Hypatia
The martyrdom of Hypatia in A.D. 415 is an example of the raging of the serpentine force against the wisdom of the World Mother. As a disciple of Plutarch, this holy woman became the key exponent of the Alexandrian school of Neoplatonism. So great was her wisdom, so beautiful her countenance, so eloquent her speech that she attracted thousands to the feet of the Divine Theosophia.
A true representative of the Divine Virgin, Hypatia was a master of science and religion. Consulted by the greatest of her contemporaries on questions of mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and politics, revered by Alexandrians from every walk of life, she stood as a supreme example of the Motherhood of God. In her divinely appointed role as an exponent of Truth, Hypatia revealed the mysteries of Christian doctrine, as Origen of Alexandria had before her, and exposed the pagan background of many religious traditions. It is not surprising that her brilliant mind eclipsed the leading churchmen and drew many converts to her teachings.
Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, jealous of her success and fearful that she would interfere with the spread of Christianity in North Africa, fanned the flames of fanatical hatred among certain of his followers, which exploded in a fierce attack upon Hypatia in the streets of Alexandria. Led by Peter the Reader, they tore her from her chariot, dragged her to the Caesareum (then a Christian church), and there, before the baptismal font, stripped her of her clothes and clubbed her to death. In a final act of barbarism the maddened monks scraped the flesh from her bones with oyster shells and burned the remains. With her death, the Neoplatonic school of Alexandria collapsed, and the most important representative of the Divine Mother in the ancient world passed from the scene.
If the teachings of Origen and Hypatia had survived, Christianity would never have gone through the darkness of the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages, and we would never have had that period of barbarism. The teachings they brought forth were as pure as the teachings we have received today. They show how every man can become one with his God.
See also
Sources
Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, The Path of the Higher Self, volume 1 of the Climb the Highest Mountain® series, chapter 7, referencing the following sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1954, s.v. “Hypatia”; H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled: A Master Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology, vol. 2, Theology (Pasadena: Theosophical University Press, 1960), pp. 53, 252–53; Manly P.r Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, 11th ed. (Los Angeles: Philosophical Research Society, 1957), pp. CXCVII–CXCVIII.
Elizabeth Clare Prophet, April 20, 1973.