Josephus: (38-107) A Jewish historian, and author of the “Jewish War” and “The Jewish Antiquities.” Josephus recorded the existence of Jesus and early Christianity, his work is significant as a non-biblical record.
A Roman portrait bust said to be of Josephus
Jerome: (340-420) Prolific author. In his letter to Pammachius and Oceanus, he becomes a critic of Gnostics and Origen, although he is known to have studied the works of Valentinus, Marcion, Menander, and others. “On the ground taken by these persons we have no right to condemn Valentine, Marcion, or the Cataphrygians, or Manichaeus, none of whom are named by the council of Nicea,
and yet there is no doubt that in time they were prior to it.” (New Advent)
Domenico Ghirlandaio : Saint Jerome in his Study (1480 — Church of Ognissanti, Florence)
Jesus: (?-33 CE) The Son of Joseph and Mary, and brother of James the Just, regarded as the founder or person for whom Christianity was formed Also called Saviour.
Jeu: Character in “The Pistis Sophia” designated as the “Overseer of the Light” and angel of the ‘Lord.’ (See also Bruce Codex: “Books of Jeu.”) Jeu is the name used for God in “Jue, Book One.” The book is a description to a meditation schema, apparently for the process or training for Gnosis.
John the Baptist: (5 B.C. 33 A.D.) Jewish prophet who in the New Testament baptized and prepared the way for Jesus. He was executed by Herod Antipas at the behest of Herod’s daughter Salome. According to Heracleon John was a Levite. His father was Zacharius who officiated as a Priest in the Jewish Temple. His mother was Elizabeth, sister of Mary mother to Jesus. Among his followers were Dositheos, Matthias, Simon Magus, and many other disciples and witnesses to Jesus. See; ”The Cave of John the Baptist,” by Simon Gibson, Doubleday, 2004. Mandaeans believe John the Baptist, called Yahya in the
Sidra d-Yahia (Book of John), was the last and greatest of the prophets. While Mandaeans agree that he baptized Jesus (Yeshu), they reject the latter as either a saviour or prophet. And they viewed John as the only true Messiah. http://www.answers.com/topic/john-the-baptist
Justin Martyr: (100-165 C.E.) From Asia Minor. Teacher of Tatian, student of Platonic philosophy, and a Christian apologist. Wrote “Dialogue with the Jew Tryphon. “He was certainly not a genius nor an original thinker.” A true eclectic, he draws inspiration from different systems, especially from Stoicism
and Platonism. Weizsäcker (Jahrbücher f. Protest. Theol., XII, 1867, 75. New Advent.) Is known to have tried to study from a Pythagorean teacher who turned him down because he did not know music. (New Advent)
St. Justin Martyr
Kabbalah: A Jewish method of study based upon the ”Tree of Life,”(Etz Chaim) described as
a ‘map of human consciousness.’ ”The literal Kabbalah, is that section
concerned with the information contained in Kabbahlistic teachings, particularly
those found in the Bible. It includes Gematria- the science and art of number
and letter manipulation, and all forms of evocative reading of ”holy” books
using appropriate Kabbalistic codes and interpretations.” (”The Complete Guide
to The Kabbalah, ” Parfait, Rider, 2001. pg. 7.) “When a student delves into
the study of the Kabbalah, he begins with the sefirot. From Malkhut to Ayin,
they constitute a ladder of ascent “back to the One.” Each seeker gains insights
on the sefirot, one by one, and as they go up the divine body, they get closer
and closer to knowing God.”
(http://www.allsands.com/religious/jewish/kabbalahjewish_rau_gn.htm)http://en.wi\
kipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah
The word itself means “received wisdom” or “to receive.” To receive the divine. We find this in the kabbalistic
allusion of light and vessel. Give and receive.
Kalyptos: A state of being from the Aeon of the Barbelo, which has the ability
of physical form in Sethian lore. May be written as an entity, but is more
likely a description of a state of being in becoming mortal. ”He can [see] with
his perfect soul those who belong to Autogenes; with his mind , those who belong
to the Triple Male, and with his holy spirit, those who belong to Protophanes.
He can learn of Kalyptos through the powers of the spirit from whom they have
come forth in a far better revelation of the Invisible Spirit.” (See Sethian,
and Barbelo, See also the text, ”Zostrianos.”)
Kenoma: The earthly or hylic state of the being. In the Gnostic schema(s) the kenoma is the imperfect and the antithesis of pleroma (plhrwma), where all are in a state of privation and unreality. The term is not used directly in Sethian texts. (See Iren. Haer. I.4.I (M.7.480A); ib 1.4.2 (484A); Clem.exc.Thdot.31
(p117.11; M.9.676A); Thdt.haer.I.7 (4.298).
Kerygma: Refers to preaching or declaring proclamations. May also be a reference to ‘charismata’ a term used for socio-types with the personal quality of charisma.
Kenosis: A Greek term meaning emptiness, or to make empty. As in Philippians 2:7, “Jesus made himself nothing…” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenosis In Christian theology, Kenosis is the concept of the ’self-emptying’ of one’s own will and becoming entirely receptive to God and his perfect will. It is used both as an explanation of the incarnation, and an indication of the nature of God’s activity and condescension.
He who is not satisfied with himself
will grow.
–Hebrew Proverb
Kenosis: The Sword of Truth
“My judgment is true because I do the will of Him who sent me.”
“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.”
The Thymos is the strength of the will to act decisively on what the Nous has seen. The Thymos is described by the Desert Fathers as “vehement for truth and against falsity,“ and shows this discrimination in all its action. Thus its action has an incisive, as well as decisive, quality, like the Zen swordsman‘s cut, or the Zen calligrapher‘s stroke. There is no room for brutality or blind force here, but equally neither for sentimentality or cowardly hesitancy. Thus the Thymos is the arousing power of the will, the root power of personhood. It is a power inspired by fidelity to truth, and therefore one ready to declare itself and suffer for truth. This has a very specific meaning. In a world that fears love, and indeed wants to kill it, acting in and for its truth may have a very high cost. Christ acted from Thymos when he flogged the money-changers and threw them out of the temple; when he denounced the Pharisees; and when he accepted Crucifixion.
Though loving is an action of the will, this action must be made first to God before it can be made with any discrimination and strength to human beings. Without giving the will to God first we become victims or victimizers in our action toward others. Our action is paralyzed at the core or becomes merely an attack of one kind or another: a manipulation, a display of power.
Kenosis-self-emptying-is not a moral, but an existential, act of will. By becoming empty of its own self-aggrandizement, the will becomes like that silence out of which true sound comes. Humility and poverty signify a state of emptiness in which God’s will can act in man’s will. Zen Buddhism calls this the “Great Death,” and Chassidic Judaism the “Reduction to Nothing.” In such self-emptying, one not only surrenders his misery and schemes and self-pity, but even the very best in himself, so that God can transform it from temporal riches into eternal gifts. This action of God is not like a spirit taking possession of a medium, for when the individual becomes self-emptied and filled with God, he becomes truly himself and in full possession of his true will. We come into the freedom of our royal personhood.
All of life can become an-expression of Kenosis: it is political as well as mystical. The church has provided the sacrament of confession so that there is a means to be truthful with God, and ourselves, on the level where we really are. Both the spiritual zeal whereby we become egoistic bullies in the name of attacking evil in ourselves or others, and the spiritual despair-called accidie whereby we give up on ourselves or others due to that evil, are manifestations of pride, and betoken a failure of Kenosis. The Beatitudes describe a growth in Kenosis through successive steps; St. John of the Ladder has written of these steps in detail.
–James and Myfanwy Moran
Kosmos (Cosmos) The universe regarded as an orderly, harmonious whole, or an ordered, harmonious whole. Also can mean harmony or order as distinct from chaos. According to Hoeller, the Gnostic regards kosmos as a system. ”The word kosmos used by Gnostics does not mean “world,” but rather “system,” and thus can be perfectly well applied to the systematization of reality created by the human ego.” http://www.gnosis.org:80/valentinus.htm
Kronos: In Greek religion and mythology, the youngest Titan, son of Uranus and Gaea. With the help of his mother, he led the Titans in the revolt against Uranus and ruled the world. He married his sister Rhea and fathered the great gods–Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Hestia. Because he was fated to be overthrown by one of his children, he swallowed them all as infants until Rhea hid Zeus and presented Kronos with a stone wrapped in a blanket, which he ate. Later Zeus tricked him into disgorging his children. Zeus then led the Olympian gods in overthrowing Kronos in the battle called the Titanomachy, described by Hesiod. Kronos and all the defeated Titans, except Atlas, were exiled. Kronos is equated with the Roman Saturn and was probably a god of a pre-Hellenic people. (see; ”The Pistis Sophia.”) http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry?id=26577
Giorgio Vasari: The Mutilation of Uranus by Saturn (Cronus)
Kyclos: “Circles”. Something like the circulation of energy of the Chakras of Kundalini, or the Ouroboros, the serpent like creature biting its own tail. A system of circulating or cycles of worlds, like the sun and moon, that effectboth heaven and earth. See also the diagrams of the Ophites, circles which
represent Father and Son.
Prayers and Reflections 
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