Essenes. secret brotherhood of the Essenes
Joseph and Philo put the number of modern Essenes at about 4000. The Essenes were a closed and close-knit group. Scattered in Palestine, they lived at first in towns and villages, under the name assideev, then, having decided that city life was hopelessly spoiled, they moved away from it and did not visit the Old Testament Temple. Pliny the Elder notes their living in the desert in the northwest of the Dead Sea, where, at Qumran, manuscripts of an ascetic community living here at the time of Christ, which most researchers identify with the Essenes, were discovered. The Essenes were probably among the followers of Christ, but many also did not accept Him, turned into Judaizing Gnostic sects and soon disappeared. Many participated in the First Jewish War.
Of the other Jewish sects of this era, who practiced a hermitic way of life, the Therapeutae (Firapevts) and Hemero-Baptists are known; the zeal of the Essenes is compared to that of the Pharisees. The degree of Essenes' connection with these and other currents in the Jewish environment of the time of Christ is debatable. Some scholars have suggested a connection between the Essenes and later Hasidism, Kabbalism, and various secret societies.
Creed and device
The Essenes believed in the need for personal piety, strove for asceticism and lived in a closed brotherhood. Entering the community, under a terrible oath, had to make a vow: to honor God, to be fair to everyone, not to harm anyone, to be an enemy of injustice, to remain faithful to the authorities, having reached power not to be exalted, not to distinguish oneself from others with special clothes and jewelry, to expose lies and love the truth, not to hide anything from the members and not to tell anything about them to outsiders, to abstain from illegal profits, not to transfer the dogmas of the Essene teaching to anyone, not to use oaths, to faithfully keep the writings of the Essenes and the names of angels. They revered Moses the God-seer immediately after God, therefore they especially strictly observed the Sabbath and punished blasphemy against Moses with death. Strictly observed the prescriptions of ritual purity, gravitated towards the extremely burdened interpretation of the Law of Moses. They believed in the physical resurrection of the dead. They taught that the soul consists of the finest ether and is imprisoned in the body, as in a dungeon (due to its fall), from which, after the death of a person, it flies to heaven; a place for a righteous soul eternal life- in the blissful fields on the other side of the ocean; evil souls are eternally tormented in cold and darkness. They believed in predestination.
According to Josephus, some married, others were celibate, but they accepted and raised other people's children. Among those who married, as soon as the wife became pregnant, the husband stopped communicating with her, wanting to prove that he had taken her not for pleasure, but for the production of children.
The Essenes despised jewelry, did not smear themselves with oil, wore the same clothes until they were completely worn out, but during the meal over their clothes, they put on a special cut of a white dress. They rejected war and slavery. The Essenes got up before sunrise, greeted the sunrise with a prayer and did not talk about anything worldly. They were mainly engaged in agriculture, they made everything they needed themselves. At the end of the work, they bathed in cold water, then sat down for a meal, and both actions had a religious meaning.
To join the Essenes, one had to pass a 3-year test, after which to take an oath of allegiance. There was strict obedience to the authorities in the community. The community was divided into four degrees (not counting the degree of those being tested), according to the time of entry, and they were divided so strictly that the higher through contact with the lower became impure. For great crimes, the guilty were excluded from society and, remaining true to the oath not to take food outside of it, died of starvation; sincerely repentant were taken back. There were judges. Revenues were managed by elected trustees and priests. They helped the poor, including those who did not belong to their community.
Saints about the Essenes
1. This heresy is followed by another, closely connected with the former, the so-called heresy of the Ossenes. They, as before numbered, are Jews, hypocrites in morals and terrible inventors. They came out, as the legend that has come down to us, from the country of the Nabataeans, from Iturea, from the country of Moab and Arielitis. The Ossen family, according to the interpretation of this name, means a strong family. Later, in the time of King Trajan, after the coming of the Savior, they were joined by the so-called Elksai (Ἠλξαΐ), who was a false prophet. He wrote the book in the form of a prophecy, or, as it were, according to wisdom inspired from above. They also speak of another certain Iekseus (Ἰεξαῖον), the brother of the first. He was a man of inconstant disposition, a deceiver at heart; descending from the Jews and holding on to the Jewish way of thinking, he did not live according to the Law, introduced one instead of the other, and laid down his own heresy. He commanded to swear by salt, water, earth, bread, sky, air and wind, imputing an oath to serve them; once he appointed seven other witnesses, I mean heaven, water, winds, saints, as he says, angels of prayer, oil, salt and earth. He is disgusted by virginity, hates celibacy, forces marriage. He introduces some kind of dreamy composition, as if under the name of the apocalypse. He teaches to be hypocrites, saying that there is no sin if, during the coming persecution, you have to bow to idols, if only the worship was not according to conscience, and confessed with the lips, it was not in the heart.
This heretic originally belonged to the so-called Ossen heresy mentioned above, the remnants of which still exist in the same land of the Nabataeans and in Perea, adjacent to the Moabite country. This genus is now called Sampsei (Σαμψαίων). They dream that this heretic is called a hidden power from the words: "el" - "strength" and "ksai" - "hidden". But all these proud efforts are rebuked and greatly ashamed by people who are able to comprehend and accurately investigate the truth. From the days of Constantius down to the present kings, they are clearly reproved. For before Constantius, a certain Martus (Μαρθοῦς) and Martana (Μαρθάνα), two sisters from the line of this heretic, were worshiped in their country as deities, because they descended from the seed of Elksai mentioned above. Martus died recently, but Martana is still alive. Their saliva and other bodily impurities were carried by the deluded heretics throughout that country to heal diseases. There was no action from them, but the erring one is always stubborn and ready to give himself up to deceit, because vice is blindness and error is a lack of prudence. But how long should I waste time telling about this sorcerer all that he lied against the truth?
3. Firstly, he taught to deny the faith, saying that one can participate hypocritically in filthy idol sacrifices; then, to deceive the listeners, he argued that it was possible to renounce one's own faith with the lips - and not have sin. Therefore, the disease of the heretics was unhealed and there was no way to correct them. For if the lips that confess the truth are prepared for lies, who will believe them that their hearts are not full of deceit, when God's word, teaching by the Holy Spirit, clearly says: "With the heart they believe to righteousness, but with the mouth they confess to salvation" (Rom. 10: 10)? In addition, he confesses, it is true, Christ by name, saying: Christ is the great King; but because of the cunning and confused wording in the book of his idle talk, I did not understand much whether he was talking about our Lord Jesus Christ? For he does not define it, but simply calls it Christ, as if, as far as we have understood, he means or expects something else. He forbids praying to the east, saying that one should not have in mind the east, but from every country turn one's face to Jerusalem, and whoever prays from the east, he should have in mind Jerusalem, turning to the west, and whoever from the west, to him should turn to the east: and from the south and half a day - to the north, and from the north - to noon, so that everywhere the face is directly opposite Jerusalem. And look how crazy the deceiver is! He curses sacrifices and sacrifices, as alien to God, and never at all offered to God by the fathers and according to the Law, and says that one should pray there in Jerusalem, where there was an altar and sacrifices, while denying the eating of meat by the Jews, and otherwise, and the altar and fire as alien to God. And that water is pleasing to God, but fire is alien, he expresses this in the following words: do not go, children, into the sight of fire, because you are in error; such a view is a delusion; for you see, he says, that the fire is very near, and it is far from you; do not go to see it, but rather go to the voice of the water. And its mythologies are numerous.
4. Then he depicts Christ that He is a certain power, and means His measure: the length is twenty-four shins, that is, ninety-six miles, the width of six shins is twenty-four miles; and likewise he will give a wonderful thickness, mythology about the legs and other things. He says that there is also the Holy Spirit, and that He is female, like Christ, in the form of an idol, standing on a cloud between two mountains. I will keep silent about the rest, so that the ears of readers are not accustomed to mythology. He deceives with some words and empty sounds, saying in the end in the book: no one seeks an interpretation, but say only this in prayer; he himself transferred the sayings from the Hebrew language; why we understand in part that his dreams mean nothing. For he commands to speak: abar anid moib nokhile daasim ane daasim nokhile moib anid abar selam ὲ μωῒβ ἀνὶδ ἀβὰρ σελάμ). These words in the translation are explained as follows: let the humiliation that followed from my fathers pass by, because of their condemnation, trampling them and their work, trampling in condemnation for the sake of my fathers, from the past humiliation in the apostleship of perfection. On him all these things are fulfilled, because his strength and delusion are exhausted. If anyone, for the love of refined research, wishes to hear the translation of each word one by one; then we will not hesitate to do this, and, satisfying in everything those who want to hear the very sayings of a heretic with petty exactingness, we will put up a translation next to each of these sayings. It is as follows: “abar” - “let it pass”, “anid” - “humiliation”, “moib” - “which is from my fathers”; "nohile" - "their condemnation"; "daasim" - "and their trampling"; "ani" - "and their labor"; "daasim" - "trampling", "nokhile" - "in condemnation"; "moib" - "for the sake of my fathers"; "anid" - "from humiliation"; "abar" - "passed by"; "selam" - "in the apostleship of perfection."
5. Such is the heresy of the Osses mentioned above: it holds on to the Jewish way of life in that it keeps the Sabbath, is circumcised and does everything required by the Law, and rejects only, like the Nazarenes, books. But in this schism there are differences with other of these six heresies. To refute it, it will suffice to say that it is alien to God, because the Lord clearly says: “The priests in the temple break the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:5). What is this desecration of the Sabbath? The fact that no one does anything on the Sabbath, and the priests who make sacrifices in the temple violated the Sabbath, defiling it with the incessant sacrifice of animals.
I also pass over this heresy, because this Elksai still converges with the Ebionites, who were according to Christ, and with the Nazarenes, who appeared even later. Four heresies used him, because they were deceived by his error, namely: the Ebionites, then the Nazarenes, the Ossenes, who were together before him and with him, and the Nazarenes, which I have presented above.
And the wonderful Essenes, didn’t they live, according to the testimony of the prophet Jeremiah, precisely a monastic life? Joseph the Jew writes that they despised marriage and turned away, as from evil, from pleasures, living in chastity and abstinence, but those who came to them and wished to imitate their life were accepted not just like that, but at first they demanded terrible oaths from them among the people in the temple. Those who came, first of all, swore to live piously and serve God with a pure soul and body, then to be fair with people and turn away from a sweet and pleasant life until death. In addition, they vowed not to forget a single tradition, to adhere to these blasphemous undertakings in everything. The Essenes took in other people's young children, taught them their way of life and treated them like family. They offered up prayers and songs to God, from midnight to dawn; when the sun rose, the elder sent them, and they worked until the sixth hour, with sobriety and blessing. Joseph himself shared this wisdom: having heard about a certain man who led a fasting life in the desert, wore clothes from branches and ate what grew by itself, Joseph came to him and spent three years with him in the desert. So, didn’t these marvelous ascetics lead the monastic life, back in the days of
October 23, 2005
©Pitanov V.Yu.
Jesus Christ and the early Christians - Essenes, Gnostics or Buddhists?
In order to increase the credibility of their concepts among followers, both modern and those who have already gone down in history, the founders of "esoteric teachings" seek to trace the history of their own organizations to the times of hoary antiquity. At the same time, they often find spiritual brethren in the most unexpected places, where they were not and could not be. For example, Christianity has nothing to do with the "esoteric sciences", which is clear to anyone familiar with Christian theology and occult teachings (1). However, this fact does not suit the esoteric gurus, as a result of which statements similar to the following appear: “... Christianity, in its modern form, and the teachings of Christ himself are two completely different things” (2), then the search for true, (read - esoteric) Christianity begins , which serves as the basis for the creation of theosophy, agni yoga and others like them. As the study of this kind of esoteric "sciences" shows, their founders are not among the people well versed in the true history of Christianity; their reluctance to fill such a significant gap in their education is explained, in particular, by the fact that they prefer to resort to falsification religious history world, which allows them to justify the ideas that are convenient for them. One of the victims of this kind of historical speculation on the part of esotericists was the Essenes.
Who are the Essenes from the point of view of esotericists? Here, for example, are the words of the founder of theosophy, E.P. Blavatsky: "The Essenes. The Hellenized word is from the Hebrew Asa, "healer". A mysterious sect of Jews who, according to Pliny, lived near the Dead Sea ... for thousands of centuries. … They had many Buddhist ideas and customs…” (3), Buddhist ideas and customs among the Essenes arose for a reason, it turns out that the Essenes “… were converted to Buddhist monasticism by the missionaries of King Ashoka, and subsequently merged with the early Christians” (4). So, it turns out that the Essenes, being a Jewish sect, converted to Buddhism, moreover, following the logic of Blavatsky, we can conclude that due to the similarity between the customs of the first Christians and the Essenes, the first Christians can also be called Buddhists: “The great similarity found by some critics between the rituals and customs of the early Christians and the Essenes can be explained without the slightest difficulty. The Essenes, as we have just noted, were converts of Buddhist missionaries who, from the time of King Ashoka, the zealous propagandist, went out to Egypt, Greece, and even Judea at the same time...” (5). In addition, Blavatsky argued that "... Gnostics, or early Christians (that is, Gnostics and early Christians in the eyes of Blavatsky have no differences. - V.P.), were only followers of the old Essenes under a new name ..." (6). The logic of such reasoning cannot but lead to the question: if the first Christians (they are also Gnostics) were the successors of the Essenes, then who was the Founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ Himself? Blavatsky does not force us to look for an answer for a long time: "... he (Jesus Christ. - V.P.) was an Essenes ..." (7), but in addition "... it goes without saying that he (Christ. - V.P.) preached the philosophy of Buddha Shakmuni" (8), "... He (Jesus Christ. - V.P.) ... a follower of the Buddhist doctrine" (9). So, let's summarize all the semantic content of the above statements by Blavatsky: the Essenes were a "mysterious sect of Jews" and, at the same time, Buddhists, Jesus Christ was an Essenes and a Buddhist, the first Christians were Gnostics, Essenes and Buddhists at the same time (!!!). The conclusion suggests itself: the teachings of the Essenes, Gnostics, Buddhists and early Christians are identical. Is it so? We invite the reader to join us in our attempt to answer naturally arising questions: who were the Essenes in reality, was Jesus Christ an Essene, and how does Blavatsky's idea of the absence of a difference between the teachings of the Essenes, Buddhists, Gnostics and early Christians corresponds to historical reality?
The Essenes did lead a hidden way of life, but not so much that it was necessary to judge this religious group only by the works of Blavatsky and similar luminaries of the "esoteric sciences". But everything is in order. The etymology of the term "Essenes" is not exactly known to modern science, there are about 20 possible variants of the origin of this word (10). The etymology indicated by Blavatsky is among others, but by no means the only one. Some scholars believe that the concept of "Essenes" comes from the name of King Jesse (11), the father of David, but this is only one of the existing options.
The main information about the Essenes has come down to us thanks to the works of the Jewish-Hellenistic philosopher Philo of Alexandria (c. 25 BC - before 50 AD) and a number of other authors (12). Josephus devoted an entire chapter to the Essenes in his book The Jewish War (13). According to Josephus, the Essenes are a Jewish sect whose members lived in small communities and had common property. The characteristic features of the Essenes sect included pacifism (there were no people among the Essenes who would make weapons (14)) and the strictest observance of the Old Testament prescriptions; as Josephus writes: “Stricter than all other Jews, they avoid touching any work on the Sabbath. They not only prepare food from the eve in order not to kindle fires on Saturday, but they do not even dare to move the dishes from their place and do not even send natural needs ”(15). The main occupation of the Essenes was the study of ancient manuscripts. We emphasize that if an indispensable attribute of modern esoteric teachings is belief in reincarnation (16), then the Essenes saw the posthumous fate of a person as an eternal stay in one of two states - eternal bliss or eternal torment: “They firmly believe that, although the body is corruptible and matter is not eternal, but the soul always remains immortal; that, originating from the subtlest ether and drawn by some natural captivating force into the body, the soul is in it, as it were, imprisoned, but as soon as the bodily bonds fall off, it, as freed from a long slavery, merrily takes off to the heights. Like the Hellenes, they teach that life is assigned to the virtuous on the other side of the ocean - in a place where there is neither rain, nor snow, nor heat, but eternal, soft and pleasant marshmallows quietly brought from the ocean. To the wicked, on the contrary, they assign a gloomy and cold cave, full of unceasing torment. This same idea, it seems to me, is also expressed by the Hellenes, who provide their heroes, whom they call heroes and demigods, with islands of the blessed, and souls evil people- a place in the underworld, the dwelling of godless people, where tradition even knows by name some of those punished, such as Sisyphus and Tantalus, Ixion and Titius, the immortality of the soul, first of all, in itself constitutes a very important teaching among the Essenes, and then they consider it a means to encourage virtue and warn against vice. They think that the good, in the hope of a glorious afterlife, will become even better; the evil ones will try to curb themselves out of fear that even if their sins remain hidden during life, then, after leaving for another world, they will have to endure eternal torment (highlighted by us. - V.P.). With this teaching about the soul, the Essenes irresistibly attract to themselves all who have tasted their wisdom only once” (17).
One of the main postulates of Buddhism is the belief in the absence of the existence of God (18). There is an interesting concept in Buddhism about the origins of the false, according to Buddhists, idea of a Personal God. This theory looks something like this: “Cosmic time is cyclical and without beginning, that is, none of the cycles can be considered the first. The world has not been created by anyone, the idea of divine creation is fundamentally rejected by Buddhism for a number of reasons ... . The reason for the existence of the worlds is the energy of the total karma of living beings of the previous world cycle ... . After the destruction of one universe, there is only an infinite space (akasha), in which at some point certain winds begin to blow, gradually growing stronger and turning into a powerful hurricane, gradually thickening to a state of “diamond hardness” and acquiring the shape of a circle. This circle of hardened wind forms the foundation of the new world. And it is nothing else than the objectified energy of the total karma of the living beings of the destroyed universe… Further formation of the world takes place from top to bottom. First, a heavenly palace suddenly appears with the god Brahma on the throne, after which the other thirty-three gods of the heavens of the desire world appear around him. They see Brahma and exclaim: “It is Brahma! He is eternal, he has always been! He created us all! - this is how faith in a creator god arises ... ”(19). However, if Buddhism rejects a Personal God, then each member of the Essene community first of all had to swear before other members "... that he will honor God ..." (20). The Essenes did not think of salvation outside of their community (21), which is most clearly demonstrated by the behavior of the delinquent Essenes subjected to punishment: “Whoever is convicted of grave sins is excluded from the order; but the excluded often perish in the most miserable way. Bound by oath and habit, such a person cannot accept food from a non-brother, he is therefore forced to eat only greens, is thus exhausted and dies of hunger. As a result, they often took back those who were already at their last gasp, considering the torment that brought the offender close to death, a sufficient punishment for his sins ”(22). Such a vivid picture, depicting the attitude of the Essenes towards “non-brothers”, reveals the alienness of the Essenes to Christianity and closeness to Judaism: “... you know that it is forbidden for a Jew to communicate with or get close to a foreigner; but God has revealed to me that I should not consider any person defiled or unclean” (Acts 10:28).
The number of Essenes has always been relatively small: Philo of Alexandria reports that in Palestine in the 1st century. from R.H. Essenes numbered no more than 4,000 people (23). If Blavatsky claimed that the Essenes lived in the area of the Dead Sea "... for thousands of centuries" (24), then modern science established that the Essenes sect arose in the II century. BC (25), which means that there can be no talk of thousands of years of existence of Essene communities. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the Essenes are a Jewish ultra-Orthodox sect, known for the fact that its members tried to comply with the smallest prescriptions. Old Testament(26), kept the Law more zealously than the Pharisees (27), deeply studied the Holy Scriptures and wore phylacteries, as evidenced by the finds of Qumran.
Blavatsky's assertion that the Essenes were Buddhists was cited at the very beginning of the article. We do not see the point in analyzing this idea in detail, the failure of which is obvious to every person who is at least minimally familiar with Buddhism and Judaism. However, if the esotericists give us a happy opportunity to get acquainted with Buddhists who observe the Sabbath and believe in the Personal God of the Old Testament, then in this case it will be possible to consider the statements of Blavatsky. For now, let us just note that the finds in the Dead Sea region have given modern Buddhist scholars nothing, since no Buddhist manuscripts have been found there (28): this should surprise anyone who believes Blavatsky's assertions that the Essenes belonged to Buddhism.
We have already noted above that, according to Blavatsky, "the Gnostics were followers of the old Essenes under a new name" (29) . However, this claim is no more valid than the claim that the Essenes were Buddhists. Gnosticism was a diverse trend (30), in particular, some Gnostics believed that Jehovah is “the demiurge – the representative and organ of the supreme God, specially appointed by the Divine Arbitrariness to the Jewish people…” (31). It takes a very poor knowledge of the Judaism of those times to put an equal sign between the Gnostics and the ultra-Orthodox Jews, such as the Essenes. Indeed, for the Old Testament, the issue of strict monotheism was the most fundamental, a reminder to Israel that only the Lord is God is a constant refrain of the Old Testament texts: “Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, who sits on the Cherubim! You alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; You created heaven and earth” (Is. 37:16), “I am the first Lord, and in the last I am the same” (Is. 41:4), “... [only] the Lord is God, [and] there is no other besides Him (Deut. 4:35); “... you must not worship any god other than the Lord” (Ex. 34:14); "...before Me there was no God and after Me there will be no" (Is.43:10). The purity of monotheism had to be strictly observed among the Jews, and the violator was threatened with execution (Deut. 13:10). Also, Gnosticism, unlike Judaism and Christianity, proclaimed the idea of the eternity of the world, thereby opposing the creationism of the Old Testament, i.e. the idea of the creation of the world, which thus has the beginning of its existence (32). In addition, there were Gnostics who considered the Old Testament to be something inferior, which should be abandoned (33). But it is impossible to assume the existence of such an attitude towards the Old Testament among the Essenes who wore phylacteries. And in the Holy Scriptures (Deut. 30:4-10) there are no hints of his "second-rate". This idea is also alien to Christianity: “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17); “…Truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle will pass from the law until everything is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18). The New Testament does not cancel the Old Testament, but supplements, forming a single whole with it. In addition, if the Essenes are the same Christians, as Blavatsky argued (34), then the question of the simultaneous belonging of the Essenes to the Gnostic teaching can in principle be removed, since the relationship between Christianity and Gnosticism is most clearly described in the eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles ( Acts 8:13-24). Recall that the testimonies of ancient Christian writers allow us to see in Simon Magus the most ancient Christian Gnostic (35) and even the founder of Gnosticism (36). Turning to the same passage of the New Testament, we can evaluate the correctness of Blavatsky's work with the text of Holy Scripture, and therefore answer the question for ourselves whether it is worth trusting the statements of this author, made on the basis of biblical texts: “... the Essenes ... believed that by touching they defile their hands with money. When the apostles were offered money to endow them with spiritual powers, Peter, despite the fact that in the Bible he is depicted as a coward and three times an apostate, nevertheless indignantly rejects this offer, saying: “Your money will perish with you, for you thought that the gift of God can be purchased with money” (37) . If we take into our hands the original source from which Madame Blavatsky borrowed the quote, we read: “But Simon, seeing that the Holy Spirit is given through the laying on of the hands of the Apostles, brought them money, saying: Give me this power also, so that he against whom I I'll lay my hands on, receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said to him, “Let your silver be in destruction with you, because you thought to receive the gift of God for money” (Acts 8:18-20). As you can see, Peter utters his formidable words not because Simon suggested that he touch the money and thereby violate ritual purity, but for a completely different reason. Is it possible to trust the works of "teachers", who in their works easily resort to such an obvious semantic substitution?
Were the first Christians Essenes? It is quite possible to assume that a part of the Essenes joined Christianity, but it is impossible to conclude from this that there is no difference between Christians and Essenes. If we turn to the Qumran finds, it is hard not to notice that among them there are actually no Christian books (38), which is strange for Christians, but quite natural for a small Jewish sect that has nothing to do with Christianity. Of course, the canon of the New Testament had not yet been formed at that time, but some of its books had already been written, for example, the Gospel of Mark (39). Given that the Qumran community lasted until 68 A.D. (40) she could well have them if she considered it necessary for herself. Also, the first Christians often depicted where they lived, symbols of their faith, for example, fish. Nothing of the kind was found at Qumran. Flavius Josephus, who was a Pharisee, in his book "The Jewish War" writes about the Essenes as an intra-Jewish sect, which is strange if they had anything to do with Christianity: given the negative attitude of the Pharisees towards Christianity, this would hardly have gone unnoticed Joseph Flavius. In the same Josephus, we can find an interesting message that among the leaders of the uprising of the Zealots there were Essenes (41), while Jews killed Christians and persecuted them in every possible way (Acts 7:57-60; 8:1; 12:1 -4; 21:31), including the fact that Christians did not take part in the uprising of the Zealots (42): “After the first Jewish war, Orthodox Jews cursed Christian Jews (Nazarenes) as traitors for their non-participation in the war. This curse entered the prayers of the Jews and was pronounced in the synagogues in the morning, afternoon and evening. Jewish Christians were accused of apostasy and subjected to persecution in those places where the power of Orthodox Jews remained” (43). Later, St. Justin wrote about the persecution of Christians by the Jews: "... the Jews consider us enemies and adversaries and, like you (the pagans), they kill and torture us whenever they can..." (44). If, unlike the Christians, the Essenes took part in the uprising of the Zealots, then such close cooperation between the Essenes and the Jews at such a crucial moment was possible only on one condition: if the Essenes were close to the Jews, and the Christians were alien. In our opinion, what has been said is enough to agree that the statement about the identity of the first Christians and Essenes is clearly far-fetched and does not correspond to reality.
Not only E.P. Blavatsky tried to speculate on the Essene "roots" of Christianity. But before touching on this subject, a few words must be said about Holy Scripture.
As in the first centuries of Christianity, and now the books called Apocrypha are widely used. The famous occultist Helena Roerich wrote about them: “It is very useful to get acquainted with the numerous works of Western scholars, based on the originals of the first centuries of Christianity, in order to understand how many inaccuracies could sneak into our translation of the Gospels and how many valuable sayings were not included. In those days, there were many apocrypha and gospels, of which the church fathers (according to their own contemporaries) canonized those that were closer to their level of consciousness. And so until now there are beautiful apocrypha, which were not included in the corrected and canonized Gospels” (45). Theosophists of all stripes are constantly trying to prove the inconsistency of Holy Scripture, its historical unreliability (46). E.P. Blavatsky wrote: “As for the Apocrypha, their very name forbids critics from trusting their information. However, occultists claim that no matter how one-sided and prejudiced they may be, these apocryphal "Gospels" contain much more historically true events and facts than the "New Testament", including "Acts". The former are bare, raw traditions, while the latter (the official Gospels) are elaborate legends. The holiness of the "New Testament" is a private affair and a matter of blind faith, and while everyone is obliged to respect the personal opinion of his neighbor, no one is forced to share it" (47). However, virtually all the books included in the canon of the New Testament were written during the first century AD, their authors are either eyewitnesses of the events described, i.e. apostles, or their immediate disciples. So, the Gospel of John was written by the beloved disciple of Christ, he also wrote a number of epistles (48). The gospel of Matthew was written by the former tax collector Matthew, whom Christ himself called to the ministry (49). The Gospel of Luke was written by a companion of the Apostle Paul (50), and Luke also wrote the Acts of the Apostles. The Gospel of Mark was written by the apostle Mark under the guidance of the apostle Peter (51). The same is true of the Epistles of the Apostles. In fact, the New Testament consists of the works of eyewitnesses of the events described - it is difficult to assume that they all decided to lie at the same time, especially since at that time witnesses of the events that had not converted to Christianity were still alive (52). The Gospel of John is considered the last to be written, usually dated to 90-100 years. from R.Kh., although, perhaps, it was written much earlier, somewhere around ca. 60 years old (53). Considering that the early Christians often had to pay with their lives for their faith, their inattention to the authenticity of the text of Holy Scripture seems doubtful. Maybe the Christians of later times changed the texts of the Holy Scriptures, rewrote them? To answer this question, let us turn to biblical archeology. If we talk about the Old Testament, then the oldest Qumran manuscripts date back to 250 BC. (54), no Christians could replace them, if only because Christianity did not yet exist at that time. It should be noted that more than 10 well-preserved scrolls and about 25,000 fragmentary fragments of the Old Testament were found at Qumran (55). It is not difficult to compare the currently accepted Old Testament text with these surviving books. For modern scholars, the question of the correctness of the reproduction of the text of the Old Testament in the modern Bible is not, in fact, this is a proven fact (56). As far as the New Testament is concerned, the oldest surviving fragment of the Gospel of John dates from 117-138 BC. from R.H. (57). Since esotericists do not hide their heartfelt attachment to the apocrypha, let us pay attention to the apocrypha called the Shepherd of Hermas (115-140 A.D.) (58), in which many New Testament books are quoted, and the text of the quotations coincides with the original texts New Testament. Altogether, there are over 19,000 ancient copies of the New Testament, so it is not difficult to compare modern texts with ancient originals. According to scientific studies, the purity of the text of the New Testament is 98.33% (59). It may be said, without risking to err against the truth, that the Bible is the most preserved of the ancient books. In addition, the truth of the text of the Bible can be verified by quotations from both ancient Christian writers and their opponents. The New Testament, from the very moment of its appearance, began to spread rapidly throughout the civilized world in those times of the world for example, there are translations of the New Testament into Latin and Syriac (60). The assumption that many hundreds of thousands of people in different countries of the world simultaneously changed the text of the New Testament, and even the enemies of Christianity did not notice this, seems incredible and may have as its basis either ignorance, or lack of conscience, or fierce hatred of Christianity, when in order to fight it any methods are used, including outright lies.
Let us now return to other lovers of speculation on the subject of the Essenes, who exist besides HP Blavatsky. In one of the apocryphal books, or rather in the "Essenes", we can read: "...Jesus, I say, was a member of our sacred brotherhood and was initiated into it from a young age" (61); "He was conceived by an Essenes, whom the woman considered the messenger of heaven" (62). In this "Message" the story of Christ's life is presented in the following way: the father of Jesus was an Essen, so the Essenes took Him under their guardianship, later Jesus joined their order, was the spiritual teacher of the Essenes, He was crucified. After the crucifixion, the Essenes manage to prolong Christ's life for some time, but soon He nevertheless dies from the wounds received on the cross. If we take this story on faith, then we will have to completely abandon the New Testament, since it describes the life of Christ in a completely different way. But is it worth it? First of all, it is striking that even the publishers of the Essenes themselves do not know the history of the origin of this opus (63), in contrast to the texts of the New Testament, the legitimacy of which can be easily proved, as already mentioned above. Further, there are several interesting points in the text. For example, the reader may learn that, it turns out, the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah was not John the Baptist, and John the Evangelist (64). That is, the New Testament "mistaken" in this regard, well, let's admit it, but from the same apocrypha one can learn, for example, that Nazareth is located at the foot of Mount Tabor (65). And this is provided that Tabor is located “... 9 km. east - southeast of Nazareth ... "(66). According to the Essenes, Israel had several temples of Jehovah: the first, which is well known, was in Jerusalem, but at the same time, according to this apocrypha, there was a second temple, which was located in Heliopolis (67). The description of the removal of the body of Christ from the tomb cannot but amaze the reader: the author of the Essenes describes how a young Essenes in white robes was sent to the tomb, how the guards, frightened of him, ran away (imagine: at night a young man in white robes appears at the tomb of Christ and professional Roman soldiers, seeing him, scatter in fear), as this young man, with a slight movement of his hand, rolled away the giant stone that closed the entrance to the tomb of Jesus (68). In our opinion, we can go no further. Reading this kind of eyewitness accounts, one understands the desire of the Church to protect its members from getting to know them.
So, the first Christians were neither Gnostics, nor Buddhists, nor even Essenes, as for the question whether Jesus Christ was an Essenes, the answer to it, in the author's opinion, is obvious.
_______________
Links:
1. - See: Pitanov V.Yu. Judgment of conscience: agni yoga against Christianity; Pitanov V.Yu. Theosophy: facts and myths. http:// apologet. front. en
2. - Letters of Helena Roerich. Quote: Guardian. No. 1. 1998, p.16.
3. - Blavatsky E.P. Theosophical Dictionary. M., Sphere. 1994. P.170.
4. - Blavatsky H.P. Unveiled Isis T.2. http://www.theosophy.ru/byauthor.htm
5. - Ibid.
6. - Blavatsky H.P. Exposed Isis T.1. http://www.theosophy.ru/byauthor.htm
7. - Blavatsky H.P. Unveiled Isis T.2. http://www.theosophy.ru/byauthor.htm
8. - Ibid.
9. - Ibid.
10. - Tantlevsky I.R. Books of Enoch. Aramaic fragments from Qumran. The Hebrew Book of Enoch, or the Book of Heavenly Palaces. Sefer Yetzirah - The Book of Creation. M., Bridges of culture. 2002. P.36.
11. - Ibid. P.36.
12. - See: Tantlevsky I.R. Books of Enoch. Aramaic fragments from Qumran. The Hebrew Book of Enoch, or the Book of Heavenly Palaces. Sefer Yetzirah - The Book of Creation. M., Bridges of culture. 2002. S.37-39.
13. - See: Flavius Josephus. Jewish War. Minsk. Modern writer. 1999. S. 202-210.
14. - Tantlevsky I.R. Books of Enoch. Aramaic fragments from Qumran. The Hebrew Book of Enoch, or the Book of Heavenly Palaces. Sefer Yetzirah - The Book of Creation. M., Bridges of culture. 2002. P.41.
15. - Flavius Josephus. Jewish War. Minsk. Modern writer. 1999, p. 207.
16. - See: Pitanov V.Yu. Judgment of conscience: agni yoga against Christianity. http:// apologet. front. en
17. - Flavius Josephus. Jewish War. Minsk. Modern writer. 1999. S.208-209.
18. - See: Torchinov E.A. Introduction to Buddhism. Lecture course. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Philosophical Society.
19. - Torchinov E.A. Introduction to Buddhism. Lecture course. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Philosophical Society. pp.39-40.
20. - Flavius Josephus. Jewish War. Minsk. Modern writer. 1999. P.206.
21. - Tantlevsky I.R. Books of Enoch. Aramaic fragments from Qumran. The Hebrew Book of Enoch, or the Book of Heavenly Palaces. Sefer Yetzirah - The Book of Creation. M., Bridges of culture. 2002. P.58.
22. - Flavius Josephus. Jewish War. Minsk. Modern writer. 1999. S.206-207.
23. - Tantlevsky I.R. Books of Enoch. Aramaic fragments from Qumran. The Hebrew Book of Enoch, or the Book of Heavenly Palaces. Sefer Yetzirah - The Book of Creation. M., Bridges of culture. 2002. P.40.
24. - Blavatsky E.P. Theosophical Dictionary. M., Sphere. 1994. P.170.
25. - bible encyclopedia. M., Russian Bible Society. 1996. P.134.
26. - Ibid. P.63.
27. - Ibid. P.134.
28. - See: Priest. Dimitri Yurevich. Prophecies about Christ in the Dead Sea Scrolls. SPb., Aksion estin. 2004.
29. - Blavatsky H.P. Exposed Isis T.1. http://www.theosophy.ru/byauthor.htm
30. - See: Karsavin L.P. Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church. M., Moscow State University. 1994.
31. - Heckerton C.W. Secret societies of all ages and all countries. Tashkent. Shark. 1994. P.72.
32. - Philosophical Dictionary. M., Republic. 2001. P.128.
33. - Karsavin L.P. Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church. M., Moscow State University. 1994. P.20.
34. - Blavatsky H.P. Exposed Isis T.1. http://www.theosophy.ru/byauthor.htm
35. - Bishop Kassian Bezobrazov. Christ and the first generation of Christians. M., PSTBI. 2001. P.196
36. - Karsavin L.P. Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church. M., Moscow State University. 1994. P.20. Simon Magus is often mentioned in the literature of early Christians as the main enemy of the Church and one of the leaders of the Gnostic heresy. St. Irenaeus of Lyon (died c. 180 A.D.) in his work Against Heresies indicates that Simon Magus was one of the founders of the Gnostic heresies.
37. - Blavatsky H.P. Exposed Isis T.1. http://www.theosophy.ru/byauthor.htm
38. - Tantlevsky I.R. Books of Enoch. Aramaic fragments from Qumran. The Hebrew Book of Enoch, or the Book of Heavenly Palaces. Sefer Yetzirah - The Book of Creation. M., Bridges of culture. 2002. P.28.
39. - Christianity. Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., Scientific publishing house "Big Russian Encyclopedia". 1995. P.99.
40. - Tantlevsky I.R. Books of Enoch. Aramaic fragments from Qumran. The Hebrew Book of Enoch, or the Book of Heavenly Palaces. Sefer Yetzirah - The Book of Creation. M., Bridges of culture. 2002. P.46.
41. - Flavius Josephus. Jewish War. Minsk. Modern writer. 1999. S.284, 302.
42. - Zealots - a Jewish sect. Unlike the Pharisees and Sadducees, who tried to adapt themselves to the power of the Romans, the Zealots proclaimed the slogan: "There is no king but God." The Zealots refused to pay tribute to the Romans and prepared for a war that they believed would lead to the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth. Christianity. Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., Scientific publishing house "Big Russian Encyclopedia". 1995. P.134.
43. - Katz A.S. Jews. Christianity. Russia. St. Petersburg, New Helikon. 1997. P.97.
44. - Sagard N.I., Sagard A.I. Complete corpus of lectures on patrology. St. Petersburg, Sunday. 2004. P.273.
45. - Letters of Helena Roerich. 1932-1955. (Letter dated 07.05.39). Novosibirsk. Vico. 1993. P.407.
46 – But strangely, this does not prevent them from constantly seeking in the Holy Scriptures the support of their doctrines. See: Pitanov V.Yu. Judgment of conscience: agni yoga against Christianity. http:// apologet. front. en
47. - Blavatsky H.P. Secret Doctrine. M., Sirin. 1993. V.3(5). P.108.
48. - Christianity. Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., Scientific publishing house "Big Russian Encyclopedia". 1995. S.100-103.
49. - Ibid. P.99.
50. - Ibid. P.100.
51. - Ibid. P.99.
52. - Golovin S.L. An introduction to systematic apologetics. Simferopol. Christian scientific and apologetic center. 2004. P.173.
53. - Christianity. Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., Scientific publishing house "Big Russian Encyclopedia". 1995. P.101.
54. - Priest. Dimitri Yurevich. Prophecies about Christ in the Dead Sea Scrolls. SPb., Aksion estin. 2004. P.50-51.
55. - Ibid. P.51.
56. - Geisler Normann L. Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics. SPb., Bible for everyone. 2004, p. 229.
57. - Ibid. P.635.
58. - Ibid. P.635.
59. - Ibid. P.639.
60. - Golovin S.L. An introduction to systematic apologetics. Simferopol. Christian scientific and apologetic center. 2004. P.171.
61. - Apocryphal gospels. St. Petersburg, Amphora. 2000. P.373.
62. - Ibid. P.377.
63. - Ibid. S.469-470.
64. - Ibid. P.384.
65. - Ibid. P.379.
66. - Christianity. Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., Scientific publishing house "Big Russian Encyclopedia". 1995. P.83.
67. - For some reason, the Jews still believe that there were only two temples, and both were at different times in Jerusalem - the first was built by Solomon, the second, after the destruction of the first by the troops of Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC, was built in 520 B.C., but this was in turn reduced to ruins in A.D. 70. the Romans. Apocryphal Gospels. St. Petersburg, Amphora. 2000. P.379.
68. - Ibid. P.412.
A room identified as the "copy room" (L30) at Qumran.
Essenes- Jewish religious sect of the end of the era of the Second Temple (2nd century BC - the end of the 1st century AD), known mainly from the descriptions of Josephus Flavius, Philo of Alexandria and Pliny the Elder.
Basic information
The opinions of scholars regarding the Greek name "Essenes" (esseni) differ; the most common theories: from Hebrew חֲשָׁאִים , `silent` or חֲסִידִים , `pious`; from Syriac חסין, `pious`; from Aramaic אסא, 'to heal'.
Essenes way of life
The Essenes were never numerous; Philo reports that in his time (the first half of the 1st century AD) there were about 4,000 Essenes. By the end of the 1st c. BC e. most of the Essenes concentrated on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea; the rest were scattered in a few rural areas.
The Essenes lived in isolated male communes, which were brotherhoods - each in a separate house; had a common table; the younger ones honored the elders like the children of their fathers. They did not reject marriage, but believed that celibacy was better. One part of the sect allowed its members to marry, but only for procreation. As soon as the wife became pregnant, the husband stopped communicating with her.
The Essene communities practiced the strictest observance of the laws of the Torah, with particular importance attached to rituals, primarily related to the Sabbath and the laws of holiness and purity prescribed to the kohen in the book of Leviticus. According to the story of Philo, the Essenes did not bring bloody sacrifices (according to Flavius, they did not bring their sacrifices only in the Jerusalem temple). According to Josephus, the Essenes placed Moshe directly after God, and blasphemy against him was punished by death.
Members of the communities were engaged in physical labor, mainly agricultural, beekeeping, cattle breeding, crafts, and healing (by reciting spells and verses). They did not make weapons and rejected war, recognized only common property, unconditionally denied slavery, helped each other in every possible way, taught that they were all brothers among themselves. They made everything they needed for themselves, avoiding relations with merchants.
All property was jointly owned; meals, prayers and ritual ablutions were common (Flavius, War 2:129). The Essenes devoted all their free time from work to the study of sacred books. They regarded Theosophy as idle chatter, but were much concerned with the allegorical interpretation of the Bible and the doctrine of morality.
The admission of a new member was preceded by a three-year trial period. Before being admitted to the joint meal of the members of the commune, the one who passed the test took an oath in which he assumed the obligation to be pious, just, not to do evil either voluntarily or under duress, to hate the wicked and support the righteous, to be devoted to the human race. loyal to the authorities (for all power comes from God), to love the truth and hate falsehood, not to steal, not to acquire money, not to have secrets from members of the brotherhood and not to betray brothers even under the threat of death, etc.
Despising jewelry, the Essenes did not anoint themselves with oil, they wore the same clothes to the point of complete disrepair, but at their meals they always put on white clothes of a special cut. Their income was disposed of for the common need by their chosen trustees and priests.
Helped the poor and those not belonging to the order. They got up before sunrise and did not talk about anything worldly; having saluted the sun with a prayer, they were released by the rulers (without whose knowledge they were not allowed to do anything except deeds of mercy to the worthy and serving food to the hungry) to work, after which they bathed in cold water (which had the meaning of religious purification) and then sat down, putting on clean clothes ( in a special house, to which outsiders were forbidden to enter), for a meal that looked like a sacred ceremony.
For great crimes, the guilty were excluded from society and, remaining true to the oath not to take food outside of it, died of hunger; those who sincerely repented were taken back. The Essenes had at least 100 judges. In the execution of the laws of their order, the Essenes were very strict; a glorious death was preferred to a shameful life.
The order was divided into four degrees (not counting the degree of the probationers), according to the time of entry, and one degree was separated from the other so strictly that the higher through contact with the lower became impure. The Essenes, who studied the Holy Scriptures especially deeply and were prepared by special ascetic purifications, were credited with the gift of predicting the future.
The Essenes taught that the soul consists of the finest ether and is imprisoned in the body, as in a dungeon (due to its fall), from which, after the death of a person, it flies to heaven. For a righteous soul, the place of eternal life is in the blessed fields on the other side of the ocean; evil souls are eternally tormented in cold and darkness. The Essenes believed in predestination.
Many of the Essenes took an active part in the Jewish War.
Essenes and other sects
Of the other Jewish sects of this era that practiced a hermitic way of life, the Egyptian Therapeutae, the Hemero-Baptists, and the community of Qumran are known; The opinions of researchers differ on the degree of closeness of the Qumran community to the Essenes. They find a connection between the ideology of the Essenes and the therapists, disagreeing (Gfrörer and Gaze) on the question of which of these teachings preceded the other.
Equally different are opinions on the question of the relation of Esseism to Christianity. Of the ancients, Eusebius of Caesarea and blessed Jerome thought that the Egyptian therapists were a branch of the Essenes and nothing more than the first Alexandrian Christians converted by the apostle Mark, and the “writings of ancient men” they kept were the gospels and epistles of the apostles. This opinion of Eusebius is rejected on the basis of chronological considerations, which do not allow the simultaneity of therapists and the gospel of Mark.
Some scholars believe that a number of elements of the doctrine and practice of the Essenes became an organic part of the structure christian church the period of the apostles. Graetz, denying the authenticity of Philo's work on therapists, attributed it to a Christian of some encratite-gnostic or montanistic sect, and recognized therapists as Christians, but not the first listeners of the gospel of Mark, but ascetics of a heretical direction.
Scholars agree that Essenism to some extent prepared the ground for the reception of Christianity, and that there were many Essenes among Jesus' early followers; but it was from them that those Judaizing Gnostic sects were formed, against which the apostles warned.
There is also discussion about scroll 7Q5 from the Qumran manuscripts, perhaps the oldest known passage from the Gospel of Mark.
There is no mention of the Essenes in the New Testament. It is possible, however, that
Who are the Essenes?
Flavius Josephus and Philo of Alexandria write a lot about the Essenes, but not a word about them is mentioned either in the New Testament or in the Talmud. This misunderstanding is explained by the fact that the Qumranites were simply known to the Evangelists and Talmudists under a different name, and the Qumranites themselves did not call themselves Essenes anywhere. There is still no consensus among researchers about what, in fact, the word “Essenes” means. So, for example, Joseph Klausner interprets the word "Essene" as a derivative of the Syrian Hasei, Hasaya, which means Hasidim. In the Talmud they are mentioned only as the first Hasidim. Philo of Alexandria, calling them "Essenes" himself is not very sure of the meaning of this word, he writes: "In my opinion, they received (their) name, although this is not in strict accordance with the Greek language, from their piety (- pious ), since they care more about God, and not by sacrificing animals to Him, but by striving to have a pious (worthy servant of God) mindset. There are hypotheses that explain this name from the father of King David Jesse, there are others (today there are 20 hypotheses in total), although none of these theories has yet any convincing evidence.
Flavius Josephus calls the Essenes "a philosophical school pursuing a special holiness." They “… even more than others ( Jews) are bound together by love. They shun sensual pleasures as a sin and regard moderation and the conquest of passions as the greatest virtue. They despise marriage, but they take in other people's children at a tender age, when they are still receptive to learning, treat them as if they were their own, and inspire them with their customs. By this, however, they by no means want to put an end to marriage and the continuation of the human race, but only want to protect themselves from the debauchery of women, believing that none of them remains faithful to her husband alone.
It should be noted here that Josephus himself regards the celibacy of the Essenes as a virtue, and, apparently, highly valued among the Jews of that era. Philo of Alexandria gives somewhat different information about the Essene pupils, he apparently simply does not know anything about them: The Essenes, on the other hand, are adults, already tending to old age, no longer subject to bodily desires, not carried away by passions, eating simple and truly real work. With regard to the celibacy of the Essenes, Philo's testimony coincides with Josephus:
None of the Essenes takes a wife for himself, since women are proud and excessively jealous and skillfully influence the lifestyle of a man, inclining him to themselves (lure) with constant charms. Still, there are reasons to trust Joseph Flavius more, who, as he reports in his autobiographical book Life, spent one year in his youth among the Essenes and was even a novice with the hermit Essen Bann.
In the “Jewish War” Josephus Flavius describes in most detail the way of life, customs and customs of the Essene community, about the procedure for admission to the sect, somewhat reminiscent of Christian monastic charters, he writes: “Whoever wants to join this sect does not get access there so soon: he must, before being admitted, subject himself for a year to the same way of life as the members of it, and first receives a small hatchet, the apron mentioned above and a white vestment. If he passes the test this year, then he is allowed closer to the community: he already participates in the purifying blessing of water, but is not yet allowed to the common meals. After he has also shown the strength of self-control, his character is tested for another two further years. And only when he is worthy in this respect, he is accepted into the brotherhood. However, before he begins to participate in common meals, he gives his brothers a terrible oath that he will honor God, fulfill his duties towards people, will not cause harm to anyone, either by his own impulse or by order, to always hate the unjust and defend the right: then, that he must remain faithful to every person, and especially to the government, since all authority comes from God. Further, he must swear that if he himself uses power, he will never exceed it, he will not seek to outshine his subordinates either with clothes or with the brilliance of jewelry. Further, he makes it his duty to always tell the truth, to expose liars, to keep his hands clean from theft and his conscience from dishonest gain, to hide nothing from his fellow members; others, on the contrary, not to reveal anything, even if they had to die for it under torture. Finally, the dogmas of the brotherhood should not be presented to anyone in a different form than he himself studied them, to refrain from robbery and equally keep and honor the books of the sect and the names of angels. With such oaths they provide themselves on the part of the new member.
In the Antiquities of the Jews, Flavius Josephus notes the significant difference between the Essene faith and the then traditional Judaism, he writes: “The teaching of the Essenes requires that everything be left to the will of God; they recognize the immortality of souls and consider the pursuit of justice as the highest goal. They deliver donations to the Temple, but they themselves do not make sacrifices, recognizing other methods of purification as more appropriate. Therefore, they are denied access to common temple and they celebrate their worship separately. However, these are the best people who devote themselves entirely to agricultural work.
The Christian Fathers of the Church also speak favorably of the Essenes; yes, St. Hippolytus of Rome †258 writes: “(The Essenes) lead a most pious life, love one another and strive for abstinence. They reject the agitations of passion, they hate even to hear about them. They refuse marriage, accepting other people's children, they adopt them and instill in them their own customs, thus educating them and introducing them to knowledge. They do not prevent marriage, but they themselves abstain from it. They do not allow women, even if they wish to join their sect, in no way believing in women.
Among other things, the Essenes were famous for their healing art. Philo of Alexandria, in his essay “On the Contemplative Life,” calls them therapists, but at the same time he means not only healers of the body, but also of the spirit. Josephus writes: “They mainly devote themselves to the study of ancient writing, studying mainly what is healing for the body and soul; according to the same sources, they get acquainted with the roots suitable for healing ailments, and study the properties of minerals.
Hippolytus also testifies to the same: “They do a lot of research on plants and stones, especially being interested in their effective power.”
Who would have thought what fantastic nonsense these seemingly innocent testimonies would give rise to. So, for example, Joseph Klausner hypothesizes that: “The Essenes teach Jesus to use several healing secrets with which he performs various miracles, or Luke, who was a doctor, came to help him in several cases of imaginary death. This is with regard to the miracles known to the people and among the disciples. But the resurrection could not be anything other than imaginary. Luke gave him narcotic drugs that made him insensible to pain, and immediately after he, who appeared to be dead, was carried into the cave, Luke and Joseph of Arimathea, who was an Essene, or other Essenes who, with their whites, came clothes appeared to women like angels, and brought him back to life from an imaginary death. And thus are explained all the miracles performed by the natural way, which for those who did not understand looked supernatural. Such, according to Klausner and Co., are the Essenes, our knights of Truth, it turns out who committed this “monstrous deception of mankind”, which is called Christianity.
Despite the severity of life, the Essenes were distinguished by excellent health and longevity, as both Josephus and Hippolytus testify: “They live a very long time. Many survive the age of a century. The reason, it seems to me, lies in the simplicity of their way of life and the order that they observe in everything.
“Most of them are durable, so that there are even more than a hundred years old,” writes Ippolit.
However, these relatively modest reports until very recently exhausted all the information about the Essenes, and for almost two thousand years it has not been replenished with a single new fact. The absence of any documentary evidence of the existence of the Essene sects has even led some critical scholars to hypothesize that they were fictitious, or that the scribes were arbitrarily interpolating in order to reinforce the ideological foundations of the monastic way of life. These hypotheses could be accepted or not accepted, but they could not be refuted. With the discovery of Qumran, we have not only archaeological confirmation of the messages of Josephus and Philo, but also new information received, so to speak, "first hand", i.e. literary works of the Essenes themselves.
It is no less probable that this initiation must have taken place in the only brotherhood which at that time preserved in the land of Israel the true esoteric traditions and high level the lives of the ancient prophets.
There can be no doubt about this for those who are able to rise above the superstitious veneration of the dead letter and understand inner meaning events in spirit and truth. This is confirmed not only by the inner closeness that exists between the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of the Essenes, but also by the silence that Christ and his relatives kept regarding this sect. Why does He, who attacks so boldly and freely against all the religious parties of His time, never even mention the name of the Essenes? Why do the apostles and evangelists say almost nothing about them? This circumstance can only be explained by the fact that they looked upon the Essenes as their own, that they were bound by the oath that was given at initiation into the mysteries, and that this sect merged with the Christians.
The Essene Brotherhood represented in the time of Jesus the last remnants of those schools of prophets founded by Samuel. The despotism of the Palestinian government and the jealous envy of an ambitious and servile priesthood drove them into a secluded refuge and forced them into silence. They no longer fought like their predecessors, and were content to keep the traditions intact.
They had two main centers: one in Egypt, on the shores of Lake Maoris, the other in Palestine at Engaddi, on the shores of the Dead Sea. The name Essenes, chosen by them for themselves, comes from the Syrian word Asaya, which means doctors, and in Greek therapists, for their open activity among the people consisted in curing physical and moral ailments.
"They studied with great diligence various medical manuscripts in which the occult properties of plants and minerals were expounded."21
Some of them had the gift of prophecy, such as Menachem, who predicted to Herod his reign.
"They serve God - says Philo - with great piety, and not external sacrifices, but the purification of their own spirit. They flee the cities and diligently engage in peaceful arts. They do not have a single slave, they are all free and work one for the other" .22
The rules of the order were very strict: in order to join it, one had to be on probation for at least a year. If the properties of the seeker turned out to be suitable, he was admitted to the rites of ablution, but it was possible to enter into relations with the teachers of the order only after a new two-year test, after which the new member was accepted into the brotherhood itself. This was preceded by the utterance of "terrible oaths", by which the enterer pledged to fulfill all the orders of the order and not to betray anything from its secrets.
After that, the enterer was admitted to a common meal, which took place with great solemnity and constituted the inner cult of the Essenes. They regarded the clothes used at these meals as sacred, and took them off before they began their daily work. These fraternal suppers, which are a type of the Last Supper founded by Jesus, began and ended with prayer. Immediately given the interpretation of the sacred books of Moses and the prophets. But the interpretation of the texts, like the initiation, had three stages and three meanings. Very few have reached the highest level.
All this is remarkably similar to the organization of the Pythagorean order,23 but the similarity comes from the fact that the same organization existed among the ancient prophets and everywhere where the initiation took place.
Let us add that the Essenes professed the main dogma of the Orphic and Pythagorean doctrine - the dogma of the pre-existence of the soul, in which lies the reason for its immortality.
“The soul,” they said, “descends from the subtlest ether and is drawn to incarnation by certain natural charms, dwells in the body as in a prison: freed from the chains of the body, as from a long slavery, it flies away with joy” (Josephe A.J. II, 8).
Among the Essenes, the adopted brothers lived in the community, using common property and maintaining celibacy; they chose secluded areas for residence, cultivated the land and often raised abandoned children. As for the family Essenes, they constituted something like an order of the third degree, adopted by the first and subordinate to him. They were distinguished by their silence, meekness and seriousness and were engaged only in peaceful crafts: many of them were weavers, carpenters, gardeners, but there were never merchants or gunsmiths among them.
Scattered in small groups throughout Palestine, as far as Mount Horeb, they found each other the most cordial hospitality. And we see Jesus and His disciples moving from city to city, from district to district, fully confident that they will find shelter everywhere.
“The Essenes,” says Joseph, “were distinguished by exemplary morality: they sought to dominate their passions and restrain every outburst of anger; always benevolent and peaceful in their intercourse, they aroused complete confidence in themselves. Their simple word had more power than an oath; they so they looked at any oath in everyday life as a sinful act. They were ready to endure the most terrible torments, and moreover with a smile on their lips, than to violate the slightest of their religious convictions.
Indifferent to the outward splendor of the Jerusalem cult, far removed from the harshness of the Sadducees and the pride of the Pharisees, repelled by the pedantry and dryness of the synagogue, Jesus was attracted to the Essenes by an inner closeness, a natural affinity.24
The early death of Joseph gave full freedom to the son of Mary. His brothers could continue their father's work and maintain the house. The Mother agreed that He went, unknown to everyone, to the Essenes in Engaddi. Received as a brother and welcomed as a chosen one, He was to exert an irresistible influence on the very teachers of the order, thanks to his superiority, his fiery mercy and that divine imprint that rested on his whole being.
Yet from them He received what only the Essenes could give: the esoteric tradition of the prophets and hence the knowledge of historical and religious evolution. He recognized the abyss that separated the official Jewish doctrine from the ancient wisdom of the Initiates, which was the true mother of all religions, constantly persecuted by "Satan", i.e. the spirit of evil, selfishness, hatred and denial, combined with political absolutism and ecclesiastical hypocrisy. He learned that the Book of Genesis, under its symbolism, contains a theogony and a cosmogony as far from its literal meaning as the deepest of sciences is from children's fairy tales. He saw in the Days of Creation eternal creativity through the emanation of elements and the formation of worlds; He contemplated the origin of souls and their return to God through ever-improving existences or "generations of Adam"; He was struck by the greatness of the thought of Moses, who sought to prepare the religious unity of all peoples, creating the cult of the one God and embodying this idea in Israel.
There He was to learn the doctrine of the divine Verb, which in India was proclaimed by Krishna, in Egypt by the priests of Osiris, in Greece by Orpheus and Pythagoras, and which was known among the prophets under the name of the Mysteries of the Son of Man and the Son of God.
According to this teaching, the highest manifestation of God is a person who, in his structure, in his form, in his organs, in his mind, is the image and likeness of God, whose properties he possesses. But in the earthly evolution of humanity, God is, as it were, scattered and fragmented in a multitude of people and in human imperfection. He suffers, He seeks Himself, He struggles within man; He is the Son of Man. The perfect man, who is the highest thought of God, remains hidden in the infinite depth of His desire and His power.
But in certain epochs, when humanity approaches the abyss and needs to be saved and given an impetus to raise it to a new level, the Chosen One is identified with God, drawing Him to himself with strength, wisdom and love in order to manifest Him again in the minds of people. And then the divine nature, which has penetrated into him by the power of the Spirit, is embodied in him: the Son of Man becomes the Son of God and His living Word.
In other ages and among other peoples, the Sons of God already appeared, but in Israel since the time of Moses there was only an expectation, supported by the prophets, of the coming Messiah. The clairvoyants said that this time He would be called the Son of the Wife, the heavenly Isis, who was considered the Spouse of the Lord, for the light of Love would shine in Him with such power as the earth had known before Him.
These secrets, revealed by the patriarch of the Essenes to the young Galilean on the deserted shore of the Dead Sea, in the inviolable solitude of Engaddi, seemed to Him both miraculous and familiar. He must have been overcome with special excitement when the head of the Order explained to Him the words, which are still found in the book of Enoch:
"From the beginning, the Son of Man was in secret. The Most High kept him with Himself and manifested Him to His chosen ones. all the powers of heaven, all the saints above, and the power of God, and then all the Cherubim and all the angels of the Power, and all the angels of the Lord, that is, the Chosen One, and the other power that serves on earth and above the waters, will raise their voices.
At these revelations, the words of the prophet lit up with new light in the soul of Jesus, like lightning flashing in dark night. Who was this Chosen One, and when will He appear among Israel?
Jesus lived for several years with the Essenes. He obeyed their discipline, He studied with them the secrets of nature and practiced occult therapy. He conquered his earthly nature and mastered his higher consciousness. From day to day He pondered over human destinies and delved into himself. The most important moment of His stay with the Essenes was that significant night for the entire brotherhood, when in the deepest secret He accepted the highest initiation of the fourth step - that which was given only in case of high prophetic mission, voluntarily assumed by the Initiate and approved by the Elders.
The meeting took place in a cave carved into the mountain in the likeness of a vast hall, which had an altar and seats made of stone. Only the head of the Order and its Elders, and sometimes two or three dedicated prophetesses, could be present at the mysterious ceremony. Carrying torches and palms in their hands, dressed in white linen, the prophetesses greeted the new Initiate as "Spouse and King", whom they had a presentiment and whom they probably saw for the last time ... Then the head of the Order, usually a hundred-year-old elder (according to Joseph, the Essenes lived extremely long), gave him a golden cup - a symbol of the highest initiation, which contained wine from the Lord's vineyard - a symbol of divine inspiration.
There are indications that Moses drank from such a cup along with seventy Elders, and even earlier Abraham, who received the same initiation from Melchizedek under the guise of bread and wine. But the mission itself could only be determined by the prophet himself; he had to find it within himself, for such is the law of initiation: nothing from outside, everything from within.
From that moment Jesus becomes free, full master of his life, independent of the order; from now on, the Hierophant himself, He was left to the influence of the Spirit, which could cast Him into the abyss or raise Him to a peak inaccessible to suffering and sinful mankind.
When, after the singing of hymns, after the prayers and solemn words of the Elder, Jesus of Nazareth accepted the cup, a pale ray of dawn penetrated through the opening of the mountain, glided over the torches and over the long white robes of the Essene prophetesses; they shuddered when they saw the pale Galilean illuminated by this beam, for great sadness appeared on His beautiful face. Did not the memory of Siloam resurrect in Him, and through this great sadness did He not see the way that lay before him?
At the same time, John the Baptist preached on the banks of the Jordan; he did not belong to the Essenes, he was a popular prophet, from a strong tribe of Judah. Driven into the wilderness by severe piety, he led a life there full of deprivation, in constant prayer, in fasting and exhaustion. Over his naked body, burned by the sun, he wore camel hair instead of a sackcloth, as a sign of repentance for himself and his people, for he deeply felt the calamities of Israel and did not cease to expect their release. He thought, following Jewish belief, that the Messiah would soon appear as an avenger and executor of justice, and, like Maccabeus, would raise up the people, drive out the Romans and punish all the guilty, and then, solemnly entering Jerusalem, restore the kingdom of Israel in peace and justice and exalt him above all the nations of the earth.
He preached to the people the imminent appearance of the Messiah and exhorted them to prepare for His appearance by repentance and purification of the heart. Having adopted from the Essenes the custom of sacred ablutions and transformed it in his own way, he attached significance to baptism in the Jordan. visible symbol, as if the nation-wide accomplishment of internal purification, which he demanded from people. This new ceremony, this fiery sermon before crowds of people in the majestic frame of the desert, before the sacred waters of the Jordan, between the austere mountain ranges of Judea and Persia, had a strong effect on the imagination and attracted many people. She recalled the glorious days of the ancient prophets; she gave the people something that they did not find in the temple: an inner impetus and, following the fear of repentance, a breath of hope, vague and wonderful.
People flocked to John the Baptist from all parts of Palestine and even from even more distant countries to listen to the holy hermit who foreshadowed the Messiah. The people, attracted by his word, remained near the banks of the Jordan for weeks, setting up a whole camp near the river and not wanting to go far, so as not to miss the appearance of the Messiah. Many offered to take up arms in order to start a holy war under his leadership. Herod Antipas and the priests of Jerusalem were already beginning to be alarmed by this popular movement. Besides, the signs of the times were ominous. Tiberius, having reached the age of seventy-four, ended his life indulging in dissolute feasts in Capri; Pontius Pilate redoubled his severity against the Jews; in Egypt, the priests proclaimed that the phoenix was preparing to rise from the ashes.27
Jesus, who felt a prophetic calling growing within him, but who was still searching for his ways, came in his turn to the wilderness of the Jordan with several of the Essenes, who were already following him as a teacher. He wanted to see the Baptist, hear him preach, and be baptized by the people. He wanted to show humility and pay tribute to the prophet who dared to raise his voice against the authorities and awaken the soul of Israel out of lethargy.
He saw a stern ascetic with a lion-headed ghost-seer standing in front of a wooden throne, under a rough canopy covered with branches and goatskins. Around him, among the lean bushes of the desert, a huge crowd, a whole camp spread out: Publicans, soldiers of Herod, Samaritans, Jerusalem Levites, Edomites with their flocks of sheep and even Arabs, who stopped there with their camels, tents and caravans, attracted by the "voice of one crying in desert." And his thundering voice was carried over the crowd: "Repent, prepare the ways of the Lord, make His paths straight." He called the Pharisees and Sadducees offspring of vipers. He claimed that "the ax is already at the root of the trees" and spoke of the Messiah: "I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with fire."
Towards evening, when the sun was setting, Jesus saw how this whole crowd crowded to the small bay of the Jordan, and saw how Herod's hirelings and even robbers bowed their mighty backs under the jets of water with which the Baptist watered them.
Jesus approached the prophet. John had no idea about Jesus, but he recognized Essen by His linen garments. He saw Him among the crowd descending into the water up to the waist and humbly bowing His head to receive the sprinkling of water. When the one who received the baptism raised his head, the mighty gaze of the Baptist met that of the Galilean. The prophet of the wilderness trembled under the ray of wondrous meekness of this look and involuntarily escaped from him the question: "Are you not the Messiah?" The Baptist must have known that silence was the custom of the Essene initiates, and he held both hands solemnly over Jesus. After that, Jesus withdrew with his companions.
The Baptist followed him with a gaze that mixed doubt, hidden joy and deep sadness. What is the meaning of all his inspiration and prophetic power before the radiant light that emanated from the eyes of the Stranger and illuminated his whole being to the depths? Oh, if the young and beautiful Galilean were the expected Messiah, what joy would descend into his heart. Then his life's work would be finished and his voice could be silenced. From that day on, he preached with hidden emotion that "He must increase, but I must decrease." He probably experienced the weariness and sadness of an old lion lying down in silence awaiting death.
"Are You the Messiah?" This question of the Baptist resounded in the soul of Jesus. From the very beginning of his conscious life, he found God in himself, and the assurance in the kingdom of heaven illuminated his inner visions with radiant beauty.
Later, human suffering pierced His heart. The wise men of Essene revealed to Him the secret of religion and the science of the Mysteries; they pointed out to Him the spiritual fall of mankind and the expectation of the Savior. But where is the power that could carry suffering humanity out of the dark abyss? The direct question of John the Baptist penetrated the silence of His deep thoughts like lightning from Sinai. Isn't He the Messiah?
Jesus could answer this question only after deep concentration in the silence of his own spirit. Hence the need for solitude, that forty-day fast, which Matthew depicts in the form of a symbolic legend. Temptation is a truly great crisis in the life of Jesus and that supreme insight into the truth, through which all the prophets, all the founders of religions inevitably pass before starting their great work.
Above Engaddi, where the Essenes cultivated sesame and vineyards, a steep path led to a cave hidden in the mountain. It was entered by two Doric columns carved into the rock, similar to those that were in the valley of Jehoshaphat, in the Refuge of the Apostles. There, in this grotto, a man, as it were, hung over the abyss, as if in an eagle's nest. In the depths of the gorge visible from there were vineyards and dwellings of people; beyond the Dead Sea, still and grey, and the mournful Maovite mountains. The Essenes used this secluded place for those of their brethren who wished to be tested by loneliness. In this grotto there were scrolls with the sayings of the prophets, strengthening fragrant substances, dry figs and a thin stream of water breaking through a cleft of the rock, the only reinforcement of the ascetic during meditation. Jesus went there.
First of all, He surveyed in the spirit the whole past of mankind. He weighed the importance of the coming hour. Rome was its spokesman: it represented what the Persian magicians called the kingdom of Ahriman, and the prophets - the kingdom of Satan, the seal of the beast, the apotheosis of evil. Darkness has consumed mankind. The people of Israel received from Moses a sacred mission - to preserve for the world the religion of the Father, the pure Spirit, to pass it on to other peoples and strive for its triumph. Did his kings and his priests succeed in this mission?
The prophets, who alone were aware of the sacred mission of their people, answered unanimously: no! Israel perished a slow death in the strong arms of Rome.
Was it necessary to take the risk for the hundredth time to raise the people, as the Pharisees still dreamed of, and to restore the temporary kingdom of Israel by force? Should I declare myself the son of David and exclaim with Isaiah: "I will trample the nations in my anger, I will make them drunk with my indignation, I will overturn them with power to the ground." Was it necessary to become a new Maccabee and declare himself the King-High Priest?
Jesus could risk it. He saw how the crowds were ready to rise at the command of John the Baptist, and the power that He felt within himself was an immeasurably greater power. But can violence be conquered by violence? Can the sword end the kingdom of the sword? Did this not mean to bring new dark forces to life?
Would it not have been better to reveal to all that truth, which until then had remained the property of a few sanctuaries and a small number of initiates? Was it not necessary to act on the hearts of people in anticipation of the time when, through higher knowledge and inner revelation, the truth would penetrate into the consciousness of people? Shouldn't the Kingdom of Heaven be preached to the humble and simple, shouldn't the Kingdom of Law be replaced by the Kingdom of Grace, transform humanity from within, revive its spiritual life?
But who will win? For Satan or for God? Behind the spirit of evil that reigns with the mighty of this world, or behind the divine spirit that reigns in the invisible higher worlds and hidden in the heart of every person, like a spark inside a stone? But what will be the fate of the prophet who dares to tear the veil of the temple to expose the emptiness of the Sanctuary, who dares to disrespect both Herod and Caesar at the same time?
But the time has come! The inner voice did not say to Him, as to the prophet Isaiah: "Take a large book and write on it with a human pen." The voice of the Eternal cried out to Him, "Arise and speak." It was necessary to find a living verb, a faith that moves mountains; a force that breaks impregnable fortresses.
Jesus prayed fervently. During this prayer, some unrest, some growing anxiety began to take possession of Him. He began to lose the wonderful joy of the newfound strength, and His soul began to sink into a dark abyss. A black cloud enveloped Him. This cloud was fraught with all sorts of shadows: He recognized in them the images of his brothers, his teachers Essenes, his Mother. These shadows, one after another, told Him: "You want the impossible! You don't know what awaits Your madness! Refuse!" But an irresistible inner voice objected: "It is inevitable." He fought in this way for several days and nights, now leaning against the wall, now kneeling, now prostrate. And the abyss opened before Him deeper and deeper, and the cloud surrounding it became blacker. He seemed to be approaching something terrible and inexpressible.
Then He fell into that clairvoyant ecstasy when the deeply hidden higher consciousness awakens, enters into communication with the living spirit of all things and casts images of the past and the future onto the transparent fabrics of the dream. The outside world disappears, eyes close. The clairvoyant contemplates the Truth in the rays of that Light that floods His entire being, forming from His consciousness a flaming focus of this Light.
Thunder rumbled, the mountain trembled to its very foundations; a sudden whirlwind lifted the Clairvoyant to the top of the Jerusalem temple. The roofs and towers of the city glittered in the air like a forest of gold and silver. Sacred hymns were heard from the Holy of Holies temples. Waves of incense rose from all the altars and rushed to the feet of Jesus. People in festive clothes filled the porticos. Beautiful women sang for Him hymns of fiery adoration. The trumpets sounded and a hundred thousand voices shouted, "Glory to the King of Israel!"
“You will be this king if you bow to me,” a voice said.
- Who are you? Jesus asked.
And again a whirlwind arose and carried Him through space to the top of the mountain. At His feet the kingdoms of the earth unfolded, illumined with golden radiance.
“I am the king of spirits and the prince of the earth,” a voice came from below.
“I know who you are,” Jesus said. “You appear under countless forms and your name is Satan. Appear in your earthly form.
A vision of a crowned lord appeared on a throne of clouds. A pale glow surrounded his regal head. A dark image loomed in the bloody radiance, his face was pale and his gaze was like the sparkle of a sword. He said, "I'm Caesar, bow down before me, I'll give You all the kingdoms of the earth." Jesus answered:
Back, tempter! For it is written: "You will worship only the Eternal, only your God." And immediately the vision disappeared.
Finding himself alone again, in the cave of Engaddi, Jesus asked:
“By what sign shall I triumph over the lords of the earth?”
“The sign of the Son of Man,” said a voice from above. And thereupon a brilliant constellation appeared on the horizon; it consisted of four luminaries in the form of a Cross. The Galilean recognized the sign of the ancient initiations used in Egypt and preserved by the Essenes. At the dawn of mankind, the sons of Japhet worshiped him as a symbol of earthly and heavenly fire, as a banner of Life with all its joys and Love with all its miracles. Later, the initiates of Egypt saw in it the symbol of the great mystery, the Trinity, merging into Unity, the image of the sacrifice of the Inscrutable, which is shattered in order to manifest Himself in the worlds. A symbol of life, death, and resurrection at the same time, he was found in dungeons, on graves, and in countless temples.
The radiant cross grew larger and closer, as if attracted by the heart of the Clairvoyant. His four stars were blazing like the four Suns.
“Look, the magic sign of Life and Immortality,” said an invisible voice. “People once had it, but then they lost it. Do you want to return it to the people?
“I do,” Jesus replied.
- If you want, look! Here is your destiny.
Suddenly, four stars went out. The night has come. An underground thunder shook the earth and a dark mountain rose from the bottom of the Dead Sea, on top of which a black cross was visible. A man languishing in mortal agony was nailed to him. The raging people covered the mountain and screamed with malicious mockery: "If You are really the Messiah, save yourself!" The clairvoyant found out: that crucified man was He himself...
He understood everything. In order to win, one had to identify oneself with this terrible double, which appeared before Him as a warning. Uncertainty crept into the soul of Jesus, and He felt as if hanging in a void and torn apart by the torments of the nailed, and the insults of the sons of men, and the deep silence of Heaven.
“You can accept the sacrifice, or you can reject it,” said an invisible voice.
And already the vision began to tremble and turn pale in places, and the phantom of the Cross with the executed man floated away into the distance, when in front of the inner eyes of Jesus all the sufferers at the pool of Siloam began to pass in a bright picture, and behind them a whole army of tormented souls, from which mournful cries rushed: "Without You we shall perish... Save us Thou who knowest how to love." Jesus slowly straightened up and opened his arms, exclaiming: "I accept the cross, and may they be saved!" And at that very moment He felt a terrible tremor in His entire being and let out a loud cry... The Black Mountain collapsed, the cross disappeared, the necessary light flooded the Clairvoyant, unearthly bliss blew over Him, and a triumphant voice rang out in immeasurable heights: "Satan is defeated! Death is trampled on! Glory to the Son of Man! Glory to the Son of God!"
When Jesus awoke, nothing changed around Him; the rising sun gilded the interior of the Engaddian grotto; warm dew dampened his numb feet; wavering mists rose over the Dead Sea. But He himself was no longer the same. Something that forever decides fate happened in the inscrutable depths of His consciousness. He solved the riddle of His life. He conquered the world, and great confidence came into Him. From the victory over His earthly nature, which He stepped on and, defeated, cast off forever from Himself, from the mortal agony experienced, a new consciousness arose, shining with heavenly joy: He knew that by an immutable decision of His will He became the Messiah from now on.
Shortly thereafter, He descended to the settlement of Essenes and learned that John the Baptist had been captured by Antipas and imprisoned in the fortress of Makeru. This news was for him a sign that the times were ripe and that it was time to take action. He announced to the Essenes that he would go to Galilee to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven.
These words concealed His decision to make the great Mysteries accessible to the simple and humble, the decision to translate the teachings of the initiates into a language understandable to all.
This has not been done since the time when Shakya Muni - the last Buddha - moved by boundless pity, preached on the banks of the Ganges.
The same divine compassion for humanity animated Jesus, but He filled it with such power of love and such greatness of faith and active energy that belonged to Him alone. From the depths of death, which He measured and foresaw, He brought forth hope and eternal life for His brothers in humanity.