The Essenes = Part I

The Essenes

Jesus and Essenes image courtsey: essenespirit.com

The recent interest in this group, even though they existed a century or so before Christ, ignited, because of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940's. These scrolls were found in a place, where there was known to be a strong presence of this group, and the scrolls, the work of these ascetics. They had copied the Old testament in its purest form and these documents are considered some of the most authentic copies of the same. There was also some of their own works, interpretations of the scriptures etc. They were known to be teachers and healers.

Even though they were a sect that originated from Judaisim some of their practices and way of life indicate that they had some form of contact or intimate knowledge of Jainism, Buddisim or Hinduism. The writing of historians like Pliney and Josephus have thrown more light into their life styles. The exercises that they mention, the essenes practiced, could have been Yoga. They were vegetarians. Does the fact that Kashmiri pundits consider fish vegetarian, ring a bell?

Essenes image courtsey: harmonikireland.com

Many of Christ’s teachings sound very similar to their teachings and the silence that he maintains about them, while being very critical about the other sects, Pharasies and Scribes have led people to theorise that Christ was an Essenes. Among the Gospels, gospel according to John stands out as one that is focussing more on the Spirit than any other. This is the gospel that says for the first time in the Bible that God is spirit. Some people say that he was an essene and so was John the Baptist. John is described in the Bible as the "Beloved Desciple" and maybe it is so because Jesus and John belonged to the same essenes brotherhood? Only Jesus can aswer these questions, in the mean time we humble mortals can presume, to be dissecting the infinite source of wisdom to circumscribe within the limited scope of our brains.

Essenes hypopapy image courtsey: essenes.net

It is not essential that that Jesus was an Essene, because his life and teachings were different in some salient aspects from that of the Essenes described by the aforesaid historians. Even if he was, he must have taken some of the good aspects of the Essenes teaching and given his own touch to it and that must have caught fire.

The Essenes were members of an ascetic Jewish sect of the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. Most of them lived on the western shore of the Dead Sea. They are identified by many scholars with the Qumran community that wrote the documents popularly called the Dead Sea Scrolls. They numbered about 4,000 members. Admission required two to three years of preparation, and new candidates took an oath of piety, justice, and truthfulness.

Essenes image courtsey: thenazareneway.com

According to Philo of Alexandria and other writers of the 1st century AD,the Essenes shared their possessions, lived by agriculture and handicrafts, rejected slavery, and believed in the immortality of the soul. Their meals were solemn community affairs. The main group of Essenes opposed marriage. They had regular prayer and study sessions, especially on the Sabbath. Transgressors were excluded from the sect.

The similarity between a number of Essene and Christian concepts and practices (kingdom of God, baptism, sacred meals, the position of a central teacher, titles of officeholders, and community organization) has led some people to assume that there was a close kinship between the Essenes and the groups around John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. It is possible that after the dissolution of the Essene community some members followed John the Baptist or joined one of the early Christian communities, but any other direct connection seems unlikely.

Related Reading

• Historical Facts on Essene Culture

The Lost Tomb

Lost Tomb of Jesus – Think before you jump to conclusions

Recently, ‘The Lost Tomb of Jesus’, a documentary broadcasted on the Discovery channel claims to have found the lost tomb of Jesus and his family. It was directed by Simcha Jacobovici while James Cameron (yes the same Titanic director) served as the executive producer. The documentary has been widely criticized by the church and religious leaders as expected. But surprisingly it has been panned by the academic community as well.

The documentary makes this exorbitant claim mainly on the back of inscriptions found on six ossuaries in the tomb, some fancy statistics and probability, and DNA. The names found are “Yeshua bar Yosef” (Jesus, son of Joseph), “Maria” (a latin form of Mary), “Matia” (Matthew), “Yose” (Joey/Joseph), “Yehuda bar Yeshua” (Judah, son of Jesus), and “Mariamene e Mara” (Mary the master). Later DNA sampling suggests that Yeshua and Mariamene are not related to each other and hence the makers conclude that they are husband and wife, with Yeshuda being their son. The Discovery channel hired statistician have concluded that the probability of these ossuaries being that of Jesus Family as 600 to 1.

But eminent archeologists are of the opinion that there isn’t much significance in the findings. For one the names mentioned were all common names at the time. It therefore doesn’t prove that this is indeed the holy family. Even the man, Amos Kloner, who first found the tomb, is not convinced that this is indeed the tomb that would change history. He is skeptical of the documentary's claims and has termed it as pure coincidence that the names were all found together in the same tomb.

As for DNA testing only Yeshua’s and Mariamene’s DNA were tested. There was no testing done to ascertain the relationship between the remains found in the other ossuaries. Surprisingly no radiocarbon testing was done to ascertain the dating and time period of the remains and there by further sustaining the supposition that the Yeshua and Mariamene were indeed man and wife.

There are even denials by the same people who had participated in the documentary. They claim to have been misquoted in the documentary. The forensic archaeologist involved in the documentary even asserted that he had NOT concluded that the remains of Yeshua and Miriamne showed they were husband and wife. In fact, he had logically stated, "you cannot genetically test for marriage."

It looks like the makers in an effort to sensationalize the story have forgotten the basic scientific procedures to be followed while making such claims. It definitely looks like a botched up job where the makers sacrificed credibility for sensation. James Cameron who would know all about sensational discoveries should have exercised more restrain before coming out with the story. At best it looks like a half baked effort and at worst an eagerness to jump onto the Da Vinci Code bandwagon.

The makers of the documentary comes across as trying to clutch at anything from wild assumptions to fancy play with numbers for supporting their claims. This is sad as it could have been an excellent opportunity to prove once and for all that a great man named Jesus did walk on the earth. Even though it would have brought down some of the traditional beliefs of Christianity it would nevertheless have given the world a new perspective and point of view on the various aspects of the religion.

I think the makers would have made more of an impact and at least a bit more takers for their claim if they had made it a work of fiction like Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. When they made their claim through a documentary they were forced to provide conclusive evidences which they failed to do. Or maybe we are all taking this a bit too seriously. James Cameron’s true intentions maybe is to create a lavish production on the lines of ‘Titanic’. It would be fun to Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet as the holy couple. Other than that there seems to be no scientific value in the discovery as of now.

Related Reads

That divisive thing called Religion
How Jesus and Judas are the same !!!

That divisive thing called Religion

That divisive thing called Religion

The word religion evokes different emotions in different human beings. For some it brings to mind the images of worship and devotion. For some it is all about unwavering faith in the almighty. For some it is a part of their identity. Unfortunately there also those for whom it is a reason for terror.

All major religions in the world propagate the message of love and fellowship towards others. They teach us and define the moral boundaries of what is right and wrong. They inculcates in us the dire fate that will befall us if we were to stray from the right path. Mostly their canons follow a carrot and stick approach where good deeds are rewarded and evil ones punished. Some believe this judgment is given in the after life while others believe that it is given out during their lifetime hear on earth. Some religions provide an opportunity to make penance and start again with a fresh slate. The bottom line to all this comes down to a single thing – belief! And beliefs vary from person to person and from religion to religion. Some of these beliefs and customs have been in existence for centuries. What we need to realize is that the existence of all religions depends on the people’s beliefs.

The modern religions have shown adaptability in embracing the ways of the old by keeping some of the old pagan customs from which they were trying to convert people. For example during catholic marriage ceremonies in most parts of South India we have the custom of the groom tying a thali/minnu (a kind of locket) around the neck of the bride. This is a custom that is being followed in Hindu marriages even today. The point I am trying to put across here is that even though we feel that all religions are rigid in their interpretation of canons, they have been dynamic and ever changing according to the time and the social environment.

I would like to quote the immortal lines by the Malayalam poet Vyalar Rama Varma

manushyan mathangale srishtichu
mathangal daivangale srishtichu
manushyarum mathangalum daivangalum koodi
mannu pankuvachu... avar manassu panku vachu

Translated it would mean

Man created religion
Religion created Gods
Men, Religion and Gods divided earth
They divided hearts.

Is there a more universal truth than that? Even if I believe that God exists and that everything was created by him it is tough to believe that he created the plethora of religions that exists in the world. What we need to realize is that religions were created for our convenience by us. Please don’t think that I am an atheist because I do believe that there is an almighty some where that takes care of me. This is more comforting than believing that I am on my own facing all that life throws at me. Men are inherently weak beings and they need hope and faith at times when darkness engulfs them. But do we really need the structures, the rules and the divisions that religions inherently bring in. Do we really need religion to do good for others? From time immemorial to the present day there has been nothing but bloodshed in the name of religion. Don’t you think we have got it wrong somewhere?

The day people start questioning the canons of a religion it stops to exist. The problem is that nobody does this and they start questioning the existence of God if at all they do question something. The problem is not because people believe in God, divisions occur because people believe that their way of worshiping God is the correct one. Maybe someday we will have a world without the boundaries of religion.

How Jesus and Judas are the same

How Jesus and Judas are the same !!!

Well people, this is an awesome spectacular totally rad psychedelic stuff that happened to me that I am gonna relate here. Stay calm and read on.

Bored out of my beautiful body on a Sunday morn or was it afternoon I don’t know, was staring blankly at the sky trying to while away my time when all of a jerky-sudden the guy came to me. Yeah, the big guy, the man himself. The one and only! It was our friendly neighborhood Jesus of Nazareth! ‘Boy, this is his second coming!’ I thought. He came to me with a smile and a peace sign, sat beside me and asked ‘How’s it hanging?’ I didn’t give him a direct answer but a clue and he guessed the rest using his divine power. He then said since boredom usually relates to sadness and seeing me in such a sad state he has come to just hang out with me for a while and give me some company to help push time just like ‘just push play’ before he goes back to playing fiddle with his daddy-o who is the big big big guy.

I told him that thanks for the concern am moved but am not interested in hanging out with him since Judas was my guy. I always had this thing for the guy Judas since even though Jesus and Judas both have the same characteristics; he is not pretentious like Jesus. Both sell people, Judas sold Jesus and Jesus in turn sells people to his daddy-o, at least he tries to. Both take away freedom. I told him this.

People what do u think happened next? The man started crying, like a si..Well excuse me. You know how sensitive the man is from reading the doog n’good book don’t you? We can see in the book how he got sad over the death of silly ol’ Lazarus who in the end turned out to be just an instrument for Jesus to perform a miracle and not a human after all, just like the rest of us. Heck, Lazarus isn’t even a lead character in the 3 act 4 gospel book and our man cried for him?! How sweet!

This time around with me though, he was not crying ‘cause of sadness. It’s just the realization that made him cry. The realization that Judas and he are the same. And to think that it took him this much years to understand this and brainy ol’ me revealed it to him! I patted the guy with understanding on the shoulder and then he stood up, said thanks to me, said”don’t know what I’d have done without you”, made the peace sign and split.

After a moment of ‘do-nothing’ it suddenly struck me. Oh god what have I done! The guy is reputed for his kindness and all and I didn’t even ask him for money. I mean I was and still am completely broke and all I had to do was just ask the man. Producing hard cash out of thin air is bound to be easier than turning water into wine, don’t u think?
Well, that’s it.

Morale of the story: umm…..well…you got me!