C. —not psychic, not fieehly, but a blessed JSon of .£ons. *

Concerning these [Mysteries] (H. he says) the Saviour hath
explicitly said that :
** Narrow and strait is the Way that leadeth to Life, and
few are they who enter it ; but broad and wide [is] the Way
that leadeth to Destruction, and many are they who journey
thereby. '* 3
S.* Moreover, also, the Phrygians say that the Father of wholes* is Amygdalos* —
J. — no [ordinary] tree^ (H. he says) ; but that He is that Amygdalos the Pre-existing, who having in Himself the Perfect Fruit, as it were, throbbing® and moving in [His] Depth, He tore asunder* His Womb, and gave birth to His own Son ^^ —
For the "death" mentioned above and the ** casting away of the garments," see the Mystery Ritual in The Ads of John (F, F, ^., 431- 434) ; and for the latter and the ** Virginal Spirit," the passages on the Sacred Marriage which I have collected in the chapter on the main doctrines of Philo.
* A loose reference to LXX. — Is. vii. 14.
* Or Eternity of Eternities.
3 Cf, Matt. vii. 13, 14 ; our text, however, is an inversion of the clauBes, with several various readings, of T. R.
* This seems to connect with the Fruitful of § 25. See below, in the Hymn ** Whether blest Child," the ''aU wheat-ear" that Amygdalos brought forth.
^ This refers to the First Man.
* Vulg.y Almond-tree.
7 In die Milhriaca, Mithras, in the most ancient myth, was represented as in (? bom from) a Tree. See Cumont.
B Reading olov%\ Sto^^orra with S., C, and R. ; but the Codex has otor lll^ c^CCorra. If we read ^6p for the corrupt oi«r, we get ** the Egg throbbing apart" or in separation — and so link on with the Orphic (Chaldsan) tradition.
' St^Mt'lcy t^6 synonym of a term which occurs frequently in the Piitii Sophia^ ^ 1 tore myself asunder."
^ That is, to Man Son of Man.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 183