✶Gnosis
← Contents
Theme
209 / 293

Listen

Dhammapada · narration sample

A one-minute narration sample. Every book in the library is narrated end to end — hear the rest in the app.

The Forgotten Books of Eden · 209 of 293

Odes of Solomon: Ode 17

A peculiar change of personality, scarcely realized until the return from it in the last verse.

1.I was crowned by my God: my crown is living: 2 And I was justified in my Lord: my incorruptible salvation is He. 3 I was loosed from vanity, and I was not condemned: 4 The choking bonds were cut off by her hands: I received the face and the fashion of a new person: and I walked in it and was saved; 5 And the thought of truth led me on. And I walked after it and did not wander: 6 And all that have seen me were amazed: and I was regarded by them as a strange person: 7 And He who knew and brought me up is the Most High in all His perfection. And He glorified me by His kindness, and raised my thoughts to the height of His truth. 8 And from thence He gave me the way of His precepts and I opened the doors that were closed, 9 And brake in pieces the bars of iron; but my iron melted and dissolved before me; 10 Nothing appeared closed to me: because I was the door of everything. 11 And I went over all my bondmen to loose them; that I might not leave any man bound or binding: 12 And I imparted my knowledge without grudging: and my prayer was in my love: 13 And I sowed my fruits in hearts, and transformed them into myself: and they received my blessing and lived; 14 And they were gathered to me and were saved; because they were to me as my own members and I was their head. Glory to thee our head, the Lord Messiah. Hallelujah.

Asked of Guide

Why does the speaker call himself both 'door of everything' and 'head' of others?

The speaker describes a personal transformation: crowned and justified, he says he “received the face and the fashion of a new person,” then finds barriers opening because “my iron melted and dissolved before me.” Calling himself the “door of everything” claims that his rebirth grants access — he embodies the passage through which others can enter life and truth.

He then pictures communal authority: those he taught become “my own members and I was their head,” which names leadership born of union, not domination. This combines language of access (door) with organic unity (head and members), like Paul’s body-of-Christ image in 1 Corinthians.

Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.