Sanjak.
Sanjak.
Gurdjieff wrote about the Yezidis in his work, Meetings With Remarkable Men. Yet, he reveals an acquaintance with the Yezidis throughout his works, particularly, Beelzebub's Tales To His Grandson. There are several elements worth referring to in Gurdjieff's works, particularly in Meetings With Remarkable Men. Three particular strands are worth noticing. First, the story about his father, who was an Ashokh, or bard. Secondly, in his description of the Yezidis. Thirdly, in his quest for the Sarmoung Brotherhood. All three of these are particularly interesting, in the context of the pursuit of the Authentic Tradition in Near Eastern Secret Sects, because we are convinced that there is more to the Yezidi tradition and its real ancestry than meets the eye.
The Ashokhs are hereditary bards, who are the inheritors of the Sumerian Tradition. We can do no better than to quote the two sources we have for these very important people. The first source, is Katherine Neville's The Magic Circle, a very important "historical" nojel to come out in recent years. In it, the story's chief protagonist is having a conversation in a Russian 'hotel' with a valet of one of her relatives:
"'Although I was born in Transylvania, it was my mother's people, not my father's, who originated there,' Volga said. 'My father was from a triangular region running from Mount Ararat, near the Turkey-Iran border, to the Georgian Caucasus and Armenia. In this small wedge of land there had flourished what was already a century ago a dying breed of men, of which my father was one: the asokhi, bards or poets who were trained to hold in their memory the entire history and genealogy of our people, dating back to Gilgamesh of Sumeria.
"'Several figures who played a part in my father's childhood were later to cross paths with our family, at critical moments, over many years -- and with yours as well. While still a child, my father began his studies at Alexandropol under the tutelage of a noted ashokh, father of a boy my father's age. The son would one day become the famous esoteric Georgi Ivanojitch Gurdjieff. ...'" -- Neville, The Magic Circle, pp. 396 - 397.
"'You have certain qualities your grandmother once possessed. A moment ago, you found a common thread in patterns of antique history, medieval legend, and contemporary politics. The ability to form such connections is the one skill required of an ashokh. But innate ability is not enough -- appropriate training is also required...." -- ibid., p. 399.
Gurdjieff relates the story of the Ashokhs in his account of his father, in Meetings with Remarkable Men.
"My father was widely known, during the final decades of the last century and the beginning of this one, as an ashokh, that is, a poet and narrator, under the nickname of 'Adash'; and although he was not a professional ashokh but only an amateur, he was in his day very popular among the inhabitants of many countries of Transcaucasia and Asia Minor.
"Ashokh was the name given everywhere in Asia and the Balkan peninsula to the local bards, who composed, recited or sang poems, songs, legends, folk-tales, and all sorts of stories.
"In spite of the fact that these people of the past who devoted themselves to such a career were in most cases illiterate, having not even been to an elementary school in their childhood, they possessed such a memory and such alertness of mind as would now be considered remarkable and even phenomenal.
"They not only knew by heart innumerable and often very lengthy narratives and poems, and sang from memory all their various melodies, but when improvising in their own, so to say, subjective way, they hit upon the appropriate rhymes and changes of rhythm for their verses with astounding rapidity.
"At the present time men with such abilities are no longer to be found anywhere." -- Meetings, p. 32.
After describing a night's activities with his father, reciting the 21st song in the Epic of Gilgamesh, as he terms it, he mentions an interesting event that occurred:
"The data formed in me, during my childhood, thanks to the strong impressions I received during this discussion on an abstract theme between these two persons who had lived their lives to old age relatively normally, led to a beneficent result for the formation of my individuality which I first became aware of only much later, namely, just before the general European war [The First World War], and from then on it began to serve for me as the above-mentioned spiritualizing factor.
"The initial shock for my mental and feeling associations, which brought about this awareness, was the following:
"One day I read in a certain magazine an article in which it was said that there had been found among the ruins of Babylon some tablets with inscriptions which scholars were certain were no less than four thousand years old. This magazine also printed the inscriptions and the deciphered text -- it was the legend of the hero Gilgamesh.
"When I realized that here was that same legend which I had so often heard as a child from my father, and particularly when I read in this text the twenty-first song of the legend in almost the same form of exposition as in the songs and tales of my father, I experienced such an inner excitement that it was as if my whole future destiny depended on all this. And I was struck by the fact, at first inexplicable to me, that this legend had been handed down by ashokhs from generation to generation for thousands of years, and yet had reached our day almost unchanged." - p. 36
He goes on to speak of the former Island Haninn, which he said was where Greece was, and to speak of the "Imastun" Brotherhood, also known as "The Wise Men". Shades of the Tradition of Enki's Wise Men at Eridu?
It is important to consider the importance of this class of being, because such things are nearly a completely a lost art these days, save to those of us who have inherited these virtues ourselves, and can legitimately lay claim to the titles, regardless of ethnicity.
There is an interesting group, we have read about in more recent times than Gurdjieff, as having existed in this same region of the Transcaucasus. We now turn to a book presently offered in an inexpensive reprint edition, by the Borderland Sciences Research Foundation:
"EDITOR'S PREFACE.
"The following pages present a facsimile, with the exception of inserted pagination, and a few necessary captions, -- the facsimile of a strange manuscript written by a strange man.
"'Count Stefan Colonna Walewski's outer life was that of a well-known collector and dealer in oriental art and antiquities and in anthropological curios. His shop, Esoterica, was not only a famous New York connoisseur's landmark but the gateway to another world, in which magic, demons and talismans were as real as subways and neon signs. The Count firmly believed that he attracted these strange objects to him by a sort of higher magnetism of which he knew the workings; and his unrivalled collection seemed to prove his point.
"Few knew, however, that behind Count Walewski's constant kindnesses to his fellow man and his expert knowledge -- the two main facets of his external life -- there lay an intense inner life and search for life's most hidden secrets. Few knew that before the 1920s, in the Caucasus mountains (between the Black and Caspian seas, on the border between Turkey and Russia) he had been vouchsafed some of those secrets by two initiates of a rarely encountered secret society, which combined indigenous doctrines and those of yoga with those stemming from a mystical tradition of ancient Zoroastrianism. Walewski never saw his teachers again, and he himself assumed no personal credit for their teachings, which were merely handed on to him under oath not to reveal the source. Their instructions, received in Persian and Russian, were transcribed in a manuscript notebook from his own notes by the Count, when he later arrived in America, coming first with a Polish diplomatic commission. The English of the transcription is halting and the orthography often incorrect as Count Walewski possessed but an imperfect knowledge of English at that time.
"However, we have considered it best to give the reader the manuscript in facsimile rather than any 'improvement' on it, which will destroy or at least vitiate its unique character. There was all the more reason so to present the work when, shortly after releasing it for publication and disposing of the manuscript to a private collector, Count Walewski passed on, leaving no one who could possibly answer all the enigmas connected with the system of development discussed in it. Neither the publisher or editor can assume any responsibility for the views hereinafter expressed nor necessarily endorse them. They are presented solely as shedding light on a little known island of ancient views preserved in the border regions between East and West and as a documentary contribution to a special field of religio-magical manuscript literature. ...
"C. A. Muses, Colorado, 1955."
-- From the Editor's Preface to A System of Caucasian Yoga... [See Bibliography and Sources for details.]
Title page from A System of Caucasian Yoga.
This is perhaps a coincidence? Well, if one compares the work to what we have read in Gurdjieff, we have to state unequivocally that it is no coincidence. Interestingly enough, just like Gurdjieff's third and final work in the series All and Everything ends in the middle of an idea, without really ending, so does this work end in much the same manner, though over different subject matter. Coincidence, too? Perhaps. Here is the cover for the program for his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man, from 1919:
Perhaps this is more stylized and better-executed than the former, but, the parallels do exist.
It is worth stating that people have problems with Gurdjieff's methods, and the ways he treated his pupils, but he was really teaching people to wake up and realize their Master-ship. It is not the kind of thing encouraged, or taught, today, we realize, but it is far better than teaching people to be mere disciples, or less.
To tell the story of Gurdjieff's connection with the Yezidi tradition, we shall refer to Adrian Gilbert's MAGI: The Quest for a Secret Tradition. This work gives us plenty to whet our appetite, and perhaps we shall finish off with the main course.
The famous quotation from Gurdjieff comes from pp. 65-67 of Meetings. We do not need to quote it in its entirety, here, because it is not only often quoted, it does not entirely fall in with the survey we are producing. Gurdjieff wasn't exactly flattering in his estimation of the Yezidis, considering them to be a rather superstitious lot. The boy in the circle being his main example given. He does say this, however:
"The Yezidis are a sect living in Transcaucasia, mainly in the regions near Mount Ararat. They are sometimes called devil-worshippers." -- p. 66.
Is G. making a secret connection here, between the Yezidis and the Ashokhs, of which his father was one? I wouldn't doubt it.
J. G. Bennett became interested in the Yezidis, not so much as a result of the short anecdote left behind by his Master, but, rather, due to the fact that Bennett became interested in searching out the source for Gurdjieff's teachings, and, too, for the Sarmoung (Sarman) Brotherhood.
"Making his way from Syria to Iraq he spent time amongst the ruins of ancient Babylon, the setting of many of Gurdjieff's Beelzebub's Tales but his most significant discovery in Iraq was to be a lost valley called Sheikh Adi, the chief sanctuary of a little known people called the Yezidis, though they are sometimes called Yesevis.
"Sheikh Adi derives its name from the 'saint' whose shrine it is and who is believed by the Yezidis to have lived thousands of years ago -- perhaps around the time of Abraham. Bennett spent a day visiting the shrine and questioned its custodian, through a Kurdish interpreter. Summing up his impressions in his diary of the time he writes:
"'It is my belief that they [the Yezidis] are descended from the ancient Chaldeans. Their own tradition is that they migrated from the South, and they may well be the lost remnants of the Babylonian Magi who disappeared after the time of Alexander of Macedon.'" - Gilbert, MAGI, pp. 48 - 49.
Bennett, according to The Masters of Wisdom:
The Sarman Society who left Babylon before the arrival of Alexander and travelled up the Tigris had made their headquarters in the abandoned capital of the Assyrian Kings, near where Mosul stands today. To this day, there remains a sanctuary that contains relics of the Sarman Society guarded by the Yezidis who, in my personal opinion (unsupported I might say by any positive evidence) know more about it than they are prepared to admit.
If there is any truth to this, it is quite tremendous. This migration of the Babylonian Magi, we shall see later, in the next Part of the Work. The environs of Mosul assume a degree of great significance, because it is here that the earliest forms of Chaldean Christianity develop; it is here where the Jewish Christians migrate to; it is here where the Nestorians have important settlements; it is here where the Yezidis more or less consider their main settlement, and it is here where we can see traditions going back, a long way, to the times of the Babylonians, Akkadians, and Sumerians: that we see the worship of the bearded fish goddess.
"According to Bennett, the searching period of Gurdjieff's life lasted for some sixteen years from 1891 to 1907 and culminated with his being allowed into a secret temple run by an esoteric society called the Sarmoung or Sarman Brotherhood. Most of chapter 5 of Gurdjieff's semi-autobiographical book, Meetings with Remarkable Men, concerns his search for this mysterious brotherhood, which he believed was founded in Babylon around 2500 BC. This is roughly the time when the Egyptians were busy building the Great Pyramid. In a later epoch, Bennett believed that descendants of the same secret brotherhood of the enlightened had initiated Pythagoras, the father of western philosophy, whilst he was a captive resident in Babylon. He remarks that there is an old tradition that Pythagoras travelled the world looking for knowledge. Whilst he was resident in Egypt the Persian king, Cambyses, compelled all the wise men of that country, including Pythagoras, to go to Babylon..." -- p.35.
Gurdjieff travels through Transcaucasia, Armenia, Kurdistan in search of this very secretive Brotherhood. Through his journeys, he meets up with several fellow-travellers, with the same mission. These people form a loosely knit group, referred to as "The Seekers of Truth." One such person was an Armenian Friend of G.'s named Pogossian. Together, they travel to the ancient Armenian village of Ani, and proceed with some amateur archaeological digging. They discover some parchments. Continuing with Gilbert's summary:
"The parchments turned out to be letters between two monks, one of whom was named 'Arem', and were written in a very old form of Armenian. Among this correspondence, which mostly dealt with ordinary church affairs, was included one letter that, from their point of view, was more interesting than the rest. This made mention of the mysterious 'Sarmoung Brotherhood', a name Gurdjieff had come across before in an Armenian book called Merkharvat, and stated that at the time the letter was written, their chief monastery was 'in the valley of Izrumin, three days' journey from Nivssi.' Pogossian and Gurdjieff quickly worked out that Nivssi was the ancient name for the city of Mosul in Northern Iraq. This lies near the ruins of Nineveh and, at the time the letter was written, it was the capital of a province called Nievi. Given the clues found in the letter, they decided it should not be too difficult to find the valley of Izrumin and, assuming it still existed, the mysterious monastery of the Sarmoung Brotherhood....." -- pp. 37-38.
This is interesting. Later on Gilbert points out that perhaps Mosul was not the object of their quest, but that Nisibis (Nusaybin) was. This makes sense. Either way, Mosul and Nisibis are very important cities in our story. And, between the two, we find Ash Sheikh 'Adi, and Lalish, where the most important rites take place. They are closer to Mosul, but it wouldn't be impossible to suppose that three days' journey from Nisibis was this incredible valley with its Monastery, the same monastery that would become the Shrine of Sheikh 'Adi, as we will read of later.
"Bennett believed that the Masters existed and that they were connected with Gurdjieff's Sarmoung or Sarman society. With his knowledge of languages he was able to throw light on the etymology of the name and to identify, at least in theory, what this group might represent:
"'One such clue given by Gurdjieff is the mention in several passages of the Sarmoun (sic) or Sarman Society. The pronunciation is the same for either spelling and the word can be assigned to old Persian. It does, in fact, appear in some of the Pahlawi (Persian) texts to designate those who preserved the doctrines of Zoroaster. The word can be interpreted in three ways. It is the word for bee, which has always been a symbol of those who collect the precious 'honey' of traditional wisdom and preserve it for future generations. A collection of legends, well known in Armenian and Syrian circles with the title The Bees, was revised by Mar Solomon, a Nestorian Archimandrite in the thirteenth century, that is about the time of Jenghiz Khan. The Bees, refers to a mysterious power transmitted from the time of Zoroaster and made manifest in the time of Christ.
"'A more obvious rendering is to take the man in its Persian meaning as the quality transmitted by heredity and hence a distinguished family or race. It can be the repository of an heirloom or tradition. The word sar means head, both literally and in the sense of principal or chief. The combination sarman would thus mean the chief repository of the tradition, which has been called 'the perennial philosophy' passed down from generation to generation by 'initiated beings' to use Gurdjieff's description.
"'And still another possible meaning of the word Sarman is 'those who have been enlightened'; literally those whose heads have been purified.'" - p. 45.
This reminds us of the term we received for this tradition: The Authentic Tradition. The etymological work, just quoted should not be dismissed out of hand, too easily, since we have found some other materials, that are worth considering. While it would be a lot easier to follow the chain backwards, and try to connect everything with Zoroastrianism, as people tend to do, though incorrectly: we shall draw some conclusions from the history of the Essenes, and the early history of Christianity, in the next segment.
See below, in part two of this chapter, for more on the connection between the Angel Cults and the Book of Enoch. In our extraction from J. M. Allegro, it is stated that the Essenes (or the sect at Qumran) viewed itself as the caretakers of the secret medical knowledge of the Rephaim. While most will classify the Rephaim as the "Shades", it is clear that Repha, the root of the word, indicates "Healers", a term which was applied to the Essenes, or at least a branch of them, such as the Therapeutae, who existed in the Fayyum region in Egypt at the time of Philo of Alexandria.
We have several theories about the evolution and development of the Essenes. They do not really agree with the theories expressed by the majority of academia and related high crime neighborhoods. Truth does not always show itself in the accepted places. Turning the Essenes into a pack of Branch Davidians does not help matters much, and is really to be taken as an effort to neutralize the importance of the 100 years prior to the Common Era, rather than to reveal the truth to the ever willing and eternally gullible public.
We shall have to deal more with the development of this important Order at length, in another part of The Work, because the end results are very wide-reaching, and include much more than we are given to believe by those who carry a greater percentage of the Market Share in this trade.
THIS JUST IN, DEPARTMENT. We have just received a paper written on this subject, which analyzes the Angelic Liturgy of the Sabbath Sacrifice, and we can see that there are tie-ins, though the paper doesn't make any connections with the Essenes.
Entitled Heavenly Ascent and Incarnational Presence: A Revisionist Reading of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, by Crispin H. T. Fletcher-Lewis, this paper analyzes the Angelic Liturgy in depth, and gives us more information on it than we can glean from the traditionally acceptable sources for laypeople. Now the character given by other researchers as the Teacher of Righteousness is figured as the Instructor, or Maskil, the latter term being a singular for what Scholem regarded as the Illuminati, in his book Origins of the Kabbalah. This may be significant. It is also stated that all the members of the sect were 'Qadoshim", which says a lot for certain traditions which are regarded by some as mere fictions.
Now, the functional use of the Angelic Liturgy was to call the angels to the Sabbath Sacrifice, to participate. Some scholars view the initiated of the sect as being part-human, part-divine, i.e., Angels, themselves. Also, ties with the Merkabah tradition are indicated, and this connects, ultimately with what we have to say about the evolution and further development of the Tree symbolism in another part of our work. This is more than a prayer, or a song. This is a functional ritual. We do not have any proof that the Yezidis did this sort of thing. If they did and/or do this, in their rites, then we might find a connection. Here are a couple of passages quoted from this very interesting paper:
"Yet, this reading of the Songs causes problems of its own: it means we are given a liturgical text full of puzzling peculiarities. To name but a few: the absence of the human community, almost throughout is odd in itself. This the more so given that the written text is evidently a liturgical score to be spoken by the mas8kil, a figure of some prominence within the Qumran community. This “Instructor” is to call angels to worship in a way which goes far beyond OT psalmody in its details of liturgical direction (cf., e.g. Ps 148). The detail would be understandable for the conductor of a mortal choir, much less for a purely angelic one. Furthermore, the specific designation of the liturgy as being lyk#ml means that this Qumran text is formally one of many others in which the Instructor teaches, directs and leads the community members in worship; never the angels."
"Considerations of such problems and, as we shall see, a detailed examination of the text demands a new interpretative paradigm: much of the language within the Songs, though not all, refers to the Qumran community members who now have a heavenly, angelic and divine identity.
"Both from the modern perspective and the dominant understanding of first century Jewish monotheism and anthropology this would normally be assumed an impossibility. However, recent research has demonstrated the ubiquity within post-Biblical Judaism of the belief that the righteous deserve to attain an “angelomorphic” or divine identity. C. R. A Morray-Jones has surveyed the relevant material in the “apocalyptic-merkabah tradition” and I have collected and offered some analysis of the material from throughout the late Second Temple world.
"In broad terms, the belief in an angelomorphic or divine humanity is rooted in the prelapsarian identity of Adam, which is then recovered by Israel, her patriarchal heroes, her lawgiver, mediatorial figures such as the priest, king and prophet and specific communities such as those behind the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Therapeutae. There are good grounds for thinking that the experience of the cult and speculation on the angelomorphism of the priesthood, especially the High Priest, are particularly important in providing the central conceptual catalyst for the various streams and manifestations of this belief pattern.
"In this context there is mounting evidence that this pattern of belief was central to Qumran sectarianism. It has long been recognised that the Dead Sea Scroll community believed that it shared its life with the angels."
Describing one of the texts, Fragment 35 of 4Q511, we are told:
"This text describes as a future event the formation of an inner community (the eternal sanctuary) within the Sectarian movement (those seven times refined and the holy ones). The conceptual parallel with the distinction drawn in 1QS 8:5 and 4QMMT B 79f between Aaron on the one hand and Israel (for whom the former function as a temple and means of atonement) on the other, seems to be present given the fact that those set apart (sanctified) are to be “an eternal sanctuary.... priests... ministers”. The text is close to the those passages of the Community Rule which describe the early formation of the Qumran community. For our purpose it is of great significance that the inner community of the “holy ones” is called “His host and servants, the angels of His glory.” This text therefore envisages a priestly angelomorphism for at least an inner core of Qumran members."
Notice our emphasis on the final sentence quoted above. Here we have the Inner Circle, in existence long before the various Secret Chiefs, Inner Orders, Interior Circles, Inner Circles, Unknown Superiors, etc., and we have this in a place where our "spurious" Masonic legends have pointed to, all along. Here is something that was received by this reporter, in late March of 1990 c.e., before a lot of other things started taking place:
"My voice shall be divided: for the priests of my temple and for the profane. Choose well the division and my reward will be thusly amended..." -- from the TOPY Diary, 1989 - 1990 c.e.
"Let my servants be few & secret: they shall rule the many & the known." -- AL.I.10
Delusions? Dribble? Ravings of the mind? We do not think so! Anyone who has had such experiences knows the reality of the Macrocosm communicating with the Microcosm. Praeterhuman Intelligences exist, have existed, and shall continue to exist, and nobody can copyright their utterances!
Isn't this one interesting:
"In the extensive Qumran Wisdom text Sapiential Work A the creation of humanity in the image of the angels is a foundational theme which comes to expression in the belief that the wise are a “people of Spirit (xwr M()” who are created according to the pattern of the angelic holy ones (wrcy My#wdq tynbtk)."
And this:
"There are also a number of Qumran texts where a righteous individual is designated an Myhwl)."
- - Heavenly Ascent and Incarnational Presence: A Revisionist
Reading of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice.
We can see from the above, then, that we have an early precursor to the Angel Cults. Hmmm... but they were supposed to have been influenced by Zoroastrianism, by other things? Other views popular today are clearly due for some revisionism of their own!
Turning to another system that rendered praise to the Seven, it
is curious, to find that Ephraim the Syrian condemned Bar-Daisan for revering
the 7 Powers, 7 Angels, etc. In the article we have, no details are given, but
it would seem to indicate that Bar-Daisan may have been doing what the Essenes
were doing. Here is an excerpt:
He celebrated this victory in the following strain of triumphant imprecation
:--
"Cursed be our trust [if it be] on the Seven; the
Aeons which Bardaisan confesses!
Anathema[be he] who says, as he said: that from them descend the rain
and the dew!
Anathema who affirms, like him: that from them are the showers and the
frosts!
Cursed be he who says, as he said: that from them are the snow and the
ice!
[Cursed be he who affirms, like him]: that from them are the seeds for
the husbandmen!
Anathema who confesses, as he confessed: that from them are the fruits
for the labourer!
Anathema who believes, like him: that from them are famine and plenty!
Anathema who confesses, as he taught: that from them are summer and winter!
Anathema be on the man: and on the woman who thus speaks!
Anathema be on the house: wherein it is thus affirmed!
Anathema his doctrine which rests: its trust on the Sevenfold!
Cursed be he who reproaches his Creator: and ascribes dominion to the
Seven!
Cursed be he who reads the Scriptures: and becomes a gainsayer of the Scriptures!
Cursed be he who reads the Prophets: and breaks the words of the Prophets!
Cursed be he who reads the Apostles: and abides not by their words!"
-- Introductory Dissertation on Ephraim the Syrian and Aphrahat the Persian Sage, First Part: Ephraim the Syrian, etc., edited, with an introductory dissertation, by John Gwynn, D. D., D. C. L., etc.
A familiar parallel, perhaps to those who practice Magick? Let's see:
1. Thee I invoke, the Bornless One.
2. Thee, that didst create
the Earth and the Heavens.
3. Thee, that didst create the Night and the day.
4. Thee, that didst create the darkness and the Light.
5. Thou art Asar Un-nefer:
Whom no man hath seen at any time.
6. Thou art Ia-Besz.
7. Thou art Ia-Apophrasz.
8. Thou hast distinguished between the just and the Unjust.
9. Thou didst make
the female and the Male.
10. Thou didst produce the Seed and the fruit.
11.
Thou didst form Men to love one another, and to hate one another.
-- The Oath, from The Bornless Ritual, in Liber Samekh.
Well now, the purist will say, these are two different things, completely unrelated. Well, true, perhaps, but there are similarities, too, and similarities we can see in the Yezidi poems. See, below, for more on the sect of Bar-Daisan.
J. B. Lightfoot, in his essay On Some Points Connected With The Essenes (1875), mentioned is made of the name Sarman. This is important, considering this name comes up in the material we have already covered, concerning a significant Secret Society in the Near-East, calling itself the Sarman Society or the Sarmoung Brotherhood. J. G. Bennett has assured us that this name comes straight from Zoroastrianism, much like everything else is supposed to. However, could it be that the term comes from India, from Buddhist usages? What? Am I mad? On some days of the week... Read on, girlz and boyz:
[Presenting another selection from the excellent series in progress: Readings In The Authentic Tradition]
But are we justified in going a step further, and attributing other elements in this eclectic system to the more distant East? The monasticism of the Buddhist will naturally occur to our minds, as a precursor of the cenobitic life among the Essenes; and Hilgenfeld accordingly has not hesitated to ascribe this characteristic of Essenism directly to Buddhist influences. But at the outset we are obliged to ask whether history gives any such indication of the presence of Buddhism in the West as this hypothesis requires. Hilgenfeld answers this question in the affirmative. He points confidently to the fact that as early as the middle of the second century before Christ the Buddhist records speak of their faith as flourishing in Alasanda the chief city of the land of Yavana. The place intended, he conceives, can be none other than the great Alexandria, the most famous of the many places bearing the name.* In this opinion however he stands quite alone. Neither Koppen (Die Religion des Buddha I. p. 193), who is his authority for this statement, nor any other Indian scholar, so far as I am aware, for a moment contemplates this identification. Yavana, or Yona, was the common Indian name for the Græco-Bactrian kingdom and its dependencies;** and to this region we naturally turn. The Alasanda or Alasadda therefore, which is here mentioned, will be one of several Eastern cities bearing the name of the great conqueror, most probably Alexandria ad Caucasum. But indeed I hardly think that, if Hilgenfeld had referred to the original authority for the statement, the great Buddhist history Mahawanso, he would have ventured to lay any stress at all on this notice, as supporting his theory. The historian, or rather fabulist (for such he is in this earlier part of his chronicle), is relating the foundation of the Maha thupo, or great tope, at Ruanwelli by the king Dutthagamini in the year BC 157. Beyond the fact that this tope was erected by this king the rest is plainly legendary. All the materials for the construction of the building, we are told, appeared spontaneously as by miracle-the bricks, the metals, the precious stones. The dewos, or demons, lent their aid in the erection. In fact
the fabric huge
Rose like an exhalation.
Priests gathered in enormous numbers from all the great Buddhist monasteries to do honour to the festival of the foundation. One place alone sent not less than 96,000. Among the rest it is mentioned that 'Maha Dhammarakkito, thero (i.e. senior priest) of Yona, accompanied by 30,000 priests from the vicinity of Alasadda, the capital of the Yona country, attended' (Mahawanso p. 171, Turnour's translation). It is obvious that no weight can be attached to a statement occurring as part of a story of which the other details are so manifestly false. An establishment of 30,000 Buddhist priests at Alexandria would indeed be a phenomenon of which historians have shown a strange neglect.
* x. p. 105 'was schon an sich, zumal in dieser Zeit, schwerlich Alexandria ad Caucasum, sondern nur Alexnadrien in Aegypten bedeuten kann.' Comp. XI. p. 351, where he repeats the same argument in reply to Zeller. This is a very natural inference from a western point of view; but, when we place ourselves in the position of a Buddhist writer to whom Bactria was Greece, the relative proportions of things are wholly changed.
** For its geographical meaning in older Indian writers see Koppen l.c. Since then it has entirely departed from its original signification, and Yavana is now a common term used by the Hindoos to designate the Mohammedans. Thus the Greek name has come to be applied to a people which of all others is most unlike the Greeks. This change of meaning admirably illustrates the use of Ellhn among the Jews, which in like manner, from being the name of an alien nation, became the name of an alien religion, irrespective of nationality.
Nor is the presence of any Buddhist establishment even on a much smaller scale in this important center of western civilization at all reconcilable with the ignorance of this religion, which the Greeks and Romans betray at a much later date. For some centuries after the Christian era we find that the information possessed by western writers was most shadowy and confused; and in almost every instance we are able to trace it to some other cause than the actual presence of Buddhists in the Roman Empire.* Thus Strabo, who wrote under Augustus and Tiberius, apparently mentions the Buddhist priests, the sramanas, under the designation sarmanæ (Sarmanaj);** but he avowedly obtains his information from Megasthenes, who traveled in India somewhere about the year 300 BC and wrote a book on Indian affairs. Thus too Bardesanes at a much later date gives an account of these Buddhist ascetics, without however naming the founder of the religion; but he was indebted for his knowledge of them to conversations with certain Indian ambassadors who visited Syria on their way westward in the reign of one of the Antonines.*** Clement of Alexandria, writing in the latest years of the second century or the earliest of the third, for the first† time mentions Buddha by name; and even he betrays a strange ignorance of this Eastern religion.††
* Consistently with this view, we may allow that single Indians would visit Alexandria from time to time for purposes of trade or for other reasons, and not more than this is required by the rhetorical passage in Dion Chrysost. Or. xxxii (. 373) orw gar egwge ou monon Ellhnaj par umin....alla kai Baktriouj kai Skuqaj kai Persaj kai Indwn tinaj. The qualifying tinaj shows how very slight was the communication between India and Alexandria. The mission of Pantænus may have been suggested by the presence of such stray visitors. Jerome (Vir. III. 36) says that he went 'rogatus ab illius gentis legatis.' It must remain doubtful however, whether some other region than Hindostan, such as Ethiopia for instance, is not meant, when Pantænus is said to have gone to India: see Cave's Lives of the Primitive Fathers p. 188 sq.
How very slight the communication was between India and the West in the early years of the Christian era, appears from this passage of Strabo xv i.4 (p. 686);
kai oi nun de ex Aiguptou pleontej emporikoi tw Neilw kai tw Arabiw kolpw mecri thj Indikhj spanioi men kai peripepleukasi mecri tou Gaggou, kai outoi d idiwtai kaiouden proj istorian twn topwn crhsimoi, after which he goes on to say that the only instance of Indian travelers in the West was the embassy sent to Augustus which came af enoj topou kai tar enoj basilewj.
The communications between India and the West are investigated by two recent writers, Reinaud Relations Politiques et Commerciales de l'Empire Romain avec l'Asie Centrale, Paris 1863, and Priaulx The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana and the Indian Embassies to Rome, 1873. The latter work, which is very thorough and satisfactory, would have saved me much labour of independent investigation, if I had seen it in time.]
** Strabo xv. i.59, p. 712. In the MSS it is written Garmanaj, but this must be an error either introduced by Strabo's transcribers or found in the copy of Megasthenes which this author used. This is plain not only from the Indian word itself, but also from the parallel passage in Clement of Alexandria (Strom. i. 15). From the coincidences of language it is clear that Clement also derived his information from Megasthenes, whose name he mentions just below. The fragments of Megasthenes relating to the Indian philosophers will be found in Muller Fragm. Hist. Graec. II. p. 437. They were previously edited by Schwanbeck, Megasthenis Indica (Bonnæ 1846).
For Sarmanai we also find the form Samanaioi in other writers; e.g. Clem. Alex. l.c., Bardesanes in Porphyr. de Abstin. iv. 17, Orig. c. Cels. i. 19 (I. p. 342). This divergence is explained by the fact that the Pali word sammana corresponds to the Sanskrit sramana. See Schwanbeck, l.c. p. 17, quoted by Muller, p. 437.
It should be borne in mind however, that several eminent Indian scholars believe Megasthenes to have meant not Buddhists but Brahmins by his Sarmanaj. So for instance Lassen Rhein. Mus. 1833, p. 180 sq., Ind. Alterth. II. p. 700: and Prof. Max. Muller (Pref. to Rogers' Translation of Buddhaghosha's Parables, London 1870, p. lii) says; 'That Lassen is right in taking the Sarmanai, mentioned by Megasthenes, for Brahmanic, not for Buddhist ascetics, might be proved also by their dress. Dresses made of the bark of trees are not Buddhistic.' If this opinion be correct, the earlier notices of Buddhism in Greek writers entirely disappear, and my position is strengthened. But for the following reasons the other view appears to me more probable: (1) The term sramana is the common term for the Buddhist ascetic, whereas it is very seldom used of the Brahmin. (2) the Zarmanoj (another form of sramana), appears to have been a Buddhist. This view is taken even by Lassen, Ind. Alterth. III. p. 60. (3) The distinction of Bracmanej and Sarmanai in Megasthenes or the writers following him corresponds to the distinction of Bracmanej and Samanaioi in Bardesanes, Origen, and others; and, as Schwanbeck has shown (l.c.), the account of the Sarmanai in Megasthenes for the most part is a close parallel to the account of the Samanaioi in Bardesanes (or at least in Porphyry's report of Bardesanes). It seems more probable therefore that Megasthenes ahs been guilty of confusion in describing the dress of the Sarmanai, than that Brahmins are intended by the term.
The Pali form, Samanaioi, as a designation of the Buddhists, first occurs in Clement of Alexandria or Bardesanes, whichever may be the earlier writer. It is generally ascribed to Alexander Polyhistor, who flourished BC 80-60, because his authority is quoted by Cyril of Alexandria (c. Julian. iv. p. 133) in the same context in which the Samanaioi are mentioned. This inference is drawn by Schwanbeck, Max Muller, Lassen, and others. An examination of Cyril's language however shows that the statement for which he quotes the authority of Alexander Polyhistor does not extend to the mention of the Sammanæi. Indeed all the facts given in this passage of Cyril (including the reference to Polyhistor) are taken from Clement of Alexandria (Strom.i. 15), whose account Cyril has abridged. It is possible indeed that Clement himself derived the statement from Polyhistor, but nothing in Clement's own language points to this.
*** The narrative of Bardesanes is given by Porphyry de Abst. iv. 17. The Buddhist ascetics are there called Samanaioi (see the last note). The work of Bardesanes, recounting his conversations with these Indian ambassadors, is quoted again by Porphyry in a fragment preserved by Stobæus Ecl. iii. 56 (p. 141). In this last passage the embassy is said to have arrived epi thj basileiaj thj Antwninou tou ex Emiswn, by which, if the words be correct, must be meant Elagabalus (AD 218-222), the spurious Antonine (see Hilgenfeld Bardesanes p. 12 sq.). Other ancient authorities however place Bardesanes in the reign of one of the older Antonines; and, as the context is somewhat corrupt, we cannot feel quite certain about the date. Bardesanes gives by far the most accurate account of the Buddhists to be found in any ancient Greek writer; but even here the monstrous stories, which the Indian ambassadors related to him, show how little trustworthy such sources of information were.
† Except possibly Arian, Ind. viii. 1, who mentions an ancient Indian king, Budyas (Bouduaj) by name; but what he relates of him is quite inconsistent with the history of Buddha, and probably some one else is intended.
†† In this passage (Strom. i. 15, p. 359) Clement apparently mentions these same persons three times, supposing that he is describing three different schools of Oriental philosophers. (1) He speaks of Samanaioi Baktrwn (comp. Cyril. Alex. l.c.); (2) He distinguishes two classes of Indian gymnosophists, whom he calls Sarmanai and Bracmanai. These are Buddhists and Brahmins respectively; (3) He says afterwards eisi de twn Indwn oi toij Boutta peiqomenoi paraggelmasin, dn di uperbolhn semnothtoj eij [wj???] qeon tetimhkasi. Schwanbeck indeed maintains that Clement here intends to describe the same persons whom he has just mentioned as Sarmanai; but this is not the natural interpretation of his language, which must mean 'There are also among the Indians those who obey the precepts of Buddhan.' Probably Schwanbeck is right in identifying the Sarmanai with the Buddhist ascetics, but Clement appears not to have known this. In fact he has obtained his information from different sources, and so repeated himself without being aware of it. Where he got the first fact it is impossible to say. The second, as we saw, was derived from Megasthenes. The third, relating to Buddha, came, as we may conjecture, either from Pantænus (if indeed Hindostan is really meant by the India of his missionary labours) or from some chance Indian visitor at Alexandria.
In another passage (Strom. iii. 7, p. 539) Clement speaks of certain Indian celibates and ascetics, who are called Semnoi. As he distinguishes them from the gymnosophists, and mentions the pyramid as a sacred building with them, the identification with the Buddhists can hardly be doubted. Here therefore Semnoi is a Grecized form of Samanaoio; and this modification of the word would occur naturally to Clement, because semnoi, semneion, were already used of the ascetic life: e.g. Phil de Vit. Cont. 3 (p. 475 M) ieron o kaleitai semneion kai monasthrion en w monoumenoi ta tou semnou biou musthria telountai.
Still later than this, Hippolytus, while he gives a fairly intelligent, though brief, account of the Brahmins (Haer. i. 24), says not a word about the Buddhists, though, if he had been acquainted with their teaching, he would assuredly have seen in them a fresh support to his theory of the affinity between Christian heresies and pre-existing heathen philosophies. With one doubtful exception-an Indian fanatic attached to an embassy sent by king Porus to Augustus, who astonished the Greeks and Romans by burning himself alive at Athens*-there is apparently no notice in either heathen or Christian writers, which points to the presence of a Buddhist within the limits of the Roman Empire, till long after the Essenes had ceased to exist.**
* The chief authority is Nicolaus of Damascus in Strabo xv. I. 73 (p. 270). The incident is mentioned also in Dion Cass. liv. 9. Nicolaus had met these ambassadors at Antioch, and gives an interesting account of the motley company and their strange presents. This fanatic, who was one of the number, immolated himself in the presence of an astonished crowd, and perhaps of the emperor himself, at Athens. He anointed himself and then leapt smiling on the pyre. The inscription on his tomb was Zarmanochgaj Indoj ato Bargoshj kata ta patria Indwn eqh eauton apaqanatisaj keitai. The tomb was visible at least as late as the age of Plutarch, who recording the self-immolation of Calanus before Alexander (Vit. Alex 69) says, touto polloij etesin usteron alloj Indoj en Aqhnaij Kaisari sunwn epoihse, kai deiknutai mecri nun to mnhmeion Indou prasagoreuomenon. Strabo also places the two incidents in conjunction in another passage in which he refers to this person, xv. I. 4 (p. 686) o katakausaj eauton Aqhnhsi sofisthj Indoj, kaqaper kai o Kalanoj k.t.l..
The reasons for supposing this person to have been a Buddhist, rather than a Brahmin, are: (1) The name Zarmanochgaj (which appears with some variations in the MSS of Strabo) being apparently the Indian sramana-karja, i.e. 'teacher of the ascetics,' in other words, a Buddhist priest; (2) The place Bargosa, i.e. Barygaza, where Buddhism flourished in that age. See Priaulx p. 78 sq. In Dion Cassius it is written Zarmaroj.
And have we not here an explanation of 1 Cor 13:3, if ina kauqhsomai be the right reading? The passage, being written before the fires of the Neronian persecution, requires explanation. Now it is clear from Plutarch that the 'Tomb of the Indian' was one of the sights shown to strangers at Athens: and the Apostle, who observed the altar AGNWCTWI QEWI, was not likely to overlook the sepulcher with the strange inscription EAYTON ATTAQANATICAC KEITAI. Indeed the incident would probably be pressed on his notice in his discussions with Stoics and Epicureans, and he would be forced to declare himself as to the value of these Indian self-immolations, when he preached the doctrine of self-sacrifice. We may well imagine therefore that the fate of this poor Buddhist fanatic was present to his mind when he penned the words kai ean paradw to swma mou...agaphn de mhecw, ouden wfeloumai. Indeed it would furnish an almost equally good illustration of the text, whether we read ina kauqhsomai or ina kauchswmai. Dion Cassius (l.c.) suggests that the deed was done upo filotimiaj or eij epideixin. How much attention these religious suicides of the Indians attracted in the Apostolic age (doubtless because the act of this Buddhist priest had brought the subject vividly before men's minds in the West), we may infer from the speech which Josephus puts in the mouth of Eleazer (B. J. vii. 8. 7), Bleywmen eij Indouj touj sofian askein upiscnoumenouj...oi de...puri to swma parasontej, opwj dh kai kaqarwtathn apokrinwsi tou swmatoj thn yuchn, umnoumenoiteleutwsi...ap oun ouk aidoumeqa ceiron Indwn fronountej;
** In the reign of Claudius an embassy arrived from Taprobane (Ceylon); and from these ambassadors Pliny derived his information regarding the island, N. H. vi. 24. Respecting their religion however he says only two words 'coli Herculem,' by whom probably Rama is meant (Priaulx p. 116). From this and other statements it appears that they were Tamils and not Singalese, and thus belonged to the non-Buddhist part of the island; see Priaulx p. 91 sq.
And if so, the coincidences must be very precise, before we are justified in attributing any peculiarities of Essenism to Buddhist influences. This however is far from being the case. They both exhibit a well-organized monastic society: but the monasticism of the Buddhist priests, with its systematized mendicancy, has little in common with the monasticism of the Essene recluse, whose life was largely spent in manual labour. They both enjoin celibacy, both prohibit the use of flesh and of wine, both abstain from the slaughter of animals. But, as we have already seen, such resemblances prove nothing, for they may be explained by the independent development of the same religious principles. One coincidence, and one only, is noticed by Hilgenfeld, which at first sight seems more striking and might suggest a historical connexion. He observes that the four orders of the Essene community are derived from the four steps of Buddhism. Against this it might fairly be argued that such coincidences of numbers are often purely accidental, and that in the present instance there is no more reason for connecting the four steps of Buddhism with the four orders of Essenism than there would be for connecting the ten precepts of Buddha with the Ten Commandments of Moses. But indeed a nearer examination will show that the two have nothing whatever in common except the number. The four steps or paths of Buddhism are not four grades of an external order, but four degrees of spiritual progress on the way to nirvana or annihilation, the ultimate goal of the Buddhist's religious aspirations. They are wholly unconnected with the Buddhist monastic system, as an organization. A reference to the Buddhist notices collected in Hardy's Eastern Monachism (p. 280 sq.) will at once dispel any suspicion of a resemblance. A man may attain to the highest of these four stages of Buddhist illumination instantaneously. He does not need to have passed through the lower grades, but may even be a layman at the time. Some merit obtained in a previous state of existence may raise him per saltum to the elevation of a rahat, when all earthly desires are crushed and no future birth stands between him and nirvana. There remains therefore no coincidence which would suggest any historical connexion between Essenism and Buddhism. Indeed it is not till some centuries later, when Manicheism (even its influence on Manicheism however is disputed) starts into being, that we find for the first time any traces of the influence of Buddhism on the religions of the West.*
* An extant inscription, containing an edict of the great Buddhist king Asoka and dating about the middle of the 3rd century BC, was explained by Prinsep as recording a treaty of this monarch with Ptolemy and other successors of Alexander, by which religious freedom was secured for the Buddhists throughout their dominions. If this interpretation had been correct, we must have supposed that, so far as regards Egypt and Western Asia, the treaty remained a dead letter. But later critics have rejected this interpretation of its purport: see Thomas' edition of Prinsep's Essays on Indian Antiquities II. p. 18 sq.
We shall come back to this name, in the third chapter of Book Three, The World-Tree and the Cosmic Pillar.
In an article that was placed on our desk, by Shlomo Pines, The Jewish Christians of the Early Centuries of Christianity according to a New Source, we find some interesting parallels between the survival period of the First, or Primitive Church in Christianity (before the sects and differences in dogmas swallowed it up), and the roots of the Yezidi tradition. A person need not be a fundagelical bible thumper with a mason jar fulla white lightning in order to appreciate this! For this segment, we shall take from a recent edition of the Second-hand Book-stall:
The Jewish Christians of the Early Centuries of Christianity according to a New Source, by Shlomo Pines.
This article was forwarded to us by a colleague. While we could comment on many things in this thought-provoking article, and we may in a later version, we are interested presently in one aspect, which shall become more apparent in the next entry in the Second-hand Book-stall.
The author gives a brief narration on the migration of the first Christian church, that of the Jewish Christians. These are the Christians who are not to be confused with the Petrine or Pauline churches, and may even be removed from the Johannite Tradition, possibly. Who knows? They might even represent some of the Johannite tradition, too, since it is clear that they ended up in the areas where the Angel Cults began to thrive several centuries later. This is more of the proof of the True Church driven into the Desert. We quote:
"The story which relates the flight of the original Christian community from Palestine has an evident counterpart in the departure of that community from Jerusalem to Pella accounted in Eusebius and in Epiphanius. Some modern scholars tend to think that such an exodus had not taken place, one of the reasons given being that, according to Eusebius' History, it was occasioned by an oracle, and according to Epiphanius (the only other source known up to now), by an order of Christ: this motivation did not find credence.
"The story told in our text bears traces of theological embroidery; the motif of the original Gospel which must not be sullied by contact with non-Jews is reminiscent of certain notions found in the Pseudo-Clementines. It is also suspect on another count: it is clearly influenced to some extent by the constant tendency of the Jewish Christians to impute to the Christians who had sold out to 'the Romans' the responsibility for everything that, from their point of view, went wrong in the history of Christianity. The essentials of the story which remains, if we make allowance for all this, may be summed up as follows: the uneasy coexistence, characterized by mutual hostility, of the Jewish Christians and the Jews in Palestine could not survive an appeal for help against the Jews made to the Romans by some of the Christians, the community being apparently split into two groups. This appeal boomeranged, and the Jewish Christian community, or a part of it, had to leave Palestine. It may be noted that a Christian appeal to the Romans in Palestine and its upshot are recorded in Acts xxii-xxvi; it was made by Saint Paul. It is, moreover, an interesting point that Eusebius seems to say or to imply that this appeal was the indirect cause of the action resulting in the murder committed by the Jews, of James, the brother of Jesus, who was the head of the Christian community of Jerusalem. The hypothesis can at least be envisaged that the attempts of some members of the Christian community in question to obtain help from the Romans, or arrive at an understanding with them, may on the whole have worsened the position of this community, and finally rendered it untenable, making flight necessary. Our text seems to indicate that, as a result, Jewish Christian communities were formed in the Mosul district and in the Jazira (or in Arabia). The following points stand out in the passage concerning the Gospels. As was already noted above, the original Gospel was regarded as having been written in Hebrew. The Jewish Christians apparently also had canonical Gospels written in Hebrew, but at the time of the writing of the text their recitation in this language was no longer customary. The canonical and the other Gospels, which were written after the original Gospel was lost, were, according to our text, composed with the idea of giving an account of the birth and life of Jesus; they were modelled in this upon the narratives concerning the lives of prophets found in the Old Testament. It seems to be presupposed that the original Gospel did not conform to this literary genre; in other words, it did not contain an account of the birth and life of Jesus."
Here is what the original Arabic text the author is commenting upon, has to say about these early Jewish Christians:
"'After him, his disciples (axhab) were with the Jews and the Children of Israel in the latter's synagogues and observed the prayers and the feasts of (the Jews) in the same place as the latter. (However) there was a disagreement between them and the Jews with regard to Christ.
"The Romans (al-Rum) reigned over them. The Christians (used to) complain to the Romans about the Jews, showed them their own weakness and appealed to their pity. And the Romans did pity them. This (used) to happen frequendy. And the Romans said to the Christians: "Between us and the Jews there is a pact which (obliges us) not to change their religious laws (adyan). But if you would abandon their laws and separate yourselves from them, praying as we do (while facing) the East, eating (the things) we eat, and regarding as permissible that which we consider as such, we should help you and make you powerful, and the Jews would find no way (to harm you). On the contrary, you would be more powerful than they."
"The Christians answered:"We will do this." (And the Romans) said:
"Go, fetch your companions, and bring your Book (kitab)." (The Christians) went to their companions, informed them of (what had taken place) between them and the Romans and said to them: "Bring the Gospel (al-injil), and stand up so that we should go to them." But these (companions) said to them: "You have done ill. We are not permitted (to let) the Romans pollute the Gospel. In giving a favourable answer to the Romans, you have accordingly departed from the religion. We are (therefore) no longer permitted to associate with you; on the contrary, we are obliged to declare that there is nothing in common between us and you;" and they prevented their (taking possession of) the Gospel or gaining access to it. In consequence a violent quarrel (broke out) between (the two groups). Those (mentioned in the first place) went back to the Romans and said to them: "Help us against these companions of ours before (helping us) against the Jews, and take away from them on our behalf our Book (kitab)." Thereupon (the companions of whom they had spoken) fled the country. And the Romans wrote concerning them to their governors in the districts of Mosul and in the Jazirat al-'Arab. [NOTE: In the context this geographical term might exceptionally designate the Jazira region In North-Eastern Syria, rather than the Arabian Peninsula.] Accordingly, a search was made for them; some (qawm) were caught and burned, others (qawm) were killed."
The document which Pines is commenting upon is something he found in a manuscript copy of the
"...Tathbit Dala'il Nubuwwat Sayyidina Mahammad, 'The Establishment of Proofs for the Prophethood of Our Master Mohammed' and was written by the well-known tenth century Mu'tazilite author 'Abd al-Jabbar."
The author goes on to state that the Moslem author inserted items which he felt he could use to strengthen his argument that Islam was the only true religion, etcetera. Upon analysis of the "anti-Christian chapter", Pines came to the conclusion that
"They could only derive from a Jewish Christian community and were rather maladroitly and carelessly adapted by 'Abd al-Jabbar for his own purposes."
Here is more on the subject,
"The historical texts, or at least some of them, were quite evidently written some time after the death of Constantine. Probably (but this is by no means certain), the supposition that they go back to the end of the fourth century would excessively shorten this period of time. On the other hand, the historical texts do not refer or allude in any way to the advent of Islam. I cannot conceive that this could have been the case if they had been composed after the Arab conquests which in the territories with which the authors of the texts were mainly concerned put an end to Byzantine rule, which they hated, and the persecutions which went with it. It is also very unlikely that 'Abd al-Jabbar would have omitted all such references, which presumably would not have been uniformly hostile to the Arabs.
"In addition, the fact that the parallel drawn by the Byzantines between Constantine and Ardeshir son of Babak (or Papak) is referred to, appears to prove that the text was written before the downfall of the Sassanid dynasty brought about by the Moslem conquest. For, in this comparison, Ardeshir appears as the greater man. This parallel also suggests that the text was written in a locality such as Harran, which was connected both with the Persian and the Roman Empires. On the whole it seems probable (and more than probable) that what I have called the main part of the texts was composed either in the fifth, or the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century. It is virtually certain that it was written in Syriac. It is also clear that its author or authors had some connection with the region of Harran (and perhaps also with the district of Mosul)."
What transpires is the story of a sect of early Jewish Christians, who originated in Jerusalem, and were close to the immediate group of followers. At the time that innovations entered into the Doctrine, after the Master left the flock, this group remained true to its roots, while other groups, namely those led by Peter and Paul, adopted usages more suited towards appeasing the Romans. In fact, a pact was made between some of the Christians and the Romans, for the purpose of not only neutralizing the movement as a whole, but subverting it into a means of creating an officially sanctioned State Religion as a form of social control. This was three centuries prior to Constantine. Interestingly, for those addicted to the theories of Eisenmann, no mention is made of James being leader of any church at Jerusalem.
Continuing with the extract from the Arabic work,
"(As for) those who had given a favourable answer to the Romans they came together and took counsel as to how to replace the Gospel, seeing that it was lost to them. (Thus) the opinion that a Gospel should be composed (yunshi'u) was established among them. They said: "the Torah (consists) only of (narratives concerning) the births of the prophets and of the histories (tawarikh) of their lives. We are going to construct (nabni) a Gospel according to this (pattern).
"Everyone among us is going to call to mind that which he remembers of the words (ajfar) of the Gospel and of (the things) about which the Christians talked among themselves (when speaking) of Christ." Accordingly, some people (qawm) wrote a Gospel. After (them) came others (qawm) (who) wrote (another) Gospel. (In this manner) a certain number of Gospels were written. (However) a great part of what was (contained) in the original was missing in them. There were among them (men), one after another, who knew many things that were contained in the true Gospel (al-injil al-xahih.), but with a view to establishing their dominion (ri'asa), they refrained from communicating them. In all this there was no mention of the cross or of the crucifix. According to them there were eighty Gospels. However, their (number) constantly diminished and became less, until (only) four Gospels were left which are due to four individuals (nafar). Every one of them composed in his time a Gospel. Then another came after him, saw that (the Gospel composed by his predecessor) was imperfect, and composed another which according to him was more correct (axahh), nearer to correction (al-xihha) than the Gospel of the others.
"Then there is not among these a Gospel (written) in the language of Christ, which was spoken by him and his companions (axhab), namely the Hebrew (al-`ibraniyya) language, which is that of Abraham (Ibrahim), the Friend (khalil) of God and of the other prophets, (the language) which was spoken by them and in which the Books of God were revealed to them and to the other Children of Israel, and in which God addressed them.
"(For) they have abandoned (taraka) (this language). Learned men (al-`ulama') said to them: "Community of Christians, give up the Hebrew language, which is the language of Christ and the prophets (who were) before him, peace be upon them, and (adopt) other languages." Thus there is no Christian who (in observing) a religious obligation recites these Gospels in the Hebrew language: he does not do so out of ruse (using) a stratagem, in order to avoid (public) shame.
"Therefore people said to them: The giving-up (the language: al-`ud-l `anha) occurred because your first masters (axhabukum al-aw-walun) aimed at deception in their writings (maqalat) using such stratagems as quotations from counterfeit authorities in the lies which they composed, and concealing these stratagems. They did this because they sought to obtain domination (ri'asa). For at that time the Hebrews (al-`ibraniyya) were people of the Book and men of knowledge. Accordingly, these individuals (nafar) altered (ghayyara) the language or rather gave it up altogether, in order that the men of knowledge should not grasp quickly their teaching and their objectives. (For if they had done so these individuals) would have been disgraced before having been (able) to consolidate their teaching and their (objectives ) would not have been fulfilled. Accordingly, they gave up (Hebrew and took up) numerous other languages which had not been spoken by Christ and his companions. (Those who speak these languages) are not people of the Book and have no knowledge concerning God's books and commandments. Such were the Romans (al-Rum), the Syrians, the Persians, the Armenians and other foreigners. This was done by means of deception and ruse by this small group of people who (wanted) to hide their infamy and to reach the goal of their wishes in their aspiration for dominion (which was to be won) through (the instrumentality of) religion.
"If this were not so they would have used the language of Abraham, of his children and of Christ, through whom the edifice had been constructed and to whom the books had been revealed. In establishing a proof (meant) for the Children of Israel and the unbelievers among the Jews (al-yahud) it would have been better that a call be made to them in their own tongue (lisan) and a discussion engaged with them in their language (lugha), which they would not have been able to refuse. Know this; it is a great principle.
"Know-may God have mercy upon you-that these three sects do not believe that God revealed to Christ in one way or another a Gospel or a book. Rather, according to them, Christ created the prophets, revealed to them the books and sent to them angels. However, they have with them Gospels composed by four individuals, each one of whom wrote a Gospel. After (one of them) came (another) who was not satisfied with (his predecessor's) Gospel and held that his own Gospel was better. (These Gospels) agree in certain places and disagree in others; in some of them (there are passages) which are not (found) in the other. There are tales concerning people-men and women-from among the Jews, the Romans, and other (nations, who) said this and did that. There are many absurdities, (many) false and stupid things and many obvious lies and manifest contradictions. It was this which people have thoroughly studied and set apart. However, a person who reads it becomes aware of this if he examines it carefully. Something-but little-of the sayings, the precepts of Christ and information concerning him is also to be found there.
"As for the four Gospels: one of them was composed by John (Yuhanna) and another by Matthew. Then, after these two came Mark (M.r.q.s.) who was not satisfied with their two Gospels. Then, after these came Luke (Luqa), who was not satisfied with these Evangels and composed (still) another one. Each one of them was of the opinion (wa-kana `inda kull wahid min ha`ula') that the man who had composed a Gospel before him, had given a correct account of (certain) things and had distorted (akhalla) others, and that another (Gospel) would be more deserving of recognition and more correct. For if his predecessor had succeeded in giving a correct account, there would have been no need for him to compose another, different from that of his predecessor.
"None of these four Gospels is a commentary upon another (Gospel); (it is not a case of) someone who coming after (someone else) comments upon his predecessor's book, giving first an account of what the latter had said, and then (proposing) a commentary. Know this: (he who composed a Gospel) did this, because another man had fallen short of success (qaxxara) (at his task).
"These (Christian) sects are of the opinion that these four (Evangelists) were companions and disciples of Christ. But they do not know, having no information (on the subject), who they were. On this (point) they can (merely) make a claim. For Luke mentions in his Gospel that he had never seen Christ. Addressing (the man) for whom he composed his Gospel---he is the last of the four (Evangelists)--- he says: "I knew your desire of good, of knowledge and of instruction (al-adab), and I composed this Gospel because I knew this and because I was close to those who had served and seen the Word (al-kalima)." Thus he says clearly in the first place that he did not see the Word---they signify by this word Christ; thereupon he claims to have seen people) who had seen Christ. But his having seen them is a (mere) assertion (on his part). If he had been someone deserving of trust, he would not have-in view of the (kind of) information (which was at his disposal)---composed anything at all. In spite of this he mentions that his Gospel is preferable to those of the others.
"If the Christians would consider these things, they would know that the Gospels which are with them are of no profit to them, and that the knowledge claimed (on their behalf) by their masters and the authors (of thest Gospels) is not (found) in them, and that on this point) things are just as we have said---it is a well-known (fact) which is referred to here (namely the fact that they have abandoned the religion of Christ and turned towards) the religious doctrines of the Romans, prizing and (seeking to obtain) in haste the profits which could be derived from their domination and their riches.'"
It would be a mistake to assume that this is the original sect from which the Mandaeans came. Perhaps there are strings connecting it to that group, but this appears to be something connected to the original Nazaraean movement, that which we read about being referred to the Nozrei-ha-Berit, Keepers of the Covenant. This, too, may be an offshoot of the Nazerini, who were settled in the Hauran region at the time of Pliny.
Our hypothesis? The original Christian movement followed, more or less, the model demonstrated in the Sefer Toledoth Yeshu, namely, that the Nazaraeans fled to SYRIA. They were neutralized by Paul. Also we add to this the story that connects them with Pella. After 70 c.e., there were groups of an Essenian nature in the Decapolis region, particularly in the Hauran. We read elsewhere that there were Essenes (Syrian Christians) in Bostra, Syria at the time André de Montbard met them during the time in which the Knights Templars were established.
Some of these early Jewish Christians may have been Ebionites, some may have been Elkesaites, and among those, some may have been Sampsaeans (Shimseans). Now, these were said to have settled in Syria and northern Mesopotamia. We read in the extracts above, that some of this group established themselves in the Jazirah-al-Arab and at Mosul. Mosul is, of course, where the Yezidis first show up, several centuries later. We shall deal with them at length next.
Are these merely fanciful legends? Why should we accept that they are fanciful legends, devoid of any historical reality? Because somebody claiming to be an expert says so? Come on, people, WAKE UP! Time for a reality check.
Devil Worship: The Sacred Books and Traditions of the Yezidiz, by Isya Joseph, Kessinger Reprint edition.
This is one of the only English-language translations of Yezidi texts available. True, there is a very expensive scholarly text which came out recently, (donations accepted, by the way, just email us!) then there are the materials that have been circulating on the Internet, which derive ultimately from the Isya Joseph translation. Then, we have the version made available by LaVey, in The Satanic Rituals, which also comes from the present work under consideration. Beyond that, we have French translations available, from around the end of the 19th Century c.e.
The work we extracted from, briefly, in the 22 September 2_BS, was rather hostile to the Isya Joseph edition. Yet, they tell similar stories. The Mingana article speaks a lot about the Daisaniyya at Edessa being originals for the Yezidis. That may be, and we do not need to believe or deny. A little of both, as usual.
In the work by Joseph, we read:
"But the devil-worshippers have still another story, which goes to show that Yezid bn My'awiya is not their founder. This myth asserts that they are the progeny of Adam's son who was married to Eve's daughter; that the descendants continued worshipping God and Melek Ta'us without bringing a foreign element into their religion; and that, at first, the sect did not bear the name Yezidis, which, in their own opinion, is a comparatively new appellative. As to how they came to be called by this new name, it is explained that when, in the course of time, some corruption entered the Yezidi religion, there arose a certain Calif by the name of Yezid who wrought miracles. Since then, his followers have been called Yezidis. This Yezid, it is said, is the son of Mu'awiya bn Sufian, and his mother was of Christian origin. Toi accomplish his desire, bn Mu'awiya went to Seih 'Adi, who was a learned and devout but cunning person, and had instituted a religious innovation. Yezid, the tradition continues, learned 'Adi's religion and taught it to his followers; and, from that time on, the sect came to be called after him. But while some, considering this legend as authoritative, venerate the man bearing the name, others deny all connection with him.
"The testimony of some travellers offers another explanation of the origin of the sect in question, an account which has perhaps more historical significance than the preceding theories. It is stated that the Yezidis have a tradition to the effect that they came from Basrah and from the country watered by the lower part of the Euphrates; that after their emigration they first settled in Syria, and subsequently took possession of the Sinjar Hill and the district now inhabited in Kurdistan. As to the date of their settlement in Mesopotamia, no positive information can be obtained. Some scholars infer that it took place about the time of Tamerlane, toward the end of the fourteenth century. It is related that the devil-worshippers hold that, among their own number, the ancient name for God is Azd, and from it the name of the sect is derived; that the conviction that they are Yezidis, i.e., God's people, has been their consolation and comfort through the ages in their tribulations; and that they have taken many religious observances from different bodies -- Mohammedans, Christians, Jews, Pagan Arabs, Shiites, and Sabaians." - pp. 93 - 94.
Continuing...
The Christian Tradition.
But the myth of the Yezidis is not the only account that attempts to trace their religious origin; the eastern Christians have a tradition that gives a different interpretation. It is to the effect that the people in question were originally Christians, but that ignorance brought them into their present condition. The tradition runs that the shrine of Seih 'Adi was formerly a Nestorian monastery which was noted for the devotion of its monks, but that these were tempted by the devil and left their convent. The Church of the Monastery was dedicated to St. Thaddeus or Addai, one of the seventy-two disciples who, after the ascension of our Lord, was sent to King Abgar of Edessa. It is said that the temple of 'Adi has a conventicle resembling that at Jerusalem. The story of how the cloister was deserted is as follows:
"On a great feast day, while the hermits bearing the cross went in procession around the church, they saw, hanging on a tree, a piece of paper with this inscription: 'O ye devout monks! Let it be known to you that God has forgiven all your sins, great and small; cease to undergo religious exercises; leave your hermitage; disperse, marry and rear children. Peace be unto you!' On the second day they observed the same thing, and were led to dispute among themselves whether this were a device of God or of a devil. When on the third tay the same incident was repeated, they agreed to leave the abbey and follow what seemed to them a divine order. Seih 'Adi, the legend goes on, had foretold to the Yezidis of that district that the monks of this monastery would desert their place, would become Yezidis, would marry and beget children; that he would die during that time; and that he wishes his followers to pull down the altar of the church in that priory and bury him there. Shortly after the fulfilment of his prophecy, the Seih died, and was entombed in the place of the altar. And since that time, it is asserted, the spot has become the sanctuary of the devil-worshippers. In support of this statement, it is argued, that there was a Syriac inscription in the temple mentioning the name of the founder of the monastery and the patriarch in whose time it was built; that some of the Yezidis themselves bear testimony to this fact, and say they have removed the writing from its former place and have hidden it at the entrance to 'Adi's temple, a spot the whereabouts of which only a few of them know. The reason why this record is hidden, it is explained, is the fear that the Nestorians may see it and reclaim the church.
"Such is the eastern Christian's tradition relative to the origin of the Yezidis. It is, of course, merely a legend; but its character is such as to require careful examination and critical study. It may embody a measure of truth that will indirectly throw some light on the subject in hand.
"One noticeable thing regarding this current view is that it is not a recent invention; else it might be said to be the creation of ignorance at a time far removed from the event which it records. Assemani, himself an oriental of distinguished scholarship, in that part of his book wherein he treats of the religion of Mesopotamia, according to the natives of the country, says that the Yezidis were at one time Christians, who, however, in the course of time, had forgotten the fundamental principles of their faith. This statement is incorporated in the writings of all western orientals that have travelled in the East." - pp. 96 - 98.
Continuing...
"Were the antiquity of the tradition, and the unfavorable result which its entertainment causes, the only two reasons for its consideration, we might just as well dismiss it. But there are other things which go to point out some historic facts underlying the current theory. One such fact is that the family name of the Yezidis around Mosul is Daseni, plur. Dawasen. The Christians and the Mohammedans know them by this name, and they themselves also use it, and say it is the ancient name of their race, existing from time immemorial. Now Daseni, or Dasaniyat, was the name of a Nestorian Diocese, the disappearance of which is simultaneous with the appearance of the Yezidis in these places.
"It is stated, moreover, that all the people of Sinjar were formerly Christians, belonging to the ancient Syriac Church and having a very prominent Diocese, which was called the diocese of Saki, i. e., Sinjar; and that the diocese continued to exist till the middle of the eighteenth century....
"What is more interesting, the people of Sinjar say they have inherited the library from their forefathers, who were Christians. It is pointed out, furthermore, that the names of the principal towns of the Yezidis are Syriac. Ba'sika comes from 'the house of the falsely accused, or oppressed'; Ba'adrie from 'the place of help, or refuge'; Bazanie from 'the house of visions or inspiration'; Talhas from 'the hill of suffering'; where many Christians were martyred by Persians....." -- 99 - 100.
Concluding the section on theories about Christian origins of the Yezidis...
"I am not here advocating the theory, or implying, that the Yezidi sect is a corrupt form of Christianity, but am simply aiming to show that if the similarity of a certain religion with another in some phases be taken as a ground for the explanation of its origin, the Christian tradition can be regarded as a more probable theory to account for the rise of Yezidism than any other view: And, hence, to point out, what seems to me to be the best position, that the explanation must be found ultimately in some historical document which will give us a reasonable clew in the tracing of the sect in question to its founder." - p. 103.
I leave it there, for now.
The above observations on the Daisaniyya, from the piece on Ephraim the Syrian, plus what we know of the importance of the sect itself in the history of the area, gives us reason to quote a piece from a recent Second-hand Book-stall:
The Yezidis: The Devil Worshippers of the Middle East, by Alphonse Mingana. Reprint edition, by Holmes Publishing Group.
This is an interesting article. In it we are told that the Yezidi books translated by Isya Joseph [which we shall cover in a future version of the Second-hand Book-stall.] could in no way have been authentic Yezidi books, because they were created by, for want of a different term, a con man. Well, we do not know if that is really the case, since what we have in the French on the subject, does correspond somewhat to the two revealed books that have made it into French and English translations. At any rate, Mingana brings up a couple of valuable points, which connect with some other areas of our research in progress.
"It is surprising that no Syriac writer has ever spoken of the Yezidis, in spite of the fact that Syrian historians, Nestorian and Jacobite alike, were always among them. The 11th Book of Theodore Bar-Kewani's Scholia, contains interesting notices about all the Pagan, Christian, and Gnostic sects. If Theodore did not mention the Yezidis, it was because he had identified them with another sect. The ninth chapter of John Bar-Penkaye's book gives us some information about all the Pagan divinities, Eastern and Western, but he is utterly dumb about the Yezidis, his neighbours.
"The word [ARABIC] Yezidi, a derivative of [ARABIC] Yezid, is applied to the Yezidis of our day only by Arabic-speaking Muhammadans; the vulgar-Syriac speaking Christians in the villages near Mosul call them [SYRIAC] or [SYRIAC] Daisanites or followers of Bardesanes. Does this name show that they are the partisans of the famous astrologer Bardesanes of Edessa who, in the second century, played so important a role in the history of Syriac literature? The daily worship which these Yezidis direct to the stars, to the sun and the moon, may perhaps throw a ray of light on this appellation. It is written in the Yezidi books 'When they see the Sun rise, they kiss the place where his rays first fall; they also kiss the spot where the moon first casts its rays and the one which last receives them.'" - p. 11.
Later on,
"The characteristics attributed by the Yezidis of our day to Taous, rejoins Dr. Joseph, are different from those that the ancients attributed to Tamuz. But what are these characteristics? Before we answer this objection we must have fuller knowledge about the origin of the Yezidis, and about the great transformations that have affected and overturned their religion in the course of centuries. To us their beliefs and their religious observances seem to be an unequal amalgam of Jewish, Christian, pagan, and even Muhammadan conceptions, and on this ground we are tempted to say that they are a survival from the ancient Chaldeo-Mazdean beliefs, greatly influenced in the second century by some aberrations of Gnostic thought.
"We have a historical tradition that, in the Sassanid empire of Persia, there were people who worshipped a divinity called Tamuz. John Bar-Penkaye affirms this for the eighth century, in the ninth chapter of his book not yet printed (cf. our publication Sources Syriaques, vol. i, pt. ii, p. 7). Theodore Bar Kewani (sixth century) shows clearly that the worship of Tamuz was prevalent not only in the valley of the Tigris but also in the territory of the Beit-Arabaye, which corresponds to the territory surrounding the mountain of Sinjar as far as Nisibin -- the chief centre of this occult religion. We are unable to identify Tamuz with any other name than Taous. Moreover, the name Tamuz was borne even by Christians in Sassanid Persia (cf. the Patriarch of Seleucia of the fourth century called Tamuza). I saw a Christian from the village of Sheranesh (Kurdistan) called Marcos son of Tamuz, and another from the village of Karepshesh (ibid.,) whose name was Tamuz Yalda...." pp. 13 - 14.
And,
"The mountain of Sinjar formed a Nestorian bishopric under the Metropolitan of Beit 'Arabaye, and for many years a Jacobite see under the Maphrian of Tagrit. Probably a Nestorian Bishop resided there till the Mongol inroads. The Monophysites attempted, with the assistance of their allies, the Henanites, from the seventh to the ninth century, to supplant the Nestorian community; but their efforts succeeded only during the ephemeral but deadly time of Gabriel the Drusbed, and the Nestorians regained their mastery. It happened about the fourteenth century that Christians dwelling on this mountain were subjected to a horrible massacre by the Tartar Khans. In these years of desolation many people inhabiting the villages in the neighborhood, who had till then remained pagan, went there to seek shelter from the diurnal raids of these barbarous hordes of the plains. All the ancient monuments hitherto found on this mountain are either Assyrian or Christian, and, so far as I know, nothing betrays the presence of the Yezidis before the Tartar invasion. Therefore, the occupation of Sinjar by the Yezidis can scarcely go back to a period before the fifteenth century. An earlier date is not suggested either by the history of the mountain or by the character of any extant monument." -- pp. 19 - 20.
Well, it does not have to transpire that the Yezidis existed in the area forever under the name of Yezidis, or under symbolism peculiar to the sect as it has been known by writers since it first became a topic of interest.
There are many other names that can be applied: Dasni = Daisaniyya = Daisanites = Bardesanites. Shimseans = Cult of Sheikh Shams or Chams = Sampsaeans [which was the ruling group attached to the Elkesaites which is said to have consisted of members of the Blood Royal or Desposynii. Even the name Yesseans (applied to the Essenes and early Christians) -- can be seen to offer us a possibility.
It is also stated elsewhere that the Yezidis were associated with the Sarmoung or Sarman Brotherhood. Not in the present work cited. This is of interest, as we see, below, in the next item to be discussed.
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