Neo-Euchites

God appears as the Son or as the Holy Ghost to those who pray, said the original Euchites of Mesopotamia in the fourth century. Actually seeing or hearing him unites them with God and confers perfection, that is, freedom from suffering and passion. Euchites didn’t need the Bible; they didn’t need the church. Needless to say, a little band of perfecti, however united with God, couldn’t stop the original Euchites from being banned. The New Euchites of Philadelphia, however, live in a more permissive society, one that doesn’t bother them if they don’t bother others. When asked how they got started, lay leader “Smitty” Smith said, “That’s a funny story. We started as a tantric meditation group, but I guess, from our Western point of view, we couldn’t maintain that secret mantra thing long enough. It seemed a lot easier for us to try for perfection and maybe get a sensible impression of some form of God, you know, as the father, the son, or the ghost thing.”