The Astrotheological Millennium.

In an article in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, biblical scholar Ernest de Bunsen (1819-1903) discusses various astronomical and astrotheological concepts, such as the "fortnightly period of the Hebrews, from the new moon to the full moon, in connection with the precessional cycle of 72 years...." de Bunsen continues: The fourteen divisions of the litanies of Thot, the god riding on the moon, and whose secret number was 72, are explained by reference to 14 moon-stations of the lunar zodiac, the hidden Mazzaroth or mansions of the moon in the book of Job, and to the precessional cycle of 72 years, with which can be connected the solar year and the Phoenix-period of the Egyptians, the Saros of the Babylonians, and the Mosaic period of one day like a thousands years....[2054]

The Mosaic thousand-year period apparently refers to Psalm 90:4, which has been interpreted to mean that "with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Pet 3:8) Here we can see the contention that the 1,000-year cycle comprises an astrotheological development based on the 14-day lunar period multiplied by either 71 or 72, the number of the dodecans, as well as the time it takes for the precession of the equinoxes to move one degree, to equal some 994 to 1008 years.[2055]

We further discover that astronomical studies have been done recently on the actual existence of a 1,000-year solar cycle. As related in the journal Solar Physics, the results of a study by L.H. Ma published in 2007 and entitled, "Thousand-Year Cycle Signals in Solar Activity," regarding "long-term fluctuations of solar variation," demonstrate "a thousand-year cycle in solar activity."[2056]

In light of these facts of the ancients possessing a tradition of a thousand-year-old solar cycle symbolized by various myths, it is highly plausible that this 1,000-year period-whether simply "mythical" as in the ancient phoenix tales, or factual in that these myths truly represented ancient knowledge of such a solar cycle-rates as what is being reflected in the stories of a god or solar hero "returning" to rule for a millennium. In this regard, we should hardly base our futures on an ongoing cycle of the sun that is being erroneously taken as "prophecy," as we find in various Armageddon and "End Times" apocalyptic scenarios, based on millenarianism.

Conclusion.

When examining the "true meaning" of Egyptian resurrection and afterlife, one is struck by the complexity of the concept, which needs to be and has been addressed thoroughly in entire volumes.[2057] In consideration of the importance of the subject, it will not suffice simply to dismiss the Egyptian resurrection and afterlife by claiming some distinction between these concepts and their Christian equivalents, for instance, since the Egyptians arguably possessed every significant spiritual concept found within Christian theology. Regardless of various divergences of meaning and belief, the fact will remain that the Egyptian and Christian religions are very much alike in their ideation of, and focus on, death, resurrection and the afterlife. In the end, there is not only little dissimilarity between the Egyptian resurrection and that of Christianity, but also the Egyptian notions of afterlife and immortality are in fact more complex and all encompassing than the Christian tradition, which indeed appears to be an impoverished and corrupt rendering of the former.

In any event, merely because there are differences between myths does not mean that one was not copied from the other. In fact, there are always variations when one culture or group adopts the myths of another. It is a simple matter of picking and choosing what one wishes to include when one is creating a myth. In the current study, the Jewish creators of Christianity could simply change the popular and well-known story of Osiris's resurrection to suit themselves and their scriptures, adding further details from the Greek and other mythologies, as they surely did with other aspects of Christ's purported life.

Regardless of any discrepancies, the following description in Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection by Budge concerning what Osiris meant to his many millions of followers demonstrates a significant connection to Jesus Christ: In the divinity and immortality of the god-man Osiris lay the strength of the power with which he appealed to the minds and hopes of the Egyptians for thousands of years...[2058]

The resurrection of Osiris represents a triumph over death every bit as significant as that of Jesus. Indeed, in describing afterlife images in the tombs of the pharaohs Ramesses VI and IX, Hornung relates that they "show various stages of the process, adumbrating Christian scenes of the resurrection."[2059] Hence, this learned Egyptologist viewed the Christian resurrection scenes to have been "foreshadowed" by the pre-Christian mythological Egyptian resurrection process. Hornung further summarizes the Egyptian influence on Christianity: Notwithstanding its superficial rejection of everything pagan, early Christianity was deeply indebted to ancient Egypt. In particular, the lively picture of the ancient Egyptian afterlife left traces in Christian texts; thus, among the Copts, and later in Islam, we encounter a fiery hell quite like that of the Egyptians... The descensus [descent] of Jesus, which played no role in the early church, was adopted into the official Credo after 359, thanks to apocryphal legends that again involved Egypt. Christ became the sun in the realm of the dead, for his descent into the netherworld had its ultimate precursor in the nightly journey of the ancient Egyptian sun god Re...[2060]

In addition to these astute observations, we would aver that Christ did not just become the sun at a later point, but that he was always the "Sun of Righteousness," as mythical an entity as were Re, Osiris and Horus.

While the professional theologians and scholars may quibble about the "true meaning of resurrection," or whether or not it is permissible to use the term "resurrection" in a non-Christian context, what the average Egyptian perceived remains of interest here, because it is to this audience that the priesthood played. From what we can see here, it is apparent that the average ancient Egyptian worshipper would have viewed the death and resurrection of Osiris, as well as the event's promise of resurrection and eternal life for everyone else, in much the same manner that the average Christian over the centuries has perceived the death and resurrection of Christ.

Despite all the straw men, red herrings and other fallacies, the Egyptian worshipper expected that, after he was at one point dead, he would live again-and there is no rational and scientific argument which can change that fact or which would honestly allow us to dismiss the term resurrection in describing this life-renewing event.

In the final analysis, the fact remains that we know what "resurrection from the dead" means, and we also know that millions of people were introduced to the concept through the Egyptian religion, beginning thousands of years before Jesus allegedly existed. The bottom line is that the concept of coming back from the dead certainly does not originate with Christianity, whether applied to mortals or deities. Moreover, the notion that the implausible gospel story of Christ represents a myth predicated upon other similar myths found around the Mediterranean remains the most credible, scientific conclusion, regardless of any perceived differences between these stories.

The Alexandrian Roots of Christianity.

"The Christian religion, it might be proposed, owes as much to the Nile as it does to the Jordan, and for the Church Alexandria should be at least as important as Jerusalem (whereas Rome absorbed influences from both cities). In both Western and Eastern iconography the attributes of Isis survived. Coptic stelai show the Mother and Child, identified as Christian by the Greek crosses on either side of the head, but the basic iconography of the image is that of Isis and Horus, translated into Mary and Jesus...."

Dr. James S. Curl, The Egyptian Revival (66) "It has been well said that the Egyptians were better prepared to receive and accept Christianity than any of the nations round about them. For thousands of years before St. Mark came to Alexandria to preach the Gospel of his Master Christ, the Egyptians believed in Osiris the Man-god who raised himself from the dead. He was held to possess the power of bestowing immortality upon his followers because he had triumphed over Death, and had vanquished the Powers of Darkness. He was the Judge of souls and the supreme lord of the Judgment of the Dead; he was all-wise, all-knowing, all-just, and his decrees were final and absolute. No man could hope to dwell with him in his kingdom unless he had lived a life of moral excellence upon earth, and the only passports to his favour were truth-speaking, honest intent, and the observation of the commands of the Law (Maat), coupled with charity, alms-giving and humane actions...."

Dr. E.A. Wallis Budge, "The Cult of Isis and the Worship of the Virgin Mary compared," Legends of Our Lady Mary (1) "When the Greeks established themselves as rulers in Alexandria (332-30 BC), they continued to worship Osiris as Sarapis and passed his cult on to the Romans. Through the Greeks the Hellenized version of the Osiris myth endured in Western culture. The rise of science and philosophy in Alexandria paved the way for the rich spiritual legacy of late antiquity. It was in Roman Alexandria (30 BC-ad 394) that the new Christian religion blossomed, inspired by the writings of the Egyptian, Greek, and Jewish philosophers."

Dr. Bojana Mojsov, Osiris: Death and Afterlife of a God (xii) We have seen page after page of evidence that much of Christianity amounts to a remake of Egyptian religion and mythology. We have also noted the extensive spread of Egyptian culture around the Mediterranean centuries prior to the common era, with Egyptian art, architecture and other artifacts including religion enjoying a fascination among both the royalty and the common people, and with travel to Egypt itself popular as well.[2061] It is obvious that Christianity constitutes a concerted effort to combine Paganism and Judaism, and the significant presence of Jews in Egypt dating back to the time of Alexander the Great will point us in the right direction as to how this development came about and who was responsible for it. Indeed, Jews were among the earliest occupants of the newly founded city of Alexandria, beginning in the fourth century BCE[2062] with further influxes later at the invitation of the Ptolemies,[2063] the Greek leaders who ruled Egypt from 325 to 30 BCE. As revealed by the ancient historian Strabo (63/64 BCE-24 AD/CE), Alexandria represented by his time the "greatest commercial centre in the world."[2064] Alexandria during the first century of the common era was thus a thriving metropolis that extended out in all directions and that influenced people around the Mediterranean, including in the important field of religion.

The milieu of the time is described by Dr. Dorothy I. Sly, a religious studies scholar at the University of Windsor, Ontario: First-century Alexandria vied with Rome to be the greatest city of the Roman empire. More than half a million people lived in its cosmopolitan four square miles. It was a major centre for international trade and shipping.[2065]

Historian and religious studies scholar at University College London and Waikato University in New Zealand, Dr. Joan E. Taylor, elucidates further upon the Alexandrian environment of the day: It was a large city, with a population of around 500,000. From a variety of sources, literary, papyrological, and epigraphic, we know that this population of Alexandria comprised a large melting-pot of different ethnic groups which were broadly divided-for the purpose of administration-into the categories of "Greek" (Hellene) and Egyptian....

It seems clear that the Jewish population of the city was large and spread out in all of the five areas...[2066]

So sizable was the Jewish population at Alexandria that Philo, a member of one of the wealthiest Jewish families in that metropolis,[2067] estimated that by his era Jews constituted some 50 percent of the city, [2068] while Hornung puts the number of Jews there at that time at 40 percent.[2069] Moreover, the Jewish population at Alexandria was so large and powerful that the Jews possessed "their own treasury and court of justice."[2070]

By the time of the true formation of Christianity during the second century, after the destruction of Judea, there was likely an even larger number of Jews, Israelites, Samaritans and Hebrews at Alexandria. While some of this Israelitish population remained isolated sectarians, many in that city were "Hellenizing," in that, as Jews do today, they accepted and lived within the culture or cultures around them, in this case the Greek, which was dominant during the era in question. As The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia states: It was in Alexandria that the Jews first came so powerfully under the influence of Hellenism, and here that the peculiar Graeco-Jewish philosophy sprang up of which Philo was the most notable representative.[2071]

Indeed, Hellenistic Judaism had its "chief seat" at Alexandria, where also the Jewish Bible was translated into Greek and called the Septuagint. In describing the translation at Alexandria of the Septuagint some two to three centuries prior to the common era, Morenz states, "It can be demonstrated that the place of translation left its mark on many passages."[2072] One of these marks included the invocation, "Lord, lord, king of the gods," which would be a strange statement for a monotheistic people. However, the Hebrews and Israelites were not always strict monotheists but continually "whored after other gods."[2073] The Jews who translated the Septuagint were likely Egyptians, rather than Palestinians, as their knowledge of Hebrew was very poor.[2074] At the disposal of Jewish Hellenizing efforts were the University and Library of Alexandria, presenting potential edification from around the known world.

As concerns the Egyptian religion, Alexandria and Christianity, Morenz remarks: Without abandoning our principle that Egyptian influence made itself felt as an undercurrent throughout Hellenism, we may nevertheless claim pride of place for Alexandria and so consider Alexandrian theology as the intermediary between the Egyptian religious heritage and Christianity.[2075]

As we can see, this respected Egyptologist is not timid in his declaration as to the influence of Egyptian religion upon Christianity, or about Alexandria as being the "crucible" for this new creation.

The Therapeuts.

One group of Hellenizing Egyptian Jews, or, rather, "Hebrews of a fashion," was deemed the "Therapeuts," a type of monastic community centered at Alexandria, with similar groups elsewhere around the Mediterranean. The Therapeuts at Alexandria were first mentioned by this name, meaning "healer," "physician" or "servant," by Philo in his work De Vita Contemplativa ("On the Contemplative Life"), probably composed between 20 and 30 AD/CE.[2076] During the 19th century, a debate briefly raged that Philo did not in fact write the book;[2077] some of the reasons for dismissing this work, however, seem founded upon the conclusion that the received history of Christianity is accurate and factual. It has also been questioned whether or not "the Therapeuts" really existed, since to our knowledge no one else had discussed any group at Alexandria by that name. However, the Encyclopedia Britannica sees the fact that the origin of the Therapeutan name was not known in Philo's time to serve as proof of the sect's antiquity: Philo himself was uncertain as to the meaning of the name, whether it was given to them because they were "physicians" of souls or because they were "servants" of the One God.... That the origin of the name of these ascetics was unknown in Philo's time goes to prove their antiquity.[2078]

Moreover, we do in fact encounter therapeutae elsewhere, including as related to Egypt, as we shall see. In fact, Plato uses the term in his Phaedrus (252.c.5), translated by Dr. Benjamin Jowett as "attendants,"[2079] and in Gorgias (518, b, 5, 8), where the term is accompanied by the word for "body" and which Jowett renders "trainers."[2080] In actuality, there is little reason to suspect that this "class of persons," as Philo describes the Therapeuts and their spiritual relatives, did not exist both at Alexandria and elsewhere under a variety of names and forms, especially in consideration of the existence of the Jewish sect called Essenes, for one, as well as the many important mystery schools and religious associations throughout the Mediterranean. As Philo scholar, headmaster of Plymouth College and fellow of St. John's College at Cambridge University, Francis Henry Colson, states: That this type of character existed in Philo's time we might take for granted even if we did not have abundant evidence in his own writings, and it would not be surprising to find them occasionally organizing themselves into communities which would not necessarily attract much attention.[2081]

After analyzing the situation, Colson concludes that the debate has been put to rest and that the ascription of authorship of that particular book to Philo remains proper. We will therefore continue to call the author "Philo" and to proceed with the description of the contemplative community and its apparent relationship to the Jewish, Egyptian and Christian religions.

Regarding the Therapeuts, in "On the Contemplative Life" (III, 21), Philo remarks: Now this class of persons may be met with in many places, for it was fitting that both Greece and the country of the barbarians should partake of whatever is perfectly good; and there is the greatest number of such men in Egypt, in every one of the districts, or nomi as they are called, and especially around Alexandria; and from all quarters those who are the best of these therapeutae proceed on their pilgrimage to some most suitable place as if it were their country, which is beyond the Mareotic lake, lying in a somewhat level plain a little raised above the rest, being suitable for their purpose by reason of its safety and also of the fine temperature of the air.[2082]

In this work, Philo provides a long and detailed description that does not seem to be fictional in the least, but that, on the contrary, is highly believable and appears to be completely legitimate. Philo does not claim that one particular group maintained monastic communities all around the Roman Empire, but he does assert that this "class of persons" who constituted a "great number of such men in Egypt" could be found in many places, including in an organized spiritual community located on the shores of Lake Mareotis at Alexandria. Again, there were many such organized spiritual communities, "mystic schools" and "voluntary associations" elsewhere, such as the more famous ascetics, the Essenes, considered to be the "spiritual cousins" of the Therapeuts.

Despite their differences, the Therapeuts resembled the better known Essenes in several important aspects, including their renunciation of personal wealth and their abolition of slavery. Like the Essenes, they also wore white robes, maintained the Sabbath, and deemed God to be all good. The Therapeuts differed from the Essenes, however, in their incorporation of females into their sect. As did the rites of the Essenes, a number of the Therapeutan rituals also resembled those of the later Christians, such as gathering together for group prayers, "in which they stood and stretched their eyes and hands to heaven." As one of their rituals, the Therapeuts held the Pentecost as the most important religious festival, decades to centuries prior to the alleged advent of Christ.[2083]

As monastics, the Therapeuts spent much time in solitude, residing in separate cells, and their private houses contained a room called either a semneion or monasterion, used for prayer and study of the Jewish scriptures and other piety-inducing texts. Regarding the Therapeutan studies, Philo states (X, 28-29): They read the Holy Scriptures and apply themselves to their ancestral philosophy by means of allegory, since they believe that the words of the literal text are symbols of a hidden nature, revealed through its underlying meanings.

They have also writings of men of old, who were the founders of their sect and had left behind many memorials of the type of treatment employed in allegory, and taking these as a sort of archetype they imitate the method of this principle of interpretation....[2084]

Since the Therapeuts were essentially Jews, Hebrews, Israelites or Samaritans who lived in the Diaspora, their scriptures constituted the Hebrew Bible, while their own writings may have comprised some of the Jewish apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, among others.

In The Alexandrian Philo Judaeus, Rev. Dr. Kenneth S. Guthrie (1871-1940) surmises that the Therapeuts "were probably no more than refugees of the more intellectual classes from persecution in Alexandria and that it was inevitable they should form temporary groups."[2085] Guthrie also points out that, with the Greek penchant for allegorization all around them, "these same intellectual refugees would inevitably have spent their time allegorizing their own scriptures...."[2086] In other words, the Therapeuts interpreted biblical scriptures and their own writings allegorically, which means that they did not necessarily perceive them as "history."

In Buddhism in Christendom, Arthur Lillie opined that the Therapeuts were part of a mystical Jewish community that existed at least two centuries before the common era.[2087] In The Gnostic Heresies of the First and Second Centuries, Dr. Henry Longueville Mansel (1820-1871), a dean of St. Paul's and professor of Philosophy at Oxford, follows Rev. Dr. Henry Hart Milman (1791-1868), the previous dean of St. Paul's, in averring that the Therapeuts were the result of Buddhist missionaries sent forth by the Indian Emperor Asoka during the third century: The Indian influence in a modified form may chiefly be traced in those forms of Gnosticism which sprang up in Egypt, which appears to have been visited by Buddhist missionaries from India within two generations from the time of Alexander the Great, and where we may find permanent traces of Buddhist influence, established at all events before the Christian era. The Therapeutae or contemplative monks of Egypt, described by Philo, whom Eusebius by an anachronism confounds with the early Christians, appear to have sprung from an union of the Alexandrian Judaism with the precepts and modes of life of the Buddhist devotees....[2088]

We concur with the Indian influence, as there was plenty of cultural exchange between the major Mediterranean cities and India by this time. As Hornung remarks in The Secret Lore of Egypt, "To be sure, even in antiquity, India also served as a model of the esoteric..."[2089] However, we also evince that Church historian Eusebius is in fact correct and that his equation of the Therapeuts with the early Christians does not constitute an "anachronism," because Christianity was not founded by a divine Son of God in Judea during the first century of the common era.

In addition to their Judaic and Buddhist inclinations, the Therapeuts could be viewed as "sun worshippers" in the broadest and most spiritual sense as found throughout Egypt, per Philo, who said of them (III, 26): And they are accustomed to pray twice every day, at morning and at evening; when the sun is rising entreating God that the happiness of the coming day may be real happiness, so that their minds may be filled with heavenly light, and when the sun is setting they pray that their soul, being entirely lightened and relieved of the burden of the outward senses, may be able to trace out truth existing in its own consistory and council chamber.[2090]

This ritual sounds very much like Egyptian solar mythology and is part of what may be styled the "lost religion" of antiquity. Furthermore, the Encyclopedia Britannica states that the sophisticated priesthood at Heliopolis described by Strabo (11.29), which was "skilled in philosophy and astronomy," possessed "curious resemblances" to the Therapeutic system and profession. As we have seen abundantly, the Egyptian priesthood was very much engaged in sun worship at Heliopolis-the city of the sun-and elsewhere. On a more earthly level, in discussing the nightly Therapeutan habit of relieving themselves, Conybeare remarked that the Therapeuts' spiritual cousins, the Essenes, were themselves very conscientious to cover their bodily wastes in order not to offend the sun god![2091] As is evident, the line between religious ideologies is not always well and absolutely drawn, such that distinctly Jewish groups also engaged in what may be deemed "Paganism." Again, despite their overtly monotheistic devotion to an impersonal God, the Israelitish peoples were known throughout their early history to worship in the same manner and the same or similar gods as their Gentile neighbors.[2092]

In The Ancient Lowly: A History of the Ancient Working People, C. Osborne Ward, a political economist at the U.S. Department of Labor, provided an interesting and practical take on the Therapeuts and others around the Mediterranean, evincing that they were members of very powerful "business guilds" and "unions" of working class people.[2093] Citing various inscriptions, Ward sought to demonstrate a "Solonic dispensation," which constituted a "vast organization" that served as a "veritable vehicle of emancipation of slaves and of equalization of mankind."[2094] This overlooked thesis involves economic considerations along with trade unions, and political implications with voting unions, based on "jus coeundi," which is a "right of combination" legal privilege for the poor instituted by the Athenian lawmaker Solon in the 6th century BCE. Regarding this popular social movement, Ward states: A thousand proofs, archaeological and written, now attest that the strange moving power which long afterward became known as Christianity was no other than the plant or the inherent existence of that phenomenal force which swept the world and built up a new era of human civilization. It was that organization of brotherhoods under the enormous scope and influence of the Solonic dispensation.[2095]

This "Solonic dispensation" that Ward suggests became Christianity represented a "vast system of trade unions over the world."[2096] Greek names for these trade unions and "labor organizations" included "eranoi, thiasoi, orgeones, hetaire" and so on, while in Rome they were termed "collegia, sodalicia, conlegia," etc.[2097] The brotherhood unions-or collegia, as they are best known-were also religious, and, according to Ward, the "hetaire" or hetaerae represented "religious beggars."[2098] Concerning the religious environment during the era of Solon and for a century afterwards, George Grote comments: The century between 620 and 500 B.C. appears to have been remarkable for the diffusion and potent influence of distinct religious brotherhoods, mystic rites, and expiatory ceremonies...[2099]

Describing these labor/political/religious brotherhoods as found in Egypt and elsewhere, Ward further remarks: The principal name by which they were known, not Coptic but Greek, was Therapeutae, an association closely allied to the Essenes. Later, the Egyptians had similar organizations, which under Christianity assumed a certain monastic and painfully degenerate form. They were all derived from the original jus coeundi, long existing but first promulgated through inscriptions upon the celebrated Prytaneum at Athens, and a few years later translated into Latin and honored by being engraved upon one of the Twelve Tables of Roman law.

In Palestine, including old Phoenicia, the same establishments are known as essenes, ossennae, sometimes therapeutae, Nazaraenai, Cainites and synodoi.

Throughout Gaul, Spain and Africa, and so far to the northwestward as the British Islands, and as far northeastward as Germany they generally assumed the Latin names of collegia and sodalicia ["guild corporations"], although traces are found of the German half-civilized Lupercalia.

All these various confraternities, no matter what the name or race, possessed the same tenets and quite frequently they are found to have been linked internationally together. There are inscriptions and other records which show that in times of famine, pestilence, or war, when certain districts flourished while their distant neighbors and brothers were suffering, convoys were sent with provisions, money, medicines and social comforts for their rescue. This was done as late as the apostolic age; for several times provisions, money and comforts were conveyed from Asia Minor to the brotherhood at Jerusalem, and from Ephesus and Corinth to groups in Macedonia, showing the value of Mutual help among the poor and struggling people.[2100]

In our present analysis showing extensive comparisons between the religions of the cultures around the Mediterranean and beyond, it bears repeating that the "various confraternities"-the religious associations, which included the Therapeuts, Essenes and Nazarenes-"possessed the same tenets" and were frequently linked together, fashioning a formidable network of religious brotherhoods, long prior to the common era.

This fascinating information provides more flesh on the bones of the era's milieu, painting a fuller picture of life in the Roman Empire at the time. Adding to this picture, except for the Jewish groups these collegia or "voluntary associations" were banned by Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE) because of their political aspirations, before being reinstituted by Augustus (63 BCE-14 AD/CE). The collegia became increasingly restricted and legislated under Nero (37-68 AD/CE), and were later bolstered again by Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD/CE).[2101] It was into this environment that Christianity was born, which may well explain many of its characteristics and emphases.

Concerning these organizations in Egypt, Harry L. Haywood (1886-1956) writes: Collegia became more or less common in Egypt in the first century B.C., especially among the worshippers of Isis. Apuleius [Metamorphosis 11.17] mentions one such organization under date of 79 B.C., and there is reason to believe that they had existed much earlier.[2102]

In this regard, Ward asserts that the Therapeuts were also followers of the goddess Isis, who served as their "mother protectress,"[2103] which would make sense for a group of healers, since, as we have seen, Isis was considered the "Great Healer" at that time. Ward further writes: The therapeutae are found in the inscriptions in close relation to the eranoi and hetaerae, first worshipping the Isis [sic], and then among the oldest christian inscriptions. There is a passage to this effect in Eusebius. The important question which we are now endeavoring to solve is, if the therapeutae were the very early christians, whether they were among the trade and labor unions of the Solonic dispensation...[2104]

The reference to inscriptions by Ward doubtlessly includes some of the 2,500 that deal with collegia from hundreds of towns around the Roman Empire.[2105] Oddly enough, Ward also cites research revealing some "recklessness" and "extravagances in things disreputable" on the part of the Therapeutae.[2106]

Regarding Philo's Therapeuts and the worship of Egyptian deities, Dr. Stephen G. Wilson, a professor of Religion at Carleton University, states: The Therapeutae are a particularly interesting example: a monastic community of both men and women who seem to have been equally involved in the most important aspects of communal life, a feature that V. Heuchan (chapter 12) suggests may have derived in part from the influence of the Isis cult...[2107]

Again, we find an association of the Therapeuts with the Egyptian goddess Isis, which is fitting in consideration of her prominence and of her obvious metamorphosis into the Jewish Mother of God, the Virgin Mary. Moreover, in the Jewish "wisdom literature," which personifies Wisdom as a feminine entity, can be found traces of Isis worship "taken up into the complex picture of Wisdom to enrich it and make it more attractive and satisfying to a hellenized Jewish readership."[2108]

In his "Excursus" on Philo, Conybeare examines indications of the Therapeuts in Philo's other texts, such as De Decem Oraculis and De Profugis. Like Ward, Conybeare concludes that the Therapeutae "formed a collegium or sodalitas and had legal recognition and status." He also discusses the "analogous guilds elsewhere of Cultores Deorum"-the term "cultores deum" or "cultores deorum" meaning "worshippers of the gods"-as well as "points of resemblances between the Therapeutic colony and that of the Egyptian priests described by Chaeremon the Stoic and by Strabo."[2109]

During the first century AD/CE, an Egyptian priest who was also the "head of the Alexandrian school of grammarians," Chaeremon or Chairemon by name, was the teacher of the emperor-to-be Nero.[2110] It is speculated that Chaeremon was also a "keeper of the famous Museum in Alexandria."[2111] The Alexandrian influence on Rome could hardly be more evident. It is also presumed that Chaeremon was among the ambassadors from Alexandria who met with Emperor Claudius in 40 AD/CE.

Concerning Chaeremon's take on the Egyptian religion, Dr. van der Horst relates: ...he explains in a typically Stoic way the tales about these gods and goddesses as referring to the sun, moon, planets, and other heavenly bodies, to the Nile, , "and in general everything referring to physical things."...[2112]

Chaeremon wrote an influential book about Egyptian hieroglyphs that, naturally, has not survived-yet another instance of an important primary source to which we can no longer look for proof. In any event, the Alexandrian Therapeuts thus resembled in some respects the priesthood of the astrotheological Egyptian religion.

In reality, Philo's Therapeuts evidently constituted one of the many collegia around the Roman Empire, some of which were known by the designation of "healers." Concerning this development, Dr. Joseph H. Hellerman, a professor of New Testament at Biola University, remarks: Therapeutae, Philo's term for a celibate monastic group of Egyptian Judeans, is elsewhere used to describe members of certain Graeco-Roman associations on Delos.[2113]

In this regard, professor of Archaeology and Architecture at the University of Toronto Dr. Peter Richardson states that the "Delos inscriptions (third to second century B.C.E.) refer to worshipers as Therapeutae..."[2114] Hence, we find in Greece collegia by the name of "Therapeutae," and it is further noteworthy that there were also Jews and Samaritans on the island of Delos during this time when therapeutan collegia could be found there.[2115] As theologian Dr. John Dominic Crossan states, "We know from 1 Maccabees 15:17-23 that there was a Jewish community on Delos as early as 139 B.C.e...."[2116] The island of Delos was a major Greek seat for the worship of Isis and Serapis, and it is possible that Philo's Therapeuts constituted members of the Alexandrian temple of Serapis/Sarapis, who dominated the city's spiritual landscape, as related by Strabo (17.1.17).[2117] In consideration of these facts, it is possible that by "class of persons" Philo was referring to these religious associations and collegia by the name of therapeutae, as located at not only at Alexandria but also at Delos and elsewhere.

As further evidence of the Therapeutan network, concerning the followers of Serapis, Dr. Joan Taylor states: In Magnesia ad Sipylum, the devotees of Serapis and Isis are termed [therapeutai], as they are also in inscriptions from Demetrias and Cyzicus. The term appears numerous times in inscriptions from Delos, relating to [the] Egyptian cult.[2118]

Taylor further relates that "the Suidas [Greek lexicon] has, under the entry for [therapeutires]...'those who manage the holy places/temples, devotees of Isis of the Egyptians.'"[2119] Moreover, in speaking of the servants in the temple of the popular savior god Asclepius-the Greek counterpart of Serapis and Jesus-Latin writer Aelius Aristides (117-180 AD/CE) refers to them and himself as therapeutae, while famed physician Galen (129-200/216 AD/CE) likewise mentions the "Asclepius therapeutae."[2120]

The fact that collegia of Alexandria could be found in other parts of the Roman Empire is further proved by an inscription from the ancient city of Tomi in Bulgaria dated to March 29, 160 AD/CE and dedicated to the syncretistic god Zeus-Helios-Serapis, as well as to the emperors Antoninus Pius (86-161 AD/CE) and Marcus Aurelius. The inscription came from the "house of the Alexandrians," the word "house" evidently referring to "a religious and an ethnic society whose members were Alexandrian merchants and seamen temporarily residing at Tomi."[2121] Of course, the fact of the widespread worship of Isis and other Egyptian gods outside of Egypt itself provides testimony that the Egyptian priesthood traveled around the Mediterranean.

Considering all these factors, it appears that in the Egyptian Therapeuts we possess a Jewish religious community that was evidently part of a massive brotherhood and that was "Hellenizing," bringing into its doctrines the beliefs of Pagan religions as well, including and especially the Egyptian. The reverence for Isis and Serapis by the Jewish Therapeuts is not difficult to believe in consideration of the fact that the Madonna and Child iconography was taken over wholesale from images of Isis and Horus, as well as the many other parallels between Judeo-Christianity and Egyptian religion demonstrated here.

Indeed, it is apparent from the purported remarks of the emperor Hadrian in a letter to his brother-in-law Servianus around 134 AD/CE, as related by the Pagan writer Vopiscus circa 300, that the Jews at Alexandria were very involved in the worship of Serapis, as were the Christians. Over the centuries that this letter has been translated, scholars of certain sensibilities have found it expedient either to expunge various parts of it or to denounce it as a forgery, because of the uncomfortable conclusions the epistle affords by a respected authority, i.e., the Roman emperor himself. A faithful and literal translation of this letter with the controversial parts included is provided by Dr. Benjamin H. Isaac, a professor of Ancient History at the University of Tel Aviv: Those who worship Serapis there, are [in fact] Christians, and those who call themselves bishops of Christ are [in fact] devotees of Serapis. There is no Jewish archisynagogus ["synagogue ruler"], no Samaritan, no Christian presbyter, who is not an astrologer, a soothsayer, or a master of wrestlers. When the Patriarch himself visits Egypt, he is forced by some to worship Serapis, by others to worship Christ. They are a most seditious sort of people, most deceptive, most injurious; their city is wealthy, rich, and [their land] fertile and no one is idle.... Their only god is money, and this the Christians, the Jews, and all people adore.[2122]

It may be easy to understand why some authorities have been squeamish about divulging the full contents of Hadrian's letter concerning the Christians and Jews as followers of Serapis-and of money! Indeed, some translators censor the words about Christians and Jews representing astrologers and "quacks," as the term Isaac deems "master of wrestlers" has been rendered previously, as well as the calumny about them being "seditious," "deceptive" and "most injurious." Others remove the part about "their only god is money," which, like the rest, is in reality present in the original Latin of Vopiscus (Scriptores Historiae Augustae, 8.6): "Unus illis deus nummus est."[2123] In actuality, investigating the role of Serapis worship in the formation of Christianity would require another volume, as it ranks as extremely significant.[2124] From all the evidence, it seems clear that the Jewish branch of the Therapeutae, not being satisfied with worshipping Greek and Egyptian deities, contrived to create an equivalent mythical godman of their own in Jesus Christ.

Regarding the Therapeuts, Christianity and Hadrian, noted historian Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) states: The extensive commerce of Alexandria, and its proximity to Palestine, gave an easy entrance to the new religion [of Christianity]. It was first embraced by great numbers of Therapeutae, or Essenians, of the Lake Mareotis, a Jewish sect which had abated much of its reverence for the Mosaic ceremonies.... It was in the school of Alexandria that the Christian theology appears to have assumed a regular and scientific form; and when Hadrian visited Egypt, he found a church composed of Jews and of Greeks, sufficiently important to attract the notice of that inquisitive prince.[2125]

It is quite likely these Hellenizing Jews-those who "had abated much of [their] reverence for the Mosaic ceremonies"-and Christians at Alexandria who were worshippers of Serapis represented in significant part descendants of Philo's Therapeuts. In addition to those other points of commonality that lead to this conclusion, the Therapeuts incorporated a hierarchy similar to that of the later Christian religion, including a title for individuals involved in certain sacred rituals called Ephemereutae (VIII, 66).[2126] Regarding the term ephemereutai, Conybeare remarks that it is a "fairly old word in Egypt, indicating one who in daily rotation takes the service in a temple."[2127] Philo gives other functions and roles much like those we find in the Christian church as well. In fact, the Greek word for "church" itself-ekklesia or ecclesia-was in common usage centuries prior to the advent of Christianity.[2128] In ancient Athens, the ecclesia represented gatherings of citizens on the hill of the Pnyx, where much policy was made over the centuries. In Strong's (G1577), ecclesia has several meanings, including the first one of "a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly..." Other definitions include "the assembly of the Israelites" and "an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting." Although it is most often translated in the King James Version of the New Testament as "church," in Acts (19:32, 39, 41) the older meaning of "assembly" is preferred. The word ecclesia or a related term is also found over 75 times in the Greek Old Testament or Septuagint and is translated as "assembly" and "gathering." While the Pagan use of the word ecclesia is not necessarily religious, the Jewish use is religious, leading to the conclusion that the pre-Christian Jewish assembly could be translated as the "Church of God."[2129] Moreover, the ecclesia could be considered yet another one of the "voluntary associations" that included not only collegia but also systema,[2130] the term used by Philo to describe the Therapeutan "order." Other translations for systema are "guild," "college" and "association."

Regarding the roles in the Therapeutan order, Lillie remarks: That the Christians should have taken over this ephemereut and these presbyters, or priests, and deacons, as their three chief officers, is perhaps the greatest stumbling-block in the way of those writers, chiefly English and clerical, who maintain there was no connection between Christianity and mystic Judaism.[2131]

The term "deacon" generally refers to the Greek word diakonos, which is also translated as "servant" or "minister," and which was also in usage long prior to the common era.[2132] In his treatise (IX, 70-72; X, 75), Philo refers to those within the Therapeutan community who minister to the guests at the sacred community meal, including "servants": And they do not use the ministrations of slaves, looking upon the possession of servants or slaves to be a thing absolutely and wholly contrary to nature, for nature has created all men free... Accordingly in this sacred entertainment there is, as I have said, no slave, but free men minister to the guests, performing the offices of servants, not under compulsion, nor in obedience to any imperious commands, but of their own voluntary free will, with all eagerness and promptitude anticipating all orders, for they are not any chance free men who are appointed to perform these duties, but young men who are selected from their order...[2133]

The original Greek terms for "ministrations" and "minister" are related to the word diakonos, meaning "servant," "attendant" or "deacon." This same sense of service is found in the usage of the word diakonos in the New Testament, particularly at John 2:5 and 2:9, as well as at Romans 13:4. The word for "order" from which the young ministers or deacons are selected is systema.

At VIII (67) and IX (73), Philo discusses the "old men" or elders,[2134] which is presbyteroi in Greek, another term that can be found in texts long predating the common era.[2135] Regarding this Therapeutan hierarchy, Conybeare states: ...there was a severe novitiate to be gone through before an aspirant was admitted to be one of the [presbyteroi] in the [systema] of the Therapeutae... [The Contemplative Life] implies as much, for it says that [the young men were selected from their order or guild] (to wait on the ) with the most careful regard to their excellence. And the elders themselves had to be elected into the , their order of dignity being that in which they had been elected.[2136]

In Conybeare's analysis, rather than just being "old men," these Therapeutan elders or presbyters clearly represented a "higher grade" to which those of the lower orders aspired.

Furthermore, in Philo (X, 83) we find a Therapeutan precentor, or "ecclesiastical dignitary, sometimes an administrative or ceremonial officer," existing also within Judaism and passing over into Christianity.[2137]

Concerning the Therapeutan order as presented by Philo not only in "On the Contemplative Life" but also in other treatises, Conybeare comments: Are we to suppose that [systemata] of the same type as that which Philo proceeds to describe, were found all over the inhabited world? or was the one settled on the Lake Mareotis, to which the best persons resorted from all quarters, the only one? I think the truth may lie between the two suppositions. There may have been such societies in several of the great Jewish communities scattered round the Mediterranean, e.g. in Cyprus, Corinth, Tarsus, Colossae, Antioch, Rome, Smyrna and elsewhere. But in the Alexandrian centre of which they were all offshoots, the members may have been more strict in their discipline, more severe in their asceticism.... That there were many such societies elsewhere, is quite credible, if we bear in mind the wide dissemination all around the Mediterranean of Greek Judaism, and the widespread propaganda of the religion which, in Philo's day, had been in progress for at least two centuries.[2138]

Thus, we see that Conybeare was of the educated opinion that the Therapeutan systemata or guilds, as he translates the term, were spread around the Mediterranean, emanating out of headquarters at Lake Mareotis. Moreover, these guilds or religious brotherhoods are found previously in the same places where Paul supposedly set up "churches"-a term, as we have seen, already in use prior to the supposed founding of Christianity. In this regard, Curl states: Paul's journeyings took him to places where Isiac cults were well-established: Isis-Artemis rules in the great Ionic temple at Ephesus (one of the Wonders of the Ancient World), and devotion to her was intense; Antioch had thriving Hellenistic religions; and Philippi was not guiltless of a devotion to Isis the Great Queen. Clearly the worship of Isis (by what ever name) was widespread, and, as the goddess of a Myriad Names, Isis was dangerous to Christianity by her oecumenical and catholic nature....[2139]

As noted, the Therapeuts around the Mediterranean were associated with Isis worship, which in turn can be found at the sites in the Pauline epistles.

Concerning the various religious groups, Conybeare further notes: The name therapeutai was no doubt the official name under which such guilds or collegia would be known to the government, which gave them legal recognition. As such we meet with inscriptions (C.I. 2293, 2295) as the official title of certain pagan guilds. So the Latin title Cultores deum often occurs in inscriptions in the same sense.[2140]

Following this fascinating key to the Therapeutan mystery, Conybeare also states: [Theologian] Prof. Massebieau truly says that the Therapeutae or cultores of Lake Mareotis would have seemed to a Greek reader to be one of those associations called [thiasoi], [synodoi], or collegia, which were common in Alexandria and all over the Roman Empire.... The ascetic societies which Philo describes, must have gained legal recognition and sanction from the governments of Augustus and Tiberius... In using the word [systema] of the Therapeutic society, Philo distinctly assimilates it to the religious corporations which were then very common, especially as burial societies. Many pagan deities towards the end of the first century had their guilds or [systemata]; and the members of these guilds, like the Therapeutae, were called...cultores deorum, had common burial-places, common meals, and a priest to preside over them. The members were also, like the Freemasons of today, bound by mutual oaths to help each other, and were pledged not to go to law with one another, but to arrange their disputes outside the law court. They called each other brethren...[2141]

As we can see, at the time of the alleged founding of Christianity, there existed all around the Mediterranean-at the very places where Christianity took root, in fact-religious brotherhoods with very much the same tenets, doctrines, hierarchy and structure of the later Christian effort. These widespread brotherhoods included those by the title of "Therapeuts" or "healers," which possessed a distinctly "Christian" feel about them-such as was noticed even in ancient times.

In addition, we discover from Philo that the proto-Christian Therapeuts engaged in mysteries. As Conybeare further relates: In 475. 16 we are told that the Suppliants abiding alone in their private sanctuaries are initiated in the mysteries of the holy life.... The language also in which the conversion...of these recluses is described in 473. 15 foll., is borrowed from the heathen mysteries. The characterization of the end or supreme good as a vision of the truth Being no less reminds one of the ancient mysteries. From many hints up and down the works of Philo it is certain that among the Alexandrian Jews there existed a system of mysteries, perhaps in imitation of their Greek mysteries of Demeter which were celebrated year by year on the hill of Eleusis close to Alexandria.[2142]

Conybeare next discusses how serious a transgression was the divulgence of these mysteries. Nevertheless, in "On the Cherubim" (2, XIII, 43), Philo himself does divulge them, first warning the reader: But that we may describe the conception and the parturition of virtues, let the superstitious either stop their ears, or else let them depart; for we are about to teach those initiated persons who are worthy of the knowledge of the most sacred mysteries, the whole nature of such divine and secret ordinances.[2143]

One of the mysteries was God as a "Trinity in Unity,"[2144] a doctrine predating the founding of Christianity, despite that religion's claim of being "unique, divine revelation." Another of the mysteries, as we have seen, was the supposed ability of a virgin to "bring forth" as well as that of a woman becoming a "born-again virgin" by virtue of the grace of God. Again, in this regard we possess ancient testimony from Christian writers, e.g., Epiphanius and the Chronicle author, that there was at Alexandria a temple to the maiden goddess Kore in which a virgin brought forth a newborn baby at the winter solstice.

The evidence points to the Egyptian Therapeuts constituting a powerful group of paganizing Jews "of a fashion" whose affiliation extended around the Mediterranean and included non-Jewish religious groups and organizations as well. These organizations, as evidenced by the Egyptian Therapeuts, possessed a structure very similar to the later Christian religion. Indeed, there are a number of important and profound similarities between the Therapeuts and the later Christians, again, a comparison noted in antiquity as well.

The Proto-Christians?