Marcion, when they were compiling their
own canon of the four gospels. It was the early gospel of John that
was a favorite of the Gnostics and considered heretical by the
Orthodox Church according to textual critic Walter Bauer. What if to
sustain their developing male hierarchy and to contain the growth of
the Marcionite and Gnostic churches and their attractiveness to
women, the orthodox revisionists altered additional signposts to this
feminine aspect of the Holy Spirit and emphasized their modified
canon to counter Marcion's canon of Luke and the Pauline letters and
the Gnostics beliefs? When we add the evidence in the scope of
scripture and the historical evidence of conflict between the
Orthodox Church and the Gnostics, I believe one can consider this
likely.
(It is also interesting to note in the context of early church
history that the Gnostics' writings rarely refer to the orthodox
canon of the four gospels and over time refer less and less to it.
Could it have been that they were aware of the revisions concerning
the feminine gender of the Holy Spirit and had no desire to give
credence to the altered canon used by the Orthodox Church to stifle
them? This, I believe, eventually worked to their detriment, because
it seems that groups of Gnostics diverged widely from the scripture
as a whole. Could it be that they, in their portion of separation,
were eventually reversed and, in a different manner, twisted in
disarray?)
When we move forward and consider the witness of the stars where no
man's hand can make alterations, the feminine gender of the Holy
Spirit becomes more likely. Moses, in writing the book of Genesis,
proclaims that the luminous celestial bodies in the darkness of
night's heaven and the sun's brilliant light are for signs. Signs are
symbols that point to something beyond themselves. Half of the major
constellations are named with Semitic words that are feminine. In
fact, within and in proximity to many of these major constellations
are signs that point to a male-female interrelation. Joseph Seiss'
book The Gospel of the Stars, states that the two figures in Gemini,
according to the most ancient Zodiac of Dendra, are not identical
twins but those of a man and woman walking hand in hand. He goes on
to say, that the word Gemini in the original Hebrew, Arabic and
Syriac does not carry so much the idea of two brought forth at the
same birth as it does the idea of a long betrothal brought to its
consummation in perfect marriage. The old Coptic name of this sign
signifies "The completely joined.” The constellation of Virgo, which
represents the woman about to bring forth, has above it in the sky
the constellation Bootes that is named with a masculine noun. Peter,
in his second epistle, calls light in darkness and the dawning sun
a "more sure word of prophecy" than even the voice from heaven heard
on the Mount of Transfiguration. (II Peter 1:19)
Why could it be then that the second century theologians and
translators were blinded to the importance of the femininity of the
Holy Spirit? The power of Rome, in which Western culture is deeply
rooted, was built on the three disciplines of virtus, pietas, and
fides. Virtus conveys the idea of an individual's harmonious
integration. According to Pierre Grimal, a professor of Latin
literature at the Sorbonne, this harmonious integration may not be
what we first think. He writes," When a Roman spoke of virtus he was
less likely to mean conformity to abstract values than spontaneous
assertion by action of the essential virile qualities of self
mastery — granting to the feminine weakness, with a certain contempt,
the characteristic of impotentia sui, an inability to control its
nature.” In the second century, in the West, the educated Roman male
who was trained in this discipline of male self-mastery became the
bishop or the theologian. Because of the prestige and power of Rome
these exerted pressure on the Eastern churches to conform to their
doctrines. In the third century the Roman bishop actually
excommunicated all the Eastern churches that would not change the
date of Easter from the Hebrew calendar's date that corresponded to a
day determined by each year's particular lunar cycles to a
consistently prescribed Sunday based on the Julian calendar. In time
even the power and influence of the Roman Emperor began to be used by
the West to settle doctrinal disputes with the Eastern churches.
The Feminine Gender of the Holy Spirit
On the Orthodox Revision of the Gender of the Holy Spirit
(Excerpted from the manuscript, A Journey Unto Revelation's End, by
Steve Santini)
"The masculine association with the Holy Spirit in English is derived from the corresponding Latin phrase, Spiritus Sanctus. This in its turn is the translation of the Greek word pneuma, which is neuter. Although the Gospels are written in Greek, in the circles of Jesus and his disciples the language of ordinary usage was Aramaic, whereas Hebrew was used for sacred purposes. The two words from Hebrew that are both translated into Greek as pneuma are rhuh and shekinah. However, both of these words in Hebrew are feminine.”
The Gospel of John inthe Light of Indian Mysticism, Ravi Ravindra, page 18
The Feminine Gender of the Holy Spirit
Addendum I
The Apostle Paul's Usage of the Divine Feminine
By Steve Santini
Pentecost 2014
"The defining text for the feminine nature of the Holy Spirit is that of the ancient Aramaic gospels in the Siniatic Palimpsest.[1] The underlying second century Aramaic text of the palimpsest is written in the dialect Jesus had spoken among his followers. According to the first rule of textual criticism the oldest text carries the most weight as to what the original text of scripture revealed. The Siniatic Palimpsest predates the oldest Greek biblical text in the Codex Sinaiticus and Jerome's Latin translation by roughly 200 years and next oldest Aramaic text in the Peshitta by about 300 years.[2]
During the last several centuries, after accumulating and comparing a stream of ancient Greek and Aramaic texts dating from the first millennium, scholars have realized that over time the original text of scripture had been changed through mistakes, ignorance and biases, among other reasons.[3]
The Greek Codex Sinaiticus was a compilation from a number of earlier Greek texts that no longer exist. It is evident from the editors' notes with the text that revisions of these earlier texts had been made to produce this codex. Constantine Tischendorf, who discovered the codex in the Monastery of Saint Catherine in the Sinai where the palimpsest was later discovered, asserted the codex was one of 50 copies commissioned by Emperor Constantine. As such this revised codex became a standard text in the empire.
The commission for this Greek codex was made in 331 AD, six years after the first church council at Nicaea in Asia Minor. The resulting proclamation from this council made no mention of the nature and function of the Holy Spirit. The second church council held in Constantinople in 360 AD further obfuscated the nature and function of the Holy Spirit by erroneously identifying the Holy Spirit as the spirit of truth.[4] [5]
By the fifth century the eastern churches had followed suit by producing the revised and standardized Peshitta. This version was written in Eastern Aramaic. In a number of areas it contradicted the ancient Aramaic of the Siniatic Palimpsest and contradicted some textual quotations in ancient Aramaic by earlier Eastern Church fathers.[6] In the sixth century, since the earlier text of the Siniatic Palimpsest was no longer favored it was copied over with a history of female church martyrs.”
The Feminine Gender of the Holy Spirit
http://www.musterion8.com/theiotes.html
Web (May 14, 2015)
[1] A palimpsest is a text that has been written over an older text. For economies and practicalities writers and copyists would scrape text from much older velum texts that had fallen into disuse and reuse them for more current subjects. With careful examination by the use of more modern technologies the older underlying text can be recovered. Old Syriac is another term used for ancient Aramaic. Some scholars call the Siniatic Palimpsest the Old Syriac Palimpsest.
[2] Agnes S. Lewis, The old Syriac gospels, or Evangelion Da-MepharreshĂȘ', London, 1910 p. iv, v http://archive.org/stream/oldsyriacgospels00lewirich#page/iv/mode/2up & http://archive.org/stream/oldsyriacgospels00lewirich#page/v/mode/2up & International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 8479.37 \(3) Sinaitic Syriac, 1915 http://www.studylight.org/encyclopedia/isb/view.cgi?n=8465
[3] The percentage of errors, insertions and revisions in the Codex Sinaiticus is relatively small. Most are insignificant and thereby inconsequential. But there are some that blatantly alter Christian doctrine, practice or history. See: http://www.musterion8.com/undivided.html
[4] The Homoian Creed, from the Council of Constantinople, 360 AD, http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/the-homoian-creed/
[5] Chapter fourteen of John's gospel records two comforters. Verses 16 through 25 pertain to the spirit of truth. Verse 26 begins with the word but. In the Greek text the word for but is de. De is a moderately contrasting conjunction. The remainder of verse 26 pertains to the Holy Spirit rather than the spirit of truth within the preceding nine verses. In verse 16 of the Siniatic Palimpsest the Aramaic noun for the spirit of truth comforter and its associated nouns are in the masculine gender. In verse 26 of the Siniatic Palimpsest the Aramaic noun for the Holy Spirit comforter and its associated pronouns are in the feminine gender. Jesus describes the Holy Spirit comforter as one that will reiterate and teach all that he has said and done when he was with them, while he describes the spirit of truth comforter as one that will reveal things to come. (John 16:7-15) See: The Two Comforters of John's Gospel, http://www.musterion8.com/johnsgospel/comforters.html
[6] S. R. Ring, Identifying early Syriac gospel texts, Xth SYMPOSIUM SYRIACUM, last modified 2009, http://www.syriac.talktalk.net/RING_Identifying_early_Syriac_gospel_texts.pdf
"Usage in Hebrew Bible and Hebrew grammar rules allow modifiers of feminine noun 'ruach', meaning 'spirit' to be either masculine or feminine.”
January 21, 2013
Dear Jagbir and all,
Hebrew is the original language of the Bible, especially of the Old Testament, with a few parts being in Aramaic. I have done a transcription of the appended video (which shows the Hebrew characters that depict the Holy Spirit) - and these Hebrew characters depict the Holy Spirit in most cases to be a "She", that is," the Divine Feminine.”
Most passages depicting the Holy Spirit in modern Bibles depict Her in the neuter or masculine gender. So, something has been lost over time in the translations/knowledge. The translators did not have the Gnosis/Knowledge of Sahaja Yoga that we have received from the Holy Spirit-Paraclete at this time, and moreover, they were very focussed on the Patriarchy and patriarchal matters, that is," the Divine Masculine.”
This has resulted in knowledge of the Divine Feminine being obscured from the reality/everyday life of human beings, especially that of those coming from the western religious worldview. In other words, they didn't know She existed!! They didn't know that the Holy Spirit spoken of in their Bibles, is the Divine Mother. To them, the Holy Spirit is an obscure personality of the Godhead that is depicted as either neuter or masculine in gender.
It is therefore no wonder that western Christians are often quite confused about the role and identity of the Holy Spirit, because when you have a Father-God and a Son-God, it is most confusing to leave out The Mother-God!! It just goes against all known human and divine principles to have a Father, a Son, but no Mother....This is why a lot of western Christians have had a hard time understanding the role of the Holy Spirit, because they don't understand Her as the Divine Mother, or the Feminine Principle/Power of the Universe.
While the Father-God is given a gender (masculine) and the Son-God is given a gender (masculine) - the Holy Spirit is also given a masculine/or neuter gender. This makes the gender-identity very one-sided and nature is not that way. Rather, nature is balanced in all aspects, as designed by the Creator Father-Mother-God: "As above, so below"- and so it is.
As already stated, western Christians had no idea that The Mother-God was even missing, due to the above-described patriarchal worldview. They had no idea that their unsure masculine/neuter gender identity for the Holy Spirit could be due to having missed out on an understanding of the existence of The Mother-God aspect of the Trinity, which includes God the Father, God The Mother, and God the Son.... And as children of God the Father and God The Mother, we can come into conscious spiritual unity with our true, spiritual parents through our Second Birth or Self-realization, which is an internal experience of becoming "one with the Divine" whereby not just intellectually, but in a very deep internal way, we KNOW that we are a spark of that Divine Unity within our very own being itself!
The 'missing Divine Mother' has actually been there all along, even within our very own selves. Most of the western world would have read or heard about a Divine Mother by now, though they may still not believe in Her or recognize Her within -"She" being the Holy Spirit of whom the Spirit-Paraclete, Shri Mataji, spoke and taught about - just like Jesus explained that another Paraclete, like Himself, would do!
The missing piece of the puzzle - the "Mother-God" that goes along with the rest of the trinity that includes the Father-God and Son-God is a puzzle no longer. As suggested above, some will still deny that She exists as The Mother-God, because they cannot clearly read about Her, as such, in their English Christian Bibles, and also because they have this Christian conditioning that has accompanied them for so long, that there's only the Father-God and the Son-God, but no Mother-God.
However, at this time of immense spiritual worldview transformation, at this time of the Last Judgment and Resurrection that has been potentially made into a beautiful time instead of a doomful time through the teachings of the Paraclete that Jesus sent, increasing numbers of Christians are realizing/recognizing that not only do they have a Divine Father and Divine Son, but that they have a Divine Mother too! They are starting to understand that the original source material of their Bibles, undoubtedly of the "Old Testament", comes from the Hebrew language, with a few parts in Aramaic - and this source material recognizes the Holy Spirit as a "SHE.”
To show this (and I hope you will find the Hebrew translation as breathtaking and touching as I have), the transcription of the youtube video (titled," PROOF Female HOLY SPIRIT, a SHE in Bible - Hebrew feminine more than grammatical gender") is appended.
regards,
violet
Title of youtube video: PROOF Female HOLY SPIRIT, a SHE in Bible - Hebrew feminine more than grammatical gender (see URL below)
(Transcription from video to words - 22/01/2013):
Remember, Hebrew is the original language of the Bible - undoubtedly of the "Old Testament", with a few parts in Aramaic.
Job 3:4 [in the original Hebrew source/language] literally reads,
The SPIRIT of El,
SHE-made-me,
and, the BREATH of Shaddai,
SHE-is-keeping-me-alive
Numbers 11:26 [in the original Hebrew source/language] literally reads,
and the SPIRIT,
SHE-rested upon them...
and they prophesied in the camp.
Psalm 143:10 [in the original Hebrew source/language] literally reads,
THY SPIRIT is good;
SHE-shall-lead me
into the land of uprightness
Isaiah 11:1-2 [in the original Hebrew source/language] literally reads,
There shall come forth a Rod out of the Stem of Jesse,
and a Branch shall grow out of HIS Roots
and the SPIRIT of YAHUVEH SHE-shall-rest-upon-him
-the SPIRIT of Wisdom and Understanding
the SPIRIT of Counsel and Might,
the SPIRIT of Knowledge and of the Fear of YAHUVEH
[In the original Hebrew source/language there is a] Female HOLY SPIRIT in:
Genesis 1:2, Exodus 31:3; 35:31, Numbers 11:26; 24:2, Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6,19; 15:14, 1 Samuel 10:6,10; 11:6; 16:13,14; 19:20,23, Job 26:13; 33:4; Psalms 51:12; 143:10, Nehemiah 9:20, 1 Chronicles 12:18, 2 Chronicles 15:1; 20:14; 24:20, 2 Kings 2:15, Isaiah 11:2; 40:7; 59:19, Ezekiel 1:12,20,21; 2:2; 3:12,14,24; 8:3; 11:1,5,24; 36:26; 37:1; 43:5, Haggai 2:5
For the interlinear Bible pictured in this video, visit scripture4all.org
[Old Testament]:
http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Hebrew_Index.htm
[New Testament]:
http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Greek_Index.htm
(Not all interlinear Bibles show modifying verbs' gender).
The usage in the Hebrew Bible and Hebrew grammar rules allow modifiers of this feminine noun (ruach - meaning spirit) to be either masculine OR feminine. This means a Hebrew author shows by the modifiers if a spirit is actually a male person.
However, the author of Scripture, 'WHO is the HOLY SPIRIT' (2 Peter 1:20-21) identified HERSELF as being a female NOT a male person (by the modifiers). This is absolute proof of the HOLY SPIRit's gender. Not all interlinear Bibles contain this information. For the interlinear Bible pictured in this video, visit scripture4all.org
In Old Testament Scriptures, the phrase "RUACH Ha KADOSH" (Hebrew for HOLY SPIRIT) is rarely found (Psalm 51:10-12; Isaiah 63:10-11), but "RUACH YAHUVEH" and "RUACH ELOHIM" (Hebrew for Spirit of [the Lord] YAHUVEH and Spirit of God) among others are often used for the HOLY SPIRIT. These are given feminine instead of masculine modifiers, clearly identifying the HOLY SPIRIT as FEMALE. This is true and can be confirmed, for example, in an interlinear Bible. But keep in mind, a FEW times RUACH YAHUVEH and RUACH ELOHIM have masculine modifiers.
However, in these cases, they refer to YAHUVEH the Father, which explains the masculine modifiers as in 2 Samuel 23:2-3 for example, which literally reads,
RUACH YAHUVEH HE-spoke to me and HIS-declaration was on my-tongue. The God of Israel HE-said, the Rock of Israel HE-spoke...
The context in these cases shows it is not the Person of the HOLY SPIRIT, but YAHUVEH being described here in HIS very Fatherly masculine role ABBA (Father) YAHUVEH - the Supreme Power and Authority over all.
On the other hand, Jews have always known the HOLY SPIRIT to be the female aspect/part of God - submissive to the Father YAHUVEH, and yet part of HIM, an emanation of HIM sent to do HIS will (John 14:26; 15:26).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEhRXACPaf4
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