Thoth | Hermes Trismegistus

[JM]

Thought this was interesting.

"Many Christian writers, including Lactantius, Augustine, Marsilio Ficino, Campanella, and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, as well as Giordano Bruno, considered Hermes Trismegistus to be a wise pagan prophet who foresaw the coming of Christianity.[14][15] They believed in the existence of a prisca theologia, a single, true theology that threads through all religions. It was given by God to man in antiquity[16][17] and passed through a series of prophets, which included Zoroaster and Plato. In order to demonstrate the verity of the prisca theologia, Christians appropriated the Hermetic teachings for their own purposes. By this account, Hermes Trismegistus was either a contemporary of Moses,[18] or the third in a line of men named Hermes, i.e. Enoch, Noah, and the Egyptian priest king who is known to us as Hermes Trismegistus[19] on account of being the greatest priest, philosopher, and king." Wiki

 

[Xenophon]

Thought this was interesting.

"Many Christian writers, including Lactantius, Augustine, Marsilio Ficino, Campanella, and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, as well as Giordano Bruno, considered Hermes Trismegistus to be a wise pagan prophet who foresaw the coming of Christianity.[14][15] They believed in the existence of a prisca theologia, a single, true theology that threads through all religions. It was given by God to man in antiquity[16][17] and passed through a series of prophets, which included Zoroaster and Plato. In order to demonstrate the verity of the prisca theologia, Christians appropriated the Hermetic teachings for their own purposes. By this account, Hermes Trismegistus was either a contemporary of Moses,[18] or the third in a line of men named Hermes, i.e. Enoch, Noah, and the Egyptian priest king who is known to us as Hermes Trismegistus[19] on account of being the greatest priest, philosopher, and king." Wiki

Kind of. "True theology that threads through all religions. It was given by God to man in antiquity" has specific and defined limitations as to kind of 'truth' available, as well as degree of truth. Wikipedia ain't gonna know how the Church Fathers parsed it.

 

[Xenophon]

"Christ the Eternal Tao" is a recent book by Hieromonk Damascene which, in it's introduction, does well in describing how those such as Laozi and Heraclitus described truth about God in a edifying, but imperfect way.

Orthodoxy holds all that is true and all that is true is orthodox. Men cannot escape truth and no matter what will testify to it, even if there is great mixture of falsehood there is a seed of truth. All religions outside of Orthodoxy are the result of Orthodoxy corrupted and the worship of demons (as Augustine also affirms.)

Wikipedia's statement that I quote in my above post is wrong, but also an apologetic for the heresy of perennialism by distorting the claims of some of whom are mentioned.

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola is the guy who thought magic was the best proof for the divinity of Christ, based off early Christian Kaballah. His 900 thesis are condemned, so it's kind of misleading to call him a Christian in the same way it is misleading to call the Christian Kaballah Christian.

The corruption of the Papacy in the hermetic arts notwithstanding, it is misleading to say that Christian appropriated the hermetic teachings as the hermetic teachings which compromise Western Esotericism as a religion entirely distinct form Christianity.

 

[Xenophon]

And take this as from a guy who has read all of Joseph Campbell, a good lot of Frazer, and an very long list of others of the most prominent sources - including primary sources in Hermeticism, such as Pike and Hall.

 

[Brighid]

Hermes wasn't a person, but more of a "type" or title. That's why he is at times depicted as Thoth and other times as a man. "He" can be found in legends in multiple times and places and even apparently unrelated cultures. Personally, I think Hermes/Thoth is a fallen angel or group of demons directed by a fallen angel.