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FOOTNOTES TO“UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS OF ÉLIPHAS LÉVI”
[To her own translation from the original French of Lecture Five in this Series, H. P. B. appends the following two footnotes:]
According to the statement of Llorente (see American Encyclopaedia)[1] from 1481 to 1808 there were burnt alive 31,912 persons; burned in effigy 17,659, tortured and imprisoned 291,456. All that in the name of “Jesus Christ” and by the supreme authority of the Pope, who appointed the “apostolic” judges of the inquisition. This is not “attacking Christianity,” but simply stating historic facts.
Éliphas Lévi being a Catholic, still cherishes the idea that the Pope of Rome is really the successor of Peter, who was made Bishop of Rome by Jesus Christ. If it is admitted that Peter really was the first Pope, then it follows logically that the “Roman Catholic” church is really the only Christian church that has any legitimate existence, and all the so-called protestant churches are only so many heresies that ought to be rooted out; but biblical criticism has shown that Peter had nothing whatever to do with the foundation of the Latin church. “Petroma” was the name of the double set of stone tablets used by the hierophant at all initiations during the final Mystery; and the designation “Peter” (in Phoenician and Chaldaic, an interpreter) appears to have been the title of this person. The majority of critics show that the “apostle” Peter never was in Rome,—and besides it is almost certain that the real “Jesus” of the gospels, whose name was “Jehoshua, the Nazarene,” lived a hundred years before the Christian era.
Footnotes
- ↑ [H. P. B. has reference to the Encyclopaedia Americana. Edited by Francis Lieber, assisted by E. Wigglesworth. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey, 1829-33; also 1838,1848,1849. Article on “Inquisition,” p. 33, where Llorente is referred to.––Compiler.]