Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenes

In the third century C.E., the Catholic Bishop Hippolytus composed a Refutation of all Heresies in which his chief target was the Naassene sect, whose writings included a recounting of Jesus' actual teachings during the Last Supper. Contrary to Church attacks, the Gnostics were not a heretical derivative of Christianity, but the authentic foundation and purveyor of Christ's message. In fact, much of what now passes for Christianity, has nothing to do with the original teachings of its founder. The message recorded in the Naassene Sermon was intended for an inner circle of disciples prepared for advanced initiation into Jesus' wisdom teachings on the indwelling of the sacred. The Grail discussed therein was not depicted as a vessel made holy from holding the blood of Christ. It was rather described as a symbol of the immanence in which container and contents become as one. Combined with this concept was an essentially Gnostic tradition with roots in the Vedas, in which the lower waters were made sacred to carry spirit along the spine and restore the soul's connection with God.